Chapter 70: Lin Family Marketplace
Chapter 70: Chapter 70: Lin Family Marketplace
Lu Zhao placed the Lower Grade Spirit Stone, its Spiritual Qi now significantly depleted, into his Storage Bag. He had absorbed a good amount of the Spiritual Qi within it to replenish the Magical Power he’d spent traveling for days. However, the Spiritual Qi from Spirit Stones was impure, far from the purity of a Spirit Vein. If he weren’t in the middle of nowhere, where the surrounding Spiritual Qi was thin, and still a long way from the next Marketplace, he wouldn’t have wanted to use a Spirit Stone to recover.
Frequently using Spirit Stones for recovery would be detrimental to his future cultivation path. Unless absolutely necessary, he would rather spend more time meditating to recover slowly.
When most of his Magical Power had been restored, he unfolded the Beast Hide Map he had purchased at the Zhou Family Marketplace. Lu Zhao examined it carefully by the faint light of the campfire.
Rough lines sketched out mountains and rivers. At the border of Changfeng County and Biyun County was a blurry area, shaded with light ink and labeled with the two words "Boundary Mountain."
Based on the map and his travel pace over the last few days, he estimated he was currently in the buffer zone between the two counties—a vaguely defined area about a dozen or so miles wide.
In the Cultivation Realm, the territories of the various counties were complex and overlapping. These sorts of lawless, unclaimed regions were not uncommon and often became havens for Wanderers, Tribulation Cultivators, and even small packs of roaming Demon Beasts.
’Another half day of travel, and I should be fully within Biyun County’s territory,’ Lu Zhao thought, the tension in his heart easing slightly. As long as he left the core sphere of influence of Changfeng County, any reaction from the Zhou Family would be greatly diminished.
Lu Zhao was already up at the first light of dawn. He brushed the dew and grass from his robes, got his bearings, and his figure became a green shadow skimming the ground. Empowered by the Wind Manipulation Technique, he sped toward Biyun County.
Around Noon, after cresting a low mountain ridge, the view suddenly opened up. In the distance, a peculiar mountain peak entered his line of sight.
The mountain had a strange shape. It was a deep, brownish-green color, with a low, rounded form, like a giant turtle shell flipped upside down on the land. What was most striking was that the entire peak was completely barren, without a trace of grass or trees.
"Turtleback Mountain!" A glint flashed in Lu Zhao’s eyes as he immediately took out his map to check. On the map, clearly marked on the Biyun side of the Changfeng-Biyun border, was a small mountain symbol. Next to it, written in a tiny, neat script, were the two words "Turtleback Mountain," along with a small note: "Shaped like a turtle shell, completely barren, a Biyun County landmark."
’I’ve made it!’ An indescribable sense of relief washed over him. Seeing this mountain meant he had officially set foot in the territory of Biyun County!
His spirits lifted, and his pace quickened. Lu Zhao’s goal was clear: the Lin Family Marketplace in Biyun County.
After another six or seven days of sleepless travel, he passed through forests and river valleys, avoiding a few areas marked on the map as possible lairs for powerful Demon Beasts. Finally, he saw his first destination in the distance.
In a relatively open valley stood a medium-sized Marketplace. The entrance was a two-story gate tower made of wood and stone. Though not as grand as the Bronze Beast Head Gate Tower of the Zhou Family Marketplace, it had a solid, dignified feel.
Lu Zhao looked up and saw two Cultivators in brown robes standing under the gate tower. Their Cultivation was around the 4th or 5th Layer of Qi Cultivation, and they were lazily observing the people coming and going.
Inside the Marketplace, most of the buildings were low structures of wood and stone, arranged in a somewhat haphazard manner, far less orderly than the well-planned Zhou Family Marketplace.
’It looks quite a bit worse than the Zhou Family Marketplace, but it’s much better than the small marketplaces barely supported by other Qi Cultivation Clans,’ Lu Zhao quickly made his assessment.
After all, it was a Marketplace established by a clan with a Foundation Establishment Cultivator. Basic order and functionality were guaranteed, making it more than adequate as a temporary stop for him.
Lu Zhao didn’t approach immediately. Instead, he ducked behind a dense thicket of nearby bushes. After cautiously observing the inspections at the Marketplace entrance, he took out several ordinary herbs he had prepared from his Storage Bag. These were not Spirit Plants, just common mortal herbs used as Auxiliary Materials for disguises.
He crushed the herbs, his fingertips coated in the green juice mixed with plant pulp. Then, he carefully and evenly applied the mixture to his exposed skin—his cheeks, forehead, and neck.
As the juice slowly seeped in and dried, his originally young, smooth skin visibly turned a faint yellow, lost its luster, and even developed a few fine lines, like faint wrinkles left by years of hard labor.
Next, he took off his green robe and changed into an unremarkable, slightly worn, dark black outfit of coarse, close-fitting cloth.
Finally, he removed the ordinary wooden hairpin from his hair and replaced it with a slightly old Jade Crown with worn edges. The jade was of common quality and the style was simple, but it perfectly added the kind of dignified air expected of a middle-aged Cultivator.
After all this was done, Lu Zhao took out a copper mirror from his Storage Bag. The person reflected in it was no longer the handsome, young Cultivator Lu Zhao in his twenties, but a middle-aged Wanderer in his early forties, with sallow skin and the traces of age at the corners of his eyes.
His eyes remained calm, and combined with the plain black outfit and slightly old-fashioned Jade Crown, he now looked exactly like a traveling merchant Wanderer with decent Cultivation, hustling between counties to make a living.
This trick of changing his appearance wasn’t some profound Magic. It was taught to him by an Elder Independent Cultivator, who was also living a life on the run, after his clan was destroyed years ago.
That Cultivator’s Cultivation wasn’t high, but he was well-versed in the survival tactics of low-level Wanderers. This method of using ordinary herbal juices to temporarily change one’s skin color, supplemented by clothing and accessories for camouflage, was simple yet practical. It had helped Lu Zhao avoid unnecessary trouble many times.
After confirming the disguise was flawless, Lu Zhao took a deep breath and walked toward the entrance of the Lin Family Marketplace with a deliberately weary gait.
Sure enough, as soon as he approached the gate tower, the two brown-robed Cultivators acting as guards stopped him. One of them looked him up and down, his gaze scrutinizing and his tone less than polite. "Halt! Haven’t seen your face before. Where are you from? What’s your business in our Lin Family Marketplace?"
Lu Zhao had anticipated the questioning. He put on a perfectly measured smile, bowed slightly, and answered in a slightly hoarse voice, "Greetings, fellow cultivators. My name is Chen Yuanping, from Northern Plains County. I recently heard the Spiritual Material market is good here in Biyun County, so I came to take a look. I’m hoping to trade some goods and earn a bit of money to get by."
"Northern Plains County? That’s quite a long way." The Cultivator frowned, looking as if he wanted to say more.
Just then, the other Cultivator quietly tugged his companion’s sleeve and shot him a look. They were just gate guards, and while inspecting outsiders was their duty, the man before them had, after all, a Late-Stage Qi Cultivation. There was no need to probe too deeply and offend him.
As long as he didn’t seem to be carrying obvious malice or looking for trouble, they could just follow standard procedure.
Pulled by his companion, the first Cultivator came to his senses. He stopped asking questions and, in a business-like manner, took a wooden token about half the size of a palm from his waist and handed it to Lu Zhao. "Here, take this. First-time visitors get a half-month pass, the Spirit Stone fee is waived. For half a month, you can move freely in the Marketplace with this token. If you want to stay after that, you’ll need to pay twenty Spiritual Sand per month. If you lose the token or get caught by the Law Enforcement Team after it expires without paying, you’ll face the consequences."
"Understood, understood! Thank you, fellow cultivators!" Lu Zhao took the wooden token with both hands, thanking them repeatedly. The wooden token felt slightly heavy. The front was engraved with the character for "Lin," and the back simply read "Ding Thirteen."
The two guards waved him on, signaling that he could enter. Lu Zhao bowed slightly once more and merged into the crowd of the Marketplace.