The Black Market Town of Xuan-Zhong did not welcome visitors with open arms; it tolerated them as long as they had something of value.
Feng Kail and Xu Guifei passed through the heavy iron-reinforced gates with their heads bowed, their faces partially obscured by straw hats. The city was a sensory assault—a labyrinth of narrow, mud-slicked alleys illuminated by the eerie, pulsating glow of lantern-fish oil. Stalls lined the streets, selling everything from jagged scrap-metal blades to vials of murky, demonic-tainted beast blood.
To Kail's surprise, the entry was uneventful. No guards stopped them; no spies seemed to take note of his presence. It appeared that even in a place of lawlessness, anonymity was a currency of its own.
They moved toward the "Deep District," a section of the city carved directly into the mountain's bedrock, where high-tier goods were traded. Within an hour, they found the shopkeeper Kail had been told about—a withered old man with sightless eyes who traded in "forgotten artifacts."
The transaction for the Frost-Core essence was swift and cold. Kail paid a heavy price in spirit stones he had scavenged from the Mansion, and the old man, without a word, slid a small, frosted obsidian box across the counter. The moment Kail's fingers brushed the box, a chill seeped into his bones—a sign of its purity.
"The core is unstable," the old man rasped, his voice sounding like grinding stone. "If you do not integrate it into your cultivation within two moon cycles, it will shatter into useless dust."
Kail nodded, tucked the box into his robe, and left without looking back.
They exited the city under the cover of night. The journey back toward the Coastal Forest was quieter than their arrival, but Kail's senses were heightened. He knew that an item of such potency would not go unnoticed by those with "sensitive" noses.
They were three miles into the dense, darkened woods when the air suddenly grew heavy with a stifling, oppressive pressure.
"Stop," Kail commanded, his hand shifting to the hilt of his sword.
From the shadows, six figures descended. They were not mere scavengers like the ones they had faced earlier; these men were armored in reinforced dark-steel, their movements coordinated and disciplined. At their center stood a man with a jagged scar running across his throat, radiating a distinct, heavy aura of a Spirit Realm cultivator.
"The Frost-Core," the leader said, his voice dripping with arrogance. "Hand it over, and I'll ensure your deaths are quick. Keep it, and I will force you to watch as I harvest your dantian while you're still breathing."
Guifei stepped back, her bow already drawn, but Kail held up a hand.
"You followed us from the market," Kail stated, his voice calm, almost bored.
"And now you are trapped," the leader sneered, unleashing his aura. The ground beneath his feet cracked, and the nearby trees began to wither under the weight of his dark, aggressive Qi.
Kail didn't wait for him to finish his speech. In a blink, the air around Kail rippled. He didn't just release his aura; he ignited it. A surge of brilliant, freezing blue energy erupted from his body, clashing against the leader's dark Qi with the sound of a thunderclap.
The forest floor erupted in a shower of debris. The leader's eyes widened as the sheer density of Kail's Spirit Realm cultivation washed over him, pinning him to the spot.
"You... you are a Spirit Realm expert?" the leader choked out, his arrogance replaced by pure, unadulterated fear.
"I am the one who is taking your core," Kail replied.
He moved.He didn't use a technique; he simply stepped forward and flicked his wrist. The air pressure alone slammed into the six attackers. The leader raised his blade in a desperate defense, but Kail's palm struck the flat of the sword, the force shattering the steel and sending the leader spiraling into a massive oak tree.
By the time the dust settled, the leader was unconscious, and his men were scrambling into the darkness, terrified.
Kail walked over to the broken leader, retrieved a small pouch of resources from the man's belt, and turned back to Guifei.
"Let's go," Kail said, his expression unchanged. "We have what we need. It's time to start the final stage of our training."