Chapter 1353: A Visit to the Market

After a few flashes of his eyes, Li Yan also stepped into his room and activated the restrictions.

Inside the room, Li Yan stood by the door. As he looked around, his Divine Sense had already begun to scan the area meticulously. After several dozen breaths, his gaze relaxed slightly, and he stepped forward. He hadn’t found anything unusual. Although it was just one room, the space was over twenty zhang, which was quite large. While there were no separate rooms, a bed, table, and wooden shelves were all present, neatly arranged in specific areas and spotlessly clean. In a five-zhang area that was clean and new, there was only a prayer mat on the floor, intended for cultivators to use for meditation.

After some thought, Li Yan waved his hand gently. Four formation flags flew out from his wide sleeve and silently landed in the corners of the room, flashing once before disappearing into the ground. A faint layer of green light rose from the ground along the base of the walls and vanished in a single breath. Then, Li Yan formed another hand seal, and a soft “buzz” sounded in the room before it returned to silence.

Li Yan’s Divine Sense probed slightly, and he couldn’t help but shake his head. This small formation could provide a certain level of warning against a cultivator’s intrusion, but its defense was lacking. The current Great Dragon-Elephant Formation could no longer keep up with his realm. With Zi Kun left in the lower realm, the formation couldn’t even exert its full power. And the strongest formation he had obtained, the Vital Qi Grand Clarity Formation, was also left at the bottom of the swamp on the Wind God Continent. As a result, Li Yan had no good formations on hand.

“Since I’ve come to the market this time, the scale of the merchants here is much larger than the two markets I’ve been to before. I’ll see if I can find a decent defensive formation here. Otherwise, it will be easy for mishaps to occur when I’m outside in the future.”

As Li Yan thought this, he knew that without a good formation, there were many inconveniences when he was outside. Especially with his character, he always strove for perfection in everything as much as possible.

After setting up in the room, Li Yan went straight out the door. Since he had come to the market, he naturally had to walk around, on one hand to gather news, and on the other to see if he could find a suitable formation and other good things like raw materials.

After leaving his room, Li Yan glanced to the side. He saw that the fence outside Shangguan Tianque’s room was still there. He didn’t know if he had already gone out or was still in his room. With the jade pendant in hand, just as he was reactivating the restriction on the fence, a surge of clouds and mist suddenly appeared on the fence diagonally opposite him. This made Li Yan, who was about to leave, subconsciously pause and turn his head to look.

The place they had rented was not an independent courtyard. This was because the rent here was extremely expensive. Just these two rooms had cost two hundred mid-grade Spirit Stones for half a month. According to Shangguan Tianque, there were cheaper inns in the market, but none had as good a reputation as the Water-Cloud Inn. Therefore, he was willing to spend more Spirit Stones to stay here. As for this, Li Yan was indifferent. If you asked him to find a random place in the market to meditate for half a month, he would have no objection either. But even though they were staying at the Water-Cloud Inn, the conditions they were staying in could only be considered passable here. The inn had better individual courtyards, and even more luxurious accommodations. But there, a single day could cost dozens, or even hundreds, of high-grade Spirit Stones, which was not something they could afford.

In the swirling clouds and mist opposite them, a gate in the fence appeared, and then a tall woman in a black dress appeared diagonally to Li Yan’s side. That person had a pair of bright autumn eyes, black brows like scissors, and a cascade of dark hair like a waterfall. Every strand was as smooth as silk, shining with a healthy luster. The streamlined strands of hair fell naturally along her cheeks, with a few long strands braided into thin little braids that hung down naturally. Beneath her black dress, one could vaguely see jade-like skin fairer than snow. She wore long boots with a strange pattern on her feet, revealing a small section of snow-white, warm jade, giving her the light and graceful appearance of a giraffe.

And what was most eye-catching was the silver mask covering her face. The mask was like a shallow crescent moon, revealing only half of her flawless jade face, adding a touch of mystery to her.

After a glance at her, Li Yan immediately turned and walked away. He had only noticed her because of the change in her formation. After all, she was staying in the same courtyard as him. To know what kind of person was living here, he would naturally pay some attention. As for her appearance, Li Yan directly ignored it. In the cultivation world, there were women with ugly appearances. Those people were either because of the cultivation method they practiced, or after suffering some kind of blow, they had already lost the desire to protect their appearance and focused solely on cultivation. But the vast majority of women paid great attention to their appearance. Even if they were originally plain, after cultivating immortal arts, their temperament and skin would undergo a world-shaking change, which would in turn change their appearance. Therefore, it was quite common to see fairy-like female cultivators in the cultivation world. Li Yan had no interest in this.

‘Mid-stage Nascent Soul, with the aura fluctuation of a water-attribute cultivation method…’ At this time, Li Yan was quickly judging the other’s cultivation level and cultivation method in his mind.

And the black-robed female cultivator, looking at Li Yan’s disappearing back, also paused slightly. A wisp of her Divine Sense was quietly withdrawn. After looking at the location of Li Yan’s room, she also walked away.

‘This person’s realm is similar to mine, but his appearance is very unfamiliar. He shouldn’t be a Nascent Soul cultivator from a nearby sect or cultivation family. He’s most likely just passing through…’ In her heart, she was also observing the person living in the same courtyard as her, just as cautious.

After leaving the inn, Li Yan looked at the bustling crowds on the street. After a brief look, he immediately chose a direction and walked forward…

More than two hours later, Li Yan once again walked out of a shop. His face was still as calm as an ancient well, making it impossible for others to guess what he was thinking. During this time, he had taken a fancy to several formations here, but no matter which shop, the prices they quoted were too expensive. The cheapest formation required forty thousand high-grade Spirit Stones. Even with Li Yan’s wealth, it really gave him a shock.

Apart from a few supreme-grade Spirit Stones, if all his other Spirit Stones were converted into high-grade Spirit Stones, plus the thirty thousand high-grade Spirit Stones Shangguan Tianque had given him, he would only have a little over a hundred thousand. This was what Li Yan had obtained from killing many people in the lower realm, and also from blasting Mang Yan and his companion once. This was not the most important thing. What was most important was that after carefully examining those formations with his Divine Sense, Li Yan felt that they were not worth these prices.

He had also been to two other markets before. After comparing, he felt that the prices in the Immortal Spirit Realm markets were too inflated, and the goods were often not worth the price. This might be related to the fact that there were too many truly high-level cultivators here. In a place where even Void Refining and Body Integration cultivators could appear, high-grade Spirit Stones were really nothing. Once these old monsters made a move, even supreme-grade Spirit Stones might appear in some transactions.

Li Yan could still afford tens of thousands of high-grade Spirit Stones, but these few formations could only be used for emergencies for now. Overall, he was not too satisfied. The Spirit Stones he spent had to be worth it. Therefore, after thinking about it, he still gave up on the formations he had taken a fancy to and wanted to look around some more before deciding.

After visiting many shops, Li Yan also had a certain guess about this market. He felt that this market might be aimed at cultivators at the Spirit Transformation realm and below, because the strongest of the various magical treasures, medicinal pills, talismans, and so on that he saw were basically at the Spirit Transformation level.

‘The Void Refining realm and above is another level. They should have their own separate markets, but that’s not something I can know about at my realm.’ Li Yan stood on the street, stroking his chin, his mind still thinking.

He had no interest in Nascent Soul-level magical treasures and formations. There were not too many Spirit Transformation-level magical treasures here, and most of them were offensive, with very few defensive ones. The defense of a few formations was acceptable, but the prices made Li Yan feel they were too inflated. With his current strength, Nascent Soul realm cultivators were basically no threat to him. And he was unwilling to clash head-on with Spirit Transformation cultivators again. Of course, he wanted to find a treasure that could defend against Spirit Transformation attacks.

Now that he hadn’t found a suitable treasure, the next time he encountered a Spirit Transformation cultivator, without any reservations, he would definitely choose to flee first and would not fight head-on again.

‘I’ve been to a few big shops, and I have some understanding of the situation here, but there’s still no news of ‘Gui Qu Lai Xi’…’

Another matter that made Li Yan equally frustrated was that he still couldn’t find any information about “Gui Qu Lai Xi.” After hearing this name, some of the merchants even asked him back if he was asking about an inn. Li Yan wanted to send some news to the lower realm as soon as possible, and the only way he knew that might achieve this was “Gui Qu Lai Xi,” but he just couldn’t find them.

After that, Li Yan also discreetly asked if there was a way to send messages to the lower realm. The assistants or attendants all said that there was no way to communicate between the upper and lower realms here. By now, Li Yan also knew how difficult it would be for him to return to the mortal realm. Just finding a spatial node to return to the lower realm was not something that could be done overnight. And because he had already fused with the rule aura of the Immortal Spirit Realm, even if a node was placed right in front of him for him to use, he would need a way to evade the rules. And all of this was something he couldn’t do at the moment. To conceal the rule aura, one either needed a special magical treasure, or one’s cultivation had to be heaven-defying to be able to obscure a part of heaven’s secrets.

After a while, Li Yan gathered his thoughts and walked towards a certain place. It was a free market street he had passed by earlier. Inside were basically some small stalls set up by individuals, and the items sold were things that only Foundation Establishment and Golden Core cultivators could use. There were even many things that were low-quality spirit artifacts of the type used by Qi Condensation stage cultivators.

Li Yan was still very interested in this kind of free market. There were both real and fake things inside, and occasionally some good things could appear, but that would depend on one’s judgment and luck. Since he couldn’t find what he was looking for, Li Yan walked towards that place. As he walked, his aura quietly dropped to about the mid-stage Golden Core, so that he wouldn’t be too conspicuous there.

Amidst the bustling crowd, various cries of peddlers assailed him, making it seem very noisy and chaotic. In the middle was an endless stream of people, and on both sides of the road were stalls of various sizes. The cultivators here also had different demeanors. They often sat cross-legged on one side of the road, with a square yellow or red cloth spread out in front of them. On it were placed some things of various sizes: medicinal herbs, finished medicinal pills, the bones and fur of demonic beasts, cultivation methods, arts, and so on, an endless variety. Some were enthusiastically soliciting business from passersby. Some were sitting in meditation with their eyes closed, only saying a few simple words when someone asked, looking very aloof.

For a moment, Li Yan felt as if he had returned to the Peiyang Market of the past. He seemed to see that gentle, weak, and timid young girl again.

‘I wonder what realm Senior Sister Bai Rou and Sun Guoshu and the others have reached, and what their situation is now? And have Min’er and Martial Mother succeeded in forming their Nascent Souls…’

As Li Yan walked slowly through the crowd, his mind, from the stalls in the market, unexpectedly thought of Bai Rou and her companion whom he had met back then. Then he thought of Zhao Min and the others, and for a moment, his emotions were in turmoil… Slowly, as he walked, Li Yan’s emotions gradually returned to normal. He began to release his Divine Sense, searching through the items on the stalls on both sides. With the strength of his Divine Sense, his search speed was extremely fast. He wasn’t worried that anyone here would discover his Divine Sense.

Just like that, after walking through the crowd for about a quarter of an hour, Li Yan’s footsteps suddenly paused. Then, with a slip and a turn, he walked slowly towards a stall on one side. There was not much expression on his face, as if he was just strolling around casually here.

Soon, he arrived in front of a stall. Behind the stall was a middle-aged fat cultivator. His cultivation was at the late-stage Foundation Establishment. At this moment, he was talking in a low voice with an old man. Seeing someone stop in front of his stall, the middle-aged fat cultivator’s Divine Sense swept over, and his expression changed slightly before he immediately put on a respectful look. The old man also sensed someone approaching from behind and also swept his Divine Sense over, and a strange look appeared on his face. He was only a Foundation Establishment cultivator. After taking a fancy to an item, he was currently haggling with the other party.

Sensing Li Yan’s cultivation, he couldn’t help but worry. Had the other party also taken a fancy to the item in his hand? If that was the case, then he would have no hope at all. Even if the other party didn’t bully him with his strength, he could just crush him with Spirit Stones.

“Senior, do you see anything you like on my humble stall? Just tell this junior directly!” The middle-aged fat cultivator was also apprehensive, but he was considered a smooth operator. Suppressing the unease in his heart, he spoke respectfully.

“Oh, you two continue. I’m just looking around!” Li Yan waved his hand and then stood in front of the stall on his own, his gaze looking through the piles of things.

Hearing Li Yan’s words, the old man was the first to relax. As long as the other party wasn’t after the item in his hand, it was fine. He had been looking for a long time and had only just found what he wanted today. However, the transaction between the two of them was not as slow as before. After just a few quick words, they finished haggling and quickly completed the transaction. After all, with a Golden Core cultivator standing next to them, although he had told them to be at ease, they could only be on edge. The two of them wanted to complete the transaction as soon as possible. The old man wanted to leave early, and the middle-aged fat cultivator wanted to quickly come and respectfully serve this senior. With their own thoughts in mind, they tacitly made concessions in their bargaining…

After the old man left, the middle-aged fat cultivator stood there with a fawning smile on his face, but he didn’t dare to interrupt Li Yan’s searching gaze.