Chapter 105: The Great Dragon Forces a Gathering: The Chaos of Qingyang Market

At night, the moon shone bright, the stars sparse.

Qin Ming left Qingyang Market and rode a spiritual light shuttle toward a destination.

About an hour later.

He arrived at the base of a cliff and extended his spiritual sense to carefully scan the area.

Moments later.

Qin Ming spotted a faint mark on a nearby rock face.

“This must be the place.”

He clenched his fist and slammed it into the rock wall.

Boom! A two-zhang-high entrance appeared before Qin Ming.

This was the “feng shui treasure spot” Feng Yuan had told him about before leaving.

Truth be told, if not for Feng Yuan’s tip, no ordinary person would ever find this place.

According to Feng Yuan’s final account, this cave had been discovered long ago by him and his brother while hunting demonic beasts.

Qin Ming cautiously swept his spiritual sense through the cave and found no anomalies, then stepped inside.

He walked several hundred zhang along the passage until he reached the cave’s innermost chamber, where he found a skeleton seated motionless on a stone slab.

Qin Ming approached and examined it closely, then let out a deep sigh: “Ah! Fellow Daoist Feng.”

The corpse’s owner was unquestionably Feng Yuan.

Beside the body lay the dragon-shaped token and the yellow map.

Qin Ming reached out and gently summoned them; both items landed in his palm.

He first examined the token, discovering that when infused with magic power, it emitted a golden light screen accompanied by a dragon’s roar.

Then.

He unfolded the map and studied it carefully.

The moment he did, Qin Ming felt a strange sense of familiarity—the material of this map seemed familiar.

Suddenly!

A flash of insight struck him—he remembered!

Qin Ming slapped his storage bag and pulled out the beast hide inscribed with the “Hundred Treasures Glass Scripture.”

Upon comparison.

He was stunned to find the material identical to that of the map. At that very moment,

The two beast hides merged together, and a string of red dotted lines gradually glowed, pointing to a specific location within the ancient ruins.

And clearly marked a safe, swift route.

“This ruin has two entrances!”

“If so, when the ruins open, I might sneak in unnoticed.”

Qin Ming had originally intended to avoid the ruins entirely, but since they concerned his primary body-cultivation technique, he wavered.

Moreover, the beast hide indicated this map was the only one of its kind—meaning only he knew this hidden path.

Qin Ming put both items away.

He spoke to Feng Yuan’s remains: “Fellow Daoist Feng, I will fulfill my promise to you.”

“I’ve already killed two core disciples of Lingyu Gate. Taking these two items isn’t unearned.”

“Rest in peace.”

With that,

Qin Ming stepped out of the cave and sealed the entrance with a spell.

…

An hour later.

Qin Ming returned near Qingyang Market.

He gazed ahead, a faint smile curling his lips.

In his mind sea, a green [Dark Illusion] word-leaf lay still.

It had recently been refreshed by new black fruits on the black vine, which he had accelerated to maturity.

When used, this [Dark Illusion] word-leaf consumes plant essence to create a phantom with any form and mobility, lasting roughly one incense stick’s burn.

Qin Ming mentally tapped the word-leaf.

Instantly,

Tiny green lights appeared beside him, flickering like fireflies.

Qin Ming knew these were plant essence; he mentally pictured Elder Gu’s appearance.

Immediately,

The plant essence shifted and transformed into Elder Gu’s likeness.

Lifelike, nearly indistinguishable from the real thing.

Yet the phantom lacked vitality, appearing stiff. But for Qin Ming now, it was sufficient.

Qin Ming infused a trace of magic power into the “Elder Gu” and gave an order.

Then he placed the dragon-shaped token in the “Elder Gu’s” hand and instructed: “Go.”

The [Dark Illusion] phantom of Elder Gu nodded mechanically, took the dragon-shaped token, and flew toward Qingyang Market.

Qin Ming watched the “Elder Gu” depart and murmured with amusement: “Elder Gu, you’ll be the one to start this gathering.”

He landed on a hilltop and quietly observed Qingyang Market from afar.

Tonight, sleep would not come.

…

The “Elder Gu” soon landed before Qingyang Market’s archway.

Lingyu Gate’s guards, seeing it was Elder Gu, immediately bowed and let him pass.

The “Elder Gu” nodded and entered Qingyang Market.

One guard scratched his head, puzzled: “Why does Elder Gu seem strange today?”

“What’s strange?” asked the other guard.

“I can’t quite say.”

After entering the market, the “Elder Gu” turned from the main road into an alley and pulled out the dragon-shaped token.

At this moment, the token—perhaps sensing other tokens within the market—began to resonate, drawn to them.

It buzzed and trembled.

The “Elder Gu” wasted no time; he leapt into the air and hurled the dragon-shaped token toward the center of the market.

Roar! In an instant, a dragon’s roar echoed throughout Qingyang Market.

Above the market’s center, a golden light screen manifested the shadow of a colossal dragon.

As if summoning the other tokens.

Having done this, the “Elder Gu” descended back into the alley and dissolved into flickering green sparks, vanishing.

“Look!”

“It’s the last dragon token!”

“It’s finally appeared!”

“Don’t you dare compete with me!”

In that moment, countless figures in Qingyang Market leapt into the air toward the floating dragon token.

Chaos erupted instantly. Cultivators from major sects and all manner of rogue factions turned bloodshot with greed.

The previously unspoken standoff collapsed in an instant.

The sudden appearance of this final dragon token

Was like a fuse—igniting the long-stagnant tensions between all factions.

“Brothers! What are you waiting for?”

“Our chance is here! Zero spirit stones! Foundation Establishment lies before us!”

Taking advantage of the sects and clans fighting over the token, hidden bandit cultivators among the crowd shed their disguises and began looting and killing within the market.

Boom! Lingyu Gate’s second-rank “Water Curtain Heaven Blue Array” activated fully—a blue light barrier enveloped the entire Qingyang Market like a dome.

From above, powerful spells rained down, striking the rioting cultivators, forcefully suppressing the chaos.

Boom! Crackling!

A greater explosion came from the direction of Lingyu Gate’s Mingzhen Tower.

Amidst it, the clashing of magic treasures could be heard.

Suddenly, another thunderous crash— the nine-story Mingzhen Tower collapsed entirely into rubble.

Qin Ming, watching from afar, was stunned, his scalp prickling.

From the ruins, several light trails shot upward.

Leading them was none other than Lingyu Gate’s Foundation Establishment Elder, Zheng Qingran.

He had been on duty guarding Qingyang Market and never expected such a cataclysm mere days after arriving.

“Lady Baihua, Linghu Qing—what do you mean?”

“Are you declaring war on Lingyu Gate?”

Elder Zheng Qingran’s face flushed with rage, blood spurting from his chest—he had clearly been wounded in the earlier battle.

The Hundred Flowers Sect’s Hundred Flowers Holy Maiden, her face veiled in a light pink gauze, smiled like a blooming flower as she channelled magic power to project her voice across the entire marketplace: “All factions, listen well!”

“Jinyun Valley and Lingyu Gate harbor ill intentions; the Upper Sect has ordered all factions to unite and destroy them!”

“Jinyun Valley has just been eradicated by the Upper Sect; now only Lingyu Gate remains!”

Inside the marketplace.

In a weaponsmith’s shop, an elderly man with white hair stared in shock at the sudden upheaval outside the window: “The heavens are changing.”

(End of Chapter)