“Hold the caravan!”A city guard raised his halberd as Qiao Wen's wagons approached the eastern gate.Behind him, several other guards were inspecting merchant shipments. Cultivators entered through a separate passage, while ordinary travelers waited in a longer queue.Qiao Wen immediately pulled his reins.“It's the usual inspection,” he explained to Lu Chen. “They check the cargo seals and registration documents. Nothing unusual.”Lu Chen looked toward the gate.Jadefall City's protective formation extended across the walls like an enormous invisible canopy. Its spiritual currents flowed through the stone towers and formation pillars, forming a barrier that covered the entire settlement.Unlike the crude defensive formations of minor clans, this one had clearly been constructed by experienced formation masters.Its spiritual foundation was deep.Yet even within its orderly flow, Lu Chen's Primordial Chaos Meridian maintained its own rhythm. The spiritual Qi around him continued to m

“Three hundred!”The bid rang through the auction hall.All bids were denominated in standardized low-grade Spirit Stones, the common trading unit used by Jadefall's larger trading houses. The Spirit Crystals Lu Chen had carried from smaller settlements remained separate physical resources; he had neither exchanged them nor converted them into System Currency.A moment later, another voice answered.“Three hundred and fifty.”The young man seated near the eastern aisle did not even turn toward his competitor. He merely raised two fingers, prompting the attendant beside him to announce his next offer.“Four hundred!”A murmur spread among the audience.At the center of the hall, beneath a canopy embroidered with golden clouds, the auctioneer smiled.“Four hundred from the Luo Family. Does anyone wish to challenge that offer?”Lu Chen watched from his seat.The spiritual Qi within the auction hall did not remain entirely still around him. Fine currents shifted almost imperceptibly towar

“Three days.”Bai Zhenyu placed a black invitation card on the table.“That's how long Jadefall City has before the registration begins.”Lu Chen glanced at the card but did not immediately reach for it.Qiao Wen, who had been reviewing the regional map, looked up.“Has the Merchant Alliance finally announced its arrangements?”“Not the Merchant Alliance alone.” Bai Zhenyu opened his folding fan. “The Profound Sky Sect has agreed to oversee the main competition, while several prominent families and merchant houses will provide resources and support.”He tapped the invitation with one finger.“The Jadefall Martial Assembly.”Lu Chen picked up the card.Its surface was made from dark spiritual wood. A silver inscription ran across the front, depicting a mountain peak surrounded by clouds.Beneath it were several lines of formal writing.The assembly would accept cultivators below the Core Foundation Realm, regardless of whether they belonged to a sect, family, or independent cultivation

The stone platform collapsed beneath Lu Chen's leading foot.A thunderous roar erupted from the formation as hundreds of enormous stone slabs rose from the depths below, ascending into the air like fragments of a shattered mountain.Some rotated horizontally. Others turned vertically, their ancient surfaces covered in luminous inscriptions that pulsed with spiritual energy.Above them, countless streams of spiritual Qi intertwined like celestial rivers.The pathways that had existed a moment earlier were gone.Several participants immediately lost their footing."Watch out!"A young cultivator barely managed to leap away as the platform beneath him folded into the darkness. His spiritual energy surged wildly, attempting to stabilize his descent, but the surrounding currents suddenly reversed.A brilliant formation seal illuminated beneath his body.A translucent barrier erupted from the void and swept him away.He

A young cultivator's hand was already reaching for the golden herb when the stone beneath his feet split apart."Wait—!"A pillar of blinding light erupted from the ground.The cultivator vanished inside it, his startled cry swallowed by the roaring formation. A moment later, the light contracted into a brilliant point and disappeared.He reappeared at the outer boundary, stumbling several steps before falling to one knee.The golden herb was gone.So was the stone platform on which it had grown.A wave of spiritual energy swept across the formation. Countless ancient runes briefly illuminated the surrounding mountainside, forming enormous patterns that stretched across the sky before sinking beneath the earth once more.The remaining participants halted."That herb looked real!""I could smell its medicinal fragrance from here.""Then why did the formation expel him?"Before anyone could appro