Tempered Immortal

Chapter 35 - The Three Forces

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The sun rose, casting warm rays of sunshine on his body. With the blink of an eye, the second day was here.

Rising in the morning, Lin Xuan first brushed his teeth. Then, using his medallion, he passed through the restrictions and left his cottage. It was still early, but there were already many small scattered groups of cultivators about. Looks like he was not the only one with the idea of arriving at the treasures trade fair early.

According to the description on the jade slip, there was a plaza on the south side of the basin which could be used to set up their shops.

In the thousands of kilometers of the surrounding area, there were not many cultivators, so there were no trade cities. Therefore, with the disbanding of the Soaring Cloud Sect came the opportunity for everyone to not only browse the treasures of the Soaring Cloud sect but to also acquire the needed items via trading.

The treasures trade fair would begin tomorrow, so all the stalls in the plaza were all set up by outsiders.

Lin Xuan went through the information from the jade slip again, then after picking a path, he set off for the plaza. He had a few objectives in mind:

Firstly, he would become familiar with the environment, for example, he would be able to recognize the path. This way, even if something unexpected happened, it would still be easier to escape.

Secondly, he would need to understand the market. Although Lin Xuan has been in the Cultivation World for a while already, he stayed in the sect the whole time. This was his first time at a gathering of cultivators, so to the prices of various items, he had no concept of their worth. First, he needed to browse around and get to know the prices of these treasures. Then once the treasures trade fair begins, he would not be swindled in his purchases.

Otherwise, if a vendor asked for two hundred pills, and he stupidly paid it not knowing the price of the item was only one hundred pills, wouldn’t that be a big loss?

And thirdly, he wanted to gain more worldly experience. Staying in his room was boring anyway, and it is rare to have a gathering of cultivators, so why not broaden his horizons and join in on the fun?

Keeping these objectives in mind, Lin Xuan arrived at the plaza and walked into the market. He discovered that there were a lot more cultivators setting up here than he imagined. Stalls to the east, shops in the west, cries of peddlers without end. If he didn’t know better, he would have thought he was in a vegetable market.

“So many cultivators!” Lin Xuan made a rough estimate. At least two thousand people were peddling their wares and among the stalls. It seems the news of the disbanding of the Soaring Cloud Sect was really far-reaching. These cultivators are probably not just from the Yan Prefecture, even cultivators from beyond the prefecture rushed here to participate.

Although the rogue cultivators made up the majority, the various sects all more or less sent some members. For example, Whirlwind Cloud Valley sent some disciples led by two Foundation Establishment Stage elders. Although in the whole world of cultivation, the Whirlwind Cloud Valley’s strength tended towards the lower end, in the borders of the Yan Prefecture, it was definitely a large and influential sect. Two cultivators in the Foundation Establishment Stage were very shocking and frightening to the younger cultivators.

Other than the Whirlwind Cloud Valley, the sects of Chong prefecture also sent elders over. These seven or eight sects of various sizes included the Spirit Flame Sect, the Dao Talisman Mountain, the Starry Sky clan, etc.

These sects were also the most powerful forces that participated in the treasures trade fair. Their objectives were the precious crafting materials and Spirit Tools. These treasures can greatly increase the strength of their sects. They would not let them lightly fall into the other sects’ hands. There would definitely be fierce competition for them.

But this had nothing to do with him. He already had three Spirit Tools, one of which was even top grade, which was more than enough for him. So Lin Xuan never even had the intention to buy any Spirit Tools. Therefore, he did not have any opposing requirements to the various big sects and just needed to be careful and not get recognized by his fellow disciples.

But he did not really need to worry because he had never met the two elders before, and all the disciples they brought were elite disciples who had entered the sect before him. Even if he stood in front of them, they would still be complete strangers to each other.

In addition to these big sects, the next most powerful forces were the various cultivation clans. These little groups, whose members were blood-related, could be considered, in a strict sense, to be a miniature sect. Their numbers were also all different. Some had hundreds of members, some only had three or five. But for each clan, the head of the family was also the patriarch.

Although they could not compare to the various large sects, these cultivator clans still had a certain level of power. Their objectives were the low-grade Spirit Tools that the larger sects ignored, the more powerful talismans, and the techniques.

This coincides with his objective, so they might become competitors in the trade fair. Lin Xuan frowned and started formulating countermeasures.

There were also rogue cultivators, who made the largest group, but had the lowest cultivation and were the least powerful force. Of these cultivators, few had objectives like Lin Xuan, most did not have a goal in mind. Most of them just wanted to check out the market and try their luck during the treasures trade fair. They could still find items they needed among the items that were not worth being looked at by the other two forces.

To put it nicely, everyone can purchase what they need, but this was definitely not the case. The world of cultivation was an unreasonable world where might is right. If you happened to acquire something that one of the major sects wanted, then you had better be careful or you might be annihilated.

In fact, to put it plainly, it would be the major sects that would pick what they wanted first which would be followed by the cultivator clans. The rogue cultivators, without powerful backing to rely on, could only look on enviously and pick over what was left.

Of course, it can not be said that the rogue cultivators would be wasting their efforts and leave empty-handed. At least, this was a rarely seen event in the Cultivation World and can be considered to be gaining worldly experience. Also, anyone can set up a stall at the fair. The large sects and cultivator clans would not even look at these stalls, but the rogue cultivators and exchange items here and acquire what they needed.

Looking that the dense crowd of cultivators in front of him, Lin Xuan analyzed the situation of the treasures trade fair. This was what he concluded with the information available to him before coming here. But he did not realize that this trade fair would be so grand that even though it would only start tomorrow, it had already attracted many cultivators.

Translated by: James1kd2

Edited by: UnderTheMoon