Block Market Auction, The Old Six Sets Up a Scheme

The thirty-mile Black Rock Wasteland.

Shen Fei walked for four hours.

Along the way, he encountered two more waves of rogue cultivators.

The bottom-tier ecology of the upper realm was even more nakedly brutal than that of the mortal realm.

As long as you were alone, as long as you looked like a soft target, countless greedy mouths would pounce on you.

Shen Fei did not avoid them.

He completely drained these two waves of "experience packs" that delivered themselves to his door.

When he saw the crude city gate of Dust Market built with massive stones,

the system prompt sounded:

[Current cultivation base restored to: Mid-Foundation Establishment!]

[High-dimensional law barrier loosened by: 25%!]

Shen Fei brushed off the bloodstains and stone dust on his black trench coat.

Right now, other than a few hundred low-grade spirit stones looted from the rogue cultivators and a miscellaneous assortment of low-grade magical artifacts, he was still a "pauper."

However, there was no trace of awkwardness in his deep, pitch-black eyes.

The helmsman of a trillion-dollar financial syndicate on Earth

would never panic just because his pockets were temporarily empty.

Dust Market was not large.

A muddy main street ran from north to south. On both sides were low-slung shops and randomly set up stalls of independent cultivators.

The air was filled with the pungent smell of low-quality pills, the fresh metallic stench of demonic beast blood, and the sour reek of sweat.

Most of the cultivators here had weather-beaten faces and wary eyes.

Occasionally, a few sect disciples wearing uniform cyan martial outfits would walk by, and the independent cultivators would instinctively make way, their eyes filled with awe.

The hierarchy was strict.

Shen Fei took a stroll around the market.

His gaze calmly swept over every stall, but his footsteps did not pause in the slightest.

In an inconspicuous corner.

Shen Fei's line of sight briefly paused for three seconds.

It was a plain-looking, gray-haired old independent cultivator. In front of him were a few crookedly drawn low-grade fireball talismans, completely ignored by passersby.

The old cultivator had his eyes closed, dozing off.

But Shen Fei acutely sensed it.

This old man's breathing rhythm was completely disconnected from the noisy environment around him.

Most importantly.

Even though his eyes were closed, that obscure divine sense—one that even surpassed Foundation Establishment perception—was repeatedly scanning every person entering and leaving the market in a regular grid-like pattern.

This was definitely not doing business.

This was patrolling.

Or rather, searching for someone.

Shen Fei didn't take a second look. He naturally withdrew his gaze and continued walking forward.

He wasn't interested in the old cultivator's identity. As long as the man didn't block his path.

Shen Fei's final destination was a three-story tower building located deep within the market, which was also the tallest structure in the area.

Blood Fiend Auction House.

This afternoon.

There was a small-scale auction here aimed at Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Shen Fei paid the entrance fee of ten low-grade spirit stones.

He didn't go to a conspicuous private room.

Instead, he kept a low profile, sitting in the most remote and dimly lit corner of the first-floor hall.

On the black wooden table in front of him sat a cup of poor-quality complimentary spirit tea.

Shen Fei didn't touch it.

He leaned back in his chair.

His gaze seemingly casually watched the auctioneer on stage, who was working hard to pitch a mid-grade magical artifact flying sword.

But in reality.

All of his attention was focused on analyzing the environment of the entire auction venue.

He was observing.

This was a capitalist predator from Earth instinctively deconstructing an unfamiliar commercial system.

Every pause in the auctioneer's quoting.

The fanatical bidding of the independent cultivators in the audience.

The occasional oppressive bids coming from the private rooms on the second floor.

Shen Fei calmly pieced together this information in his brain like a puzzle.

The first auction item. A three-hundred-year-old Blood Ganoderma.

The starting price was five hundred low-grade spirit stones. The independent cultivators fought fiercely for it, and the price soared all the way to eight hundred.

Just as the deal was about to be closed.

A lazy cough came from the private room on the far east side of the second floor.

"One thousand."

The entire venue instantly fell dead silent.

The independent cultivators who had just been fighting until they were red in the face unwillingly put down their bidding paddles, not even daring to raise their heads.

The auctioneer brought the gavel down decisively.

Without any countdown.

Shen Fei's finger tapped lightly on the table.

The second auction item. An incomplete Foundation Establishment stage sword manual.

Starting price: one thousand spirit stones.

Because it was too heavily damaged, no one in the audience showed any interest.

Seeing that it was about to go unsold.

The auctioneer subtly looked up and glanced at the innermost, most central Heaven-tier private room on the second floor.

Behind the beaded curtain of the private room.

A faint sound of a finger tapping against the railing drifted out.

The auctioneer looked as if he had been granted amnesty.

"Our auction house will internally backstop this; withdrawn at the starting price."

An hour later.

The auction ended.

Shen Fei didn't bid on anything.

But he had already gotten all the answers he wanted.

The resource lifeline of this Dust Market.

Was completely controlled by a third-rate sect called the Blood Fiend Sect.

The one lazily raising the price on the east side of the second floor was a core disciple of the Blood Fiend Sect, bullying others with his power and forcing transactions.

And the one in the innermost Heaven-tier private room.

Was the true behind-the-scenes mastermind of this auction and the entire market.

The stationed elder of the Blood Fiend Sect.

Late Foundation Establishment cultivation base.

Shen Fei sat quietly in the corner.

The system map accurately marked the spiritual energy coordinates of that elder.

As well as.

The holographic structural map of the Blood Fiend Sect's headquarters, located twenty miles outside the market.

[Target locked: Blood Fiend Sect Master, Liu Tianxing.]

[Current cultivation base: Foundation Establishment Great Circle (currently in secluded cultivation attempting to break through to the Core Formation stage).]

[Coordinates: Blood Fiend Sect back mountain, Earth-tier Number One Cave Dwelling.]

Shen Fei clearly organized all this information in his mind.

He stood up.

And calmly walked out of the auction house.

Blending into the crowded stream of people in the market.

He didn't need to bid.

Whatever he wanted, he would just go and take it directly.

That night.

The night was dark and the wind was high.

The clamor of Dust Market gradually quieted down, leaving only a few all-night brothels and casinos still flickering with dim spiritual light.

Shen Fei didn't return to the inn.

Like a weightless ghost.

He spent two hours.

Accurately finding three dead-drunk outer disciples of the Blood Fiend Sect in the back alleys of several taverns and red-light districts.

There was no torture.

Only the covert Heavenly Demon Soul-Bewitching Art.

Without triggering the defenses in their seas of consciousness.

Shen Fei easily coaxed out the weak points in the Blood Fiend Sect headquarters' defenses and the time gaps in the patrol shifts.

Even the location of the stationed elder's study in the market's courtyard villa.

At 2:00 AM.

All was silent.

Inside the study of the Blood Fiend Sect stationed elder's courtyard villa.

A white-haired and white-bearded old man was sitting cross-legged on a red sandalwood couch, meditating with his eyes closed.

Strict soundproofing and defensive warning arrays were set up around him.

Even if a fly flew in, it would trigger the array patterns and sound an alarm.

Suddenly.

The old man sharply opened his eyes.

His late Foundation Establishment divine sense violently swept across the entire study!

"Who is it?!"

The old man shouted sternly.

His right hand quickly gripped a top-grade explosive talisman at his waist.

The study was completely empty.

The windows were shut tight. The arrays were perfectly intact.

Not even the flame of the candle flickered in the slightest.

The old man stood up warily and carefully searched the study.

He even used precious revealing powder.

There was nothing.

"Could it be that something went wrong with my recent cultivation, and I'm hallucinating?"

The old man frowned in confusion.

In that split second just now.

He had clearly felt that right behind his neck...

A cold gaze, seemingly devoid of any living presence, swept slowly past.

It felt exactly like being targeted by an extremely dangerous, venomous snake.

The old man took a deep breath.

He sat back down on his couch.

But he remained alert, not even daring to enter a full state of meditation while sitting.

Until the sky brightened completely.

That prickling feeling of being watched never appeared again.

The old man exhaled a weary breath of stale air.

He thought it was just a false alarm.

He had no idea.

During those five minutes when he was vigilantly searching the study.

Shen Fei.

Had actually been standing in the blind spot of the roof beam right above his head the entire time.

The Heaven Demon Body's freakish concealment abilities, combined with the peak assassination and stealth techniques from his past life.

Made Shen Fei's entire being seem to blend into the dark shadows.

Even his heartbeat and breathing were eerily synchronized with the faint frequency of the air currents in the study.

The moment the old man sat back down.

Shen Fei, like a light falling leaf.

Silently hung upside down.

His eyes, cold as ice, swept over a highly classified document spread out on the old man's desk.

It was the latest defense deployment map of the Blood Fiend Sect's headquarters.

As well as the distribution of the formation nodes for the sect leader's secluded cultivation cave.

Shen Fei only took three seconds.

Relying on his terrifying memory.

He precisely imprinted every spiritual energy circuit and every hidden patrol sentry on the blueprint.

Directly into his mind.

Afterward.

Shen Fei flexibly contracted his body.

Following a tiny gap in a ventilation opening at the top of the study.

Like a wisp of black smoke.

He calmly retreated from this supposedly impregnable study.

Without triggering any formations.

Without leaving a single trace.

The morning sun shone on the stone-paved roads of the Dust Quarter.

Shen Fei walked down a secluded alley.

He looked at the main peak of the Blood Fiend Sect twenty miles away, hidden in the clouds and mist.

The corners of his mouth.

Slowly.

Twitched.

An outer sect disciple? Starting as a chore boy?

Shen Fei smiled and shook his head.

What he was going to do.

Was directly thrust his hand.

Savagely.

Into the highest core of power of this sect.

"In secluded cultivation, huh."

Shen Fei's steps were steady as he walked in the direction of the Blood Fiend Sect.

"Get ready."

"To welcome your new master."