This saved them a lot of expenses.
Over time, many mortals began to live in the "Red Sun Market".
Over the centuries, "Red Sun Market" underwent several expansions and has now become a small town where cultivators and mortals coexist.
When Li Yunjing entered the "Red Sun Market", he saw many Spirit Rice shops, Magic Treasure Towers, Spirit Medicine Halls, Immortal Wine Workshops, Divine Weapon Pavilions, inns, pawnshops along the street...
Almost all the businesses related to cultivators could be found here in this market, which resembled a small town.
"A Place of Wind, Flower, Snow, and Moon?"
Li Yunjing was even more surprised when he saw a tower with an ambiguous layout not far away.
This made Li Yunjing a bit startled.
Besides the big stores, many cultivators set up stalls along the street. Li Yunjing glanced at them and shook his head slightly, as most of the goods sold by these loose cultivators were fairly common.
Mainly some beast skins, beast meat, beast bones, low-tier magical artifacts, Qi Cultivation Pills, basic materials, and the like.
Li Yunjing wasn’t interested in these things.
"You don’t know unless you step out, but it turns out the life of a loose cultivator is really miserable!"
Li Yunjing sighed and continued shopping along the long cross street.
The "Red Sun Market" was completely different from the sect market he had been to, the "Sunset Valley." It seemed to lack any immortal aura and instead had more of a worldly atmosphere.
The long cross street was bustling with people, with various shouts and conversations blending into a lively scene.
The phenomenon of mortals and cultivators living together fascinated Li Yunjing.
This made him feel both familiar and strange.
After walking around once, Li Yunjing found there were over a hundred stalls and more than fifty shops.
This showed the prosperity of this small cultivation town.
Li Yunjing inquired a bit and found out that the stall owners need to pay one Spirit Stone per day for their spots, and these fees were handed over to the market managers.
Li Yunjing clicked his tongue secretly, calculating that the daily income from over a hundred stalls amounted to nearly forty thousand Spirit Stones a year!
This income was not low at all.
The shops must pay even higher rents.
This market was truly a Treasure Basin!
Thinking of this, Li Yunjing couldn’t help but feel envious.
But first, Li Yunjing decided to handle some of his "dirty goods" and exchange them for some Spirit Stones.
Nowadays, nothing is more important than Spirit Stones!
He spotted a material store by the roadside, a two-story building that looked quite imposing, suggesting it had some strength.
Li Yunjing thought for a moment and chose this store. With a determined stride, he walked in.
The store’s first floor was over 120 square meters, with counters filling almost every available space.
Looking through the counters with glass covers, Li Yunjing saw a variety of items, including low-tier magical artifacts, materials, elixirs, plants, and talismans.
"This is a grocery store!"
Li Yunjing immediately understood the store’s business model.
Buying low and selling high seemed to be a good way to make a living.
"Hello, Daoist friend! Are you looking to purchase some materials?"
Seeing business come through the door, an old man in a green robe smiled warmly and stepped forward to ask.
"Hmm! I have some meat, blood, bones, and scales of demon beasts to sell. Do you accept such items here?"
Li Yunjing said in a deep voice.
"Oh? Please come this way, Daoist friend!"
The old man’s eyes lit up as he introduced himself, "I am Gong Renju, the owner of this grocery store. As long as it’s good stuff, I’ll take it!"
Following Gong Renju toward the back door.
As they passed through the back door, a courtyard suddenly came into view.
The courtyard was full of flower beds, and a gentle breeze brought a refreshing fragrance.
In the center of the courtyard was a pavilion with a stone table and four stone stools. Gong Renju led the way straight there.
"What a delightful old man!"
Li Yunjing thought as he followed Gong Renju into the pavilion and both took a seat.
"Daoist friend, let me see what good things you have! I guarantee to offer you the highest price in ’Red Sun Market’,"
As soon as they sat down, Gong Renju asked.
He wasn’t interested; time is money, and money is life!
"Heh heh! Look carefully!"
Seeing that the other party wasn’t courteous at all, Li Yunjing didn’t get angry but calmly took out a storage bag and began rummaging through it in front of Gong Renju.
Soon, on the stone table appeared a section of white bone, a piece of bloody flesh, and a palm-sized scale shining with a cold light.
Gong Renju waved his hand lightly, and the most conspicuous scale flew into his palm.
"This... seems to be..."
Gong Renju’s expression turned somewhat fearful, as if he had thought of something terrible.
"What’s wrong? Is there something unusual?"
Seeing Gong Renju’s reaction, Li Yunjing was a bit surprised and felt somewhat uneasy.
Could the snake have some extraordinary origin?
"Was this snake killed by you?"
Gong Renju asked with uncertainty, his voice trembling.
"Uh! I encountered it a while back, and it tried to eat me, so I killed it."
Li Yunjing replied honestly, but he was inwardly frightened, thinking the snake might have significant origins and might bring trouble.
In the Immortal Cultivation Realm, it’s often said that whenever you hit the small ones, the old ones will come.
This giant snake was very formidable; if not for his many tricks, it would have been difficult to kill it.
Could it be some special demon beast?
Would it have some old ancestor behind it? Or maybe it was someone’s spirit beast?
The idea of a spirit beast made Li Yunjing uncomfortable.
"Indeed, you were the one who killed it?"
Gong Renju smiled wryly and asked in a deep voice, "Do you know what this snake is called?"
"Hmm! I really don’t know. Daoist friend Gong, do you know its origins?"
"Heh heh! Let me tell you, then! Many people do know about it!"
Gong Renju shook his head and put the scale down, seeming lost in thought for a long time before speaking.
Li Yunjing cursed silently but couldn’t show it as he had something to ask of the other party. He maintained an attentive posture.
"You are wearing the Daoist Robe of the ’Shenxiao Dao Sect’, right? Judging by the style, it seems you are a servant disciple?"
Gong Renju laughed and continued to drag out the suspense.
However, Li Yunjing was already a bit impatient, so he coldly spat out one word.
"Alright! It seems Daoist friend is in a hurry!"
Gong Renju sighed and started to recall, slowly saying, "Five hundred years ago, Red Sun Valley was not the territory of the ’Shenxiao Dao Sect’. Back then, it was occupied by a creature known as the ’Red Sun Giant Snake’."
"This place was a forbidden zone for the Human Race!"
"No one dared to set foot here!"
"Then, by chance, someone explored ’Red Sun Valley’ and returned alive, bringing information about an ore vein here!"
"Eventually, the news of the ore vein reached the high echelons of the Shenxiao Dao Sect. Several Golden Core Realm ancestors led a thousand disciples to sweep the entire ’Red Sun Valley’, killing over ten thousand ’Red Sun Giant Snakes’."
"Among them was even a Golden Core Realm ’Red Sun Giant Snake’ ancestor!"
"Your Shenxiao Dao Sect was truly formidable! Pushing everything aside, no demon fiend could withstand the attack of ’Purple Sky Divine Thunder’! After this great battle, your Sect gained the ’Red Sun Ore Vein’!"
Gong Renju revealed all this.