Spiritual herbs face obstruction at market entry; the hermit outwits the cunning merchants.

Before the morning mist had fully dispersed, Shen Yi’s deerskin boots were already treading upon the bluestone slabs of the Qingsang Town Spirit Plant Market.

He deliberately shook the cloth bag containing Night Epiphyllum seeds at his waist. The seeds, tainted with the black mist of the netherworld, immediately emitted a faint, low hum, causing the spirit-detection compasses in front of nearby shops to pivot in unison.

"Brother Shen, that shopkeeper in the gold-threaded robe is glaring at us." Cuizhu stood on her tiptoes to whisper in his ear, her hair brushing against Shen Yi’s wood-grained wrist. Deep inside his sleeve pocket, the Spirit-Devouring Vine seed suddenly rolled over.

Shen Yi ostentatiously slammed a jade box containing Ice Soul Grass onto his stall with a resounding thud. The three spirit plants, their leaves glistening with frost, instantly drew a chorus of sharp intakes of breath.

He smirked, picking his teeth with a blade of grass, his peripheral vision catching a dark shadow behind the curtain of the Xuanyue Shop—it was undoubtedly the same source of humus-like scent as the transmission talisman from the night before.

"Everyone, look!" Xuanyue suddenly unfurled a satin cloak embroidered with a golden toad. A dozen merchants swarmed over like hyenas smelling blood. "This young friend's Ice Soul Grass has greenish leaf veins; I fear he has used the Nether Soil favored by evil cultivators to force its growth!"

The market fell so silent that one could hear the dew drops shattering against the bluestone.

Shen Yi squinted at the purple jade abacus swaying at Xuanyue’s waist. The residual blood of the Night Shadow clinging to it was identical to the modified spirit soil he had sold to a grocery store three days ago.

He suddenly chuckled, his fingertips lightly tracing the wood-grained patterns on his arm. "Speaking of Nether Soil, those three acres of Blood Lingzhi in your shop’s backyard..."

"Insolent!" Iron Bull swung an iron rod toward the stall, but the tip was frozen by frost three inches before it could touch the Ice Soul Grass.

Cuizhu gripped Shen Yi’s hem in terror, but he merely flicked his lapel nonchalantly—the tender sprout of the Spirit-Devouring Vine was already silently wrapping around Iron Bull’s ankles along the grain of the stall’s wood.

The crowd erupted in a commotion. It turned out the "evidence" Xuanyue had pulled from his sleeve was an Ice Soul Grass with blackened veins.

Shen Yi’s pupils contracted. The humus clinging to the roots was clearly mixed with the Star-Patterned Sand unique to his modified soil, and it was currently flashing a dangerous red light on his system map.

"Everyone, judge for yourselves!" The pharmacy owner shrilled, holding up a bronze mirror. In the reflection, the wood-grain patterns on Shen Yi’s arm were slowly spreading. "Who would dare buy spirit plants grown by someone whose body is being eroded by the laws like this?"

Shen Yi felt Cuizhu’s hand trembling.

He suddenly remembered last night, when Gao Yao wrapped his arm in her Frost-Moon Silk, and the tiny epiphyllum flowers that bloomed where the ice crystals touched the wood grain.

The mist on the girl’s eyelashes then had been as clear as the morning dew dripping from the market eaves at this very moment.

"System, initiate Spirit Plant Traceability." He tapped the light screen in his mind, watching the icon for [Nether Fire Seed] in the task bar suddenly light up.

As Xuanyue approached with the forged Ice Soul Grass, no one noticed that the Spirit-Devouring Vine in Shen Yi’s sleeve had gripped the bluestone slab under the stall—the Nether black mist seeping from beneath was crawling along the earth veins toward Xuanyue’s shop.

Cuizhu suddenly tugged at his belt: "Brother Shen, the back of that bad boss's hand..." Shen Yi followed her gaze. On the back of the right hand Xuanyue was waving, several wood-grain patterns were faintly visible beneath the gold-threaded cuff.

A slight tremor shook the market floor. The residual Night Shadow blood on Shen Yi’s boot soles transformed into black butterflies, fluttering toward the "evidence" in Xuanyue’s hand amidst the crowd's gasps.

The moment the Ice Soul Grass was swallowed by the black mist, he saw a small line of text flash on the system interface: [Detected forged spirit plant carrying host DNA].

"Oh my, why does Shopkeeper Xuanyue look more like an evil cultivator than I do?" Shen Yi suddenly slapped the table and stood up. The Star-Patterned Sand shaken from his sleeve refracted the sunlight with the luster of a galaxy.

He deliberately exposed half of his wood-grained arm, and amidst Xuanyue’s suddenly changing expression, he grabbed a handful of spirit soil: "Why don't we ask the Spirit-Testing Stele to verify whose spirit plants are actually tainted with nether energy?"

***

The morning mist had long since vanished. In the cracks of the bluestone floor, dark red veins were slowly wriggling like blood vessels.

Shen Yi crushed the bizarre vines crawling over his feet with his boot tip, watching the task progress for [Nether Fire Seed] in his mind quietly jump to 0.3%.

He tapped his storage pouch, and twelve jade-like bamboo slips clattered onto the stall.

Each slip was engraved with flowing golden runes—these were the growth records of spirit plants captured by the God-Level Farming System: the spirit energy vortexes curled up when sprouts broke the earth, the frost patterns formed as Ice Soul Grass absorbed moonlight, and one could even see the Star-Patterned Sand he mixed into his soil shimmering like a galaxy under the moon.

"Everyone, look at this seventh-day footage." Shen Yi smirked, poking the bamboo slip with a grass stem. The light screen immediately displayed him shirtless, setting up arrays for his spirit fields.

Amidst the swirling water mist, the sturdy lines of the young man’s waist and abdomen drew soft gasps from several female cultivators, and the wood grain on his wrists took on a mysterious beauty under the moonlight.

The fingers Xuanyue used to grip his purple jade abacus tightened abruptly, and the wood-grain transformation beneath his gold-threaded cuffs spread another half-inch.

He clearly saw that the material mixed into the spirit soil in the footage was the very same Star-Patterned Sand stolen from his own backyard’s Blood Lingzhi plantation.

"This... this record could be faked too!" The pharmacy owner’s mirror trembled. The wood-grain on Shen Yi’s arm in the mirror suddenly emitted a pale gold luster, resonating with the runes on the bamboo slips.

An old cultivator carrying a medicine basket pushed to the front. His withered fingers brushed the frost patterns on the Ice Soul Grass, his cloudy eyes suddenly brightening: "It cannot be wrong! This is the century-rare Moon-Frost pattern!"

Iron Bull suddenly roared, his iron rod sweeping across with dark red spiritual power.

Shen Yi leaned back three inches as if he had expected it, his left hand slapping the edge of the stall.

The Spirit-Devouring Vine wrapped around Iron Bull’s ankles through the cracks in the bluestone, forcefully dragging his swinging iron rod off course.

"Careful with my Ice Soul Grass!" Shen Yi feigned panic, reaching out to steady the jade box, while the modified spirit soil hidden in his sleeve used the movement to scatter onto Iron Bull’s lapels.

The crowd watched as the burly man suddenly froze—the Star-Patterned Sand in the soil ignited upon contact with spiritual power, sparking tiny golden embers through Iron Bull’s meridians.

Cuizhu took the opportunity to hold up a glass bottle: "This brother said he wanted to test the goods; why not try our Clear Heart Dew?" As the bottle tipped, the Star-Patterned Sand on Iron Bull’s lapel turned into fluorescence and vanished into the bottle, leaving a thumb-sized golden leaf-vein mark on the back of his neck.

The crowd erupted in awe.

Several customers who had been browsing at Xuanyue’s shop quietly moved to Shen Yi’s stall. A daring cultivator even took out a spirit-detection compass—when the frost energy of the Ice Soul Grass touched the surface, the needle burst with three inches of golden light at the "Grade A Purity" mark.

"According to Article 7 of the Market Regulations..." Shen Yi raised his voice, his fingertips lightly swiping across the bamboo slip.

The light screen immediately switched to the golden seal script of the Qingsang Town Market Management Regulations. "Those who maliciously slander their peers shall be fined three months of operating rights—I fear Shopkeeper Xuanyue’s purple jade abacus cannot calculate that debt!"

Blue veins popped on Xuanyue’s forehead. The communication talisman hidden in his sleeve spontaneously ignited into ash—it was an emergency alert from his Blood Lingzhi plantation.

The modified spirit soil Shen Yi had deliberately sprinkled at the base of the wall last night should, by now, have caused those Blood Lingzhi—ripened with Nether black mist—to begin a backlash.

"Today, I shall give the newcomer some face." Xuanyue suddenly put on a kind expression, scattering a large amount of spirit stone dust as his gold-threaded sleeves fluttered.

***

This glowing powder fell around Shen Yi’s stall, causing the frost patterns on several Ice Soul Grass plants to be veiled in a faint gray shadow. "However, little friend, you must watch over these delicate spirit plants; the wind is strong in the market at night..."

Shen Yi acted as if he hadn't heard the threat; he was busy packing spirit grass seeds for a shy, young cultivator.

When Xuanyue and his men left in a huff, he kicked over a clay pot filled with waste soil as if by accident.

The waste soil, mixed with Night Epiphyllum seeds, spilled onto the spirit stone dust, instantly absorbing the gray shadows completely.

"Brother Shen, they will surely retaliate." Cuizhu squatted on the ground to collect the scattered Star-Patterned Sand, only to find the grains forming a strange array pattern on the bluestone.

Just as she was about to look closer, Shen Yi lightly wiped it away with the tip of his boot.

The young man bent down to pick up a blade of grass stained with morning dew; on the back of the leaf, a strand of Nether black mist as fine as a hair was traveling along the veins.

He recalled the scent of epiphyllum lingering in the air when Gao Yao wrapped his wrist in her Frost-Moon Silk last night—that girl must be disguised as a merchant in the backyard of Xuanyue’s shop right now, shouldn't she?

"Cuizhu, go to the Myriad Treasures Pavilion and buy twenty pounds of Star-Patterned Sand." Shen Yi tossed the money bag to the little girl, his fingers tapping out a brisk rhythm on the stall.

When Cuizhu’s figure vanished around the street corner, he quickly formed a seal to summon the system interface.

The [Nether Fire Seed] icon in the task bar was flashing frantically, and the map showed that the underground spiritual veins of the entire market were glowing with an ominous dark red.

As dusk deepened, Shen Yi hummed a little tune while packing up his stall.

He casually stuck the last Ice Soul Grass into the clay pot of waste soil, its frost petals unfolding into the shape of a lotus in the evening breeze.

None of the passing cultivators noticed that the Nether black mist seeping from the bottom of the pot was traveling along the ground cracks toward Xuanyue’s shop.

The moment the first lantern lit up, Shen Yi smelled a faint, crisp fragrance in the wind, characteristic of crane feathers.

He pretended to bend down to tie his shoelaces, his fingertips quietly flicking out a Night Epiphyllum seed.

The seed took root the moment it touched the ground, growing wildly beneath the bluestone in the direction of a pure aura.

The lanterns under the market eaves swayed without wind, and Shen Yi paused for a moment while tying his laces.

The Spirit-Devouring Vine seed in his sleeve began to grow hot for no apparent reason; the last time he felt this was when he first met Gao Yao’s Frost-Moon Silk.

The young man stood up, brushed the Star-Patterned Sand from his lapel, and cast a casual glance toward the southeast—there, a cloud of crane-feather-shaped mist was slowly sinking into the twilight.