Chapter 245

Qu Yanping stepped out of the vehicle and walked directly toward a certain direction of Dongtinghu; he sensed a zone teeming with cultivators there, while all ordinary people lingered on the opposite side, forming a clear boundary.

It was said that illusions drove away ordinary people.

He carried a black shoulder bag and wore a white baseball cap; no one could guess that this clean-cut man, head lowered as he looked at his phone, was actually a demonic cultivator from another world.

But after only a few steps, he stopped—more than that, all vehicles, pedestrians, fish leaping from the lake, and sparrows startled into midair froze motionless; the world fell utterly silent, not even the sound of breathing or wind remained.

Time was stopped again, again, again, again, again, again, again!

Qu Yanping was numb—he encountered time stopping several times daily; without his Tianmu Divine Skill, he wouldn't even know what was happening.

At first, he thought the cultivator named Zui Ri had obtained a Heavenly Dao artifact and was using it daily, but on the third day, within his perception range, a man dressed in a black evening gown, holding a strange staff, summoned a complete, ancient, weathered clock phantom.

When the clock's hands stopped, the world froze; the man elegantly and calmly slaughtered one black-robed figure after another, even killing surrounding cultivators, then took a photograph from a fallen box and vanished.

After breaking through to Jin Dan on the fifth day, his perception range expanded—he discovered, on an elevated highway in a neighboring city, under a misty, rainy night, a youth with golden eyes wielding a long blade, locked in combat with a golden-masked man on an eight-legged divine steed, holding a curved spear, within the frozen time.

Even within the frozen time, both their speeds were terrifying; each clash sparked with weapon collisions, each strike delivered with absolute intent to kill.

No other spells, no arrays, no divine skills—pure strength and speed clashed, both pouring golden blood; the moment the blood appeared, a pressure surged from the spiritual plane, demanding Qu Yanping kneel and worship.

That time stop lasted a long while; after the golden-eyed youth defeated his opponent, he picked up the curved spear as a trophy and left; Qu Yanping suspected the spear might also be a Heavenly Dao artifact.

Is the law of time in this world really so common?! At least in the Shi Huanyu Realm, he'd heard such power was controlled only by ancient, mysterious immortals—even in folk tales among mortals, only the supreme could wield it—but since arriving in this world, within this nation alone, he'd encountered four beings or objects capable of controlling time.

Is this planet the Dao field of those two? That's why all these great figures are crammed onto this tiny globe?

His Tianmu Divine Skill detected no active entities; now he dared not use it for wide-range scans, fearing he might encounter a cultivator capable of piercing through this skill, so Qu Yanping could only keep thinking of other things to pass the time.

Moments later, time flowed again.

"I must grow stronger quickly," Qu Yanping understood—the peace of this world was an illusion; the cultivator world ordinary people gossiped about was far from tranquil; compared to the Shi Huanyu Realm, where only scattered demonic cultivators like himself existed, the dark side of this world was extremely dangerous.

Add to that the cultivators who randomly exploded themselves.

Even insects cling to life—do these cultivators not value their own lives?

Many righteous cultivators aren't scary; if you don't reveal your demonic identity, they'll only reason with you—even if you're an ordinary person, they'll pretend to reason with you.

But without strong order, it means he's no different from those ordinary people—any day, he might be absorbed and refined by some passing great demon.

Qu Yanping gradually walked into a rarely visited area.

Willow fluff scattered like fine snow, carried by the warm summer breeze, carrying a faint fragrance.

"Of course."

The willow trees here were all inscribed with spells; the weaker the cultivator, the more irresistibly they'd feel the urge to leave this area.

He suppressed his aura as much as possible, deliberately letting a trace of pure spiritual energy leak out, creating the impression of a novice righteous cultivator.

After walking another ten or so steps, the scene shifted—suddenly, it became a bustling small city filled with ancient-style shops and merchants.

"Truly a world within a world," Qu Yanping marveled, but after glancing around, he actually laughed at the scene.

Though separated from ordinary people, these cultivators had imitated mortals by opening businesses; the noisy environment echoed with loudspeakers repeating hawking calls.

Some even played mortal songs and music.

"Disposable flying swords, five spirit stones each, buy ten get one free, buy ten get one free."

"Blade of Fury Slicing Snowwing Eagle—what blade? The Dragon-Slaying Treasure Blade! Enter the shop now and get a Yitian Sword free! Welcome to purchase!"

"Silver-Scaled Breastplate, five gold pieces each."

"Enlightened Buddha Beads—your ultimate choice for averting disaster and crossing tribulations."

"Immortal Leaps Over Wall, Immortal Leaps Over Wall—even immortals leap over walls upon smelling it."

Qu Yanping walked up to a tiny stall, looked at the goods, and asked: "Disposable? Flying swords?"

"Esteemed fellow cultivator, would you like to purchase some disposable flying swords?" The shopkeeper was a small Daoist boy with red lips and white teeth, his cultivation so weak he couldn't even conceal it properly: "Buy ten, get one free."

Qu Yanping picked up one of the so-called "flying swords" from the stall—it was nothing but a piece of wood carved into the shape of a sword; he secretly activated Tianmu to observe.

Acceleration array, solidification array, binding array—huh? Who was so bored as to carve so many arrays onto this?

Some arrays appeared to be of high rank, and each array was exquisitely detailed.

"Only five spirit stones?" Qu Yanping's own Qu Clan was a major merchant guild—he'd seen plenty; this sword, in the Shi Huanyu Realm, could at least serve as a Consumable like a Thunderbolt, likely causing substantial damage.

In the Shi Huanyu Realm, his entire fortune wouldn't buy two of these—this was profit!

"Ten." Qu Yanping pulled out spirit stones; fortunately, this world also used spirit stones as currency.

"Got it, esteemed cultivator, just a moment." The little Daoist boy grinned happily, hastily and skillfully bundled the flying swords from the stall into a storage bag and handed it to Qu Yanping along with the bag.

A storage bag included as a gift? Qu Yanping was baffled—was this benefit too easy?

He turned to leave with the storage bag, when the little Daoist boy suddenly shouted: "Cultivator! Your spirit stones are wrong!"

Qu Yanping turned back and asked: "Little cultivator, what's wrong?"

The boy picked up one spirit stone, sneering: "Why are you trying to fool me with this filthy, impure rock?"

Qu Yanping walked back, paused for a few seconds, then said: "Little cultivator, these spirit stones were given to me by my master before I left—I don't know why they're called rocks."

He subtly portrayed himself as an inexperienced cultivator, shifting blame for the spirit stones onto his "elder."

In truth, he genuinely didn't understand why the boy called his spirit stones rocks; though not top quality, they were the most common type in the Shi Huanyu Realm.

"Did your master hold a grudge against you? Another fresh-out-of-the-cave beginner… I finally get a job, and it turns out to be a clueless rookie." The boy muttered, then pulled a blue stone the size of a brick from his own storage bag: "Look closely—this is a spirit stone!"

Tianyan covered his eyes; a symbol appeared deep within Qu Yanping's vision.

This…?! You call this a spirit stone?!

Intense, concentrated cold spiritual energy compressed into a tiny stone?! This purity is called a spirit stone?! This is pure, unadulterated heaven-and-earth spiritual energy!

But how is this possible? No carrier at all—spiritual energy solidified directly, and the quantity is terrifying—he didn't even have this much in his entire fortune!

Five of these for one flying sword? Ten swords would be fifty?! Are you robbing me?!

Seeing Qu Yanping's stunned expression, the little Daoist sighed: "First time I've seen someone trick their own disciple with mortal jade—cultivator, you're really pitiful."

Mortal… jade?

Qu Yanping took a deep breath, returned the storage bag containing the flying swords, and politely said: "My apologies, little cultivator—I'm afraid I can't afford these flying swords."

In the past, if he had this many Spirit Stones, he could have directly bought heavenly treasures and medicinal herbs from his clan's auction house, and even piled them up to force himself into cultivation—why would he ever become a demonic cultivator!

He didn't know if this young Taoist acolyte was extorting him, but since he understood nothing at this point, it was better to go along with the other's demands.

"Forget it, forget it—ignorance is no crime," the young Taoist acolyte said, not blaming Qu Yanping, only giving him a pitying glance: "Having a teacher like that must be exhausting. I'm the same—total unlucky bastard."

Qu Yanping offered a forced, non-polite smile, tucked away his 'Spirit Stones,' and bowed to take his leave.

"Wait," the young Taoist acolyte tossed him an object: "Take it."

Qu Yanping's eyes widened—he had just given him that lump of Spirit Stone, densely packed with spiritual energy?!

"Out in the world, a single coin can make a hero," the young Taoist acolyte said, reclining in his chair and waving his hand: "Take this Spirit Stone. At least you can buy a fruit when you're hungry. Come back when you've got money. If all else fails, get a job at a forging factory—I hear Ye Zhetian Premium Processing Plant isn't bad. Thirty Spirit Stones a month. Think about it."

Qu Yanping stared blankly at the Spirit Stone in his hand for several seconds, then said: "Thank you, fellow cultivator."

The other nodded, pulled out a cellphone from his pocket, and stopped looking this way.

As he walked, Qu Yanping began doubting his entire past life—here, cultivators called this Spirit Stone, but called my Spirit Stones mere stones?

Mortal jade stones are all this kind of thing.

And a real Spirit Stone? They just hand them out casually.

"Hah."

At this moment, Qu Yanping wondered if even beggars on the street were richer than him—maybe he should just quit being a demonic cultivator and get a factory job.

For a moment, Qu Yanping forgot why he had come here. When he snapped back to awareness, he had already reached a crowded area, where the density of cultivators was even higher than where he had first entered.

Why were all these cultivators walking in the same direction? Qu Yanping felt puzzled.

"Fellow cultivators, save the child! One Spirit Stone—just one Spirit Stone—and I can buy the Black Jade Ultimate Pill, and change my life!" At the edge of the crowd, a disheveled cultivator knelt on the ground, ragged robes torn, his silver bowl filled with over a dozen Spirit Stones.

Qu Yanping: "..."

He stepped forward and saw dozens of characters carved into the ground before the cultivator—all etched with sword qi.

【Talented since age three, power mysteriously regressed at seven, rejected by fiancée at ten, childhood sweetheart taken away at fifteen, elder brother changed in nature and slaughtered the entire clan at seventeen, received aid from a divine physician at twenty and resumed cultivation, entered...】

Seeing Qu Yanping approach, the cultivator raised his bowl with hope, his eyes fixed firmly on the Spirit Stone in Qu Yanping's hand.

"Brother, you're not seriously going to give him a Spirit Stone, are you?" A flippant voice came from behind: "He's got less than ten minutes left—he'll use that Spirit Stone to place a bet."

"Bet?" Qu Yanping turned around. A cultivator in blue Taoist robes, whose face clearly radiated 'goodness,' spoke: "Fellow cultivator, please enlighten me—what bet?"

He had heard the young Taoist acolyte mention a "bet on the Wonder Contest," but had forgotten to ask for details.

"You don't know about the Wonder Contest?" the blue-robed cultivator said: "Full name: The Heavenly Dao Wonder Contest. Whoever wins takes home this year's Heavenly Dao Wonder as prize. Every cultivator knows this, right?"

"I've only just emerged into the world. I've heard of Heavenly Dao Wonders, but I truly don't know about this contest—please forgive my ignorance," Qu Yanping said, forcing back his shock—he hadn't imagined they'd even put a Heavenly Dao Wonder up as a prize. What kind of world was this?

"No wonder," the blue-robed cultivator said, suddenly understanding, and bowed: "I am Gao Sheng. May I ask your name, brother?"

"Qu Liyu," Qu Yanping replied with a random false name.

"Brother Qu," Gao Sheng smiled: "Interested in watching today's contest together?"

He seemed genuinely kind-hearted. Since he had invited, joining him wouldn't hurt—perfect chance to make an acquaintance and gather some information.

"Then I'd be grateful if Brother Gao could explain it to me," Qu Yanping said with a gentle smile.

(End of Chapter)