Chapter 62: Chapter 62: Void Crystal*Demon Mark
Textbooks have often mentioned that these Void Demons, upon death, congeal a special crystal within their bodies, which encompasses the Void Energy they’ve absorbed throughout their lives in the void space, known as “Void Crystals.”
Due to their extreme rarity, the value of these Void Crystals is exceptionally high. It’s said that the enhancement of all spaceborne components requires these Void Crystals.
Bearing this in mind, within the realms of Torch Human Civilization, the price of Void Crystals has been driven to extraordinary heights, having reached a point where one Zero Rank Void Crystal can be exchanged for a strand of First Rank Floating Land Origin, and one First Rank Void Crystal can be exchanged for a strand of Second-Rank Floating Land Origin.
At the moment, the bodies of these over one thousand Void Demons are evidently a vast fortune, which is why Song Chi didn’t waste any time and began gathering these corpses immediately.
Dozens of minutes later, once the collection was nearly complete, Song Chi maneuvered the Cangqiong back into the Ruins Market.
Without hurrying to check the specific attributes of the Zhu Tian Ruins Market, he instead employed his ability as the Ruins Market Lord, fully mobilizing the Power of Laws within the market and pushing the Zhu Tian Ruins Market to move toward the distance.
The commotion caused by the recent battle wasn’t insignificant, and the scent of fresh blood left by the deaths of thousands of Void Demons was very dense. If he didn’t move far from this void space quickly, he feared more Void Demons would be drawn by the disturbance and find them again.
As long as the Zhu Tian Ruins Market moved away from this area, its Averting Misfortune Feature would be able to come into effect again, and they wouldn’t have to worry about other Void Demons tracking them down.
He didn’t know how much time had passed, but once Song Chi felt they had drifted far enough, he prepared to dissipate the Power of Laws and bring the market to a halt.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
However, the sound of something cutting through the air that followed made him tense up suddenly. When he turned his head to see the source of the attack, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Outside the Ruins Market’s protective light screen, a group of Void Demons, unbeknownst to him, had caught up again. This group was not large, consisting of only a dozen or so, with just one being of First Rank, posing no real threat to the market.
Song Chi quickly disposed of these ten-plus Void Demons and collected the Void Crystals from their bodies, then he once more took control and moved the Zhu Tian Ruins Market. Having been found by the Void Demons once again, it was evident that this place was not safe, so naturally, he wouldn’t let the market stay here.
In the hours that followed, Song Chi began a cycle of operations, where each time the Zhu Tian Ruins Market stopped at a location, they would encounter a small group of Void Demons. He would defeat them and then continue moving. After four consecutive times, Song Chi felt that something was off.
To call it a coincidence was too far-fetched, given that in the tens of thousands of years before, the Ruins Market Secret Realm was never discovered by these Void Demons.
According to the “Averting Misfortune” Feature of the Zhu Tian Ruins Market, except for the brightness generated during the market’s implementation that attracted the attention of Void Demons, the subsequent encounters should not have occurred.
“Could it be that the ‘Averting Misfortune’ Feature has really stopped working?”
With this doubt in mind, he didn’t immediately move away. Instead, he opened the attribute panel of the market to see if he could discover anything.
The next second, when the attribute panel of the market appeared before him, Song Chi suddenly realized what was happening.
It was neither a coincidence nor a failure of the “Averting Misfortune” Feature. On the contrary, the problem lay with the Zhu Tian Ruins Market itself.
[Name: Zhu Tian Ruins Market]
[Ruins Market Master: Song Chi]
[Level: lv10]
[Specifications: 1000mX1000m]
[Basic Configuration: 50 shops, 1 stall area of 200mx200m, 1 two-story inn (with 51 guest rooms), 1 lv9 All-Attributes Cultivation Room (efficiency doubles when cultivating Spectral Energy), 1 lv10 Spectral Energy Protection Formation, 1 lv9 Ultra Long-Distance Space Gate Random Deployment Platform.]
[Additional Configuration: None (0/6)]
[Feature: Averting Misfortune (able to move freely within the void, mysteriously avoiding natural disasters)]
[Feature 2: Spatial Anchor Point (1/1)]
[Negative Status: First-Rank Demon Mark]
[UpRank Requirement: 50 strands of First-Rank Floating Land Origin, 100,000 strands of Zero-Rank Floating Land Origin from Ruins Market transactions {89560/100000}]
Song Chi’s gaze bypassed everything else, settling directly on the Negative Status section. As he focused his attention, a detailed description of the attribute soon popped up.
[First-Rank Demon Mark: A mark laid down by several First-Rank Void Demons, which when other Void Demons are within a certain range, automatically sense this special mark.]
“Damn it, I was wondering why it was such a coincidence, it’s because of this!”
Swearing to himself in his mind, Song Chi then started to feel a headache coming on. With this mark present, tranquility for the Zhu Tian Ruins Market in the future was out of the question. Because of this mark, the Market’s Feature of Averting Misfortune was basically nullified.
Think about it, if someone placed a tracker on you, would hiding still be of any use?
“No good, I must get rid of this mark as soon as possible, even if it’s just a temporary concealment, or else the Ruins Market, which was so difficult to preserve, may soon face the same situation again. And this commotion caused by the Market’s Great Rank UpRank must also be addressed…”
Muttering to himself, Song Chi’s recently relaxed brows furrowed once again.
The Demon Mark goes without saying, it’s a pressing matter. And the commotion during the Market’s Great Rank UpRank is just as important to pay attention to. After all, the Market has just advanced to First Rank, there’s still a long way to go. It can’t be that every single advancement in the future has to be carried out in such a heart-pounding way, can it?
Glancing out of the corner of his eye at the pile of crystals beside him, Song Chi felt a bit more pleased despite his somber mood.
After a recent inventory, it was confirmed that there were 1230 Void Crystals, among which there were 1105 Zero-Rank Void Crystals and 125 First-Rank Void Crystals.
Based on the normal exchange rates within the territories of Torch Human Civilization, this amounted to 1105 strands of First-Rank Floating Land Origin plus 125 strands of Second-Rank Floating Land Origin.
The moment he got the result, Song Chi actually had the idea to use this “Demon Mark” as bait to continuously attract small groups of Void Demons to hunt, thereby obtaining a steady stream of Void Crystals. But he quickly dismissed the idea.
This method could indeed make money quickly, but likewise, the risk factor was very high—who could guarantee that the Void Demons attracted by the Demon Mark would always be low-rank?
What if a High-Rank Demon was lured in?
What if the ones attracted were a demon army of tens of thousands, including a large number of First and Second-Rank Void Demons?
All these uncertainties made Song Chi dismiss the notion outright. With the Ruins Market, he could easily and steadily acquire various resources every month—why should he engage in such life-risking acts?