CHAPTER 138: NUMBER 9 QING SHAN MARKETPLACE AGAIN

In truth, Li Ling had better options. He could always head to a War of Conquest and fight Demon Beasts endlessly to raise his Slaughter Points, but he couldn’t be bothered with such low gains.

He could also head to those chaotic pseudo-regions where the law of the jungle was the motto, as there were no rules, none from demonic sects nor righteous sects, where killing and rape even happened live on the streets.

There were many smarter and wiser options, but he chose the Qing Shan Sect just out of pettiness and to test his survivability within a controlled area.

It was that simple.

The Path Lord in charge of the array nodded and searched through the directory, because the Qing Shan Sect that had once been the sky above Li Ling’s head was merely just another mid-tier sect among many. It wasn’t like the Boundless Joy Sect which had an important flagship product sold continent-wide where even if one didn’t know the exact location of the sect, they had at least heard of its name.

When he did find it, he was stunned to see that it was listed as a righteous sect, and then glanced at Li Ling with a strange expression. After all, it wasn’t like he would be teleported into some random corner of the place, but quite literally the capital city of the sect’s controlled kingdom.

In this case, it was Green Hill City that Li Ling would be transported to, which was connected to the heart of the Qing Shan Sect.

However, seeing the confident smile on Li Ling’s face, the fellow didn’t say anything and simply inputted the necessary details. Soon, a purple glow surrounded Li Ling as he was warped from where he stood towards his target destination, which was actually not too far from here.

Unlike the first few times he teleported where it was an instant move with no cognition, the current Li Ling with his Void Seeking Physique could view the entire process. To his surprise, teleportation formations in Tian Ming Continent, or even the entire Firmament Heaven, utilized the wormhole theory.

His experience was akin to passing through a controlled space tunnel which excluded the volatile sub-space from it, traversing through it at speeds faster than light using an optimized process, coming out of the other side smoothly.

This was completely different from how even Void Refinement cultivators traveled. If teleportation arrays were like using a bullet train to go from one station to another, then manual travel was like using an SUV to traverse desert sand.

The smoothness of the process varied based on the quality of your void affinity and realm, but Li Ling doubted it could easily get as good as this. He tapped his lip with a serious expression when he came out of the other side, pondering how he could optimize his own space travel based on this example.

As such, the Qing Shan Sect disciple who was manning the array here frowned when he saw Li Ling loitering on the platform longer than necessary. Seeing his white and gold robes made the fellow’s face change greatly, as they didn’t often get such ’esteemed’ visitors.

Still, he couldn’t show favoritism, and especially fear, before an enemy demonic sect disciple. As such, he firmed his expression and called out to Li Ling.

"Fellow Daoist! You are taking up space on the platform! Please leave the premises!"

Li Ling heard this and immediately snapped out of his contemplation, glancing around to see that indeed, he was holding things up. As such, he dutifully cupped his fists in apology.

"Terribly sorry about that, Fellow Friend. I shall vacate the platform immediately."

Li Ling stepped down and nodded to the fellow with a smile before leaving the teleportation hall of the Qing Shan Sect, leaving the disciple in charge both stunned and confused.

Were demonic sect disciples that easy to talk to? Wasn’t it said that they had volatile tempers, easily prone to violence at the slightest disagreement and always thirsting for blood?

Or was it that this one was just intimidated due to the fact that he was in another’s territory? Indeed, that was more likely to be the case!

Thinking like this, the fellow was deeply proud of his sect and felt that even those so-called top sects had to watch their behavior when dealing with them!

As for Li Ling, the moment he left the teleportation hall, he breathed in the air of the rather clean and nature-friendly Green Hill City, which was extremely modern in the sense that it was well-arranged and had a small park at every block.

Here, spirit beasts and animals lived among humans with ease, and there were many amenities and installations in place to handle waste and odor that came from the daily life of living organisms. Due to this, there was a faint smell of lavender and orchid in the city, making it a thoroughly pleasant experience.

Li Ling enjoyed the feeling that he once longed for, thinking back to his days in the number 9 marketplace. He had heard about the famous and ethereal Green Hill City many times while he was at the bottom, wishing to come here to show off his talents once he took off.

Now, his heart was clear and there was no longing, just a faint appreciation for aesthetics as well as a slight feeling of achievement for having accomplished one of his former goals.

After spending half a day, Li Ling realized that indeed, the situation on the Tian Ming Continent was quite balanced and controlled. Despite wearing the white and gold of the Six Paths Demon Sect, Li Ling was not accosted by any righteous disciple, even those higher than him.

He tried to fish for conflicts by openly revealing his ’mere’ second-realm level power, but forget those at the third realm, even the few fourth-realm powerhouses he crossed paths with only gave him a cold look before looking away.

Li Ling felt that his actions were quite futile. The battle between light and dark on this continent had existed long before him, so it was not like things would be stirred up by him alone.

Even in the Holy City, the heart of the Six Paths Demon Sect, many righteous disciples from all over the continent paid a visit to get what they wanted, so why did he think that he could cause some uproar in the main city of a middle-grade righteous sect?

Disappointed, Li Ling left Green Hill City openly on the Mountain Splitting Blade, making an open show of heading into the nearby wilderness to do his last bit of fishing.

But whether it was the danger sense of the Purple Mansion or his wide spirit sense range, he could not detect any followers. No one was bored enough to try and track him, because his actions were too overt and unprofessional.

Only an absolute neanderthal with not a hint of thought between his brows could possibly miss the obvious intent here.

Li Ling tsked and began teleporting instead, traversing through the expansive Qing Shan Sect region at the fastest speed and crossing hundreds of kilometers with relative ease. In the end, it didn’t take him long to reach the outskirts of his old home, the number 9 Qing Shan marketplace.

The place was almost exactly as it had been just a few weeks prior, really making Li Ling feel nostalgic yet absurd. This was the place he lived for over 5 years, where nothing changed and each day had been monotonous, but in just 3 weeks he had experienced more than anything his entire life.

"It’s a shame..." Li Ling lamented, as he raised a finger.

It was naturally a shame that no matter how many memories he had here—even if they were of him suffering and struggling in cowardice—it would all be reduced to dust in the face of the meteor summoned that hovered above the number 9 marketplace, causing all beings within to pause and look upwards with shock.

Naturally, the denizens of this marketplace had yet to hear of or understand the trajectory of the falling boulder, but today, Li Ling was happy to teach them what it was about.

Unlike with the number 5 Joyous Market, which was not manned by an array and had people suppressing their levels to roam within, this number 9 marketplace was guarded by a powerful peak grade 1 formation which was controlled by the Foundation Establishment cultivator sent out here to maintain the place.

As such, the power levels here were usually as they appeared, and so minus the replaced Foundation Establishment disciple sent to replace the missing Luo Roumei and the newly appointed market guard leaders, everyone was still the way they should have been.

When the meteor came down, many tried their various attempts to resist, to escape, or to beg, but it was all for naught.

Looking within, Li Ling saw, in the few seconds before destruction beset the market, his old home which was now occupied by another bottom-tier cultivator who was trembling with fear; the home of Chen Wu and Gao Na which was also taken by a different weakling couple who were holding themselves together along with their infant child.

Looking deeper into the middle section, the place where Cai Dong’s foster father set up shop had been changed and renovated, with the woman herself nowhere to be seen.

This caused Li Ling’s expression of hope to fall into one of dullness. He had chosen this place first among the many available targets because he wanted to see certain old faces and how they would react to the certainty of death, but it turned out that everyone had already left.

KRAKOOM!

And so came to an end the number 9 Qing Shan marketplace and a significant part of Li Ling’s journey in Firmament Heaven. The mountain could not withstand the Perfection-stage daoist art, immediately crumbling and turning into a huge crater that spread for a few miles in every direction.

｢System Prompt: You have gained 14,890 Slaughter Points.｣

A hefty sum entered his account, which Li Ling did not begrudge. After all, most of the beings here were Qi Refinement cultivators, with not a single mortal, just that there were a lot of them. Not to mention the many demon beasts in the curated hunting ground, so the low amount made sense to him, especially since most were at the bottom of the cultivation world.

Li Ling took his gaze away and stepped into the folds of space, traversing over to the sizable mortal town where he had once farmed his first batch of Slaughter Points. A quick scan with his spirit sense and he ended up raising an eyebrow, seeing that a small part of the town was in mourning for the Da Niu fellow he killed back then.

Tracing it to the source, he found the little courtyard home he had rented, with what seemed to have been his widowed wife in the bedroom happily riding another man with more refined features.

Out of curiosity, Li Ling directly breached their Seas of Consciousness to extract their memories without them even feeling anything, still engaged in their acts. A quick flip through their memories and he got to understand that the fellow was an up-and-coming young scholar who had seduced Da Niu’s young and beautiful wife for as long as a year ago, and Li Ling killing the fellow three weeks ago had done the scandalous duo a favor.

Closing the two books and deleting them from his archive, as they were considered filthy by him, Li Ling shook his head while tsking.

"Well, consider this closing karma on my part." Li Ling said to himself as he sucked in a breath of air before unleashing a sea of flames that spread down to the town below, engulfing everyone within and turning them into ashes without a moment of pain, as mortals could not withstand such potent daoist fire.

｢System Prompt: You have gained 2,788 Slaughter Points.｣