Bazzar

"Zhen'er, where were you? I said not to move from there.", Zihao berated the smiling Sheng Zhen, who bowed his head in embarrassment and answered.

"Nothing, just that guards did not like cart standing in front of the inn, and told to move", Sheng Zhen made something up.

Zihao looked at him with suspicion but let it go.

Soon they had sold the grains and Uncle Zihao's pockets were twenty silver coins heavier. The cart only had bundles of sickle grass and some empty sacks.

"Now Alchemist Hall?"

"No, let's search for some vendor first. We may find some buyers outside."

"Uncle, didn't you say earlier we were going to Alchemist Hall?"

"Yes, but first we are going to the bazaar, we might get a better buyer there.", saying that, Zihao turned the cart into a narrow alley, at least the previous road. While the previous paths were made for mounts of the cultivators and could easily allow ten horsecarts side by side, this barely allowed two to pass with all the vendors and stalls on the sides.

The whole alley was packed with people, vendors shouting, about exotic ingredients, blacksmiths laying their wares on the ground for all to see, heaven and earth materials laying in open displays, and...

"All cultivators do not go to Alchemist Hall or City Auction House to buy resources, usually coming here instead. Here you can barter for even flying swords but if you are not careful... get swindled for one", Uncle Zihao said, smiling. Sheng Zhen was pretty sure he swindled some poor folks here before.

Getting down from the horsecart and tying it nearby, they entered the crowded alley.

"Won't the cart get stolen?"

"Don't worry, no one here will be interested in the humble cart of a mortal merchant"

Sheng Zhen looked around and spotted many people in saber, sword, spears, and other weapons milling around, looking at wares. Cultivators of every strength were present there, from Qi gathering to False Core.

The whole bazaar was a canopy of noise, with vendors yelling, arguing, bartering with cultivators and other traders alike.

"Come one, Come All. See this miraculous pill. Only for one spirit stone, you can have this miraculous pill. Heal an injury, replenish Qi in instant."

Those were just Qi supplementing pills, that too of poor quality.

"See this mysterious rock, the Blue jade stone. Refine it to get Frost Qi and dominate your enemies."

Nah, that was just rock.

"Divine swords, Divine Sabers here. Cut through iron like butter,..."

Sheng Zhen nearly burst out laughing at the last one. Divine swords? really. The vendor had no idea what even was a true divine sword.

"Uncle Zihao, there is nothing of value here. Everyone here seemed a swindler."

Zihao rubbed the back of his head, "Actually most of the things here are not bad. Most cultivators can get by with these resources if they are careful about being swindled. After all, not everyone can afford to go to Alchemist Hall, those things are just for sects."

"Like those poor quality pills were still usable and those swords may not be divine by nay means, were still one of the best in this part of the alley."

"And the 'Blue Jade Stone'?"

"Yeah, that was a swindler."

Sheng Zhen shook his head, perhaps he was a little spoilt. Both in ancestral records of Sheng Clan and Skyword, he read about supreme pills and real, Divine Grade weapons, and more. All this time he was expecting only grade acceptable for pills was flawless grade. But now that he though about it, expecting supreme pills from a roadside vendor was a little too much.

It did not help that all the pills he refined to advance his alchemy, any one of them that was not at flawless grade were thrown back into flame to nurture Xiao Yan. Now that Sheng Zhen thought about it, he learned most of his Alchemy from Alchemy God's Manual, obviously, an existence like Alchemy god would not consider any pill below Flawless Grade. Any pill with even a speck of impurity was not a proper pill to him.

Now his heart bled knowing that even the lowest grade Qi Suplimenting pill sold for one spirit stone. He literally threw thousands of such pills in the fire, not to mention mid-grade and high-grade pills he refined were also burned by him.

'Damn...why the hell I had to be a Perfectionist. How much money could I have made?', at least there was small solace that the essence of Pills helped nourish Xiao Yan, so not all was lost.

Uncle Zihao did not notice his sorrowful expression and kept walking deeper into the alley. Soon they were encountering fewer merchants and more cultivators. Even guards posed around the alley were increasing.

A little further, no vendors were present, instead, large luxurious buildings stood on both sides. Even the atmosphere here was a little subdued.

"This was where most transactions of high level cultivators. Here each shop is either backed or owned by a major family of the city. With the amount of wealth that go through these walls, there is no way those big clans would not a piece of the pie."

"Here we are", Zihao stopped in front of a large building with finest woods and marble named 'Blooming Lotus Pavilion'.

"Maybe here we could find the pill you need."

Sheng Zhen gulped, he had already used up nearly all the spirit stones on Bebufflement Formation, and the little he had left were definitely not enough to buy a lowest quality Grade Three pill.

But before he could say anything, his Uncle had already the building.