Chapter 245: Black Wind City
Translator: KurazyTolanzuraytor Editor: Lucas
Xiong Quan pondered for a moment, then he said to Duan Ling Tian, "Around half a year."
Duan Ling Tian nodded. He was already mentally prepared for this answer.
It would take three months to arrive at the Azure Forest Imperial Kingdom’s domain from the Crimson Sky Kingdom’s Imperial City, and going from the Azure Forest Imperial Kingdom’s border to the Seven Star Sword Sect was still quite a long distance.
Duan Ling Tian’s group of three had the protection of Xiong Quan, this second level Void Prying Stage powerhouse that had comprehended Advanced Sword Force, so they didn’t encounter any trouble during the journey from Crimson Sky Kingdom to the Azure Forest Imperial Kingdom.
Occasionally, when bandits dashed over, they would be completely slaughtered by Xiong Quan.
Similar to Duan Ling Tian’s expectations, after three months, they arrived at a city that was situated between the Crimson Sky Kingdom and the Azure Forest Imperial Kingdom.
Even though this city wasn’t a county city of the Crimson Sky Kingdom, the area it occupied wasn’t smaller than a county city.
"Xiong Quan, have you been to this city before?" Duan Ling Tian asked.
Xiong Quan shook his head.
"Let’s go inside." Duan Ling Tian’s brows rose, then he directly entered the city with the two little girls who wore veils to cover their faces.
This city was extremely bustling, and many travelling merchants could be seen going in and out of it….
According to Duan Ling Tian’s guess, these travelling merchants ought to be going back and forth between the Crimson Sky Kingdom and the Azure Forest Imperial Kingdom.
After entering the city, people riding Ferghana Horses could be seen everywhere, thus Duan Ling Tian’s group of four riding Ferghana Horses into the city didn’t draw the attention of other people.
Under Duan Ling Tian’s lead, the four of them found a restaurant to have a meal.
Before ordering the dishes, Duan Ling Tian gave the restaurant attendant a small tip and asked curiously, "Introduce this city to me?"
The attendant would naturally speak of all he knew without reserve when he saw Duan Ling Tian be so generous, and he lightly smiled. "Customer, is this the first time you’ve come to our Black Wind City?"
"Black Wind City?" Duan Ling Tian’s brows raised, and he continued to listen to the attendant.
"Customer, our Black Wind City is a border merchant city under the Azure Forest Imperial Kingdom. It is situated on the northeast border of the Crimson Sky Kingdom….Normally, some of the travelling merchants that go back and forth between the Azure Forest Imperial Kingdom and the Crimson Sky Kingdom rest in our Black Wind City," the attendant slowly said.
Duan Ling Tian nodded. This was something he’d noticed on the way here earlier.
The attendant continued, "Customer, since it’s your first time in our Black Wind City, you must remember….Never offend people with the surnames Huang, Zhong, or Ma." As he spoke up to this point, the attendant’s face was slightly serious.
"What’s special about these three surnames?" Duan Ling Tian asked curiously.
The attendant shook his head. "There isn’t anything special. These surnames are precisely the surnames of the three great clans in our Black Wind City….Customer, you ought to be from the Crimson Sky Kingdom, right?"
"How do you know?" Duan Ling Tian was slightly surprised.
The attendant smiled as he said, "Because people who are heading to the Crimson Sky Kingdom from the Azure Forest Imperial Kingdom mostly follow travelling merchants on their journey, and there’re hardly any individual travelers. So I guessed customer was from the Crimson Sky Kingdom….Customer intends to head to the Azure Forest Imperial Kingdom?"
"Exactly." Duan Ling Tian nodded.
"Customer, be sure to remember what I said earlier….Even though Black Wind City’s three great clans are nothing in the Azure Forest Imperial Kingdom, they’re much stronger than many clans from your Crimson Sky Kingdom. Even to the extent that they’re only inferior to the three top clans of the Crimson Sky Kingdom’s Imperial City!" The attendant reminded again.
"I understand." Duan Ling Tian nodded, and the corners of his mouth curled into a smile.
He naturally knew that the three top clans of the Crimson Sky Kingdom that the attendant spoke of were precisely the Duan Clan, the Xiao Clan, and the Su Clan.
Not to mention an existence that was inferior to the three great clans, with Xiong Quan here, Duan Ling Tian wasn’t even afraid of the three great clans themselves.
"Customer, what’re all of you eating?" the attendant asked respectfully.
"Help us choose a few, we don’t avoid any foods," Duan Ling Tian said to the attendant.
Duan Ling Tian looked at the two little girls beside him and lightly smiled as he said, "It’s time to eat, take off your veils."
The two little girls blinked their beautiful eyes, then they obediently removed the veils on their faces….
And right at this moment, sounds of cups dropping echoed out within the restaurant.
It was some of the male customers being completely dumbstruck when they saw Ke Er and Li Fei, and they even weren’t aware that the cups in their hands had fallen.
In next to no time, their food had arrived.
"Xiong Quan, sit down and eat," Duan Ling Tian said to Xiong Quan, and Xiong Quan replied before sitting down.
The four of them had been hungry for a day, thus they were like whirlwinds that swept away the clouds, sweeping away the food on the table. Meanwhile, the sky slowly dimmed, but the restaurant was still brightly lit by lanterns.
"I heard that the auction in the Ma Clan Auction House tonight will have a batch of slaves on auction."
"I’ve heard of it as well. Not only are there slaves, but allegedly the Ma Clan Auction House has many good things this time."
"Hurry up and finish eating, let’s go have a look."
...
Right at this moment, the discussion of a few middle-aged men from a nearby table entered Duan Ling Tian’s ears.
Ma Clan Auction House?
Auction?
Duan Ling Tian was suddenly interested.
This Black Wind City was a city that was situated at the border between the Crimson Sky Kingdom and the Azure Forest Imperial Kingdom, so there were extremely large amounts of travelling merchants that had passed here. Thus, there would surely have been many travelling merchants that had sold off some good things here.
Perhaps some things that he’d be interested in would appear during the auction.
After eating their fill, Duan Ling Tian waved his hand at the attendant.
"Customer, do you have any instructions?" the attendant asked Duan Ling Tian respectfully.
"I want to ask you this: if I want to participate in the Ma Clan Auction House’s auction, what should I do?" Duan Ling Tian went straight to the point, and at the same time, he put down a silver ingot.
The attendant’s eyes lit up, and after putting away the silver, he hurriedly said, "Customer, there are three great auction houses within our Black Wind City, and they’re respectively controlled by the three great clans….Every auction house holds an auction every three months. The two months in between are left for the other two auction houses to hold their auctions. In other words, there’s an action in Black Wind City every month.
"Tonight just happens to be the day the Ma Clan Auction House holds an auction, and customer can be considered to have come at the right time.
"After exiting our restaurant door, take a left turn and walk to the end of the street, then turn right and you can see the Ma Clan Auction House….
"There’re two grades of entrance fees to the Ma Clan Auction House. The first, spend 1,000 silver to obtain the right to bid and to sit on a seat in the hall….The second, spend 100,000 silver to obtain the right to bid, and the Ma Clan will provide a private room and the most comprehensive service." As he spoke up to this point, the attendant couldn’t help but be amazed.
To him, Black Wind City’s auction house was something he wouldn’t have the opportunity to enter in his entire lifetime.
Just a normal seat requires 1,000 silver?
Duan Ling Tian’s eyes squinted and were slightly surprised.
And that private room actually required 100,000 silver….
After leaving the Crimson Sky Kingdom, the worth of silver has lowered too sharply, right?
Duan Ling Tian nodded, then he brought along the two girls that had put on their veils and walked out of the restaurant.
Xiong Quan led the four Ferghana Horses and followed behind them.
Duan Ling Tian’s group of four directly went to the Ma Clan Auction House.
Meanwhile, the Ma Clan Auction House had already started allowing guests to enter; however, there weren’t many people were entering, as there was still a period of time before the auction started.
At the auction house door, a row of attendants stood there like bell boys.
Duan Ling Tian’s group of four had only just arrived at the auction house’s door when an attendant came forward and greeted them, then they received the reins of the four Ferghana Horses from Xiong Quan.
Another attendant walked up and asked respectfully, "Guest, may I know if you need seats in the hall, or a private room?"
"A private room," Duan Ling Tian said to the attendant.
"Guest, please follow me." The attendant’s attitude became even more humble when he heard what Duan Ling Tian said. He led Duan Ling Tian’s group to enter the auction house, then he brought them to the private rooms on the second floor of the auction house.
The clean and tidy room gave one a comfortable feeling.
The room was extremely vast and was more than sufficient to fit Duan Ling Tian’s group of four.
Duan Ling Tian walked around the room, and through the window in the room, he was able to see the auction platform below, which was extremely convenient.
After the attendant entered, he started pouring hot tea for Duan Ling Tian and the two little girls, then he prepared some refreshments before respectfully standing at the side.
After a short moment, the sound of the door being knocked on echoed out. The attendant walked out in large strides to open the room door, then he respectfully greeted the person outside. "Manager."
A middle-aged man with a face full of stubble slowly walked in, then he looked at Duan Ling Tian. "Guest, nice to meet you. I’m the Ma Clan Auction House’s Manager, Ma Qin." Duan Ling Tian naturally was able to guess the reason why the manager of the auction house had come.
With a raise of his hand, 100,000 silver appeared out of thin air, and he passed it to Ma Qin.
When Ma Qin received the silver, his gaze abruptly shone!
The first thought that flashed within his mind was that this young man that looked to be not even 20 wasn’t simple!
Having a Spatial Ring at such a young age, his background was obviously extraordinary.
"Thank you, guest." After Ma Qin put away the silver, he deeply glanced at Xiong Quan, who was behind Duan Ling Tian, then turned around and left.
"Guests, if you have any needs, feel free to instruct me, I’ll be guarding outside the door," the attendant said respectfully, then he walked out and closed the door.
Meanwhile, Ke Er and Li Fei removed their veils.
"We need to spend 100,000 silver just to stay in this lousy place for a few hours?" Li Fei shook her head. She felt it difficult to accept this fact.
Although Ke Er didn’t say anything, her face was still filled with astonishment.
Duan Ling Tian lightly smiled. This was something he could understand.
After all, this place couldn’t be compared to those cities within the Crimson Sky Kingdom.
Up to a certain extent, this place could be considered a city of the Azure Forest Imperial Kingdom; moreover, this Black Wind City was a place that travelling merchants must traverse. Thus, the standard of expenses here would probably not be much different from those cities within the Azure Forest Imperial Kingdom.
This was something Duan Ling Tian had already noticed when he paid the bill at the restaurant.
"It’s still not starting?" After half an hour, Li Fei’s beautiful brows frowned and she was slightly impatient.