readytorunbook Chapter 5 First Steps into Sunset City
Chapter 5 First Steps into Sunset City
The noise below gradually subsided, and the young man on stage began to shout out his wares.
"The first item of this auction..."
Liu Xingxing went from being excited at first to getting increasingly bored by the window. The early photos were all small trinkets that anyone with a little money could buy, and the later photos were just so-so, with not a single one that caught her eye.
Liu Xingxing drank tea in her room for half a day before finally hearing about the things she had sent for auction.
"The final item in this auction is a bottle containing three Grade 5 High-Quality Rejuvenation Pills. These pills can restore life to those who are seriously injured, making them a life-saving miracle drug. The starting bid for each pill is two thousand spirit stones, and the starting bid for all three is six thousand spirit stones."
The room erupted in cheers.
"Fifth tier? Who's going to spend so much?"
"I never expected to find a fifth-grade pill in a place like this!"
"And it's top-grade! I've never seen anything like it in my life!"
It's not fair to blame them. There are many alchemists on the Yuanzhou Continent, but only a handful can refine fifth-grade pills or higher. They are all highly sought-after and admired.
As luck would have it, Liu Jun's spiritual root is pure fire. Although it is not as balanced as that of alchemists with fire and wood spiritual roots, if used properly, the pills she refines will be purer and have fewer impurities (an ordinary NPC with her top-notch skills).
No one knows when Liu Jun refined this bottle of pills, but judging from the way it was left to gather dust in a corner, it must have been quite old.
After a while, people gradually quieted down. The people downstairs didn't have the financial strength to bid, but the people in the rooms upstairs started bidding.
"Seven thousand." came the voice from the room on the left.
"Eight thousand." came the voice from across the hall.
"Ten thousand." A lazy voice came from across the street.
The young man on stage was also seeing this kind of scene for the first time, but he calmly said, "Alright, private room number eight has offered ten thousand spirit stones. Anyone else bidding?"
"Fifteen thousand," someone in the crowd said casually.
Everyone immediately turned their attention to the figure, who was wearing a veil and whose face was obscured, but judging from the voice, he was a middle-aged man.
Liu Xingxing never expected that a bottle of pills gathering dust in a corner would fetch tens of thousands of yuan. Although that's only equivalent to a few thousand high-grade spirit stones, it's still an amount that ordinary people can't afford.
The young man finally swallowed hard, unable to contain himself any longer: "Fifteen thousand spirit stones, anyone else bidding?"
The room fell silent. The auctioneer brought down the gavel: "Alright, since no one is bidding higher, congratulations to this distinguished guest for winning the last item of the auction!"
There was another uproar below. Now that the auction was over, people left one after another, and Liu Xingxing was also invited back to the hall she had been in.
After the auction items were handed over, it was Manager Mo who came to receive Liu Xingxing, bringing with him more than 10,000 mid-grade spiritual energy.
Mo Cao bowed again, smiling as he presented a storage ring containing spirit stones, saying, "My esteemed guest, this is your auction proceeds."
Liu Xingxing raised her hand and swept it over the storage ring, transferring all the spirit stones in the storage ring to her own ring. Except for the extraction fee, not a single one was missing. Liu Xingxing nodded in satisfaction.
Mo Cao then said, "I wonder if you could send someone to teach you? If you have any good things to offer in the future, I hope you will consider our place."
Liu Xingxing had disguised herself before leaving home, and what she was revealing now was only the cultivation level of the Golden Core stage. In this place near the Xuanshan Sect, even though the area was not large, Foundation Establishment cultivators were as common as dogs, and Golden Core cultivators were everywhere.
The young girl looked quite young, but she was incredibly wealthy and could produce fifth-grade pills. Mo Cao figured she might be the beloved disciple of some high-level alchemist, and it would be wise to make a connection and curry favor with her.
Liu Xingxing had never lost a conversation before, so she casually replied, "My master couldn't reveal the details, but I've remembered what Manager Mo said. We'll meet again someday."
Mo Cao beamed: "Yes, yes, please take care, sir."
After spending half a day joining in the fun and having made some money, Liu Xingxing returned to the restaurant where she had started. The innkeeper kept his word and gave her a nice room to stay in.
Liu Xingxing was finally able to focus on studying the situation in this world.
……
Five days later, Liu Xingxing left Lushan City full of confidence after her tireless (not really) research.
Her first stop on this journey was Kunyuan Sunset City, which was often plagued by beast tides, where she planned to do some chivalrous deeds and see what fun things awaited her.
Kunyuan belongs to the Mucang Sect, one of the three major sects. This sect is skilled in sword cultivation and has the most sword cultivators among all sects.
Sunset City isn't too far from the Twilight Sect's main gate, and there are many sword cultivators there. Logically speaking, the demonic beasts should have been wiped out completely, so why do beast tides occur so frequently?
According to the description in "The Chronicles of the Primordial Continent", Sunset City is adjacent to a forest of monsters. This forest is so vast that the monsters inside are so numerous that they have not been eradicated even after thousands of years. Over time, this has become a habit.
There are many demonic beasts and abundant resources, so there is no plan to relocate the city. However, the Mu Cang Sect sends disciples to guard the area every year, which can be considered a form of training.
If a beast tide is encountered, a few elders can be called to suppress it. However, beast tides occur once every ten years, which is considered stable and there are no unexpected events. This gives the sect plenty of time to plan how to deal with the next one.
This year marks another decade of the Sunset City beast tide, and Liu Xingxing is very interested in it, imagining what it would be like along the way.
Everything in this world was extremely new to her, a "newcomer," and resisting the beast tide was also a good deed, making it the most suitable stop for her first journey.
However, this beast tide should not have arrived yet, otherwise it would have been recorded long ago.
It took Liu Xingxing more than half a month to reach Sunset City. In fact, she could have gone much faster, but she had never seen what the cultivation world was like before, so she took her time to get to know the local customs and culture along the way.
She also encountered three instances of murder and treasure robbery and five instances of people being chased by monsters, but none of these had anything to do with Liu Xingxing. She simply watched everything happen and end from afar.
She doesn't have a saintly heart and saves everyone she sees; this is the cultivation world, where such things happen every day.
Upon arriving outside Sunset City, they retrieved the leaf-shaped flying vehicle, skillfully disguised themselves, and entered the city.
Actually, she had several more impressive flying vehicles in her mind's eye, the kind that would dazzle anyone, but Liu Xingxing thought it best to keep a low profile, otherwise she would be the one being killed and robbed along the way, although she wasn't afraid at all.
However, Liu Xingxing overestimated the quality of life in the Sunset City area, and was stopped shortly after entering the city.
In broad daylight, in front of a large crowd, he was brazenly stopped by several men who looked like energetic young men, while passersby acted as if it were nothing unusual.
Liu Xingxing was completely bewildered. What kind of custom was this?
A young man dressed in a slick, disreputable style stepped forward and said, "Oh, the newbie?"
Liu Xingxing glanced at him calmly: "Stopping people in broad daylight, and the people of Mu Cang Sect don't care?"
The young man laughed loudly: "Pshaw, Twilight Cang Sect? My father is from the Twilight Cang Sect, and he's in charge of Sunset City. Don't bring up the Twilight Cang Sect."
Tsk, another one with a powerful father backer. Liu Xingxing was speechless. She had just dealt with one and another one kept coming.
The person who can manage Sunset City and has some power must be someone with the position of elder in the Twilight Sect.
Sunset City has been plagued by monsters for years, and there are always people who want to come here to scavenge for treasures, so all sorts of weirdos come here.
A chaotic town is bound to breed some self-righteous forces. The Twilight Cang Sect can handle big matters, but it can't handle these small matters, or... it simply doesn't want to.
However, without knowing the whole picture, one cannot judge right or wrong.
Liu Xingxing looked at him with amusement: "So, why are you so blatantly stopping people?"
The young man arrogantly glanced at them and said, "It's the rule in Sunset City that newcomers must pay one hundred spirit stones upon entering the city!"
Liu Xingxing: ...
Sigh, I thought it was something serious, making her think so much.
Liu Xingxing feigned confusion: "The guards didn't mention it when we entered the city, did they?"
Yang Shan said matter-of-factly, "I said I'd charge one hundred, and that's it. If you don't want to pay, get out of the city right now!"
Looking at this paper tiger baring its fangs and claws, Liu Xingxing suddenly felt that this young man wasn't completely bad after all; he had a foolish air about him, which made it impossible for her to take action.
Liu Xingxing smiled and said, "Okay, when you say one hundred spirit stones, is it low-grade or mid-grade?"
This was the first time Yang Shan had encountered someone so easy to talk to, and he was momentarily stunned: "Of course... wait, do you have mid-grade spirit stones?"
"Na."
Liu Xingxing took out a bag of spirit stones and gave it to him, her expression as if to say, "I'm giving this to you because you're so poor."
Yang Shan took the bag in disbelief, opened it, and saw that it was indeed a mid-grade spirit stone, and the bag was full of them!
Yang Shan was almost moved to tears and immediately released the person.
Liu Xingxing couldn't understand why they were putting on this show. Watching the few figures walking away with the word "spirit" on their backs, she just treated it as a special program for entering the city.