Chapter 12: The Lei Family Market
Mengshan City was an ordinary city in Shu State of Daqian Immortal Country.
As Han Yi walked through the streets, doubts arose in his heart.
For someone who had traversed to this world, the more he understood the system of Daqian Immortal Country, the more puzzled he became.
For example, the coexistence of immortals and mortals.
Cultivators and ordinary people lived together, with laws specifically targeting cultivators and laws for ordinary people.
Moreover, although immortals and mortals coexisted, the slaughter of mortals by immortals was strictly forbidden. Even in public, killing a mortal would result in severe official scrutiny.
This was inconsistent with Han Yi's imagination of cultivators being aloof and regarding mortals as ants.
So, he was quite puzzled.
But, puzzled or not, since the rules were like this, he would follow them.
Furthermore, this kind of environment provided protection for low-level cultivators like him.
Similar to worldly trades, several major forces in Mengshan City set up cultivation marketplaces for the convenience of communication among cultivators.
The Lei family's marketplace was one of them, and that was the information Han Yi had learned about Mengshan City when he first came down the mountain.
More than four months later, upon leaving his residence, the first stop for Han Yi was this place.
There were two Qi Cultivation Stage cultivators from the Lei family guarding the entrance to the marketplace. To enter, one did not need to pay any Spirit Stones or Spirit Sand but was required to input their magic power into a stone tablet to verify their identity as a cultivator.
After verifying his identity as a cultivator, Han Yi cupped his fists and asked one of the guards.
"Fellow Daoist, this is my first time here. Can you tell me how much it costs to rent a stall in the marketplace?"
The one who was asked was a mature-looking young guard.
He glanced at Han Yi without any extra expression on his face.
"Stalls are divided into fixed stalls and temporary stalls."
"Fixed stalls are priced based on size and location, with the leasing fees starting from a minimum of three Spirit Stones per day. The largest fixed stall can cost dozens of Spirit Stones."
"As for temporary stalls, the stall width is only two meters, and each costs one Spirit Stone per day. All locations are the same, on a first-come, first-served basis."
"If you want to rent a stall, you can go to the market management center ahead."
Han Yi understood upon hearing the guard's words.
"Fellow Daoist, I have another question: besides renting a stall, what other channels are there for selling pills? Also, where can I buy spiritual medicines and spiritual herbs?"
When Han Yi asked this, the mature young guard looked at him more closely.
After all.
Han Yi's words were equivalent to hanging a 'I am an Alchemist' sign on his face.
An alchemist like him was very likely a 'fat sheep' that had just stepped out of a sect.
Who wouldn't like such a 'fat sheep'?
Therefore, the guard's face showed a rare hint of a smile.
"Fellow Daoist, you've indeed asked the right person."
"Since you've come here, you must know that this place is called the Lei Family's Marketplace."
"In that case, the best place to trade in pills, formations, talismans, weapons, spiritual medicines, and spiritual herbs, of course, are the official shops set up by the Lei family."
"Just follow the marketplace until you reach the middle. There, you'll find the largest shop where you can buy anything you want or have someone help you appraise and recycle the items you want to sell."
Han Yi nodded after listening.
It was natural for the marketplace guards, who were presumably members of the Lei family, to speak on behalf of Lei family shops.
"By the way, Fellow Daoist, I have one last question: if I want to buy magic skills, can I purchase them from the largest shop?"
When Han Yi asked again, the arrogant young guard nodded his head proudly.
"Of course, our Lei family ranks within the top three cultivation families in Mengshan City. Our family head is a cultivator at the Foundation Establishment stage, so we naturally have magic skills for sale."
"However, each magic skill is not cheap. The weakest ones require dozens of Spirit Stones, while slightly stronger ones cost hundreds or even require middle-grade Spirit Stones to trade. It's not something that an ordinary low-level Qi Cultivator can afford."
The meaning in the guard's glance at Han Yi was obvious.
He clearly didn't believe that a young cultivator who had just stepped out of the sect and had Qi Cultivation Stage Three's magic power fluctuations, indicating that he had just broken through, would have such financial power.
However, Han Yi's face lit up with joy. After thanking the guard, he hurriedly walked inside the marketplace.
As for him, as long as there were magic skills to buy, all he needed to do next was refine pills and trade time for Spirit Stones.
Alchemists, especially high-level ones, were in high demand.
It's because they could easily accumulate astonishing wealth by refining pills.
Han Yi walked around the marketplace but did not immediately head to the central largest shop as directed by the young guard earlier.
Instead, he first took a stroll through two marketplace streets, randomly checking out fixed and temporary stalls.
Fixed stalls were covered, and the items on display were all of higher quality, including pills, talismans, and weapons.
Temporary stalls, on the other hand, were relatively simple, with some being even quite crude. They were set up using a piece of white cloth, and the items for sale were placed on the cloth.
However, whether they were temporary stalls or fixed stalls, none of them had the hustle and bustle of hawking goods like in the secular world.
There were quite a few cultivators in the marketplace, but they mostly traded quietly, completed their transactions, and left directly without any delay.
Although Han Yi was curious, he didn't stay long.
After getting a general understanding of the stalls, he headed straight for the Lei Family's official shop.
Renting a stall was his plan for next time. This time, he wanted to quickly complete his trades and shorten the time spent to reduce risks.
At the center of the marketplace stood a huge shop with an enormous area.
In front of the shop, a plaque with four characters exuded a mysterious Immortal Path aura.
Lei Family's Trading Firm.
The person who wrote those four characters had a deeply-founded Dao foundation.
After Han Yi caught a glimpse of it, he noticed something unusual and dared not to linger as he entered the shop.
"Shopkeeper, I want to sell some pills and buy a suitable magic skill," Han Yi went straight to the point and told the shopkeeper who was attending to him.
The shopkeeper appeared to be over seventy years old, but his eyes were bright and shining.
Hearing Han Yi's words, the elderly shopkeeper's eyes flashed with shrewdness, and he quickly led Han Yi to the back of the shop.
"Oh, Fellow Daoist, please follow me."
At the back of the shop, there were individual guest rooms. Inside the rooms, a faint scent of sandalwood permeated, and Immortal Qi lingered. Just a whiff invigorated one's spirit.
Once both parties were seated, Han Yi wasted no time and presented the extra Exorcise Evil Spirits Pills and Nurturing Qi Pills.
Two bottles of Exorcise Evil Spirits Pills and four bottles of Nurturing Qi Pills.
The elderly shopkeeper first opened the bottle cap of the Nurturing Qi Pills, sniffed it, half-squinted his eyes, and said nothing. He then opened the Exorcise Evil Spirits Pills bottle cap, sniffed again, and barely perceptibly nodded.
"The quality of the Nurturing Qi Pills is average, while the Exorcise Evil Spirits Pills are of average quality leaning towards the higher side, just a tiny bit away from the standard."
"There are a total of 43 Nurturing Qi Pills, estimated to be worth 55 lower-grade Spirit Stones."
"There are eight Exorcise Evil Spirits Pills, estimated to be worth 30 lower-grade Spirit Stones."
"Fellow Daoist, what do you think?"
Upon hearing the elderly shopkeeper's words, Han Yi frowned deeply.