“Come, have a taste of this fragrant rice cake.”
“Selling tea, selling tea, this is top grade brick tea!”
“Ah Su family’s kumis, we are a ten year old brand, anyone who drinks this will know.”
…
There was a huge mix of small stall on the ground as different smells entered the nose, shouting and bargaining noises were heard all over the place.
Fang Yuan walked among them, almost at a shoulder touching distance with the surrounding people, the festive mood was so intense.
Not only was food on sale, but clothing too.
Ordinary sheep skin robe, dog skin robe, or the higher quality bull skin robe. There were beautiful fox snow robes, or the wolf skin robe that had metal pieces in them which were often worn by warriors.
Children were having fun at the food stalls, while men were bargaining at the weapon stalls. Women were choosing gems, pearls, or gold and silver accessories.
As he walked in, Fang Yuan saw a square that was assembled casually.
On the square, there were large wooden cages filled with people.
Outside the cage, there were specialized Gu Masters guarding the place, as a fat man was shouting at the top of his lungs: “Selling slave, five male slaves for half a primeval stone!”
Fang Yuan took a look and knew that it was the flourishing slave trade in northern plains.
These people were from tribes who lost in battles, after being captured alive, they lost their freedom and became commodity.
Inside the cages, there were children who were thin and wore no clothes, there were also kneeling men who lowered their heads while locked by a steel chain. Of course, there were women too.”
The fat man shouted for a long time, his forehead was sweating but the passersby were only watching. His eyes rolled as he thought of an idea, opening the wooden cage and letting a woman whose face was full of dirt walk out.
“Look, this is a top quality woman.”
As he shouted, he ripped off the torn clothes of the woman, exposing her breasts.
“Look, what a plump breast she has!”
Next, he turned the woman to the other side and slapped her butt in public.
“Look again, such a huge butt, she can have many children. Buy her home to have kids, you can even use her for manual labor!”
During the process, the woman’s expression was numb, she was like a wooden puppet that could be manipulated by anyone.
As the fat man shouted earnestly, some commotion finally occurred in the crowd.
Someone asked: “How much are you selling her for?”
“Three taels of primeval stone. Just three taels of primeval stone.” The fat man raised three fingers.
Three taels of primeval stone, it was not even half a piece.
But the person who asked for the price suddenly shouted: “What, three taels! Is this robbery, I might as well save up two more taels to buy a big stomach horse, that is much more worth it!”
The fat man’s oily face trembled as he spit on the ground: “Rubbish! You can buy a woman and ride her in bed, but if you buy a big stomach horse, although you can ride it, can it make babies for you? Poor miser, get lost if you do not want to buy!”
The fat man was a rank one Gu Master, and the person scolded was a mortal, he immediately shrunk his neck and walked away feebly.
Fang Yuan gave a few glances of interest before retracting his gaze.
The slaves that the fat man was selling were just mortals, they could not fetch a good price. But if he sold variant humans, they would be sold for a much higher price. If he sold Gu Masters, they would be high quality slaves, the price would be the highest.
Seeing these slaves, Fang Yuan could not help but think of Ma Hong Yun.
This person was born as a slave, but he had heaven defying luck.
First as a slave, he participated in battle. When his tribe lost, he saved the young tribe leader by pure luck when escaping for his life. Because of this huge merit, he was given the surname Ma, and was no longer a slave.
He became an ordinary mortal in Ma tribe. In order to earn a living, he went out to hunt, but because of his poor skills, he had no earnings. When he returned, he was tripped by a rock, he smashed this rock in anger, but discovered a white silver relic Gu under the rock. He contributed this rock to his tribe’s young tribe leader.
The young tribe leader needed this white silver relic Gu and was overjoyed, not only did he reward Ma Hong Yun handsomely, he even gave him an opportunity to cultivate.
Ma Hong Yun awakened his aperture and had B grade aptitude, but did not have any useful Gu worms. He was often bullied by nearby Gu Masters, and was thrown into the river once.
Ma Hong Yun who could not swim drank a lot of water as he flowed downstream along the river.
At the lower stream, Sheng tribe leader’s third daughter, Sheng Ling Er, was bathing. Ma Hong Yun saw everything and according to Sheng tribe’s rules, the beautiful Sheng tribe genius female Gu Master had no choice but to become his wife.
Ma Hong Yun thus received a lot of help from Sheng Ling Er, he never lacked any Gu worms or primeval stones.
In fact, Sheng Ling Er even stole her tribe’s precious Gu to raise his aptitude to A grade.
When the matter was exposed, Sheng tribe leader did not want his daughter to marry this poor lad, thus he secretly sent an expert to kill Ma Hong Yun.
But this expert had an argument with someone along the way and was killed by another expert.
Ma Hong Yun and Sheng Ling Er thus became husband and wife, and held an important position in the tribe, he was hated by Sheng tribesmen due to jealousy, and they plotted against him secretly.
He had no choice but to escape to poison grassland, and just as he was about to be killed by the poison beard wolves, he found Chang Shan Yin. After saving Chang Shan Yin, he became his loyal subject.
Just like this, due to his ridiculously good luck on many occasions, Ma Hong Yun rose up slowly, eventually becoming the lord of the imperial court.
After Hei Lou Lan died, he became the overlord of the imperial court for over a hundred years, over a dozen times.
Later, he obtained Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable and Giant Sun Immortal Venerable’s partial inheritance, and became a Gu Immortal. He was even given a blessed land by a Gu Master.
When battle and conflicts raged in the world, Ma Hong Yun became one of the powerhouses of northern plains, resisting the grand army from central continent and gained overwhelming reputation.
“At this time, Ma Hong Yun should be thirteen years old. It is a pity I do not know his true identity. Ma Hong Yun is only a name given to him after he saved Ma tribe’s young tribe leader. Ma tribe is part of the Huang Jin bloodline left behind by Giant Sun, to vie for the imperial court, they had been expanding these few years, absorbing the members of many tribes. I wonder if Ma Hong Yun has already become Ma tribe’s slave.”
Fang Yuan collected his thoughts, and found himself outside a gambling den.
There were two couplets on the door.
Left was: Show some courage, gain the fortune of the four seasons.
Right was: Show some skill, obtain the wealth of the four cardinal directions.
Across, it wrote: Luck changes with time.
The gambling den had great business, Fang Yuan was moved.
“With my experience, I might be able to earn a small fortune.” With this thought, Fang Yuan smiled, thinking of Ma Hong Yun.
This lad with overwhelming luck, he was deceived by someone who gave him the lowest grade rock to gamble with him.
Under such absurd circumstances, he obtained a rank five Gu!
Fang Yuan still had some business at the moment, he did not enter the gambling den yet.
He walked past the entrance of the gambling den, and entered the central area of this market.
This place was much quieter, there was less traffic flow and almost all passersby were Gu Masters. Even if there were mortals, they were attendants and followed beside the Gu Master, lowering their heads as they carried goods. Other than that, there were some young masters and young ladies who had not awakened their aperture.
Although there were no guards, there was a clear distinction between the two areas for mortals and Gu Masters.
The difference in strength was a formless barrier, it divided the two types of people with evidently different lives.
Fang Yuan walked briskly, wherever he went, Gu Masters gave him a look of admiration and respect, when they were in front of him, they would stop and give way to him.
Some people started talking among themselves: “Why is there a rank four expert?”
“This person has an unfamiliar face, he does not seem to be from the few large tribes around here.”
“Be careful, whenever the market opens, there will be some demonic Gu Masters who come in to get rid of their loot.”
Rank three and four were completely different.
Rank three were the middle pillar, most tribe elders of major tribes were at this level. Rank four were experts among Gu Masters, most tribe leaders were rank four, and they could roam the mortal realm freely without restraint.
Rank four initial stage aura made every action of his attract the attention of everyone.
Reverence, curiosity, or apprehension.
This place was solely for the business of Gu Masters.
There was a Gu refinement area, where Gu refinement were done in place of a Gu Master, at the same time they sold and bought recipes.
Fang Yuan lacked the recipe of the wolf enslavement Gu, after a few transactions, he bought the recipe for the rank one to three wolf enslavement Gu.
The recipe for rank four was held in the hands of the few large tribes, it was rarely seen in the market.
Thereafter, Fang Yuan went to the restaurant, but did not manage to find any top quality wine.
He went to the largest shop next.
“Esteemed expert, your presence is our shop’s honor. Please come in.” The shopkeeper was a rank three elderly Gu Master, he came out personally to attend to Fang Yuan.
“I need large numbers of wolf enslavement Gu.” Fang Yuan stated his needs immediately.
“Yes, please come with me for further discussion.” The elderly brought Fang Yuan to a beautiful room on the third floor.
After some bargaining, Fang Yuan bought five rank three wolf slavement Gu and thirty-eight rank two wolf enslavement Gu.
The shopkeeper was rubbing his palms in joy, he knew he had met a huge client: “Esteemed customer, is there anything you still need, feel free to state them.”
“Do you have defensive Gu?” Fang Yuan asked.
The elderly reported a long list of Gu names, and Fang Yuan shook his head as he listened. There was one rank four Gu but it did not fit his enslavement path. The rest were all ordinary Gu worms.
Next, Fang Yuan asked about flying Gu.
Flying Gu were rarely seen, because it had a steep learning curve. Normally, only outstanding members of large tribes would train in it from young. But because they had their tribe’s resources, they did not need to buy flying Gu.
As for other Gu Masters, very few tried to learn flying.
The shopkeeper said proudly: “Customer, you came to the right place. In this entire market, only my shop has a rank four flying cloud Gu!”
But Fang Yuan shook his head.
Although flying cloud Gu could ascend to a high altitude, it had poor maneuverability and had average speed, it was suitable for Gu Masters who did not have proper flying skills.
For him, he might as well use the rank three eagle wings Gu, it could twist and turn easily in the sky, he could use it more efficiently.
After buying one eagle wings Gu, Fang Yuan asked about the bone bamboo Gu and ghost fire Gu.
He needed these two Gu to repair the rank five battle bone wheel.
The shop had many rank two ghost fire Gu, but there was none of the rank one bone bamboo Gu.
The shopkeeper laughed bitterly: “Customer, my apologies. All the bone bamboo Gu in the market had been bought by Man tribe’s new external tribe elder. Not just my shop, but none of the other shops have any left.”
“Oh? Who is this person?” Fang Yuan’s gaze shone.