Chapter 701 - 353: Li Xuejin’s Revenge (Part 3)

Chapter 701: Chapter 353: Li Xuejin’s Revenge (Part 3)

"We’ve now gathered five thousand, three hundred and forty-three people. They’re all being held under guard in the nearby county towns. We’re keeping them alive on one meal a day. While the expense is negligible, the jails in every County Magistrate’s Office are overflowing, and we have no room to hold new criminals.

Most of the death row inmates in Xiangyang Prefecture are accounted for. A few more might trickle in later, but that will be it. We can’t just start arresting people based on wrongful convictions."

Cheng Zongyang was taken aback.

’Over five thousand three hundred people!’

But he quickly composed himself and said, "Alright. Bring everyone to the outskirts of the Immortal City. I happen to have a Magical Treasure from the other side that can hold people. I’ll collect them all at once and then send them over."

"Understood." Chen Kaishan nodded without asking any further questions. "I’ll be on my way, then."

After Chen Kaishan left, Cheng Zongyang set aside the matter of the prisoners for the moment. He turned to look at the Storage Pouch on the table, a smile touching his lips. Then, his consciousness entered the Hall of Ten Thousand Races.

Inside the trading room, Cheng Zongyang used his Divine Sense to open the Storage Pouch.

He then took out all of its contents.

A Pill Bottle, a Jade Scroll, a second Jade Scroll, a Magical Artifact, a Jade Box affixed with a Sealing Talisman, three Cultivation Technique manuals, an Identity Token, and the one item he valued most—a map!

He unfolded the beast-hide map, revealing a simply sketched route. In the upper-right corner was a red dot with a name marked beside it: Black Cloud Marketplace.

Seeing this, he ignored the other items. With a thought, a world map of the Martial Arts Realm materialized in his hand.

Cheng Zongyang looked at the world map and marked the location of the ruin that Tang Bozhan had mentioned.

Once he had pinpointed the location, he took the beast-hide map and began to compare it against the world map, using the ruin as a central reference point and tracing the route.

The ruin was located in the southern region of the Thirteen Royal Families’ territory, in an area south of Linchuan, Xiangyang, and Luoyang that bordered the sea.

The beast-hide map was crudely drawn, but by carefully comparing its shapes and routes, Cheng Zongyang eventually found a location that matched the Black Cloud Marketplace. It appeared to be on an enormous island out at sea.

Cheng Zongyang frowned slightly.

’On an island?’ Cheng Zongyang was perplexed.

The island was large, but its size was still finite; searching it shouldn’t have been difficult. ’But for a marketplace to be located on an island... given the Da Yi Commerce Association’s and other factions’ intensive searches for anything related to Cultivation Immortality, that island has probably been turned upside down countless times already.’

He pondered for a moment, a general idea forming in his mind. After putting away the map, he turned his attention to the other items.

He no longer much cared whether there were any relics from the Cultivation Immortality Realm left in the Martial Arts Realm.

After all, the entire Cultivation Immortality Realm had relocated, so whatever was left behind was likely nothing special.

The only things that could still capture his interest were items related to the previous master of the Realm of Ten Thousand Races.

Still, he picked up the items to examine them one by one.

The books were just three ordinary Cultivation Techniques. Cheng Zongyang set them aside, intending to place them in the Cultivation Technique Room for storage later.

As for the two Jade Scrolls, he probed them with his Divine Sense.

The first was a Sound Transmission Jade Scroll, but it was no longer functional.

The second contained records about the Black Cloud Marketplace. This piqued Cheng Zongyang’s interest.

He read it in detail and learned that the Black Cloud Marketplace was a maritime market governed by the Celestial Sword Sect, specializing in the trade and acquisition of resources from the sea.

It was one of the more prominent marketplaces in the South Sea region, impressive in both its scale and prosperity.

The Identity Token, then, was the credential the Storage Pouch’s original owner used to enter and exit the marketplace.

’But in his view, this was just a marketplace from centuries ago. With the entire Cultivation Immortality Realm having relocated, it was impossible that anything of value would still remain in such a place.’

’He even suspected that factions like the Da Yi Commerce Association had discovered its existence long ago.’

Finally, Cheng Zongyang’s gaze fell upon the palm-sized Jade Box, which had a Talisman affixed to it.