"My lord, please, right this way!" Handing Lan Qinghuan's entry identification token back with both hands, the tall and handsome man—who by no means looked like a regular gatekeeper—cast a few more uncertain glances at her before bowing respectfully and walking away.
"What is this all about? It's clearly the exact same thing, is there something wrong with it...?" Lan Qinghuan muttered quietly, looking at the round, blood-red jade stone in her hand.
She had clearly seen the burly man who went in just before her simply take out a stone like this and show it to the guards, and they let him right in.
Same shape, same color, she couldn't see any difference at all. Why did that gatekeeper take her stone and examine it up and down, and even insist on escorting her in personally?
She had just seen that this stone looked identical to those others and decided to try her luck. Who could blame her? The original Lan Qinghuan's memories didn't contain the slightest impression of this identity stone.
She had wandered all around the perimeter and simply couldn't find a way in. Seeing the moon tilting toward the east, she knew that if she didn't get inside now, all her hard work coming out today would be for nothing.
Then she saw someone take this kind of red stone and place it against a hidden latch in the corner of the wall, and *poof*—the person vanished.
She guessed that there must be a small teleportation array hidden in that corner, and this red stone was the key to activating it.
This red stone looked very familiar; wasn't it the one she had picked up on the grassy bank by the hot spring?
And so, she had just walked right in like that.
When she picked up that red stone, Lan Qinghuan had thought it must have been dropped by that punchable little brat.
Even though he had bitten her and was utterly infuriating, he was still just a child after all. Surely she, a grand Martial God, couldn't stoop to bickering with a pitiful little kid suffering from some weird disease.
He had said he would come looking for her again, and since he carried this stone on his person, it must be quite valuable. She had even thought about returning it to him the next time she saw him.
Now it seemed it was just an ordinary teleportation array stone. Anyway, she would be coming here often from now on.
With this stone, things would be much easier in the future. She had saved that brat's life, and he bit her in return—she might as well keep this stone as his repayment.
And so, Lan Qinghuan eased her conscience, tucked the stone into her tunic to make it her own, and finally began to stroll around the market properly.
This place truly deserved to be called the most powerful night market on the Fengxu Continent. Just looking at the lavish array of spell formations here, the security was no worse than that of the imperial palace. The big boss behind this night market must be an extraordinary figure.
If she could befriend such a wealthy tycoon, wouldn't getting discounts here be even easier in the future?
Lan Qinghuan instantly developed a desire to make his acquaintance.
As soon as she stepped inside, the air was filled with the lingering aromas of all kinds of delicious food from a row of snack stalls.
They ranged from large meat wontons—where a single low-grade spirit stone could buy ten bowls—to exquisite spirit vegetables where ten medium-grade spirit stones couldn't even buy a small dish.
Every kind of delicacy imaginable was there, and the mere smell made one's mouth water. If she weren't in such a rush to find the Soul Breath Grass her master wanted, Lan Qinghuan—who hadn't eaten properly all day—would have loved to sit down and taste everything from start to finish.
Hurrying past this mouth-watering snack street, Lan Qinghuan walked toward the stall belonging to the Treasure House.
This thin, flushed old man was shouting the loudest, so Lan Qinghuan stopped at his stall.
She needed to buy some small gifts to appease Xi Yun'er, lest the girl nag her so much later tonight that she wouldn't get any sleep.
Rubbing his hands together, the old man warmly greeted her, "My lord, please feel free to browse! I guarantee every single piece is a fine product from the Treasure House, and the prices are negotiable if you see something you like!"
What did Lan Qinghuan know about any Treasure House? She had only transmigrated here a few days ago, and her previous self hadn't had any money to speak of.
"Wrap up that butterfly hairpin, that white jade bracelet, and that red coral necklace for me. How much is the total...?" Pressed for time, Lan Qinghuan roughly picked out a few pretty yet unflashy pieces of jewelry and told the boss to check her out.
"That comes to a total of eighty-four low-grade spirit stones. Thank you, my lord, for giving me so much business all at once—let's just call it eighty low-grade spirit stones..." The old man wrapped the items in oil paper and handed them enthusiastically to Lan Qinghuan. As she opened her purse and tossed over a medium-grade spirit stone, she prepared to leave.
"My lord, wait, I haven't given you your change yet..." A single medium-grade spirit stone was equivalent to a hundred low-grade spirit stones, and there were still twenty low-grade spirit stones left to be returned. The old man hurriedly called out to her.
"Keep the change. It's late and setting up a stall like this is hard work. Consider it a tip..." Lan Qinghuan said casually over her shoulder, turning around to walk away again.
"Wait, take this as a gift from old man me. Please don't look down on it..." The old man grabbed the hem of Lan Qinghuan's robe to hold her back and shoved a drab-looking silver bracelet into her hand.
The market was about to close soon, and Lan Qinghuan had no time to dawdle with the old man. She muttered a quick thanks and headed straight for the Spirit Elixir Pavilion.
The Spirit Elixir Pavilion was the largest chain pharmacy on the Fengxu Continent because it housed the most skilled apothecary.
Of course, it wasn't her father's good friend, Han Yufeng, the number one apothecary under heaven. However, it was said he was the prized disciple of Han Yufeng's junior martial uncle.
The student had surpassed the master; anyway, on the Fengxu Continent, he was a hugely famous figure nowadays.
Murong Xuanling—even when the imperial family tried to win him over with a monthly salary of eighty thousand medium-grade spirit stones, he wouldn't budge, yet he was actually willing to serve as a resident physician right here in the Spirit Elixir Pavilion.
She really didn't know whether the big boss of this night market possessed incredible personal charm, or if that Murong Xuanling's brain wasn't quite working right.
Either way, she couldn't worry about that now. She just wanted to buy the Soul Breath Grass quickly, hurry back to comfort her loyal and naive little maid, and then eagerly drink her second drop of Jade Essence Spirit Liquid for the day.
Otherwise, she'd have to drink two drops together after breakfast, though she wasn't sure if this frail body would be able to handle it.
Having no time to admire the tall and magnificent exterior decoration of the Spirit Elixir Pavilion, Lan Qinghuan strode across the threshold and shouted at the people inside, "Get me two of the best Soul Breath Grasses, quickly!"
"Where did this reckless punk come from? Don't you know our Spirit Elixir Pavilion only acquires Soul Breath Grass and never sells it...?" The spacious main hall was quiet, save for a young shop assistant who, upon seeing that the newcomer was a delicate-looking pale-faced youth, stretched lazily and chided him.
Ever since Lord Xiye took over the night market eight years ago, a sign offering to buy Soul Breath Grass at a high price had hung at the entrance. By now, everyone coming into this night market knew about it.
Every day, people delivered Soul Breath Grass to the Spirit Elixir Pavilion, yet Lord Xiye still kept sending people everywhere to collect items that nourish yin and nurture the spirit.
Over the years, people always came here to sell Soul Breath Grass; this was the first time anyone had ever run into someone trying to *buy* it.
"Meaning you *do* have Soul Breath Grass, then? Hurry up and get me two. My lord has plenty of spirit stones!" Seeing the shop assistant's disdainful look, Lan Qinghuan grabbed her brocade-embroidered purse and shook it a few times.
Judge a book by its cover, will you? At the very least, your old lady here is wearing imperial brocade—stop dawdling, okay? Your old lady's time is very precious!
"Did you go deaf, kid? I said we don't sell it, meaning we don't sell it! Our Spirit Elixir Pavilion never sells Soul Breath Grass..." The shop assistant had already been dozing off. If the visitor had been a proper martial artist or some powerful, influential lord, he wouldn't have dared to speak up.
Now, seeing that it was just a pale-faced punk who clearly hadn't cultivated any spiritual energy and yet was being unreasonable, how could he not lose his temper?