Heavenly Flame Map

"Hey, sir, you're here to buy maps, right? Then you've come to the right place. Our Cartography Pavilion has maps of every location in the Black Corner Region. We definitely have the map you're looking for."

As soon as Xiao Ming entered the Cartography Pavilion and had only begun to examine its layout, a voluptuous woman dressed so provocatively that only her most vital areas were covered walked toward him. As she swayed her hips, her body was tantalizingly exposed.

Yet she seemed utterly unconcerned by this. Noticing Xiao Ming's gaze on her, she instead exaggerated the sway of her body.

When she reached him, she gave a coquettish laugh. "Sir, which place's map do you need? Tell me, and I'll help you find it. There are so many maps here that it would be quite difficult for you to locate one by yourself."

As she spoke, she did not forget to subtly display her figure.

Although this woman's clothes were exceptionally revealing, several other women in the Cartography Pavilion wore the same style. It was obvious they were uniforms.

All of them had low Dou Qi Cultivation, only around the level of a One Star Dou Zhe.

They were likely maids arranged by the Cartography Pavilion to receive guests—or, more accurately, saleswomen.

As for such people, not to mention that Xiao Ming was only eight years old, even if he had been old enough, he would have had no interest in them.

The female saleswoman had thought she had drawn his gaze earlier, but Xiao Ming had merely been checking whether she posed any danger to him.

After all, there was a saying in the Black Corner Region: be wary of women who could survive here.

After these days of experience, Xiao Ming had found that this saying truly made a great deal of sense.

Thus, whenever Xiao Ming saw a woman, he would become vigilant.

Now, seeing that she was merely striking seductive poses without making any unusual moves,

Xiao Ming relaxed his guard slightly and said in a disguised hoarse voice, "That's right. I'm here to buy a map. Do you have a map of the Black Region Great Plains?"

"Hehehe, I told you that you came to the right place. As everyone knows, the Black Region Great Plains stretch as far as the eye can see, and Black Windstorms that shroud the sky and earth appear from time to time. Ordinary maps are naturally useless there. Only the most meticulously made maps can be of any use, and in Black Mark City, only our Cartography Pavilion produces the finest maps. No other shop can compare. Every merchant traveling the Black Region Great Plains keeps one of our maps on hand."

Seeing that the black-robed man before her did nothing but ask dry questions, the saleswoman realized that he had no interest in her. She cursed inwardly, though she continued her introduction with a smile.

Although he was not interested in her and she could not earn any extra money, he was still a fat sheep.

After all, the Cartography Pavilion's maps were not cheap.

"Oh. Bring me the finest map in your shop."

Xiao Ming showed no reaction to the woman's praise of her own shop's maps and disparagement of other stores.

This shop's maps might be excellent, but that did not mean the maps sold elsewhere were necessarily inferior.

She was probably saying this only to raise the price.

Upon hearing Xiao Ming's request, the saleswoman's smile grew broader. She told him to wait by the counter, then left.

After a while, she returned to the counter with a white map in her hands.

"Here, this is the detailed map of the Black Region Great Plains that you wanted."

Taking the map from her, Xiao Ming slowly spread it across the counter before him. Numerous routes crisscrossed the map, with colored dots marked throughout it.

Some locations even had special notes written in small characters.

Xiao Ming nodded in satisfaction. "This map is indeed exceptionally well made. I'll take it. How much is it?"

"This map costs four thousand gold coins," the woman beside him said with a smile.

"Four thousand gold coins? Isn't that a bit overpriced?" Xiao Ming's lips twitched beneath his black robe.

Calling four thousand gold coins for a single map overpriced was already putting it politely.

This was robbery.

However, while Xiao Ming thought so, the maid across from him did not. After all, their goods were clearly marked with prices.

Hearing her say this, Xiao Ming turned to look at the nearest shelf and saw that the maps displayed there were all extremely expensive. Not a single one cost less than one thousand gold coins.

Xiao Ming was speechless.

"No wonder these shops can stay open in such a chaotic place. They all sell things at robbery-level profits, so of course they can keep operating."

Since the Cartography Pavilion dared to sell things at such prices, the other shops were probably much the same, all charging inflated prices. Otherwise, the Cartography Pavilion would have gone out of business long ago.

To be honest, it was not as though Xiao Ming had never spent money in the Black Corner Region. He had passed through quite a few places like Green Rock Town.

Others also sold goods at inflated prices, but not by much.

This was the first time he had encountered such an outrageously overpriced place.

"Um, do you still want this map? If you think it's too expensive, we also have simpler maps for you to choose from, but they may be of limited use in the Black Region Great Plains."

"I'll take this one."

There was no helping it. The prices were clearly marked, and the Dou Qi Continent had no price-control laws.

If he wanted it and could not simply snatch it, then he naturally had to pay.

Fortunately, Xiao Ming was not particularly poor. Four thousand gold coins did not hurt him much.

He had questioned the price earlier only because he did not want to be taken for a fool.

Well, it was a little expensive, but as long as the map could help him, it was fine.

With that thought, a black bag appeared in Xiao Ming's hand.

He shook it, and the bag gave off the sound of metal clashing together.

"Count it."

The saleswoman took the bag from Xiao Ming and began counting its contents in front of him.

Very soon, she raised her head and said with a beaming smile, "Exactly four thousand gold coins."

Once she had finished counting, Xiao Ming put the map into his Na Ring, stood up, and left.

Unexpectedly, the saleswoman called out, "Sir, don't go! Besides maps of the Black Corner Region, our Cartography Pavilion also has other valuable maps, such as Strong Practitioner's Cave Maps, Rare Medicinal Herb Maps, Secret Realm Maps, and even Heavenly Flame Maps. Are you interested?"

"You said Heavenly Flame Maps?"

Xiao Ming stopped in his tracks and turned back in surprise, directly ignoring the other maps as he asked.

"Heavenly Flame Maps? Ah, yes, Heavenly Flame Maps."

"Do you know what Heavenly Flames are?"

"Uh, Heavenly Flames... they're, they're Heavenly Flames." Seemingly stunned by Xiao Ming's question, the saleswoman answered hesitantly, looking like a student who had been caught sleeping in class and called upon by the teacher.

What the hell? She doesn't even know what Heavenly Flames are, yet she's talking about Heavenly Flame Maps.

Was she messing with me?

He had thought there would be an unexpected windfall, but this was all there was to it.

Xiao Ming shook his head, turned around, and prepared to leave.

The saleswoman felt somewhat wronged. Her purpose in stopping Xiao Ming had actually been to promote the Cartography Pavilion's various Fragmented Maps.

There were many such Fragment Maps on the Dou Qi Continent. Countless examples existed of people finding a genuine map by chance, following it to obtain treasures left behind by powerful practitioners, or discovering Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures and soaring to greatness in a single leap.

It was precisely because there were so many successful examples.

That even though there were countless fakes among such maps, many people were still willing to spend huge sums on Fragment Maps, hoping that one day they too might obtain the inheritance of a powerful practitioner.

Besides that, there were also many Rare Medicinal Herb Maps and Ore Maps. Because the environments where certain expensive medicinal herbs and ore veins were located were complicated, filled with Magical Beasts, and fraught with danger, maps of those places were generally very expensive and sold well.

As a map seller, the Cartography Pavilion naturally had such maps as well. Of course, the maps the Cartography Pavilion sold were not necessarily genuine, though they sold them as if they were.

The reason she had stopped Xiao Ming was simply to sell him those maps. Who would have thought that his question would stump her?

She truly did not know much about what Heavenly Flames were, but the Cartography Pavilion really did have Heavenly Flame Maps.

Feeling as though a huge pile of gold coins was slipping away, she hurriedly called out to Xiao Ming again.