Chapter 48: The Black Market of White Dragon Mountain

The largest black market near Guiyun Workshop was Bailong Mountain, located over a thousand miles northwest of Guiyun Workshop. It was a territory controlled by several Foundation Establishment rogue cultivators. The Bailong Mountain black market opened once a month, and it was said to contain many items that couldn't even be found in Guiyun Workshop; many cultivators from the vicinity would travel there to procure spiritual goods.

Since black markets inevitably dealt in illicit goods, they never inquired about the source of the items being sold. Everyone from rogue cultivators to bandits could be found there, and such places were always despised by the righteous sects. The Xiaoyao Sect even strictly forbade its disciples from visiting such locations.

"Senior Shi, I only heard a friend mention in the market that there were Foundation Establishment Pills being sold in a black market near Guiyun Workshop. Do you know if this is true? Does the Bailong Mountain black market carry such spiritual items?" Seeing that the atmosphere was sufficiently prepared, Song Qingming asked the question with a hint of intentionality.

"Foundation Establishment Pills? I wouldn't know if such a spiritual item is real or not. I've heard people say that Foundation Establishment Pills were once auctioned at Bailong Mountain, but I've never seen them with my own eyes, so I can't say for sure. Much of this news is intentionally released by certain people to lure cultivators there. Even if they exist, they would have nothing to do with people like us, right?"

Shi Mofeng was somewhat surprised to hear Song Qingming ask about Foundation Establishment Pills. He gave Song Qingming a meaningful look. To a rogue cultivator like him, the idea of even catching a scent of a Foundation Establishment Pill in his lifetime seemed nearly impossible; he never expected Song Qingming to ask about them.

Seeing Shi Mofeng's confusion, Song Qingming quickly explained, "I only heard it in passing, so I just asked casually. I suppose the news must be false. Sigh, I thought I might be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of a Foundation Establishment Pill."

"That's hard to say. You are still young and might have such an opportunity in the future. However, if you were to ask where Foundation Establishment Pills might appear near Guiyun Workshop, Bailong Mountain is the only possibility. But black markets don't welcome strangers. If you want to go, you could ask Old Ghost Feng from our team to take you; let him be your guide. Anyone around here who wants to go seeks his guidance. He is familiar with the place and goes there at least two or three times a year. It's safer with him. You must be extremely careful in such places; many bandit cultivators wanted by various markets frequent that area. If you aren't careful, it's easy to be targeted. Although Old Ghost Feng is a bit stingy, he is quite loyal. As long as you don't treat him poorly, there shouldn't be much of a safety issue."

Song Qingming nodded repeatedly and said, "Thank you for the guidance, Senior. If I go in the future, I will certainly be careful."

The "Old Ghost Feng" mentioned by Shi Mofeng was a sixth-layer Qi Refinement cultivator in the team. He had earned the nickname simply because he was quite ugly. However, the man possessed extremely powerful metal-attribute cultivation techniques and was accompanied by a combat puppet, making his combat strength quite impressive; he even dared to fight high-level demon beasts at times.

In Song Qingming's eyes, his impression of Old Ghost Feng was actually quite good. While the man was indeed somewhat calculative, Song Qingming had once been chased by several mid-tier demon beasts during a mission, and coincidentally, Old Ghost Feng was nearby. All members of the Flying Cloud Guards were equipped with certain spiritual items for signaling distress; once a signal was released during a mission, nearby comrades were required to come to the aid.

When Old Ghost Feng saw Song Qingming's distress signal, he was the first to arrive on the scene. After both of them exerted their cultivation techniques for a short while, they managed to escape. Afterward, Song Qingming went to thank him, but Old Ghost Feng insisted that Song Qingming compensate him with two spiritual talismans, claiming he had used them to travel quickly to save him. Song Qingming had no choice but to comply. Although he knew this might have been a lie by Old Ghost Feng, the man had saved his life after all, and a few talismans were nothing compared to his own safety.

Shi Mofeng and Song Qingming chatted for a while longer. Seeing that it was getting late, and having nothing left to ask, Song Qingming rose to take his leave, but he paused at the door.

"Little friend Song, I heard you are also an array master. I happened to be refining a dharma garment recently but haven't found an array master to help draw the formations. If you have time, I would like to invite you to help draw one or two formations on it. Rest assured, the compensation will not be lower than what you would receive in the market."

"Senior Shi has cleared up many doubts for me today. For such a small matter, how could I dare to speak of compensation? I will certainly do my best regarding the drawing of the formations. Please rest assured, Senior."

After saying this, Song Qingming specifically took out a packet of spiritual tea and pressed it into Shi Mofeng's hand. Having gathered so much information he wanted to know from the old man today, Song Qingming naturally did not want to take advantage of him for free.

Shi Mofeng nodded with a chuckle and then left Song Qingming's place, looking satisfied.

The next day, Old Man Shi indeed brought over a dharma garment. It was shimmering with golden light, clearly a high-grade dharma garment. Song Qingming had not expected that this unassuming and smooth-dealing old man was actually a high-grade weapon refiner, which came as a surprise to him.

He immediately gained a new level of respect for the man. A high-grade weapon refiner was a highly sought-after skill, even within the Flying Cloud Guards.

Song Qingming had initially only known him as a refiner; he hadn't realized his refining level was already this high.

These people spent their days wandering through the Floating Cloud Mountains where demon beasts appeared. Although there were explicit regulations stating that to avoid unnecessary trouble, they were only responsible for scouting demon beast information and were forbidden from actively attacking them to prevent attracting second-tier demon beasts to the camp.

However, most members of the Flying Cloud Guards did not take this rule seriously. People often attacked demon beasts directly outside the camp. Among the materials obtained from the beasts, weapon refiners and talisman makers had the most use for them.

Leaders like Lu Yunfei also turned a blind eye to these matters; as long as it didn't cause a demon beast attack on the camp, they were too lazy to interfere.

Having been here for two months, Song Qingming had collected quite a bit of mid-tier demon beast essence blood. Unfortunately, he had been completely unaware of these circumstances when he arrived and had made no preparations; he hadn't brought any blank talisman paper, and such items could not be obtained in this place.

The Flying Cloud Guards rotated at least every three months. Even if he wanted to return to Guiyun Workshop, he would have to wait another month. For these two months, he, a mid-grade talisman maker, was essentially useless.

It was precisely for this reason that Song Qingming had readily agreed to help Shi Mofeng draw the formations on the dharma garment.

Drawing formations on a dharma garment was similar to drawing spells into a talisman; by embedding the original spells into these magical tools using an array pattern, the tools could possess certain spells that could be released automatically, thereby enhancing their effects. However, these were mostly small, common spells, and their enhancement to the magical tool was quite limited.

After spending three days, Song Qingming finally completed the formation drawing on Shi Mofeng's garment. This time, Song Qingming drew a total of two low-grade formations. One was the "Water Avoidance Spell," which provided auxiliary support, allowing the wearer to automatically shield themselves from rain and walk through water without getting their clothes wet.

The other was the "Golden Light Shield," which could automatically release a golden-attribute light shield to block a single instance of damage when an ambush occurred. However, the grade of this spell was not high; it could only block attacks from the early stages of Qi Refinement. When facing opponents in the middle or late stages of Qi Refinement, the shield could only serve to delay the attack, giving the owner of the garment a little more time to react.

Over the past few years, Song Qingming's array skills had improved significantly. After studying the Liu family's array classics, his level had reached the brink of a breakthrough. With another year or two of accumulation, he was confident he could strive to become a mid-grade array master. Drawing two low-grade formations was currently no difficult task for him.

(End of Chapter)