Chapter Fifty-Eight: News

Soon, the two entered the outskirts of the marketplace.
The road was deserted.
Every house had its doors tightly shut.
Many buildings had been damaged in the chaos of the previous night.
The air was thick with the scent of blood; bodies lay strewn across the street, their belongings stripped away, leaving only their clothes.
Occasionally, mortal women and children sat in front of their destroyed homes, vacant-eyed and dazed.
Even their cries of grief were suppressed, fearing that their voices might draw further trouble.
In just one night, the outskirts of the marketplace had changed beyond recognition.
Those who survived here were either powerful or so weak that they held nothing worth stealing...
The faces of Zhou Changwang and Qian Xiaoyue were solemn.
Especially when they saw certain corpses, still radiating traces of potent spiritual energy, with wounds clearly inflicted by magical weapons.
Even cultivators at the mid-stage of Qi Refining had not escaped death.
Had they remained in the outer district, would they have met the same fate?
They could not be sure, but both felt a surge of relief in their hearts.
Suddenly, a cultivator darted from around a corner. Upon seeing them, he was startled, instinctively raising his magical weapon, then quickly lowering it. Without a word, he retreated step by step, vanishing back around the corner.
Zhou Changwang and Qian Xiaoyue exchanged glances and, in silent agreement, walked off in another direction.
They too feared another encounter with this person, or perhaps an ambush, and so preferred to take a longer route.
Though, should a fight break out, they were confident in their ability to win two against one—but who could say if he had allies?
Moreover, with the chaos just subsided, order had surely returned within the marketplace. If patrols were dispatched and happened upon such a scene... regardless of which side prevailed, death would be inevitable.
No enforcer would tolerate further disorder at this moment.
Afterwards, their journey was fraught with tension but ultimately uneventful.
They returned safely to their rented homes.
Seeing their houses still largely intact, both breathed a sigh of relief.
They then parted, each heading to their own home.
Upon entering, they found their houses in disarray.

Everywhere bore signs of rummaging; even the rice jar in his kitchen had been removed entirely.
If his memory served, there had been over ten pounds of Crescent Rice left in it.
Having lost three or four low-grade spirit stones, Zhou Changwang was rather displeased and quickly entered his bedroom, immediately checking beneath the bed toward the direction of the basement.
His heart skipped a beat.
He hurried closer.
Clear traces of magical attacks scarred the floor.
But soon, he was at ease again.
It hadn't been breached.
The underground chamber had been there before he rented the house, then further fortified by his father, with ingenious mechanisms added. If one didn’t know the secrets, it would remain sealed.
Ordinary low-level cultivators’ spells could not break it.
Thankfully so.
Otherwise, everything in the chamber would have been plundered.
Though most items weren’t worth many spirit stones, the three spirit plants had taken him much time and effort to cultivate, and he would hate to lose them.
He opened the chamber and, seeing the three spirit plants untouched in the corner, finally relaxed completely.
Leaving the chamber, Zhou Changwang looked at the mess in his home and sighed.
A house of gold or silver is no home compared to one’s own humble dwelling.
No matter how chaotic, it was still his place of rest, so he began to tidy up, then used a cleaning spell... The speed was impressive.
Just as he finished, Qian Xiaoyue arrived. The things she’d left in his house last night had also been stolen, but she wasn’t disappointed. Hearing that Zhou Changwang’s spirit rice had been taken, she brought him two pounds as a gift.
Whether by oversight or clever hiding, her spirit rice had not been stolen.
Thus, Zhou Changwang was able to enjoy spirit rice for lunch, feeling a rare sense of satisfaction.
He took out the payment from the Zhao brothers. Zhao Jie had given him a jade slip detailing methods for raising spirit beasts. Zhou Changwang’s spiritual sense probed the slip and soon discovered it mainly described the breeding of four main types: pigs, dogs, cows, and sheep.
Though dogs were included, the focus was on a breed called the Flame Spirit Dog, characterized by fiery red legs and an impressive, majestic appearance.
As for the Burrowing Dog, it was but a low-grade spirit canine, incomparable to the Flame Spirit Dog.
“Still, both are canines. I can learn a thing or two…”
Zhou Changwang thought and felt content.
The reward from Zhao Qiang was a small bag of spirit stones. After a quick count, fifty low-grade stones—not a small sum.

Normally, hiring someone from the Spirit Plant Hall wouldn’t cost so much.
“In that case, I’ve actually made a small profit this time.”
Zhou Changwang reflected, then returned to his room to rest.
This time, he truly rested.
He had no idea what was happening outside and did not wish to waste spiritual energy practicing spells or drawing talismans needlessly.
He needed to keep his spiritual power at its peak to be ready for any sudden dangers.
So time passed.
After two hours, the sounds outside gradually increased.
Through the window, Zhou Changwang saw people coming and going from the house next to Qian Xiaoyue’s. From their backs, he recognized the two senior brothers among the bandits; he didn’t know their names, as Qian Xiaoyue hadn’t said, and he hadn’t dared to ask.
As for the ‘couple’ farther away, they still hadn’t returned—whether they’d fled or remained in the marketplace was unknown.
Notably, the Mu cultivator who had insisted on rushing to the inner city last night had also returned, but now lacked an arm. Clearly, his journey to the inner city hadn’t gone well.
Still, in his wife’s eyes, surviving was all that mattered. Though she wept bitterly, she kept murmuring, “You’re back, that’s all that matters, you’re back.”
With more people appearing, familiar faces naturally began to visit each other, exchanging news. Gradually, information from inside the marketplace spread.
“This internal turmoil was caused by the Wu family joining forces with the Feng family of Divine Wind Valley, launching an attack against the Bai family.”
“Fierce battles raged within the marketplace, with real Foundation Establishment cultivators falling.”
“The main battlefield wasn’t the marketplace, but the Bai family’s territory a hundred miles away.
Powerful cultivators guarded the Bai family’s land, preventing their people from coming to help.”
“The Bai family patriarch finally intervened, having stayed in the marketplace all along. At the critical moment, he fought alone against three Foundation Establishment cultivators, killing one and injuring two, forcing them to retreat in defeat.
Afterward, the Bai patriarch suppressed the rebellion with force.
Only then did the turmoil subside.”
“The Wu family announced their complete withdrawal from the Phoenix Song Market.”
……