196: Chapter 195 The Demon City of Heaven and Demons, a melting pot of all sorts.

Soaring up from Baiyu City, Lin Feng's figure transformed into an imperceptible streak of light, merging into the boundless Void Realm of the Immortal Realm.

Following the star chart coordinates extracted from Demon Lord Xuetu's memory, he deployed the Earth-Shrinking Step. Each stride spanned a distance that would take an ordinary Immortal several days of flight.

The vastness of the Immortal Realm was beyond imagination.

Even with his current speed, it took him a full three days to cross nearly half of the White Jade Immortal State and reach the edge marked on the star chart.

A spatial fault line known by the Immortal Court as the Abyss of Exile.

This was the end of the Immortal Realm's order, where the Laws of space were like shattered glass, with lethal void currents and dimensional rifts everywhere.

The rich Immortal Qi became sparse and violent here, replaced by a chaotic, deathly aura of Chaos filled with negative energy.

Lin Feng hovered on a massive floating meteorite, his Chaos Sword Eyes piercing through layers of mist, quickly locking onto an anomaly.

It was a massive crack stretching across the void, looking like the scar of a giant beast.

Inside the crack, a massive star that had long since died and turned a decayed grey color was faintly visible.

What that star emitted was not starlight.

But a heart-palpitating darkness that seemed capable of swallowing all light.

“Tianlan Ghost Market... truly a fine place for harboring filth.”

Lin Feng murmured to himself, a cold smirk playing on his lips.

He did not approach recklessly. Instead, with a thought, he quietly circulated the Myriad Dao Furnace Sutra.

The black robes on his body were no longer mere concealment; they writhed like a living thing, their patterns and material undergoing subtle changes.

They finally settled into a most ordinary set of grey hemp clothes, even faded white in some places from washing.

Following this, his bones let out a series of crisp 'cracks' inaudible to normal people, and his muscles shifted accordingly.

In just a few breaths, his sharp-featured, handsome face...

...transformed into that of a common-looking, forty-year-old Loose Cultivator with high cheekbones and a sinister gaze.

His entire temperament shifted from a peerless, sharp divine sword about to be unsheathed into a venomous snake coiled in a dark corner, ready to deliver a fatal strike at any moment.

This was not just a superficial disguise, but a deep mimicry encompassing his aura, charm, and even Soul fluctuations.

Night Wind.

This was the new name he gave himself, a code name destined to stir up storms in the Ghost Market.

After completing all this, Lin Feng flew toward the dead star at an unhurried pace.

The closer he got, the richer that chaotic, violent, and bloody primal aura became, acting like a massive vortex trying to drag all living beings into the abyss.

When he finally landed on the decayed ground of the star's remains...

...the first thing he saw was the legendary entrance.

A massive Bronze Ghost Gate, a hundred zhang high, appearing as if out of thin air on the cliff face.

Carved upon the gate were thousands of painfully distorted human faces, so lifelike they seemed to be wailing silently, emitting a resentment that unsettled the Divine Soul.

Before the ghost gate was a vast platform.

On the platform, two ten-zhang-tall gold-armored Puppets stood like mountains, holding giant axes, with blood-colored flames burning in their hollow eye sockets.

The terrifying aura of the Peak Heavenly Immortal rank was emitted without concealment, intimidating all visitors.

At this moment, a bloody drama was unfolding on the platform.

An Earth Immortal rank Yao cultivator, seemingly trying to sneak through, presented a shoddy Magic Treasure that appeared to flow with precious light but had long since lost its spirituality within.

The blood-colored eye sockets of one gold-armored Puppet flickered, and a cold mechanical voice rang out: “Rule profaner, die.”

Before the words finished, the giant axe swept out, carrying a cold light that tore through space!

That Earth Immortal Yao cultivator didn't even have time to scream before being cleaved in half at the waist, Yao blood and organs splashing across the ground.

The Puppet's massive metallic palm reached out, casually tossing the corpse into the endless abyss at the edge of the platform, the movement as practiced as if it had been done a thousand times.

On the other side, two fierce-looking demonic cultivators were arguing over the entry fee of one hundred Top-grade Immortal Crystals, which eventually escalated into a life-and-death struggle.

Blades flashed and Devilish Qi surged. In less than a dozen breaths, one of them was pierced through the heart by the other with a poisoned bone blade.

The winner grinned hideously, cut off the other's head, held it high, and shouted at the gold-armored Puppet: “One! According to the rules, I can enter now, right!”

“Approved.”

The gold-armored Puppet responded without emotion. The demonic cultivator then carried the bloody head and walked into the slowly opening ghost gate, laughing loudly.

Lin Feng took all this in, his gaze not wavering in the slightest. This was the Law of the Ghost Market, the naked Law of the jungle. Not wanting to cause unnecessary trouble, he casually took a small bag from his Storage Ring and tossed it over.

“One hundred, no more, no less.”

The gold-armored Puppet mechanically caught it, its blood-colored gaze scanning it. Once confirmed, it uttered the same monosyllable as before: “Approved.”

“Rumble...”

The heavy Bronze Ghost Gate opened a crack for him. Lin Feng, expressionless, stepped inside.

Behind the gate was another world.

It was as if he had instantly transmigrated from a desolate, dead cosmic graveyard to the most degenerate and prosperous demonic capital. The ceiling of the massive underground karst cave was too high to see; embedded in the vault were countless unknown crystals emitting strange, multicolored lights, illuminating the entire Ghost Market in a bizarre, daylight-like glow.

A richer, murkier scent hit him—a mixture of low-grade Immortal wine, fresh blood, the stench of Yao Beasts, the sulfurous smell of demonic cultivators, and various unknown spices, enough to make any pampered Immortal vomit on the spot.

The wide streets were paved with black volcanic rock, forever carrying a damp, sticky feeling. On either side of the streets were all sorts of bizarre shops: a weapons shop built from the complete skull of a Starry Sky Beast, with ghostly green fire burning in its eye sockets; a medicinal pharmacy built from ten-thousand-year profound ice, selling various forbidden drugs and toxic pills. Most shocking was a massive 'slave market,' where giant cages held beings from various races. There were even a few Immortals with significant cultivation who had been stripped of their Immortal robes, wearing Restriction collars and being displayed like soulless merchandise.

The streets were crowded with people, shoulder to shoulder. Demonic cultivators with twin horns and overwhelming Devilish Qi brushed past Yao Race Great Sages covered in scales and surging with Demonic Qi; ethereal, ghostly Ghost Kings bartered with Loose Cultivators who looked transcendent but had eyes gleaming with shrewdness.

Lin Feng firmly suppressed his aura to the first level of the Earth Immortal rank, blending into the crowd like a drop of water into a gutter, completely unremarkable. As he walked, he pricked up his ears, catching various pieces of information around him.

“Have you heard? Wanbao Tower is holding a grand auction soon. It’s supposedly for the Tower Master's centennial birthday banquet, and they’re bringing out all their hidden treasures!”

“Tch, no matter how good the treasures are, I can't afford them. I heard something else—a ruthless guy appeared over in the White Jade Immortal State, calling himself part of some Demon Suppression Division. In one night, he wiped out the Wang, Li, and Zhao families, and even the Golden Immortal rank Demon Lord Xuetu was killed with a single sword strike!”

“You're bragging, right? Slaying a Golden Immortal in one strike? Who do you think he is, an Immortal King descended to earth?”

“Believe it or not, but the entire White Jade Immortal State is in an uproar. Everyone is trying to find out where that madman named ‘Lin Feng’ came from.”

Hearing his own name, the corner of Lin Feng's mouth curled up slightly where no one could see. Good; the bigger the commotion, the more pressure there would be on Immortal Lord Seven Luminaries.

Just then, a stall owner as thin as a skeleton with deep-set eyes blocked his path. On the ragged cloth in front of him lay a few pitch-black bones and some rust-covered fragments.

“Fellow Daoist, stay a moment!” The stall owner's voice was as raspy as two pieces of sandpaper rubbing together. “I see your aura is steady and your gaze is like lightning; you must be someone who knows his goods! I have treasures here freshly dug from an ancient Immortal tomb. This finger bone is a genuine Golden Immortal finger bone, and it even contains a trace of the Law of Immortality! For just thirty thousand Immortal Crystals, Fellow Daoist, your Opportunity has arrived!”

Lin Feng only gave him a faint glance. That gaze was cold, hollow, and devoid of any human emotion, as if looking at a stone by the road. The skeletal stall owner felt his heart go numb from that single look, feeling as though he were being stared down by a primordial Vicious Beast. His back was instantly drenched in cold sweat, and he sheepishly withdrew his hand, not daring to say another word.

Lin Feng ignored him and continued forward. His gaze had long been drawn to the building in the distance that stood in the center of the Ghost Market like a stabilizing pillar.

It was a black-gold pagoda a thousand zhang high, like a giant pillar supporting the heavens, rising from the center of this underground cave straight toward the invisible ceiling. The tower's body shimmered with light, and countless powerful Immortal runes flowed slowly, emitting an inviolable majesty.

Wanbao Tower.

Without needing to ask, Lin Feng knew that it was surely the center of the Tianlan Ghost Market and the location of the auction mentioned on the [Heavenly Demon General Headquarters] token.

His goal was clear.

He withdrew his gaze and, blending into the bizarre crowd, walked step by step toward that black-gold pagoda representing wealth and power. His figure was like a ghost, silent yet carrying a purpose sufficient to subvert everything, merging into the shadows of this City of Sin.