Chapter 5: Yunlaifang City

The moon is on the top of the willows,

People make appointments after dusk.

In the evening, west of Qingyun Sect, outside Yunlai Market.

Under the silver moonlight, the whole picture of the market appeared before our eyes.

The market is very large, occupying the entire valley, two or three hundred feet long and twenty or thirty feet wide. Streets are intersecting and staggered, and shops of all sizes are lined up. Although the buildings are not magnificent, they also have their own characteristics.

The entire market is divided into four areas by a crossroads, two of which are occupied by shops in layers. The door of each shop is very busy, with countless customers coming in and out.

The other area is a relatively wide square, and the stalls of the cultivators surround the square, sparsely arranged in a "U"-shaped path. And those who choose to trade items walk in the middle of the open space with stalls on both sides in twos and threes. The coming and going is quite a bit of the atmosphere of secular business.

As for the last area, it is occupied by a huge, magnificent building. Those who came in and out were either wealthy monks holding [spiritual weapons] and wearing [spiritual clothes], or powerful monks with spiritual pressure all over their bodies. As far as Lin Chen knew, this was a high-standard auction house.

At this time, the sky was a little dim. In the market, the bronze lamps placed on both sides of the road lit up one by one, illuminating the shops and the square clearly.

However, these lamps did not contain any burning materials such as lamp oil. Instead, they each held a fist-sized night-shining pearl that emitted soft light all over.

This was a night-shining pearl. The light it emitted not only illuminated the stalls under the lamp like daylight, but in Lin Chen's opinion, its brightness was even comparable to the incandescent lamps in his previous life.

Although it was night, there were many more people in the square than during the day. Not only were there some new stalls in the square, but the number of people visiting the stalls also increased sharply. A large number of immortal cultivators poured into the square at this time, making this place very lively for a while.

Yunlai Market is a market under the jurisdiction of Qingyun Sect. There is a foundation-building cultivator stationed in the market, and there are more than a dozen cultivators who have reached the late stage of Qi training [Cyclone Realm] to manage daily affairs.

Not only that, teams of cultivators can often be seen walking majestically in the market. Each member of these patrol teams has a cultivation level above the Xiantian stage, and there are cultivators in the early stage of Qi training [Yangyuan Realm]. They wear spiritual armor and carry a large number of talismans. Once there is any disturbance, they will respond quickly.

Of course, Qingyun Sect collects a considerable amount of rent from the shops every year, and the most profitable auction houses and alchemy and refining businesses in the market have its shadow.

In the evening, a young man wearing a gray robe of the outer sect of Qingyun Sect, a bamboo hat, and a black veil on his face, with a somewhat thin figure, slowly walked from a distance.

It took a lot of time to stop and go along the way, so it was already night when he arrived.

Lin Chen glanced at the market, and then walked straight inside.

Passing by the square, Lin Chen glanced over there, and quickly retracted his gaze. He recalled that when he first came to the market a few years ago, he always felt that he was the legendary son of destiny, and he was lucky, so he wanted to run to the square to pick up bargains. In the end, he didn't pick up anything, but lost nearly a hundred spiritual stones.

Since then, he said that he would never go there again, and went directly to the shops. Although it was a little more expensive, it was better than being cheated.

Lin Chen did not go directly to the destination, but walked a few laps beyond the routine. After finding that no one was following him, he went straight to the destination-Bao Fu Shop.

This store is located on a busy street. People come and go in the store, it's so lively.

Lin Chen walked into the store. The store is antique, and the ceiling is inlaid with glowing pearls. There are cabinets around, and various kinds of spiritual talismans are placed on them.

"Sir, what kind of spiritual talisman do you need? My Bao Fu Shop has a variety of..." As soon as Lin Chen entered the door, a waiter immediately came up to greet him.

"I'm looking for your shop owner Wu Xueting." Lin Chen interrupted him before he finished speaking.

The waiter was stunned, but he reacted immediately and walked into the back room.

Not long after entering, a middle-aged female cultivator in purple clothes and a plump figure came to greet him.

This person was Wu Xueting, the owner of the Baofu Shop.

"It turns out to be Zhang Daoyou." She seemed to know Lin Chen and couldn't help but smile when she saw him.

Zhang Ping was Lin Chen's pseudonym when he went out.

Lin Chen nodded in disbelief and said lightly: "Old rules."

Wu Xueting immediately understood and invited him with her delicate palm.

"Please."

Then she walked in front to lead the way.

Then the two went upstairs and entered an antique small room next to it. The room was covered with a carpet and had all the necessary items.

Wu Xueting closed the door, asked Lin Chen to sit down, and took out a teacup and poured a cup of hot tea for Lin Chen without panic.

"Fellow Daoist Zhang, what kind of talismans did you bring today?" Wu Xueting asked with a smile.

Lin Chen did not reply, but took out ten stacks of talismans from the [storage bag], placed them on the table, and said lightly: "Let's check the goods, according to the old rules."

Wu Xueting saw this and did not care. After dealing with each other for many years, he naturally knew that the other party was not a person who liked to talk nonsense during the transaction.

"One hundred first-level upper-grade talismans, three hundred first-level middle-grade talismans, and the remaining six hundred first-level lower-grade talismans. Based on the different types of talismans and their preciousness, I will calculate two thousand one hundred spirit stones for you. What do you think?" After some calculations, Wu Xueting asked softly.

Two thousand one hundred spirit stones is a huge sum of money for a cultivator in the Qi training stage. After all, most cultivators in the Qi training stage can earn one or two spirit stones a day, and earning a few hundred a year is already good.

And only cultivators who have made achievements in alchemy, refining, talisman making and other immortal arts can earn enough spirit stones for their own cultivation.

However, Lin Chen did not look happy, but frowned and asked immediately: "The price of talismans has increased again?"

"That's right." Wu Xueting nodded, and then handed over a small book, "This is the price increase of various talismans in the market in the past three months."

Whether it is buying or selling talismans, their prices are not fixed, but rise and fall according to the overall market situation.

Lin Chen glanced at her, took out gloves from the storage bag, put them on, took the small book, and looked through it.

The talismans he made are of good quality and large quantity, and are very popular in the market.

The reason why she chose to sell in this store is because the other party promised that every three months, she would spend a certain amount of money to count the purchase, sales, and price change trends of the talismans in the market.

"Daoyou, if the price of talismans rises, can't you make more money? Why do you seem unhappy?" Looking at Lin Chen constantly analyzing the data in the book, Wu Xueting couldn't help but ask softly.

"The dynamic balance of supply relations is the basis for the price of talismans to remain stable in the market. However, the talismans that have entered the market in the past year have basically remained within a certain range, but the prices have continued to rise. What do you think this means?" Lin Chen glanced at her and suddenly asked.

Supply?

Wu Xueting was stunned when she heard this, but she still roughly understood what he meant.

"Daoyou means that now in the market, the demand for talismans is increasing, but the supply remains unchanged, so the price continues to rise?"

"That's right." Lin Chen nodded.

In simple terms, it means that more is bought and the amount sold remains unchanged. Many merchants see that it is profitable and raise the price of talismans.

"But isn't this a good thing?" Wu Xueting didn't understand.

"Good news?" Lin Chen repeated the two words softly, and continued, "Except for the spiritual stones used for cultivation, the spiritual stones consumed by a cultivator to buy talismans are basically maintained at a certain limit. The same is true for the cultivator group."

"If the source of spiritual stones increases, at most the price of elixirs will increase. After all, talismans are not needed for cultivation." Lin Chen put down the notebook, stood up, walked to the window, and looked down at the crowd downstairs.

"The price of elixirs required for cultivation remains basically unchanged." Wu Xueting murmured. For some reason, she had a bad premonition in her heart when listening to Lin Chen's calm words.

After all, elixirs are indispensable for most cultivators, and in Yunlai Market, she is naturally very sensitive to the price of elixirs.

"Could it be that more cultivators are buying them?" Wu Xue hesitated and said.

"There are only so many elixirs supplied in the market. If there are more cultivators, their prices should also increase. It is impossible that new cultivators only buy talismans and not elixirs, right?" Lin Chen asked back.

"Besides, you have been here for so long, has anything major happened in Yunlai Market that forced all cultivators to buy talismans to fight?"

"This..." Wu Xueting was speechless for a moment, and after thinking carefully, she realized that there was indeed no such thing, "Then what do you think is the reason?"

"You and I both know that independent cultivators lack spiritual stones and cannot afford spiritual tools, so most of the time, they use talismans to assist in fighting. So considering this situation..." Lin Chen was silent for a moment, "Then there are only two possibilities."

"Which two?"

"One is to open up the Hengduan Mountains. In order to obtain more resources, independent cultivators and sect cultivators buy a large number of talismans for fighting, just like the one fifty years ago."

Fifty years ago, in the Hengduan Mountains, north of Qingyun Sect, a Jindan-stage monster was killed by Qingyang Zhenren of Qingyun Sect. Later, in order to obtain the huge territory left by the other party, Qingyun Sect launched a vigorous land reclamation operation and gained huge benefits in one fell swoop.

"Could it be that the upper sect is going to carry out another land reclamation operation?" Wu Xueting was stunned.

"If it is a land reclamation operation, then the attack-type talismans should be sold well, after all, the main enemy is the monsters guarding the treasures of heaven and earth. But after observing the market this year, the talismans that have risen continuously tend to be healing, defense, and escape, so I am more inclined to the second possibility." Lin Chen pointed at the account book with a blank expression on his face.

"What possibility?"

Lin Chen did not answer, but stared out of the window in a daze. The evening breeze blew from outside, gently brushing the wind chimes on the windowsill, making a crisp and pleasant sound.

"Fellow Daoist Zhang?"

Hearing this, Lin Chen turned his head, looked at her deeply, and whispered a few words: "The precursor of war."

For a moment, the atmosphere in the field seemed to solidify. It was a hot night, but Wu Xueting felt a lingering chill.