Ye Ling smiled as he looked at the excited woman and dropped the small piece of top-grade spirit stone into her pocket. "Take me to the black market in this city, and tell me about the major events that have happened in this city and on the Eastern Profound Continent in recent years."
The woman immediately clutched her pocket and looked at Ye Ling with surprise, incredulously asking, "Young... Young Master... Your request is just this?"
She had thought Ye Ling was giving her this top-grade spirit stone to pose some impossible challenge. She had even prepared herself and her sisters for all sorts of abuse!
But Ye Ling's current request was something anyone on the street could fulfill!
The City Lord of Azure Stone City was now bedridden, his control over the entire city greatly reduced. The black market in the city... was now like an ordinary marketplace. All the residents knew about it; it was practically out in the open!
For a moment, the woman felt her money pouch growing hot!
The ease with which this came made her suspicious.
After all, many powerful individuals on the Eastern Profound Continent had peculiar personalities and enjoyed tormenting people in various ways. Killing someone after giving them spirit stones was not uncommon.
Compared to top-grade spirit stones, she valued her life more!
Ye Ling chuckled, "That's my request. To be honest, I've been in seclusion for a long time and am quite unfamiliar with the current world. If you can tell me about it vividly, I'll give you a reward!"
As he spoke, Ye Ling took out another piece of top-grade spirit stone, the size of his palm. Its dazzling radiance almost blinded the woman!
"Oh, Young Master! You truly don't fear death!"
The woman quickly stuffed the top-grade spirit stone back into Ye Ling's embrace and lowered her voice, "There are many eyes and ears on this street. You're being so ostentatious; it's like lighting a lamp in a latrine, looking for death!"
Ye Ling laughed, "I didn't expect you to be so kind-hearted, girl. It would be even better if you weren't in this line of work."
He deliberately exposed the top-grade spirit stone to attract all sorts of people to try and kill him.
If you wanted to know who was most likely to gather information in the martial world, it would be those desperate individuals who lived with their lives hanging by a thread.
The more people who came to snatch the spirit stones, the better.
The woman didn't know Ye Ling's intentions. She rolled her eyes at him and said coquettishly, "Young Master, you do know how to joke. In times like these, for someone of my low status as a rogue cultivator, it's good enough just to survive! You haven't seen... the villages outside the city are like leeks, being harvested by bandits and marauders, one crop after another."
Having personally experienced the troubles of Winter Melon Village, Ye Ling could deeply relate. He nodded slightly and then said to the woman, "Let's talk as we go. I imagine it's still some distance to the black market!"
"Alright! Young Master, my name is Lian Yin. I don't yet know your esteemed name?"
"Wang Li Ren."
"Young Master Wang, what a handsome name!"
"Stop the flattery and tell me about the major events of the past few years."
"Okay, where should I begin... Ah! Let's start from that booming sound in the sky a thousand years ago!"
Along the way, Lian Yin told Ye Ling about many major events that had occurred on the Eastern Profound Continent in the past thousand years, as well as the specific changes in Azure Stone City in the last century!
The Eastern Profound Continent had only taken on its current appearance in the last thousand years.
And the Demonic Palace had only begun its conquests in the last century.
To Ye Ling's surprise, Lian Yin not only knew many secrets of the Eastern Profound Continent but was also very clear about the internal changes within the Demonic Palace, as if she had truly experienced those events.
Ye Ling couldn't help but ask, "Lian Yin, why are you so familiar with the Demonic Palace? Could it be that you are a disciple of the Demonic Palace?"
"Young Master, you jest. I am merely a humble Qi Gathering realm cultivator, how could I be a disciple of the Demonic Palace? It's just that my grandfather was once an inner disciple of the Demonic Palace and experienced some things with them. What I know was all told to me by my grandfather."
"Then can you introduce me to your grandfather?"
"That's no problem, but my grandfather is currently out hunting demonic beasts and is expected to return in the evening. If Young Master wishes to meet him, you may have to wait a few hours."
"It's fine, I can wait."
"Young Master, we've arrived. This is the entrance to the black market. I have a black market entry token, so I can take Young Master in. However, Azure Stone City is not what it used to be, and the black market has become much more desolate. Many things are gone. What does Young Master wish to buy?"
Lian Yin led Ye Ling to stop in front of the entrance of a wine shop and respectfully asked Ye Ling.
Ye Ling asked, "Are there any tailors in this black market?"
"Tailors?" Lian Yin was taken aback for a moment, then smiled, "Yes! Does Young Master mean Heavenly Garment Pavilion? That's the best clothing store in the Azure Stone City black market. You can buy all sorts of clothes and armor there, and they can even get Demonic Palace uniforms!"
Ye Ling's eyes lit up immediately. "Right! Let's go to the Heavenly Garment Pavilion!"
Lian Yin immediately offered enthusiastically, "Young Master, I'll lead the way!"
After Lian Yin led Ye Ling into the wine shop, a figure in black clothes at a corner across the street took out a communication jade and said in a low voice, "Found Ye Ling... He has entered the wine shop. Should we make a move?"
A hoarse and gloomy voice came from the communication jade, "Ye Ling of this era is already at the Emperor Ancestor realm. Do not engage him directly. Our previous actions have alerted him, and that person at the end of the river of time has reacted. You must be extremely careful from now on!"
The black-clothed figure continued, "Then what should we do next?"
The hoarse and gloomy voice from the communication jade continued, "The Prophet has ascertained that Lian Cheng possesses crucial information for Ye Ling to break the deadlock. First, find Lian Cheng, kill him, and bring back the important information he holds!"
"Understood!"
The black-clothed figure replied respectfully, then crushed the communication jade in his hand. He glanced at the wine shop again, and after confirming that Ye Ling had not discovered him, the space around him slightly distorted, and he vanished from his original spot.
Ye Ling, who had entered the black market, paused slightly and looked back, his brow furrowed.
Lian Yin, who was leading the way, turned back and asked, "Young Master, is something wrong?"
Ye Ling spread his divine sense, scanning the entire Azure Stone City. Finding nothing unusual, he couldn't help but frown, "Was it just a feeling?"
Although Ye Ling couldn't find anything amiss, he still felt uneasy and asked the World-Destroying Spirit Fire, "World-Destroying Spirit Fire, did you sense anything unusual?"
The World-Destroying Spirit Fire replied irritably, "What's unusual? Stop being so paranoid all the time. I'm still recovering from being suppressed by your runes!"
Ye Ling continued to ask, "Are you truly not sensing any temporal fluctuations?"
"No!"
Hearing the World-Destroying Spirit Fire's decisive answer, Ye Ling could only suppress his doubts and smiled at Lian Yin, "It's nothing, lead the way!"