Within Illusory Immortal City, a down-and-out Rogue Cultivator's stall displayed several dozen metal-crafted ornaments: lifelike birds, beasts, people, and objects of every kind. Their workmanship was indeed fine enough to be called art.
This seemingly destitute Rogue Cultivator was none other than Nong Zhu. These damned ornaments had been hastily made by Yue Qianchou solely to fob him off and set out for sale, with several hundred in all. In Yue Qianchou's words, he was not really being sent there to sell things, so any old stuff would do to put on display. His main task was to gather news. If they actually gave him good merchandise and his business flourished, where would he find the time to scout for information? The harder they were to sell, the better!
Of course, Yue Qianchou had not simply told Nong Zhu to pick up a few rocks and use them to pass off shoddy goods as fine ones. He was afraid someone who disliked Nong Zhu might beat him up, so he had made sculptures that were at least passable.
At first, affected by the news that the Demon Realm was about to return to the Three Realms, the plaza had indeed become much quieter. Yet influenced by that same news, the flow of people suddenly surged again after only a few days. Everyone came to purchase things they needed, or might need, as stockpiles for the coming great calamity.
The entire Illusory Immortal City became livelier than ever, so crowded it could be called packed to the rafters. Not only were the stalls in the plaza swarmed with people, but even the mountaintops occupied by the famous sects and great schools saw endless streams of passersby. Everyone hurried along, and the atmosphere grew tenser by the day.
People often stopped at