Plant VS Cultivation

Chapter 23: The Marketplace

Although the sect was a safe place, there were still cases like Fan Shaoming. His outcome was relatively fortunate—though he lost his magical treasure, he managed to catch the attention of an outer sect deacon.

However, not everyone could be as lucky. If the assailant had struck a little harder, Fan Shaoming would have ended up as nothing more than a corpse.

"It seems I'll have to try my luck at the marketplace."

Lacking enough contribution points to exchange for the Concealing Qi Art, Gu Mo decided to visit the market to see if he could acquire a similar secret technique.

The marketplace wasn't limited to disciples of the Qinglu Sect; many rogue cultivators also came here to trade. In theory, one could find all sorts of rare and peculiar items in the market—though the probability of doing so was another matter entirely.

Leaving the Hall of Honor, Gu Mo headed straight down the mountain toward the marketplace.

With the spiritual rice from his field already harvested, he had a few free days to explore. Besides, he had long been curious about the market. Many tales of striking it rich through lucky finds originated from such places. Gu Mo wasn't expecting to stumble upon some priceless treasure, but he was eager to broaden his horizons.

After a long and exhausting journey, sweat beaded on his forehead, and he had depleted more than half of his spiritual energy. At this moment, he regretted not using his contribution points to exchange for a paper crane as transportation.

But that regret was quickly pushed aside. Using contribution points to trade for something as common as a paper crane would be a complete waste. The same item could be bought for half the price at the marketplace. He simply didn't have the wealth to squander.

—

Upon entering the marketplace, Gu Mo noticed that it wasn't all that different from the bustling commercial streets in his memories. The main street was lined with various shops, many of which were businesses run by different peaks of the Qinglu Sect.

Peaks specializing in alchemy, artifact crafting, formations, and talismans would bring their excess inventory here for sale while also purchasing materials from rogue cultivators.

Apart from these, some shops belonged to nearby cultivator families, while a few were operated by relatively powerful rogue cultivators.

As for the less well-off rogue cultivators, they mainly set up stalls in a corner of the market square. Many legendary "lucky finds" originated from those very stalls.

Naturally, this piqued Gu Mo's interest, but before exploring, he needed to sell some of his spiritual rice to exchange for spirit stones. He didn't need spirit stones for cultivation, but they had many other uses—his magic tool residence required spirit stones to activate its restrictions.

In the future, he would also need spirit stones to set up formations. More immediately, he needed them to purchase some essential items—such as a paper crane for travel.

Using contribution points to get a paper crane was a waste, but that didn't mean he didn't need one. If he could get one at a reasonable price, he would certainly buy it.

A cultivator traveling on foot all the time lacked a proper immortal's aura. Sword flight, on the other hand, looked incredibly impressive and elegant, but he was too poor for that. A paper crane was the next best thing. Besides, riding a crane still carried an air of immortality.

—

After wandering through the bustling main street, Gu Mo entered a tavern run by rogue cultivators. By now, he had a good idea of the market price for spiritual rice—shops were offering 3.3 spirit stones per jin, slightly better than the 3 spirit stones per jin offered by the sect.

If he set up a stall in the square and sold it himself, he could push the price up to 3.5 spirit stones per jin.

However, Gu Mo ultimately chose to sell to a shop. He planned to offload 100 jin of spiritual rice, and setting up a stall to sell it piece by piece would take too much time. Many rogue cultivators would struggle to afford rice at 3.5 spirit stones per jin, and if he had to lower the price anyway, he might as well sell to the shop directly—it would be faster and more convenient.

—

"Greetings, Immortal Master!"

As soon as Gu Mo stepped into the tavern, a young and attractive female clerk came forward to greet him. Her form of address made it clear that she was a mortal.

The marketplace had a large population of mortals, most of whom were employed to serve the cultivators. Hiring a cultivator was vastly more expensive than hiring a mortal.

Many mortals also hoped to attract the favor of an immortal master, wishing to one day step onto the path of cultivation themselves. If nothing else, securing a cultivator's favor might bring benefits to their descendants, increasing their chances of entering the immortal path.

"I'd like to speak with your shopkeeper about a business deal," Gu Mo said.

The female clerk was quite pretty by mortal standards, but she paled in comparison to Chu Feifei. Especially when Chu Feifei's special constitution was activated—at that point, she became truly otherworldly, far beyond what mortals could compare to.

"Please wait a moment, Immortal Master!"

The clerk bowed and disappeared into the back of the shop. She was only responsible for greeting customers and handling minor transactions. When higher-level cultivators or large deals were involved, it was beyond her authority.

—

"Ah, a fellow Daoist from the Qinglu Sect!"

Before long, a man in a short-sleeved shirt emerged. Upon seeing Gu Mo's sect attire, his expression became noticeably more enthusiastic.

While outer disciples were considered mere laborers in the sect, this marketplace was under Qinglu Sect's jurisdiction. Rogue cultivators generally preferred not to offend even the lowest disciples of the ruling sect.

Moreover, if a mere outer disciple was here to discuss business, there was a good chance that he had backing within the sect. Having done business here for years, the shopkeeper, Gou Youyu, was well aware of such possibilities.

"Greetings, Shopkeeper."

Gu Mo quickly returned the courtesy. Although the man's enthusiasm was somewhat unexpected, it wouldn't affect the deal.

It wasn't as if his warmth would make Gu Mo lower his prices—that was simply out of the question.

Spiritual rice was always in demand. Taverns needed it for brewing spirit wine, restaurants needed it for cooking, and even apothecaries required it for certain alchemical processes.

"So, the young master wishes to sell spiritual rice?"

Upon hearing Gu Mo's purpose, Gou Youyu's eyes lit up.

Brewing spirit wine required large quantities of spiritual rice, but his current supply channels were far from sufficient.

While 100 jin wasn't a huge amount, it was likely a test from whoever was behind Gu Mo. If an initial test involved 100 jin, it suggested a considerable source of supply.

If he could secure a steady rice supplier, it would be a massive boon for his tavern.

His enthusiasm grew even stronger, and his form of address changed from "Daoist friend" to "young master."

"That's right."

Gu Mo nodded and retrieved two sacks of rice from his sleeve, totaling 100 jin.

Gou Youyu inspected the rice and was delighted to find that it was high-quality, freshly harvested rice. The supplies he had been acquiring were mostly subpar, aged grains.

The Qinglu Sect seldom sold fresh spiritual rice, prioritizing its own disciples.

As for rogue cultivators, they barely had enough resources to sustain themselves, let alone cultivate rice. Only some minor cultivator families had spiritual fields, but their output was limited, and they typically kept most of it for their own use.

Unlike large sects like Qinglu, these families lacked the resources to cultivate surplus rice.

Thus, the only time fresh rice became available was when the sect decided to sell off older stock. Shops like Gou Youyu's could only buy up these aged supplies.

While aged rice was still usable for brewing, higher-quality rice would undoubtedly improve the final product.

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