South Stream Market

As one of the larger cultivator markets in southern Yun Country among the Eastern Wasteland Nineteen Kingdoms, South Stream Market had always seen no small flow of visitors.

So when Chen Mobai stepped inside, he did not attract anyone's attention. Only two boys at the Qi Cultivation First Layer came forward. As they rose, the two exchanged a glance, and then one of them backed off, yielding this bit of business to the one dressed in sackcloth.

"Senior, do you need a guide? I know every shop here like the back of my hand, even the things being sold at today's street stalls."

Chen Mobai looked at the person before him, who was about the same age as himself, and confusion stirred in his heart.

Why was his cultivation so low?

If this were in the Immortal Sect, someone this age still only at the Qi Cultivation First Layer would not even make it into high school. He would be expelled outright.

Moreover, the Spirit Energy Value in this market was not low either. It had reached the level of Grade 1 Middle Rank.

But he certainly would not ask that question. Instead, looking slightly troubled, he asked another.

"Is there a fee?"

"Ten taels of gold for a day is enough."

Hearing this, Chen Mobai thought of the dozen or so pieces of gold he had obtained from the old man's bundle, and understood that this was also a currency unit among cultivators. He just did not know how much gold could be exchanged for one Spirit Stone.

He wanted to ask more, but he was also afraid that asking such common-sense questions would expose him, so he could only shake his head and refuse.

"Senior, please think it over. I also know some channels in this market for disposing of stolen goods."

Seeing Chen Mobai refuse, the sackcloth-clad boy grew a little anxious and said something that made even Chen Mobai break out in shameful sweat.

Was this place really this lawless?

He could say something like that in broad daylight? But Chen Mobai truly had empty pockets, so he could only refuse again, then slipped away quickly.

The sackcloth-clad boy looked at his back with a face full of disappointment.

"Brother Liu, that person looked unfamiliar, but he seems to already be in Late Qi Cultivation. And looking at his clothes, the stitching is dense yet incomparably neat. I'm afraid his background isn't small."

The boy at the Qi Cultivation First Layer who had backed off earlier walked over. He had been observing Chen Mobai from the side the entire time, and had carefully appraised the ancient-style outfit the latter had ordered online. He marveled at the neat woven seams sewn by machine. Only a great Cultivating Family would pay such attention to dress and appearance.

"He didn't have that natural contempt Cultivating Family people have for us Rogue Cultivators. It's possible he's a disciple of the Seven Great Sects."

The sackcloth-clad boy surnamed Liu based this on the few exchanges he had just had with Chen Mobai, then compared him with the people from Cultivating Families he had dealt with before. He shook his head and arrived at a conclusion he believed to be correct.

"A person from the Seven Great Sects? Then why would he come to our Yun Country? Could it be they think the tribute we pay each year is too little, so they sent someone to investigate?"

"Forget it. Just pretend we don't know anything. In any case, if the sky falls, we Rogue Cultivators only need to run. At worst, we hide in the common Mortal World."

Hearing this, the boy nodded.

The lands of the Eastern Wasteland had always been chaotic and without order. Killing people for treasure, stealing others' opportunities—these were the norm.

Even those great sects above them would have friction every few decades and fight fiercely for a round. Rogue Cultivators like them had long since grown used to it.

It was just a pity that newcomers like them, who had finally stepped into the Cultivation World with great difficulty, had originally thought longevity was within reach. Who knew they had entered an even more struggling world, where they could not even afford a complete Qi Cultivation method?

Chen Mobai naturally did not know that, because of this industrially produced ancient-style outfit of his, he had been mistaken for a disciple of an Eastern Wasteland Great Sect.

He had learned of South Stream Market from the account books of Blue Wave Lake.

Liu Lengpei, this disciple of the Five Elements Sect, had operated in this place for twenty years, so naturally he had dealt with the local cultivation forces many times. He had recorded these matters into a register precisely so that when he went to the sect for Foundation Establishment in the future, he could hand it over to whoever came after him.

Only, something seemed to have happened fifty years ago that made him leave Blue Wave Lake and never return.

Chen Mobai had swept through all the books stored in the Side Hall. After seeing this booklet that recorded the local forces and specialties, he had been planning to go out and take a look. But only today had he finally prepared himself and made up his mind to follow the map and seek it out.

He had originally been afraid that after fifty years, the situation would have changed. Who knew that this market, jointly established by the local Cultivating Families and small sects, still existed, and was full of vitality.

He walked onto the main road of the market. On both sides, besides pill shops and Magic Artifact stores selling cultivation goods, there were also quite a few restaurants, lodgings, and even an Array Formation shop that bought and sold Formation Flags and Formation Disks.

He wanted to go inside and broaden his horizons, but there were very few customers in these shops. In order not to be noticed, and also because he truly had no money, he still decided to go first to the place where people set up stalls and learn a little about the market prices.

Besides the more than twenty shops occupying prime positions on this street, stalls were everywhere in the corners of the market, selling all kinds of strange and bizarre things.

Although Chen Mobai had no gold, much less Spirit Stones, he still walked and looked around with great interest, learning the common knowledge of prices in this world.

As it turned out, among low-level Qi Cultivation cultivators, transactions were basically all made with gold. Spirit Stones, to them, were also extremely precious things.

The exchange ratio between gold and Spirit Stones was ordinarily ten thousand taels of gold to one Spirit Stone.

But if one truly wanted to exchange, then Spirit Stones were definitely a little more precious and would carry a premium.

At the stalls, most transactions were done with gold. Only a very small portion, items that could only be used by those at the Qi Cultivation Fourth Layer or above, would involve Spirit Stones.

Chen Mobai saw a stall buying and selling books. A complete Qi Cultivation method was actually split into upper, middle, and lower volumes for sale.

He had originally thought that was already very bizarre, until he saw, at another stall, the same kind of Qi Cultivation method being sold layer by layer.

Qi Cultivation Ninth Layer, split into nine volumes.

One volume cost 1 Spirit Stone, and business was quite good. It seemed most Rogue Cultivators could only afford one volume.

Chen Mobai was very tempted. As for Qi Cultivation methods, he could casually download a thousand or eight hundred books, but he did not dare resell them. After all, each time he downloaded one, it counted as having made a small Dao Heart Oath. Once he passed it to others for cultivation, if a Heart Demon came to make mischief in the future, that would be bad.

However, he did have one book on him that was not downloaded from the Immortal Sect.

"Black Water Technique"! He walked around the stalls and found that this cultivation method was also being sold, and its price was not cheap.

The marked price was 8 Spirit Stones.

And this was only the price of the cultivation method. If one wanted the matching spells, one would have to add more Spirit Stones.

"Water Control Technique" was 2 Spirit Stones, "Water Element Shield" was 3 Spirit Stones, and "Ice Spell" was actually not being sold at all. After asking, he learned that the version in this stall owner's hands was not complete either, and could only be cultivated to the Qi Cultivation Seventh Layer.

Chen Mobai took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

He thought back and realized that among the spoils he had obtained back then, there seemed to be several bottles of pills as well.

He did not recognize those things himself, and did not dare eat them, but if he set up a stall and sold them, there might not necessarily be no one who "knew the goods."

Where had he put those few bottles of pills?

It seemed they were placed on the lowest level of his bedside cabinet. He would bring them over next time he went back.

Chen Mobai made another round among the stalls selling Magic Artifacts. There was no need for him to ask the prices. After standing there for a while, many cultivators began bargaining with the stall owners. He silently noted the prices in his heart, then compared them with the Needle Box he had obtained.

A Magic Artifact of similar grade was actually worth 30 Spirit Stones.