This must be what they call the main city.
Gazing at the towering walls before them, the grandeur of the city exuded from every detail of its construction. Armed soldiers stood ready on the walls, emanating a full sense of security.
The huge city gate made the two people standing before it seem particularly small.
"Let’s go, Cheng Xian, let’s enter the city."
The two rode their horses through the gates.
Following the wide main road toward the center of the city, Xiao Jie found it surprising that there weren’t as many players on the streets of Xiaofeng City as he had imagined. Most of those coming and going were NPCs, until they neared the commercial district at the city center, where the number of players began to increase.
This street was clearly constructed in the style of a Tang Dynasty marketplace, with shops lining both sides. At the intersection of the two streets stood an expansive square.
The square was, as usual, a trading area for players, crammed with stalls set up by players, several times more than in Luoyang Town, with the average level also being much higher, with most players being Over level 20, and Level 30 players could be seen everywhere.
The vendors’ stalls were filled with huge banners bearing the names and descriptions of items for sale. The view was a sweep of blue and green hues, interspersed with streaks of purple.
The two of them felt like country bumpkins entering the city for the first time, finding everything fresh and new.
Especially those epic items.
Holy smokes, so many awesome items!
Inner Power Secret Manual—Pure Yang Skill! At first glance, it was clear that it was an advanced internal skill.
Dragon Slayer Sword! Damn, an Epic Weapon with 50 Chop.
Nine Heavens Chizha Divine Thunder Talisman! Causes 450 points of Thunder Attribute damage! Adds heavy injury, paralysis, Evil-breaking, and spread affixes... Damn, this is awesome.
Of course, while the items were great, their prices were even more astonishingly high.
Xiao Jie casually glanced over a few and was very certain he couldn’t afford any of them.
Checking the ten or so taels of silver in his bag, it was far from enough.
Of course, there were also cheaper blue and green equipment and items, but even among those of the same color, there were huge differences in level and quality.
Most of what was being sold here was the top-tier among blue and green items, and their prices were not much lower. Xiao Jie gave up after looking for a while.
Instead, he started seeking out information. Although the location of Xuanxu Palace was marked on the map, he needed to inquire whether there were any dangers along the way.
This time Xiao Jie didn’t spend much money; paying several hundred cents for information didn’t feel right to him.
Fortunately, the players in this game were generally quite friendly. After asking a few, he had the information he needed.
"Excuse me, sir, is Xuanxu Palace far from here?"
"Not far, just head straight up the mountain after leaving the north gate. Are you guys also going to Xuanxu Palace to seek knowledge?"
"Yes, we are. Is it crowded with seekers?"
"Hahaha, how could it be just crowded? It’s exceedingly so. However, few succeed, and recently a tiger boss has appeared on the mountain, making the road up much more dangerous. If you’re going, you’d better be careful."
Xiao Jie was puzzled: "A tiger boss? No one has gone to defeat it, being so close?"
"You might think it’s strange, but indeed, no one has gone to fight it. However, there are experienced players leading groups up the mountain, charging one silver per trip. If you’re afraid of dying, you can hire someone to guide you."
Xiao Jie thanked him and turned to discuss with I Want to Be Immortal.
"So, we’ll rest up in the city first, and then head up the mountain tomorrow afternoon."
I Want to Be Immortal was puzzled, "Why go up the mountain in the afternoon, not in the morning?"
Xiao Jie whispered, "If we go in the morning and they don’t accept us after we hand over the Demon Talisman, they might just send us away, then that’s it for us.
But if we go in the afternoon, by the time we finish with the Demon Talisman, it’ll be almost dark. Then even if Xuanxu Palace won’t accept us, at least we could sweet-talk our way into staying for the night, right? That would give us a bit more room to maneuver."
"Feng, how do you know they will let us stay?"
"I don’t, but it makes sense logically. We have to try anyways."
"Okay, then I’ll go busy myself for a while."
The two split up to carry out their own tasks. Xiao Jie headed straight for the auction house to collect the day’s earnings from the Dog Food.
Business wasn’t great during the day; he had only sold six portions, earning 1200 cents. After subtracting the cost, he hadn’t even made one tael of silver.
Adding to the 16 taels he already had in his bag, the total was just over 17 taels. Right now, this was the most stable way to make money, although it was still a bit slow.
Xiao Jie checked the Secret Dog Food listed in the auction house; there were still quite a few, so there was no need to make more for now.
He also checked the prices of other cooking products, which were mostly unchanged except for the Monkey Wine, whose price had risen to 1200 cents a bottle. Moreover, the number of bottles listed in the auction house had decreased to only five, indicating that the supply was indeed dwindling.
Xiao Jie’s heart burned with eagerness; was it really so valuable? He must get the recipe for Monkey Wine as soon as possible.
Every day earlier he had it would be an extra day’s worth of earnings.
Leaving the auction house, Xiao Jie immediately started purchasing supplies the Nameless White Ape had requested. The White Ape hadn’t specified the quality of the items, but to play it safe, Xiao Jie bought the best of everything: three sets of clothes, purchasing three fine cotton robes.
For tables and chairs, he spent a high price at a Wood Workshop to buy a matching set made of rosewood.
He then went on to buy high-quality tea leaves, Maojian tea, Da Hong Pao, Biluochun tea, Bamboo Leaf Green tea... he bought a pack of each kind offered in the tea shop.
He also bought a set of purple-clay teapots and cups.
He already had steamed buns and pancakes in his bag.
He calculated the expenses, and in just a short time, he had spent over 9000 cents.
Considering most of these items were attribute-less ordinary items, the prices were outrageously high.