Talisman Reincarnation - All My Clones Are Dao Ancestors-Chapter 116: A small market

Putting both children to bed, Mu Yan waited for three hours to pass before going down.

He walked around the inn to the alley on the side.

When he looked over, he sometimes saw shadows walk to this alley and enter it quietly.

’A hidden gathering place?’ he was curious when he looked at it.

The inn owners didn’t seem like the people who would allow spies to gather here.

Regardless, he walked forward and knocked on the small door.

When the door opened, he saw the pregnant woman from before.

She smiled, "Welcome to our little gathering!"

Opening the door, she gave him a black robe, "Put this on."

Mu Yan complied and put it on.

Walking into the back entrance, he was led to a small stairway to the side.

"Go down and you will understand it right away."

Curious, he didn’t hesitate and walked down.

At the same time, he also prepared the spiritual power and fortune in his body to form a protective barrier around his inner body; prepared to extend it out the moment he saw something wrong.

The staircase wasn’t too long. Based on his calculations it was only ten metres below the ground.

But he saw several formation runes all over the hidden room.

At the end, there was a person in a black robe holding the door.

He simply opened the door when he saw him coming.

Right away, Mu Yan heard some rumble and some talk.

It wasn’t loud but it was clearly a scene of many people moving around and whispering.

He crossed the door and saw the scene:

A path led up from his position to a small building at the end.

Left and right on the path were dozens of cultivators setting up stalls by putting a piece of cloth on the ground and presenting the items they wanted to sell.

In the far back he also saw wooden stalls with people who had a slightly stronger power than the others.

’Most low and mid stage Qi Refining cultivators have normal stalls, while those at the last stalls are at the late stage.

Only in the building at the back are two Foundation Building cultivators.

I was thinking, with two mid stage Foundation Building cultivators as owners, this inn should have a lot more visitors of the Foundation Building realm, instead, most were at the Qi Refining realm.

Now even though I hid my cultivation, I am still inexplicably the top brass here with my ’seventh stage of Qi Refining’...’

Naturally he understood the nature of this gathering.

A black market!

Everything sold here was likely obtained in illegal ways or their quality doesn’t match the requirements of the shops in the county. Some would also be cultivators who sold their items in stalls in the county and also here because they thought they’d get a better price than if they sold to the shops.

’Then let’s at least look at things...’ he sighed.

This wasn’t his objective.

He had hoped he would see a gathering of criminals to alert the enemy and make them follow him out.

Now it seemed these guys were just some small traders.

Walking on the right of the path, he looked at the first stall.

This stall was quite packed with many items, from pills to talismans and even weapons.

Mu Yan raised an eyebrow when he saw the person was at the early stage, but then he saw that in front of each item, there was a shield with a name and stall number.

’Wow, they are making such advertisement?’ he was surprised at the meticulousness of these cultivators.

Then again, he didn’t really care and simply moved on.

These normal items could never catch his attention.

Walking down the path, he directly skipped the first few owned by early stage Qi Refining cultivators. Some were advertising platforms, others were very low items.

Arriving at the section for mid stage cultivators, he inspected their items but still didn’t find something that could interest him.

The late stage... also nothing.

Now he was in front of the building.

There was a small plaque on it, ’They made an inn above ground and a shop underground? Talk about efficiency...’

From a distance he saw that they had quality items and even felt the aura of second-grade items, but he didn’t care.

Any basic cultivation resource he wanted would be delivered to his doorstep. Only more important materials would be tempting.

Such materials would never end up here.

He turned and walked down the path on the left side, inspecting the stalls here.

Just as he crossed the late stage section, thinking there would be nothing to find here, he suddenly felt a pull to the right.

On a small stall at the start of the mid stage section, a rather inconspicuous stall, he saw several books, scrolls and jade slips.

Their names were blurry and he couldn’t discern them properly.

But one of these jade slips pulled him –

His fortune was acting wildly, signalling to him that this was an opportunity!

’Weird, such a small place has an opportunity for me?’

Curious, he pointed at the slip and asked, "What is this and where does it come from?"

The stall owner instantly looked up in excitement, but when he saw Mu Yan’s higher cultivation, he calmed down and became respectful.

"This jade slip was found by me at an old ruin of our county!

That ruin was said to have been the dwelling place of a hidden sage who rested here in his final years!"

Just as he was about to continue, he heard the snicker from the stall owners around.

Mu Yan turned and saw that although they snickered, no one spoke up to clear his questioning gaze.

’A hidden sage’s last resting place?

Hmm...

Do they mean that this person was a true Sage, or simply an accomplished cultivator?’

The title of Sage was reserved for scholars of the ninth stage, transcendent scholars!

Regardless of whether they ascend or remain in the mortal world, they will be sages!

’No, it’s likely the latter. Real sages all return to the imperial capital. Even if they die, their bodies will enter the imperial tombs, not some lesser county.’

"How much do you want for it?" he asked the stall owner.

"One th-"

"I offer you a hundred spirit stones, nothing more."

The stall owner was stumped.

He looked unwilling, but under the envious eyes of those around, he finally felt that he didn’t lose out and nodded.

Mu Yan reached into his spatial bag and took out a hundred spirit stones.

Handing them over, he took the jade slip and put it into his bag.

He walked around the market for a bit more, looking at the stalls.

Finally he left through the main entrance, going back up the stairway again...