Gateway of Immortality

The stall owner’s face fell. "Brother, you might as well rob me! Absolutely not!"

It seemed he had indeed offered too little.

Qin Sang hesitated, flipping through the book repeatedly for a while. Then, he pulled out the Water Barrier Talisman and said, "These spells are all very common; the only thing of value to me is this art. However… How about this: this talisman is worth ten spirit stones. I won’t ask for change. If you’re willing to trade, we have a deal. If not, forget it."

"Change? This Water Barrier Talisman is worth no more than six spirit stones..."

The stall owner rolled his eyes, grumbling reluctantly, but he acted quickly. He snatched the Water Barrier Talisman and slapped the Netherworld Scripture into Qin Sang’s hands.

Having finally secured it, Qin Sang was itching to find a place to thoroughly examine the book. Yet, he restrained his eagerness and took another two laps around the market square, seizing the opportunity to gather some information.

The first thing he inquired about was spiritual roots.

No matter who he asked, everyone gave the same answer with conviction—without a spiritual root, it was absolutely impossible to cultivate. Even a few suspected demonic sect cultivators said the same thing.

This deepened Qin Sang’s confusion as to why he was such an exception.

The second inquiry was about malevolent yin qi.

It turned out that malevolent yin qi was common knowledge among immortal cultivators. When Qin Sang asked about it, he was nearly laughed at.

Malevolent yin qi was an extremely cold and malevolent force born from the heavens and earth. Its origins were difficult to explain, but it was said that battlefields from ancient immortal wars had the most malevolent yin qi. In those places, where corpses piled up like mountains, the yin qi would slowly emerge due to some special reasons.

Without protective measures, prolonged exposure to malevolent yin qi could not only hinder cultivation but also result in death, even for an immortal cultivator, as the malicious energy invaded the body.

Except for extremely rare secret arts or artifacts that could utilize malevolent yin qi, ordinary immortal cultivators were best advised to avoid it altogether.

Of course, most immortal cultivators didn’t need to worry about this, as malevolent yin qi was exceedingly rare and typically formed in dark, secluded places, making it hard to encounter.

After learning about malevolent yin qi, Qin Sang didn’t feel relieved; instead, his heart sank.

If malevolent yin qi was so difficult to find, would he have to resort to his old method again—finding a nation at war, infiltrating the mortal world, and collecting souls?

Now that he knew about Youshan Market and had access to the immortal cultivation world, returning to the mundane world was still an option.

However, it would waste a lot of time, and as Qin Sang’s cultivation level increased, he increasingly felt that using the souls of ordinary people to create Soul Pills was far too inefficient to support his cultivation.

Unless he slaughtered hundreds or thousands at once.

It might be better to stay at Youshan Market for a while longer and see if he could find any clues about the existence of malevolent yin qi. He assumed that no one else would compete with him for such a thing.

After wandering for so long, the sky had gradually darkened, and the number of people in the square was dwindling. Qin Sang decided to find an inn within the market and stay for a while.

But before that, he found a secluded spot and secretly took out the jade disk.

Even the young man surnamed Han had mistaken the jade disk for a token of Youshan Market.

The jade disk’s glowing mist lingered, still pointing deep into the cyan stone street. Following its guidance, Qin Sang walked and stopped intermittently until he finally stood before a three-story wooden building. Р

The signboard on the building read, "Divine Artifact Pavilion."

The entire street was lined with various shops, but the Divine Artifact Pavilion was the only one with its doors and windows tightly shut. Qin Sang watched for a while but didn’t see a single customer come out.

Such grandiose claims—has the shop gone out of business?

Qin Sang couldn’t help but harbor some bad thoughts.

Not far away, the owner of a nearby shop noticed him and asked, "Young man, are you here to buy artifacts from the Divine Artifact Pavilion as well?"

Qin Sang’s interest was piqued. He approached the shopkeeper, scanning the shop and noticing that it was stocked with various animal hides and bones. However, since this was an immortal cultivator’s shop, these materials were likely from demonic beasts.

"Greetings, Senior, I am Qin Sang," Qin Sang said, cupping his hands respectfully, "I’ve indeed come because of the reputation of the Divine Artifact Pavilion, but I’m curious as to why its doors are tightly shut?"

Seeing Qin Sang’s respectful demeanor, the shopkeeper found him agreeable and was happy to explain, "Young Brother Qin, you may not know, but the Divine Artifact Pavilion only opens its doors for one day in the middle of each month. You’ve come early and will need to wait two more days."

Qin Sang was surprised. "It only opens for one day in the middle of the month?"

Is that any way to run a business?

"You may not be aware," the shopkeeper said, his face showing deep admiration, "but the owner of the Divine Artifact Pavilion is likely from a major sect specializing in artifact crafting. The artifacts they sell are top-notch, crafted with extraordinary skill, and they have no trouble selling them. Right now, the market is crowded with people who have come just for the Divine Artifact Pavilion. Every time they put artifacts on display, they’re sold out within a day, and people even bid against each other to get them. Their skill is something we rogue cultivators can only envy. The rent for a shop here is nothing compared to the profit from a single artifact, so they can afford to be selective."

So they’re truly skilled.

Qin Sang understood. It seemed that even in the world of immortal cultivation, having a specialized skill was highly valued. However, since he was still struggling with cultivation itself, he had neither the time nor the resources to learn artifact crafting or alchemy. He cupped his hands again and asked, "May I ask, Senior, do you need any special tokens to enter and make purchases?"

"I haven’t heard of such a thing," the shopkeeper replied hesitantly, "I’m not wealthy, and I cultivate a fire-based technique. Most of the artifacts sold by the Divine Artifact Pavilion carry a hint of coldness, which isn’t suitable for me, so I’ve only visited the first floor. I’ve heard that the second and third floors have high-grade and even top-grade artifacts for sale, and there might be some requirements to access those."

After thanking the shopkeeper, Qin Sang walked towards the outskirts of the cyan stone street, pondering that the jade disk might be a token for the Divine Artifact Pavilion.

In his past life, such things were common at various mid-sized auctions—a gimmick akin to a membership, claiming that only those with status and standing could participate, instantly boosting the prestige.

Since even the shopkeeper dared not go upstairs, there was no use for someone as poor as him.

Finding an inn, Qin Sang spent a considerable sum to rent a small courtyard. After dinner, he closed the courtyard gate, suppressing his inner excitement, and took out the two copies of the Netherworld Scripture.

Comparing the first six stages carefully, Qin Sang confirmed there were no errors and was finally at ease. He sat down with the two copies of the Netherworld Scripture, deep in thought.

He had originally assumed that the Yan Luo Banner was a matching artifact for the Netherworld Scripture and had always regarded the scripture as an evil demonic art.

It turned out that whether it was a demonic path or righteous path, the foundational arts were the same: drawing the spiritual qi of five elements from heaven and earth into the body to temper oneself, without any distinction between good and evil. Only now did Qin Sang realize how foolish his previous thoughts had been.

However, while the art itself might not be inherently good or evil, the cultivators practicing them could be. To Qin Sang, absorbing human souls to enhance one’s cultivation was undoubtedly the work of the demonic path.