She saw a man hawking tattered, blood-stained manuals of forbidden demonic arts, cages filled with miserable, mutated spirit-beasts that violated the laws of nature.

It was horrifying, fascinating, and deeply disturbing.

But as they wandered deeper into the bazaar, Ji’an’s enhanced Harmonious Five-Grain senses picked up something entirely different.

It wasn’t the metallic scent of blood or the ozone of dark magic. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

It was a smell so profoundly, intensely culinary that her mouth instantly watered.

It smelled like rich, heavy umami, mixed with the sharp, numbing heat of a thousand Szechuan peppercorns, buried beneath the earthy, metallic scent of extreme age.

"Master," Ji’an whispered, grabbing Jiu Zui’s sleeve and pointing toward a dark, isolated corner of the cavern. "Over there."

Sitting on a ragged blanket was a vendor entirely wrapped in dirty, tattered bandages, making him look like a mummy.

In front of him, resting on a velvet pillow, was a massive, pitch-black object.

It was a single, terrifyingly large, jagged bone. It looked like the femur of a creature that had been extinct for millennia.

The bone was completely blackened, radiating a heavy, suffocating aura of Abyssal Qi.

"An Abyssal Dragon Bone," Jiu Zui muttered, his eyes narrowing as they approached. "Extremely rare. Highly illegal to trade. The marrow inside is concentrated demonic essence. Cultivators use it to forge lethal, soul-destroying poisons."

"Poison?" Ji’an scoffed, her chef’s soul singing as she stared at the massive bone. "Master, that’s not poison. That is the ultimate soup base; the marrow inside that bone could create a broth so rich and potent it could revitalize a dead man’s meridians. I need it, Master! It’s perfect for the Dao of the Iron Wok."

’While I’m at it, I can also use this poison to temper my body. I must absolutely get it today!’

Jiu Zui looked down at his disciple, who was currently staring at an illegal, demonic dragon bone with the same expression a child looks at a candy store.

"You want to make soup out of an Abyssal Dragon?" Jiu Zui repeated slowly, before a massive grin split his face. "Kid, you are absolutely unhinged. I love it. Let’s buy the bone."

Jiu Zui stepped forward, kicking the edge of the vendor’s blanket.

"How much for the oversized chew toy, band-aid?" Jiu Zui asked, his voice rough and arrogant.

The bandaged vendor looked up, his eyes gleaming with greedy malice. "For the Abyssal Bone? The price is not spirit stones, old man. I require fifty vials of pure, uncorrupted Sun-attribute blood."

Ji’an frowned. ’Sun-attribute blood? He wants Gu Zhiwei’s blood? That’s disgusting.’

"I don’t carry other people’s blood with me, you creep," Jiu Zui snorted. He reached into his robes and pulled out a small, incredibly ornate jade bottle. He popped the cork for a fraction of a second.

The scent of pure, thousand-year-old Celestial Peach Wine flooded the immediate area. It was an elixir so rare it could extend a mortal’s lifespan by centuries.

The vendor’s eyes bulged. "A... a Sovereign-grade elixir?!"

"I trade the bottle for the bone," Jiu Zui offered, his voice brokering no argument. "Take it, or I’ll smash the bottle on the ground and take the bone anyway."

The vendor’s hands trembled. He reached out, desperately eager to make the trade.

But before the transaction could be completed, a voice sliced through the heavy, dark air of the cavern.

"I wouldn’t touch that bone if I were you. The marrow has already calcified. It is entirely useless for culinary extraction."

Ji’an froze. Her blood turned to ice.

She knew that voice.

It wasn’t the booming arrogance of Lu Jianheng. It wasn’t the polite innocence of Gu Zhiwei. And it certainly wasn’t the merchant prince.

It was smooth. It was chillingly calm. It was the voice of a smiling sadist.

Ji’an slowly turned around, pulling the hood of her cloak tighter over her face.

Standing a few feet away, entirely unbothered by the terrifying atmosphere of the Black Market, was Xiao Yichen, the Second Prince.

He was not in disguise. He wore a dark, midnight-blue silk robe, his folding fan lazily tapping against his chin.

He looked completely out of place in the grimy, illegal bazaar, yet the dangerous, sociopathic aura he radiated kept every mercenary and rogue cultivator at a very respectful distance.

Xiao Yichen wasn’t looking at Jiu Zui. His dark, calculating eyes were fixed entirely on the small, cloaked figure of Lin Ji’an.

"A master and his apprentice, slumming it in the gutter," Xiao Yichen mused softly, a razor-sharp, utterly terrifying smile spreading across his handsome face. He took a slow, deliberate step forward.

"Tell me, Martial Uncle Lin," Xiao Yichen purred, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper that nonetheless echoed in Ji’an’s ears. "Does Brother Xie know you are out past your bedtime, shopping for demonic soup ingredients with a drunkard?"

Ji’an’s heart hammered against her ribs.

’He recognized me,’ she panicked, taking a step backward, bumping into Jiu Zui’s solid leg. ’I’m wearing a fully cloaked, magical disguise, and he recognized me instantly. This damned sociopath is a bloodhound!’

And worse, he had just brought up Wangchen.

.

.

.

The subterranean cavern of the Black Market grew terrifyingly quiet, the ambient chatter of rogue cultivators and mercenaries evaporating under the suffocating tension.

Lin Ji’an stood frozen behind the broad, imposing back of the Drunken Sovereign.

The heavy, silk-weave hood of her newly purchased cloak shadowed her face, but she knew the sociopathic Second Prince, Xiao Yichen, had peered right through the magical disguise.

"Tell me, Martial Uncle Lin," Xiao Yichen purred, his midnight-blue robes seemingly absorbing the sickly green light of the cavern. H

e tapped his folding fan thoughtfully against his chin, his dark, calculating eyes sparkling with sadistic amusement. "Does Brother Xie know you are out past your bedtime, shopping for some kind og demonic soup ingredients with a drunkard master? He strikes me as the... fiercely overprotective type. I imagine he would freeze this entire market if he knew you were surrounded by such filth."