The streets outside the Monastery Gate at night.
"Do you think anyone will buy our talismans?"
Yù Aṇ, wearing a wooden mask, looks at her older brother.
They come to browse the ghost market, naturally they can't afford anything, after all, together they have only about ten pieces of spiritual stone.
"If no one buys them, we can just lower the price. Our thousand-mile talismans are indeed average. The purpose of coming here tonight is to recycle the losses from making talismans."
The loss is very normal, everyone who learns divination arts has to go through this step.
"Sell the thousand-mile talismans earlier so that you can buy cheaper spiritual materials and directly refine and sell inferior magical weapons!"
Yu Lou came to the ghost market with the sole purpose of selling the talismans he had drawn. As long as he breaks even, that's fine, and it's even better if he can make a profit.
Even if there's a loss on the spiritual stone, the process of making the thousand-mile talisman itself can help accumulate gold light in Yu Lou's mind for the jade ruyi, ultimately resulting in less loss.
The red-browed one has tested both of them in their cultivation, and both have passed. Now, their skill in refining inferior magical artifacts has reached a level where they can almost squeeze the essence out of it—though it wasn't that challenging to begin with.
Cultivating the Dao is difficult. The difficulty lies first in entering the realm, then in mastering prohibitions, and most importantly, in details and secret techniques.
The cultivation of inferior magical weapons is not so difficult to enter, and doesn't require many restrictions either. It also doesn't involve details or secret techniques.
"I say, why not borrow two hundred spiritual stones from my father first? That way, we can start buying and refining magical artifacts right away."
Yu Aṇ is really treating Yu Lou like family, without any hesitation when it comes to exploiting him.
"Hahaha, no need. My master has already agreed to let us borrow the sales space at Hua Feng Residence for the magical artifacts we refine ourselves. That's enough. You should have confidence in me."
Yu Lou believes that Wang's family, who had their marrow blown out once by the Red Light, doesn't have much left, so he declined Yù Aṇ's suggestion.
"I have more confidence in myself." Yu Aṇ raised his chin.
The guards outside the Monastery's residence were followers of Gao Jian, and he noticed something from Yu Lou's height and appearance.
"Are you... Wang Yulou?"
Yu Lou was speechless. They were all familiar with each other. Even if he wore a night-time garment, it wouldn't make any difference.
The ghost market in Qingxi pavilion has nothing to do with the so-called underground trading market, but it is simply a Daoist version of a tax-free market for small savings accounts maintained by town guard monks.
"Shh, this is an invitation, take a look."
The monk at the gate pushed the invitation Yu Lou handed over and said.
"Yu Lou, you're making a big deal out of nothing. Come in, just go in quickly."
In the cultivation world, Gao Jian, no matter how fierce he is, is still a dog and can't eat the whole meal by himself.
And neither he nor his subordinates are completely beasts, at least when facing Wang Yulou, they all pretend to be very human.
"Tell senior Gao that I'll be going out to the market with my master tomorrow. I won't be attending the banquet for his new concubine tonight."
Yu Lou gave the guard a nod, then walked into the monthly ghost market held at Qingxi Pavilion with his younger brother.
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The ghost market in Qingxi Pavilion usually doesn't have high-profile auctions. The last time there was one, it was purely a matter of a few families and Ji Bao wanting to chop off a few inches of lettuce early.
Under normal circumstances, the ghost market is just a temporary night market, except that the location is quite unique - in the backyard of the town guard monastery.
This sort of thing seems very strange on the surface. The overall leader of the Red Light Society's branch office has actually innovated in his own way, stubbornly opening the underground trading market in Qingxi Pavilion within the town guard monastery.
But... people actually prefer coming here.
The town guard monastery is secure!
As long as the things you sell aren't incredibly extraordinary, senior cultivators at the Foundation Establishment stage won't care.
When everyone sees Foundation Establishment seniors as a threat, they're scared to death.
But if he can't threaten you, setting up a stall in the backyard of the town guard monastery is like having a Foundation Establishment senior guard you?
Having a Foundation Establishment cultivator as a security guard is like repaying the favor of the Red Light Society.
One word - worth it!
As soon as Yu Aṇ entered the backyard, he was startled by the bustling atmosphere of the ghost market.
Some stalls were filled with books and jade slabs, which were for selling classics. However, these street-side classics often didn't guarantee authenticity, let alone after-sales service.
The poorest itinerant cultivators will only buy so-called spells, techniques, and secret arts from the stalls here. Those with a bit of wealth will only go to the shops of big families or clans.
Some stalls were directly a large vehicle frame, with many cages containing living beings on top of it. These were for selling young demon beasts, mount spirit pets, and so on.
Demon beasts are divided into spirit-food demons and cultivable demons. The former are used for consumption, while the latter are raised to be assistants in duels or as family guardian spirit beasts.
It's not that itinerant cultivators can't afford spirit-food demons, but they often have to take a deep breath and buy a cultivable demon to keep at home.
There are many types of mounts, and even some whose infant forms can grow up to the refining qi stage.
The most special are the spirit pets, which are the most expensive. They are directly tamed demons, which can be used immediately after purchase.
These spirit pets are usually cultivated by cultivation families or related clans, so they are very expensive.
It didn't take long for Yu Lou to locate the monk whose stall was filled with all kinds of talismans.
"Comrade, do you accept thousand-mile talismans?"
The monk looked up at Yu Lou and said, looking at him and then at Yù Aṇ behind him.
"Take them out and show me, I'll take them if the quality is good."
Yu Lou took out a stack of talismans from his bosom and handed them over. The stall owner scanned them with his spiritual sense and quickly realized something was wrong.
"The thousand-mile talisman can bring the endurance of a thousand-mile horse, allowing for long-distance pursuits, so it's often made from the blood of ordinary level celestial beasts like green chestnut horses."
"But I see that the blood you used for these talismans is not that of a thousand-mile horse. In fact, it can't even give the user more than a hundred-mile range!"
Yu Lou explained.
"Comrade, you don't know that I used the blood of a spirit beast, a sacred beast produced by a spirit beast. The thousand-mile talismans drawn from ordinary beast blood are not the same thing, and the side effects are much smaller."
We also need to thank Mr. Tang for his help.
Cultivating magical artifacts requires learning prohibitions, and mastering prohibitions requires accumulating experience in making talismans. If we consider the guiding spirit talisman as a foundational activation switch, then the thousand-mile talisman is one of the foundational entry-level talismans.
Thanks to the blood of the spirit beast from Zhī Wèi Fáng, Yu Lou was able to save a lot of spiritual stones on material expenses.
If the old Tang had restricted the supply of spirit blood, they would not have been able to save even a single spiritual stone.
In addition, the Wang family's spirit beast thousand-mile talismans may have a shorter duration, but they also have other unique advantages.
The blood of spirit beasts in demonic talismans can affect the user's spiritual energy circulation, but the blood of spirit beasts from demons will not have such issues.
After hearing Yu Lou's explanation, the monk who had set up the stall sized him up and tentatively asked.
"Spirit beast? Are you Yu Lou?"
"Ah?"
Not only was Yu Lou surprised, but even Yu Aṇ was startled.
Gao Jian's underlings at the door know us; we understand that.
But for any itinerant cultivator to recognize us in the ghost market is a bit of a stretch.
"Haha, it's me, Wu Jǐnyán."
Wu Jǐnyán, a close friend of Hongméi, and a witness to their apprentice ceremony with Hongméi, was naturally recognized by Yu Lou.
"Wu senior, how are you selling talismans?"
The Wu family mine ores. If they are selling anything, it should be spiritual minerals and spiritual gold.
"Ah, just a way to supplement the household expenses. By the way, have you told your master about coming to the ghost market?"
"This... of course, it has been reported." Yu Lou answered.
Wu Jǐnyán smiled knowingly and said.
"All right, I'll buy these several dozen thousand-mile talismans at my price of twenty spiritual stones. It's not to make you suffer, how about that?"
Twenty spiritual stones for a stack of thousand-mile talismans with varying qualities, this price is indeed fair.
Yu Lou nodded, thinking that Wu Jǐnyán was also a familiar face, so he didn't want to trouble a second person, and asked directly.
"Wu senior, we also want to buy some spiritual beasts for alchemy. Even if we include the twenty spiritual stones, our budget is only thirty-five. Do you have any suitable ones?"
