Chapter 27

Two days later, outside a square-shaped town made of green bricks, Song Qingming and his group were queuing up, wanting to enter the city.

Guiyun Market is indeed the largest market in this part of the Northern Frontier. Even the Qi Refining cultivators guarding the city gate have late-stage Qi Refining cultivation, and there is a giant third-tier mechanical beast assisting in the defense. With such combat power, even the Foundation Establishment cultivators in the group would not dare to come out and cause trouble casually.

Everyone queued honestly, and only after being checked by the guard cultivators one by one could they enter the market. When it was Song Qingming's turn, the checking cultivator scanned him a few times, and seeing that he was not one of the fierce criminals on the market's bounty list, he let him pass after collecting one spirit stone.

Unlike other markets, Guiyun Market cannot be entered or exited at will. Only merchants stationed in the market or cultivators who have rented caves on Guiyun Mountain can enter and exit the market for free after obtaining a pass issued by the market. Others must pay one spirit stone to enter the market. Just from this alone, the Xiaoyao Sect can easily collect several hundred spirit stones every day.

"Fellow Daoist Song, your skills are not bad. I wonder if you are interested in staying in Guiyun Market long-term? Next time, we can go out hunting beasts together."

In the battles of the past two days, Shi Chun saw that although Song Qingming's cultivation base was not high, his combat ability was not weak, and the magic tools on his person were very refined, so he had the intention to recruit him.

Song Qingming had already seen his intention along the way. After pretending to think for a moment, he responded, "Many thanks for your kindness, Fellow Daoist Shi, but my cave is in Qinghe County, and I rarely come to this Fuyun Mountain Range to hunt beasts. This time, coming to Guiyun Market is just to purchase some cultivation resources on the way, and I will leave soon. If there is an opportunity in the future for me to come to Guiyun Market to make a living, I hope Brother Shi will not despise me then."

Seeing that Song Qingming did not agree, Shi Chun had already expected it. After all, Song Qingming's cave was not in Guiyun Market. He nodded, then gave Song Qingming the location where they were staying, and led the group to bid farewell to Song Qingming.

This was Song Qingming's first time coming to a large market like Guiyun Market. This market looked more than ten times larger than the Qinghe Market he had visited before. A small market like Qinghe Market is about the same size as the Song family's Mujiao Town, with only a street of a few dozen shops in total.

Yet, in Guiyun Market, a single street is larger than the entire Qinghe Market. Looking at the street in front of him that is more than twice as wide as Qinghe Market, Song Qingming also felt a bit emotional.

Guiyun Market is built under Guiyun Mountain, which has a third-tier spiritual vein, and is the largest market in the northern part of the State of Wei. On Guiyun Mountain, the spiritual vein behind this market, over a thousand cultivation caves have been opened up. At the top of the mountain, there is also a Core Formation Elder of the Xiaoyao Sect guarding it year-round. Coupled with the third-tier mountain-protecting formation that covers the entire spiritual mountain and the market, even if two or three ordinary Core Formation cultivators were to attack, it would be difficult to break the formation in a short time.

This is also one of the few large gathering places for rogue cultivators within the State of Wei. After all, here, as long as you spend a dozen spirit stones, you can rent a cave with abundant spiritual energy year-round. You can cultivate with peace of mind in the rented cave without worrying about anyone daring to disturb you. After all, having spent the spirit stones, Guiyun Market must ensure the tranquility of these rented caves.

Fighting and causing trouble are prohibited within Guiyun Market. There are law enforcement teams led by Foundation Establishment cultivators working in shifts day and night, patrolling the entire spiritual mountain market non-stop. Since the establishment of the market over a thousand years ago, few cultivators have dared to cause trouble here. Even if you have enemies hiding in this market, if you want to take revenge, you can only wait for them to take the initiative to walk out of this market.

After walking into the market and feeling the spiritual energy concentration of this genuine third-tier spiritual vein, Song Qingming finally saw the gap between Qinghe County and here, and he couldn't help but have the thought of wanting to stay here long-term to cultivate.

However, he quickly shook his head and came to his senses. He didn't have much time to stay here now. Having been separated from his clansmen for more than half a month, after dealing with the things on his person, he still had to return to Mount Funiu as soon as possible, so as not to let the elders in the clan worry about him.

Carrying a treasure like a Water Spirit Fruit, Song Qingming did not dare to stay too long in this crowded market. After wandering around the streets for more than half an hour, he finally found a small shop that he felt was suitable, named Lingbao Pavilion.

Before entering, Song Qingming first took out a bamboo hat he had prepared long ago from his storage bag and put it on his head. After seeing that most of his face was already covered, he walked into the shop with satisfaction.

The reason he took a fancy to this shop was mainly because, compared to other shops in the market, most of the people entering and leaving this shop were early-to-mid-stage Qi Refining cultivators. It seems that this shop only deals in low-tier first-grade spiritual items, and no high-tier cultivators would come here. This point made Song Qingming feel greatly relieved.

Compared to Qi Refining cultivators, Foundation Establishment cultivators have profound cultivation and great divine abilities. Their internal spiritual sense is also several times that of Qi Refining cultivators, and they can easily release their spiritual sense to probe the people around them. This point also made Song Qingming feel a bit worried.

Just after entering the shop, an old man in white walked up quickly and said with a smooth smile, "What treasure does this Fellow Daoist want? Our shop has everything: elixirs, talismans, magic tools, and formations."

This old man in white was actually a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator. That a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator would be so polite to him, a cultivator with a lower cultivation base, really surprised him a little.

In Qinghe Market, Song Qingming had never seen such a scene. In the shops of Qinghe Market, those who do this kind of work are all mortals, and it is extremely rare for cultivators to come out to entertain guests with average cultivation like him.

Song Qingming lowered his head, wanting to try his best not to let the other party see his face clearly, and said softly, "I have a few magic tools that I am in a hurry to sell. I don't know if your shop accepts them."

The old man in white was slightly startled after hearing this, and immediately said, "You will need to follow me to the back hall to verify the quality of the items first. As long as there is no problem with the quality, we will naturally accept them. Our shop not only buys back magic tools, but also elixirs, spiritual talismans, and other spiritual items. It's just that the price will naturally be lower than that of brand-new magic tools. However, Fellow Daoist, rest assured, our shop's reputation is always fair, and we do not inquire about the origin."

Song Qingming nodded after hearing this. In the market, the price for buying back these old magic tools of unknown origin that have been used will naturally be about ten to twenty percent lower. Seeing that he seemed not to want to reveal the origin, the old man also hurriedly indicated that selling here is absolutely safe.

Afterwards, he followed the old man to a more secluded small room in the shop. After the two sat down, two mortal servants immediately stepped forward to serve two cups of spiritual tea. Song Qingming ignored the fragrant spiritual tea and got straight to the point, taking out those magic tools of Liu Tianlong from his storage bag and placing them on the table in front of the old man in white.

The old man in white took a sip of tea, picked up these magic tools, tried them one by one, and nodded with satisfaction.

"One top-grade flying sword for eighty spirit stones, two mid-grade magic tools together for forty-five spirit stones. For these three magic tools, Fellow Daoist, one hundred and twenty-five spirit stones is the highest price our shop can offer. If Fellow Daoist agrees, I will immediately have someone prepare the spirit stones."

The old man called out a series of prices, narrowed his eyes, and looked at Song Qingming. Song Qingming also knew that this price was indeed not high, but it was acceptable. He didn't say much, nodded, and continued.

"That's fine. I also have a few bottles of elixirs. Take a look. If you accept them too, I'll sell them to you together."

The old man in white saw Song Qingming take out a few jade bottles, picked them up, opened them, smelled them, and put them down. He said a few polite words, asked Song Qingming to wait a moment, and went out to call another middle-aged cultivator in.

The middle-aged cultivator seemed to be an alchemist in this shop. After looking at these bottles of elixirs for a while, he said, "Fellow Daoist, this bottle of Jade Dew Elixir of yours is a top-grade elixir that can improve magic power. Our shop buys it back for fifty spirit stones per bottle. These few bottles are ordinary Spirit Beast Pills, which can only be used to raise underage spirit beasts. Our shop will not accept these."

After hearing the origin of these bottles of elixirs, Song Qingming also had his own calculations. He could not sell the Jade Dew Elixir that could improve magic power to them at a discount like the magic tools just now. The other party would not accept the other few bottles of useless elixirs, so he had to give up on that.

"Since you don't want all of them, then forget about the elixirs. Just give me the spirit stones for the magic tools."

Hearing Song Qingming's reply, the middle-aged cultivator walked out dejectedly. The old man in white was unwilling to give up and kept discussing the price with Song Qingming. Seeing that Song Qingming was indeed unwilling to sell that bottle of Jade Dew Elixir, he started to promote other items in the shop to him.

"Fellow Daoist, I came here to sell magic tools in exchange for other cultivation resources. I don't need to purchase magic tools for the time being. Otherwise, why would I sell these magic tools?"

"Fellow Daoist, the magic tools in our shop are not something that ordinary small shops can compare to."

A quarter of an hour later, under the "patient" promotion of the old man in white, Song Qingming still reluctantly purchased a bottle of elixir here, then picked up the remaining spirit stones from the magic tools he had just sold, and walked out of Lingbao Pavilion.

(End of chapter)