Chapter 154: The Tri-Realm Market

The man wearing the wolf-head mask was immensely strong, wielding the heavy saber in his hand with a whistling sound as sheets of blade-light rolled overwhelmingly toward Zhang Shou-zheng. For an ordinary person, it would be entirely impossible to discern which blade-light was the true saber; among those dozens of beams, only one was lethal.

However, none of this mattered to Zhang Shou-zheng. The pupils beneath his mask were already shimmering with a cyan glow. He had no intention of taking this strike head-on, for the opponent's strength was truly formidable, as evident from the exposed arms of the man, the massive bulges of muscle, and the violently protruding veins.

Under the observation of his Azure Dragon Spirit Eyes, he clearly spotted the real heavy saber. Just as it was about to hack down upon his head, his body flickered, dodging the fatal blow. His broken sword thrust straight toward the man's wrist. The man seemed to have anticipated this long beforehand, instantly pulling his hand back. The broken sword struck the blade's body and was parried aside, whereupon the wolf-head masked man lunged at Zhang Shou-zheng once more.

Meanwhile, the fox-masked woman looked smilingly at Liu Ming, shaking the ghost banner in her hand with force. The ghostly faces on the banner emitted eerie laughter, parting their jaws one after another as streaks of black light spewed from their mouths, shooting directly toward Liu Ming.

Liu Ming let out a light snort, neither dodging nor evading. He raised the feather fan high and shouted angrily:

"Wind and fire are divinely ordained, let the flames blaze to the heavens!"

The crimson side of the feather fan flared brilliantly with firelight, and crimson runes rolled across its surface. These runes appeared as though they were naturally inscribed upon the fiery plumes; as one rune flashed, they connected into a continuous sheet, and an astonishingly fierce fire formed upon the feather fan.

Liu Ming smiled faintly, waving the feather fan forcefully toward those black beams of light. The rolling, shifting runes flew out, transforming into an extremely scorching cloud of fire that swept toward the opponent. Once the beams of light transformed from black ghostly Qi plunged into the fire cloud, they were immediately burned with a sizzling sound, melting away one after another like spring snow in March.

"Damn it, how do you possess such a magical artifact that specifically counters ghostly entities!"

The fox-masked woman cried out in alarm, shaking her ghost banner once again. Massive waves of ghostly entities surged forth wildly, and the surrounding chilling wind grew even fiercer, fluttering Liu Ming's robes violently. That mass of fire cloud seemed as though it would be blown apart by the chilling wind—no, not blown apart, but rather rolled backward. Seeing this scene, the fox-masked woman let out a light laugh, but the next moment, Liu Ming slightly flipped the feather fan in his hand, and it was instantly wreathed in cyan light.

"Wind borrows the momentum of fire!"

With a single wave of the feather fan in his hand, a cyan gale enveloped the fire cloud and lunged toward the woman. The woman was instantly engulfed by this layer of firelight, letting out a miserable scream.

Although the man fighting Zhang Shou-zheng possessed great strength and skilled saber techniques, he was full of flaws in front of Zhang Shou-zheng. His speed was simply too slow, so he was quickly stabbed in the wrist by Zhang Shou-zheng's sword. Blood splattered everywhere as one of his tendons was severed, and the heavy saber in his hand dropped to the ground with a clatter. Even if that tendon were to be surgically reattached in the future, it would likely be very difficult for him to ever wield that heavy saber again.

If this man had only encountered an ordinary practitioner of the Dao, he might have achieved victory long ago. However, Zhang Shou-zheng was well-versed in the Demon-Subduing Sword Technique of the Broken Sword Sect, and could even unleash an indestructible sword Qi.

This couple had truly run into a hard obstacle. Fortunately, Zhang Shou-zheng had no intent to kill; after putting away his broken sword, he immediately rendezvoused with Liu Ming. Catching sight of the magical artifact in Liu Ming's hand, his gaze flashed as he asked, "Xiao Ming, your artifact is quite impressive. It actually manages to bear the power of both flames and violent winds."

"This is a supreme treasure of our Wind and Fire Sect, passed down from our ancestors. If it weren't for the fact that my cultivation is far too weak, how could its might be limited merely to this?"

Liu Ming said with a chuckle.

"Let's hurry inside. Now that these two have lost the ability to resist, if we continue to linger in this Exile Land, heaven knows what terrible troubles we might encounter."

Glancing at the two people lying on the ground, Zhang Shou-zheng began to urge him onward.

This Three Realms Market was definitely not that simple, and the parallel space was excessively vast. Aside from this massive city in the center called the Three Realms Market, the surrounding areas were all Exile Lands. What on earth was actually exiled within this Exile Land?

The black robe on the fox-masked woman was already burned to tatters, and her entire body was still venting a wisp of black smoke. The ghost banner in her hand was still burning like firewood, emitting crackling, explosive sounds.

The two walked forward a few steps, and the location of the city gate turned out to be a nearly transparent verdant light barrier. Zhang Shou-zheng lifted his foot and stepped inside. Upon seeing the scene before his eyes, he was instantly stunned: inside was a long street, and the buildings on both sides were in an ancient style—black-and-white structures, with black tiles neatly covering the tops of the houses.

Quite a few people were walking along the street, but the vast majority wore black long robes and wore bizarre masks on their faces. However, there were also quite a few who wore no masks; the attire of these unmasked individuals looked very different. Some actually wore animal-skin skirts and carried large cloth sacks over their shoulders, looking around left and right as they walked down the street. Their faces were also painted with body paints of various colors. It seemed these people had likely not entered the Three Realms Market holding tokens, but were quite possibly people who had entered from that Exile Land outside the Three Realms Market.

Another group of people wore black athletic attire, all holding wooden staffs in their hands, with stiff expressions as they walked through the streets in a highly mechanical manner. These people moved in squads of four, and appeared to be the law enforcers of the Three Realms Market.

"Shou-zheng, let's find a place to stay first."

Liu Ming reminded him from the side.

Although they hadn't yet found Jiu'er and Qian Sheng, their best course of action at present was to find an inn first and then decide their next steps. In any case, Jiu'er was staying by Qian Sheng's side, and Qian Sheng's grandfather was the master of this place; presumably, it wouldn't be too difficult to find them.

This was a main street, and both sides were almost entirely lined with shops of all sorts of bizarre kinds. Zhang Shou-zheng deliberately paid attention to a few apothecary shops, secretly making up his mind that once he settled down here, he must definitely come here to search for Sun Poria.

Although Sun Poria had long since vanished from the mortal world, this was the Three Realms Market.

The layout within the Three Realms Market was like a chessboard, divided into quite a few districts, and the inn was not located on the main street. He pulled out the small booklet given to him by the black-robed person, which surprisingly contained an attached small map. The inn was situated on the western side. Having found the location, Zhang Shou-zheng quickened his pace, noticing that the number of people here was increasing steadily.

It seemed that quite a few people had successively entered the Three Realms Market, and this Three Realms Market was not as simple as the rumors outside suggested.

"Gathering Friends Inn—rather interesting. Let's head there."

Near the city wall stood a tall inn. Its uppermost section extended far beyond the city wall, offering a view of the outside scenery, and this inn was relatively secluded, with not many visitors. Zhang Shou-zheng nodded in agreement and walked inside.

The first floor of the inn was a spacious hall, serving as a place where lodgers could dine. It was quite primitive here, fundamentally built of wooden structures, and the tables were carved from massive tree stumps, complete with tree rings showing that the trees were of a great age. Several people were already dining within the hall.

The proprietor was an elderly man who looked quite benevolent, smiling warmly as he looked at Zhang Shou-zheng and Liu Ming. "Welcome, the two of you, to the Gathering Friends Inn. Judging by your attire, you should not be those exiles, but rather friends who have come from the outside world. Those who possess tokens are honored guests of the Three Realms Market. Please present your tokens so that I may arrange fine rooms for you. Might the two of you have any specific requests regarding the rooms? Generally, honored guests holding tokens are assigned to our supreme Heaven-grade rooms."

"Ah, then let's take Heaven-grade rooms."

Zhang Shou-zheng and Liu Ming handed over their respective tokens. The old man took them, examined them closely for a moment, and then reached out to retrieve two bamboo tallies, handing them separately to Zhang Shou-zheng and Liu Ming while speaking aloud: "Jasmine, guide these two guests to Heaven-grade rooms number six and seven."

At that moment, a young girl dressed in coarse burlap garments put down the tea sets in her hands and walked over. She smiled sweetly at the two of them and said, "Please follow me, both of you."