Profit at First Sight

Yellow Wind Little Sage was wrapped in a faint breeze, transforming into a translucent blur of light as he headed out of the school campus.

The evening dismissal crowd surged. A girl in a school uniform staggered out through the gates with several books in her arms, accidentally bumping toward the corner where Yellow Wind Little Sage stood. It gave him such a fright that he jolted and hurriedly flashed aside.

The surrounding students only felt a gust of wind sweep past, conveniently lifting the girl's skirt hem. Startled, she pressed down her skirt, while the books in her arms scattered across the ground and drew everyone's attention.

Yellow Wind Little Sage, the culprit, had already run far away and slipped into a secluded alley.

A wild tabby perched atop a roadside trash can sensed the strange airflow and instinctively raised its fur, its round eyes darting in every direction.

It opened its mouth to hiss a warning, only to find it had hissed at nothing. There was nothing around it at all.

Yellow Wind Little Sage's figure swept past its side. The breeze made the tabby's whiskers flutter, and it instinctively turned to chase after him for a few steps, but it could never catch that ethereal, insubstantial presence.

Yellow Wind Little Sage paused, a trace of interest surfacing in his amber eyes. He suddenly changed direction and circled behind the tabby. A stronger gust swept through, blowing the cat stumbling backward and making its fur stand up even fluffier.

The tabby let out an angry growl and wildly swatted at the ground with its front paws, but it was futile.

Yellow Wind Little Sage gave a "squeak squeak" laugh from not far away before continuing through the sparsely populated alleys.

Making his way through the deserted alleys, Yellow Wind Little Sage followed the route from Zhou Yao's memories.

Those familiar yet unfamiliar streets gradually came into focus before his eyes: dilapidated apartment buildings, utility poles long fallen into disrepair, and scraps of waste paper scattered across the ground.

About half an hour later, Yellow Wind Little Sage arrived at the destination of this trip: Yinshan Black Market.

Yinshan Black Market was located in the old district of Yin Mountain City. From the outside, it looked like nothing more than an antique street, with all manner of shops standing along both sides.

A strange sign hung at the entrance to the street, engraved with intricate inscriptions. Looking closely, the runes shimmered with a faint halo of light.

As far as Zhou Yao knew, these inscriptions were a simplified version of a dispersal spell formation, capable of driving away most ordinary people.

The reason it was only most people was that ordinary people who knew the exact location could still enter this hidden street if they forced themselves to remember it.

But that was precisely the black market managers' intention. There were not many Mythic Walkers in Yin Mountain City to begin with, and most trading targets were wealthy ordinary people. As long as they drove off passersby who had come to try their luck, that was enough.

Meanwhile, far away at Yinshan No. 1 High School, Zhou Yao and Liu Wenjun entered the empty campus library after school. It was a spacious, quiet loft, where tall bookshelves cast long shadows beneath dim yellow lights.

Liu Wenjun immediately burrowed into the bookshelves in search of books. Like a black butterfly, she flitted between the shelves, constantly picking up book after book.

Whenever she found one she liked, she would open it and read as though she had found a priceless treasure.

Zhou Yao, meanwhile, listlessly picked up a comic at random and flipped through it. His movements appeared absent-minded, but in truth, more than half his attention was fixed on the black market.

Unlike the outside world, Mythic Walkers frequently appeared in the black market, and capable people were as numerous as the trees in a forest. He had to be even more careful while controlling Yellow Wind Little Sage.

At the entrance to the black market, Yellow Wind Little Sage adjusted his spell, making the light distorted by wind and sand even less conspicuous before slowly stepping onto the main street.

The black market had Chinese-style buildings such as pawnshops, bookstores, and martial arts halls, but also fortune-telling houses, little chapels, and even tabletop game shops. It felt like a hodgepodge blending East and West.

The pedestrians on the road were not, as Yellow Wind Little Sage had imagined, Mythic Walkers everywhere one looked. Most were still richly dressed ordinary people.

The occasional Mythic Walkers all gleamed with spiritual light and carried themselves with extraordinary bearing.

Zhou Yao had come to Yinshan Black Market before in search of Mythic Materials, but at the time, he had only toured it as an ordinary person. He had not entered any shops, merely watched from afar.

This time, from Yellow Wind Little Sage's perspective as a Mythic Walker, he noticed quite a few details he had missed before.

More than half the Mythic Walkers on the street who seemed imposing and were surrounded by spiritual light had unsteady auras. Their so-called spiritual light was merely a disguise propped up by forcibly consuming Mythic Factors.

In Yellow Wind Little Sage's eyes, these people had barely reached the Yin Ghost level and counted as the lowest tier of Mythic Walkers. They were probably putting on this act to fish for wealthy ordinary people entering the black market. In contrast, quite a few powerful auras were hidden in the shops lining both sides.

After passing more than half the street, Zhou Yao finally saw the goal of this trip.

It was an inconspicuous-looking general store. Gray-white moss had spread across its outer walls, making it look somewhat old and poorly maintained. A wooden sign hung above the shop, with four large, slightly faded words written on it: "Fortune Shop."

Without hesitation, Yellow Wind Little Sage strode into the shop.

The moment he entered, Yellow Wind Little Sage was immediately dazzled by rays of spiritual light. Dense Mythic Factors filled the entire shop, even surpassing those on the Yinshan Train.

The surrounding shelves were piled with all sorts of items: ceramic jars, metal keys, cloth dolls, yarn balls, golden toad sculptures, and many bizarre objects whose purpose could not be identified at all.

Yellow Wind Little Sage's gaze swept across the counter. Upon the seemingly unremarkable merchandise, one panel after another was clearly reflected.

[Projection Crystal

Type: Magical Creation

Quality: None...]

[Yin Vine Yarn Ball

Type: Demon-Ghost Symbiote

Quality: Spiritual Dust...]

[Fortune Golden Toad

Type: Wealth Department Ritual Artifact

Quality: Spiritual Dust...]

These items were like fragments casually plucked from different mythological tales. Yet when pieced together, they formed a strange sort of harmony.

Yellow Wind Little Sage's mouth fell slightly open, while Zhou Yao, far away in the library, was equally dazzled.

Though most of these Mythic Materials did not even possess Mythic Traits, and some were merely inferior Mythic Materials, their sheer variety and the complexity of the mythological systems involved far exceeded Zhou Yao's expectations.

"I never expected such a distinguished guest to visit today."

Within Fortune Shop, a gentle voice slowly rang out.

Yellow Wind Little Sage immediately looked toward the sound. He saw a hand lift the curtain at the back door, followed by a tall figure slowly emerging.

It was a young man dressed in magnificent white robes. His brows and eyes were kindly, yet he carried an indelible trace of yin energy.

The instant Yellow Wind Little Sage saw the young man's appearance, his thoughts churned violently. Even the concealing wind and sand around him rippled.

"Oh? Could it be that this distinguished guest knows me?"

Seemingly catching Yellow Wind Little Sage's emotional fluctuation, the young man in white asked.

Yellow Wind Little Sage did not reply. His amber eyes were fixed tightly on the young man's head.

Of course, he did not know the young man in white—but there was no way he could fail to recognize the hat on the man's head.

It was a strange white tall hat, and four large characters were written on it—

Profit at First Sight!