Mysterious mirror hanging high

Chapter 971 Human Race Grotto Heaven

Niu Dahang and Ma Zoutian were clearly quite familiar with the place, and their spirits lifted as they eagerly led the way.

"My lord, please look, this is where they sell spirit herbs and ores, that's where they sell pills and talismans, and there's also a place that specializes in selling demon weapons..." Niu Dahang pointed and introduced as he went.

Jing Yu's gaze swept across the area and indeed saw many medicinal herbs and peculiar metal ores radiating a shimmering, precious light. Many demon cultivators gathered around to select them, and the trading was quite active.

However, as they ventured deeper into the demon market, some "special goods" displayed in prominent positions gradually caught Jing Yu's attention, causing him to furrow his brow slightly.

On an exceptionally tall bear demon stall, instead of ordinary materials, several processed human cultivator skeletons were prominently displayed!

His bones were translucent white, with a faint spiritual light flowing around them, indicating that he was quite powerful in his previous life.

The bear demon shouted in a booming voice, "Take a look! Top-quality human cultivator's [Sword Bone] is formed from the sword energy that invades the body of a human sword cultivator at the Mahayana Realm after death... This is a top-grade material for forging flying swords, don't miss it!"

Not far away, in front of a snake demon stall owner with a sinister face, there were some shriveled and shrunken objects that were still vaguely recognizable as human-shaped. Next to them stood a sign: "Cave Heaven Realm Corpse Puppet, loyal and reliable, an excellent servant for guarding your home and exploring secret realms!"

What made Jing Yu's heart sink even more was that he saw the [Cave Heaven] that had been stripped away at several stalls!

Most cultivators' grotto-heavens are spherical, but there are also many different shapes. For example, on this stall, some grotto-heavens look like a distorted halo, some are an inconspicuous pebble, and some are even shaped like a sword... These grotto-heavens are still slowly breathing in the surrounding spiritual energy.

Although the original owners of these grotto-heavens have perished, they can still continue to operate as secret realms, and the treasure lands within them can continue to generate rare and precious materials.

Seeing the remains of his former comrades and the cave worlds he had painstakingly cultivated being openly sold like merchandise, Jing Yu's brows furrowed even deeper, and a strong sense of unease welled up in his heart.

He was, after all, human, and the scene before him was tantamount to trampling on the dignity and cultivation achievements of his fellow human beings. The visual and psychological impact was extremely strong.

But after a short while, Jing Yu's eyebrows drooped and she let out a soft breath.

He finally understood why there were no transformed demon cultivators in the human-controlled territories.

Those demon cultivators' experience in the human market was probably no better than mine is now.

Seeing that Jing Yu's expression was unusual, Niu Dahang slowed his pace and cautiously asked, "Sir, are you... interested in these [Cave Heavens]? If you need them, I, Old Niu, can help you inquire about their prices?"

"Among these [Cave Heavens], there are still many low-level treasure lands that can produce some low-level spiritual resources. We cultivators of this level naturally can't use them, but buying them for the younger generation of the clan to use for training, supplying spiritual resources, or even as a small world for the continuation of the lineage is excellent."

Jing Yu took a deep breath, suppressing the turmoil in her heart, and tried her best to make her tone sound calm and even: "These [Cave Heavens] were all left behind by human cultivators?"

Niu Dahang shook his head: "Most of them are human-owned grotto-heavens, but a small portion are demon-owned ones... In fact, no cultivator can tell the difference. Even though humans and demons have different bloodlines in life, if they perish and only have one grotto-heaven left, who can tell whether the original owner of that grotto-heaven was human or demon? In the end, it's all the same after death."

Jing Yu was somewhat surprised. Although Niu Dahang was simple-minded and straightforward, his words just now were quite philosophical, which made him look at him with new respect.

Ma Zoutian, being more perceptive, seemed to have sensed something and quickly explained, "My lord, you may not know this, but in the eyes of our demon race, human cultivators are treasures from head to toe. Their physical bodies, golden cores, nascent souls, and even their grotto-heavens are all excellent resources. Such transactions have existed in this demon market since ancient times, and everyone is already quite used to them."

"After all, it's not uncommon for humans to hunt down our demon race for their cores, skin, bones, and souls." His last sentence carried a subtle, complex emotion, sounding like both a defense and a statement of a cruel fact.

Jing Yu remained silent, then nodded to indicate that he understood, and said calmly, "Let's see."

As the group passed through the outer area, a slightly sharp argument arose ahead.

Beside a stall, a yellow-robed demon cultivator with a pointed snout, shrunken cheeks, and darting eyes was squatting down; he was actually a weasel spirit.

On the gray cloth spread out in front of it, there were seven or eight [Cave Heavens] of various shapes scattered around. At this moment, it was pointing at one of them with its slender claws, arguing with the customers in front of the stall.

The customer was a young man, who appeared to be at the initial stage of cultivation, with broad shoulders, a thick back, and a tall and robust physique.

He had a square face, dark skin, thick eyebrows, big eyes, a straight nose, and well-defined lips, naturally exuding an air of honesty and simplicity.

He wore a thick, slightly worn brown felt hat, with a few strands of coarse black hair peeking out from under the brim.

His brows were slightly furrowed, and his gaze was focused and somewhat stubborn as he stared at the cave that the weasel demon cultivator was pointing to.

The cave was about the size of a goose egg, its surface was gray and inconspicuous, and its shape was not a regular sphere, but rather like a stubborn rock smoothed by river water. Only those who had cultivated the supernatural power of spiritual vision could see that there was a very faint yellowish-brown halo slowly flowing inside, and the amplitude of its spiritual energy was also very weak.

"Three thousand mid-grade immortal stones, not a single one can be missing! Don't let the ordinary appearance of my cave fool you, it actually contains a small patch of [Earth Essence Soil], which is perfect for nourishing spiritual herbs and flowers, making the cultivation of spiritual medicine twice as effective with half the effort!"

The weasel demon cultivator said in a high-pitched voice, his small eyes gleaming with shrewdness, "Fellow Daoist, your offer is too low. Such treasures are not available every day."

The honest-looking young man's face turned red as he angrily said, "Stadium owner, when I came to you yesterday, this cave was only selling for a thousand mid-grade immortal stones. I told you that I didn't have enough money on me and asked you to keep some for me so I could go and raise the money."

"In just one night, I brought over these thousand mid-grade immortal stones, but you suddenly raised the price and are now selling them for a full three thousand mid-grade immortal stones! Isn't that a bit excessive!"

"Hey! It's a business deal. I'm free to set my price. If you can afford it, buy it; if you can't, get lost! I think it's worth three thousand coins now! So what?"

The weasel demon cultivator resorted to shamelessness, waving the cave closer to himself with his paw: "Want it or not? If not, there are other fellow cultivators waiting to see!"