Translator: 549690339 |
The four of them all bought books to their liking, with Man Gu buying a copy of Great Xia’s Unofficial History” due to his interest in history.
Many of the stories recorded in the book, even Meng Jingzhou, who knew the inside story, found quite wild.
No matter what, all four were satisfied.
As they continued walking, the four noticed fewer and fewer ordinary people around them with more and more cultivators appearing, as if some mysterious force was separating ordinary people from cultivators.
Lan Ting sent a voice transmission to the other three: “There is a type of array method established around here that instinctively drives ordinary people away while cultivators remain unaffected.”
Meng Jingzhou suddenly understood, remembering the news he obtained during casual strolls: “It’s a market that opens once a month. This should be due to the arrival of the Spring Festival, so it opened early.”
The Spring Festival attracted not just ordinary people, but also cultivators.
This was a proper market, not the kind of black market where murder and robbery often occur. They could even see constables patrolling there.
That being said, many in the market chose to hide their identities through means such as wearing masks and black robes.
This was very common, as some cultivators concealed themselves among ordinary people. If they revealed their true identities here, wouldn’t they be exposing themselves?
Like Lu Yang and his companions.
The four used different methods to hide their identities: Meng Jingzhou and Man Gu chose to wear black robes, believing that it created the right atmosphere, Meng Jingzhou even laughed a few times.
Lan Ting removed the Transforming Talisman, revealing her incredibly beautiful face; she had used her real face when she was searching for clues about the demonic sect in Yanjiang County.
Lu Yang discussed with Meng Jingzhou: “Why don’t I perform an Imitation Fist transformation and turn myself to look like you?”
The response he got was Meng Jingzhou slapping a tofu mask on Lu Yang’s face.
Lu Yang wore the tofu mask.
The inside of the market had a strong aura of cultivation. A massive protective barrier enveloped the entire market, emanating a soft light that contrasted against the atmosphere outside. There were cultivators who hadn’t been seen for a long time casually drinking in roadside bars, discussing recent events; cultivators and traders argued over the prices of goods, trying to earn a few spirit stones from each other; the government office set up a competition stage where cultivators wanting to compete could freely fight.
“Take a look, come and see! Our ancestral secret pill refining method produces the Pill of Great Power. Swallow one and your strength will be unparalleled!” Lu Yang found it interesting. He followed the voice and discovered that it was coming from a medical institution.
It seemed that this medical institution was run by cultivators. The person hawking was either an apprentice or a Pill Master.
“How many spirit stones for one pill?”
The Pill Master’s apprentice said, “Ten spirit stones for one pill, buy three get one free, buy five get two free.”
I he price was not high, suggesting that the elixir was intended for users with a cultivation level equivalent to the Qi Refinement stage, not the Foundation Establishment stage like Lu Yang.
Lu Yang wanted to buy a couple as a souvenir since this was the first time he’d seen someone outside the Seek Dao Sect refining pills. “What’s the effect?”
“It can temporarily enhance your strength, but you will enter a state of weakness for half a day after the effect wears off.”
Lu Yang purchased a pill and was about to leave when he saw a constable enter. Lu Yang remembered him; his surname was Sun, and he was a lackey of Guard Captain Wei.
“I received a report here claiming that your Pill of Great Power involves false advertising.”
The Pill Master’s apprentice was taken aback. False advertising?
Constable Sun explained seriously, “According to the law, when advertising a product, you can’t use words like ‘greatest’ and ‘unlimited’.”
“After our investigation, we found that your Pill of Great Power is suitable for cultivators below the third level of Qi Refinement, and it doesn’t have an unparalleled strength’ effect. We hope you can correct this after this warning.” The Pill Master’s apprentice nodded obediently. After Lu Yang left, he heard a voice coming from the medical institution:
“Take a look, come and see! Our ancestral secret pill refining method produces the Pill of Great Power. Swallow one and your strength will be… limited!”
Lu Yang suddenly realised that even the most common problem of false advertising in the pill-making business didn’t exist with his Senior Brother Wu Ming’s Ten Bulls Strength Pill.
Having seen many things before, Meng Jingzhou, who even had a fairly reputable Pill Master at home, didn’t have much interest in common items.
“What is this?”
Meng Jingzhou picked up a small object from the stall – two wooden sticks glued together – “Is this for making pancake fruit? They sell these in the market too?”
The stall owner was a middle-aged man with a full, shaggy beard, his face serious as he sat there at ease, only begrudgingly opening his eyes when Meng Jingzhou started to speak. At first glance, he had the demeanor of a master craftsman.
“This object is called the Flying Stick. Place it on top of your head, stimulate it with spiritual essence and it can immediately ascend to the sky. It can be activated by those at the seventh level of Qi Refinement.”
Meng Jingzhou was surprised, even such a small market truly hid dragons and crouching tigers, possessing such a master of refining.
Without special means, cultivators at the Golden Core Stage are the only ones who can fly in the air. If there are special means, one can fly using a sword from the Foundation Establishment Stage, or Lu Yang can also fly by transforming into a crane using the Imitation Fist.
In either ordinary or special cases, the minimum requirement for cultivation is the Foundation Establishment Stage.
Meng Jingzhou had never heard of anyone being able to fly at the seventh level of Qi Refinement.
Cultivators at the seventh level of Qi Refinement had sparse spiritual essence, making it difficult to drive flying magic artifacts.
“I see you don’t believe it, no worries, let me show you.” The middle-aged man with the shaggy beard confidently took out a wooden puppet.
He tied the Flying Stick to the wooden puppet, a flux of spiritual essence appearing from his fingertip and flying towards the Flying Stick.
The Flying Stick began rotating slowly, like waking up from a deep slumber, then gradually picked up speed until it was spinning so fast only the afterimage could be seen.
With the Flying Stick, the wooden puppet ascended together into the sky, apparently without any issues.
If one had to identify a problem, it would be that when the Flying Stick was rotating, it caused the wooden puppet to rotate as well, the puppet rotating at high speed, centred on its head, in synchronization with the Flying Stick’s frequency!
If it was a person underneath the Flying Stick, their brains would be completely mixed up from the spinning.
“You see, I told you our puppet quality is good. It doesn’t fall apart even after spinning that fast. I’m not bragging, this puppet can even fight against someone at the Foundation Establishment Stage, and the price is fair – fixed at 800!”
“Get out of here!” Meng Jingzhou finally understood. The other party was actually using the name of the Flying Stick as a cover to sell puppets!
Apparently, the market was full of trickery and deceit. Sincere individuals like
Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou were becoming rather rare.
Lu Yang and his companions decided to have a look at the area belonging to the Land Money Trade Association. The place was more regularized and didn’t have the issues they had encountered earlier.
“Sirs, would you like to have your fortunes told?”
A voice sounded beside the four. Lu Yang turned to look and saw a fortune-teller with a bagua (Eight Diagrams) flag behind him saying “It’s better to predict people than to predict heaven and earth”. It appeared that he had scarce business as there was no one else around.
Seeing that Lu Yang and his companions had noticed him, the fortune-teller added: “No divination, no charge, want to give it a try?”
Lu Yang noticed that on his table were a bagua plate, dice, the four treasures of the study, nine copper coins, a crystal ball…
All things possibly used in divination were laid out.
Is it reliable?
And why is there a crystal ball?