Chapter 27: Guiyun Workshop

Two days later, outside a square-shaped town built of blue bricks, Song Qingming and his group were standing in line, attempting to enter the city.

Guiyun Workshop was truly worthy of being the largest market in the Northern Border region; even the Qi Refinement cultivators guarding the city gates possessed late-stage Qi Refinement cultivation, and a giant third-grade mechanical beast assisted in their defense. Such combat strength meant that even the Foundation Establishment cultivators in the group would not dare to cause trouble recklessly.

Everyone queued up obediently, passing through identity checks by the guarding cultivators one by one before they could enter the market. When it was Song Qingming's turn, the inspecting cultivator scanned him a few times; seeing that he was not one of the fierce bandits on the market's bounty list, the man collected one spirit stone and let him pass.

Unlike other markets that allowed free entry and exit, Guiyun Workshop was exclusive. Only merchants permanently stationed in the market or cultivators who had rented cave dwellings on Guiyun Mountain and possessed a market-issued pass could enter and exit for free. Everyone else had to pay one spirit stone to enter. This single rule alone allowed the Xiaoyao Sect to easily collect hundreds of spirit stones every day.

"Fellow Daoist Song, you have impressive skills. I wonder if you would be interested in settling down in Guiyun Workshop? Next time, we could go demon hunting together."

During the battle two days ago, Shi Chun had noticed that although Song Qingming's cultivation was not high, his combat ability was quite strong and his magical tools were of excellent quality, which sparked a desire to recruit him.

Song Qingming had long since read his intentions along the way. After pretending to ponder for a moment, he responded, "I thank Fellow Daoist Shi for your kind offer. However, my cave dwelling is in Qinghe County, and I rarely come to the Fuyun Mountains for demon hunting. My visit to Guiyun Workshop this time is merely to purchase some cultivation resources along the way, and I will be leaving soon. If fate allows me to make a living here in Guiyun Workshop in the future, I hope Brother Shi will not look down on me then."

Seeing that Song Qingming did not accept, Shi Chun was not surprised, as he had expected. Since Song Qingming's cave dwelling was not in Guiyun Workshop, he simply nodded, provided Song Qingming with their location, and bid farewell to him before leading the group away.

This was Song Qingming's first time visiting a large-scale market like Guiyun Workshop. This market appeared more than ten times larger than the Qinghe Workshop he had visited before. A small market like Qinghe Workshop was roughly the size of the Song family's Mujiao Town, consisting of only a few dozen shops along a single street.

In contrast, a single street within Guiyun Workshop was larger than the entire Qinghe Workshop. Looking at the street before him, which was more than twice as wide as Qinghe Workshop, Song Qingming couldn't help but feel a sense of wonder.

Built upon a third-grade spiritual vein at the foot of Guiyun Mountain, Guiyun Workshop was the largest market in northern Wei Country. On Guiyun Mountain, the spiritual vein behind the market, over a thousand cultivation cave dwellings had been carved out. At the mountain peak, a Core Formation elder from the Xiaoyao Sect stood guard year-round. Combined with the third-grade mountain-protecting array that shrouded the entire spiritual mountain and the market, even if two or three ordinary Core Formation cultivators attacked, it would be difficult to break the array in a short period.

This was also one of the few large gathering places for rogue cultivators within the borders of Wei Country. After all, here, one could rent a spiritual-energy-rich cave dwelling for a year for just a dozen or so spirit stones. Once settled in a rented dwelling, one could cultivate in peace without worrying about anyone daring to disturb them; since they had paid spirit stones, Guiyun Workshop would certainly ensure the tranquility of these rented dwellings.

The market strictly prohibited cultivators from fighting or causing trouble. An enforcement team led by Foundation Establishment cultivators patrolled the entire spiritual mountain market day and night in shifts. Since the market's establishment over a thousand years ago, few cultivators had dared to cause trouble here. Even if you had an enemy hiding in this market, if you wanted revenge, you could only wait for them to step out of the market on their own.

After entering the market and feeling the concentration of spiritual energy from this genuine third-grade spiritual vein, Song Qingming finally realized the gap between Qinghe County and this place. A fleeting thought of wanting to stay here long-term to cultivate even crossed his mind.

However, he quickly shook his head and regained his senses. He did not have much time to linger here; he had been separated from his clansmen for over half a month. After handling his belongings, he needed to return to Mount Funiu as soon as possible to prevent the clan elders from worrying about him constantly.

Possessing a treasure like the Water Spirit Fruit, Song Qingming did not dare to stay too long in such a crowded and suspicious market. After wandering the streets for over half an hour, he finally found a small shop that seemed suitable, named the Spirit Treasure Pavilion.

Before entering, Song Qingming first took a bamboo hat he had prepared long ago from his storage bag and put it on. After seeing that most of his face was obscured, he walked into the shop with satisfaction.

The reason he chose this shop was primarily that, compared to other shops in the market, most of the people entering and exiting were at the early or middle stages of Qi Refinement. It seemed this shop dealt mainly in low-grade, first-tier spiritual items, and high-level cultivators were unlikely to visit. This gave Song Qingming great peace of mind.

Compared to Qi Refinement cultivators, Foundation Establishment cultivators possessed profound cultivation and great supernatural powers, and their divine sense was several times stronger, allowing them to easily project it to probe those around them. This was something that had always caused Song Qingming some concern.

As soon as he entered the shop, an elderly man in white stepped forward quickly, greeting him with a smooth, oily smile: "What treasures is this fellow Daoist looking for? Our shop carries everything—pills, talismans, tools, and formations."

This elderly man in white was actually a late-stage Qi Refinement cultivator. For a late-stage Qi Refinement cultivator to be so polite to a cultivator of lower cultivation like himself was quite unexpected.

Song Qingming had never seen such a scene in Qinghe Workshop. In the shops of Qinghe Workshop, those performing such tasks were mortals, and it was extremely rare for a cultivator to come out and attend to an ordinary guest like him.

Song Qingming kept his head low, trying his best not to let the other man see his face clearly, and said softly, "I have a few magical tools I need to sell urgently. I wonder if your shop accepts them."

The elderly man in white was slightly stunned by this, but immediately replied, "I would need your excellency to follow me to the back hall to inspect the quality of the items first. As long as the quality is acceptable, we will naturally accept them. Our shop not only buys back magical tools, but also pills, talismans, and other spiritual items. However, the price will naturally be lower than that of brand-new tools. But rest assured, Fellow Daoist, our shop's reputation is always fair, and we do not pursue the origin of items."

Song Qingming nodded upon hearing this. In a market, the price for buying back used, unidentifiable magical tools would naturally be about ten to twenty percent lower. Seeing that the man did not seem to want to reveal his origins, the elder quickly expressed that selling here was absolutely safe.

He then followed the elder to a secluded small room in the shop. After the two sat down, two mortal servants immediately stepped forward to serve two cups of spiritual tea. Song Qingming ignored the fragrant spiritual tea and got straight to the point, taking out Liu Tianlong's magical tools from his storage bag and placing them on the table in front of the elderly man.

The elderly man in white took a sip of tea, picked up the magical tools, tested them one by one, and nodded with satisfaction.

"One high-grade flying sword for eighty spirit stones, and two mid-grade magical tools for forty-five spirit stones together. For these three items, the total is one hundred and twenty-five spirit stones. This is the highest price our shop can offer. If you agree, I will have someone prepare the spirit stones immediately."

The elder called out the price and narrowed his eyes, looking at Song Qingming. Song Qingming knew the price was indeed not high, but it was acceptable, so he said nothing more and nodded.

"Fine. I also have a few bottles of pills. Take a look; if you accept them, I'll sell them to you all at once."

Seeing Song Qingming take out several jade bottles, the elderly man in white picked them up, opened them to smell the contents, and then put them back down. After offering a few polite words and asking Song Qingming to wait a moment, the elder went out and called a middle-aged cultivator inside.

The middle-aged cultivator appeared to be an alchemist in the shop. After examining the bottles of pills for a moment, he spoke: "Fellow Daoist, this bottle of Jade Dew Pills is a high-grade pill that can enhance magical power. Our shop will buy one bottle for fifty spirit stones. These other bottles are ordinary Spirit Beast Pills, which can only be used to raise immature spirit beasts; our shop will not accept these."

After hearing the origin of these pills, Song Qingming had already calculated his options. He could not sell the Jade Dew Pills, which could enhance magical power, at a discount like the magical tools. Since the other useless pills were not accepted, he could only let it go.

"Since you don't want all of them, forget the pills for now. Just give me the spirit stones for the magical tools."

Upon hearing Song Qingming's reply, the middle-aged cultivator left dejectedly. The elderly man in white, however, refused to give up and continued to negotiate the price with Song Qingming. Seeing that Song Qingming truly refused to sell the Jade Dew Pills, he began to promote other items in the shop.

"Fellow Daoist, I came here specifically to sell magical tools in exchange for other cultivation resources. I have no need to purchase magical tools for the time being; otherwise, why would I be selling these?"

"Fellow Daoist, the magical tools in our shop are not comparable to ordinary small shops..."

Fifteen minutes later, under the "patient" promotion of the elderly man in white, Song Qingming still went against his better judgment and purchased a bottle of pills. He then picked up the remaining spirit stones from the sale of the magical tools and walked out of the Spirit Treasure Pavilion.

(End of Chapter)