Burst Flame Fruit is a type of fruit produced by a rank three spiritual tree. It only grows in extremely sunny lands and is hard to find in the outside world, making it a difficult spiritual fruit to cultivate.
The fire spiritual power within the Burst Flame Fruit is extremely violent, making it troublesome to sort out. Its effect in refining elixirs is also extremely poor, and it cannot be consumed directly. Therefore, this type of spiritual fruit is used directly as a projectile for offensive power.
The Black Wind Cave that this half-demon stall owner mentioned earlier seems to be that special secret realm within Hidden Demon Valley. It opens once every hundred years and has just recently opened, but humans cannot enter this secret realm.
Unexpectedly, he has this special spiritual fruit. Zhang Ling couldn't help but carefully examine this person's stall.
Beside him were several large baskets woven from rattan, filled with these Burst Flame Fruit. Next to them was a piece of torn cloth displaying some spiritual herbs and medicines.
At this moment, another mocking voice rang out from the crowd.
"I say, Niu Er, although Burst Flame Fruit are rare, everyone knows that their power depends on their age. Yours have only grown for sixty years at most, and their power is only equivalent to a large fireball talisman. Selling them for fifty spiritual stones is too expensive, don't you all think so?"
"Yes, fifty spiritual stones is too expensive."
"What about thirty spiritual stones?"
"What thirty spiritual stones? I'd rather keep them for myself. You all saw it just now, the power was equivalent to several large fireball talismans. If you use five or six together, no one can withstand it."
For a time, the dozen or so onlookers began to discuss, but this stall owner named Niu Er refused to lower the price. After arguing for a while, most of them dispersed, leaving only the half-demon who had been arguing with him.
This person also had roughly mid-Foundation Establishment stage strength, with blood-red eyes and a nose like an eagle's beak, making him quite similar to humans, except that he was always hunching over, making him look somewhat wretched.
"Hehe, now that they're all gone, how about thirty spiritual stones for one, buying ten from me?"
"You disturbed my business and still want this spiritual fruit? No way, get lost." Upon hearing this, Niu Er immediately emitted a black aura, his figure grew taller, and then he glared, scaring the half-demon with the hooked nose who was hunching over.
"You, you just wait." The half-demon with the hooked nose's expression changed, he left a harsh word, and quickly left.
Zhang Ling, however, observed that the aura on this stall owner had increased significantly compared to before, vaguely reaching the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage.
Seeing that the half-demon was driven away, Niu Er's aura immediately weakened, returning to its original state.
"A gutless fellow. Daring to threaten me when you don't even dare to go to Black Wind Cave. If private fights weren't prohibited in the city, I would have torn you to pieces." Niu Er cursed indignantly and then turned to look at Zhang Ling, he had long noticed Zhang Ling standing beside him.
Niu Er sized up Zhang Ling, and then his eyes lit up and he asked in a muffled voice.
Human cultivator!
This made Zhang Ling couldn't help but be stunned. Although he was maintaining his late Foundation Establishment stage cultivation, he had also made some changes to his aura. In his opinion, he was no different from the surrounding half-demons. How did this person recognize him?
Niu Er seemed to see Zhang Ling's confusion and sneered.
"The scales you carry on your body to enter and exit this place render any secret techniques ineffective in our eyes."
These words made Zhang Ling feel a chill in his heart. He didn't expect that the scales he carried had this characteristic. Zhang Ling's mouth twitched and he cupped his fist at this person.
"Oh, I see, then I was a bit presumptuous."
"Hehe, it's nothing presumptuous. The scales you carry are shed from Lord Liu's body. As long as you carry them, we half-demons can sense the special aura on them. This allows us to determine your identity."
As the stall owner spoke, his tone changed and he glanced at the Burst Flame Fruit in the bamboo basket at his feet and said, "You are also interested in this Burst Flame Fruit. If you want it, it's eighty spiritual stones per piece."
"Wasn't it just 50 spiritual stones?"
Zhang Ling frowned, only to see the stall owner smile, take out a Burst Flame Fruit, toss it in his hand, and say leisurely.
"If it were other things, I would naturally sell them to you at a fair price, but these spiritual items obtained from Black Wind Cave, selling them to humans requires adding some spiritual stones. This is a rule jointly set by the adults above, and we can only comply."
There's also this rule, Zhang Ling cursed inwardly.
When he bought other things just now, there didn't seem to be this kind of discrimination. He didn't know if it was true or false.
However, these Burst Flame Fruit were indeed useful to him. Zhang Ling didn't care about the spiritual stones. After all, in this unfamiliar place, he didn't want to attract the attention of others. Then, he calmly took out spiritual stones, bought a dozen Burst Flame Fruit and left the stall.
Next, he wandered around the entire square for more than an hour, and finally returned.
In the next few days, Zhang Ling would go to that square every day to wander around, and the others who came with him were roughly the same.
Through several days of observation, Zhang Ling found that half-demons basically accounted for eighty to ninety percent of the population here, with varying strengths, but mostly maintained at the Foundation Establishment stage. He also saw a few with the strength of high-level cultivators, but they were few in number.
And those half-demons with obvious demon beast characteristics were often the weakest, with some mostly only at the Qi Refining stage.
This seemed to be a defect of the half-demons. However, as long as they could survive, they could basically cultivate. When they started cultivating, they often progressed quickly, but it was extremely difficult to reach the Golden Core stage.
And most of the half-demons in this city were not the first generation of half-demons, but the second and third generations born from half-demon unions. Although there were defects, once half-demons could survive, their vitality was very strong. Often, they could live for more than three hundred years without cultivation.
Half-demons with Foundation Establishment stage strength could also mostly break through five hundred years of life, and half-demons with Golden Core stage strength could possibly live for a thousand years.
The reason for this seemed to be derived from the demon beast bloodline. The lifespan of the demon race was originally the same as that of the human race, and this half-demon could be considered a special case.
As time passed, basically every day there were thirty or so new human cultivators coming to this place, so the atmosphere of Ten Thousand Demon City also became lively.
...
This day at noon, Zhang Ling was standing in a small teahouse, next to the window, watching the changes taking place in the central square.
This square is the most central area of Ten Thousand Demon City. Every day, many half-demons set up stalls here to sell items, but now there is no one in the square.
At this time, the outermost part of the square is surrounded by a layer of earthy yellow spiritual light. If you probe into it with divine sense, you can find that the pieces of bluestone in the square are being rearranged.
In the sky above the square stood two cultivators, one was the Confucian scholar youth who had led them here before, and the other was an old man wearing a cyan robe. The aura on both of them was very strong, reaching the peak of the Golden Core stage.
They each held a formation plate in their hands. The youth held a black formation plate. As he cast the spell, the bluestones, each about ten feet long and wide, that originally paved the ground of the huge circular square, which was more than ten miles wide, lit up with a layer of spiritual light.
After a few breaths, the bluestone slabs shook and all flew into the air. At a glance, there were densely packed, I don't know how many pieces.
The old man in the cyan shirt was a human cultivator, holding a khaki-colored round bead in his hand, was closing his eyes and chanting a mantra. As he cast the spell, the bead spun around, emitting a dozen strands of khaki spiritual light into the ground.
Suddenly, part of the ground began to change. With the rumbling sound, some of the earth and rocks on the ground rose and some fell.
Soon, pavilions several feet high rose from the ground. Then, pieces of bluestone slabs fell again, paving between the pavilions to re-form streets.
In this way, the two of them cast spells together to change the terrain of the square. This scene lasted for four or five hours. The circular square was changed into a dozen or so vertical and horizontal streets, with houses of different sizes located on it. It looked like the prototype of a small town.
Only the most central position of the square remained in its original shape, and it also became a giant stone building about thirty to forty feet high and several miles in size.
The entire square was truly transformed on the second day, and this is where the trade fair between the human and demon races is held.
In the next two or three days, many cultivators moved in. These people were mostly representatives of merchants with great strength, including both human cultivators and half-demons.
These people were all for selling items. Human cultivators naturally brought things that were not common here from the outside world. Things like elixirs, magic weapons, and spiritual talismans were very popular among half-demons.
Because half-demons have very little mastery of the various arts of cultivating immortality, an ordinary top-grade magic weapon is a hot commodity here, and can be sold for one or two times the price. Elixirs and other things are even scarcer.
And because of the special secret realm here, half-demons have some spiritual medicines that are difficult to find outside, and can also collect some precious demon beast materials.
This place is closed all year round and opens once every hundred years, so many human cultivators and half-demons come here to resell items.
In the blink of an eye, it was the seventh day, and this place was truly open, and the square also became the most prosperous area of Ten Thousand Demon City. In a few days, Zhang Ling also came into contact with some half-demons. This island has an area of several thousand miles, and they have formed a certain way of life.
Ten Thousand Demon City is the only immortal city in Hidden Demon Valley, but the number of half-demons gathered here is actually only a part. There are also a large number of half-demons living in other parts of this island, mostly living in tribes.
The half-demons also attack each other, and the fighting is quite fierce. Only this demon city remains calm, and a large number of demon beasts also live in Hidden Demon Valley.
According to some half-demons, they also have the opportunity to leave this place, as long as their cultivation reaches the fifth level, that is, the middle Golden Core stage, they can leave this place to the outside world.
As for those transformed demon kings, each has an area, and the half-demons are also difficult to see.
Zhang Ling was also walking in this newly planned square at this time, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart as he looked at the passing cultivators. There were many half-demons and human cultivators walking on the street, but their cultivation bases were very different. Most of the half-demons maintained their Foundation Establishment cultivation, and there were very few with high-level strength, while the human cultivators were one level higher, and most of them had Golden Core cultivation.
These half-demons did not have the slightest fear when communicating with the human race, after all, this place is not human territory. Many high-level cultivators are not comfortable here, but even the human cultivators with fiery tempers do not dare to really fight here.
If they really fight, they will not be able to leave this demon city.
Legend has it that more than a thousand years ago, a Nascent Soul cultivator took a fancy to a treasure and fought here. In the end, he was killed by several demon kings joining forces, and did not escape this place.
And the supervisor of this trade fair, Red Fire King, this demon king's strength has reached the ninth level, which is stronger than the human race's Nascent Soul stage cultivator. The supervisor sent by the human race is the Spiritual Crane True Person, whom he had seen from afar when entering this island.
With these two Nascent Soul experts in charge, naturally no one dared to act rashly.
Zhang Ling was wandering here, and from time to time he would enter and exit some shops opened by half-demons. As a result, he also collected some good things.
As night fell, more and more human cultivators gathered here, and their goal was to walk towards the stone building in the center.
Today is the first day of the auction, and an auction will be held in the stone building in the center. This is a very large auction, divided into three sessions, held every seven days and ending after three times.
After passing through a street, he approached the tall stone building.
The entire stone building looks like it was built with black stones, and dark black runes are flowing on it, obviously reinforced by a formation. From a distance, you can see that there are three gates under the stone building, and the main gates are all open.
But no one walked through the stone gate in the middle, only the two stone gates on the left and right sides, walking half-waist and human cultivators.
Zhang Ling also knew the rules here. The stone gate in the middle is used to welcome old monsters of the Nascent Soul level. Those who are not cultivated enough are not qualified to enter.
This long special auction may attract this level of old monsters, so the organizers have already planned the rules here.
Zhang Ling walked straight to the doorway on the far right, lined up behind several high-level human cultivators. After paying ten middle-grade spirit stones as the admission fee for the auction. He walked inside, and the front of a not-long aisle suddenly opened up.
The space inside the stone building is very large, with a size of thirty to forty feet, and is divided into several floors, each of which is ring-shaped, with different rooms of different sizes, seemingly for different purposes.
The entire stone building is brightly lit, with brightly colored ribbons and lanterns hanging on each floor, as well as some golden pillars, screens, colored paintings and other decorations. The stone building looks rough, but the interior decoration is extremely in line with human characteristics.
Now there are not a few half-demons and human races gathered inside, and some of these people are gathered in the very center of the stone building, looking at a huge jade bi.
It was a green jade bi floating between several pillars, five or six feet high and two feet wide, with lines of different colored characters displayed on it.
With a sweep of divine sense, you can observe that these characters are recorded transaction information. But what is different from ordinary auction venues is that the transaction information above is marked with special numbers.
Zhang Ling couldn't help but look at Yu Bi. Only one message read Red Fire Fork magic weapon, 250,000 spirit stones, which seemed to be the price of this treasure. But it also says A13 behind it.
Below is also a bottle of top-grade elixir Flame Pill, 30,000 spirit stones. It also says the number B8.
