Fang Hong strolled along the street, with more sights than his eyes could take in.
He found a shop specializing in furniture and furnishings for cultivators' cave abodes and went inside to buy some elegantly designed tables, chairs, low tables, dressing stands, screens, display shelves, and other pieces, intending to properly furnish the White Jade Tower when he returned.
A cultivator's residence naturally had to observe feng shui as well, creating an environment attuned to their own spiritual energy so that both cultivation and leisure would leave body and mind comfortable and at ease.
Crafting furniture specifically for cultivators was also one of the hundred cultivation arts.
Many small aristocratic clans and rogue cultivators in the cultivation world made their living this way. Some furnishings even rivaled Dharma Treasures and spiritual objects, displaying the utmost luxury and opulence.
The shop Fang Hong entered was fairly large, with a complete selection of furniture that allowed him to pick out quite a few satisfying pieces.
Seeing how freely he spent, the woman attending him in the hall immediately informed the shopkeeper in private. Before long, the shopkeeper came over in person and struck up a conversation with Fang Hong.
"You should know, fellow Daoist, that all our furniture is painstakingly crafted from the finest thousand-year-old spirit wood. Even many true disciples of the Yin-Yang Sect order custom beds from us."
The shopkeeper was a gray-haired old man dressed in a brocade robe, looking every bit an honest, respectable man of wealth.
His blood and vital energy were abundant, and his frame was broad; he was clearly also a body-refining cultivator.
Although he deliberately concealed his spiritual energy, the spiritual pressure emanating from him vaguely reached the level of late Qi refining.
At the mention of beds, Fang Hong grew interested too and asked with a smile, "What kinds of beds do you have? Show me."
"Please follow me upstairs, fellow Daoist," the old man said cheerfully.
The two went up to the shop's second floor, one following the other. Fang Hong casually used the Fate Mirror to examine the old man's fate configuration and discovered that three ominous influences-"Robbery Sha, Death Spirit, and Sheep Blade"-had entered his fate, which made him somewhat more curious.
Such a fate configuration presided over plunder, murder, bloodshed, and depletion. It hardly seemed to belong to someone conducting an honest business.
"What did you do before this, old shopkeeper?" Fang Hong asked casually.
A trace of surprise flashed through the old man's eyes. He opened his mouth in a simple smile, his manner showing a measure of sincerity. "You have a keen eye, fellow Daoist. I only took over this shop recently, yet you spotted it at a glance."
"I spent most of my life as a spirit-wood logger and only put down my axe last year. Rest assured, fellow Daoist, no one in this Five Dragon Island market knows spirit-wood materials better than I do."
Fang Hong smiled without saying anything and turned to examine the various beds on the second floor.
The old man explained, "Cultivators of the Yin-Yang Sect are all skilled in the art of dual cultivation, so their requirements for beds are extremely high. We have everything here: alcove beds, canopy beds, luohan daybeds, leisure couches, beauty couches, and hammocks. Please browse to your heart's content, fellow Daoist."
Fang Hong looked around, his gaze settling on an extravagantly beautiful canopy bed. It had four upright posts at its corners supporting a canopy, exquisite openwork railings patterned with a hundred flowers on three sides, and dark-gold curtains bearing dragon-and-phoenix designs hanging across the front.
Seeing his interest, the old man hurried to make his pitch. "Fellow Daoist, this bed is made from black gold phoebe wood. This wood is tough and brimming with spirituality. Even an ordinary late Qi refining cultivator swinging an axe with all their strength could only cut an inch into it, and it would instantly heal half an inch. It is extremely difficult to fell."
"Moreover, black gold phoebe wood contains a spiritual fragrance. Cultivating in this bed also helps clear the spirit and brighten the mind."
With that, he pointed at the bed boards and added quietly, "The bed contains formation patterns and spring mechanisms. Once you refine it, a little magical power will make it vibrate as quickly or slowly as you wish, adding to the fun."
At this, Fang Hong nodded with a satisfied expression. "Then I'll take this bed."
He then pointed to the side. "I'll take that hammock and beauty couch too."
Before long, Fang Hong walked out of the shop.
The old shopkeeper warmly escorted him to the door. "If you need anything in the future, fellow Daoist, I hope you'll visit us often."
"Certainly, certainly. May your business flourish."
Fang Hong cupped his hands with a smile, glanced at the shop's signboard, and silently committed it to memory.
Golden Sandalwood Pavilion.
After buying the furniture, Fang Hong purchased over thirty pieces of spirit jade, each about a foot square, from another shop.
He intended to cut this spirit jade into tiles and build himself a bathing pool in the White Jade Tower.
Cultivators in this world had spells to repel dust and cleanse themselves, and almost none had the habit of bathing.
In his previous life, Fang Hong had loved baths and foot soaks. Naturally, he would bring that hobby into the cultivation world; cultivation could not be allowed to get in the way of enjoyment.
The design of that alcove bed had given him inspiration. He thought of carving formation patterns into the jade tiles so that afterward, they could heat the pool water automatically.
Once I get back, I need to teach Su Yao the massage techniques and foot therapies from my previous life...
He began to look forward to it a little.
The canopy bed, hammock, and beauty couch each had their own uses.
As he walked along, he spotted another shop bustling with a surging crowd. Curious, he went over to investigate.
It turned out that this shop sold a peculiar, palm-sized, fiery-red stone called Golden Glow Scarlet Jade.
Inside each strange stone was a mass of golden mist that swirled about, looking quite lively.
After buying the strange stones, the cultivators refined them briefly with magical power. The golden mist inside slowly vanished, replaced by a character formed from flames-
Blank!
Some cultivators had better luck and, after refining away the golden mist, discovered that the fiery character inside read "Hundred."
They then held up their stones and gleefully redeemed them for ten more strange stones.
After watching for a while, Fang Hong understood how it worked. Wasn't this simply the cultivation world's version of scratch cards?
It looked like the handiwork of another transmigrator.
Each strange stone cost ten low-grade spirit stones.
After refining away the golden mist within, one could see the prize. No prize meant a blank.
From lowest to highest, the prizes were thirty, hundred, thousand... representing thirty spirit stones, a hundred spirit stones, and a thousand spirit stones respectively.
And according to the notice in the shop, above the spirit-stone prizes were second-, third-, and fourth-tier Dharma Treasures!
That was extraordinary. Fourth-tier Dharma Treasures were treasures personally refined by great Nascent Soul cultivators. They took an immensely long time to refine and required extremely precious materials. Even the Yin-Yang Sect had only a few.
He wondered what backing this shop had to command such resources.
After making a few inquiries, he learned that this Golden Glow Scarlet Jade was actually refined by the Li Fire Heavenly Palace, one of the Donglai Sea Region's four great Nascent Soul sects!
The Li Fire Heavenly Palace's artifact-refining arts were unrivaled under heaven, and all its cultivators were expert artifact refiners. No wonder it could offer such prizes.
Moreover, the strange stones were refined using a special method of the Li Fire Heavenly Palace. Supposedly, even great Golden Core cultivators could not see through the golden mist to the fiery characters within.
This shop also purchased its Golden Glow Scarlet Jade from the Li Fire Heavenly Palace to sell here.
Inside the shop, quite a few people gritted their teeth and bought three or five stones, excitedly refining away the golden mist inside as they dreamed of becoming rich overnight and defying heaven to change their fate.
Fang Hong watched the excitement for a while but did not buy a single stone.
There was no auspicious omen in the Fate Mirror.
He had just turned and walked out of the shop when a familiar face appeared before him.
"Young Master Hong!"
The newcomer was a middle-aged man of distinguished bearing, dressed in fine clothes with a composed expression. It was none other than Fang Mu, a steward of the Fang Household's External Affairs Hall!
Fang Hong looked at Fang Mu with some surprise as well. "Steward Mu, what brings you here?"
He deliberately checked the divine and baleful influences in Steward Mu's fate configuration again. Finding that "Traveling Horse and Emolument God" still occupied his fate, he judged that this should indeed be the man himself.
Steward Mu stepped forward and said quietly, "Ever since you were abducted by the Yin-Yang Sect, young master, the clan has had me come here to gather information."
"I've now opened a shop in this market. Please come back to the shop with me, young master, so we can discuss this in detail."
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