Early the next morning, the disciples of the Martial Might Sect came to bring our breakfast.
With the dishes that they brought, it could be seen that we were their honoured guest.
The dishes that they brought were comparable to the ones that Lin Fan had seen being served in the palace before. These were dishes that could only be made with the finest ingredients and by the chefs with the best skills.
But where would the Martial Might Sect get something like that?
This was something that was only available to those that were at the peak of the secular world.
This was something that was only available to the ones that reigned atop the jade throne of the mortal empires.
This showed that the Martial Might Sect was already in the grasp of the Wu Empire…or rather the ones that were behind the Wu Empire. It seemed that the Five Great Sect’s already controlled most things that happened in the Martial Might Sect just based on this.
This very much set the feeling that they were deep in enemy territory now.
But that didn’t mean that they couldn’t enjoy the food that had been served to them.
The Martial Might Sect wouldn’t do anything like poisoning them after the large display that they had put on yesterday. There were certainly others that had seen them arriving in the Martial Might Sect on the spiritual boat, so there was no doubt that what Sect Master Duan had declared had been spread.
So if something were to happen to them while they were in the Martial Might Sect, it would be a blow to the Martial Might Sect’s prestige.
Lin Fan didn’t think that the Martial Might Sect would do something like that.
So they could eat this delicious food without holding back.
Though some of the elders had more wary outlooks than Lin Fan and held themselves back.
These were the elders from the Hidden Dragon Sect.
They had been used to living a cautious and low key life that some of their old habits were still kept.
They just didn’t eat that much in enemy territory because of this habit.
Lin Fan had been wondering what to do today when Elder Qian suddenly arrived.
Lin Fan was surprised to see Elder Qian since he had been expecting them to isolate them during this time, but he quickly found out why Elder Qian had come to see him.
“The other sects have already arrived. We were planning on hosting a meeting for the various sects to get to know each other. I am here to ask if Sect Master Lin is interested in this.”
Lin Fan was certainly surprised even if he didn’t show it on the surface.
He never thought that the Martial Might Sect would actually let them meet the other sects like this.
He had always thought that the Martial Might Sect would isolate them to make it hard for them to find any allies that would help them.
But it seemed that this wasn’t the case.
Why was that?
Lin Fan had no idea, but he didn’t dare let his guard down.
Still, there was nothing wrong with meeting with the other sects.
Not only would they be able to find future allies, they would also be able to scout out their enemies for the future.
So Lin Fan said with a nod, “Alright, let’s go meet the other sects.”
Elder Qian led them through the Martial Might Sect until they came to a large square.
But when they arrived, they couldn’t help being surprised by what they saw.
Instead of a meeting as one would expect, this place seemed like some kind of night market.
There were many different people that had set up stalls in this large square and there were people in different uniforms walking from stall to stall. The marks from some of these uniforms could be found on the stalls that were set up.
It was clear that the stalls were set up by the various sects that were here to compete in the tournament.
But how could the Martial Might Sect allow something like this?
Elder Qian quickly confirmed this by saying, “Sect Master Lin, if there’s anything you wish to buy, please feel free to wander around. The various stalls are all run by the various sects located all over our Wu Empire and the surrounding countries. There are many different specialties that are gathered here, specialties that would be hard to find normally.
So you should take advantage of this chance while you can.”
It seemed that the real goal of this night market was the exchange of resources between sects.
However, would the Martial Might Sect suffer a loss from this?
Lin Fan tested them by asking Elder Qian, “Then is it possible for us to set up a stall as well? Our Mu Empire also has a few specialties.”
Elder Qian quickly gave a nod before saying, “Of course you’re free to set up a stall as well.” Then after a pause, he said, “But I have to tell you that as the host, our Martial Might Sect will be collecting a fee for providing the area for the stall.”
Lin Fan revealed a look like he had already expected this.
The Martial Might Sect definitely wouldn’t suffer a loss in this kind of situation.
Elder Qian said with a smile, “The fee isn’t that high, it’s just 10% of your earnings.”
10% of their earnings and that wasn’t considered high?
Lin Fan was a city lord, so he had an idea of how much rent a city would charge a stall.
It was no more than 5% of the stall’s earnings on average, so 10% was definitely high. Not to mention that the customers were cultivators, so they would certainly spend more than normal people would.
After all, cultivators used spirit stones to trade things.
The Martial Might Sect really was gouging people with these fees, but what could they do?
They owned the land, so they could do what they wanted.
In the end, Lin Fan said to Senior Brother Ying, “Go and lead some of our people to open a stall.” After saying this, he tossed a Storage Ring to Senior Brother Ying and then said, “Try and sell what you can from this.”
Senior Brother Ying looked into the Storage Ring before saying with a nod and a smile, “Yes, sect master.”
The things in the Storage Ring that Lin Fan had tossed him were all things that had been taken from the dungeon.
Lin Fan was the city lord and the biggest buyer of dungeon loot in Dungeon City, so it was only natural that he would have a bunch of dungeon loot on him. However, dungeon loot was uncommon outside of Dungeon City and even the Mu Empire, so there was no doubt that these items would sell for a lot.
But the most important thing that Lin Fan was looking for was information.
Running a stall would be the best way to obtain information since there would be plenty of people going by their stall.
Each person would have information that they wanted, so it would be easy to gather while bartering for the items.
Once Senior Brother Ying led some of their group away to set up a stall in an open area, Lin Fan turned back to Elder Qian and said, “Then Elder Qian, should we walk through this gathering together?”
To Lin Fan’s surprise, Elder Qian shook his head and said, “Sect Master Lin, I must apologize. I still have some other things to take care of, so I won’t be able to walk around this gathering with you. I hope that you won’t be offended by this.”
Lin Fan shook his head and said, “Of course not, of course not. Elder Qian, if you have other matters to take care of, feel free to go and take care of them. We’ll just walk around on our own.”
Elder Qian gave a nod in response before cupping his hands to say, “Then Sect Master Lin, I won’t keep you any longer, I’ll be going now.” Then as if he remembered something, he added, “Oh, if you can, you should really take a look at the Hundred Herb Valley’s stall. I’ve heard that there are some good pills being sold there.”
Without waiting for a response, Elder Qian suddenly walked off to Lin Fan’s surprise.
After all, Lin Fan had thought that Elder Qian would remain here to watch over them.
Elder Qian didn’t even leave anyone to go with them and just let them explore on their own.
Lin Fan was certain that the Martial Might Sect was following the orders of the Five Great Guilds, so he had thought that they would watch them carefully. But now, Elder Qian had left them all alone like this which was just very confusing to him.
Was it because he had made a mistake about all of this?/
Was this just a normal invitation to a tournament?
No, that had to be impossible.
That was what Lin Fan thought as he shook these doubts out.
For now, since they were allowed to roam freely, then they would roam freely.
Lin Fan gave permission to the elders and disciples to act on their own.
When he gave these orders, there were disciples that formed groups that went off on their own.
That included Xiao Ming who was strangely being followed by Yu Huang.
Lin Fan himself also headed off by himself in a certain direction.