Chapter 15:
Trading
MO TIANLIAO HEADED for Qingning Palace and left his master a voice transmission talisman, letting him know he was going down to the marketplace at the foot of the mountain and would be back in a few days. Then he left Woyun Sect with his cat.
Woyun Sect had strict rules for the ordinary disciples. They had to ask in advance if they wanted to leave the sect grounds, and there was also a yearly limit to the number of days they could step out of the sect. A disciple at the sixth level of the qi-refining stage, like Mo Tianliao, would be allowed six days outside at most.
But personal disciples didn’t have any such restrictions as long as they had permission from their master. And Mo Tianliao’s master’s only requirement for him was: Do whatever you want.
Mo Tianliao had learned from his fellow juniors that there was a cultivator marketplace about fifteen miles down the mountain from Woyun Sect.
Wildflowers bloomed along the mountain path, complete with butterflies dancing around. The cat struggled to get out of Mo Tianliao’s arms. Resigned, Mo Tianliao set him down. “I’ll walk slowly. Stay with me and don’t run off.”
Mo Tianliao patted the cat on the head and walked a few steps before looking back—the cat hadn’t moved. A blue butterfly flitted over the cat’s head, and he sprang and smacked it down under his paw. That was no fun—he released it. The startled butterfly flew away unsteadily, stirring up the cat’s interest again. He leaped up again and swatted at it.
It didn’t take long for the frolicking cat to be covered in flower petals and grass clippings. Displeased, he jumped out of the cluster of flowers and shook his fur off.
“Let’s stop playing and get going now,” Mo Tianliao said wearily, standing a few steps away.
The cat glanced back at him and ignored him. Staying exactly where he was, he sat there and cleaned himself; he was about to move on to licking his paw when he realized it was covered in dirt. He shook it disdainfully before trotting over to Mo Tianliao.
Mo Tianliao smiled in relief. The little guy was finally following him. But just as he was about to keep walking, he felt a tug at his clothes and looked down—the white furball was hanging from the hem.
After a moment’s silence, Mo Tianliao resigned himself to his fate and picked up His Feline Lordship.
“Meow!” The cat pointedly showed him his dirty paws.
Understanding his intent, Mo Tianliao took out a handkerchief and water flask and cleaned each paw. Soon, the grimy paws returned to their soft, tender state. But the cat no longer felt like walking; instead, he clambered up Mo Tianliao’s collar and sprang onto his head.
“Meow!” the cat announced happily. Mo Tianliao smiled, somehow feeling that His Feline Lordship had said, Giddy-up! It seemed like his dream of walking with the cat following behind him wasn’t going to manifest.
With His Feline Lordship on his head, Mo Tianliao made his way down the mountain. He still couldn’t ride his sword at his present cultivation level, but his body was as light as a swallow’s, and it only took him a few hours to arrive at the edge of the marketplace.
There were always various cultivators’ marketplaces and towns around the orthodox sects. They fell under the protection of the sects and generally didn’t have many common folks living there; instead, they were mostly inhabited by unaffiliated cultivators. Cultivators from the sect would also often come to search for materials they needed for cultivation.
This marketplace was called Auspicious Bazaar. It was a long street with two public squares at the ends. The shape resembled a jade ruyi, an auspicious symbol of fortune and prosperity—hence the name.
Mo Tianliao lifted the sleeping cat off his head, tucked him in the front of his collar, and smoothed his hair before he entered.
There were many stalls in the square selling wines imbued with spiritual energies, elixirs, ores, and even trinkets. These were small businesses that couldn’t afford the exorbitant rent on the street, so they set up shop here.
Of course, there were even more uncategorized odds and ends, likely from cultivators who’d acquired them during their outdoor training but didn’t need them, so they set up stalls to sell their extra items for spiritual stones or to trade them for other items.
Mo Tianliao took a quick look around before heading straight for the shops on the street trading in magical artifacts.
He hadn’t stepped into the secular world for three centuries, so he first visited several shops to determine the average prices of inventory pouches. They cost about the same as he remembered, so he eventually settled on Auspicious Lodge, as their items were the most exquisite and their prices were slightly higher.
“Welcome. What would you like?” The shopkeeper, who looked to be in his forties or fifties by mortal standards, smiled. “Our Auspicious Lodge has the most comprehensive selection in all of Auspicious Bazaar.”
“I’d like to trade my sable fur for some fine wine,” Mo Tianliao said mildly.
The shopkeeper paused for a moment before putting on a different smile. “We do have fine wine here. This way, please.”
This was a coded phrase among the artificers: I’d like to trade my sable fur for some fine wine, and you may buy my precious blade for a thousand gold. It was meant to prevent artificers carrying spiritual treasures from being targeted before a transaction and to remind the shopkeepers that this was a knowledgeable artificer who should be given a fair price.
There was a small, elegantly decorated tearoom inside.
The shopkeeper poured Mo Tianliao a cup of tea and sat across from him. “You can already craft artifacts. That’s very impressive for someone so young.” His small eyes swept over Mo Tianliao, twinkling meaningfully.
Mo Tianliao accepted the tea. “You think too highly of me. I’m just a cultivator at the qi-refining stage. I’m here to sell a few items on my master’s behalf.”
The shopkeeper’s smile deepened. “So, you’re the disciple of a great master. Feel free to show us what you have. We always offer more for items than the other shops.”
Mo Tianliao wasted no time taking out three of the five inventory pouches he had refined—he was saving two for his own use. The pouches were pretty, made from high-quality silk with fine workmanship.
The shopkeeper’s eyes lit up. Many inventory pouches had large spaces but looked ugly, so they couldn’t be sold for very high. He took them and scrutinized them. The storage space was limited but extremely stable, with abundant spiritual energy secured within and no leakage.
“Excellent craftsmanship!” the shopkeeper marveled. The skill displayed in the drawing of the array could only have come from a top master artificer, but the space was so small…
“My master drew the array, while I infused it with spiritual energy.”
The shopkeeper, a cultivator in the middle stage of the foundation establishment stage, nodded in understanding. “This is really a marvelous array. A pity the space is so small.” The shopkeeper offered six medium-grade spiritual stones for the first inventory pouch that His Feline Lordship had interrupted, and fifteen medium-grade spiritual stones each for the other two with storage space half the size of a room.
Mo Tianliao nodded in agreement, although he took only thirty-five spiritual stones and let the shopkeeper keep the last one. “There’s something I’d like to ask you.”
“Ask away.” The shopkeeper put away the spiritual stone, suitably impressed by this savvy young cultivator.
“Have you heard about Lord Duantian’s divine artifact?” Mo Tianliao whispered.
The shopkeeper frowned. “Of course. Are you asking about its whereabouts?”
“My master is obsessed with artifact crafting and wishes to see that artifact once in his lifetime,” Mo Tianliao said, wearing a look of resignation.
“That’s to be expected. Who doesn’t yearn for a divine artifact?” The shopkeeper smiled and looked around before lowering his own voice. “Many great masters perished on Mount Yanhuo back then, and Duantian’s body was never found. People who went there later only found a scattering of treasures. Duantian didn’t have the divine artifact with him; it was in the Supreme Heaven Ablaze Furnace back at his palace. Unfortunately, someone had taken it beforehand.”
When a divine artifact showed up, people would naturally rush to acquire it, stirring up a storm of carnage. But the fight had died down once they realized that no one—not even the Qingyun sect leader—could use this divine artifact. It was still unfinished, after all. What’s more, the artifact had an irreversible crack in it from being prematurely removed from the furnace. Even the best master artificer of the orthodox path would be hard-pressed to fix it.
The shopkeeper sighed. “There is probably no one else in this world other than Lord Duantian who can forge a divine artifact.”
As for its whereabouts, the last time it had been mentioned was at the orthodox sects’ grand meet a century ago, when it had been in Qingyun Sect’s possession. After that, nobody knew where it had gone, although rumor had it that the number one thief of the cultivation world had stolen it away and auctioned it off at some black market.
“I haven’t left this marketplace for years, so my information isn’t up to date,” the shopkeeper told him. “If you want to know more, you should go to the city further away and ask around.”
Mo Tianliao thanked the shopkeeper, put away his spiritual stones in his inventory pouch, tossed the pouch into his inventory bracelet, and walked out of Auspicious Lodge.
Inventory artifacts typically couldn’t store other inventory artifacts. But this bracelet Duantian had refined, though small in storage space, had another advantage aside from being lightning-resistant—the ability to store other inventory artifacts. No one else apart from him knew about this. After all, the ability to resist a lightning tribulation was far more valuable than extra storage capacity, even if that so-called lightning-resistance feature actually only applied to the bracelet itself.
“Meow…” The cat woke up, stretched lazily, and tried to climb upward.
Mo Tianliao hastily pressed down on his collar to prevent the cat from poking his head out. Displeased, the cat scratched Mo Tianliao’s waist through his inner garment.
Mo Tianliao tried to hold back both his ticklish laughter and his instinct to avoid the scratches, fearing onlookers might realize he had a spirit beast with him. Managing to keep a straight face, he entered a shop selling magical outfits and bought a large black cloak to cover himself with. Then he finally allowed the misbehaving furball to emerge, tousling his fur when he did.
✦ ✦ ✦
MINI EXTRA
Woodworker: Lightning-Resistant Bracelet! Selling for only 998! 998!!!
Cultivator A: Buy, buy, buy! A Duantian original, quality assured!
Cultivator B: Buy, buy, buy! A peerless treasure, essential for lightning tribulation!
Transparent Ghost of the Patriarch Who Underwent a Lightning Tribulation: What a scam! Lightning-resistant, my ass! Didn’t I still get obliterated?!
Cultivator A & B: *pocketing the endorsement fee* 998 to protect a single wrist from being obliterated is a bargain!
Patriarch Who Underwent a Lightning Tribulation: QAQ