Chapter 34- Grey Market

Translator: GGP

“So this is what it means for a spell to be slightly mastered! No wonder that day, while practicing the Wind Blade Technique, my mind suddenly became clear, not only did the release speed increase significantly, but the power also grew by threefold. However, mastering such spells completely relies on practicing attentively over and over again, until skill emerges from familiarity. And now that I’ve achieved minor mastery, there should be a state of major mastery as well. Above that, disciples with nine spiritual meridians probably wouldn’t have much of an advantage over those with three spiritual meridians. But my talent for multitasking should allow me to alternate its use in spell practice, which is a huge benefit indeed,” Liu Ming mused to himself, his face a mix of confusion and excitement.

Among the multitude of older disciples today, although there are some who have also cultivated their spells to the minor mastery level, there are certainly no more than a handful, and those are generally limited to the simplest spells like Wind Blade and Fireball.

No one seems to have reached minor mastery with slightly more advanced spells like Ice Spike or Flame Snake.

That’s hardly surprising!

The more advanced spells require much more complex casting and a far greater amount of mana than lower-level spells, naturally making their practice exponentially more difficult.

Of course, most importantly, the majority of disciples are focused on cultivating their own techniques and mana, rarely placing too much emphasis on the practice of spells themselves.

After all, only by advancing one’s cultivation realm, can one form the foundation for everything else, possibly becoming a Spirit Master like Ru Sheng, thereby extending one’s lifespan and opening up more possibilities. For Liu Ming, if it weren’t for his multitasking talent, he would likely have made the same choice. But now that he knows he can take great advantage of his gift in this area, he has chosen a somewhat different path in his relentless pursuit of personal strength.

As for the extremely complex and advanced spells, it’s hard to say, but at least for simple spells like Wind Blade, he plans to find more time in the future to practice, to see if there are any further gains to be had.

After standing in the courtyard and pondering for a while, Liu Ming finally entered the cultivation room and sat down cross-legged.

He hesitated for a moment before taking a stick of Tranquility Incense from his sleeve. With a flick of his finger, he lit it and placed it nearby.

As a wisp of blue smoke began to rise, a somewhat strange fragrance quickly filled the room.

After taking a deep breath, Liu Ming closed his eyes and sat motionless, going into meditation.

At that moment, rows of grey text – the incantation for “Soul Refining” – appeared in his mind.

Although he had long since returned the scroll that contained the incantation to the Scripture Pavilion, the contents were deeply etched in his mind, not a single word forgotten.

In the past, he’d glanced over it in haste, but upon seeing that the initial phase of the spiritual disciple was a prerequisite for its cultivation, he immediately gave up studying it any further.

Now, with the aid of Tranquility Incense, he planned to comprehend the secret technique thoroughly in one go.

Days passed, and Liu Ming stayed in his room for five days and nights without stepping outside even once.

On the morning of the sixth day, he finally opened his eyes, which showed nothing but exhaustion.

“So to cultivate the Soul Refining technique, one must sacrifice a live Yinsha on the spot to possibly succeed. If I remember correctly, there is a ‘Soul Pond’ within the sect where they nurture Yinsha. By paying a certain number of contribution points, one can enter and capture Yinsha for a period of time. Moreover, there is a marketplace within the sect, the ‘Gray Market,’ where disciples trade various things amongst themselves. Maybe I can also find someone selling Yinsha there. However, without any contribution points on me at the moment, I obviously have to choose the latter method,” Liu Ming quickly considered his options and made a decision. But before that, of course, he needed a good night’s sleep.

Early the next day, Liu Ming left his residence in a hurry, driving the clouds beneath him.

He flew straight toward another location, following the map previously marked by Li Zong.

On the edge of the mountain range where the Barbarian Ghost Sect was located, there was an undistinguished bamboo forest nestled between two tall peaks.

Periodically, some inner door disciples could be seen rising and descending onto a large clearing in the center of the bamboo forest.

As Liu Ming landed his grey cloud in the bamboo forest, he immediately began to look around curiously.

He saw that around the clearing were a number of rough and varied-sized stalls, with Barbarian Ghost Sect disciples seated behind them, most of whom were from the inner door, but some were dressed in the attire of outer door disciples.

Some people went up to the stalls, picked up an item or two to inspect, or were haggling directly with the stall owners, giving Liu Ming the illusion that he had returned to a marketplace in the secular world.

After steadying his mind, Liu Ming walked past the stalls like the others, occasionally picking up an item to examine it.

The items on these stalls ranged from medicines and talismans to materials and magical implements, encompassing a wide variety.

But there were even more strange and exotic items that he had never even heard of, such as “Blood Zombie Bee Stingers,” “Corpse Vulture Feathers,” “Hundred-Year Fish Demon Essence Blood,” and so on.

As for the Yinsha he wanted to find, as a common material, he saw it for sale at several stalls, but the prices asked left him speechless.

A low-quality Yin Soul was priced at ten spirit stones, a common quality one at thirty spirit stones, and as for those of high quality or above, none were actually for sale. Instead, some stall owners expressed a willingness to purchase such Yin Souls for upwards of a hundred spirit stones each. Although Liu Ming was somewhat financially embarrassed, he finally took the opportunity to see what “Yin Souls” looked like and heard about some related matters.

Most of these Yin Souls were stored in porcelain bottles sealed with specially made talismanic charms. Upon opening the bottle, a wisp of black air would gush out and could transform into various shapes like tiger, leopard, or ghostly faces made of smoke.

The means of attack of a Yin Soul, besides the bone-chilling coldness it carried with it, were mostly simple illusions that could directly affect a person’s mind at close range.

All in all, Yin Souls were not actually considered true ghostly entities; they were born from Yin energy without any conscious volition of their own. Even the attacks they launched were often passive, subconscious reactions.

Therefore, capturing Yin Souls of common quality or lower was not too difficult a task.

However, things were significantly different for high-quality Yin Souls. Firstly, such high-quality Yin Souls were extremely rare. Out of a hundred, perhaps only one would be born, and they mostly lurked in places with dense Yin energy, disliking activity and thus making them very hard to find. Secondly, besides the two kinds of attacks mentioned above, high-quality Yin Souls also possessed the ability to split and escape when facing danger, making them even harder to capture alive.

There were rumors of the existence of supreme-quality Yin Souls, but this was just hearsay; no one had ever seen them with their own eyes.

Of course, all these Yin Souls were captured by the Inner door disciples from the Soul Pool in exchange for contribution points and thus sold at such high prices here.

Liu Ming inquired here and there, and before long, he had gathered most of the information about the above matters. Finally, gritting his teeth, he still spent ten spirit stones to buy a low-quality Yin Soul, planning to go back and try his hand at it.

As soon as Liu Ming bought the item and was about to leave on his cloud, a pleasant female voice called out to him from behind.

“Eh, isn’t that Junior Brother Bai!”

Upon hearing this, Liu Ming naturally turned around in surprise and saw a man and a woman who had approached from behind.

The man was a twenty-something-year-old youth in a blue robe, with arched eyebrows and a cold expression. The woman was a similarly aged lady in a white dress, with a beautiful face and a smile in her eyes. She was none other than Mu Xianyun of the Mu Family, whom he had briefly met during the spirit opening ceremony years ago.

“It turns out to be Senior Sister Mu, my respects,” Liu Ming said, although a bit surprised, he still greeted her with a fist and palm salute.

“Junior Brother Mu, you had promised to visit my place for a sit-down. But half a year has passed, and I have yet to see Junior Brother Bai come to visit,” Mu Xianyun said with a smile on her rosy lips.

“Ahem… Do not blame me, Senior Sister Mu. After a few of us junior brothers entered the sect, we were always ordered to practice in the mountains and had no spare time. And this Senior Brother is…?” Liu Ming gave a vague response before turning his attention to the cold-faced youth.

“Du Hai of Yinsha Mountain,” the young man replied briefly, without any expression on his face.

“So it’s a Senior Brother from the Yinsha lineage,” Liu Ming said, his expression changing slightly as he spoke.

Among the numerous branches within the Jiuying Sect, Yinsha was powerful enough to be ranked within the top three, and its disciples often did not get along well with those from Jiuying Mountain.

“Junior Brother Bai need not worry. Senior Brother Du is an old friend of mine whom I’ve known for many years. He will not let the relationship between the different sects affect our interaction. By the way, what are you here in the ‘Grey Market’ to buy, Junior Brother Bai? I have some friends here who might be able to lend you a hand,” Mu Xianyun explained before asking with a smile.

“Thank you for your kind offer, Senior Sister Mu. However, I have already made my purchase, so there’s no need to trouble you,” Liu Ming tactfully declined as his thoughts raced.

■■If that’s the case, then I won’t insist. Oh, by the way, have you been in need of contribution points lately?” Mu Xianyun appeared slightly surprised at first but then asked with a composed expression.

“Contribution points?” Liu Ming felt a slight stir in his heart upon hearing this. “That’s right. Recently, Senior Brother Du, a few other friends and I have been preparing to undertake an important task, but we’re still two people short. If you’re interested, Junior Brother, we could include you,” Mu Xianyun proposed without hesitation.

“Given that it’s an important task, as I’ve only been initiated into the sect for half a year, I probably won’t be much help. And then, how will the contribution points be allocated?” After his gaze flickered a few times, Liu Ming slowly responded.

“Don’t worry, Junior Brother. This task is special in that it doesn’t require much cultivation, just a few more people to ensure it doesn’t fail. And as for the contribution points, since it’s a task we undertake together, naturally, they will be divided equally,” the lady quickly explained upon noticing Liu Ming’s interest.

“Alright, since there’s no danger and it doesn’t require much cultivation, count me in,” Liu Ming pondered for a while, feeling it was a good opportunity to learn what a contribution point task was like, and he nodded in agreement. “Making such a decision is a wise move, Junior Brother. Tasks that involve multiple people are the most suitable for newcomers like yourself. In that case, come to the second floor of the Mission Hall in three days. We will all gather there to take on the task,” Mu Xianyun said with a seductive, light laugh upon hearing his answer.