The Heavens: A Qing, the Yue Girl at the beginning

Chapter 512: The Way of Yin Qi and Ghosts, Fish Market (4K)

How would a person feel when he is alone in a confined space a hundred meters underground, walking slowly in a dark tunnel that is hundreds of miles long and seems to never end, and can hardly hear any sound from the outside world except his own?
It is conceivable that at this time, people will feel an indescribable loneliness and desolation in their hearts, and feel that the cold and ruthless stone walls around them are like the coldest guards in the world, imprisoning every lonely soul without leaving a trace of cracks.

If you add to that the strange shadows swaying like ghosts in the tunnel, drifting and changing like mist, it will make people think of the secret realm where ancient practitioners sealed evil monsters. It is even as if they are in hell, and they seem to be on the verge of collapse at every moment.

"So, these are the death energy summoned by practicing the Black Water Sutra?"

Xia Mi was naturally not frightened by this strange sight. She got out of the car, poked a ghost-like black gas mass, and asked curiously: "It looks a bit sticky and cold. It seems to come from the mud at the bottom of the river?"

"Yes."

Zhao Qing spoke calmly, controlling the dead air around him while replying: "The environment here is dark and humid, with humus that has been buried at the bottom of the river for thousands of years piled up above. The evil of Yin Water is strong, which is suitable for the practice of Yin Thunder and Yin Water Method, and also convenient for the comprehension of the Earth Vein Sword..."

During these few hours, she specifically asked the blind dragon to dig out the smoothest rock wall possible, in order to train its control over its true energy. At the same time, she analyzed the local primitive cultivation system from the source of power of spiritual beasts and strange beasts, and sorted out the context of its historical development.

According to records in ancient books, the ancients of the Sword Dynasty world realized the initial method of cultivation from nature and ancient beasts.

Except for the dragon clan of the past, the spiritual beasts have no tribal civilization to speak of, and they certainly would not evolve spontaneously for thousands of years. In other words, a blind dragon is not much different from an ancient practitioner.

Assuming that the cultivation environment of this world in ancient times was similar to that of the main world, perhaps we can try to deduce some information about the monsters and spiritual beasts in the main world based on this, which will help Zhao Qing collect more resources after his return.

From the perspective of the stages of cultivation, the blind dragon actually did experience experiences similar to the Divine Mind Realm, Destiny Realm, and Mountain Moving Realm in the mainstream human cultivation system. It was just that it had entered the fifth realm when it was just born, and broke through the seventh realm when it reached adulthood at the age of one hundred. Practicing breathing and earth-moving techniques was completely its instinct.

Although he grew faster in his early years, the Blind Dragon is now over five hundred years old, but his cultivation seems to have stagnated, stopping at the middle level of the seventh realm. He can only slowly accumulate the total amount of true energy, but he is trapped in the formation and has been hungry and lacking in energy and blood, so his results are limited.

In fact, according to the theory recognized by the world of practitioners for thousands of years, the most critical thing in the practice process is to use mental power to perceive the vital energy, to sense some flowing lines between heaven and earth, and to come into contact with the subtle deep world of vital energy, rather than simply accumulating true energy and true essence.

The blind dragon's perception should be second only to the ghost dragon among all existing species, and is much stronger than most practitioners of the same level. However, although it has such a natural advantage, it is still slightly insufficient in its application and can never compare with the accumulation of human development and summary from generation to generation.

In addition, his intelligence was not outstanding. Even though he "saw" the rules of the flow and change of vital energy, he could not grasp the essence of it as quickly as a true spiritual genius. His energy-deficient brain was too lazy to think too much, and he was temporarily stuck in this realm.

However, whether in terms of true energy reserves or spiritual perception, the Blind Dragon is no less than a peak Grandmaster of the Seventh Realm. Therefore, as long as its shortcomings in this area are made up, it can make rapid progress.

Under Zhao Qing's guidance, it gradually integrated its foundation along the way, and its cultivation soon showed a tendency to break through to the upper level of the seventh realm. Its strength increased by at least several times, and its use of the earth's energy was enhanced.

In comparison, although Xia Mi possesses the power of the "authority" of the earth, the gap between her and the blind dragon in the use of earth energy is much smaller, and it is difficult for her to achieve quick results in teaching.

After realizing this, the latter naturally became closer to Zhao Qing, who could provide him with practical help.

"Earth Vein Sword?" Feeling the surging black fog of yin energy around her, constantly moving through and changing in the underground tunnel, just like the true energy flowing in a giant meridian, Xia Mi occasionally had some insights and came up with some wonderful ideas of using large-scale earth energy for combat and cultivation.

"For the human body, 'qi can flow through water, and water can carry qi'. The same is true for feng shui terrain. This is probably because water can dissolve gas and is more permeable to vital energy than most soil and rocks. Therefore, the ground veins often correspond to the direction of underground rivers."

Zhao Qing gently extended a finger, and a drop of water as black as ink seeped out from the tip of her finger, rolling, twisting and changing shape. Then, heavy black water continued to seep out of the mud around her, like sticky black oil, which seemed to absorb the light from the outside world:
"And these Yin water evils, in a sense, can also be regarded as the essence of the earth's energy. They contain the coldness and darkness deep underground, and are integrated with the dead air naturally generated by the decay of the bodies of various creatures such as plants, insects, fish, birds and beasts after death. After being refined many times, they can be called 'True Water of the Netherworld'."

"In addition to the properties of True Water, which can extinguish most flames in the world and restrain various fire methods, it can also be used to replace the vitality of Yin Gods and Ghosts. It has the ability to pollute and corrode True Essence, damage runes, and is also good at shielding and absorbing light..."

Theoretically speaking, under the condition of equal application level, the power of this Netherworld True Water is no less than that of pure Taiyin True Water and Sun True Fire, and it has unlimited potential.

The reason why he was restrained by Emperor You's skills and broken by the Sun God Thunder was more because the quality of the skills of the former God of Death was insufficient. Emperor You's own attainments in the way of the underworld were far superior to this.

But when it came into Zhao Qing's hands, relying on her past profound understanding of demonic species and demonic energy, ghost witchcraft, and the art of yin and yang rotation and illusion, even though the "Black Water Scripture" was incomplete, she still had great confidence that she could complete it to the point where she significantly surpassed the founder of this skill.

For ordinary practitioners of the way of ghosts, the vital energy they need comes from the yin energy of the dead. Some creatures that were once very powerful and had a large amount of vital energy of heaven and earth accumulated in their bodies transformed and released this breath after death.

This is why practitioners who practice the way of Yin Qi and ghosts often need to practice in some very ancient cemeteries.

But the Yin Water Evil is quite different. It only needs to absorb the breath generated by the humus deposits in the soil. The conditions for practicing are much wider, and it is also easier and faster, and it is difficult to be restrained by thunder, fire and light techniques.

In addition, Zhao Qing carefully observed the Guishui Yinlei practice technique in the exercises, which was even more powerful and extremely difficult to resist. There was a method of placing it somewhere and waiting for the enemy to approach and then trigger it automatically. It was equivalent to a land mine or sea mine that could last for ten days or half a month.

This can be combined with the Danxiao method she originally mastered. First, send out a Yin thunder containing real fire and real water, ambush at the designated location, and then reorganize it into the structure of Danxiao after it explodes to break the latter's life limit.

……

Thousands of miles away, to the east of Changling City shrouded in darkness, flows the Dongqing River, the smallest tributary of the Wei River. It is as narrow as a scar, winding in the boundless darkness.

This small river, which is only more than ten meters wide, has been cut in half due to the need for farmland reclamation. Some of the parts located in the city have become fish ponds, while markets have been built on others.

All these markets were just water markets using some ships that were no longer able to sail as trading places. However, over the years, countless shanties were built on both sides of the river.

The roofs and signs of these shanties blocked out the sun, and there were countless passages hidden inside, even between the water and the mud. Some simple wooden roads, sampans, some small boats below, and even slightly larger wooden basins became the means of transportation here, making this place as complicated as a spider web in a gutter.

Especially when the sky is not very bright, looking from the high places on both sides to the low place in the market center, the low-lying area in the center is like the mouth of the abyss, spewing out faint ghostly fires, ghostly shadows, and exuding a heart-pounding eerie atmosphere.

This market that stretches as far as the eye can see is the fish market. In addition to fish, here are everything that not only ordinary people but also most practitioners can imagine.

The Qin Dynasty, where martial arts were prevalent, never prohibited ordinary people from carrying swords, and even some public competitions were not prohibited. However, some military weapons with great lethality, and even some training tools and texts were strictly prohibited from being traded.

Of the things that a practitioner can imagine, a large part of them naturally cannot be traded.

However, these things are hidden in the fish market like fish under lotus leaves, and the fish market is just a spontaneously formed market, and many of the businesses here are naturally not legal.

But how could such a market, located at the edge of Changling and under the feet of so many important figures, survive for so many years? This is undoubtedly a puzzling question, and the answer is closely related to the "owner" of the fish market.

At this time, Zhao Qing's clone, which was formed by six bodies and spirits, was riding on a dark and gloomy boat sailing under the Dongqing River. He secretly came to this place with its own rules independent of Changling. Through the turbid and black river water, he looked at the various shops here.

In the fish market late at night, many shops were still open and not closed. Even the goods sold on weekdays were placed in an orderly manner, as if it was still a night market. Ghost-like lanterns were faintly hung in the dark corners, and the surrounding streets seemed to be immersed in a ghost town.

The mutton shop in the west corner sells mutton outside, but inside there are human traffickers, who sell children brought back from remote places or even other dynasties, mainly supplying them to the dignitaries in Changling. The tailor shop in the east specializes in the business of talismans of the Great Chu Dynasty.

The three stilt houses near the bottom of the pond are the settlement dens of overseas thieves, which contain many rare treasures. If you want to participate in the underground auction of various practitioners' items, you have to find Xue Mazi who sells tung oil, or Lao Zhoutou who sells salted fish.

At the very bottom of the fish market, there is a stilt house without any signboards or lights inside. It is a shop that sells second-hand swords. One can go in alone without any middlemen. The owner of the shop has many good swords that are not as good as those in many of Changling's practice places.

As Zhao Qing's mind moved slightly, streams of black water naturally flowed upwards along the wooden piles supporting the fish market building, slowly seeping out from them, and transformed into a black raven, flapping its wings and flying towards the depths of the fish market, but without making any sound as a flying bird should.

This was naturally because after her original body transmitted the relevant information about the skills, she quickly reached the level of preliminary application, and disguised herself as a seventh-level master who practiced the Yin Gui skills. Since the grade of the "Black Water Scripture" was quite high and it had the ability to sense similar skills, she deliberately began to look for it.

This raven transformed from black water seemed to be unfamiliar with the way of walking in the fish market. It circled left and right, and finally flew into a deep and dilapidated alley. It stopped on the left side of the alley, tilted its head and pecked at the wall with very strange movements.

"Knock knock knock", it sounded like knocking on the door, attracting the attention of the residents here.

Suddenly, some wisps of deep black air emerged from the ground below the raven, and then some black bamboos as black as ink jade grew out, swaying in the windless air. The original wall was slightly twisted, and a half-open wooden door appeared where it was pecked, revealing a dark room inside.

"Excuse me, which path do you come from, my friend? Why are you visiting our fish market at the end of the Yin and the beginning of the Mao?" A hunchbacked old man leaning on a black bamboo stick slowly pushed open the wooden door and walked out.

This man's face and expression were extremely old, and he looked so old that he couldn't even straighten his back. It seemed as if he would collapse and die of old age at any time, but his eyes were flashing with a soul-stirring light, revealing an extraordinary aura.

One of the black bamboos twisted like a living snake, and quickly turned into black gas and disappeared, emitting an icy chill that seemed to freeze the blood in a person's body instantly. Then the cold air subsided and it turned into a black bamboo again, with the tip pointing diagonally at the raven that landed on the door edge.

A very light piano sound came from the house, which seemed to be there and not there, and would disappear at any time, without any fluctuation of vitality.

The old man in black who lived here was obviously a master-level practitioner of the seventh realm. What was more important was that this practitioner practiced the way of Yin gods and ghosts, which was rare in Daqin and popular in Qi.

Although there is no distinction between the orthodox and unorthodox methods of cultivation, it is clearly recorded in the cultivation scriptures that it is more difficult for practitioners who practice the way of evil spirits and ghosts to reach the seventh realm than for practitioners who practice ordinary skills. But once they succeed, they will be more difficult to deal with because of their strange methods.

In addition, due to long-term erosion by Yin and dead energy, Yang energy and vitality are in a suppressed state. The practitioners of this faction, mainly from the Great Qi Dynasty, have to pay the price of a shorter lifespan than those who practice other techniques in the world.

"Of course I have something to discuss with Miss Shang." The raven shook its feathers, separating a few strands of gloomy black air, and reorganized into a small raven, which landed on the branch of the black bamboo. The latter turned its head, stared at the old man and continued, "Talk about a big business."

"Big business?" It can be seen that the other party's method is also a very sophisticated Yin Shen ghost technique, and he has concealed his cultivation and the location of his own Qi. A bit of surprise flashed in the eyes of the hunchbacked old man. He leaned on the black bamboo stick, put away the Yin Qi, and then asked: "What kind of big business?"

"First, there will be 1 billion gold worth of refined copper and 300 million gold worth of silver. Half of them will be exchanged for gold and mica knife coins, as well as minerals such as black iron and cold iron. Suitable spiritual medicines are also acceptable."

The trumpet raven blinked its black eyes and said slowly, "Of the remaining half, 30% will be used as funds for the fish market to operate this matter and to establish connections, and 20% will be used as gifts for my personal visits and friendships to show my sincerity."

"I'm afraid this is difficult to do. Such a huge amount of money is more than the total transaction volume of the fish market in the past ten years..."

Hearing this, the hunchbacked old man was also shocked by Zhao Qing's generosity, and replied in an uncalm tone: "Even the most powerful and wealthy families in Changling in the past could rarely come up with so much money in one go."

"Since the Qin Dynasty's reform was completed, all the large mines and rare minerals discovered in Qin territory have been controlled by the court's military and other institutions. Only a few low-quality mines are used to reward meritorious service, and the latter are basically very loyal to the royal family..."

"In general, unless your request is tacitly approved by the emperor and the two prime ministers, even if our fish market tries its best and takes huge risks, it can only complete a small part of it. It is better to think more about it."

……

As mentioned before, the 500 billion gold here refers to copper. Since the original text says that most Changling people have a yearly salary of less than 50 gold, it seems that gold per person is not a big problem.