Chapter 29: Mirage, Stealing Heavenly Secrets
Lu Qingyang was hunched under a rotting sampan, the hum of the Soul-Chasing Lamp sweeping across the sea in his ears. The 《Secret Essentials of Dragon Taming》 in his arms seeped Dragon blood, staining the seawater within three zhang amber.
He pulled out half a naan bread, dipped it in Dragon blood, and gnawed on it.
The qingmu spirit pearl in his Dantian suddenly trembled—the golden patterns growing from the cracks spread like a spiderweb, even protruding into scale-like patterns on the surface of his skin.
"Bread marinated in Dragon blood is indeed good for warding off evil," Yinghuo emerged from behind a coral cluster, her fish tail transformed into legs covered in glowing algae.
The chensha stone in her hair cracked with fine lines, seeping stardust-like powder onto the sea, instantly dispelling Taiyi Pavilion's tracking talisman light.
Lu Qingyang spat out the Dragon scale fragments stuck in his teeth, pulled out the Dragon Ruin construction map, and waved it.
"Ye Wuchen's pursuers are blocking the reef array to the east, so why don't we..." He suddenly fell silent, his pupils reflecting the distant mirage—figures in Taiyi Pavilion's standard Daoist robes clearly flickered within the ethereal pavilions.
At three-quarters past The hour of Xu , the two blended into the mirage illusion.
Lu Qingyang smeared Dragon blood on his eyelids, and the Ghost Market, concealed by the illusion, immediately became clear in every detail.
He squatted in front of a clam spirit's stall, his fingertips pinching a counterfeit mirage pearl.
"Big sister, this kind of goods is only good for fooling novices who have just entered the Dao..."
"Daoist Lu is quite the expert," The stall owner's clam shell suddenly opened, revealing a human face covered in barnacles.
Lu Qingyang retreated half a step, the Exploding Flame Talisman secretly held in his sleeve already replaced by a Medicinal Pill for detoxification.
"Fan Laoliu, your face, eroded by mirage Qi, is even more unique than last year."
When the transaction was completed, Lu Qingyang exchanged three Dragon scales for a jar of corrosive bone fish paste.
While the clam spirit turned to get the goods, he secretly took half a scroll of the 《Illustrated Account of Sea Creatures》 from the hidden compartment under the stall.
Yinghuo's silver bell cord suddenly warned him; a bronze lamp floated from the end of the Ghost Market, its flickering wick clearly the Divine Soul fire seed of a Taiyi Pavilion Elder.
"Excuse me, make way!" Lu Qingyang knocked over a stall selling talisman paper, and the sky full of yellow paper turned into paper cranes Pounce the bronze lamp.
He dragged Yinghuo into a dark alley, and a strong aroma of wine surged from the door panel he knocked open with his lower back—it was actually a black market pawn shop converted from a sunken ship's cabin.
The blind old woman behind the counter smelled the Dragon blood, and her withered hand suddenly elongated three chi, grabbing at Lu Qingyang's heart.
He took the opportunity to stuff the 《Secret Essentials of Dragon Taming》 into the old woman's palm, and the book pages instantly ignited with green flames upon touching her skin.
"Granny, be careful, this book is hot!"
While the old woman was swatting at the flames, Lu Qingyang pried open the hidden compartment of the counter.
Under bundles of water-repelling talismans lay a yellowed pawn ticket, its Seal imprint surprisingly matching the crack pattern of the qingmu spirit pearl.
Yinghuo's silver bell cord entangled the pursuing Taiyi Pavilion scout, and he took the opportunity to forge a pawn ticket with Dragon blood, the handwriting identical to a stub from three hundred years ago.
At midnight, the drum beat resounded throughout the mirage, and the Ghost Market's layout changed accordingly.
Lu Qingyang kicked open a wooden door carved with merfolk tears, and the cold air gushing from within froze half his body.
At the end of the nine-story ice staircase hung a mirage pearl, and the illusion within the pearl was precisely the Lock Dragon Well deep within Taiyi Pavilion's Forbidden Land.
"Good stuff!" He spat out the thawing pill he had held under his tongue, but the warm current released by the dissolving pill surged towards the qingmu spirit pearl in his arms.
The hourglass inside the pearl suddenly inverted, actually imprinting the mirage pearl's illusion into the spirit pearl's space.
The real mirage pearl split in half after the replication was complete, revealing the curled remnant Dragon soul inside.
Yinghuo's chensha stone suddenly exploded, and stardust condensed into arrows shooting into the darkness.
Lu Qingyang scooped up the remnant Dragon soul and stuffed it into the fish paste jar, then turned around to see Ye Wuchen's Sword Qi splitting the ice steps.
He flung out mirage pearl fragments mixed with itching powder.
"Ye Daoyou, you've come at just the right time, this Dragon embryo makes for a great tonic soup..."
The shockwave overturned the entire ice chamber, and Lu Qingyang stepped on falling ice cones, leaping towards the dark river.
His waist pouch had a hole, and the Dragon scale powder scattered along the way attracted swarms of scavenger fish.
He fled while leading the fish swarm towards Taiyi Pavilion's pursuers, not forgetting to scoop up two plump ones and stuff them into his Storage Pouch.
As the mirage began to collapse, Lu Qingyang was hunched in a ventilation shaft, gnawing on dried fish.
The qingmu spirit pearl suddenly flew out of his body, and the illusory Lock Dragon Well within it resonated with the real Taiyi Pavilion Forbidden Land.
He pulled out the forged pawn ticket and stuck it to the spirit pearl, and the golden patterns from the cracks suddenly moved towards the ticket's Seal imprint.
"So that's how it is!" He pulled Yinghuo's silver bell cord and wrapped it around his wrist.
"Three hundred years ago, someone pawned a fragment of the spirit pearl here, and the redemption token was..." Before he could finish speaking, the entire ventilation pipe was severed by Sword Qi, and the two fell into a boiling salt pool.
As Lu Qingyang floundered in the corrosive saltwater, the fish paste jar in his arms suddenly floated.
The remnant Dragon soul absorbed the salt crystals and swelled into a three-zhang illusion, temporarily blocking the pursuers.
He took the opportunity to drag Yinghuo onto a salt mountain, and before their eyes was the core pawning secret room of the mirage—a honeycomb-shaped wall cabinet made of nine thousand drawers, each emitting Spiritual Qi fluctuations of different frequencies.
"Dui position seven thousand six hundred and forty-three," Yinghuo suddenly stated a number, the merfolk pearl dangling from her ear resonating with a certain drawer.
Lu Qingyang climbed up the cabinet grid, not forgetting to pry open passing drawers with his dagger along the way.
"Might as well take a free ride..."
When he finally reached the target drawer, his fingertips were scorched by the Restriction.
The qingmu spirit pearl suddenly crashed into the drawer on its own, and the golden blood seeping from the cracks actually dissolved a Seal that had been untouched for three hundred years.
The moment the drawer popped open, the entire mirage began to collapse, and Lu Qingyang glimpsed half a bronze fragment inside that perfectly fit the missing part of the spirit pearl.
"Hold on tight!" He pressed the fragment onto the spirit pearl, and in the chaotic spatial-temporal flux that erupted, Yinghuo's silver bell cord wrapped around his ankle.
The angry roars of Taiyi Pavilion's pursuers and the merfolk's songs mingled in the vortex, and the last thing that came into view was Ye Wuchen's twisted face—that guy's Sword Qi was clearly striking his own fellow disciples.
When Lu Qingyang opened his eyes again, he was lying on a deserted island, the cracks in the spirit pearl in his arms had healed by one-third, and unfamiliar mountain and sea patterns floated on its surface.
He reached into his Storage Pouch to check his gains, but pulled out a scavenger fish that was gnawing on Dragon scales, its eyes glowing with the unique green light of Taiyi Pavilion's Soul-Chasing Talisman.