Chapter 171: Governing the Market Town

The Vast Ship traveled a hundred thousand miles per day and arrived at the Taiyi Gate that very night.
Gazing at the Taiyi Mountain Gate from afar, Su Che thought, “After all these twists and turns, I’ve ended up here after all.”
The Taiyi Mountain Gate was far less vast than the Tianxuan Mountain Range, consisting only of five large mountains.
Yet, with those five thousand-foot-high mountains housing over a hundred thousand disciples, one might wonder: With so many people practicing together, the natural spiritual energy in such a small area surely wouldn’t be enough for them to absorb—wouldn’t that hinder everyone’s progress in cultivation?
But that wouldn’t be the case!
Before coming here, Su Che had studied relevant information and already knew that in the middle of the five mountains of the Taiyi Gate lay a small lake, its surface shrouded in mist that never dissipated.
That mist was actually natural spiritual energy so dense it was almost in a liquid state.
This was because an underground spiritual vein lay beneath the lake, providing the Taiyi Gate with an endless supply of spiritual energy that would never run out even after hundreds of thousands of years.
If one could cultivate using that underground spiritual vein, the results would be unimaginably good. However, only a few people could enjoy such privileges.
The Vast Ship landed outside the mountain gate, and soon several Golden Core cultivators from the Taiyi Gate flew out to greet them. Yet, the Supreme Elder Zixiao didn’t intend to allow the disciples of the Tianxuan Sect to enter the Taiyi Mountain Gate.
“Set up camp here and rest for a day. Tomorrow, each of you will receive your respective sect tasks,” the Supreme Elder Zixiao declared loudly.
“Yes, we obey,” the disciples replied in unison.
Thus, the Supreme Elder Zixiao, along with a few Golden Core elders, followed the greeters into the Taiyi Mountain Gate.
As soon as Zixiao left, some disciples murmured, “We’ve come all this way only to not even be able to enter the Taiyi Mountain Gate. I had planned to see the mist over the Spiritual Lake.”
Other disciples nodded in agreement, filled with curiosity about the legendary natural spiritual energy that was almost in a liquid state.
Even Lao Hei from the Immortal Prison said, “Master, if we could capture a small section of that underground spiritual vein, our Immortal Prison space could also be filled with natural spiritual energy.”
“Delusional!”
Su Che, free from any greed, thought to himself, “That approach is tantamount to suicide. Before even approaching that spiritual vein, we’d be seized by those guarding elders a hundred times over.”

That being said, Su Che also had a wish in his heart—that one day he could obtain a true spiritual vein to place in the Immortal Prison realm. In other words, having an inexhaustible spiritual vein hidden within his body would make his cultivation experience incredibly satisfying!

Cultivators didn’t have many rules; what was meant by “setting up camp on the spot” was simply that the disciples took out their personal items and sat in meditation to rest for a while.

A few hours later, dawn broke. Elder Zi Xiao appeared before everyone again, accompanied by over a dozen Golden Core elders from the Tai Yi Gate. Next, Zi Xiao divided the 400 disciples of the Tian Xuan Sect into ten groups, with each group led by at least four Golden Core elders, plus one additional Golden Core elder from the Tai Yi Gate to guide them.

“Ten groups will go to various markets or branches under the Tai Yi Gate,” Zi Xiao announced. “Your task is to assist the Tai Yi Gate cultivators there, maintain order, and prevent those with ulterior motives from taking advantage of the situation…”

Since the Tai Yi Gate was in peril, many solitary cultivators or demonic cultivators from other sects would surely come seeking opportunities to strike while the iron was hot and profit from the chaos.

The support teams from the major sects of the Immortal Path were there to help the Tai Yi Gate defend these markets and branches. Only elders like Zi Xiao, who were at the Yuan Ying stage, were qualified to be stationed at the Tai Yi Gate’s headquarters to intimidate the two major demonic sects.

The nine major sects of the Immortal Path only needed to send one Yuan Ying elder each to form the Nine Yuan Heavenly Palace Formation, which was enough to deter the Wan Gui Sect and the Blood God Sect from making rash moves.

This was why the Immortal Path was so powerful. It would be difficult for the demonic path and the beast races to achieve such coordinated efforts.

Half an hour later, the group led by the disciples of Xuan Ji Peak, guided by several Golden Core elders, flew on their magical vessels toward the cultivation market of Qing Lan Zhou, located thousands of miles away.

Hearing the name “Qing Lan Zhou Market,” Su Che felt pleased, as it was also a marketplace focused on trading beast materials. It would be a good opportunity to buy plenty of beast pills during his time guarding the market, which he could then give to the Snake Woman and the Little Dragon to consume.

Some time ago, Su Che had asked Lao He to try injecting both the Immortal Prison Warm Current and the Black Stone Clear Flow into the Little Dragon’s body. To his surprise, the results were comparable to his own cultivation methods—the Little Dragon’s ability to digest a beast pill increased several times over.

Originally, it took over a month to digest a second-grade demon pill, but by using the method of energy fusion stimulation, it only took seven or eight days to digest and absorb one. As a result, both the Snake Woman and the Little Dragon could improve their strength rapidly, yet this also increased the consumption of demon pills. Of course, Su Che wouldn’t be stingy with those who were on his side; no matter how much it cost, he wanted to boost their strength as quickly as possible. The stronger the combat power of the Immortal Prison Team, the better for him—nothing bad could come of it. That afternoon, they arrived at Qinglan Continent’s market town. The market town was located on an island surrounded by lakes and swamps. Within thousands of miles, there were nothing but lakes or marshes, with demonic beasts roaming freely, making the living conditions extremely harsh. There were hardly any towns or villages inhabited by ordinary people. After entering the market town, the disciples of Xuanji Peak each received tasks. The eldest disciple, Duan Tianya, seemed to want to be friendly with Su Che by assigning him and Yu Qing together, requiring them to patrol for just a few hours during the day. When Su Che and Yu Qing left the Law Enforcement Hall, they each wore an armband from the Taiyi Gate, marking their identity as members of the market town’s law enforcement team. The market town was still bustling. Su Che silently calculated that there were over a hundred reputable shops alone, with more than a thousand vendors lining the streets. It was indeed not comparable to remote places like Jinghun Bell. “Just stroll around and buy a few demon pills,” Yu Qing said first. Only then did Su Che realize that Yu Qing also had a silver wolf spirit pet. As a member of the demonic beast race, he naturally needed to consume demon pills to grow stronger. “A few won’t be enough,” Su Che said with a smile. “The more, the better. I can swallow hundreds.” Yu Qing was slightly surprised and asked, “Why do you need so many? Does your beautiful snake spirit pet eat demon pills as food?” “It’s not just the beautiful snake; I also raise many other spirit beasts,” Su Che replied vaguely. “There’s an entire family to feed, so the pressure is huge.” “By that logic, you won’t be able to last long with those Black Shining Ink Crystals harvested from the underground demon realm.” Yu Qing silently calculated that hundreds of demon pills would cost at least hundreds of thousands of spirit stones—truly raising a bunch of money-devouring beasts… “It’s okay,” Su Che nodded. “Fortunately, I have other ways to make money.” “If you run short of funds, just tell me,” Yu Qing said. “I don’t need much spirit stone. I haven’t touched that batch of Black Shining Ink Crystals much.” “Okay,” Su Che simply nodded in agreement, though he couldn’t possibly borrow money from Yu Qing.

These days, there’s no need for polite words like thanks between the two of them.
Taking advantage of their patrols, Su Che and Yu Qing began buying a large number of demon pills in the market.
The materials from demons here were indeed much cheaper—second-grade demon pills could be purchased for just 400 spirit stones, 100 less than elsewhere.
Yu Qing helped Su Che with the purchases, and before long, they had acquired dozens of second-grade and higher-grade demon pills.
During this time, they didn’t forget their duty as enforcers and promptly resolved several minor disputes.
Four days passed without any major incidents in the market. However, most of the second-grade and higher-grade demon pills ended up in Su Che’s possession.
The Golden Core cultivators like Duan Tianya, who were stationed here, must have noticed this, but since Su Che and Yu Qing were simply making legitimate purchases, even if they found their actions unusual, they couldn’t say anything.
All they could do was mutter to themselves, “Where did these two kids get so many spirit stones?”
Apart from that, all members of the enforcement team felt that there had been an increasing number of loiterers in the market these past few days. Clearly, they weren’t there to do business but were waiting for an opportunity to strike it rich…
On the fifth day, something happened.
“All disciples of Xuanji Peak, assemble!”
At noon, while Su Che and Yu Qing were meditating in their rooms, they heard the voice of their eldest senior, Duan Tianya, ringing in their ears.
A few moments later, the disciples of Xuanji Peak rushed out of their rooms and gathered in the courtyard of the Enforcement Hall.
“Over 200 unidentified individuals are causing trouble in the market. Go and suppress them immediately!”
Duan Tianya didn’t waste words. As he spoke, he first flew into the air.
Whoosh!
More than thirty figures followed behind.
The market was in complete chaos. More and more independent cultivators or unidentified demonic cultivators began robbing everywhere. Some vendors who couldn’t shut down their stalls immediately started fighting back.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
What was once a bustling island market was now filled with dazzling spells and flames.
Boom!
By the time Su Che and the others reached the sky above the market, they saw a shop collapse violently.
“The Qinglan Continent Enforcement Team is here! Those causing trouble, stop now! Otherwise, you will be killed without mercy!”
“Kill without mercy!”
“Kill without mercy…”
Several Golden Core cultivators, including Duan Tianya, hovered in different positions in the air and shouted these words simultaneously.
Hua!

The enforcement team still had a deterrent effect; the chaos in the market suddenly ceased, and many people instinctively stopped what they were doing and looked up at the sky.
“What’s the enforcement team anyway?”
Suddenly, a extremely loud voice roared, “Just at the early stage of the Golden Dan realm? How dare you shout at me like that! Get down from there!”
Roar!
A black dragon soared into the sky, aiming at its target—Xuanji Peak, Duan Tianya.