The desperate plight finally turned to fruition, as the spirit plants were bartered for treasures, dispelling all lingering doubts.

Shen Yi crouched on the bluestone, teasing a Spirit-Devouring Vine with a blade of grass. The spirit stone gripped by the tip of the vine refracted a multicolored halo in the morning light.

The gongs signaling the opening of the market had just sounded for the third time when a burning pain flared at the base of his neck, right over his Netherfire tattoo.

"Did you hear? That boy who sells vermilion fruits on the front street is cursed," two cultivators carrying herb baskets hurried past his stall. The dark, patterned trim on their black robes identified them as members of the Xuanyue Shop. "Old Wang, who bought spirit herbs from him yesterday, found all the koi in his pond floating belly-up!"

The Spirit-Devouring Vine suddenly shot up by three inches. Shen Yi flicked a drop of Mind-Clearing Dew from his fingertip, striking the vine precisely at its seven-inch mark.

A system interface flickered across his retina: [Detected malicious rumors x3, source location in progress... Southeast corner of the Xuanyue Shop cellar. Recommendation: Host should prioritize resolving the spiritual anomaly.]

"Brother Shen!" A crisp, childlike voice shattered the gloom. A little girl in twin buns squeezed through the crowd, clutching a clay pot. "Mother said the calming herbs from yesterday worked wonders. Here are some almond crisps for your breakfast."

Shen Yi took the oil-paper parcel, still warm from her touch. A vermilion fruit with crimson veins flew from his sleeve into the girl’s pocket. "Tell Auntie Liu to pick up the newly arrived moon-viewing grass under the old locust tree west of the city at the hour of the Dog." As he caught sight of the faint Nether-flower pollen on the girl’s hair, he suddenly understood what the system’s "spiritual anomaly" truly was.

When the sun climbed over the eaves, the first customer finally approached the stall.

A youth in fine silk held a blood-oath jade tablet with trembling hands. "That... if you add a clause to the contract stating 'tenfold compensation in case of misfortune,' I’ll buy three..."

"Wouldn't it be better to just go to the Xuanyue Shop?" Shen Yi flicked a finger, shattering the spying charm hidden within the jade tablet. "Their newly arrived Nether-flower seeds, when mixed into calming incense, burn with such... 'profound tranquility'—taken quite literally."

The Spirit-Devouring Vine suddenly lashed around his wrist and yanked him hard. Shen Yi took the momentum to flip backward and spring away.

The bluestone slab where he had been standing erupted into charred cracks, and eerie purple smoke billowed from the direction of the Xuanyue Shop.

The system’s alarm sounded at the same moment the night watchman’s raspy voice announced the third quarter of the hour of the Horse. He felt the withered Night-Blooming Epiphyllum in his sleeve suddenly turn scalding hot.

"How do you sell these vermilion fruits, young man?" A hunched elder leaning on a snake-headed staff approached. His clouded pupils reflected the fire tattoo on Shen Yi’s neck. "They say anything touched by the Netherfire feeds on the vitality of the living..."

Shen Yi suddenly crushed the crimson-veined vermilion fruit he had been hiding under his tongue.

The moment the sweet juice touched his throat, the Spirit-Devouring Vine lashed out, striking away the mind-reading mirror the old man had concealed. Twenty-seven hidden sound-transmission charms around the stall exploded into dust simultaneously.

He licked the fruit pulp from the corner of his mouth and chuckled. "Old man, you ought to get a new wind-chime—mistaking the sound of a Spirit-Devouring Vine breaking soil for ghostly wailing really does ruin business."

As twilight stained the clouds red, Shen Yi sighed at the sight of his meager five mid-grade spirit stones.

The system interface showed his spiritual energy reserves were down to 13%, while the withered Night-Blooming Epiphyllum left behind by Gao Yao was greedily draining his vital essence from within his sleeve.

When the wooden clapper of the hour of the Dog pierced the market, he suddenly noticed a familiar figure curled up in the shadows of his stall.

"Is Brother Tie Niu here to collect protection money again?" Shen Yi tossed the last half of his almond crisp over. "Do me a favor and tell the Xuanyue shopkeeper—the Nether-flower under the third blue brick of the cellar needs its water changed."

The burly man’s hand froze mid-air, but Shen Yi had already pried open the hidden compartment beneath his stall.

Seven twin-lotus flowers, wreathed in the aura of moonlight, were slowly blooming. Each petal shimmered with star-chart patterns etched in moonlight by Gao Yao.

The system suddenly flashed a bright red warning: [Warning! Demonic energy conversion rate has exceeded 20%. If the host’s spiritual energy is overdrawn, it will trigger a Netherfire rampage.]

The Spirit-Devouring Vine coiled around his left wrist, swaying frantically. Shen Yi followed the vine’s guidance.

In the glass mirror of the cosmetic shop at the corner, spiritual light faintly coalesced into the character for "Imprisonment" on the second floor of the Xuanyue Shop.

Touching the crystallizing Night-Blooming Epiphyllum in his sleeve, he suddenly laughed at the empty street.

"You all wanted to see spirit plants plagued by misfortune, didn't you?" Shen Yi swept his fingers across his left palm. As the droplets of blood hit the twin-lotuses, the spiritual energy of the entire market began to converge on his stall. "It just so happens I acquired something interesting this morning..."

In the rising heat shimmering off the bluestone, Shen Yi tapped the crimson-veined vermilion fruit.

The gilded patterns flowing on the surface of the spirit fruit suddenly came to life, transforming into tiny, swimming dragons that circled the gray-robed cultivator buying candied haws.

"Watch closely!" Shen Yi flicked a wisp of spiritual energy, and the dragon dived into the jade pendant at the cultivator’s waist.

The old, tea-stained jade suddenly radiated a moon-white luster, projecting a complete Xuantian Star Chart into mid-air.

The candied haws fell from the gray-robed man’s hand with a soft thud, and a collective gasp erupted from the surrounding crowd.

The star chart clearly displayed the scene in the Xuanyue Shop’s cellar from three hours earlier—five thugs were busy stuffing charms coated in Netherfire ash into the calming herbs meant for sale.

"This... this Star-Orbit Projection technique requires at least the Foundation Establishment stage..." The cosmetic shop owner forgot to wave her fan; she had bought twenty bundles of calming herbs from the Xuanyue Shop just three days ago.

Shen Yi suddenly tossed the vermilion fruit into the crowd. The peel automatically detached into eighteen petals, each one landing precisely in the palm of a bystander. "Care to taste?" He leaned against the Spirit-Devouring Vine and smiled. "If there is even the slightest trace of demonic energy left, the spirit plants on my stall are free."

Amidst the rising chorus of astonished cries, the haw-selling cultivator suddenly leaped three feet into the air. "My bottleneck, stuck for three years at the sixth level of Qi Refining, has broken!" His robe sleeve ripped with a sharp sound, and the spiritual veins shimmering on his forearm made those around him green with envy.

The crowd instantly turned into a boiling spring of energy, with dozens of hands reaching toward the stall’s protective barrier.

A teacup shattered on the second floor of the Xuanyue Shop. Shen Yi looked up and met the livid face of the Xuanyue shopkeeper—the old man had gripped his own gold-trimmed collar so hard it was twisted out of shape.

"Line up, line up!" Shen Yi used the Spirit-Devouring Vine to carve a price list onto a bluestone slab; sparks from the vine’s tip burned holes in the robes of several rogue cultivators trying to cut the line. "Vermilion fruits are twenty spirit stones, moon-viewing grass is fifteen, buy three and get a free pest-control service from the Spirit-Devouring Vine..."

By the time the twilight had painted the eaves deep red, Shen Yi’s storage pouch was so full he couldn't tie the knot.

He deliberately stacked five high-grade spirit stones into a small tower on his stall, and the Spirit-Devouring Vine tapped against them, rhythmically playing "The Phoenix Seeks His Mate"—the mortal tune Gao Yao loved most.

"You blockhead." A light purple dress brushed against the spirit stones scattered on the ground. A faint light shimmered from the crescent hairpin in Gao Yao’s hair.

She pretended to bend down to pick up the stones, but instead slipped a warm oil-paper parcel into Shen Yi’s arms. "Three-delicacies filling. Granny Wang on the East Street said she’d close up if you were even a half-quarter of an hour later."

Shen Yi took the opportunity to pull the girl close, and the Spirit-Devouring Vine spontaneously wove itself into a cushioned chair.

He bit into a bun and mumbled, "Didn't someone say disciples of the Immortal Sect aren't allowed to leave the mountain gates after the hour of the Dog?" His fingertip, however, quietly slipped a stone etched with star patterns into Gao Yao’s sleeve—a tracking-prevention artifact specially crafted with Netherfire ash.

Gao Yao’s ears turned red as she pinched his arm, only to realize that the spiritual energy around Shen Yi was surging like the tide. "Are you breaking through?" The sword at her waist automatically unsheathed by half an inch, and the young man’s brow reflected in the blade was already glowing with golden light.

"May I trouble the immortal maiden to guard me?" Shen Yi flicked his fingers to set up the Twenty-Eight Mansions protective array, while the Spirit-Devouring Vine frantically devoured the remaining Netherfire aura around the stall.

When the seventh high-grade spirit stone crumbled into powder, multicolored auspicious clouds gathered above the market. The spiritual rain falling from the clouds caused withered plants within a ten-mile radius to sprout anew.

Watching from the shadows, Yun He crushed his transmission jade slip; as the powder leaked through his fingers, it formed the words: "Extraordinary talent."

He took one last look at the two embracing in the spirit rain, turned, and dissolved into the form of a crane, vanishing into the deepening night.

When the bell for the hour of the Rat sounded, Shen Yi whistled as he counted his new stash of thirty high-grade spirit stones.

The Spirit-Devouring Vine was busily lashing a rosewood box filled with spirit stones onto a handcart when its tip suddenly struck something hard—a piece of brick stained with Netherfire ash. Looking at the markings, it was clearly from the same source as the boundary markers of the spirit herb fields.

"The moonlight is perfect tonight." Shen Yi suddenly gripped Gao Yao’s hand, and the Spirit-Devouring Vine pulled the handcart toward the west of the city with frenzied speed.

The night wind brought the distinct, sweet fragrance of the spirit herb fields, but it was tainted with a scent that shouldn't have been there—a bloody, metallic tang, as if someone had soaked the Netherfire seeds in a pool of blood.