Living steadily in the world of gods and mystery

Evening, underground.

Storage room.

Inside, it was reeking.

Meters long massive beast horns, dagger-like sharp claws, fangs, but most of all were scales the size of basketballs.

These were special parts of demon beasts.

"How much money are these worth?" Chen Li asked Zhou Hong.

"These are natural magic artifact embryos, nurtured intentionally by the demon beasts with their spiritual power. Many firms used to collect them. Just these materials from one demon beast could sell for two to three mid-grade Spirit Stones. This pile here should be worth about ten mid-grade Spirit Stones," she said, carefully removing tiny pieces of flesh from a scale with a small knife, chuckling as she spoke.

"Now they can’t be sold!" Chen Li said.

"They’ll sell eventually," Zhou Hong replied with a light laugh.

Chen Li helped with the work for a while, but soon ran out of patience and returned to the charm formation room.

He picked up a "Basic Formation Technique Explanation" and flipped through it again.

He had always been unable to get a foothold in formations.

He tried to read it numerous times and was repeatedly defeated.

This book was exceptionally difficult to understand, as if reading heaven’s scriptures.

Not only was it filled with esoteric terms and jargons everywhere.

That was still not the worst part.

It also involved many areas of knowledge that he hadn’t studied.

For example, the Qi-watching Skill for breaking simple Illusion Arrays, which he had never come across. Without the Qi-watching Skill, not knowing the mana flow within the array, there was no way to break through the Illusion Array. He would be completely clueless.

Fortunately, he had been nibbling it down for many days.

Chen Li was now getting a rough impression of formations.

At least he knew the arrangement of formations was not as simple as he had imagined.

Most formations are quite cumbersome, relying on sets of special magic artifacts for deployment.

Not only are they extremely expensive, they are also inconvenient to use.

Like the City Defense Array that Green River District once had, just the deployment was an extremely troublesome matter. It involved more than a dozen or scores of large array bases, and such defensive large arrays were also difficult to break with clever tricks.

It was a contest between defensive power and offensive power.

"Forget it, this is too far away from me, I’ll understand it slowly. There’s no rush for the moment, and besides, who in this slum has a formation... huh, the Yu Family probably has one," Chen Li thought to himself.

Then he stopped thinking about it.

He tossed the book aside.

Standing up, he took his sword and went to the quiet room next door to practice swordsmanship.

Soon, the quiet room emitted sharp and piercing whistles. As Chen Li thrust out one sword after another, the sound became more piercing, and the resistance felt through his arm became greater, as if piercing a metal plate.

His eyes bulged, veins on his body popped out, and his muscles swelled. With a grip of the toes, his body swept past lightly, exerting his full strength, he thrust out violently once again.

The next moment, a faint mist appeared at the tip of the sword, transient and elusive.

A loud "boom" erupted, like an explosion.

The air flow in the sealed quiet room was turbulent.

Strong air currents drew slashes on the clay walls.

Chen Li stopped, gasping for breath, an excited look on his face.

He had been training in swordsmanship for close to a year.

At this moment, he finally broke through the sound barrier.

"No, strictly speaking, it’s still a bit short," he reflected.

The sword tip had just produced a trace of cloud vapour.

And the air here was humid.

It was easier to generate sonic boom clouds in such an environment than usual.

"Still, at least it’s subsonic speed... I never thought that just an ordinary swordsmanship book, once optimized by the game panel, would become so powerful."

His strength wasn’t particularly great either.

He was now able to lift about one and a half tons at most, but the key was the exquisite force application techniques in the swordsmanship and the comprehensive control and coordination of all the muscles in his body, often able to explode five to six times the strength with a single strike.

After several encounters with enemies, Chen Li increasingly realized how useful swordsmanship was.

Fast speed, quick reflexes.

Even the spiritual power release from the fingertips couldn’t come close.

Combined with a good sword later on.

He was like a fish in water.

At close range, it was as if a god stood in his path, he would slay the god.

A Protective Shield was utterly useless, and an ordinary Magic Artifact would probably shatter upon a single strike from a Second Order magic sword.

...

Last night, a thunderous rainstorm had swept through.

The marketplace ground was littered with mud mixed with various kinds of trash.

However, the heavy rain also washed away some of the stench, clearing the air significantly.

When Chen Li, carrying Demon Beast Meat, entered the marketplace, the originally bustling place fell into a quiet lull. Several people walking in front had hurriedly dispersed, allowing Chen Li to pass first.

There was a palpable sense of making way for a powerful tiger.

Chen Li seemed oblivious, taking heavy steps as he strode forward with determination.

Selecting a relatively clean spot, he put down the heavy cloth bag on his back, splashing mud everywhere.

Here, there was no importance placed on such details.

Those who sold goods wouldn’t care, and neither would those who bought them.

Mud-stained meat, once washed, would be good as new.

No sooner had the goods been put down than Zhao Lin came hurrying over with a group of people.

"Brother, these are some friends I’ve made in the past—their cultivation levels and characters are decent. They all want to follow you and earn a living," Zhao Lin said with remarkable efficiency, having gathered a group of helpers in just one day.

Upon hearing this, Chen Li glanced at the three people. Each had a practiced look, not some ragtag bunch: "Please state your names, everyone!"

"Nice to meet you, Chen. I am Gu Mengqing, at the sixth level of Qi Cultivation."

...

The few people were Gu Mengqing, sixth level of Qi Cultivation.

Guo Wu, fifth level of Qi Cultivation.

Han Zhihao, fourth level of Qi Cultivation.

Each was in the middle stages of Qi Cultivation. Especially Gu Mengqing, whom Chen Li couldn’t help but take another glance at.

This man wore simple clothing, had dark and rough skin, a resolute face bearing a touch of hardship and sorrow, and had the weathered look of someone in his forties or fifties, showing obvious signs of aging.

In this slum area, most were at the initial stages of Qi Cultivation, with the number of practitioners in the middle stages sharply declining—there wasn’t even one among five or six people. As for those in the later stages of Qi Cultivation, they were extremely rare, practically celebrities in their own right.

For someone at the sixth level of Qi Cultivation, just one step away from the later stages, to end up in such a state showed the hardship faced by ordinary cultivators today.

Chen Li had a brief conversation with them, then pulled out a Mid-grade Magic Artifact and handed it to Zhao Lin: "I don’t care how you split the profits, but the deal is still the same: a 9:1 split of the transaction price. Any problems with that?"

"No problem at all, Big Brother!" Zhao Lin hurriedly replied, "We’ve already discussed it before coming here."

"Good!"

...

During the process of selling the meat,

Chen Li noticed even more prying eyes.

It was to be expected; it would have been odd if there weren’t any.

The marketplace was always full of all sorts, a lawless zone within the Green River District, where various forces converged.

Located at the center of the Green River District, a massive amount of Spirit Stones flowed through here every day.

Logically, this place should be highly contested by various gangs. However, the presence of the various commercial firms and the lingering influence of their clans restrained these gangs, with none daring to make the first move.

When the commercial firms were delayed in acting, thinking it was an opportunity,

The Foundation Establishment Yu Family relocated here, making these gangs even more hesitant to act rashly. This resulted in the current chaotic and dilapidated state of the marketplace.

No sooner had he sold the meat, Chen Li received various invitations from gangs, including the Yu Family, but he declined all of them.

His facade as a meat seller was simply a way to make money and attract attention.

As for those power games and the useless socializing, he had always kept his distance.

To be honest, what benefits could those gangs possibly offer him?

Only the Yu Family had something he needed.

Such as all sorts of cultivation knowledge, Spells, various cultivation resources...

But none were essential.

His cultivation was progressing smoothly now, so busy that he barely had time to sleep.

Moreover, with the Demon Beasts becoming increasingly rampant, the Green River District was declining day by day. With more people dying daily, everyone lived in fear, and it was uncertain how many would survive until next summer.

For now, it was best to focus on strengthening himself and surviving. That was all that mattered!