The Eternal Emperor: Reborn to Slaughter The Gods

The Ghost Market Auction

The stench of stagnant water, cheap incense, and rotting spirit herbs hung heavy under the damp stone arches of the Ghost Market. Located deep within the forgotten catacombs beneath the border city, this lawless sanctuary operated entirely in the dark, away from the prying eyes of the main clans and the city guards. Here, thieves, rogue cultivators, and desperate merchants traded in secrets, stolen goods, and forbidden artifacts where only strength and wealth dictated the rules.

Lu Tian walked slowly through the crowded, narrow alleyways, his face completely hidden beneath the deep hood of a coarse black cloak. He had applied a layer of dark mud to his exposed skin to conceal the healthy glow of his newly refined flesh. To anyone passing by, he looked like just another low-level rogue cultivator searching for scraps in the dirt.

His pockets held only a handful of low-grade silver coins, a pathetic sum he had managed to scrounge from his late mother's old sewing box. It was barely enough to buy basic iron-grade herbs, let alone the high-tier resources required to fuel his rapid cultivation progress.

"Fresh blood lingzhi, straight from the southern marshes," a one-eyed merchant yelled from a nearby stall, waving a shriveled, moldy fungus in the air. "Only five spirit stones. A bargain for anyone trying to break through their physical bottlenecks."

Lu Tian glanced at the fungus and kept walking, a mental sneer echoing in his mind. The herb was dead, its spiritual essence entirely drained by poor harvesting techniques. It was nothing more than expensive poison. Most of the wares displayed on the cracked wooden tables were similarly worthless, deceptive junk designed to cheat desperate mortals and novice cultivators out of their life savings.

As he drifted deeper into the northern sector of the market, where the air grew noticeably colder and the crowd grew thinner, a sudden commotion caught his attention near a dusty, run-down corner stall.

"I have already offered you thirty low-grade spirit stones for this lotus," a cold, pristine voice said, cutting through the heavy murmurs of the market like a blade of ice. "That is twice the market value for a frozen heart lotus of this quality. Do not push your luck, merchant."

Lu Tian stopped, his eyes tracking the voice. Standing before a cluttered table of rocks and dried roots was a young woman wrapped in a silver-trimmed white cloak. Even with a thick veil covering the lower half of her face, her sharp, almond-shaped eyes carried an undeniable aura of nobility and supreme detachment. This was Ye Qingxuan, though no one in this filthy underworld seemed to recognize her true identity. Her posture was straight, her hands hidden within her wide sleeves, and a faint, chilly mist seemed to naturally radiate from her skin, keeping the grime of the market at bay.

The merchant behind the table, a hunched old man with yellow teeth, rubbed his hands together greedily, his eyes darting toward a group of burly men standing right behind the young woman.

"Thirty stones might have been enough five minutes ago, young lady," a heavy, mocking voice boomed from the shadows.

A massive man with a bald head and a long scar running from his ear to his jaw stepped forward, pushing the old merchant aside. This was Iron Tiger, the notorious leader of the local Black Vulture gang that extorted the northern sector of the Ghost Market. He wore a vest made of reinforced shadow-wolf hide, exposing thick arms covered in iron bands.

"But now that my boys and I are here," Iron Tiger sneered, leaning his heavy frame against the wooden table, "the price just went up to a hundred spirit stones. Or, if you do not have the coin, you can accompany me to my private chambers to discuss a different kind of payment."

The guards behind Iron Tiger chuckled loudly, their hands resting on the pommels of their rusty scimitars as they shifted their weight, locking Ye Qingxuan into the narrow corner.

Ye Qingxuan did not flinch, but the air around her grew noticeably colder, causing the old merchant to shiver violently. "You are seeking death, rogue."

"Bold words for a little bird trapped in my cage," Iron Tiger laughed, reaching out a thick, calloused hand toward her veil. "Let see what kind of face you are hiding under there."

Lu Tian watched the scene from ten paces away, completely unconcerned with the unfolding drama. He had seen countless young masters and gang leaders play these petty games across ten thousand years. He turned to leave, having no interest in playing the part of a chivalrous hero for a strange woman, when a sudden, violent jolt shook his very soul.

Deep within his spiritual sea, the Nine-Abyss Seal began to vibrate with an unprecedented ferocity.

The gold letters of the Forbidden Devouring Scripture flared to life, burning with a frantic, blinding light that nearly made Lu Tian stagger. A thin thread of dark, magnetic energy shot out from his chest, entirely invisible to everyone else in the room, and stretched straight toward the dusty table, anchoring itself directly onto the withered, frost-covered lotus Ye Qingxuan was trying to buy.

Information flooded Lu Tian's mind, overriding his physical sight. Through the eyes of the primordial seal, the common frozen heart lotus was stripped of its outer illusion. Beneath the pale blue petals lay a hidden, dormant core of pure, starlight-colored fluid, pulsing with the ancient laws of the cosmos.

"The Nine-Heaven Stellar Lotus," Lu Tian whispered to himself, his breath catching in his throat as his heart hammered against his ribs.

This was no ordinary border-town spirit herb. This was a supreme, divine-grade material that belonged in the legendary gardens of the heavenly emperors. It was an herb capable of completely reshaping a cultivator's spiritual roots and granting immortality if refined correctly. In the higher realms, entire kingdoms had been slaughtered, and emperors had waged wars spanning centuries just to secure a single petal of this plant. Here, it was sitting in a pile of dirt, disguised by a layer of common frost energy, about to be traded for thirty worthless spirit stones.

"Step back, mortal," Ye Qingxuan warned, her right hand slipping into her sleeve, her fingers tightening around a hidden jade talisman that pulsed with a dangerous, hidden power. She was prepared to unleash a lethal strike that would likely expose her presence to the entire city, but she had no intention of letting a low-life thug touch her skin.

Before Iron Tiger's hand could reach her veil, a dark, cloaked figure stepped directly into the space between them, interrupting the confrontation.

"I will buy the entire pile of junk on this table for forty silver coins," Lu Tian said, his voice deep, gravelly, and entirely calm as he tossed a small leather pouch onto the wooden planks.

Iron Tiger paused, his hand hovering in midair as he stared at the intruder. The guards stopped laughing, their expressions turning to confusion before hardening into pure rage. Even Ye Qingxuan blinked in surprise, her sharp eyes locking onto the back of Lu Tian's dark hood, wondering what kind of idiot would willingly throw himself into the jaws of the Black Vulture gang.

"What did you just say, beggar?" Iron Tiger hissed, his knuckles cracking as he lowered his arm. "Are you deaf, or do you just have a death wish? I already claimed this table."

"You claimed it with your mouth, but you haven't paid a single stone," Lu Tian replied, keeping his back to the young woman as his hand casually drifted over the frost-covered lotus, his fingers brushing the petals. The moment his skin made contact, the Nine-Abyss Seal inside his soul let out a satisfied purr, confirming the artifact's diagnostic. "The merchant is here to do business, not to listen to a dog bark."

"You brat!" one of the guards roared, drawing his scimitar and lunging forward, aiming to take Lu Tian's head off with a sloppy downward swing.

Lu Tian did not even turn around. He simply executed a swift, backwards elbow strike, channeling the dense physical power of his third-stage body refinement. His elbow caught the attacking guard directly in the ribs. The sound of snapping bone was sharp and clear, followed by a wet grunt as the guard flew horizontally into a stack of empty crates, unconscious before he hit the ground.

The entire sector of the market fell into a dead silence.

Iron Tiger's eyes widened as he looked at his fallen man. He realized this cloaked figure was not a helpless mortal, but a cultivator with terrifying physical strength.

Ye Qingxuan narrowed her eyes, her gaze shifting from the unconscious guard back to Lu Tian's relaxed shoulders. She noticed that the boy had used absolutely zero inner energy for that strike; it was pure, unadulterated muscle density, a level of physical refinement that was highly unusual for someone in this backward border city.

Lu Tian steps in, not out of chivalry, but because his artifact points out that the lotus is actually a disguised divine herb worth a whole kingdom. He kept his grip firm on the stalk of the plant, his mind already calculating how he would use this heavenly resource to break through his limitations and slaughter the entire Lu Clan in the upcoming tournament.