The Underground Black Market welcomed a period of unprecedented peace.
It was hard to imagine that the Lawless Land, once rife with frequent criminal incidents like plunder, robbery, and enslavement, would one day become so... safe.
So safe that quite a few newly arrived Human Race and Demon Race members started to feel dismissive.
Is this the so-called Lawless Land?
Is this the so-called Underground Black Market?
I think it's nothing special!
Li Xuanxiao walked through the streets of the Underground Black Market, his gaze sweeping everywhere.
His attitude toward any Demon Race members not affiliated with the Brocade Snake Manor was: show your head and get instantly killed, or don't show it and still get instantly killed!
Most of the Demon Race in the Lawless Land were those without any background.
Their Realms were mostly in the Early or Middle Stage of the Origin Realm.
Any Late Stage Origin Realm expert, almost without exception, came from either the Mu En Clan or the Brocade Snake Manor.
Over this past week, he had already slain over a hundred Origin Realm Demon Race members!
His Demon value Points surged, reaching 7.36 million!
The earnings from just one week were comparable to his previous gains from slaughtering the Myriad Demon Nation army!
It really is better to kill more high-Realm Demon Race members!
The speed at which he accumulated Demon value Points was amazing~
Li Xuanxiao secretly rejoiced.
It was just a pity... after a week of his'show your head and get instantly killed' policy, fewer and fewer Demon Race members dared to loiter outside in the Lawless Land.
Except for the clueless newcomers, he could hardly find groups of Demon Race members anymore.
Pretending to be a newbie was no longer effective.
Now, all the Demon Race members in the Underground Black Market were hiding well, terrified of turning a corner only to meet 'love' (i.e., him).
While slaying Demon Race members, Li Xuanxiao also acquired over a million Spirit Crystals.
His Spirit Crystals now totaled over 7 million!
He had achieved a bumper harvest in both Demon value Points and Spirit Crystals!
However, what puzzled Li Xuanxiao was that despite his continuous slaughter of Demon Race members, including those from the Mu En Clan, the Mu En Clan remained remarkably calm, showing no intention of sending anyone to cause him trouble.
He had originally planned for the Mu En Clan to stage a 'Wawa (Calabash Brothers) saving grandpa' scenario (i.e., sending successive waves of people to their doom).
But the other side was surprisingly patient.
This calmness, however, gave him a bad premonition.
If things are unusually quiet, there must be a hidden scheme.
Such tranquility was more like the precursor to an impending storm!
The reason they weren't sending anyone out might be because the Mu En Clan had started consolidating its strength, preparing for a major operation!
Li Xuanxiao frowned; news about his Heaven Realm Cultivation Technique was still nonexistent.
Without improving his strength, he felt uneasy and unsettled.
Although currently, he only needed to hunt Origin Realm Demon Race members, once the Three Great Powers went to war, the luxury of being able to choose your opponent would disappear.
A Heaven Realm Demon Race member might find him and casually obliterate him!
Li Xuanxiao did not want to take that risk.
"If war breaks out, and I still haven't obtained the Heaven Realm Cultivation Technique or Martial Arts..."
Li Xuanxiao murmured softly, "Then I will use all the Demon value Points I have to upgrade my current Cultivation Techniques and Martial Arts!"
It was certain that both Origin Realm dual Cultivation Techniques, the Origin Tracing Martial Art and the Mahayana Origin Scripture, could be upgraded to the Transcendent Realm.
His own Realm might also reach the so-called 'Pseudo-Qian' state.
Then, his Martial Arts should also be able to experience an overall Realm increase.
This was the absolute limit he could achieve without a Heaven Realm Cultivation Technique or Martial Art.
Li Xuanxiao sighed and surveyed his surroundings once more.
He decided to stop for the day, giving the Demon Race in the Underground Black Market a chance to catch their breath.
Leaving the Underground Black Market, just as Li Xuanxiao was about to return to his inn, he ran into Chu Yin and Wu Jiangming.
"Brother Li, we have news about the Heaven Realm Cultivation Technique you wanted."
...In the Lawless Land, within the Brocade Snake Manor's jurisdiction.
Li Xuanxiao arrived at the agreed location and met a snake demon who had transformed into human form.
The snake demon took out an object wrapped in black cloth from its embrace: "This top-tier Heaven Realm Cultivation Technique was specially collected for you by Elder Elsa using her connections. The total cost is 3.2 million Spirit Crystals. Based on our current cooperative relationship, Elder Elsa said she would round off for you."
"3 million Spirit Crystals."
Slightly more expensive than the Black Market auction house, but it's a top-tier grade... Li Xuanxiao nodded, and thirty cloth bags appeared as his Storage Ring flickered.
The snake demon didn't even look; after accepting them with its Storage Ring, it handed the Heaven Realm Cultivation Technique to Li Xuanxiao.
It then left without lingering, clearly not wanting too much contact with Li Xuanxiao.
Li Xuanxiao didn't mind; his objective was achieved. His top priority now was to immediately advance to the Heaven Realm!
He returned directly to his inn.
He tightly closed the doors and windows, then enveloped the entire room with True Essence to isolate the noise and external prying eyes during the advancement process to a certain extent.
Li Xuanxiao took out this Heaven Realm Cultivation Technique.
"Profound Grotto-Awakening Art"
His excited heart and trembling hands—Li Xuanxiao clicked his tongue twice. The Heaven Realm he had longed for was now right before his eyes!
He immediately sat cross-legged on the ground and began quantum speed-reading.
A moment later, the System panel popped up!
[Cultivation Technique Recorded — Profound Grotto-Awakening Art!]
Li Xuanxiao didn't hesitate and directly poured his Demon value Points into it!
[Consuming 2 million Demon value Points, Profound Grotto-Awakening Art has reached first glimpse!]
[Consuming 4 million Demon value Points, Profound Grotto-Awakening Art has stepped into the Minor Achievement Realm!]
[Insufficient Demon value Points!]
6 million Demon value Points was instantly depleted!
Li Xuanxiao closed his eyes, his entire being sinking into a Xuan and mysterious state.
Countless vast, broad, deep, and boundless concepts and information surged through his mind.
In the depths of his consciousness, a magnificent power was surging, as if it was about to encompass the entire world!
He felt an unprecedented sense of lightness, as if he could soar through the heavens and traverse the endless galaxy.
His body began to change. His previously ordinary skin started to shimmer, and an aura surpassing the mortal Realm manifested on him.
The True Essence within his body also seemed to be undergoing some kind of transformation; it was no longer as dense and viscous as before.
Instead, it began to become thinner and more illusory, as if transforming from substance to void.
Although it was still in the form of True Essence overall, it was clearly preparing for the changes of the next stage.
This transformation continued for a long time before stopping. When everything settled down, Li Xuanxiao slowly opened his eyes.
"Hoo—"
He exhaled a long breath and scanned his surroundings. Everything within his sight became exceptionally clear.
It was like the shocking and novel feeling of opening one's eyes for the first time after getting corrective eye surgery!
The overall change brought by a major Realm advancement was enormous.
Describing it as a metamorphosis, a qualitative leap, was not an exaggeration!
An inexplicable feeling welled up in Li Xuanxiao's heart: if he encountered Beili again, even if the opponent was at the Peak Origin Realm, it would be as simple as swatting him to death.
"Is this the Heaven Realm..."
Li Xuanxiao murmured, savoring the afterglow of his advancement.
The System panel popped up again.
[Detected Host's advancement to Heaven Realm, System Panel has been updated!]
[Exchange Function Unlocked!]