Chapter 29: Crab Matriarch, the Embryonic Form of Future Vision (Seeking monthly tickets, seeking follow-up reads)

The Five-Fiend Dharma Assembly is divided into the Front Street, Middle Street, and Inner Market; the location determines the cost of setting up a stall.

The Front Street mostly consists of plants, stones, and the like excavated from Disease Domains; they possess extraordinary properties, but not many.

Jiang Yan took a few glances, then quickened his pace to enter the Middle Street, where all kinds of extraordinary goods became increasingly abundant, and quite a few creatures from Disease Domains appeared.

Noisy cries of hawking and haggling reached his ears:

"Come take a look at the 'Qi' I just caught from a desolate Grade-A Disease Domain! Don't miss out as you pass by. Don't let its snake-like appearance fool you; it has one head and two bodies.

Carry it on your person and call its name, and you can walk on water as if on flat ground, easily exploring treasures sunken in the deep sea. You might just find a relic of the Old Record grade, reach the pinnacle of life, and marry a noble lady from a great family."

Jiang Yan looked over and could see a stall owner wearing a straw raincoat standing next to a human-height special glass tank, inside which a peculiar, ink-green, two-bodied small snake was swimming rapidly.

"I have twenty bones of plague refugees just obtained from a desolate Grade-B Disease Domain. These are rare goods that you might not even get one of after killing a hundred refugee shadows. Quantities are limited, first come, first served.

There are other good items, too; History Walkers skilled in poison refining can talk to me for details."

A tall, thin stall owner nearby was also enthusiastically hawking, holding up ink-green withered bones that emitted a faint, eerie glow.

However, the stall with the most onlookers was one selling crabs.

Each crab was as big as a basketball, carrying a stone shell covered in moss, with their claws and legs bound, bellies facing the sky, constantly spitting foam.

The stall owner introduced them: "These are stone crabs produced by a Dao Foundation realm Crab Matriarch. Not only is the meat delicious, but it can increase the cultivation speed of water-attribute cultivation methods."

"Is it authentic? It doesn't look much different from an ordinary black stone crab," someone asked curiously.

The stall owner patted his chest and guaranteed: "Of course it's real. I watched her give birth to them with my own eyes."

"Pfft, seeing how confident you are, I thought you were the one who sired them with her."

"Get lost!"

As the words fell, the surrounding crowd burst into laughter.

"Interesting!"

Jiang Yan also smiled.

"Master, are these things very good? I will work hard to earn money to buy them for you in the future."

The Coffin Spirit hid in his pocket, communicating through the connection between the offspring and the Demon God embryo.

It had seen how its master had been worrying about money every day recently.

It swore to work hard to solve problems for its master.

Jiang Yan laughed heartily upon hearing this and said: "Haha, I accept your sentiment, but compared to these things, the mouths of the stall owners are even more formidable; they can talk the dead into living."

The Coffin Spirit asked suspiciously: "Are they selling fakes?"

"That's not exactly it."

Jiang Yan shook his head slightly and explained: "Zhao Yinman's notes mentioned that a 'Qi' can indeed allow one to breathe underwater, but that is its only function. It's fine for catching fish and shrimp in a river, but in the sea... there are surging undercurrents.

One careless move and you'll be swept away; furthermore, if you dive too deep, the water pressure alone could crush a person into meat paste.

Most importantly, the life-lamp of that 'Qi' is almost burnt out. It's the same trick as a black-hearted pet shop—force-feeding it medicine to make it look energetic. If you buy it, it will most likely become... well, a 'one-week monster'."

"As for the stone crabs, they are real, and the effects aren't a lie, but a Crab Matriarch is a demon with a strong sense of vengeance. It will hunt down those who ate its children to the ends of the earth.

The stall owner isn't strong himself, yet he managed to get these stone crabs, which means he likely picked them up as a bargain or used some method to kill the Crab Matriarch sneakily. But he didn't annihilate its soul, causing thick resentment to cling to them. Eating them rashly is likely to cause nightmares, affect the spirit, and form a 'Nightmare Suppression'."

Speaking of this, Jiang Yan felt the benefits of a powerful soul even more; not only could he see through illusions, but he could also achieve the state of 'the cicada sensing the autumn wind before it stirs'.

Otherwise, even with Zhao Yinman's notes filling the gaps in his extraordinary knowledge, he would have fallen into quite a few traps today.

If he keeps improving like this, he might really be able to master future vision.

"Humans are truly too insidious."

The Coffin Spirit was greatly shocked; the tricks in human society were too deep.

It must become more insidious than them to protect its master well!

Jiang Yan smiled, looked around, and continued to search for what he needed.

To deal with the upcoming Disease Domain, he analyzed his strengths and weaknesses.

With the [Vajra Dakini Tummo Seal], he didn't need to consider defensive measures, and for offensive means, he had the Sanskrit Sword and Buddha Armor.

What he lacked were some special abilities and means to instantly boost his combat power; even if it meant paying a certain price, he could accept it.

As a trump card for survival.

If there were none, he would look for special skills to temper the internal organs, especially the liver.

If there were none of those either, he would consider extraordinary corpses filled with extraordinary spirituality, which could be used to grow better spiritual rice or be buried for the Coffin Spirit to enhance its strength.

The reason he didn't buy everything was, of course, because...

Poverty.

If he had money, he would have even bought that 'Qi' to gain the ability to breathe underwater.

Having more skills is never a burden.

Unfortunately, the Middle Street area is too large, and the quality of goods is uneven. Compared to the Inner Market, which requires an entry fee and is guaranteed by the Five-Fiend Assembly, it is an extreme test of one's eye for quality.

He had thought that having the Lamp of Ashes would help him avoid traps, but he discovered...

There were traps everywhere.

After searching for a long time without finding satisfactory materials, Jiang Yan felt somewhat disappointed.

"Sure enough, picking up bargains in novels requires heaven-defying luck."

"If it really doesn't work out, I'll have to ask Old Ba to advance this year's salary and go to the Inner Market to see the situation."

Just as Jiang Yan was pondering, a little girl wearing ancient-style clothing embroidered with the "Five-Fiend Dharma Assembly" pattern darted out from the crowd.

She wore her hair in two buns and was dressed in a ru-skirt with the Five-Fiend Dharma Assembly mark. She looked sweet and cute, came to Jiang Yan's side, and said with a grin:

"Big brother, this should be your first time at the Five-Fiend Dharma Assembly, right?"

Although it was a question, her tone was certain.

Jiang Yan asked with interest: "How did you tell?"

The little girl puffed out her chest and said proudly:

"Because those who come often head straight to the areas they need and won't stay in one place for too long. After all, there are too many old foxes on Middle Street; playing mind games with them is a pure waste of time, and they only sell goods that haven't been sold for months.

Only newcomers look around everywhere, taking a look and a peek at everything, feeling that it's all very fresh.

Actually, it's normal. Although the Five-Fiend Dharma Assembly is good, there are too many stalls and the items are too mixed, making it easy to get dazzled and very troublesome to find things. At times like this, you need me—the gold-medal shopping companion who knows this place like the back of her hand—Ningning."

Jiang Yan asked: "Are you with the Five-Fiend Dharma Assembly?"

"Not yet."

Ningning shook her head and said: "But my dad is an extraordinary who can control the Five-Fiend Horses. He is responsible for picking up, dropping off, and protecting the safety of guests. He's very amazing."

When introducing her father, Ningning's eyes were shining.

"He is indeed very amazing."

Jiang Yan nodded in praise, not being perfunctory just because the other party was a child.

His own father used to be a mason, and his mother was a self-taught hairdresser, earning money to supplement the household expenses.

Relying on one's own hard work to earn money is worthy of respect.

Ningning said with a grin: "Dad says my talent is average and I'm not suited to be a History Walker; it's too dangerous. But I can get first place every time at school, relying on this unyielding spirit, so I take advantage of my free time after finishing homework to work part-time and save money.

When I grow up, I'll buy suitable extraordinary materials to awaken my spirituality and become a History Walker as amazing as my dad.

Big brother, strong people like you spend money like water because of your formidable strength. Unlike us, because we have no money, we have to be calculating about everything we buy, so we are good at haggling.

Hiring me only costs five hundred an hour; I'm just earning a little money that leaks through your fingers."

While speaking, Ningning even made a gesture of rubbing her thumb and index finger together, her expression exaggerated but not annoying.

Jiang Yan was also amused. He roughly explained his requirements and said:

"If you can find materials that meet these conditions, I will pay you double."

"Special demon corpses? And the price has to be cheap? The conditions aren't simple, but... it won't stump me. It's just that the shop is in the Inner Market, and the extraordinary organs might be partially damaged. Can you accept that, big brother?"

"I can." Jiang Yan nodded in agreement.

Others need to extract extraordinary organs to refine various items, and once damaged, their value drops significantly.

His Demon God embryo isn't that delicate; as long as there is a part of the body containing extraordinary spirituality, it can be gestated into offspring.

Seeking monthly tickets, seeking follow-up reads.

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(End of chapter)