Guiyun Marketplace

Two days later, outside a square town built of blue bricks, Song Qingming and his group stood in line, waiting to enter the city.

Guiyun Marketplace truly deserved its reputation as the largest marketplace in this part of the Northern Frontier. Even the Qi Refining Cultivators guarding its gates possessed Late Qi Refining Stage cultivation, and a massive third-grade mechanical beast assisted in the defense. With such strength, even the Foundation Establishment Cultivators in the group would not dare cause trouble casually.

Everyone obediently lined up and underwent identity checks from the guard cultivators before they could enter the marketplace. When it was Song Qingming's turn, the inspector gave him a brief once-over. Seeing that he was not one of the vicious bandits regularly listed on the marketplace's wanted board, he took one Spirit Stone and waved him through.

Unlike other marketplaces, Guiyun Marketplace did not allow people to come and go freely. Only merchants permanently based in the marketplace or cultivators renting Cave Abodes on Guiyun Mountain could receive passage Tokens issued by the marketplace and enter and leave free of charge. Everyone else had to pay one Spirit Stone to enter. From this alone, the Carefree Sect could easily collect several hundred Spirit Stones every day.

"Fellow Daoist Song, your skills are impressive. Would you be interested in settling down at Guiyun Marketplace? Next time, we can go Demon Hunting together."

During the battle two days earlier, Shi Chun had seen that although Song Qingming's cultivation was not high, his combat ability was quite formidable, and the Magic Tools on him were also exceptionally fine. Thus, he had developed the intention of recruiting him.

Song Qingming had already seen through his intentions along the way. After pretending to consider it for a moment, he replied, "Thank you for your kind offer, Fellow Daoist Shi. However, my Cave Abode is in Qinghe County, and I rarely come to the Floating Cloud Mountain Range for Demon Hunting. This time, I only came to Guiyun Marketplace to purchase some cultivation resources along the way. I will be leaving soon. If fate brings me to Guiyun Marketplace to make a living someday, I hope Brother Shi will not find me troublesome then."

Shi Chun had expected Song Qingming not to agree. After all, Song Qingming's Cave Abode was not in Guiyun Marketplace. He nodded, gave Song Qingming the location where they would be staying, then led the others away after bidding him farewell.

This was Song Qingming's first time visiting a large marketplace like Guiyun Marketplace. It appeared to be more than ten times larger than Qinghe Market, which he had visited before. A small marketplace like Qinghe Market was about the same size as the Song Family's Mujiao Town, with only one street and a few dozen shops in total.

Yet a single street within Guiyun Marketplace was larger than all of Qinghe Market. Looking at the street before him, more than twice as wide as Qinghe Market's, Song Qingming could not help but sigh with emotion.

Guiyun Marketplace had been built beneath Guiyun Mountain, a Third Tier Spirit Vein, and was the largest marketplace in northern Wei State. On Guiyun Mountain behind the marketplace, more than a thousand cultivation Cave Abodes had been opened up. A Core Formation Stage elder of the Carefree Sect also guarded the mountaintop year-round. Together with the third-tier Mountain Protection Array covering the entire Spirit Mountain and marketplace, even two or three ordinary Core Formation Stage Cultivators would find it difficult to break the array in a short time.

This was also one of the few major gathering places for Rogue Cultivators within Wei State. After all, here one only needed to spend a dozen or so Spirit Stones to rent a Cave Abode rich in Spiritual Energy year-round. One could cultivate peacefully in the rented Cave Abode without worrying that anyone would dare disturb them. Since they had paid the Spirit Stones, Guiyun Marketplace would certainly protect the peace of those renting Cave Abodes.

Cultivator Combat and troublemaking were forbidden within Guiyun Marketplace. Law Enforcement Teams led by Foundation Establishment Cultivators patrolled the entire Spirit Mountain and marketplace day and night in shifts. Since the marketplace had been established over a thousand years ago, few cultivators had dared cause trouble here. Even if one's enemy was hiding in this marketplace, anyone seeking revenge could only wait for them to leave it of their own accord.

After entering the marketplace and feeling the density of the Spiritual Energy from this genuine Third Tier Spirit Vein, Song Qingming finally saw the gap between Qinghe County and this place. A faint desire to remain here and cultivate for the long term rose in his heart.

However, he quickly shook his head and came to his senses. He did not have much time to stay here now. He had been separated from his clansmen for over half a month. Once he had dealt with the items on him, he still needed to return to Funiu Mountain as soon as possible, lest the elders of the clan continue worrying about him.

Carrying a treasure like the Water Spirit Fruit, Song Qingming did not dare linger for long in this crowded marketplace. After wandering through the streets for over half an hour, he finally found a small shop that he considered suitable, called Spirit Treasure Pavilion.

Before entering, Song Qingming took out a bamboo hat he had prepared long ago from his Storage Bag and placed it on his head. After seeing that it concealed most of his face, he nodded in satisfaction and slowly entered the shop.

The main reason he had chosen this shop was that, compared with the other shops in the marketplace, most of those entering and leaving it were early- and mid-stage Qi Refining Cultivators. It seemed that this shop dealt mainly in low-tier, first-grade spiritual items, and no High-tier Cultivators would come here. This put Song Qingming greatly at ease.

Compared to Qi Refining Cultivators, Foundation Establishment Cultivators had profound cultivation and vast abilities. The divine sense within their bodies was several times stronger than that of Qi Refining Cultivators, allowing them to easily extend their divine sense and inspect those around them. This had always worried Song Qingming somewhat.

As soon as he entered the shop, a White-Clothed Elder hurried over. With a smooth smile on his face, he said, "What treasure are you looking for, Fellow Daoist? Our shop has pills, talismans, artifacts, formations—everything."

This White-Clothed Elder was actually a Late Qi Refining Stage Cultivator. A Late Qi Refining Stage Cultivator was being so polite to someone with lower cultivation than himself, which truly surprised Song Qingming a little.

Song Qingming had never seen such a sight in Qinghe Market. In the shops there, such work was done by mortals, and cultivators rarely came out to receive customers with average cultivation like his.

Song Qingming lowered his head, trying not to let the other party see his face clearly, and said softly, "I have several Magic Tools that I urgently wish to sell. I wonder whether your shop buys such items."

The White-Clothed Elder was briefly startled upon hearing this, then immediately said, "You will need to follow me to the back hall so that we may first inspect the quality of the items. As long as their quality is satisfactory, we will naturally buy them. Our shop does not merely purchase Magic Tools; we also buy pills, Spirit Talismans, and other spiritual items. Of course, the price will naturally be lower than that of brand-new Magic Tools. But rest assured, Fellow Daoist, our shop has always conducted business fairly, and we do not inquire into origins."

Song Qingming nodded after hearing this. The price for used Magic Tools of unknown origin bought back by marketplace shops was naturally ten or twenty percent lower. Seeing that Song Qingming did not seem willing to reveal their origins, the elder hurriedly assured him that selling them here would be absolutely safe.

He then followed the elder into a more secluded small room in the shop. After the two sat down, two mortal attendants immediately came forward and served them each a cup of Spirit Tea. Song Qingming ignored the fragrant Spirit Tea. Getting straight to the point, he took Liu Tianlong's several Magic Tools from his Storage Bag and placed them on the table before the White-Clothed Elder.

The White-Clothed Elder took a sip of tea, picked up the Magic Tools, and tested them one by one. He nodded in satisfaction.

"One High-grade Flying Sword for eighty Spirit Stones, and the two Mid-grade Magic Tools together for forty-five Spirit Stones. For these three Magic Tools, I can offer you a total of one hundred and twenty-five Spirit Stones. That is the highest price our shop can give. If you agree, I will have someone prepare the Spirit Stones immediately."

After naming the prices, the elder narrowed his eyes and looked at Song Qingming. Song Qingming also knew that the price was indeed not high, but it was still acceptable. He did not say much and simply nodded before continuing.

"Fine. I also have several bottles of pills. Take a look. If you buy those as well, I will sell them to you together."

When the White-Clothed Elder saw Song Qingming take out several jade bottles, he picked them up, opened them, and sniffed them. Then he set them down again, offered a few polite words, and asked Song Qingming to wait a moment. The White-Clothed Elder left the room and called in a Middle-aged Cultivator.

The Middle-aged Cultivator appeared to be an Alchemist from the shop. After examining the bottles of pills for a while, he said, "Fellow Daoist, this bottle of Jade Dew Pills is a high-grade pill capable of Mana Advancement. Our shop will buy one bottle for fifty Spirit Stones. These bottles contain ordinary Spirit Beast Pills, which can only be used to raise immature spirit beasts. Our shop will not purchase those."

After learning the origins of these bottles of pills, Song Qingming made his calculations. There was no way he could sell the Jade Dew Pills, which could advance mana, at a discounted price like the Magic Tools just now. The other useless bottles of pills were not wanted by the shop either, so he could only let the matter drop.

"Since you do not want all of them, forget about the pills for now. Just give me the Spirit Stones for the Magic Tools."

Upon hearing Song Qingming's answer, the Middle-aged Cultivator left dejectedly. The White-Clothed Elder, however, was unwilling to give up. He continued negotiating the price with Song Qingming. When he saw that Song Qingming truly would not sell the bottle of Jade Dew Pills, he began promoting other items in the shop instead.

"Fellow Daoist, I came here to sell Magic Tools in exchange for other cultivation resources. I have no need to purchase Magic Tools for the moment. Otherwise, why would I be selling these Magic Tools?"

"Fellow Daoist, the Magic Tools in our shop are not something ordinary small shops can compare with."

A quarter of an hour later, under the White-Clothed Elder's "patient" recommendations, Song Qingming still bought a bottle of pills here against his will. Then, taking the remaining Spirit Stones from the Magic Tools he had just sold, he walked out of Spirit Treasure Pavilion.