Chapter 165: Extremely Cautious

"Senior Brother, you've succeeded!" He Li stood up and exclaimed in pleasant surprise.

Bai Qingzhou nodded slightly, slowly descending to the ground, and smiled with a chuckle, "My luck wasn't bad this time. I've barely managed to advance to the second layer of Qi Condensation."

"That's wonderful!" He Zuo cheered, throwing his arms up, "Congratulations, Senior Brother!"

Wu Haoming also stepped forward, cupping his fists with a smile, "This junior also congratulates Senior!"

Bai Qingzhou acknowledged them one by one, then said, "Alright, if there's nothing else, let's get back on the road. We should be less than two days away from Taimiao Market by now."

"Understood!" He Li immediately replied.

"Then what about these beast meats..." He Zuo pointed at the beast meat still hanging from the tree, reminding him.

Seeing this, Bai Qingzhou waved his sleeve, and spiritual energy instantly materialized into an invisible giant hand, taking down the beast meats hanging from the tree one by one and storing them into his [Storage Bag].

"Let's go." Bai Qingzhou summoned the [Wind-Riding Immortal Crane].

"You got it!"

...

After two days of intermittent travel, the four of them finally arrived at Taimiao Market.

Looking at the marketplace before them, which still belonged to the Four Directions Alliance, everyone exchanged a tacit glance, and with a shared understanding, they each retrieved a black robe and carefully donned it, concealing their facial features and appearances as much as possible.

"Be careful when we go in. Don't let people from the Four Directions Alliance discover us and bring about unnecessary trouble!" Bai Qingzhou reminded the three of them before entering.

"Uh... Senior, how are we going to sell this tin ore then?" Wu Haoming asked with a troubled expression.

He had mined a full thousand catties at the quarry. If he were to sell it all at once, it would inevitably attract the attention of the Four Directions Alliance.

Bai Qingzhou pondered for a moment and said, "Here is what we'll do: we will first buy what each of us needs, and then you and I will split up to sell it. As soon as the tin ore is sold, we will leave the marketplace immediately."

"Alright!" Wu Haoming agreed instantly, "I'll listen to Senior!"

With that, he activated his [Storage Bag] with spiritual energy, split half of the thousand catties of tin ore from the bag, and made it float in front of Bai Qingzhou.

Just as Bai Qingzhou was receiving the tin ore, He Zuo raised his head from the side and asked, "Senior Brother, aren't we going to rest in the marketplace?"

Bai Qingzhou glanced at the distant marketplace, shook his head, and said, "No rest. It's too dangerous to wander around Taimiao Market right now. Once we finish purchasing our supplies, we'll leave."

When traveling out in the world, safety must always come first.

"Ah..." He Zuo's expression instantly turned dejected and pitiful, "But we've been rushing around for so long without getting a proper rest..."

"Slap!"

He Li directly slapped He Zuo on the head, scolding, "What rest?! What are we going to do if people from the Four Directions Alliance spot us?!"

"Xiaoli is right," Bai Qingzhou agreed. "Liuyun Market is only about half a month away from here. We can rest properly once we get there."

Hearing Bai Qingzhou say this, He Zuo could only clutch his head and mutter gloomily, "Alright then..."

Bai Qingzhou turned to look at Wu Haoming and asked, "I need to buy some spiritual rice this time when we go in. What are your plans? Are you going to buy a flying magical artifact?"

Wu Haoming's flying magical artifact had been lost in the previous fight. If he wanted to return to his sect's mountain gate, he would need to purchase a new one.

"Of course I have to buy a flying magical artifact! But..." Wu Haoming spread his hands and said helplessly, "I have no money..."

"You don't bring money when you go out?" He Zuo looked at Wu Haoming with a guarded expression, "You're not planning to ask Senior Brother for money again, are you?"

Wu Haoming shook the [Storage Bag] in his hand and chuckled, "Hehe, of course not. I don't have money right now, but I have tin ore! Once I sell these materials, I'll have money..."

Bai Qingzhou nodded and said, "Then you go sell your materials first, and buy your magical artifact afterward. We'll meet at the marketplace entrance in half an hour."

"Got it!" Wu Haoming acknowledged.

After a brief exchange of words, Bai Qingzhou manipulated the [Wind-Riding Immortal Crane] to fly forward.

The entrance of Taimiao Market was not as bustling as the markets within the Wuji Alliance; the flow of people was less than half of theirs, evidently suffering from poor management.

However, Bai Qingzhou did not find this strange. After all, throughout the entire Linjiang Prefecture, the strength of the Wuji Alliance was considered top-tier. Both the power of the Core Formation ancestors and the resources within the alliance's territory were in the highest bracket.

Naturally, it would be far superior to the Four Directions Alliance located in the borderlands.

The group slowly descended at the marketplace entrance.

The four of them dressed in black robes did not attract any attention. After all, quite a few people entering and leaving the marketplace wore black robes, and everyone was already accustomed to this sight.

"Xiaozuo, Xiaoli, follow me." Bai Qingzhou put away his magical artifact and said softly.

With that, he walked into the entrance of the marketplace, and He Zuo and He Li hurriedly followed behind.

The stone slabs on the streets of Taimiao Market looked somewhat aged. After taking a brief look at the marketplace's layout, Bai Qingzhou and the other two parted ways with Wu Haoming.

Looking at the somewhat declining Taimiao Market, Bai Qingzhou had no mood to stroll around. He casually asked a passerby for directions and walked straight toward his destination.

Soon, he arrived at the entrance of a rice shop.

The primary backup supply was definitely spiritual rice. If one was in the wild, encountering demonic beasts with good luck meant there was no need to worry about the source of beast meat.

However, spiritual rice was a resource that could never be obtained in the wild, because it required spiritual farmers to meticulously tend and cultivate it, making it vastly different from beast meat.

Bai Qingzhou glanced at the rice barrel placed at the entrance and stepped forward to ask, "How much are you selling your spiritual rice for per catty?"

"Fourteen catties for one lower-grade spirit stone," the shop assistant guarding the store replied promptly.

Bai Qingzhou nodded slightly. This price was even lower than the one in the Wuji Alliance, though the reason was unknown.

With a thought, twenty-five lower-grade spirit stones instantly appeared in his hand.

"Give me three hundred and fifty catties."

He wanted to buy a bit more all at once so that if he encountered unexpected events like this again, he wouldn't have to worry about running out of spiritual rice to eat.

After all, as a cultivation practitioner, one still needed to consume spiritual rice. No matter how delicious worldly food was, it tasted like chewing wax to cultivators, because food devoid of spiritual energy would make the spiritual energy within a cultivator's body chaotic, requiring meditation and adjustment to digest.

Seeing the twenty-odd spirit stones in Bai Qingzhou's hand, the shop assistant was overjoyed and immediately replied, "Right away!"

The shop assistant was extremely deft and nimble, packing up several hundred catties of spiritual rice in no time.

With a wave of his hand, Bai Qingzhou stored all the spiritual rice into his [Storage Bag] and turned to leave.

...

"Let's go. We're going to sell this tin ore," Bai Qingzhou said to He Zuo and He Li, who were following behind him.

He Li raised her head and asked, "Senior Brother, where are we going to sell it?"

"We need to find a material shop to sell this item. Although the price will be a bit lower, it is much faster than setting up a street stall. We shouldn't linger here for long and must race against time," Bai Qingzhou said earnestly.

In the marketplace, the acquisition price of a shop was bound to be much cheaper than selling at a street stall.