Chapter 1288: Voices in the Fog

"Okay, I'll send someone to get it right away!" The shop owner paused, then said hurriedly.

Although this item was valuable, it was merely an object in the underground market. Compared to his life, it was far less important. With a blade at his throat, he naturally knew what choice to make.

At his command, the old man from before rushed out. Before long, a large jade box was handed over.

He casually opened it and, as expected, saw an ancient, yellowed book inside. The writing on its pages carried a special spiritual energy.

"Hmm!" After confirming it was indeed the Ancient Book of Tattered Words, Zhang Xuan nodded and put it into his ring. "Let's go!" He then flickered and flew outside.

Zhang Jiuxiao and the many Blade warriors followed closely behind.

Watching them disappear, hatred flowed like a river in the shop owner's eyes.

"Shop owner, are we just going to let this go?" The old man approached.

Their underground black market had existed for tens of thousands of years, and they had never suffered such a great loss.

"Let it go? My Ji Lingfeng's possessions aren't so easy to take!" The shop owner narrowed his eyes, his fists audibly clenching.

This time, it wasn't just the loss of spirit stones. More importantly, if they truly swallowed this humiliation, what face would their black market have left to remain in Qianchong City?

"Then... what should we do?" The opponent's strength was so great that even the shop owner was beaten down. Even if he was unwilling, what could he do?

"Go get my Whispering Sword!" The shop owner waved his hand.

"The Whispering Sword? Does the shop owner intend to..." The old man's pupils contracted; he seemed to understand something and was filled with disbelief.

"Exactly. I'm going to that place and have him act!" His gaze turned cold, and the shop owner gritted his teeth.

"Yes!" The old man quickly retreated and, before long, handed over a long sword.

It didn't look much different from an ordinary sword, but with a gentle draw, sword qi immediately swirled around it, as if winter had arrived. Whispering words echoed in one's ears, leading to an unwitting demise.

The Whispering Sword, a mid-grade peak-level Saint artifact, was comparable to a peak Soul Outflow realm expert! It was one of the most powerful weapons in Qianchong Empire!

"Go investigate this Zhang Xuan's background!" With the long sword in hand, the shop owner's aura changed, becoming immeasurably stronger than before.

"Yes!" The old man withdrew to arrange for information gathering, while the shop owner took healing medicine and sat down to treat his injuries.

Before long, a jade tablet was handed over: "Here is all the information on this Zhang Xuan. He's from Qingyuan Empire, successfully completed the Hall Challenge, and passed the preliminary trial of the Saint Son Hall..."

As expected of the black market, with its extensive information network, they had gathered clear details about Zhang Xuan in such a short time.

"So, he's a genius Master Teacher, no wonder he dared to cause trouble here..." The shop owner stood up.

After this period of adjustment, although his injuries were severe, he could now control them.

"You stay here and manage things. I'm going out for a bit!" Waving his hand, the shop owner, holding the long sword, walked out.

He flew away from the black market for an unknown period until he arrived outside a mass of mist.

"You've arrived..." A faint voice emerged from the mist.

"Yes, I want you to help me kill someone!" The shop owner gritted his teeth.

"The price!"

"The Whispering Sword is yours!" With a shake of his palm, the long sword in the shop owner's hand floated upwards.

"Are you sure?" The voice in the mist sounded excited.

"Yes!" The shop owner narrowed his eyes. "You guard this place for that legend, but you should know that without the Whispering Sword, it can never be fulfilled..."

"Who do you want to kill?" After a moment of silence, the voice in the mist resumed.

"His name is Zhang Xuan. He's a Master Teacher who passed the preliminary trial of the Saint Son Hall. Here's the information!" With a flick of his wrist, he tossed the recently gathered data into the mist.

"A Master Teacher who successfully completed the Hall Challenge? He seems to be a super genius!" The voice in the mist hesitated slightly.

A Master Teacher capable of completing the Hall Challenge would certainly be highly valued by the headquarters. Everyone knew the consequences of killing such a person if the news were to leak.

"Just tell me, do you agree or not!" Impatient, the shop owner stated.

"My lifespan isn't long. If I can't open that place, I'll likely die within three years... Given that, killing a genius isn't much. However, this matter needs careful planning so that no flaws are visible..." The voice from the mist slowly conveyed.

"I know that, of course!" The shop owner responded.

Regardless of whether he personally acted, assassinating a super genius from the Master Teacher Pavilion would lead to his eradication, even if he was the black market's shop owner.

Precisely for this reason, no one dared to touch a genius from the Master Teacher Pavilion! This was the deterrent power brought by the continent's foremost profession.

It was like the disciples of powerful sects. Even if you knew they were weak in cultivation but carried valuable treasures... would you dare to make a move?

"All right, you should go first. I'll figure out how to handle this and give you an answer within three days!" After a moment of hesitation, the voice in the mist, seemingly having thought of something, said.

"No need to give me an answer. I'll wait here to personally witness you kill him. As soon as he dies... I'll immediately give you the Whispering Sword!" the shop owner said.

"Very well!" The voice in the mist paused, then said, "Then come in!"

"Mm!" The shop owner, holding the long sword, strode into the mist and quickly disappeared.

"I didn't expect this underground black market wasn't in the manor I saw before, but hidden deep within a mountain range..." After leaving the black market, Zhang Xuan put away the Blade warriors who had followed him. Looking down from above, he realized that the previous location wasn't underground, nor did it have much to do with the manor; it was actually concealed inside a large mountain.

The manor was merely a diversion.

No wonder they had to cover their eyes upon entering; the black market was likely worried the Master Teacher Pavilion wouldn't tolerate them and would directly attack.

"Thanks to your help this time, here are a thousand spirit stones for you!" With a flick of his wrist, he took out a pile of spirit stones and handed them over.

"How could I accept this..." Zhang Jiuxiao was startled.

A thousand high-grade essence spirit stones—even he had never seen such a quantity.

"Take them. Improve your strength as quickly as possible and pass the retest first!" Zhang Xuan waved his hand.

If the other party hadn't informed him about the black market and kept betting, he wouldn't have earned so much.

It could be said that nearly half of the almost twenty thousand spirit stones were thanks to the other party's efforts. Giving him a thousand was already a good deal for himself.

"Then... thank you, Master Teacher Zhang!" Knowing it wasn't easy for the other party to secure him a spot, Zhang Jiuxiao no longer refused, putting the spirit stones into his ring, his eyes filled with gratitude.

Although the person before him was younger, being around him naturally inspired an unstoppable urge to cultivate diligently.

For this very reason, both enemies and friends were willing to stay by his side, unwilling to leave.

He himself had once been filled with jealousy and resentment towards him, but now, those emotions had long vanished without a trace...

"Don't mention it!" Unaware of the other's thoughts, Zhang Xuan waved his hand.

Back at his Master Teacher Pavilion residence, it was already completely dark.

He re-entered the Thousand Ant Hive and took out the spirit stones.

After adjusting his state, he began cultivating. Before long, his cultivation broke through again, successfully reaching the peak of the Nascent Spirit realm.

"Cultivate the Witch Soul!" With ample spirit stones, Zhang Xuan continued to cultivate the Heavenly Dao Witch Soul art.

Two hours later, the power of his Witch Soul also reached the peak of the Nascent Spirit realm.

"My current combat strength is probably no weaker than a half-Domain realm expert..." With true qi flowing through his body, feeling his mastery over space and control over power, Zhang Xuan was filled with joy.

In the late Nascent Spirit realm, an ordinary peak Soul Outflow realm expert was no match for him. Now, not only had his true qi cultivation broken through, but his Witch Soul had also advanced two levels, more than doubling his combat strength!

It could be said that with his current strength, even without using puppets, Yue Yiquan would likely be no match and would be directly defeated.

"Having reached the peak of the Nascent Spirit realm, the effect of high-grade essence spirit stones is almost gone..." Although his cultivation and combat strength had greatly improved, the effect of high-grade essence spirit stones on him had become negligible.

Previously, a single spirit stone could bring him great progress, but now, even a hundred had little noticeable effect.

It was foreseeable that even with over ten thousand spirit stones still in his possession, using them to break through to half-Soul Outflow, or even full Soul Outflow, would be difficult.

Heavenly Dao True Qi had extremely high demands for spiritual energy. This situation was expected, yet... confirming it still felt a bit disheartening.

He had finally gathered enough spirit stones, only for their effect to become insufficient... It seemed he still had to constantly strive for more spirit stones!

"Clone, this is the Heavenly Dao Witch Soul cultivation art. Go cultivate it quickly!" Zhang Xuan casually tossed the cultivation art and spirit stones to his clone.

At this point, the clone had completely devoured Emperor Qingtian, and its strength had reached an astonishing level.

"Okay!" Without further ado, the clone began to cultivate.

As they were split from a single soul, their cultivation speeds were similar. After a few hours, the clone completed the Heavenly Dao cultivation art. Combined with having previously devoured Emperor Qingtian's Witch Soul, its strength had already surpassed Zhang Xuan's, reaching the pseudo-Soul Outflow realm.

Once it passed the lightning tribulation, it could become a true Soul Outflow realm expert!

"How strong are you now?" Seeing such significant progress in the clone's cultivation, Zhang Xuan couldn't help but ask.

"A half-Domain realm expert could probably be easily crushed! As for an early-stage Domain realm expert, I might even be able to fight them!" The clone said with a proud expression.

Zhang Xuan's eyelid twitched.

Although there was only a small difference in level between the Domain realm and half-Domain realm, their combat strength differed vastly.

The Domain realm, also known as the Invincible realm, meant that once a domain was released, one was virtually a sovereign within a certain range. Regardless of how many opponents there were, as long as their level wasn't higher, victory was impossible!

The clone was comparable to an early-stage Domain realm expert... Just based on this, it was immeasurably stronger than his main body.

With such strength, coupled with its abnormal defense and power... if it were to truly fight, it was estimated that no one in Qianchong Empire could rival it!

"Sigh, after cultivating for so long, I'm still not as good as my clone..." The main body felt utterly ashamed, wishing it could just die.

"My cultivation speed is still too slow..." Zhang Xuan couldn't help but sigh, feeling utterly humiliated.