Chapter 68: Monster Market Refining Qi Saber Technique
The mountain forest was vast and boundless.
Fang Shu shouldered his shoulder bag and, following the direction indicated by his Second Uncle Yu Le, ventured even deeper into the wilderness.
After running a hundred li, he arrived before a strange mountain.
Mist pervaded the mountain. Although it was dusk, ghost fire dotted the area, with the cries of old owls and the eerie howls of monkeys occasionally intertwining, making it particularly chilling.
When Fang Shu drew near, a small monkey spotted him, hopping ahead on all fours and waving at him enthusiastically, as if actively beckoning him.
Seeing this small monkey, a thought stirred in Fang Shu’s mind, and he immediately followed.
Sure enough, after passing through the mist, he had arrived at an empty valley in the mountain, where a scene like a mass grave emerged from the fog, with broken walls and ruins everywhere, and things resembling paper houses, thatched huts, and coffins standing on both sides of the road.
Although the environment here was eerie, there was considerable human activity—or rather, demonic energy.
Monsters of various sizes, shaking their heads and swaying, tall and short, fat and thin, along with immortals or mortals covering their faces or wearing conical hats, moved about, even rubbing shoulders and elbows.
“Come see, come look, don’t miss out if you’re passing by.”
“Top-quality ox hearts, horse hearts, tiger hearts, monkey hearts, human hearts. Both male and female!”
Fang Shu walked through the faint mist, looking around, and felt that this bizarre scene made the place seem more like an immortal market than the town.
He first strolled around and found no shops here; all were street stalls for trading. At most, there was a paper house, but the items on the stalls were all uncommon.
Fang Shu had originally thought he would need to stealthily sell the immortal’s remains in the monster market, but there were immortal monsters openly operating under various guises, with signs reading:
“High prices for all kinds of materials, no discrimination between humans and monsters, fair to young and old!”
“Ku Gu Guan Luo Baigu old shop branch, long-term purchase of complete remains, prices negotiable.”
Fang Shu, with his shoulder bag on his back and face covered, approached and tentatively inquired.
He didn’t even beat around the bush much before the other party repeatedly said “yes yes yes,” showing no concern for the source of the remains, only their completeness.
And because the remains in his possession were quite intact and of good quality, the other party didn’t haggle down and even proactively offered a higher price.
The purchasing waiter laughed, “Welcome, fellow Daoist, to come again. We really work for Lord Luo— we’ll take as much as you bring, money is no issue!”
The final payment from the waiter was not talisman money or black tickets, but spirit stones worth eighteen thousand talisman money.
Among them, the remains themselves were worth twelve thousand, and although the magic tool on the remains lacked the corresponding cultivation method, being integrated, it was also worth six thousand.
To be honest, Fang Shu truly hadn’t expected complete immortal remains to be so valuable, worth more than a full set of magic and magic tool.
Fortunately, he had thought this thing could only be sold as junk, making whatever he could.
When Fang Shu sold the painted skin mask, because it was subpar and lacked a cultivation method, the other party wouldn’t even take it, just smiling and pointing him in a direction to sell elsewhere.
Fang Shu pocketed the spirit stones and went as instructed.
In the end, he found a pig demon skinner who was only willing to buy the painted skin mask in his hand for seven hundred talisman money.
Even that was because the other party saw the secret script on the mask was complete and it was made of female skin; the pig demon’s face snorted with a strange expression.
Otherwise, the other party would probably only take it as scrap skin and ragged jacket.
As for the fate of such scrap skin and ragged jackets, Fang Shu curiously stood by to watch.
The pig demon skinner would cut and trim the acquired skins, erasing, digging out, or washing off the secret scripts, retaining only the quenched skin itself, then making it into talisman skin, book covers, or using it as patching material sewn onto other leather goods.
Besides the pig demon skinner, the monster market had all sorts of craftsmen immortals and monster craftsmen for mending pots and leaks, shoe repair and knife sharpening, porcelain and bowl mending, and so on.
They would use discarded magic tools of similar material as raw materials to repair other magic tools.
Among them were even immortals who could pick and assemble a complete magic tool from a pile of discarded ones, boldly advertising “money-back guarantee if it doesn’t work.”
This was quite an eye-opener for Fang Shu.
He had always been curious about what happened to such magic tools without cultivation methods or traceable owners.
Now it seemed that immortals had their own process for handling discarded magic tools.
Without much effort, Fang Shu cleared out all the miscellaneous items on him.
His shoulder bag became deflated, left only with the hard spirit stones.
With matters settled and his body lightened, Fang Shu wandered the monster market with even greater interest.
He looked around here and there, discovering stalls selling pills and precious medicine.
Their prices were at least ten percent lower than in town, but the pills and precious medicine all carried more or less a bloody scent, with no guarantees on source or quality.
This made Fang Shu temporarily suppress his urge to buy; this wasn’t urgent.
After browsing several rounds, a thought arose in Fang Shu’s mind, and he began searching the stalls for various magics.
Moreover, the magics he sought were quite peculiar, only those with complete secret scripts but missing magic texts, or ones hard to discern as real or fake.
As a result, he had truly come to the right place.
Such magics had irregular sources, a mix of true and false, hard to distinguish; few in Gu Ling Town would sell them, and marketplaces even prohibited such stalls.
But in this monster market, it was entirely different; humans and monsters mingled, no one knew if the other was man or ghost, and buying depended entirely on one’s own discernment.
Their prices were extremely low, only half or a third of ordinary magics.
Fang Shu visited several more vendors and even managed to pick up ones to his liking for a thousand talisman money.
But after previous reflection, he restrained his impulse, not casually acquiring magics to avoid wasting the precious analysis time on Dao talismans.
At this time, Fang Shu arrived before a masked immortal’s stall. The stall owner’s aura was sharp, clearly no pushover, and his realm obviously beyond first calamity immortal.
And on the other’s stall were actually fourth calamity magics, those used by Qi Refining Spiritual Immortals!
This immediately drew Fang Shu’s gaze, and he squatted down before the stall.
The stall owner noticed him, squinting appraisal, but didn’t speak to drive him away, merely showing clear disdain in his eyes.
“Can I take a look?” Fang Shu asked.
The stall owner didn’t reply, merely nodding indifferently.
Suddenly, his gaze fell on a jade slip inscribed with《 Secret Liver Demon Soul-Devouring Magic》, clearly different from market Refining Essence magics, appearing even more bizarre, especially with “Five Viscera Temple Sun Liangyuan” written in one corner.
This was the second time Fang Shu had encountered something related to the Five Viscera Temple, aside from Senior Sister Fang Lu’s mentions.
He reached out to pick up the jade slip for a closer look.
But then the stall owner spoke, his voice low: “Hands off. This magic involves the soul. You haven’t even passed the third calamity—randomly looking could damage your soul; don’t blame me for not warning you.”
Hearing this warning, Fang Shu recalled rumors of certain sinister magics: if one’s realm was insufficient, not only learning but even glancing could cause dizziness and mental harm.
“This magic must be one of those,” he thought to himself.
Fang Shu didn’t insist and graciously cupped his hands in surrender.
But he paused, then lowered his voice: “May I ask, stall owner, do you have any sword techniques? Ideally ones cultivable from the Refining Essence stage, without needing specific swords.”
Hearing this, the stall owner gave Fang Shu a few more looks.
Sword techniques were also a type of magic, fierce and sharp, extremely suited for killing!
Practicing sword techniques often required a sword; some needed refining a suitable one from scratch, others could be overlaid on existing swords.
Fang Shu had a long tongue sword, which he could refine all the way to the third calamity, so choosing a sword technique would undoubtedly be more convenient than other magics.
However, their drawbacks were that crude sword techniques lacked power, powerful ones were hard to cultivate, and some could harm others and even oneself.
“No sword techniques, but saber techniques—I have one.” The stall owner replied flatly.
Then, he took a thin booklet from the stall, inscribed with《 Red Snake Bloodline Fire Saber Technique》, and placed it before Fang Shu.
Fang Shu squinted at it. At first nothing seemed off, but upon closer look, he saw “Fourth Calamity” written on the booklet, filling his gaze with doubt.
Yet the stall owner looked at him candidly, showing no sign of having picked the wrong one.
Hesitating, Fang Shu reached for the booklet and flipped it open to examine.
After a rough glance, his eyes lit up.
This saber technique was marked fourth calamity, but its cultivation requirement was met at the Refining Essence stage—a “quasi fourth calamity” magic, not a true one.
Fang Shu had heard a bit about such magics: ordinary Qi Refining Immortals scorned them for insufficient power, while ordinary Essence Refining Immortals couldn’t cultivate them, finding them difficult to start.
After all, their entry threshold was low, but not their comprehension or sacrifice-refining difficulty.
But this was exactly what Fang Shu wanted!
