30: Chapter 30: Re-entering the Blackwater Workshop, Bartering for Fragments of the Map, and Accidentally Obtaining the Refining Spirit Technique

Before the morning mist had dispersed, Ye Qing had already left the temporary stone chamber and was heading towards Blackwater Market once again.

He had changed into a set of semi-new, deep gray short-garb purchased from a vendor on the outskirts of Blackwater Market; the fabric was ordinary and completely unremarkable.

His face had been disguised with wet mud and grass juice, making him look rougher and more mature than before.

Hanging at his waist was the worn-out Storage Pouch obtained from a bandit Cultivator, his aura steadily maintained at the Middle Stage of Level 3 Qi Refining—slightly stronger than when he first arrived, fitting the image of a low-level Loose Cultivator who had gained a little, yet not so much as to be too eye-catching.

The first layer of the Breath Concealment Technique, "Qi Concealment," operated naturally without any flaws.

Along the way, he remained cautious, avoiding several areas with faint fluctuations of Spiritual Qi, and steered far clear of a five-man Yao Beast hunting team returning loudly while fully loaded with Yao Beast Materials.

By the time the chaotic outline of Blackwater Market appeared in his field of vision again, it was already near noon.

The market was still noisy, with mixed odors.

Ye Qing blended into the crowd, his gaze calmly sweeping over the stalls on both sides, while his ears paid attention to the discussions around him.

"...Have you heard? There seemed to be a big commotion over at 'Rotten Bone Forest' yesterday. Someone heard an explosion, and later some Cultivators went to investigate, saying that a large patch of 'Ghost-Crying Vines' died in the forest, and the ground was even blown into a crater!"

"Ghost-Crying Vines? That thing is extremely evil, specifically sucking human blood and Divine Souls, and it can also bewilder one's mind. Even those at the Late Stage of Qi Refining get a headache when encountering them! Who has such great ability?"

"I don't know, no one saw the person. But someone saw from afar that there seemed to be a flash of silver light, and then that place collapsed. It's weird!"

"Could it be... that some treasure appeared, attracting an expert?"

"Forget it! Anyway, that ghost place is safe now. I'll go take a look another day, maybe I can pick up some scraps..."

Ye Qing's heart stirred slightly, but his expression remained normal.

The commotion in Rotten Bone Forest had indeed attracted attention, but fortunately, no one associated it with him, a "Level 3 Qi Refining" Loose Cultivator.

Silver light? Was it the light when the moonlight jade tree was collected?

He remained calm and continued forward.

Arriving at the relatively bustling trading area within the market, he found a stall with a decent location and moderate foot traffic, and paid half a Low-Grade Spirit Stone to the stall owner—an old man with a goatee, shrewd eyes, and at Qi Refining Level 4—to rent the stall for one hour.

He didn't have any extra goods, only taking out the ten-year-old moonlight flower stored in a jade box and placing it on the stall cloth, beside which he wrote a few words in charcoal: Grade 1 moonlight flower, highest bidder wins.

The moonlight flower was not too rare in Black Water Swamp, but one with such perfect quality, flowing silver radiance, and sufficient age was also not often seen.

It was especially attractive to Cultivators who Cultivate Yin-attribute or Water-attribute Cultivation Techniques, or who needed to refine Medicinal Pills for calming or nourishing the spirit.

Soon, a few people stopped to ask for the price.

Ye Qing did not say much, only responding simply when the other party made an offer, his voice hoarse and low.

In the end, this moonlight flower was sold for eight Low-Grade Spirit Stones to a middle-aged Cultivator at Level 5 Qi Refining who looked hurried and seemed to be in urgent need of this item for Alchemy.

The transaction completed, Ye Qing packed up his stall, turned around, and disappeared into the crowd.

He did not linger in the bustling area, but instead walked towards the deeper parts of the market, those relatively remote areas where the stalls were more chaotic and the items for sale were stranger and more bizarre.

The light here was dim, the smell unpleasant, and the stall owners were mostly lone travelers or small groups with diverse appearances, their eyes filled with vigilance and scrutiny.

Ye Qing slowed his pace, his gaze sweeping over each stall.

Broken Magical Artifact fragments with dim Spiritual light, Ore of strange colors, unknown beast bones, herbs emitting strange odors, Jade Slips and books with blurred handwriting, and even some strange objects of unknown purpose.

What he was looking for were things that seemed useless but might contain special energy or information, or clues for the follow-up to the "Breath Concealment Technique."

After browsing for a while, he stopped in front of a stall in a corner.

The stall owner was a one-armed man wearing dirty animal skins with a hideous scar on his face, at Qi Refining Level 4, who was napping against a piece of dead wood.

There were not many things on the stall: a few pieces of dark-colored Ore, a few fangs of unknown Yao Beasts, and two animal-skin books with tattered covers that seemed to have been soaked in water.

What caught Ye Qing's attention was a small, dark yellow fragment, with irregular edges, neither quite skin nor quite silk, casually weighing down one of the animal-skin books.

The fragment was only the size of a palm, with extremely simple and blurred terrain outlines sketched in dark red lines, as well as a few unrecognizable ancient characters.

The material was peculiar, cool to the touch, and faintly exuded a trace of an extremely weak, indescribable ancient and vicissitudinous aura.

The space within his body sent a faint but clear interest in this fragment.

Ye Qing squatted down, picked up the fragment, and casually flipped through the animal-skin book beside it.

The book was about the taming experience of some low-level Yao Beast, of little value.

"Boss, how much for this piece of skin?" He pointed to the fragment, his voice hoarse.

The one-armed man lifted his eyelids, glanced at him, then looked at the fragment, and said lazily: "Two Low-Grade Spirit Stones. Dug out from the stomach of an old 'Earth-Walking Lizard,' it looks like it has some age to it, maybe it's a treasure map."

The tone was playful, clearly he didn't believe it himself.

Ye Qing stroked the fragment, feeling its material and that trace of ancient aura, then looked at the animal-skin book: "What about this book?"

"Three Spirit Stones. It contains some methods for taming 'Iron-Armored Crocodiles,' although simple, it has some use."

Ye Qing pondered for a moment and said: "The fragment plus this book, four Spirit Stones in total."

The one-armed man seemed somewhat tempted, but still shook his head: "Four and a half, that's the lowest."

"Fine." Ye Qing didn't bargain further, readily paid the Spirit Stones, and put away the fragment and the book.

He was about to get up and leave when his gaze swept over the other corner of the stall, where a few grayish-white, lusterless stones that seemed to be just ordinary pebbles were thrown.

But one of them was slightly flat, with extremely fine, seemingly naturally formed spiral patterns on the surface, which would be very easy to overlook if not looked at carefully.

The moment his gaze swept over this stone, the space within his body transmitted a palpitation that was more obvious and more "eager" than when facing the fragment!

This stone is weird!

Ye Qing's heartbeat accelerated slightly, but he remained calm on the surface, pretending to point to those stones casually: "These stones for the stall are quite unique, throw them in too?"

The one-armed man looked at those ordinary stones without any Spiritual Qi fluctuations and waved his hand: "If you want them, take them, they aren't worth any money."

"Thank you." Ye Qing gathered the stones, along with the flat spiral-patterned stone, into his sleeve.

Leaving this stall, he browsed for a while longer, and at a stall selling miscellaneous books and Jade Slips, he found a Jade Slip titled "Low-Grade Divine Refining Technique (Fragmented)" with blurred handwriting. The content was also incomplete, only recording a few simple methods for tempering Divine Sense and increasing the range and resilience of Divine Sense perception, which perfectly complemented the Divine Soul nourishing effect he obtained from the moonlight jade tree.

He bought it for five Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

At this point, most of the Spirit Stones on him had been spent, but he felt it was worth it.

Seeing that it was getting late, Ye Qing did not linger, turned around and left Blackwater Market, returning towards the direction of the temporary stone chamber.

On the way back, he deliberately took a large detour, changed directions multiple times, and after confirming no one was following him, he quietly returned to that hidden cliff cave.

He activated the warning Restriction and sealed the cave entrance.

The light in the stone chamber was dim, but he couldn't wait to take out the flat spiral-patterned stone first.

It was slightly heavy in his hand, cool to the touch, and no different from an ordinary stone.

But upon careful investigation with Divine Sense, he could faintly perceive that inside the stone, there seemed to be sealed a trace of extremely weak, yet exceptionally pure and condensed, strange energy carrying spatial fluctuations!

"Is this... a fragment of some spatial-attribute Ore? Or a strange object containing spatial power?"

Ye Qing did not hesitate anymore, gripped the stone tightly, and communicated with the space.

Hum!

The space transmitted a clear, proactive suction force!

The tiny spiral patterns on the surface of the stone suddenly lit up with a faint light, and immediately, a stream of pure, condensed energy carrying mysterious spatial fluctuations was slowly drawn out and absorbed into the space!

The gray mist at the edge of the twenty-zhang space rolled violently, like a great whale drinking water, greedily devouring this energy.

The space expanded outwards at a speed visible to the naked eye!

Twenty-one zhang... twenty-two zhang... twenty-three zhang!

It continued to expand until it reached nearly twenty-five zhang in radius, and only then did the expansion speed slow down!

The black soil in the center also expanded accordingly, now nearly ten zhang!

The jade-like luster of the soil was more obvious, the Spiritual Qi mist churned, and there was a faint echo of wind and thunder.

The moonlight jade tree's silver radiance flowed, and it seemed to have become a bit brighter as well.

What surprised Ye Qing even more was that after the space absorbed this spatial energy, the energy it fed back was not only pure and vast, but also carried a trace of clear spatial-attribute intent!

This energy merged into his body, not only pushing his Level 5 Qi Refining cultivation to jump a significant amount, putting him not far from the Middle Stage, but also making his perception of the surrounding space suddenly several times clearer and sharper!

Previously it was just a vague perception, but now, closing his eyes, he could faintly "see" every trace of air movement, every trajectory of dust, and even the faint traces of Spiritual Qi flow within a five-foot radius around him!

It was as if this small space had become an extension of his limbs!

"Spatial perception ability greatly improved! This is the true spatial-attribute blessing!"

Ye Qing was wild with joy.

This inconspicuous stone was worth far more than those few Low-Grade Spirit Stones!

It might be useless to others, but to him, it was a priceless treasure!

He suppressed his excitement and took out the dark yellow fragmented map again.

The space's interest in it had diminished significantly, but there was still a weak suction force.

He tried absorbing it.

The trace of ancient and vicissitudinous aura contained in the material of the fragmented map was stripped away and merged into the space.

The energy fed back was not much, but it added an indescribable sense of "heaviness" and "age" to the space, as if its Foundation was more solid.

The fragmented map itself turned into fly ash, but the lines and characters on it, the moment he absorbed it, were clearly imprinted into his mind like a brand.

It was an extremely fragmented terrain map, depicting what seemed to be a huge basin surrounded by mountains, with a twisted rune marked in the center of the basin, and next to it were two ancient seal characters, which Ye Qing managed to barely recognize as—"Ancient... Teleportation"?

"ancient teleportation array? This fragmented map points to an ancient teleportation array site?"

Ye Qing's heart moved, but the map was too fragmented, the information too little, making it impossible to determine the location, let alone know if it was true or false.

He would record it for now and leave it for later.

He calmed his mind and began to take stock of today's gains.

Selling the moonlight flower yielded eight Spirit Stones.

Buying the fragmented map, taming book, Divine Refining Technique Jade Slip, and a few stones cost a total of eleven and a half Spirit Stones.

Added to his previous savings, he currently had less than twenty Low-Grade Spirit Stones on hand.

But he had obtained a strange stone containing spatial energy, a fragmented map that might point to an ancient teleportation array, a simple Divine Refining Technique, taming experience, and most importantly—the space had grown again, gaining spatial perception enhancement.

"Huge harvest."

Ye Qing nodded with satisfaction.

Steady development requires not only burying one's head in Cultivation, but also knowing how to look for Opportunity outside; discernment, luck, and courage are all indispensable.

He placed the Divine Refining Technique Jade Slip against his forehead and immersed his Divine Sense into it.

Although simple, it was exactly what he needed at the moment.

Combined with the nourishment of the moonlight jade tree, his Divine Sense strength and resilience would surely increase rapidly.

The night grew deeper.

In the stone chamber, Ye Qing sat cross-legged, the newly obtained Divine Refining Technique Jade Slip placed by his side, replaying today's experiences in his mind.

Inside his body, the twenty-five zhang space was filled with moonlight like silk, the Spiritual plants were robust, and it was full of vitality.

On the road of steady development, resources, information, and strength were all steadily accumulating.

Loose Cultivator Ye Qing's life in Black Water Swamp had officially entered the right track.