Chapter 66: Chaos

Li Zhen departed from the residential area, contemplating whether he should temporarily leave the marketplace.

He wasn’t alone in his thinking; many weaker cultivators shared his sentiment.

As he passed his own spirit field, he noticed that the warning array had failed. The newly sprouted spirit rice seedlings hadn’t even had a chance to wither from lack of spiritual energy before they were trampled by passing cultivators. Most of the seedlings now lay flattened in the field.

His spirit field’s proximity to the residential area was usually an advantage, but now it made it the most severely damaged.

Li Zhen shook his head. Cultivating the spirit field was merely a facade for his true identity; he didn’t care about its yield. However, it was a pity for all the effort he had put into it.

He rushed out of the marketplace, but unfamiliar with the surroundings, he found himself at a loss for direction.

As he hesitated, a rogue cultivator next to him suddenly lunged with a dagger.

Another rogue cultivator behind him aimed a strike at the back of his head. Their coordination was remarkably practiced.

Though distracted by his thoughts, Li Zhen instinctively reacted to the attacks.

His right hand shot out, seizing the wrist that had been lunging at him with the dagger. Power surged through his grip, and with a sickening “crack,” the rogue cultivator’s wrist was pulverized.

He twisted his body, delivering a kick behind him. Another “crack” echoed as the ribs of the second rogue cultivator gave way.

“Hey, don’t look away!” the one with the shattered wrist bellowed through gritted teeth. “There’re spirit stones on him!”

It turned out these two rogue cultivators recognized Li Zhen. His generous spending of spirit stones on various items—especially on manuals for talisman inscriptions and high-quality talisman brushes—had attracted considerable attention.

Unfortunately for them, Li Zhen had always remained in the public market. Even if they had designs on him, they dared not act on their impulses.

But now everything had changed. The market was in chaos, and Li Zhen had fled.

Rather than risking life and limb in the stampede for resources in the market, it would be far easier to take what they wanted from this young cultivator.

Li Zhen silenced the one with the broken wrist with a swift, lethal backhand. Yet, the eyes of the surrounding rogues continued to stare at him, now with renewed greed.

Their perception of his age was incredibly deceptive. Despite witnessing him casually dispatch two rogue cultivators, they remained undeterred in their avarice. These vagrants never believed Li Zhen could stand up to all of them.

“Looking to die?” Li Zhen’s hand materialized around a low-grade longsword of the first rank. No mid-stage Qi Refining cultivators were visible among the rogue cultivators; no matter their numbers, they were nothing more than ants.

He didn’t wait for the rogues to make a move, instead striking first at one of them. The rogue barely had time to react before Li Zhen’s sword took his life. The blade then swept towards the next rogue’s neck.

The other rogues who had intended to attack Li Zhen found themselves stunned by his preemptive strike. By the time they came to their senses, Li Zhen had already dispatched four of their number.

The remaining rogues near Li Zhen fled in terror, and none dared stand in his path.

He didn’t kill any more; having cleared a path, he swiftly left.

The rogues turned their gazes from Li Zhen to the corpses on the ground. One of them reached out to search for spirit artifacts, but several nearby rogues attacked to stop him.

Chaos reigned, much like inside the city proper. The rogues’ inherently disorderly nature transformed this area into another lawless zone.

Many rogues, oblivious to any potential spirit artifacts on the corpses, began fighting over them nonetheless.

Li Zhen had already moved several hundred meters away and was sitting on a thick tree branch, able to observe the war situation developing in the market below.

At the same time, he shifted part of his attention to the dragon heart space, finally having time to examine his recent haul.

First, he looked at the second-rank spirit artifact obtained from the Iron Sword Gang’s stronghold - a piece of low-grade second-rank spirit iron. He wondered why such an item would be kept within the Iron Sword Gang’s base.

Unbeknownst to him, back at the Iron Sword Gang’s stronghold, an elder of the gang was frantically searching his room.

The elder had noticed something was amiss with the battle situation. He thought of his hidden stash of second-rank spirit iron; even if they needed to leave the market, that spirit iron must be brought along.

He had discovered the second-rank spirit iron at the market, in the possession of a low-rank wandering cultivator who failed to recognize its value. The elder had silenced him permanently, seizing the precious item.

He never intended to turn over the second-rank spirit iron to the gang. His plan was to wait until the next time Ten Directions Valley recruited disciples, then use the spirit iron to barter for a Foundation Establishment Pill.

To ensure its safety, he hadn’t carried the spirit iron on his person. incidents of storage bag theft were all too common.

The Iron Sword Gang elder was filled with regret. Had he known this would happen, he would have kept the second-tier spirit iron in his storage bag. At least then he might have been able to figure out who had stolen it.

Li Zhen gazed at the second-tier spirit iron. Over time, he had come to understand the Dragon Heart better.

In order for his spirit root to break through, he needed to have the Dragon Heart space consume a second-tier spiritual artifact.

Just like how his only mid-grade wood spirit root was obtained after the Dragon Heart space devoured the second-tier Winged Wood.

Previously, even after the Dragon Heart space consumed a large number of first-tier spirit items, none of his other spirit roots broke through the 20 barrier to become mid-grade.

With this thought, he hesitated no longer and issued a command to the Dragon Heart space.

Golden mist continuously rose from the second-tier inferior spirit iron within the Dragon Heart space, while its spirituality rapidly weakened.

Before long, the second-tier spirit iron transformed into mere mortal metal, all of its spirituality completely vanished.

The ascending golden mist was entirely absorbed by the Dragon Heart space. Li Zhen once again experienced that sense of refreshment similar to when he had devoured the second-tier Winged Wood in the past.

He accessed his identity bracelet to check his updated information.

Realm: Qi Refining Third Layer

Spiritual Roots:

• Wood: 21.22
• Water: 20
• Gold: 23.43
• Fire: 20
• Earth: 16
• Thunder: 19

Spiritual Quality: 1

Spiritual Energy: 30.87

Physical Body: First Layer (36/100)

Li Zhen noted that his gold spiritual root had reached 23.43, even higher than his wood elemental spiritual root.

Seeing his mid-grade gold spiritual root, he felt relieved about losing the second-tier low-grade spirit iron.

He continued examining his other gains. From the Zhao Clan treasury, he obtained twelve magical artifacts, all of mid-grade first-rank quality. Additionally, there were two chests—one for medicinal pills and one for spirit stones.

This Zhao Clan treasury, located within their outpost, was meant to ensure benefits and perks for Zhao Clan cultivators in the market. While not the most important treasure trove in the Zhao Clan’s presence, it still contained significant resources.

The twelve mid-grade first-rank magical artifacts would be perfect for refining the Black Iron Body.

The chest of medicinal pills contained cultivation aid pills. Though there were about one hundred and twenty of them, Li Zhen couldn’t use them yet. They were specifically for mid-stage Qi Refining cultivators.

Li Zhen would need to reach the intermediate stage of Qi Refining before the Dragon Heart Space could safely consume these pills.

Of course, if Li Zhen was willing to take risks, he could have the Dragon Heart Space consume pills meant for the intermediate stage, but that would exponentially increase the danger involved in cultivation.

However, he had no urgent need to advance his cultivation realm; his current speed was already too fast.

Before he had a powerful backer, he couldn’t risk revealing just how rapidly he was cultivating. If news of such extraordinary talent got out, it would inevitably draw the attention of the Demon-Worship Cult.

No matter how exceptional his swordsmanship skills were, as long as he didn’t display impressive spiritual roots, he’d be no more than a skilled swordsman at the intermediate stage of Qi Refining.

But exposing his mid-grade spiritual roots would change that equation entirely. With such roots, he was destined to at least reach the late stages of Qi Refining, with a shot at becoming a true Foundation Establishment cultivator—an outcome truly worthy of the Demon-Worship Cult’s interest.

Li Zhen finally inspected the pile of spiritual items he had acquired from the market’s small warehouse. The items were a diverse collection, presumably from the inventory of the market’s own shops.

Among them were mid- to high-grade first-rank spirit materials and spirit iron, mid- to high-grade first-rank talismans, and mid- to high-grade first-rank spirit rice, spirit tea, and spirit wine.

The most common item was mid-grade first-rank spirit rice, which made up almost half of the goods. High-grade first-rank spirit rice was relatively rare, with only about two hundred pounds available.

What caught Li Zhen’s attention the most were the spirit tea and spirit wine. There were two pounds of mid-grade first-rank spirit tea and only three ounces of high-grade spirit tea. It seemed that in this world, spirit tea remained a luxury item.

However, given the abundance of spirit tea in the market, it appeared to be more readily available here compared to the Xian Nation.

As for spirit wine, Li Zhen didn’t have much knowledge about it. There were ten jars of mid-grade first-rank spirit wine and one jar of high-grade spirit wine, each jar weighing one pound. From this, he could tell that even if spirit wine wasn’t as valuable as spirit tea, the difference in their worth wouldn’t be significant.