Mortals, gains

At the beginning of the Xu hour, the sky had already gone completely dark. The inner district of Greenrock Market was much quieter than during the day, but the temporary sentry posts scattered throughout and the figures of patrolling squads showed that security had not slackened.

Lu Zhao and Chen Moyang walked side by side, both wearing relatively tidy blue robes issued by the Hundred Arts Battalion. The tokens at their waists reflected faintly in the dim light.

They arrived before an imposing three-story pavilion. The gilded characters for "Thousand Stars Tower" still gleamed above its entrance.

Two expressionless cultivators at the middle stage of Qi Refining stood at the door, their sharp gazes sweeping over everyone who approached.

"Hundred Arts Battalion, Chen Moyang, Lu Zhao." Both handed over their tokens at the same time.

The guard on the left took the tokens and tapped a rune on their backs. A faint light flashed, confirming their authenticity. His gaze swept over their faces, and he said evenly, "The stairs are at the far end on the left."

Inside, the first-floor hall was quite spacious, but it was now a complete mess. Exquisite counters lay askew, and only a few moonlight stones embedded in the walls gave off a cold glow, illuminating the way to the corridor on the left.

At the end of the corridor, a broad, carved wooden staircase came into view. Another cultivator guarded its entrance, his aura impressively at late Qi Refining! He stood straight and tall, giving off an invisible sense of pressure simply by standing there.

"Your identities have been checked. Spirit stones." The late Qi Refining guard's voice was low, his words brief and to the point.

Lu Zhao and Chen Moyang each offered a spirit stone. The guard took them, briefly sensed them, then stepped aside. "Go on up. You know the rules."

"Thank you, fellow Daoist." The two thanked him before climbing the stairs.

Once they reached the second floor, the space before them opened up, forming a stark contrast with the ruin and disorder below.

This floor had clearly been carefully cleaned and arranged. The entire second floor had been opened into an exceptionally spacious room, dozens of zhang on each side, with a ceiling far higher than that of an ordinary pavilion.

A thick, dark blue-green carpet woven with intricate cloud patterns covered the floor, soft and silent underfoot. Dozens of stout vermilion pillars supported the vaulted ceiling. Glowing fluorite stones of various sizes were embedded in the pillars, lighting the entire space as brightly as day, yet their light remained gentle, without the slightest glare.

Several hundred people had already gathered in this spacious hall! Heads thronged together, and voices buzzed noisily without descending into chaos.

Cultivators gathered in groups of three or five, standing or sitting beside brocade-covered tables temporarily placed throughout the hall, talking quietly, displaying goods, and bargaining.

The air was filled with the mingled fluctuations of spiritual energy from all manner of spiritual materials, pills, talismans, and even magical artifacts, along with a suppressed excitement and anticipation.

Dozens of mortal girls in matching plain-colored blouses and skirts moved among these cultivators. They were all young, about fifteen or sixteen, with delicate features and light movements. Carrying ebony trays, they served steaming spiritual tea and exquisite pastries to the cultivators at the tables.

They had clearly been trained. Their movements were light, their eyes lowered, not daring to meet any cultivator's gaze. Their faces bore a calm they struggled to maintain, but their faintly trembling fingertips and the occasional frightened look still betrayed the fear within them-after all, downstairs was a battlefield that had only just been breached.

Chen Moyang's gaze swept over the busy maidservants, and his brows creased almost imperceptibly, as though the scene somewhat surprised him. Turning toward Lu Zhao, he whispered, "I didn't expect mortal maidservants to be serving tea on an occasion like this."

Lu Zhao had been quietly observing the hall's layout and the distribution of people. At Chen Moyang's words, his gaze also passed over the maidservants. He lifted the spiritual tea a maidservant beside him had just served. The tea was emerald green, wreathed in spiritual energy, and its quality was actually not much worse than what he had drunk at the Hundred Refinements Pavilion.

He took a sip, feeling the gentle spiritual energy dissolve before speaking calmly:

"You've spent so long in Zhou Household Market District, Fellow Daoist Chen, that you're probably used to cultivators gathering in droves and mortals being scarce. These smaller Market Districts are different." He set down his teacup, his voice quiet but reaching Chen Moyang's ears clearly.

"A place the size of Greenrock Market may not compare with Zhou Household Market, but it still counts as one of the larger gathering places for cultivators nearby. Countless mortal villages and towns around it depend on it.

"The Market District itself also needs large numbers of mortals to keep it running. The relatives and servants of many cultivators live on its outskirts too." Lu Zhao paused as some distant scenes suddenly flashed through his mind.

"I once stayed briefly at a small border Market District called Blackstone Gathering." His tone took on an almost imperceptibly distant quality. "It was far smaller than Greenrock Market District, with only one main street and a few dozen shops altogether, but of the bustling crowds on the street, more than half were mortals.

"These small Market Districts have always been places where cultivators and mortals live together. Now that the Market District has changed hands, these people... they merely depend on it for survival. Their fates have long since ceased to be in their own hands. Serving tea and water here may already be the safest work they can find right now."

At this, Chen Moyang fell silent for a moment, then nodded. "You see the whole picture in the smallest details, Fellow Daoist Lu. My thinking was rather simplistic."

He paid no further attention to the maidservants and looked deeper into the hall. "Come on, let's see what gains we can make tonight.

"I heard a few people have a batch of refined cold iron they've just dismantled, and someone else is clearing out a batch of spiritual wood materials at very low prices."

Before long, the two parted ways and began browsing the hall separately.

Lu Zhao walked along, stopping now and then, sometimes lingering before a stall, sometimes asking a cultivator about prices.

Half an hour later, Lu Zhao traded two Cold-Ice Puppets for five hundred jin of ironwood.

It was indeed a good haul. Puppet prices had risen considerably, while material prices had fallen a great deal.

At the old prices, two puppets would have fetched no more than two hundred and fifty jin of ironwood.

Walking through this lively trade gathering felt rather like being back in Zhou Household Market, with everyone arguing until their faces and ears turned red over a few spirit stones.

"Oh?"

Lu Zhao's gaze swept over a stall where several yellow crystalline objects lay.

A sign beside them read: earth spirit crystal, first-tier middle-grade spiritual material. The three crystals were priced at fifteen, twenty, and eighteen spirit stones respectively.

"Fellow Daoist, could you make it cheaper if I take all three? How about forty-five spirit stones?"

"You're driving far too hard a bargain, fellow Daoist. At least fifty-two spirit stones..."

After half a quarter-hour of bargaining, Lu Zhao finally bought the three crystals for fifty spirit stones.

Even after paying in Spirit Stones, Lu Zhao kept shaking his head, saying he had lost out, lost out.

Once Lu Zhao left the stall, the corners of his mouth curved upward as he recalled the Puppet Pearl's prompt just now: "First-tier superior-grade spiritual material: earth vein crystal."