Chapter 176: A Battle with Tuo Ku

The Black Market.

A spacious hall.

Wearing robes that were white as snow, stood a young man with handsome features and an extraordinary aura about him. An elegant middle-aged man stood right behind him, looking humble and subservient.

Right now, a string of footsteps could be heard from outside the door.

Soon after, three figures appeared as they stepped into the great hall.

The leader amongst them was an old monk in a silver cassock. He was the Divine Light Sect's third elder, and also in charge of the Black Market, named Tuo Ku.

As for the other men who followed behind him, one was a middle-aged man in plain clothes, and the other was another old monk in a red cassock.

For these two men to be appearing next to Tuo Ku in this place, it could be said that they held pretty high positions in the Black Market or the Divine Light Sect.

"Sir, are you a master now?"

As Tuo Ku entered, he recognized the young man, whom he had only ever seen in portraits before. He was sitting at the head of the great hall in a seat that was usually his, and his mood darkened ever so slightly. "That seat, is my seat. If you'd like to sit sir, please do take the seat to the right."

At this point, Tuo Ku still had not gleaned much about the youth before him.

However, to a certain extent, the other party was provoking him with his behavior. It would undoubtedly be somewhat disgraceful for him to do nothing in response.

After all, he had two other elders of the Divine Light Sect with him.

If he were not able to handle this matter and news of this were to get out, how would he be able to show his face the same way again?

"This seat is not bad, in fact it's quite comfortable, I won't be moving.

"I've actually come to see you today to speak about something... and I'll leave once I'm done. If you want to sit here, you can just wait until I'm gone, and then you can sit for however long you desire," said Zhou Donghuang plainly.

Tuo Ku's face immediately turned red with fury at Zhou Donghuang's words.

"Brat!"

The middle-aged man in plain clothes spoke up from behind Tuo Ku, who was speechless with anger, wisps of Silver Essence starting to emit from his body. "By allowing you to take the next seat, the third elder was offering you some respect. If I were him, I would not be so generous... you, best not hesitate to do what you're told before you're forced to do more than you bargained for!" he said coldly.

"I could do with respect, but I, Zhou Donghuang, have never been forced... to do anything I didn't want to before."

Zhou Donghuang smiled slightly, then narrowed his eyes. "How about you show me how it's done?"

"You!"

It was the first time that Zheng Yong had been scorned to such an extent, ever since he had reached the intermediate Primal Core stage and was promoted as the Divine Light Sect's fifteenth elder. At that moment, the rage that filled him rushed to his head, and bright white light seemed to burst from his body like bolts of lightning, as if he was ready to make a move to attack Zhou Donghuang.

However, right at that moment, Tuo Ku stopped him.

At the same time, the shards of Silver Essence shot out from his body, as he looked at Zhou Donghuang with a restrained sense of fear and asked, "Why are you looking for me?"

As he regarded the fearless youth in white before him, he could not help but think about Liu Xuanyu, their seventeenth elder, who had just died two months ago.

At that time, he had suspected that Liu Xuanyu was killed by the late Primal Core adept who was standing by the young man.

"I'm here to make an exchange with you."

Zhou Donghuang got right to the point.

"What sort of exchange?" Tuo Ku asked, brows furrowed.

"Make an exchange? Had this fellow, not always done business at the Black Market from the shadows? Why would he suddenly come out in the open with these demands? Could it possibly be that he knows that his identity has been exposed?" Tuo Ku thought to himself.

"I would like to sell a spirit weapon to the Divine Light Sect," Zhou Donghuang said plainly.

As soon as Zhou Donghuang made this declaration, Tuo Ku and the others were dumbfounded and momentarily seemed to have lost their senses.

A spirit weapon?

No one in the whole of Ziyun had such a weapon, outside of the Divine Light Sect and one other sect.

The value of a spirit weapon was immeasurable, and one could not put a price to it so easily.

If the Divine Light Sect were to willingly put up their own spirit weapon for sale, the other three sects without one would possibly offer half of their entire stash of spirit stones from their treasury just for the chance to own it.

The energy yield of any spirit stone in existence on this planet was very low.

Even so, after thousands of years of accumulated inheritance, each of the five great sects of Ziyun would have amassed over twenty thousand spirit stones in their treasuries!

"You... you have a spirit weapon?!"

Tuo Ku was filled with disbelief.

"50,000 spirit stones." Zhou Donghuang continued simply, "If the Divine Light Sect is not interested, I will approach the other sects.

"Of course, if I were to sell this to the others, I would not simply stop at 50,000 spirit stones. I'd start from 60,000 stones and up.

"On the account that I have been relatively satisfied with the past two dealings with the Divine Light Sect... This time, I'm offering the sect a preferential price to see if you might be interested."

As Zhou Donghuang finished, he raised his arms, and a delicate little mound appeared in his hands. Infused with his essential core, the mound appeared to be encased in fine and concentrated strands of light that formed a complex pattern around it.

In a strong force of qi, the little streams of light seemed to explode from the sheer power of his essential core and started to unravel.

Without a doubt, the three people, including Tuo Ku, knew for sure that the little mount in Zhou Donghuang's hands was indeed the genuine thing—a spirit weapon.

"It really is a spirit weapon!"

Zheng Yong shouted from behind Tuo Ku, his eyes filled with greed. The other old monk in the red cassock also stared at Zhou Donghuang, his eyes shining with wonder.

"Sir, by putting the spirit weapon on display like that... Are you not afraid that we would steal it?"

Tuo Ku's eyes also burned with desire.

"That would actually depend on whether you are even capable of doing that."

As Zhou Donghuang responded, he stood upright, his sharp glare sweeping across Tuo Ku and the others. "The three of you... come at me!"

In a flash, Zhou Donghuang leaped into the air. As he secreted the delicate ball of light away, he pulled out a fan that unfolded quickly to reveal a row of sharp blades aimed at the men in front of him.

"Perhaps the late Primal Core adept standing behind you might be a more worthy opponent..." Tuo Ku said bitterly.

Tuo Ku still insisted that the man behind the seventeenth elder, Liu Xuanyu's death, was another man who was with Zhou Donghuang, a Primal Core adept.

In addition, through the young man's own words, Tuo Ku was able to confirm that he knew his identity had been exposed. Otherwise, he would not have taken the initiative to mention the two transactions that had been made with the Divine Light Sect before.

"Such arrogance!"

Zheng Yong' face darkened as he leaped forward toward the youth. "You are but an early Primal Core adept! Even with the spirit weapon's power, I alone would be enough to defeat you!

"Today, I will help your elder to teach you a lesson and make you understand that no matter how good you think you are, there is always someone out there that is better!"

When he was done, Zheng Yong was already right in front of Zhou Donghuang.

Boom!

Zheng Yong thrust out a palm, and a vast amount of white light from his essential core condensed and shot out, aiming for Zhou Donghuang's shoulders like a menacing rainbow of bright white light.

However, in the face of the lightning-fast strike from Zheng Yong, Zhou Donghuang seemed unperturbed, and with a quick movement of his shoulder, he allowed himself to take a direct hit from his opponent, his hair billowing from the force of the attack.

"Too weak."

Zhou Donghuang calmly responded, and before Zheng Yong even had the time to even react, he had put his hand on Zheng Yong's shoulder with thunderous force, and ripped his arm out in a split instant.

Fresh blood poured out, a gory sight to behold!

"Urgh!"

Zheng Yong groaned as he tried to stifle the pain, and eventually his whole being slumped to the ground, leaning to the side of the room. As his eyes met Zhou Donghuang's again, they were filled with sheer panic, fear and incredulity.

He had never thought that the opponent would be able to fend off his attack.

And even less so, that in such a short amount of time, he would be able to take the strike and return an attack!

This experience in combat made him feel as if he were fighting with a battle-hardened monster who had stepped out from hell itself. It made him feel weak and powerless, and it canceled all thoughts of ever confronting him again.

Hisss...

As the old monk in the red cassock behind Tuo Ku considered the scene in front of him, he took a deep breath and looked again at the young man in white robes, who seemed a lot more imposing.

Zheng Yong's strength was not far from that of his own.

However, this was a truly devastating defeat.

Although everything just happened in the blink of an eye, he could see that the other party was not a fluke, and that he was truly the one in control.

What a trickster, having been able to turn the tide like that!

And if he were to take matters in his own hands, his fate would nonetheless be the same.

"How is it that an early Primal Core adept... can be capable of such moves?"

The old monk in red was truly terrified and involuntarily took a step back. If there was a choice, he would not willingly challenge the young man who had so easily torn off Zheng Yong's arm.

"It was you that killed Liu Xuanyu?" Tuo Ku asked instinctively, he did not know why, but he had a nagging suspicion in that instant.

Previously, because he knew that the young man was only an early Primal Core adept, and he had never completely linked Liu Xuanyu's death to him... But at that moment, he was clear that if the young man did not have mercy, Zheng Yong would already be dead.

"You thought it was someone else that did it?"

Zhou Donghuang simply laughed in response.

"I guess I underestimated you."

Tuo Ku's face became grave as he said bluntly, "We, the Divine Light Sect, want your spirit weapon... However, since you intend to spar with me, I will go along with it. And while we're at it, as Zheng Yong said before, you had better learn a lesson from your elders and let me teach you something about modesty! "

As Tuo Ku made this declaration, the Silver Essence expanded from his body and wrapped his entire being in stunning silver light.

Boom!!

As Tuo Ku's feet touched the ground, the floor of the entire room suddenly sank, and horrible cracks started to form and spread like spider webs across the room.

At that moment, every man who was in the Black Market seemed to feel a tremor beneath their feet.

"What's happening there?"

"Is it an earthquake?"