Chapter 539 (3): Chance Encounter, Silent Departure

The ship was going to stop on the edge of Cloudtop City for twelve hours, and it arrived at this destination before the break of dawn.

Chen Ping'an ceased his walking meditation, returning to his senses from that profound, half-awake state, and he hoisted a cloth pouch onto his back before leaving his cabin.

Outside of Cloudtop City was a market where vagrant cultivators congregated, and everyone could set up stalls of their own to exchange items with others.

Chen Ping'an pulled out some immortal artifacts that weren't particularly valuable from his minimization treasure. They were all items that he had deemed unworthy of being sold in the Pi Fu shop on Old Locust Street, and none of them were all that valuable, but they were relatively rare and superficially appealing, ideally sold to collectors who were willing to spend exorbitant sums on items that could further their collections.

Additionally, he was also selling some talismans that weren't included in the Authentic Death-Avoiding Book. Most of these talismans had come from the secret scripture in the possession of the formation cultivator that was part of the first group of Deer Cutter Mountain assassins sent after him. Among them were Celestial Lightning Talismans, Vast Flowing River Talismans, and Earth Pinch Talismans, all of which were quite useful in battle.

Prior to his departure, Qi Jinglong had also taught Chen Ping'an two unorthodox Barrier-Shattering Talismans, namely the Bai Ze Guidance Talisman and the Sword Qi Bridge Crossing Talisman, both of which he had learned from an ancient scripture, and they didn't concern the vital secrets of his sect.

The two talismans weren't of a particularly high caliber, but it was virtually impossible for someone to learn them after purchasing copies because the strokes of the talismans were extremely complex, and there were also many tricks involved in the inscription process. It was only thanks to Qi Jinglong's detailed lessons and extensive guidance that Chen Ping'an was able to master these two talismans.

Chen Ping'an had always felt like it was a pity that Qi Jinglong wasn't a teacher at some academy.

Martial artists relied on their pure True Qi to inscribe talismans, but these talismans didn't last long. However, the benefit to inscribing talismans in this matter was that it didn't expend the spiritual energy in one's acupoints. Furthermore, talisman inscription was a rather uncommon form of cultivation for martial artists, and it could help one refine their True Qi.

Chen Ping'an had discovered that he was able to inscribe talismans much more smoothly after reaching the Three Qi Tempering Tiers, but the physical benefits that he derived from inscribing talismans had been quite negligible. Hence, he didn't want to waste any more materials. After all, it was a complete waste of resources to be inscribing talismans that were incapable of retaining spiritual energy.

Furthermore, he was nowhere near proficient enough in the art of inscribing talismans to produce talismans that could actually be useful to him in battle. Instead, they would only hinder him.

In contrast, talismans inscribed by cultivators had a natural seal on them, ensuring that the rate of spiritual energy seepage was extremely slow. However, the more powerful a talisman was, the more prone its talismanic core was to being damaged during use. It was said that there was a restricted area in the Heavenly Master Residence of Mount Longhu, within which was a talisman that had to be bolstered once every sixty years by the past and present Great Heavenly Masters.

There had once been a major crisis in the history of the Heavenly Master Residence in which the old Heavenly Master had passed away, but a new one was yet to be selected, and coincidentally, roughly sixty years had elapsed since the talisman was last consolidated. However, the duty of bolstering the talisman could only fall upon the Great Heavenly Master, so a new one had to be selected first.

As a result of the delay, a slight weakness appeared in the ancient talisman, and a powerful demon that had been sealed for countless years pounced on the opportunity to escape, vanishing into the world. For some reason, the first thing that the newly selected Heavenly Master did was to make a trip to White Emperor City over this matter, bringing his immortal sword and Daoist seal with him.

What followed was a rather abrasive encounter, and the Heavenly Master had parted ways with the lord of White Emperor City on less than pleasant terms.

All of the talismans that Chen Ping'an was selling were ones that he had inscribed after his water palace and mountain shrine had come together in a symbiotic relationship. Otherwise, he would've been scamming people.

Even though in an unofficial market like this one, everyone was expected to be vigilant and take responsibility for themselves to ensure that they weren't scammed, Chen Ping'an still wanted to hold himself to a higher standard of morality.

The cost of upholding this higher standard of morality was that he had to expend a considerable amount of spiritual energy from his water palace to inscribe these talismans, but there were positives to be gained from the situation as well.

Even though he was losing some reserves from the small pond in his water palace, he was able to attempt to gradually open up a fundamental meridian operated by the water palace, akin to a water vein hidden in a river. Hence, not only did the green-robed children not raise any objections to this, they instead fully supported and encouraged Chen Ping'an in his inscription of talismans.

An important part of cultivation was weighing up gains and losses.

As for how much Chen Ping'an stood to gain relative to what he lost, he would have to find out over time by continuing to inscribe more talismans. The good thing for him was that the green-robed children in his water palace would caution him once the losses began to outweigh the gains.

Chen Ping'an emerged from his cabin in his black Dao robe and he was holding his bamboo hiking pole as he looked up into the sky.

Sure enough, there really was a city nestled atop a sea of white clouds, and outside the city was a brightly lit market.

Cloudtop City was a tightly guarded place of cultivation, and very rarely was entry permitted to outsiders. Perhaps it had become a bit of a tradition in the area, but just like the Rainbow Sparrow Residence of the same Celestial Water Nation, Cloudtop City also excelled in refining a type of Dao robe called the Cloudwalker Robe, but the robes that they produced were far inferior in both quantity and quality to the Dao robes of the Rainbow Sparrow Residence.

Hence, Cloudwalker Robes weren't particularly renowned, and business wasn't exactly booming, either. The robes were mostly purchased by cultivators of the Lower Five Tiers passing through the area, and they were particularly popular among vagrant cultivators.

The existence of that market was perhaps also a byproduct of the sect's rather modest finances as everyone who set up a shop or a stall in the market had to pay a sum of immortal coins to Cloudtop City.

The ship had drawn to a halt around five hundred feet away from the sea of clouds, and it wasn't able to get any closer.

Otherwise, if the ship were to inadvertently come into even the slightest contact with the sea of clouds, then that would be very damaging to the foundation of Cloudtop City.

Passengers disembarking the ship either generally did so by flight or by riding atop various types of spirit beasts, but this distance of five hundred feet was not easy to cover for pure martial artists below the Vajra Body Tier.

Chen Ping'an took a deep breath, then took a few steps back so he could give himself a running start. From there, he lunged forward and stepped onto the railing of the ship before leaping high up into the air, launching himself over the five-hundred-feet gap to land on the other side.

A female administrator on the ship turned to a good friend of hers with a wide smile as she extended a hand toward him and demanded, "Hand it over."

The two of them had made a bet on whether the sword-bearing young man was a swordsman or a martial artist who just so happened to use a sword.

The woman had guessed that Chen Ping'an was a pure martial artist, while the old man, a Sea Observation Tier cultivator, had guessed that he was a swordsman.

The old man shook his head as he said, "He could just be hiding his status as a swordsman."

Clearly, he was trying to cheat his way out of having to pay.

"Who're you trying to kid?" the woman scoffed. "All of the young swordsmen of our continent are practically dying to show off to everyone! Who would actively try to hide their status as a swordsman?"

"Not necessarily," the old man disagreed. "The world is a massive place, and there's no shortage of humble young men who wish to keep a low profile."

"You're not talking your way out of this one!" the woman snapped. "Hand it over! You owe me one lesser heat coin!"

The old man heaved a forlorn sigh, then pulled out a lesser heat coin before slamming it down onto the woman's hand. After that, he took flight and set off for Cloudtop City. He had come here to purchase a fine Cloudwalker Robe for his direct disciple. The Lustrous Robes of the Rainbow Sparrow Residence were indeed far superior, but they were also far too expensive, so the old man had no choice but to settle for Cloudwalker Robes.

He had already issued a deposit to the workshop in Cloudtop City that produced the Cloudwalker Robes, so the robe had been custom-made to his specifications, down to every last detail.

Of course, this had come at an additional cost to him. In order to be able to afford the robe, he had toiled away for several decades, traveling everywhere to take on different jobs, and only then was he able to save up enough money before that prized disciple of his reached the Abode Tier.

Cultivation was not easy, particularly for leaders of small sects. It was essentially like having to take care of a glorified clan, and financial struggles were very commonplace.

The woman was very pleased with herself, but she suddenly sensed something amiss. The weight and spiritual energy of the coin in her hand clearly didn't match that of a lesser heat coin.

She looked down at the coin and was immediately struck by the urge to swear out loud. It was only a snowflake coin.

Meanwhile, the old man was flying away as quickly as he could, passing over the market to race directly toward Cloudtop City.

After a flash of frustration, the woman's good mood quickly returned, as did the smile on her face. In her eyes, the fact that she was about to pry even a single snowflake coin out of the pocket of that stingy old codger was already a victory in itself.

She was a Golden Core Tier cultivator, and her cultivation base was sufficient for an administrator of an immortal ship that didn't make intercontinental journeys.

Furthermore, in terms of status, a Golden Core Tier cultivator of the Dragon Palace Small World could easily be considered equivalent to a Nascent Tier cultivator because she had not just the backing of her sect, but also the Lofty Cloud Palace of the Great Origin Empire and Duckweed Sword Lake.

For a cultivator, a lucrative business partnership was a more reliable bond than that between ruler and subordinate or husband and wife in the mortal world.

She had known the old man for many years, but he had failed to match her in rising up the ranks, and his cultivation base had halted at the Sea Observation Tier.

Back in his youth, not only was he not stingy at all, he had been a very heroic, handsome, and dashing man.

However, the span of over a hundred years seemed to have robbed him of everything.

Not only had he lost his youth and good looks, he had also lost his pride, reduced to an old cultivator who was willing to serve wealthy and powerful individuals from the mortal world for monetary gain.

However, she still loved him.

As for whether she only loved the young and dashing man of old or also loved him for the old man that he currently was, even she couldn't give a definitive answer on that question.

Chen Ping'an entered the market, then set up a stall in a vacant spot on a busy street. He was surrounded by other traveling salesmen, some of whom were loudly advertising their wares, while others were less enthusiastic.

Soon, two white-robed cultivators came around to collect money, taking one snowflake coin per day from everyone looking to sell their wares in the market.

Chen Ping'an asked if he could get a half-price discount if he only stayed for about ten hours, but he was politely denied and told that one snowflake coin was the starting price.

Chen Ping'an didn't try to contest the matter and handed over a snowflake coin. The rule being implemented here was similar to that of the stall that sold gloomy tea on the bank of the Swaying River.

Chen Ping'an asked the two cultivators how much it would cost to rent or purchase a shop in this market, and they answered his questions in a polite and friendly manner.

According to them, the shops were all graded according to a series of parameters, and shops of different grades had different purchase and rental prices.

Even though Chen Ping'an ultimately displayed no interest in actually purchasing or renting a shop, the two cultivators remained as pleasant to him as ever, and upon their departure, they even wished him well.

Chen Ping'an crouched down at his stall and began laying out his wares. There were portrait collections from Mural City, some spoils that he had reaped from the several great demons of the Skeleton Shoal, including Lady Bishu, as well as some things that he had obtained from the underwater dragon palace in Verdant Bamboo Lake.

Overall, it amounted to over twenty items, none of which were anywhere near the distinction of immortal treasure. These items were far outnumbered by the talismans that he had laid out for sale, of which there were five types, organized into five neat piles.

Chen Ping'an looked up to see the pair of cultivators that he had just spoken to making their way down the street together.

The duo consisted of a young man and a young woman, the former of which seemed to have been the overseer of this market. He was very familiar with many of the shopkeepers and stall owners present, frequently extending greetings to those that he passed by.

In contrast, the young woman was very quiet and spent most of her time gazing upon the man next to her, speaking with her eyes.

Chen Ping'an clasped his hands up their opposite sleeves as he observed the tranquil scene before him.

All of the visitors of the market were cultivators, and compared with mortals, they were far more quiet and patient when examining the stalls, with almost all of them looking over every single stall that they passed by. However, they were not quick to inquire about the prices of items, and they strolled along slowly, only stopping for a closer look once they spotted something that caught their eye.

Some departed after a close examination, while others tried to barter with the stall owners, and they generally asked for very sizable discounts from the get-go. If they encountered a more patient and mild-tempered stall owner, then the latter would tell them about how precious their wares were and explain to the customers why they were worth their asking price.

As for the less patient stall owners, they would simply ignore the low-ballers. Their policy went something along the lines of: take it or leave it. I have no time to waste bartering with you peasants.

It didn't take long before Chen Ping'an received his first customers. It was an old man that was walking hand-in-hand with a small child, and he took a quick glance at Chen Ping'an's wares before his gaze settled on the yellow paper talismans.

The old man examined the five types of talismans closely.

The old man quickly made a decision on how much he was willing to pay for the talismans.

He had only come out on a casual stroll with his grandson, and this was a very pleasant surprise.

He pointed at the stack of lightning talismans as he smiled and asked, "How much do you want for these talismans, shopkeeper?"

Chen Ping'an also smiled as he replied, "I'm charging eleven snowflake coins per lightning talisman, or you can have all ten for a hundred. The price is not negotiable."

The old man nodded as he remarked, "These are fine talismans, but the talisman paper used is a little lacking in quality, so it won't be able to withstand the full power of this lightning talisman. As a result, the talismans will be significantly less powerful than they could be. On top of that, the price is also a little expensive."

Chen Ping'an smiled and didn't say anything.

It seemed that the old man was at least half an expert in talismans, so there was no need for Chen Ping'an to say anything.

The old man then asked about the prices of the water and earth talismans, and they were about the same price, with only one or two snowflake coins' worth of variance in price from talisman to talisman.

The lightning talismans were the most expensive. After all, lightning was revered as the ancestor of all powers, and one of the main selling points of the Heavenly Master Residence on Mount Longhu was its formal lightning techniques.

However, according to Qi Jinglong, the Celestial Lightning Talisman would only be able to fetch a decent price if it were inscribed on yellow jade talisman paper. Alternatively, if it were inscribed on normal yellow talisman paper, then its power would be severely compromised, and even the average cultivator of the Middle Five Tiers may not find them appealing.