Chapter 41: Chapter 41 Southstream Market 1
Translator: 549690339 —
Southstream Market.
As a larger cultivator exchange among the nineteen countries of the Eastern Wilderness, Yun Country’s southern part, the amount of traffic here is always substantial.
So when Chen Mobai stepped in, he didn’t provoke any attention. Only two Qi Cultivation disciples on the first tier came forward to greet him. An exchange of glances saw one of them withdraw, conceding the business to his companion who was wearing a hemp garment.
“Esteemed senior, do you need a guide? I am familiar with all the stores and even today’s stalls’ merchandise.”
Chen Mobai looked at this individual who was about his age, with confusion in his heart.
[Why is his cultivation level so low?]
If he were in a cultivation sect, someone his age stuck at first tier Qi Cultivation would have been expelled from high school by now. Moreover, the concentration of spiritual energy in this market wasn’t low; it had reached the intermediate grade of rank 1.
But he certainly wouldn’t dare to ask such a question and instead awkwardly asked another one.
“Do you charge a fee?”
“Ten gold pieces per day is enough.”
Hearing this, Chen Mobai remembered the dozen or so gold pieces he received from the old man’s package and understood that this was the currency unit for cultivators. However, he didn’t know how much gold could be exchanged for a single spirit stone.
He wanted to ask more questions, but he feared exposure by asking such common knowledge questions. Therefore he could only decline the offer with a shake of his head.
“Senior, please reconsider. I also know some leasing channels in this market.” Seeing Chen Mobai’s refusal, the hemp-garbed youngster felt an urgency, leading him to blurt out a phrase that made Chen Mobai embarrassed.
Was it so lawless here?
Can such a phrase even be uttered under broad daylight?
But, being short of money, he could only refuse once again and quickly disappeared into the crowd.
The youngster dressed in hemp watched his retreating figure disappear with a look of disappointment on his face.
“Brother Liu, the man appears unfamiliar, but seems to be at the later stage of Qi Cultivation, moreover, considering his dense threaded clothing which still manages to be impeccably tidy, I fear he is not a minor character.” The Qi Cultivating youth who had withdrawn earlier walked over. He had been silently observing Chen Mobai all along. Recognizing Chen Mobai’s ancient style suit, which had been carefully tailored by machine, he concluded that only a major cultivation family would pay such close attention to attire and appearance.
“He didn’t have the innate disdain that cultivation families have towards us loose cultivators. It’s likely he’s a disciple from one of the seven major sects.” The Liu family youngster dressed in hemp shook his head based on the short exchange he had with Chen Mobai earlier and his dealings with cultivation families. He arrived at a conclusion he deemed accurate.
“If he’s from one of the seven major sects, why would he come to our Yun Country? Do they scorn us for the tributes we provide each year and sent someone to inspect us?”
“Let’s pretend we don’t know anything. Even if the sky were to fall, we loose cultivators only need to escape. Worse comes to worst, we can just hide in the secular world.”
After listening to these words, the young man nodded.
The situation in the Eastern Wasteland had always been chaotic. Killings, looting, and seizing opportunities were the norms.
Even the major sects would have friction every few decades, leading to a fierce battle. The loose cultivators had long grown used to this.
It’s a shame that newcomers like them, who barely stepped into the world of cultivation in hope of immortality, have instead entered a more struggling world where they can’t even afford a complete Qi Cultivation Technique.
Chen Mobai naturally didn’t know that he was mistaken as a disciple of an Eastern Wasteland Major Sect because of his mass-produced ancient-style suit.
He learned about Southstream Market from the accounts of Azure Waves Lake. Liu Yanpei, a cultivator from the Five Elements Sect, has been doing business here for twenty years, naturally, he’s dealt with the local cultivators. He noted these matters down for the successor who would take over when he returned to the Sect for his Foundation Establishment.
However, something happened fifty years ago which caused him to leave Azure Waves Lake and never return.
After scanning all the books in the side hall, Chen Mobai found a record book on local factions and specialties. As soon as he set eyes on it, he planned to go out and check it out. However, it was only today that he made up his mind and decided to find this place according to the map.
He was afraid that the situation might have changed after fifty years Who would have thought that this market, jointly established by local cultivation families and small sects, was still around and thriving?
He walked onto the main route of the Market. Apart from pharmacies and magic instrument shops selling cultivation goods, there were many eateries, lodgings and even a formation shop selling Array Flags and Array Plates.
Though he was curious enough to venture in, each of these stores had a scarce number of customers. In order not to draw attention to himself and because he lacked the funds, he decided to first go to the stall area to understand the market conditions.
In addition to over twenty shops on this street occupying prime locations, there were stalls in every corner of the Market, selling all kinds of strange things.
Despite having no gold or spirit stones, Chen Mobai still enthusiastically walked around the market to understand the cost of items in this world.
Turns out, lower-tier Qi Cultivators generally trade in gold, with spirit stones being incredibly valuable for them.
The conversion rate between gold and spirit stones was conventionally ten thousand pieces of gold for one spirit stone.
However, when actually exchanging, spirit stones would definitely be more precious and would come with a premium.
The transactions at the stalls were mostly in gold, with only very few items useful for cultivators of the fourth layer or above being traded in spirit stones.
Chen Mobai noticed a stall selling books. A complete Qi Cultivation Technique was actually divided into upper, middle, and lower parts for selling. He originally found this quite bizarre, until he saw another stall selling the same Qi Cultivation Technique divided into nine parts for the nine levels of Qi Cultivation. One copy costs one spirit stone. Business seemed good, as it appeared most loose cultivators could only afford one copy.
Chen Mobai was tempted. He could easily get hundreds of this Qi Cultivation Technique online, however, he didn’t dare to resell them. After all, every download came with a pledge from him. If he passed it on for someone else to cultivate, then the Heart Demon might emerge, which wouldn’t bode well.
However, he did have a technique that wasn’t downloaded from the cultivation world.
“Blackwater Cultivation”!
After strolling around the stalls, he realized this technique was also being sold and the price tag wasn’t cheap either.
It was priced at eight spirit stones.
Moreover, this was just the price for the cultivation technique. If you wanted supplementary spells, you would need to add more spirit stones.
“Water Controlling Technique” for two spirit stones, “Water Elemental Shield” for three spirit stones, and the “Cold Ice Technique” was not even for sale He asked and found out that the stall owner’s copy was not a complete version and could only be cultivated up to the seventh level of Qi Cultivation.
Chen Mobai took a deep breath to cool himself down.
He recalled the spoils he’d originally received, it seemed there were a few bottles of elixirs.
He could neither identify nor dared to consume them, but if he brought them to the stall for selling, there might be some ‘connoisseurs’ interested in them.
Where did he place those few elixirs?
It seemed like they were at the bottom of his bedside cabinet. He would bring them over when he returned home.
Chen Mobai went around the magic instrument stalls once again. Without needing to ask the price, after standing for a while, he heard many cultivators haggling with the stall owner. He silently noted down the prices in his heart and compared them to the needle box he had.
An item of similar grade actually has a value of thirty spirit stones..