Chapter 209: Taiyuehu Secret Realm

Hearing Song Qingming ask her about the time for the secret realm to open, Xu Cheng Ziyan was stunned for a moment before shaking her head slightly.

"The specific opening time of the Taiyuehu Secret Realm is only known to the sect uncle leading the team this time. I am not clear about it either. According to what a fellow sect sister who came with me said, the cultivators from the Lingyin Sect of the Lu State and the Xingchen Sect of the Wu Guo have not arrived yet. It is estimated that it will take a few more days."

"So that's how it is. This junior knows very little about the secret realm. Many thanks to Fellow Daoist Xu for the reminder."

Next, Song Qingming and Xu Cheng Ziyan chatted for a while longer in the restaurant about the secret realm, until Xu Cheng Ziyan received a sound transmission from a fellow sect member, and the two then parted ways.

After seeing Xu Cheng Ziyan off, Song Qingming saw that it was still early and planned to take this opportunity to walk around the market. He had been in the Taiyuehu Market for several days and had been staying with the Huang family, never coming out to walk around.

The Taiyuehu Market was located in the southeast of the Wei State. Although it was not as large as the Yangshan Market, its daily prosperity was not much different from the Guiyun Market in the north.

Recently, because the secret realm was about to open, many Foundation Establishment cultivators had moved into the market, which had increased the popularity here quite a bit. The merchants in the market also seized this opportunity to take out all the second-tier spirit items that had been piled up in their shops for decades.

This market was located on the edge of Taiyuehu, and Taiyuehu was a huge lake stretching for thousands of miles, producing water-attribute demon beasts and spirit items. Therefore, most of the things in the market nearby were water-attribute.

Song Qingming wandered around the market for a long time and saw many spirit items he had never seen before. Although these things could not be considered precious here, they were very rare in the northern region of the Wei State.

It was rare to come here once, so Song Qingming also took the initiative to purchase some. These water-attribute spirit items were very beneficial to the cultivators in the clan who cultivated water-attribute techniques. After returning, he would put them directly into the Hidden Gold Pavilion for them to exchange freely. It was beneficial to them, and he could also earn some errand fees, which could be considered killing two birds with one stone.

Ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators might disdain doing such things for the sake of face, but Song Qingming was happy to do so. Having finally come out once, he did not want to go back so soon.

While wandering, Song Qingming unexpectedly saw a second-tier water-attribute technique classic for sale in a shop. Although this technique was marked at 1,400 spirit stones, which was not cheap, Song Qingming still happily put it into his pocket.

Second-tier or higher technique classics were rarely seen for sale even in larger markets, not to mention the relatively rare water-attribute techniques. Song Qingming had seen ordinary second-tier techniques auctioned a few times at the Tiandan Alliance auction before, but they were raised to a price he could not accept, so he did not put his heart into competing for them.

This technique was called "Wave-Breaking Technique" and could be cultivated to the ninth layer of Foundation Establishment. It was considered quite good among second-tier techniques. If Qingyu could successfully reach Foundation Establishment in the future, she could just happen to switch to cultivating this technique.

After the sun set, Song Qingming returned to the inn satisfied. Seeing that the few Huang family cultivators were still in their respective rooms, he did not take the initiative to disturb them and returned to his own room alone.

According to Xu Cheng Ziyan, every time the secret realm opened, sects around the Wei State would also send cultivators to come. Although this secret realm was located within the Xiaoyao Sect's territory, many years ago, in order to obtain control of this secret realm, cultivators from the Wei State and several surrounding countries fought several fierce battles. After nearly a hundred years of chaotic fighting, the Xiaoyao Sect finally had to make some concessions. When the secret realm opened, it allowed cultivators from surrounding countries to enter and share this secret realm.

Besides the Wei State, there were also the Wu Guo to the east, and the Lu State and Shangyang State to the south, all of which had Nascent Soul sects internally. They would also send elite sect cultivators to enter the secret realm. As the host, the Xiaoyao Sect controlled the teleportation array at the main entrance to the secret realm. Every time the secret realm opened, besides the Xiaoyao Sect's own cultivators, others who wanted to enter the secret realm had to pay some spirit stones to the Xiaoyao Sect. Relying on this alone, every time the secret realm opened, the Xiaoyao Sect could earn at least tens of thousands of spirit stones in income.

On a desolate island in the lake a hundred miles away from the Taiyuehu Market, Hearing Huo Feng, dressed in red, sat motionless with her eyes closed on a large rock half-submerged in the water.

Not far away, several Qi Refining-stage yellow fish demons were swimming slowly in the water, looking greedily at her, who was motionless on the rock. But as soon as these little demons approached the boulder, they felt a strange force in the nearby space pushing them away. They were never able to get too close to the boulder and could only circle around it.

Suddenly, these fish demons felt a powerful force approaching rapidly, and they all plunged into the deep water in terror, fleeing the place quickly.

Before long, bubbles began to bulge on the water surface in front of the boulder. After the water surface rolled for a while, a black monster fish more than ten feet tall slowly emerged from the water. The monster fish took a look at the small figure of Hearing Huo Feng sitting on the rock by the water, moved its huge head, and said softly: "Our Iron Wall Great King said that place can be lent to you one more time, but only this once. Next time you want to enter, please think of another way yourself; don't come to find us."

The voice emitted by the monster fish was very delicate, like a woman's, which, combined with its huge body, appeared extremely strange.

"I understand. After going back, please thank your Great King for me." Hearing this, Hearing Huo Feng quickly opened her eyes and nodded. After speaking, she threw a golden spirit fruit to the monster fish that had spoken to her earlier.

The monster fish took the golden spirit fruit, wagged its tail happily, and slowly submerged back into the water. Before long, the water surface returned to its previous calm.

If any nearby cultivators had seen the monster fish talking to Hearing Huo Feng just now, they would surely have been shocked. This strangely shaped demon beast was a famous Jin Dan late-stage Great Demon King in Taiyuehu. A Demon King who did not easily appear on weekdays actually appeared so close to the market, which was enough to cause shock to the Xiaoyao Sect.

In Taiyuehu, there were two Nascent Soul-level Demon Emperors. The Iron Wall Demon Emperor near the Wei State side had a relatively gentle temperament and basically stayed in his water mansion to cultivate. His subordinates, the Demon Kings, also rarely had conflicts with human cultivators, which was the reason why the southeast border of the Wei State had been stable for thousands of years.

The Xiaoyao Sect's development on the Taiyuehu side was also very conservative, forbidding cultivators below from penetrating deep into the lake to hunt high-tier demon beasts, so as not to anger the Demon Kings in the lake. Even in such an important place as the Taiyuehu Market, they did not arrange for a Jin Dan cultivator to guard it.

After the monster fish disappeared, a red light suddenly lit up on Hearing Huo Feng's body. As flames constantly emerged from her body, the surrounding lake water also began to boil. Hearing Huo Feng's eyes, which were already glowing with crimson flames, looked into the distance before turning into a crimson flame and leaving the desolate island.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 210 =====