Chapter 358: The Market

"There are less than seven days left until the auction begins…" Xiao Fan muttered to himself, wondering if they had arrived too early.

He had no interest in the Imperial City; for him, coming here was solely for the eight gods spirit blood.

Xiao Fan had only been sitting in his room for a short while when Nangong Lingxuan and Hu Rui both knocked on his door and came looking for him.

"Let's go, Xiao Fan, let's go explore this Imperial City." Hu Rui said, and without waiting, she pulled Xiao Fan along.

Xiao Fan: "…"

He actually disliked things like shopping and immediately refused.

However, after Hu Rui's persistent persuasion and Nangong Lingxuan's constant cold sarcasm and goading from the sidelines… Xiao Fan eventually agreed.

Warrior Feng and the others were leading the group, but they did not restrict the freedom of the Disciples; if they wanted to go out and look around, they were naturally free to do so.

Besides Xiao Fan, Hu Rui, and Nangong Lingxuan, many other Disciples had already gone out.

Warrior Feng, Elder Yin Su, and Elder Shi Pin were naturally aware of their departure, but they did not stop them.

The Imperial City was relatively safe, and danger rarely occurred within the city, especially now that the Treasure Pavilion was holding an auction, making the city's jurisdiction even stricter.

Likewise, among the Disciples they had brought this time, half were from influential Families. Although these people had joined the Jixian Sect, they certainly still maintained close ties with their own Families.

Some Disciples would even arrange to meet with people from their Families within the city. In fact, even the Nangong Family and the Hu Family would send people here. However, they had not arrived yet and would need to wait a few more days.

After leaving the restaurant, Hu Rui told Xiao Fan all of this. While they were traveling, there were too many people and ears, plus Warrior Feng and the other Elders were present, so she hadn't said anything.

Xiao Fan nodded. In fact, he had been curious about these things when he arrived. Now that he heard Hu Rui explain it, he understood everything.

The Imperial City was very large, and since it was the first time for all of them, they were unfamiliar with the terrain. The three of them simply went wherever there were the most people…

For Xiao Fan, it made no difference where they went; it was all the same.

The three of them were all wearing the purple robes of Jixian Sect Disciples, which signified their status as Inner Sect Disciples. No one in the city dared to easily provoke them.

While walking around, Xiao Fan also observed his surroundings; the number of experts in the city was truly terrifying.

In Jingchuan, if one could encounter someone in the Tongtian Realm, they would be revered and seen as a major figure. However, in this Imperial City, those in the Tongtian Realm were as common as drizzle.

He even saw several squads of Imperial City guards patrolling, led by experts in the Xuandan Realm.

"As expected of the Imperial City…" To this, Xiao Fan only had this one response…

"Is the monarch of the Wuhuang Dynasty in the Imperial City?" Xiao Fan looked at the two women and asked curiously.

In his impression, the Wuhuang Dynasty only managed the major cities, and each City Lord was appointed by the Dynasty. However, there were very few rumors about the monarch of the Wuhuang Dynasty.

At the very least, he had never heard of it in Jingchuan. The world only knew that the Four Sects held a transcendent status, which even the Wuhuang Dynasty dared not provoke lightly. Furthermore, the various great Families had never held the Wuhuang Dynasty in high regard. This led to Xiao Fan having very little understanding of the Wuhuang Dynasty.

"I'm not sure… Wuhuang Province is nominally ruled by the Wuhuang Dynasty, but the Dynasty has always been weak… I don't know what their true strength is…" Hu Rui replied.

Nangong Lingxuan's expression was calm, pretending not to have heard. Seeing her like this, Xiao Fan knew there was no need to ask; asking would be in vain, as she certainly wouldn't know…

"By the way, do you know how Qiao Rong has been lately?" Xiao Fan asked, remembering Qiao Rong.

Both women indicated they didn't know; they hadn't been in contact since entering the Inner Sect.

The group continued to wander around the Imperial City, seeing many experts gathering towards a certain market street… "There seems to be something there, let's go and take a look." Hu Rui said. The other two had no objections and went along with her.

Upon arrival, the three were stunned. It was a wide street several thousand zhang long. It was packed with people, as bustling as a market in the mortal world.

What was different from a normal market was that the items sold at these stalls were all Magical Artifacts, Medicinal Pills, Talismanic Incantations, and some ancient relics… And the people browsing were all powerful Cultivators.

"I heard from my Family before that whenever the Imperial City is busy and crowded, a Cultivator market always appears. Let's go, let's take a look; there might be good things here." Hu Rui said, smiling very happily.

"Hmm? What market?" Xiao Fan asked curiously. Nangong Lingxuan also turned her gaze toward Hu Rui. The latter explained: "Whenever there are many people in the Imperial Capital, many people come here to set up stalls to sell items they don't need, or to trade for other things…" Hu Rui explained…

Xiao Fan understood. Most people who came here to set up stalls felt that selling items at a low price to firms like the Treasure Pavilion was a loss, so they came here to sell them instead. There were also many Cultivators here disposing of excess items after killing people and looting their goods. There were also many con artists here, and some even specialized in making things look old. They would take ordinary Magical Artifacts, make them look like ancient relics, and then come here to sell them, scamming laymen…

Of course, one could occasionally encounter treasures here. For example, many years ago, an unsuspecting stall owner treated an ancient scroll recording an Earth-Rank Cultivation Technique as junk and sold it off… After the stall owner found out later, he was so angry that he vomited blood and died in depression… Such things were quite common. Hearing Hu Rui's explanation, Xiao Fan became interested as well and followed along to browse.