Without warning, Qin Xin slapped Qin Yunfei across the face.

"Who are you calling trash?" Qin Xin asked angrily after slapping him.

"You...you dare to hit me?" Qin Yunfei was stunned by the slap.

He never expected that he, at the eighth level of the Acquired Realm, would be slapped by someone at the sixth level of the Acquired Realm, and in front of everyone.

Only when he felt the burning pain on his face did he realize what was happening, and he roared angrily, "You little piece of trash! I'm going to kill you!"

"Young Master Yunfei, wait! Fighting is prohibited in the market." Tie Niu, worried that Qin Xin would suffer a loss, quickly stepped forward and blocked Qin Yunfei.

Standing next to Qin Xin, Zi Ling also turned slightly to the side, ready to make a move at any moment.

"Get out of my way! I'm going to kill that piece of trash today!" Qin Yunfei roared furiously, and the guards behind him were also ready for battle.

"Guards!" Tie Niu shouted softly, and several burly men dressed in Qin clan uniforms immediately rushed out.

The two sides' forces began to confront each other.

Qin Yunfei knew that Tie Niu was a man close to the clan chief, otherwise he wouldn't have become the captain of the market's guards, but he had been slapped in public, and this matter couldn't be left unresolved.

“A coward hiding behind someone else, if you’ve got the guts…” Qin Yunfei said coldly to Qin Xin.

"You probably meant to say, if it's a man, let's have a one-on-one fight, right?" Qin Xin suddenly raised his hand, interrupting Qin Yunfei with a smile.

Qin Yunfei's face was grim, and he gritted his teeth as he said, "That's right, do you dare?"

Looking at Qin Yunfei's angry face, Qin Xin laughed strangely, "You really are a bit of an idiot." Then he shrugged and continued, "I let you cultivate for three more years, coming to the Pill Hall every day to eat free pills, and you're still only at the eighth level of the Acquired Realm. I'm a little ashamed for you."

Upon hearing this, Zi Ling chuckled. After thinking about it carefully, she realized that Qin Xin's words made perfect sense.

Seeing the gazes of those around him, Qin Yunfei's slap mark on his face turned even redder. Relying on his grandfather's name, he had always been arrogant and domineering in this market, and naturally had offended many people.

Continuing the standoff would only lead to trouble. Qin Yunfei glanced at Tie Niu and the others, his eyes full of threat. "Very well, I'll remember you. And you, you piece of trash, you deserve to have your martial bones dug out. In the clan competition a month from now, let's see who can help you then."

Qin Xin shrugged, seemingly thoughtful about Qin Yunfei's words. Not many people in the clan knew about the Martial Bone technique; perhaps it was Elder Qin Maoyan who told him.

After leading Qin Yunfei and his group away, Qin Xin turned around and bowed slightly to Tie Niu and the others, saying, "Uncle Tie Niu and everyone else, thank you. I'm afraid you'll be in some trouble in the future."

"It's alright. We're just following the rules set by the clan for the market. Qin Yunfei wouldn't dare to do anything to us." Tie Niu smiled and then dismissed the guards and the surrounding crowd.

"Let's go back first." Qin Xin looked at Zi Ling, preparing to take her back. Right now, Qin Xin's most urgent matter was to improve his strength.

Zi Ling pouted, somewhat unwillingly, and said, "Brother Qin Xin, I haven't bought anything yet."

"Alright," Qin Xin sighed helplessly.

The three of them wandered around the market several times, picking and choosing at Zi Ling's stall, but in the end they didn't buy anything.

Qin Xin and Tie Niu followed behind.

After walking past several stalls, Zi Ling's gaze settled on a hairpin.

The hairpin was pink and made of black iron, making it very light. It was engraved with patterns and looked beautiful as it shimmered. At the top of the hairpin was a beast crystal, from which the pink color emanated.

Beast crystals are energy crystals formed by demonic beasts during their cultivation. The energy is complex and cannot be directly absorbed by martial artists. However, they are indispensable for cultivating spirit beasts and are also very important materials for forging weapons. They can give weapons some special effects and are very popular among martial artists.

"How much is this?" Zi Ling asked the stall owner, who was dressed in mercenary clothes, pointing at the hairpin.

The stall owner glanced at Tie Niu behind him, knowing that the two people in front of him must be quite powerful, so he decided to ask for an exorbitant price to rip them off. He then held up five fingers: "Five hundred gold coins. I won't sell it for less than that."

"If I'm not mistaken, your beast crystal is only from a level one peach blossom demon, worth about a hundred gold coins on the market." Seeing the stall owner's exorbitant asking price, Tie Niu quickly spoke up to expose him.

"Miss, you may not know this, but the beast crystals of peach blossom demons are not easy to obtain. If they are threatened with death, they will self-destruct their beast crystals. Many of our mercenary brothers have been injured trying to obtain these beast crystals. Look at this hairpin, its craftsmanship is exquisite. We commissioned a famous weapon refiner to make it. Wearing it for a long time can beautify and nourish your skin." Seeing that Zi Ling liked the hairpin, the mercenary man quickly stood up to introduce it.

"If you all like it, then I'll give you three hundred gold coins. It'll be a way for us to make friends."

Qin Xin stepped forward, picked up the peach blossom hairpin, gently stroked it with his fingers, glanced at some medicinal herbs on the stall, and casually said, "Two hundred and fifty gold coins, and pack these medicinal herbs as well."

The mercenary glanced at the stall and found that the medicinal herbs were all quite ordinary, worth only a dozen or so gold coins in total.

"make a deal."

The mercenary readily tossed down three gold coin cards and then bent down to pack the medicinal herbs.

"Brother Qin Xin, let's not go, it's too expensive."

Although Zi Ling liked it very much, she still felt that the price of the hairpin was a bit expensive.

"If you like it, that's good. And let's include this one too."

Qin Xin pointed to a "rag"-like object on the stall. The mercenary man glanced at it and agreed without hesitation, afraid of going back on his word.

After parting ways with Tie Niu, it was getting late. The two returned to the courtyard. After Zi Ling went back to her room, Qin Xin hurriedly went back to his own room and closed all the doors and windows.

This is because after Qin Xin discovered that "rag-like" thing, the Spirit Devouring Stone in his body actually reacted strangely.

The stall owners in the market are all seasoned veterans. If you keep staring at something, they will naturally become alert. That's why Qin Xin spent more gold coins to buy that hairpin, his goal being to get his hands on it.

Qin Xin carefully took the object out and examined it, but found nothing special about it.

After hesitating for a while, Qin Xin realized that some spiritual things need to be bound by blood to recognize their owner, so he gently bit his hand and dripped his blood onto it.

The moment the drop was poured in, a fragment of a painting slowly floated up, covered with many patterns that he couldn't decipher.

Just as Qin Xin was about to reach out and touch it, star-like lights appeared in the picture and instantly absorbed it.

Upon entering the space depicting the fragmented map, Qin Xin curiously examined it.

"Sorry kid, I'll take this body."

At that moment, a voice suddenly came from within the space of the broken map.

Qin Xin instinctively wanted to escape, but intense pain had already appeared in his mind. He could clearly feel a powerful force impacting his Niwan Palace. Although he tried to redirect his mental energy to block it, it was too late.

Just as the barrier of the Niwan Palace was breached.

"Ah, what the hell is this!" The mysterious voice seemed startled and hurriedly retreated from the Niwan Palace.

Qin Xin finally breathed a sigh of relief, but his mind was still tense, and the interior space of the entire fragment of the map fell into silence.

"Come out now, or I'll make my move."

Qin Xin poured his spiritual power into the Spirit Devouring Stone, and an invisible vortex faintly appeared.

A white-haired old man quickly appeared, but he seemed somewhat ethereal.

"Boy, stop! I had no choice." The white-haired old man looked warily at the illusory image of the Spirit Devouring Stone behind Qin Xin.

"Who are you, and why did you suddenly attack me?" Qin Xin looked at the white-haired old man in front of him, who seemed unable to detect any fluctuations in his true energy.

"Young man, don't be impulsive. I am the owner of this incomplete map. As for attacking you, that was just an accident." The white-haired old man, whose body was somewhat ethereal, gently stroked his beard and said.

"Are you the owner of this incomplete map?" Qin Xin asked in confusion, staring intently at the old man before him.

Under Qin Xin's gaze, the old man took a few steps back.

"You are not the owner of this incomplete map!" Seeing the old man retreat, Qin Xin shook his head. His intuition told him that the old man in front of him was probably lying.

"Believe it or not, kid, let's keep to ourselves and go our separate ways," the white-haired old man said cautiously.

"Then how can we leave here?" Qin Xin suddenly asked.

"The fragmented map has already recognized you as its master. If you calm your mind, you will naturally be able to leave," the white-haired old man replied somewhat impatiently.

"Oh, how did you know?" Qin Xin's expression was somewhat serious.

"I am indeed the owner of this mysterious fragment of the map, but I was the previous owner," the white-haired old man quickly said when he saw Qin Xin's doubts.

"The previous one?" Qin Xin asked in surprise.

"Don't look at me like that. I haven't had this for long. Then I was being chased and accidentally fell into a spacetime rift, which is why I ended up like this. I don't even know what this fragment is," the white-haired old man said with a look of disgust.