Chapter 226: Leaving the Marketplace

Chapter 226: Chapter 226: Leaving the Marketplace

Conversely, ordinary animals that achieved enlightenment on their own, awakened their intelligence, and embarked on the path of Cultivation were not bound by the limits of their Bloodline Level. Their potential was far greater.

Animals that underwent Cultivation were called demons, and the difficulty was extraordinary.

The difficulty for plants to cultivate was even more unusual. It was far harder for them to gain sentience than it was for animals.

But no matter how high the difficulty, special circumstances were bound to exist in the Cultivation World.

After embarking on the path of Cultivation, plants were known as spirits.

Their Cultivation speed was even slower than that of demons. Moreover, the higher the grade of the spirit, the greater their allure to both demons and humans, which meant they would attract a great deal of covetous attention.

In Jiang Xu’s eyes, the current Mumu seemed more akin to a spirit.

’Maybe Mumu is some kind of tree spirit.’

Jiang Xu didn’t dwell on the matter.

Even if Mumu really was a "spirit," it was currently just a newly sprouted seedling, as weak as could be.

However, Mumu had now taken root in the floor of the cave abode. Since Jiang Xu was about to leave, how was he supposed to take Mumu with him?

Sensing Jiang Xu’s thoughts, Mumu suddenly moved. It slowly pulled its roots out of the soil, and soon, its entire plant body was exposed.

"That works too?"

Jiang Xu slapped his Spirit Beast Bag, and a suction force immediately emerged from it. Mumu didn’t resist when it felt the pull and was drawn right inside.

’Looks like a sprouted Mumu can also be put in the Spirit Beast Bag. But I wonder if it will be uncomfortable in there.’

Jiang Xu used his Divine Sense to ask Mumu. Mumu sent back a wave of emotion, a rather complex one this time. After analyzing it, he felt it was saying: ’Although I basically can’t grow anymore, I can survive.’

He had been worried that Mumu wouldn’t be able to adapt to a place specifically designed for Spirit Beasts. Now that he understood it was fine for Mumu to stay there, he was relieved.

After leaving his cave abode, Jiang Xu headed straight for the place he had agreed to meet Zong Ziqi.

From a distance, Jiang Xu could already see Zong Ziqi.

It looked like he had almost completely recovered. To be in such a state after only seven days, he must have gained something in the Demon Communication Workshop.

"Hey, let’s go," Jiang Xu said, walking up to Zong Ziqi.

"You’re still so quiet." Zong Ziqi was startled at first, but after seeing it was Jiang Xu, he started walking toward the Marketplace exit. "How have the last seven days been? Did you finish those two things you had to do?"

"Er..." Jiang Xu thought for a moment. "Overall, those two things were about increasing my combat strength. It’s impossible to say it improved a lot in just seven days. I’ll just have to keep improving it slowly in the future."

After talking about himself, Jiang Xu asked Zong Ziqi:

"Enough about me. It looks like you’ve had some good gains yourself, right?"

Zong Ziqi nodded.

"This Marketplace is worthy of being run by the Duo Bao Pavilion; their selection is quite comprehensive. I found some suitable things myself. Especially the Tier Two Martial Art, the Celestial Thunder Cloud Dragon Sword, which I bought in the Black Market. To be honest, I never expected this Swordsmanship to be such a perfect fit for me. I almost missed out."

"A Martial Art?" Hearing Zong Ziqi’s words, Jiang Xu thought of the Seven Injuries Palm he had bought, which was also a Martial Art. "I bought a Martial Art too. Which stall did you buy yours from?"

"I bought it at the very back of the Black Market. Oh, and it cost me over a thousand Spirit Stones. The stall owner absolutely refused to haggle. But he did give me a Magic called the Thousand-Faced Illusion Body as a freebie, so I guess it wasn’t a total loss."

"Wait, Thousand-Faced Illusion Body? Are you talking about this one?"

Jiang Xu sensed something was off and quickly took the Magic manual out of his Storage Bag.

"Yeah. What, did you buy something from his stall too?" Zong Ziqi said confidently after glancing at the book.

Jiang Xu’s face turned ashen as he took out the Jade Scroll that recorded the Seven Injuries Palm.

Damn it!

’So that vendor was packaging one Martial Art with one Thousand-Faced Illusion Body for every sale?’

’He’s just messing with people, isn’t he?’

’His goal was to make buyers feel smug, thinking they’d gotten a bargain, right?’

Zong Ziqi looked at the Jade Scroll and understood that Jiang Xu had run into the same situation he had. He burst out laughing.

"Brother Jiang, I always thought you were so shrewd. How did you fall for it this time?"

"I wouldn’t say I fell for it. I just spent a little extra money on something I wanted and helped the guy clear out his inventory."

Seeing that Zong Ziqi didn’t want the Seven Injuries Palm, Jiang Xu put it away himself.

After all, he had spent his own Spirit Stones on it. Since the other party didn’t want it, he figured he’d just wait until his Body Cultivator Realm was higher and then practice it.

Chatting and laughing, Jiang Xu and Zong Ziqi walked out of the entrance of the Demon Communication Workshop’s Marketplace.

After walking for a while and making sure no one was around, Jiang Xu’s expression turned serious as he began discussing business with Zong Ziqi.

"Brother Zong, I see your injuries have stabilized. It’s time for us to get revenge on those three villains."

"Alright. Brother Jiang, you said before that we must act cautiously. I agree. Do you have a plan?"

When it came to a plan, Jiang Xu had already made up his mind. He slowly explained:

"To deal with those three villains, we first need to ensure they haven’t teamed up to lie in wait for us. We even have to consider the possibility that all the remaining villains have formed an alliance to deal with us."

"With just the two of us, facing two villains is already risky. Against three, our chances of winning are less than fifty percent. That’s extremely dangerous."

"Only when we’re facing a single villain, after we’ve made thorough and targeted preparations, will we have enough confidence to handle them and ensure we can escape successfully."

Jiang Xu paused, giving Zong Ziqi time to think.

"So, you’re saying the first thing we need to do is some reconnaissance to find out the exact current location of each villain?" Zong Ziqi said after thinking.

"Yes," Jiang Xu continued. "We’ve been gone for a while now. This time has served to confuse them, making them lower their guard. They probably think we’re either dead or scared out of our wits and hiding somewhere."

"Right now, we are in the shadows, and they are in the light. You were so heavily injured before; they most likely think that even if you’re not dead, you’re crippled. That’s our advantage. Furthermore, my existence hasn’t been exposed yet. They don’t know about me."

"Of course, this advantage alone isn’t enough to confront them. But I have a method for finding people, called the Seeking Technique."

"As long as I can obtain an item they’ve used before, this technique can locate them. In our current situation, it’s the ultimate weapon for a surprise attack!"