The Yao Stronghold stood within the Black Mountain Range.
The Yao Market in its southeastern corner backed onto a sheer mountain peak, its snow-white heights wreathed in mist when viewed from afar.
Despite its name, the Yao Market was essentially a large clearing inside the Yao Stronghold. There were no storefronts or buildings; most yao simply sat on the ground and set out their wares, making the place look rather chaotic.
After all, yao were generally enormous, making shops and other trading establishments inconvenient to build. This arrangement made more sense.
Anyone could enter or leave the Yao Market freely. The sheer variety of yao initially left Su Changsheng's palms sweating, but after a while, he settled down.
There were not many yao in the Yao Market. Although quite a few inhabitants of the vast Yao Stronghold had both the means and the need to trade here safely, spread across individual days, they amounted to only a hundred or so.
Su Changsheng was a second-level half-demon. While the aura he gave off was hardly outstanding here, he was not at the bottom either.
He fell short of those above him, but had more than enough compared with those below.
Blending into the crowd of yao, Su Changsheng wandered around and discovered that few traders offered blood food-only three or four stalls.
There were, however, four or five stalls trading finished Demon Art Runes. Concealment Runes occasionally appeared among them, but such lifesaving items were quickly snapped up.
Most of the other yao stalls traded strange and unusual things: their own shed skins, fallen scales, enormous, hard beast bones, and low-level yao arts derived from various innate yao abilities.
He recognized very little of it. Like Granny Liu entering the Grand View Garden, he could only marvel at all the unfamiliar sights.
As long as Concealment Runes are being traded here, I won't stand out too much.
After discreetly surveying the market, Su Changsheng breathed a sigh of relief. He had worried that Concealment Runes might be too precious to bring out openly.
The situation before him was just right.
It made sense, really. Although Concealment Runes were relatively difficult to make, they were still low-level Demon Art Runes. Some deft-handed yao could produce them.
"How do you trade these portions of blood food?"
Su Changsheng crouched before a stall, looking at the chunks of flesh laid out on the ground, and discreetly swallowed.
It had been a long time since he had eaten his fill.
"Each piece weighs about ten jin. Three ordinary low-level runes apiece. If you have special runes, we can work something out depending on what they are. But I urgently need a Purification Talisman Rune. If you have one, I can offer a little extra in exchange."
The stallholder was a lesser yao who had refined his speech bone. Judging by his appearance, he was an eagle yao.
Although he was only a first-level lesser yao, flying yao like him were generally difficult to deal with. Even yao a level above him were reluctant to clash with them.
"Is it fresh? What kind is it?"
Su Changsheng's gaze continued to roam over the flesh on the stall.
"Of course it's fresh. None of it is more than a month old. These pieces came from wild yao-sheep. Those came from Mutants. You probably don't want to know what they originally looked like, but rest assured, all the contamination has been removed. They're safe to eat."
The eagle yao introduced them one by one.
Although the white snake before him was a half-demon, his strength had reached the second level, and the eagle yao did not want to offend him.
Otherwise, given his temperament, he would have told him to buy or leave instead of wasting so much breath.
Listening to the eagle yao's explanation, Su Changsheng nodded. With a rough understanding now, he asked, "Do you have any Wraith Beast meat?"
"Wraith Beast blood food? Master Snake, are you joking? Do I look like a yao who can hunt Wraith Beasts? If you aren't buying, could you please move along? I have a business to run."
The eagle yao sounded irritated.
Su Changsheng feigned a sigh and left the stall.
"Hmph. Looks like another half-demon at the peak of the second level, hoping to use Wraith Beast blood food to break through to the third."
"The peak of the second level... Forget it. Better not provoke him."
The eagle yao silently marked Su Changsheng as someone not to be trifled with.
And so it went.
At two or three stalls in succession, Su Changsheng asked whether they had Wraith Beast blood food, leading many yao to mistakenly believe he had reached the peak of the second level and was about to advance to the third.
His current appearance was only a disguise anyway. Adding another layer of deception to intimidate the other yao was no great matter.
Although he had not obtained the blood food he wanted, Su Changsheng picked up quite a bit of information.
For instance, Purification Talismans had been bought up in large quantities throughout the Yao Market over the past few days. Several Wraith Beasts had recently slipped into the Yao Stronghold, spreading various kinds of contamination. Many yao had fallen victim and urgently needed Purification Talismans to cleanse themselves.
As a result, Purification Talisman prices had risen with the tide, reaching the steep price of thirty jin of blood food for a single talisman.
Damn it, what a shame! I don't have the method for cultivating Purification Talisman Runes!
Su Changsheng sighed, feeling as though a vast fortune was slipping away from him.
What a loss! A huge loss!
Still, demand for Concealment Runes was also increasing. The appearance of Wraith Beasts had prompted many yao to begin stockpiling these lifesaving runes on their own initiative.
Fifteen jin of blood food per rune!
There were other rumors too, such as the recent appearance of numerous Mutants in the Wilderness, and a wild yao in the Black Mountain Range supposedly advancing to become a Great Yao.
Whether the latter was true remained unclear. As for the former... the Wilderness had always contained plenty of Mutants. These crazed demonic beasts, born from Wraith Beast contamination, had been one of its mainstays since ancient times.
But if the number of Mutants in the Wilderness is increasing sharply, some eerie change may have occurred there again. Perhaps a forbidden zone has formed, or a Wraith Beast has advanced. There's even a chance...
Su Changsheng thought of the two beast hides bearing eerie diagrams and spell formulas, which seemed to be the work of humans.
If the upheaval in the Wilderness had something to do with humans...
I hope not!
After all, the Wilds are far too distant from human settlements. For centuries, only the occasional tale of humans has reached this place. Besides, why would those immortal cultivators leave their thriving human lands to come to this place where birds won't even shit?
Su Changsheng shook his head and stopped dwelling on it. Trading was what mattered now.
He already had his eye on several items and was only waiting to obtain some blood food before buying them.
That was the inconvenient thing about the Yao Market: it had no standard currency, relying entirely on the most primitive form of barter.
Agree to the exchange, or get lost!
"Why are you back again?"
The eagle yao looked at Su Changsheng with some resignation.
"After looking around, your blood food is about the freshest here. Naturally, I came back."
"I have Concealment Runes. Name your price!"
Su Changsheng deliberately lowered his voice.
The eagle yao perked up. He glanced around, then lowered his voice as well. "Come closer. Careful-the walls have ears. I'll give you fifteen jin... no, how about sixteen?"
As a half-demon at the peak of the second level, the white snake before him naturally had no fear of revealing his Concealment Runes. The eagle yao could not afford that.
Although he could fly, he still had to keep trading here and did not want to attract so many prying eyes. Yet Concealment Runes were precious lifesaving treasures, and he had to get his hands on them.
"What about two?"
Su Changsheng pressed further!
A big deal!
A gleam lit up the eagle yao's eyes. He examined Su Changsheng from head to tail, committing every detail of his appearance to memory, before drawing a deep breath and saying:
"Still sixteen jin apiece!"
"But I can give you all of it in Rat Demon meat. That's what you snake yao love most!"
R-rat meat!
Fuck. Thanks so much, but you really needn't bother!
Before you continue