Volume 1, Chapter 109 – The Arena

After resting for a while at the inn, Shi Lan took a few people and went ahead to the market in the west of the city.

This market was the largest trading place in Gufeng City, a mixed bag where all kinds of shops could be found, mainly serving martial artists.

The streets were packed and bustling. This was also why Shi Lan had chosen to set up the arena here. The more people there were, the faster news would spread.

Seeing there was still some time before the appointment she had made with the lumber yard owner, Shi Lan tossed down a few gold notes and told the others to wait here, then entered the market with Wu Lingkong.

Shops lined both sides of the street, selling pills, magical tools, talismans, and so on. Everything was available. Most of the people walking the street had vigorous blood and energy and sharp light in their eyes. One look and you could tell they were martial artists.

From time to time, Shi Lan would see one or two Innate Realm martial artists pass by. The quality of martial artists in Gufeng City was clearly higher than in the cities they had passed through before.

Shi Lan was quite interested in the shops along the road, but Wu Lingkong had little interest. She had been to places a hundred times more prosperous than this.

Wu Lingkong let her gaze wander aimlessly around, then suddenly froze and stopped walking, her expression a little dazed.

“What is it?”

Seeing the absent look on Wu Lingkong’s face, Shi Lan followed her gaze.

A three-story building, rather grandly decorated, stood by the street. Looking at the plaque hanging above the door, Shi Lan asked in some confusion, “Nishang Pavilion… what kind of place is that?”

Wu Lingkong came back to herself and smiled. “It’s a fairly powerful business. They mainly deal in auxiliary-type magical tools. When I was in the Central Heaven Domain, I used to go often. I didn’t expect Nishang Pavilion’s branches to have opened all the way into the Chengtian Domain.”

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With that, Wu Lingkong tugged on Shi Lan’s sleeve. “Come in with me and take a look.”

Shi Lan followed Wu Lingkong into Nishang Pavilion. As soon as they stepped through the door, she caught a faint, elegant fragrance, like orchids in a secluded valley. It seeped into the heart and calmed the mind.

Right inside the entrance stood a ring of counters. Most of the customers in front of them were women. The few men present all had female companions.

Wu Lingkong let go of Shi Lan’s sleeve and began circling the counters.

Shi Lan stepped up to them as well. Inside the glass, one magical tool after another was displayed. Most were in the form of accessories, such as jade hairpins, bracelets, and so on. In several slightly larger counters, there were all kinds of dresses. Clearly, this place catered specifically to women.

After glancing at the prices marked beneath these magical tools, Shi Lan could not help drawing in a sharp breath.

Magical tools were divided into four grades: low, mid, high, and top. Generally, a low-grade magical tool, if the quality was a bit poor, could be bought for a few dozen spirit crystals. Mid-grade magical tools tended to be in the hundreds.

High-grade magical tools were more expensive, ranging from one to two thousand spirit crystals, while top-grade magical tools started at two thousand as a base but rarely exceeded four thousand.

In Nishang Pavilion, even low-grade magical tools started at at least a hundred spirit crystals, nearly half again as expensive as ordinary tools. There were even some high-grade magical tools priced at over three thousand spirit crystals, an astronomical figure.

Even with several hundred mid-grade spirit crystals in her hand, equivalent to tens of thousands of low-grade spirit crystals, Shi Lan still shrank back from these prices.

Among the counters here, the highest level items were only high-grade magical tools. After making a round, Shi Lan looked up and saw Wu Lingkong waving to her from the stairway.

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Following Wu Lingkong upstairs to the second floor, Shi Lan, who had thought herself fairly well-off, was reminded of her own poverty for the first time in a long while.

There were far fewer magical tools on the second floor than on the first, and the customers were reduced by more than half. The items in the counters were high-grade at minimum, and their prices were higher still than those downstairs.

A few high-grade magical tools were even priced above four thousand spirit crystals, more expensive than ordinary top-grade magical tools.

As for the top-grade magical tools sparkling with flowing light, their prices started at five thousand spirit crystals.

There were even a few items whose quality clearly exceeded the category of magical tools. The prices marked beneath them had five digits.

After a quick look around, Wu Lingkong led Shi Lan out of Nishang Pavilion empty-handed.

As they walked toward the market gate,

Wu Lingkong asked, “How does it feel?” “So expensive.”

That was the only feeling Shi Lan had.

“It is a bit pricey, but the words Nishang Pavilion are worth that much. Did anything tempt you just now?”

Shi Lan shook her head. Aside from the dresses, most items were jade hairpins and bracelets. They didn’t look very practical and gave her the impression that they would break easily, leaving her with no desire to buy anything.

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“Then your self-control is much better than mine. The first time I walked into Nishang Pavilion, I wanted to cart off every magical tool in sight. Looking at it now, it’s nothing special after all.”

Wu Lingkong’s expression dimmed slightly. Three years of military life had unknowingly worn away the girl she had once been. For a moment, she felt a wave of sighing sentiment, like seas turning into mulberry fields.

When the two of them reached the market gate, piles of ironwood had already been delivered.

Wang Ning and the others were busy setting up the arena, with quite a few martial artists gathered around to watch the fun.

Since they were using solid planks, and the market was right behind them so any needed parts could be easily found, the square arena more than ten zhang on each side was erected in less than half an hour.

Wu Lingkong found a wide plank, then got ink, brush, paper, and inkstone and began writing the challenge rules.

The rules were simple. Since using magical tools caused too much disturbance, it was clearly unsuitable to fight with them in a busy market. The first rule, therefore, was a ban on magical tools.

Second, challengers on the arena could not have strength above Innate Realm Ninth Layer.

Although Shi Lan had some confidence in her own strength, she did not think she could match a Earth Fiend Realm martial artist. There was a huge watershed between the Earth Fiend Realm and the Innate Realm, and she herself was only at Innate Realm Seventh Layer.

The remaining rules were even simpler. Once one side was no longer able to fight or admitted defeat, the match was over.

Writing out the rules with practiced ease, Wu Lingkong was just about to add a line about the reward for winning the challenge when Shi Lan stopped her.

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“Raise the reward a bit. Make it four thousand spirit crystals.”

In her previous arenas, the reward for attacking the platform had been two thousand spirit crystals, but after a walk through Nishang Pavilion, Shi Lan had begun to doubt just how wealthy Gufeng City was.

The martial artists of Gufeng City might not even care about two thousand spirit crystals.

Once the challenge reward was written, Wu Lingkong set the plank up in front of the arena.

Shi Lan slowly walked onto the arena and quietly waited for her first opponent to step up.

In such a prime location with heavy foot traffic, more and more martial artists gathered around.

A martial arts arena with a peerlessly beautiful woman as its defender naturally drew most of the attention.

After waiting for half a quarter of an hour, Shi Lan still had not seen an opponent. Instead, a few market managers in black robes arrived first.

“Setting up an arena here without permission and occupying the grounds privately. By the rules, that’s a fine of three hundred spirit crystals. Do you accept?” A white-faced old man swept his eyes over the arena and spoke mildly.