Chapter 30: Demon-Netting! Human-faced Dragon Carp
With Jiang Yan’s permission, Ningning led the way ahead and soon arrived at the entrance of the inner market.
On each side stood a heavily armored guard. Their masks were fierce-looking, revealing only eyes burning with ghostly flames, exuding the aura of the Foundation Establishment Stage.
She explained to Jiang Yan, “Big Brother, official employees of the Five Madness Dharma Assembly can bring three outsiders into the inner market at half price each month. They themselves can enter twice for free, and the benefit extends to family members too.
You're the first one this month, so the six-thousand admission fee is cut in half to three thousand. I just saved you half the cost, and it comes with me—your clever and lively guide.”
After speaking, Ningning waved and greeted, “Uncle, I’m here again!”
Then she pulled out a wooden plaque engraved with the Five Madness Dharma Assembly’s emblem and handed it to the guard.
The two guards glanced at Ningning and Jiang Yan behind her, eyes filled with helplessness.
One of them said, “Ningning, you really don’t skip a month. Always punctual, coming to squeeze benefits out of the Assembly. Have you finished your homework?”
Ningning grinned and said, “Of course. If you don’t believe me, you can ask my dad. And Uncle, you’re wrong about that—this is an employee benefit provided by the Assembly. It’s meant for us to use.
After all, some guests are more frugal. They might think the admission fee is too expensive and skip the inner market. But now that it’s cheaper, they’ll go in for a look. Once they see good stuff, they might impulsively buy something!”
“You and your twisted logic.” The two guards laughed and cursed lightly, then stepped aside.
“Hehe, thank you, Uncle!”
Ningning led Jiang Yan into the inner market. Though there weren’t as many stalls as in Middle Street, the quality had improved severalfold.
There were now extraordinary materials of the Foundation Establishment Stage, along with elixirs, magical tools, manuals, and more.
But the prices had risen accordingly. Most goods were bartered, and if converted to currency, the value easily reached hundreds of thousands or even millions—well beyond Jiang Yan’s budget.
“The shop we’re heading to isn’t here. We still have to go further in.”
Ningning skipped ahead while speaking with a sigh:
“Big Brother, you know, I was also shocked the first time I learned that the extraordinary world uses Tianxia Alliance currency. It felt like the mystery was gone.
But thinking about it, it makes sense. The real world doesn’t have spirit stone veins and can’t establish a supernatural currency system.
Our Tianxia Alliance is a top nation in the current era. Its currency is stable. Many History Walkers had ordinary living conditions before becoming extraordinary beings, and they need money to improve their lifestyle, so it’s convenient.”
Jiang Yan nodded.
In truth, Ningning’s explanation wasn’t complete.
Because Ba Lie had told him that even if conditions allowed it, the Tianxia Alliance and other countries would never establish a supernatural currency system.
Because money itself was a kind of anchor point. As long as History Walkers used it regularly, they wouldn’t feel alienated from ordinary people. It anchored their humanity and prevented mutation.
Some say, “With money, you can do whatever you want”?
Not really.
Because low-level extraordinary items could still be priced in money, but most mid-to-high-level extraordinary materials were exchanged via bartering or traded for other forms of value.
Even if converted into money, the amount would be astronomical.
Besides, anyone who wasn’t a fool would understand...
With strength, you don’t need to worry about money!
Jiang Yan followed Ningning as they turned left and right, entering a secluded corner of an alley.
Ningning pointed to a shop at the very end and said:
“This is the place!”
Jiang Yan glanced back. Without her leading, most people wouldn’t have found this place.
The shop wasn’t big—two floors with a backyard. It had a wooden structure resembling an ancient medical hall, but the shelves inside were filled with various tools and elixir bottles, indicating it was a miscellaneous goods store.
Above the door hung a plaque with the shop name:
[Demon-Netting]
Jiang Yan murmured, “It carries the meaning of gathering all heroes of the world into one’s net—collecting all demons and monsters. Quite an ambition.”
Ningning smiled and said, “Of course. After all, Grandpa Chu is a master of the Dao of Alchemy, skilled in refining pills and tools using diseased domain creatures.”
“That must be expensive, right?”
Jiang Yan hesitated. Truly, a man without money had no confidence in his voice.
“Of course it’s expensive!”
Ningning nodded and said, “But this time we’re not here to buy finished goods, because many History Walkers bring various demon and monster corpses to ask Grandpa Chu to help forge weapons or refine elixirs suited to themselves. Not only do they have to pay, but the remaining parts of the demon and monster after successful refinement are also taken as part of the payment.
But too many corpses have piled up, and the extraordinary organs have already been used, disrupting their internal balance. If used again for forging or refining, the failure rate is extremely high.
Rather than letting them be wasted, it’s better to sell them off. So the prices are much cheaper than usual, but unless you’re a close acquaintance of Grandpa Chu, you wouldn’t even hear about it.”
Upon hearing this, Jiang Yan couldn’t help but feel a surge of anticipation.
One man’s poison is another man’s honey.
With the presence of the Dark God Embryo, what others considered defective was his best nourishment.
At that moment, Ningning looked around. After confirming the shopkeeper wasn’t present, she whispered mysteriously:
“Don’t be fooled by the crowd at the Five Madness Dharma Assembly—most are History Walkers from around Jiangnan Province. Since the Diseased Domain anchors to specific regions, the truly good stuff never appears on open stalls, and the materials just cycle through the same few items.
But here, we’ve got materials brought back from Diseased Domains across the land by History Walkers from all over the country. It’ll definitely meet your needs.
Most importantly, it’s located within the inner market. You’ve already paid to enter, and for every transaction, the Five Madness Dharma Assembly takes a cut and taxes it.
The organizer behind this is a Law Seed Stage expert who guarantees that everything sold here is authentic. If you find a fake, just file a complaint and you’ll be compensated double—huge profit.”
“If you see anything you like, Big Brother, just give me a look and I’ll haggle for you…”
“Ningning, why do you always target my shop to squeeze benefits from? Can’t you pick a different store?”
A helpless voice came from behind the shop counter. An old man with white hair, a goatee, and dressed in a blue robe sat up from a lounge chair, looking at the little girl with a gaze full of disdain.
“Eh, Grandpa Chu, you’re awake! I’ll make you tea!”
Ningning didn’t feel the slightest bit awkward. She darted over to the table, took out a tea bowl and three disposable paper cups, and skillfully started brewing tea with a teapot.
Then she handed the tea bowl to the shopkeeper, gave one cup to Jiang Yan, and left the remaining two untouched.
The old man grumbled, “You really know how to follow a slap with a sweet date.”
“No way, I’m helping you attract customers and clear inventory!” Ningning protested.
The old man snorted coldly and ignored her. Turning to Jiang Yan, he asked:
“Customer, tell me what you’re looking for.”
“All right.”
Jiang Yan nodded and repeated the request he had told Ningning.
“You want demon and monster corpses with unusual abilities, or Diseased Domain creatures related to the Corpse-Dissolution Court, and your budget is around five hundred thousand. You’ve got some nerve…”
The old man pulled out a glasses cloth and wiped his lenses, then glanced at the expectant Ningning beside him and sighed helplessly:
“But you’re in luck meeting this girl—I do have what you need.”
...
...
Backyard of Demon-Netting.
The old man lit an oil lamp, opened the storeroom door, and slowly walked in. Jiang Yan and Ningning followed closely behind.
Under the lamp’s glow, one could see numerous terrifying demon and monster corpses hanging on both walls.
However, despite the number of corpses, there was no trace of yin energy. Instead, the air felt warm.
The reason was a massive three-legged bronze pill furnace at the center. Its surface bore no crane or cloud-thunder patterns, but instead featured various aquatic beasts and fish designs.
What burned inside was not flame, but a surging white liquid like molten lava—intensely hot and far more scalding than fire.
A pill furnace that refined using water?
It was Jiang Yan’s first time seeing such a unique furnace. He couldn’t help but take a few more glances.
Noticing this, Ningning whispered a quiet explanation:
“This is Grandpa Chu’s Ren Water Pill Furnace. It follows the postnatal Ren Water path of alchemy. Ren Water, one of the Yang Waters of the Five Elements, resembles the vast ocean—it holds boundless, surging power. It can shatter tough extraordinary materials while retaining water’s capacity to encompass all, allowing reshaping and purification.
The furnace is of metal; metal gives birth to water, water gives birth to wood, wood to fire, and ash becomes earth. The Five Elements generate one another—this is the true essence of the alchemical path. That’s why Grandpa Chu’s success rate far exceeds ordinary alchemists. If Big Brother ever needs tools or elixirs refined, remember to choose Demon-Netting.”
"Impressive."
Jiang Yan was surprised. He hadn’t expected Ningning to have such insight.
"You’re just parroting what I said word for word, and now you’re showing it off."
The old man’s voice came from up ahead, faint and sarcastic.
"That just proves how well Grandpa Chu teaches!"
Ningning replied with a smile, flattery pouring out enthusiastically.
"Hmph!"
The old man still wore a stern expression, but his pace quickened noticeably—clearly in a good mood, thoroughly manipulated by the little girl.
Soon, he arrived at the edge of the wall on the left side of the pill furnace. He pointed toward a golden carp as tall as a person, hanging from the ceiling. The creature had an aged human face, two bulging fleshy lumps on its head, and scales all over.
"This is a Foundation Establishment Stage Human-faced Dragon Carp. It’s fond of eating humans and contains a trace of dragon blood. Of course, that’s an exaggeration—it doesn’t even count as flood dragon blood—but it does possess the ability to summon mist and clouds.
If it stays in a lake, it can stir up a dense fog over a small area, concealing its form. The mist has a mild hallucinogenic effect, causing those exposed to it for long periods to experience illusions, get lost, and eventually become fish food.
It was washed from the Historical Long River into the present world, appearing in a small lake in Jingchu Province. Normally, it would’ve been very difficult to capture it in the fog.
But the History Walkers over there got fed up. They brought in a huge batch of water pumps and ran them nonstop day and night, drained the lake, and dispersed the mist. Once its position was locked in, they killed it."
Because no Historical Relic was extracted, they came to me and used its reverse scales and body scales to make a Cloud Mist Fish Dragon Armor."
That was a case of underdeveloped spellwork being steamrolled by modern technology!
Jiang Yan thought silently.
Old Man Chu continued, "If its flesh didn’t contain hallucinogenic toxins—eating it causes mutations, like growing horns and fish scales, and makes people instinctively seek water to breathe until they drown—I’d have sold it to the rich long ago.
Now I can only extract the hallucinogen, but who’s still using toxins these days… That’s just crazy, so I’ll give you a deal—five hundred thousand."
Jiang Yan pondered.
The Human-faced Dragon Carp’s mist ability was decent. Illusions could obscure perception—similar to a terrain-type ability—and it was dragon-related.
But its drawback was just as clear: it relied heavily on large amounts of water, best suited for combat near swamps or lakes.
Otherwise, the range of the fog would be too limited to be effective.
Jiang Yan asked, "Are there any others?"