Chapter 272: Phantom Cloud Pavilion

This time coming to Guiyun Market, Song Qingming specifically brought Shi Chun along to help.

He had spent many years wandering in Guiyun Market and was even more familiar with it than Song Qingming. With him leading the way, Song Qingming successfully found a shop that purchased second-level talismans on the first day and sold off quite a few.

The next day, under Shi Chun's recommendation, Song Qingming came to a shop called Phantom Cloud Pavilion.

As soon as he entered, Song Qingming saw several Foundation Establishment cultivators sitting in the main hall, seemingly waiting for something, and was immediately surprised. The shop looked unremarkable from the outside; he hadn't expected it to attract so many Foundation Establishment cultivators at once.

Seeing Song Qingming walk in, two of them greeted him in a friendly manner. Song Qingming returned the greeting hurriedly, then looked around and saw no clerks entertaining them, guessing they must have gone to fetch things for these few people, so he waited patiently on the side.

Before long, a somewhat chubby shopkeeper walked out from behind the curtain, shouted an apology to the group, and took out several bottles of pills to hand to two of them. After the money and goods were cleared, the two quickly left.

The shopkeeper turned to look at the other two who had greeted Song Qingming earlier and said very politely, "Two Fellow Daoists, the time for this exchange meeting has been confirmed. It will be at the Zi hour in two days. Please remember to arrive on time." After speaking, the fat shopkeeper also stuffed a bag of spirit tea into each of their hands.

"That's fine, we will take our leave first." The two did not stand on ceremony, directly putting the items the fat shopkeeper had sent into their own storage bags before bowing and leaving.

After the two left, the fat shopkeeper turned back to look at Song Qingming, who was sitting alone on the side.

"This Fellow Daoist looks unfamiliar; you must be visiting my Phantom Cloud Pavilion for the first time. I don't know what you want, Fellow Daoist, please speak directly. We specialize in entertaining Foundation Establishment cultivators here, and I guarantee you will be satisfied in a moment."

Seeing that this fat shopkeeper was a Foundation Establishment cultivator himself, yet was doing the menial work of entertaining people with a fawning smile like a small Qi Refining cultivator, Song Qingming felt a bit strange.

When he came, he only knew from Shi Chun that there were many second-level spiritual items for sale in this Phantom Cloud Pavilion. He didn't know that this place was so different from other shops. Looking for a long time, it seemed there really wasn't a single ordinary clerk, just this one Foundation Establishment cultivator acting as the shopkeeper himself, which truly shocked him.

"Don't be impatient, Fellow Daoist. My trip here is to ask if you purchase second-level talismans."

"Of course I purchase second-level talismans. However, I still need to see what kind of talismans you have in your hand. If it's the kind I already have enough stock of, then I won't purchase them for now. We can make friends first, and you can bring them over another day."

Hearing that Song Qingming was here to sell talismans, the fat shopkeeper's interest immediately dropped by more than half, but he still politely let Song Qingming take out the talismans to have a look.

Song Qingming expected his attitude; after all, although they were second-level talismans, they were not rare items in such a large market. If you shouted a few times on the street, you might be able to call over several second-level talisman makers.

Carefully taking out five or six talismans of various kinds, Song Qingming narrowed his eyes and said, "Please take a look, Fellow Daoist. If you like them, I have more on me."

The fat shopkeeper picked up the talismans and looked at them, then immediately changed his expression. After a while, he picked out one talisman and handed it back to Song Qingming, saying with a smile, "I have enough stock of this talisman here. As for the others, Fellow Daoist, I will take all of them. Don't worry about the price; what I offer here will definitely be the highest in Guiyun Market."

Hearing this, Song Qingming breathed a sigh of relief and happily took out a dozen more talismans to hand to the fat shopkeeper.

"That's all for now. Please give me a price, and I also need to purchase some pills."

In fact, Song Qingming had more than these dozen on him. The reason he said so was that he didn't want to attract too much attention from others, so as not to bring himself unnecessary trouble.

Sure enough, when the fat shopkeeper heard Song Qingming say this, he immediately shifted his attention to promoting his own pills. Just like that, after a round of trading, Song Qingming had over a thousand more spirit stones on him, along with several bottles of pills needed for cultivation.

"Fellow Daoist Zhan, what is this exchange meeting you mentioned to others earlier? Can you tell me about it?" After the transaction was completed, Song Qingming turned and asked before leaving.

During the transaction just now, the fat shopkeeper had already told Song Qingming his name and also told him that this Phantom Cloud Pavilion was opened by him alone, and he hadn't hired any other cultivator clerks.

This shop used to do business with Qi Refining cultivators. More than ten years ago, several small Qi Refining clerks he hired conspired to steal several of his spiritual items and ran away together when he wasn't paying attention. Although these items weren't very valuable, it made him dislike trusting clerks below him, so he simply dismissed all the clerks and only did business with Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Hearing Song Qingming ask about the exchange meeting, the fat shopkeeper's eyes lit up and he replied, "This is organized by me and several Fellow Daoists. Only cultivators above Foundation Establishment can participate. There are only a dozen or so people in total. If you are interested, Fellow Daoist, you can come along. It's just that this exchange meeting is held here at my place. We don't charge a commission, but we charge ten spirit stones per person for participating, which can be considered paying a little venue fee."

"So, can I participate too?"

"As long as you have my recommendation, Fellow Daoist, that's no problem. We hold this exchange meeting every few months. If you live in Guiyun Market long-term, participating in our exchange meeting will allow you to get to know many like-minded people, which is also extremely beneficial for you." Seeing that Song Qingming was interested, the fat shopkeeper struck while the iron was hot and cajoled him a few times.

"What you say makes sense, Fellow Daoist. I will definitely not miss this exchange meeting. Please help me introduce me when the time comes." Song Qingming nodded and agreed.

"Rest assured about that. The exchange meeting will start on time at the Zi hour in two days. As long as you come, Fellow Daoist, I will naturally not refuse. You will know when the time comes."

"In that case, thank you, Fellow Daoist Zhan. I will definitely arrive on time." After saying this, Song Qingming bowed and walked out of the Phantom Cloud Pavilion happily under the fat shopkeeper's enthusiastic send-off.

After returning to the rented cave dwelling, it wasn't long before Shi Chun, who had been running around all day, also returned. Seeing Song Qingming, he shook his head slightly and sat on the side.

This time coming to Guiyun Market, besides letting Shi Chun help find a place to purchase talismans, Song Qingming also gave him a task: to find out if Huang Siyuan had come here.