Market District
The Path to Immortality Begins with Puppet Mastery
Biodata
| Feature | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | Market District |
| Original Name | 坊市 |
| Other Names | Zhou Household Market; Zhou Household Market District 5 45 |
| Type | Cultivator trading settlement with residential districts 5 |
| Location | Changfeng Commandery, thirty li from the Zhou Family Spirit Mountain 2 5 |
| Affiliation | Zhou Household 5 |
| Spiritual Vein | First-tier superior-grade, sealed by a Second-Tier Spirit-Locking Formation 5 |
| First Appearance | Chapter 2 2 |
Layout and Population
The Zhou Household Market has four main districts. Most cultivators who earn their living there reside in the north; guest retainers and some late-stage Qi Refining cultivators receive accommodations elsewhere. Zhou Household members live instead on the Zhou Family Spirit Mountain, the lineage’s headquarters thirty li away 5.
| Area | Main Function | Notable Features |
|---|---|---|
| Eastern District / East Market | Demonic beast materials and street stalls | Hunters sell carcasses, fangs, claws, hides, and other materials. Hu San regularly trades here 2 14. |
| Southern District | Shop-based trade | Contains the Hundred Refinements Pavilion 2. |
| Western District / West Market | Cultivation crafts | Lu Zhao sells puppets beside Old Huang’s talisman stall 2 7. |
| Northern District | Housing | Contains Wang Yun and Chen Fang’s courtyard home, as well as back-alley black-market premises 5 14 23. |
| Central Area | Retainer administration and housing | Contains the Zhou Household Guest Elder Pavilion; Cold Bamboo Court lies near the market’s heart 13 40. |
- Entrance and streets: A bronze gate bears a Bronze Beast Head; streets are paved with bluestone 2 10.
- Approach: A thirty-foot-wide bluestone road passes boundary stones scarred by demonic beast claws 10.
- Population: Cultivators are numerous and mortals relatively scarce, unlike smaller markets where both groups live together in large numbers 45.
Spiritual Energy and Accommodation
Controlled Spiritual Vein
- The market stands over a first-tier superior-grade spiritual vein, but its Second-Tier Spirit-Locking Formation prevents general access to that energy 5.
- Only cave abodes rented out by the Zhou Household receive a supply from the sealed vein. Lu Zhao’s original courtyard lacks that access, forcing him to cultivate at the cold pool 5 15.
- Spirit Gathering rooms can be rented for cultivation and artifact refinement. Lu Zhao uses one to begin refining his Mystic Water Tortoise-Shell Shield 19.
Housing
| Accommodation | Description |
|---|---|
| Guest-retainer courtyard | Lu Zhao’s original lodging. The Zhou Household reassigns it after he accepts the Green Vine Ravine posting 15. |
| Guest Lodge | Lodging for rogue cultivators, partitioned into dozens of cramped stone rooms. Options include shared rooms and windowless singles 15 19. |
| Cold Bamboo Court | Residential area reserved for mid-ranking Guest Elders. Lu Zhao receives a first-tier low-grade cave abode here during war preparations, with substantially richer spiritual energy than his former courtyard 40. |
Shops and Services
| Establishment | Goods or Services | Significance |
|---|---|---|
| Nine Abyss Pavilion | Puppet purchases, materials, magical artifacts, talismans, and private auctions | A Zhou Household business and the market’s largest shop. It becomes Lu Zhao’s regular puppet buyer 4 9 15 18. |
| Hundred Refinements Pavilion | Magical artifacts and Dharma artifacts | Operated directly by the Zhou Household. Its selection is more comprehensive than Nine Abyss Pavilion’s 2 34. |
| Zhang Family’s Alchemy Chamber | Pills | Lu Zhao buys Detoxification Pills and a Spirit-Restoring Pill here 9. |
| Fuyang Studio | Talismans | Supplies Lu Zhao with a first-tier superior-grade Vajra Talisman 15. |
| Zhou Household Guest Elder Pavilion | Retainer administration | Checks Lu Zhao’s token and pays his Green Vine Ravine stipend of two spirit stones and one Ice Jade Pill 13. |
| Black Market | Unofficial goods, restricted materials, and information | Operates through back alleys and converted warehouses; Zhao Quezi is one of its traders 19 23. |
Trade and Auctions
- Puppet customers: Demon-beast hunters buy Lu Zhao’s Puppet Guards for scouting and early warnings, despite their lack of combat ability 2.
- Sales demonstrations: Lu Zhao attracts West Market customers by having Azure-Patterned Rat Puppets break through his own spells 7.
- Commercial competition: Several shops reject his puppets before Nine Abyss Pavilion offers a three-year exclusive purchasing contract 9.
- Private auctions: Nine Abyss Pavilion provides ordinary seating, screened private areas, and three curtained boxes. Its auction sells puppets, spiritual fruit, cultivation-method fragments, and pills 15.
Black Market
- Access to one back-alley trading area requires a small “gate tax,” which Lu Zhao pays with inferior cold iron ore 19.
- Zhao Quezi, also called Zhao Laoguai, trades materials and gathers information through contacts in both the East and West Markets 19.
- Scarce materials can be obtained outside normal channels. Lu Zhao finds azure-grain wood there after failing to locate it in the regular market 6.
- Unofficial supply comes at a premium: Zhao Laoguai charges ten percent above Nine Abyss Pavilion’s price for eight hundred jin of ironwood 23.
History
Lu Zhao’s Early Business
Lu Zhao initially uses the West Market to sell Puppet Guards and buy protective talismans. While examining goods elsewhere in the settlement, he discovers that the Puppet Pearl can identify materials, including specimens he previously knew only from written accounts 2.
His business expands from stall sales to regular transactions with Nine Abyss Pavilion. After moving to Green Vine Ravine, he returns to sell finished puppets, replenish crafting supplies, purchase medicines, and collect his retainer stipend 9 12 13 15.
Suspicious Visitors
Shopkeeper Zhou warns Lu Zhao that unfamiliar cultivators are lingering around puppet and spiritual-material stalls in the East and West Markets. Zhao Quezi subsequently discovers that two secretive visitors with Northern Plains Commandery accents are seeking craftsmen proficient in flying Beast Puppets. Their lodging remains unknown, but they are still hiding within the market 17 19.
Wartime Shortages and Mobilization
During six months of increasingly frequent visits, Lu Zhao tracks prices, attendance, and patrol strength as signs of an approaching conflict 39.
| Period Observed | Changes |
|---|---|
| First two months | Crowds remain large, trade appears normal, and spirit rice and Spirit-Recovery Pill prices stay stable 39. |
| Third month | Low-grade spirit rice, black iron, and ironwood rise by five percent. A wind-pattern stone shipment is delayed 39. |
| Fourth month | Crowds thin; Body-Protection Talismans and basic injury powders rise by fifty percent. Zhou Household patrols triple 39. |
| Fifth visit | More than thirty percent of stalls are vacant, and pedestrian numbers fall below half their earlier level 39. |
Shopkeeper Zhou eventually confirms that the Tianfang Zhao Family has attacked Zhou-affiliated families and plundered Blue Stone Market. The Zhou Household begins mobilizing; fewer than ten days later, Lu Zhao receives orders to report for service within three days or be deemed a traitor 39.
War preparations do not raise every price equally. Certain puppet-specific materials temporarily become cheaper as demand and supply channels shift, while battlefield equipment attracts stronger demand 40.
Other Market Districts
The term Market District also describes separate settlements. The following locations are not districts of the Zhou Household Market.
| Market | Location and Distinguishing Details | Documented Events |
|---|---|---|
| Blue Stone Market | Near the Heavencloud Mountain Range’s northern foothills; serves Zhou-affiliated families 39. | Plundered during the Zhao offensive. Zhou forces later find burned buildings, corpses, and a collapsed defensive formation 39 42. |
| Greenrock Market | On the edge of Zhao territory in Tianfang Commandery; protected by the first-tier superior-grade Greenrock Mystic Light Formation 43. | Falls after three days of bombardment. A subsequent private trading gathering takes place at Thousand Stars Tower 43 44 45. |
| Zhao Family Market District | The Zhao Family’s largest market, comparable in size to Zhou Household Market. Built over a first-tier superior-grade spiritual vein and protected by the second-tier Blackstone Rocklight Formation 46. | Withstands months of rotating assaults. Two thousand Qi Refining cultivators are later assembled for an all-out attack; its fall is not established in the supplied account 47 49. |
| Blackstone Gathering | Small border market with one main street and a few dozen shops 45. | Lu Zhao once stays there briefly; more than half its street crowds are mortals 45. |