Chapter 282: Days When the Immortal Is Absent

In the next half month, the underground black market of Heavenly Pivot Eleven City welcomed a new king who acted extremely flamboyantly.

A Qi completely threw the cultivation task left by Gu Xuan Ce behind his back.

He took off the oil‑ and acid‑rain‑stained ragged waterproof cloth and put on a high‑grade synthetic‑fiber suit smuggled from the Upper City District.

His formerly messy hair was combed to perfection, and his wrist bore an expensive mechanical watch inlaid with a micro energy array.

Power and wealth are the best filters on the wasteland.

He frequented the black market's most luxurious pleasure dens, always surrounded by a gang of flattering gang leaders.

Those low‑level thugs who once wouldn't even give him a glance.

Now, in order to secure a position in the Ancient Immortal Sect, they would practically kneel to lick his shoes.

The women equipped with high‑end charm prosthetics went even further, trying every way to win his favor.

But he wasn't interested in any of it.

He still preferred the most primitive kind of woman.

This seemed to be the point that set him apart from people like them.

He, is a cultivator.

He is someone the Immortal took a liking to.

A Qi was lost.

He felt that this was what life was really about.

Isn't the power given by the Immortal meant for enjoying these things?

Soaking every day in stinking medicinal broth and practicing those boring fist techniques is simply a waste of life.

Iron Butcher watched all this in silence, saying nothing.

He daily reported accounts in order, handled the aftermath of gang fights, never mentioned A Qi's absurd behavior, merely kept records and piled them aside.

Having lived decades, Iron Butcher knew all too well the nature of such newly rich low‑lifers.

The higher you climb, the harder you fall.

He only needed to wait patiently for this kid to play himself to death.

But he also didn't quite understand.

Since the Immortal chose him as an agent, why leave him unchecked, letting him act as he pleases?

Or… in the Immortal's eyes, A Qi just isn't that important?

He didn't understand.

So he simply stopped thinking about it.

As long as he did what the Immortal entrusted him with, he would reap benefits.

This point, Iron Butcher, who wielded great power within him, understood best.

……

……

One late night.

In the black market's core district stood a top‑tier underground club called "Night Capital".

Neon lights flickered, heavy‑metal music deafened the ears.

A Qi leaned on a luxurious leather sofa, his arms around two voluptuous women.

The table was laden with expensive synthetic liquor and invigorating potions.

Several minor gang leaders affiliated with the Ancient Immortal Sect held up their glasses, queued to toast him, spouting nauseating flattery.

"Sect Leader, wise and mighty, uniting the black market for eternity!"

A Qi laughed loudly and drained the cup in one gulp.

He loved the feeling of being looked up to by everyone.

When it came time to settle the bill, the club's attendant respectfully presented the check.

Fifty thousand credit points.

That amount of money meant nothing to the current Ancient Immortal Sect, but A Qi was dead drunk, his mind already fuzzy.

He patted his pockets and realized he hadn't brought that anonymous credit crystal.

Seeing this, the nearby gang leader hurriedly produced his own credit crystal to pay the bill.

"Get lost."

A Qi shoved the gang leader away, feeling that the man had slapped his face.

He, the dignified Sect Leader of the Ancient Immortal Sect, did he need someone else to foot the bill while out having fun?

He fumbled in his bosom for a while, drunk, then pulled out something and slammed it hard onto the crystal tabletop.

"Take this for the bill. No change needed." A Qi slurred.

It was a thumb‑sized stone.

Its surface was somewhat dull, but at its core a soft white glow flickered.

It was exactly the half of a high‑grade spirit stone that Gu Yuan had originally tossed to him.

That half‑spirit stone, A Qi had always kept hidden close to his body.

He knew it was worth a fortune, and normally he wouldn't dare to even take it out for a glance.

But tonight, alcohol numbed his reason, and vanity completely took over.

He just wanted to see how these country bumpkins would react, stunned at the sight of a real treasure.

The attendant froze; he had no idea what it was.

Just then, the club manager, having heard the commotion, rushed over.

The manager is a semi-mechanical person equipped with a high-precision appraisal mechanical eye, specializing in evaluating transactions settled with black-market goods.

He walked to the table, and the red light in his mechanical eye swept over the half piece of spirit stone.

Drip—

The appraisal mechanical eye emitted a sharp error tone.

The manager's expression changed slightly; he immediately increased the scanning power of his mechanical eye.

Within his field of view, a string of data cascaded down like a waterfall.

【Warning: Detected ultra-high-purity spirit qi aggregate.】

【No crystal core interface detected, no artificial compression traces found.】

【Energy level assessment: Rank 4.】

The manager sucked in a breath of cold air, his mechanical heart pounding wildly, nearly overloading.

Rank 4 spirit qi is nothing.

At the auction in the Upper City District, he had once been fortunate enough to personally observe top-grade crystal cores of rank five and even six.

But you should know, the object before him is not any kind of spirit qi carrier he knows!

The manager locked his gaze onto that half stone, frantically rummaging through the dusty database in his mind.

Suddenly, a term that exists only in historical crystal cores came to mind!

Natural spirit stone!

That was, before the Four Great Conglomerates launched the Purification Agreement three thousand years ago, a cultivation resource exclusively enjoyed by the "Old Era Immortals," defined as planetary cancer.

Such a thing should have long been completely eradicated from this planet with the establishment of the Stellar River Spirit Convergence Matrix.

The manager's fingertip trembled uncontrollably.

He knew all too well the weight of that half stone.

Though the total energy of rank 4 might only be enough to forge a Nascent Soul, for the conglomerates' ancients, it would be enough to push their stagnant cultivation forward another step.

Its value cannot be measured in credit points.

The manager is a smart person.

He forcibly suppressed his shock, put on a professional smile, and lifted the half spirit stone with both hands.

"The sect master's generosity is immense; this collateral is of extremely high value, so all your consumption tonight in Night Capital is on the house."

A Qi nodded happily, holding a top-grade spirit stone, arm around a woman as they staggered out of the club.

Watching A Qi's back disappear down the passage, the manager's smile vanished instantly.

He quickly entered the encrypted communications room behind the club, locked the door, and activated the anti-eavesdropping array.

Not long after,

the communication was automatically answered.

Treasures above rank six, especially those related to immortals, are beyond what a lowly manager like him can handle.

At the moment the mechanical eye finished scanning,

Any matter concerning spirit stones will be automatically reported… automatically linked to Heavenly Pivot Eleven City, into the hands of the true leader.

That is, the Four Great Conglomerates' four stewards among them.