He stepped into the attic.
It was empty inside, with only a dozen or so tables and chairs. Covered in dust, it looked like no one had been there for a long time. There was also a musty smell in the air.
Zhang Ling glanced around casually and saw a thin, black-and-red-faced old man sitting in front of a table next to the stairs on the right. On the table was an oil lamp, emitting a faint light.
It looked like an ordinary oil lamp, but he immediately noticed that the light emitted from the lamp contained terrifying fire spiritual power. It was obviously a fire-attribute treasure.
The skinny old man was holding a bamboo scroll and carefully studying it.
Walking a few steps closer to the man, the old man slowly raised his head and smiled. "Fellow Daoist is also here to participate in the trade fair."
"Indeed, I am here to participate in the trade fair." Zhang Ling bowed to the old man. He had already seen that this man was a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, so he naturally couldn't be negligent.
"Fellow Daoist has come at the right time, the trade fair is about to begin." The skinny old man said, pointing to the stairs next to him. "The location of the trade fair is above, Fellow Daoist can go up by yourself."
"The number of fellow Daoists who have come today is much larger than in previous years. Hehe," the old man then stopped looking at Zhang Ling, muttered to himself, and then looked at the bamboo scroll in his hand again.
Zhang Ling responded and turned his gaze to the stairs.
There was a faint spiritual light flashing on the stairs, obviously guarded by a restriction, and divine sense could not detect the real situation inside.
There couldn't be any danger here, so Zhang Ling walked up the stairs. The top of the stairs was surrounded by a layer of light gray mist. After passing through it, the scene in front of him was not like the second floor of an ordinary merchant. Instead, it was a stone path several feet wide, leading straight to a space in front.
After walking in, he arrived at the so-called trade fair venue. The space inside was two or three hundred feet large, like a stone hall, quite spacious. Many starlight spots were flickering in the sky, all fist-sized moonstones, illuminating the entire space.
This was obviously not the second floor of the attic, but along the way, Zhang Ling did not feel any teleportation power. It was only possible that a very clever restriction method was arranged here.
Scanning his gaze, he saw a semi-circular light curtain standing in the center of the stone hall, covering a space of more than ten feet, like a silver screen.
On the left and right sides, there were also two humanoid puppets standing. They didn't look very old, they were two fifteen or sixteen-year-old boys and girls.
Zhang Ling sensed that these two puppets were much stronger than the ones he saw outside. They had already reached the peak of the Golden Core stage.
He thought to himself, could there be a puppet master hidden in Tianmu City.
Looking around, with the central position as the center, many stone tables were scattered around, forming several rings. There were already thirty or forty people here, all Nascent Soul cultivators.
This was normal, only Nascent Soul cultivators were qualified to participate in this trade fair. Those with lower cultivation levels simply couldn't enter.
As soon as he entered, he immediately attracted the attention of many people, and seven or eight divine senses swept over him.
Zhang Ling sensed that among these people, five had reached the mid-stage of Nascent Soul. Their auras were different, some were surrounded by black light, and seemed to be practicing demonic cultivation techniques.
Some had a righteous and peaceful aura, and there were also a few guys with heavy Yin Sha energy.
The mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivators mostly sat alone, with several empty seats next to them. Others seemed to intentionally isolate themselves from them.
Zhang Ling walked to an empty seat by himself and sat down.
The cultivators here were all Supreme Elders or Patriarchs of various sects. It was rare to see so many Nascent Soul cultivators gathered together.
The last time was at the Liuyun Sea, at the Cangyun Pavilion trade fair held by the demon clan. Of course, the Nascent Soul cultivators and transformed demon cultivators seen that time totaled more than one hundred, and the scene was even grander.
Zhang Ling was looking forward to it, hoping that the treasures these people brought out would be what he needed.
At their level, many rare spiritual objects could only be found in the hands of cultivators of the same rank.
At this time, he also noticed that several cultivators had already taken out some jade boxes and other items and started trading on a small scale. However, most people were still sitting upright, looking like they were resting with their eyes closed.
Time passed little by little, and every once in a while, one or two more cultivators arrived.
After half an hour, more than fifty Nascent Soul cultivators had gathered in the stone hall, and after that, basically no one else came.
"It's almost time, let's start the trade fair." In the central position, in front of the light mist screen, a yellow light flashed, and a figure appeared. It immediately attracted everyone's attention.
This was a middle-aged Confucian scholar wearing a purple crown and a purple robe, with a square face and some majesty. After this person appeared, he curled his lips and smiled, glanced at everyone, and cupped his hands at them.
"Welcome fellow Daoists to join us. Presumably, many of the fellow Daoists present recognize Qin. Qin will preside over this trade fair."
It was actually the Third Elder of Tianmu City, Qin. Seeing this person's face, Zhang Ling muttered in his heart.
The purple-robed Confucian scholar in front of him had quite a reputation. He served as the Third Elder of the Tianmu City Elder Council, and his cultivation had reached the peak of the mid-stage of Nascent Soul. He was the one with the highest cultivation among the many elders in the Twelve Immortal Cities, except for Lei Guang Sanren.
This person was a down-and-out scholar in his early years, and his life was difficult and unsatisfactory.
However, after failing the imperial examination, he was fortunate enough to be accepted as a closed disciple by the previous City Lord of Tianmu City. Since then, his cultivation has been out of control.
It is said that this person has a special spiritual body and cultivates the top-level ancient cultivation technique, the Tianshui Die Lang Jue, and is proficient in various water-attribute secret techniques.
During the invasion of the Alien Demon Race two hundred years ago, he single-handedly suppressed two cultivators of the same rank. His reputation is not small.
"Without further ado, you fellow Daoists all know the rules. Let's start with this old man." After Qin Third Elder said a few polite words, he lightly clapped his hand and took out a bronze-colored storage bracelet.
Pointing at the storage bracelet, he released more than twenty glittering jade bottles and jade boxes at once. "These spiritual objects are all rare treasures collected by our Tianmu City. Interested fellow Daoists should not miss them."
With a few clear sounds, these jade boxes and jade bottles were opened, revealing the contents inside. Each jade box had a layer of restriction light, but it was only a means to prevent the dissipation of spiritual power.
Everyone's divine sense easily passed through and saw the contents of the jade boxes. Many people's breathing immediately became rapid.
The things this person took out were all top-quality. There were rare elixirs, glittering ancient treasures, rare spiritual mines, and several thousand-year-old spiritual herbs of the fourth and fifth grades.
"Third Elder Qin, how are these treasures exchanged?" An anxious cultivator immediately asked.
Third Elder Qin smiled slightly, stretched out two fingers and shook them, condensing a ball of purple water droplets. With a wave of his hand, the water droplets turned into tiny characters and hit the light curtain behind him.
The entire screen flashed with black and white spiritual light and quickly enlarged. It instantly became more than ten feet high, and those tiny characters fell on it and turned into a series of black characters.
Two-thousand-year-old Qihua Wood, Zhuyin Fruit, Lei Jing, ancient treasure Lie Feng Sword, fifth-grade elixir Zhenyang Pill, and other item names fell on it.
These names were exactly the names of the items he took out. Scanning the names with divine sense, each name also came with a detailed introduction.
Then the light curtain flashed with black light and projected a series of phantoms. Fifty or sixty phantoms turned into streamers and landed on the tables in front of each person, and a miniature light curtain appeared.
Taking a closer look, it was a scaled-down screen, like a small light curtain, half black and half white, which looked a little strange.
"Fellow Daoists, don't be surprised, this is the fluorescent screen newly refined by our city. It's just a small magic weapon. Fellow Daoists can freely use their divine sense to write on it, the things you need, and the treasures you want to exchange." As Third Elder Qin said, he pointed at the huge screen behind him.
On the right side of the screen, another row of treasure names appeared.
"These are the spiritual objects that our city wants to collect. If any fellow Daoist has two or three of them, you can come up and trade with this old man." Third Elder Qin said, looking around at everyone.
"This trade fair is very free, fellow Daoists can do as you please." Saying that, Third Elder Qin directly sat cross-legged under the screen, looking leisurely.
The scene was silent for a moment, and then everyone acted.
Some people directly took out their treasures and placed them on the table. Pointing at the black and white small screen, they used their divine sense to write down the treasures they wanted to exchange, and then immediately looked at the treasures that others had taken out.
Everyone was an old monster who had been cultivating for hundreds of years, and they easily understood the use of the black and white screen. Most people took action.
Of course, there were also a small number of people who did not directly take out treasures, but first observed the things of others.
The spiritual objects needed by these Nascent Soul cultivators were mostly not exchanged with simple spirit stones. Although bartering was primitive, it was actually the most important trading method for high-level cultivators.
Of course, at this time, more people were scanning back and forth, looking at the twenty-odd things that Third Elder Qin had taken out. Several impatient cultivators stood up directly, seeming to be very fond of some of the treasures.
Zhang Ling was also one of them. At this moment, he was staring at a square white jade box that Third Elder Qin had taken out. The jade box was two feet long and one foot wide. It was covered with a layer of cyan light.
Through the cyan light, he could see a lumpy, dark red stone inside, which looked inconspicuous. He became excited in his heart, because this was a piece of Purple Essence Copper.
He didn't expect to see this thing at the beginning of the trade fair.
Zhang Ling thought to himself that he had come to the right place, and without hesitation, he transmitted his voice to ask. Because he had already noticed that several divine senses were communicating with Third Elder Qin.
If other cultivators also liked Purple Essence Copper, I'm afraid it would be difficult to trade.
"Third Elder Qin, I wonder how to exchange this Purple Essence Copper."
Third Elder Qin immediately turned his head and looked in the direction of Zhang Ling, smiled slightly, and transmitted his voice.
"This fellow Daoist likes the Purple Essence Copper spiritual mine. If you want to exchange it, you must take out at least six or seven items on the list. If it is less than six items, it will be difficult to trade. Of course, if there are other treasures, it is also possible…
But it is still preferable to use the items on the list that Qin has listed. By the way, another fellow Daoist is also interested in this spiritual mine."
Hearing this, Zhang Ling frowned.
It actually required six or seven items or more, which exceeded his expectations. And another cultivator was also eyeing the Purple Essence Copper, I don't know if it was true or false.
His gaze also turned to the list of spiritual objects listed by Third Elder Qin. This person listed hundreds of things, with a wide variety.
Zhang Ling calculated in his heart, he first checked the spiritual herbs and other things.
Among them, the lowest value third-grade Black Cloud Flower required a thousand years of age. The value of other spiritual herbs was even greater, all of which required a thousand years of age or more.
After a rough scan, he could gather seven or eight items that met the exchange requirements.
He had a mysterious yellow bead, and the age of the spiritual herbs was not a problem. Zhang Ling naturally did not use all of the many thousand-year-old spiritual herbs that he had previously cultivated, and kept many in case of emergency.
Although he could meet the exchange requirements, Zhang Ling did not immediately propose a trade.
Because taking out seven or eight thousand-year-old spiritual herbs at once, several of which were two or three thousand-year-old fourth and fifth-grade spiritual herbs, would be too noticeable.
Naturally, he couldn't exchange them all with spiritual herbs. Zhang Ling's gaze turned to other things.
At this time, a fat cultivator covered in gray light, whose face could not be seen clearly, flew to Third Elder Qin. He took out four items.
Third Elder Qin immediately grabbed those items in his hand and quickly checked them. He smiled. "The four spiritual objects meet the exchange conditions, this Lie Feng Sword ancient treasure belongs to you."
Third Elder Qin pointed at a black-green flying sword in a jade box, and the flying sword flew to the fat cultivator.
The fat cultivator stretched out his hand, condensed a dusty big hand to grab the flying sword, and shook it gently. With a flash of spiritual light, black sword lights immediately appeared in the air, making a sound of piercing the air.
"Haha, this treasure is really good." The fat cultivator laughed with satisfaction, put away the flying sword, and returned to his original position.
After a while, an old woman wearing a red scarf came to Third Elder Qin. She threw out seven or eight treasures and also walked two things.
This old woman did not hide her appearance, but her cultivation was extraordinary. She was also a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator.
Next, seven or eight people exchanged things with Third Elder Qin, but only one person successfully exchanged things. The others did not meet the conditions.
Zhang Ling stared closely at the piece of Purple Essence Copper, thinking about how to exchange for this thing.
Speaking of which, the value of this piece of Purple Essence Copper was also among the top of the many treasures that Elder Qin took out.
Suddenly, Third Elder Qin looked in his direction again and transmitted his voice.
"Fellow Daoist, how are you considering it? Another fellow Daoist is willing to offer six items on the list, and another valuable treasure, in exchange for Purple Essence Copper."
