Chapter 282: Chapter Seven: Shopping

Although theft and occasional raids occurred within Rainlan City, it was overall stable and secure.

“Let’s first sell the corpses of low-grade Huyuan lifeforms.” Di Qing, experienced and seasoned, steered the black flying vessel toward the inner city. “Large-scale transactions of low-grade Huyuan lifeform corpses almost always happen at the Huyuan Palace.”

“The first floor of the Huyuan Palace handles trade in low-grade Huyuan lifeform corpses. The second floor allows exchange of battle merits.” Di Qing said.

“Battle merits?” Luo Feng looked at Di Qing.

“Killing low-grade Huyuan lifeforms grants battle merits.” Di Qing smiled. “Accumulate enough battle merits, and you can exchange them for treasures beyond imagination—some of the treasures in the Infinite Space Vault can be obtained this way too.”

Luo Feng understood and asked immediately: “How many battle merits will our spoils earn us?”

“Low-grade Huyuan lifeforms at the early Divine Emperor stage are the weakest tier. Six corpses equal six battle merits.” Di Qing shook his head. “We accumulate battle merits too slowly, so we usually just sell the corpses—including the battle merits attached to them.”

“After all, you can’t determine who killed each corpse. So as long as you bring one fresh corpse to the second floor for verification, the battle merits are locked to your name.” Di Qing chuckled. “Only palace lords and elders are willing to collect battle merits on a large scale.”

Luo Feng nodded.

As they spoke, a towering, massive palace appeared ahead, its entire structure a deep azure, its hue profound, with boundless malevolent energy subtly concealed within. Over countless eons, this palace had collected innumerable low-grade Huyuan lifeform corpses.

Of course, many cultivators perished during hunts.

Hunting was inherently a venture combining risk and reward. Success meant great profit; failure could mean death.

“We’ve arrived at the Huyuan Palace.” Di Qing gazed at the palace ahead.

Soon, he retracted the black flying vessel and flew with Luo Feng to the main entrance of the Huyuan Palace’s first floor.

The first floor of the Huyuan Palace was vast, divided into thirteen independent zones, each capable of trading low-grade Huyuan lifeform corpses.

“The thirteen buyers of low-grade Huyuan lifeform corpses offer different prices.” Di Qing smiled. “Visit a few, ask their offers, and sell to whoever pays the most.”

“Brother Di Qing!” A plump old man greeted warmly. “Another hunt? Looks like you struck it rich.”

“Just fighting for survival,” Di Qing replied with a smile as he walked over.

“You folks from the Source World have avatars! Much stronger than us.” The plump old man chuckled. Though his own strength was greater and he could afford life-saving items, he rarely went hunting anymore.

The frequency with which warriors from the Myriad Worlds hunted was far lower than that of Source World cultivators.

“We killed six low-grade Huyuan lifeforms this time. Take a look—what prices can you offer?” Di Qing sat down with Luo Feng; attendants had already prepared fine food and wine.

“Who is this?” The plump old man glanced at Luo Feng.

“This is my brother, Luo Feng,” Di Qing said.

“I’m Bu You. I manage stall number three on the first floor of the Huyuan Palace.” The plump old man beamed. “Hope you’ll support my business in the future, Brother Luo Feng.”

Though he managed this stall, he wasn’t its owner. After all, there were only thirteen stalls on the first floor of the Huyuan Palace—only the strongest elders had the authority to run them.

Luo Feng nodded. “Alright.”

After some negotiation over prices,

“I’ll check with a few other vendors,” Di Qing rose after finishing.

After inquiring with his three most familiar buyers, Di Qing ultimately sold the low-grade Huyuan lifeform corpses to these three.

The corpses themselves sold for 6.08 million Huyuan Crystals; the six battle merits sold for 600,000 Huyuan Crystals. Total: 6.68 million Huyuan Crystals.

“Not many come here to sell low-grade Huyuan lifeform corpses,” Luo Feng observed the transactions and noticed no other cultivators had come to sell spoils during this time.

“Rainlan City has at most several hundred thousand hunting teams, and most hunt only once every few hundred eons—or longer. How much trade volume does the Huyuan Palace even see in a single eon?” Di Qing chuckled beside him.

Luo Feng calculated briefly and nodded.

“Let’s divide the spoils.”

“You held the rear this time and bore great risk. I’ll give you 500,000 Huyuan Crystals from the total spoils first. The rest we split evenly.” Di Qing distributed the wealth inside the Huyuan Palace. “You get 3.59 million Huyuan Crystals; I get 3.09 million.”

“I owe you 100,000 Huyuan Crystals. Today’s the perfect day to repay it,” Luo Feng said.

Di Qing nodded, flipped his hand, and produced an object: a dazzling polyhedron shimmering with strange colors. “Brother Luo Feng, I’ll sell you this treasure for 90,000 Huyuan Crystals—how’s that?”

“Illusionary Maze?” Luo Feng recognized it at once.

This was a storage treasure sold at a fixed price of 100,000 Huyuan Crystals across Rainlan City—portable, secure, nearly impossible for even Divine Emperors to steal from, and nearly every Divine Emperor owned one.

Luo Feng had been too poor to buy one before.

But now, with over three million Huyuan Crystals in hand from his first hunt, if stolen, he’d have no time to cry.

“Buy, buy, buy—I’m happy to buy,” Luo Feng laughed. “Brother Di Qing, where did you get an extra ‘Illusionary Maze’?”

“Out there, ambushes happen—and counter-ambushes too. So I’ve collected a few ‘Illusionary Mazes.’” Di Qing grinned. “The shops sell them for 100,000 Huyuan Crystals. But if I sell them to the shops, they’ll only pay 80,000.”

Luo Feng understood.

“I knew you’d buy one after this hunt, so I prepared it for you in advance.” Di Qing said. “Alright, we’ll part ways here. I’m going out to do some serious shopping.”

“Good.” Luo Feng easily assimilated the Illusionary Maze—a treasure of extremely high rank, its craftsmanship likely approaching Semi-Huyuan level, but its simple materials and single function kept its price low.

“After buying the Illusionary Maze, I still have 3.4 million Huyuan Crystals,” Luo Feng felt suddenly wealthy. “This time, I’ll make a real shopping spree.”

Last time, he’d bought only the cheapest materials in Rainlan City—many things he’d wanted, he’d simply couldn’t afford.

“All the Divine Emperor intelligence in Rainlan City? One copy for 10,000 Huyuan Crystals? I’ll take one!” This time, Luo Feng didn’t hesitate—he bought the intelligence casually. It was stored in black jade, containing a hidden mental incantation technique.

“To read the intelligence, you must first activate this mental incantation, using your own spiritual power to imprint the incantation onto yourself?” Luo Feng studied the content briefly, then activated the mental incantation using the black jade.

When the incantation completed, the black jade dissolved, and a stream of information merged into Luo Feng’s consciousness: detailed intelligence on countless Divine Emperors of Rainlan City.

“Rainlan City’s 10,377th Divine Emperor Intelligence Report: Current Divine Emperor population approximately 3.47 million. We have collected intelligence on 3,397,320 Divine Emperors.”

“Rainlan City’s First Divine Emperor: Wei Yang, Palace Lord. Semi-Huyuan-level Dao-seeker, Source World warrior, the suspected strongest presence in Rainlan City. He has displayed immense physical prowess, killing a ‘Divine Emperor Perfect’ low-grade Huyuan lifeform one-on-one with his body alone. He has revealed terrifying arrays, surrounding and annihilating an entire low-grade Huyuan lifeform tribe—only a handful escaped…”

The intelligence included scenes of Wei Yang in action, along with speculative analyses of his combat techniques.

“In Rainlan City, nearly a hundred elders are confirmed to fully support Wei Yang. Together, they form the city’s largest faction, controlling half of all trade. The three persistent criminal groups responsible for theft and raids—‘Worm Nest,’ ‘Ten Thousand Shadow Pavilion,’ and ‘Deceitful Bazaar’—have all pledged allegiance to Wei Yang…”

Every word, every detail, every line—absolutely accurate!

Luo Feng studied it carefully.

The three groups daring to steal and raid within the city were all backed by Wei Yang and his hundred elders? They controlled half the city’s trade? Truly terrifying.

“Rainlan City’s Second Divine Emperor: Yuan Xiang, Palace Lord. Semi-Huyuan-level Dao-seeker, Source World warrior. Founder of Rainlan City! He contributed immensely to its establishment—leading numerous elders in repeated major battles against low-grade Huyuan lifeform tribes. His explosive power surpassed Wei Yang’s. Yet his physical body was ordinary, and he had long-standing injuries… As a Source World warrior, he had multiple avatars, but each avatar carried wounds—likely contaminated by a high-grade Huyuan lifeform.”

The intelligence included multiple scenes of Yuan Xiang in action.

Due to his weak body, Yuan Xiang always attacked from afar, his power capable of destroying worlds.

Merely observing his appearance revealed his frailty—his life flame seemed to barely hold on.

“He’s the founder?” At this moment, Luo Feng felt a touch of respect for Yuan Xiang.

Founding a city in the Nine Rivers Sacred Realm was extremely difficult.

Yuan Xiang, as founder, had immense merit, and nearly a hundred elders stood with him. But because he was weak and rarely acted, his faction was comparatively weaker.

“Rainlan City’s Third Divine Emperor: Gai Tao, Divine Emperor.”

“Gai Tao, Divine Emperor. Semi-Huyuan-level Dao-seeker, Source World warrior. In the entire Nine Rivers Sacred Realm, he ranks among the top three in weapon crafting. He disdains conflict, instead leading only thirty or so elders who share his passion for crafting.”

“His weapons and treasures are sold in multiple cities across the Nine Rivers Sacred Realm.”

“Through the power of his weapons and treasures, Gai Tao’s true strength is immeasurable—perhaps equal to Wei Yang’s. But he rarely fights, making his exact power hard to judge.”

The three combat scenes included in the intelligence were all casual displays.

Once, he released a massive spherical abyss that swallowed a Divine Emperor Perfect low-grade Huyuan lifeform whole.

Once, he simply reached out, and a giant hand crushed to death an elder who dared defy him—literally crushed him. Neither of the other two palace lords said a word. Though the elder was a Source World warrior with avatars, he never returned to Rainlan City after.

Once, in rage, he devoured one of his own disciples—swallowed him whole. This revealed his body was as formidable as a treasure.

…

Intelligence on 3,397,320 Divine Emperors.

Three were Semi-Huyuan-level Dao-seekers.

Seven hundred twenty-three were Divine Emperor Late-stage Dao-seekers or equivalent.

Fifty-two thousand ninety-two were Divine Emperor Mid-stage Dao-seekers or equivalent.

The rest were all Divine Emperor Early-stage Dao-seekers.

Like Di Ming, who barely reached Divine Emperor level through bloodline power—Rainlan City did not recognize him. “Divine Emperor Early-stage Dao-seeker” was their minimum threshold for recognition.

“We have also identified 53,321 suspected Divine Emperor Early-stage Dao-seekers.”

Intelligence on suspected Divine Emperor Early-stage Dao-seekers was far more brief.

No. 51,029: Luo Feng. Recently arrived in Rainlan City. Resides in the same cave dwelling as Di Qing. Suspected Divine Emperor Early-stage Dao-seeker. Suspected Source World warrior.

That was all the record held on Luo Feng.

“I’m even listed in the intelligence—even at the very end,” Luo Feng chuckled.

—

Sixth day of the first lunar month—resumption of updates.

(End of Chapter)