Chapter 5: The Market & Little Gold
Time: 3 Days Later (Outside).
Location: Inside the Space (10 Days Passed).
Luo Feng knelt before the clay jar buried in the corner of the field. The mud seal was dry and cracked.
"Ten days of Yin-Yang circulation," Luo Feng whispered, his hands trembling slightly with anticipation. "In the outside world, this takes a month. Let's see if the logic holds."
He broke the seal.
Pssh.
A faint white vapor hissed out of the jar. It didn't smell like the harsh, stinging alcohol of the slums. It smelled clean. It carried the scent of wet stones after a heavy rainstorm, mixed with the faint sweetness of morning dew.
Luo Feng dipped a wooden ladle into the jar and pulled it out.
The liquid was crystal clear.
Usually, slum wine was cloudy, yellow, and filled with sediment. But this? It looked like pure mountain spring water. The Sun & Moon Qi had filtered every speck of dust out of the rice during fermentation.
Luo Feng took a small sip.
It was cool on the tongue, then exploded into a gentle warmth in his stomach. There was no burning sensation in his throat—the hallmark of "Fire Toxin" found in cheap alchemy products.
"Success," Luo Feng breathed. "The Star Grass dissolved all the impurities."
He quickly bottled the liquid into ten ceramic gourds he had prepared. He placed them into a heavy burlap sack.
He stood up and looked at Luo Xia, who was weeding the rice field.
"I'm going to the market," Luo Feng said, hefting the heavy sack onto his shoulder. "I'll be back before noon."
"Be careful," Luo Xia said, wiping sweat from her brow. "Don't let anyone follow you home."
Luo Feng nodded. He stepped out of the Space, appearing instantly in their bedroom. He unlocked the shack door and stepped out into the chaotic reality of Cloud City.
The West Market.
The transition from the quiet sanctuary of the Space to the Cloud City Market was jarring.
The streets were a riot of noise and smell. Cultivators in worn robes shouted over each other, haggling for scraps. The air smelled of cheap spices, unwashed bodies, and the metallic tang of low-grade iron.
"Fresh Spirit Rabbit! Caught this morning! One stone for three!"
"Iron-Skin Pills! Reject batch, but effective! Cheap! Cheap!"
"Get out of the way, trash!"
Luo Feng gripped his sack tight. He kept his head down, weaving through the chaos. He ignored the street stalls. If he tried to sell this high-quality wine to a street vendor, they would bully him, claim it was poison, and try to take it for free.
He needed a reputation. He needed safety.
He walked past the chaotic "Free Trade Zone" and entered the row of permanent shops. He stopped in front of a three-story wooden building with a sign painted in gold lacquer:
[Hundred Herb Hall]
It was a chain store owned by the City Lord's family. They were ruthless with prices, but they were honest. They didn't rob their customers in broad daylight.
Luo Feng straightened his spine to look confident and walked in.
The interior was cool and smelled of medicinal herbs. A middle-aged shopkeeper in a blue robe stood behind a high counter, clicking an abacus. He glanced at Luo Feng's worn clothes and frowned slightly.
"We aren't hiring helpers," the shopkeeper said dismissively, not stopping his calculation.
"I'm not looking for work," Luo Feng said, his voice calm. He placed one ceramic gourd on the counter. "I'm here to sell. Spirit Wine."
The shopkeeper paused. He looked at the crude gourd, then laughed. "Lad, we are Hundred Herb Hall. We sell alchemist-grade potions. We don't buy swill brewed in a bathtub in the slums. Take it to the taverns."
"It's not swill," Luo Feng uncorked the bottle. "Smell it."
The shopkeeper rolled his eyes, leaning forward to humor the beggar. But as the scent of the wine wafted up—clean, rainy, and devoid of the sharp tang of alcohol fumes—his expression froze.
He grabbed the bottle immediately. He tilted it, pouring a drop onto his finger, and tasted it.
His eyes widened.
"No Fire Toxin?" The shopkeeper looked at Luo Feng, his gaze sharpening. "I can't taste any grain impurities. This purity... it's at least 85%."
"It's called Cloud Mist Wine," Luo Feng said smoothly. "It clears the mind and gently recovers Qi. Suitable for Qi Refining Layers 1 to 3."
The shopkeeper tapped his fingers on the counter. "Who brewed this? A Layer 3 cultivator like you can't purify grain to this level. Did you steal it from an Inner Sect?"
"Family technique," Luo Feng replied briefly. "Do you want it or not? If not, I'll take it to the Pavilion across the street."
The shopkeeper hesitated. High-purity wine was rare in the Outer City. Low-level cultivators usually drank poison just to get a bit of Qi. This wine was safe. It would sell instantly to the children of wealthy merchants.
"2 Spirit Stones a bottle," the shopkeeper offered.
"Three," Luo Feng countered firmly. "The purity saves you the cost of detoxifying pills. You can sell this for Five easily."
The shopkeeper stared at him for a long moment, then grunted. "You have a sharp tongue. Fine. Three Stones. But only because I need stock."
He counted out 30 Spirit Stones—glowing, jagged crystals the size of thumbnails—and placed them on the counter.
Luo Feng swept them into his pouch, his heart racing. Thirty stones! That was two months of rent plus food. The crisis was over.
"If you have more next month," the shopkeeper called out as Luo Feng turned to leave, "bring it to me directly. My name is Chen."
Luo Feng nodded and walked out. He didn't smile until he was three streets away.
The Beast Market.
With money in his pocket, Luo Feng felt lighter. He decided to take a shortcut home through the "Beast Alley."
The smell here was awful—manure, wet fur, and rotting meat. Cages lined the street, filled with depressed-looking Spirit Beasts.
"Ancient Bloodlines! Dragons! Phoenixes! Buy them here!"
A loud, raspy voice caught Luo Feng's attention.
A skinny vendor was standing over a cage of dying birds, shouting at the crowd. "Look at this Red Eagle! It has the blood of the Vermillion Bird! Only 10 stones!"
The "Red Eagle" was clearly just a painted chicken. The crowd laughed and walked past.
Luo Feng was about to ignore him too, when his gaze drifted to a small, rusty cage at the bottom of the stack.
Inside was a black, ugly chick. It was balding, its feathers looked like burnt charcoal, and it was shivering violently. It looked like it was being cooked alive from the inside.
But Luo Feng felt a strange thrum in his Dantian. The Sun & Moon Qi reacted to the bird.
"System, Scan."
[Ding.]
[Target Detected: Mutated Fire Crow.]
[Rank: 0 (Dying).]
[Bloodline: 0.01% Ancient Phoenix Trace.]
[Status: Critical. The Phoenix Blood is too potent. It generates excessive Yang fire, burning the bird's internal organs.]
[Potential: High.]
Luo Feng stopped.
A Phoenix trace? Even a tiny trace was enough to make a Beast Tamer go crazy. But to the naked eye, this bird just looked sick and feverish.
He walked over to the vendor.
"Boss," Luo Feng pointed at the rusty cage. "How much for that charcoal chicken?"
The vendor looked down. "That? That's a Fire Spirit Crow. It... uh... has a very strong fire nature! Look how hot it is!"
"It's dying," Luo Feng said bluntly. "I need a cheap pet to guard my rice field from rats. This one looks like it might scare a rat before it dies."
The vendor scowled. He had been trying to keep the bird alive for weeks, but it refused to eat and just radiated heat. It was a loss.
"Two Spirit Stones," the vendor spat. "Take the cage too."
"Deal."
Luo Feng paid quickly, grabbed the rusty cage, and walked away before the vendor could change his mind.
The bird inside let out a weak, pained chirp. "Kree..."
"Hold on, little guy," Luo Feng whispered, covering the cage with his sleeve. "You're burning up. But I have a home that can fix you."
The Rescue.
Luo Feng hurried back to the Green Willow District. He entered his shack, locked the door, and went straight to the bedroom—the Anchor.
"Xia! I'm back!"
He placed the cage on the bed. The bird was panting, smoke actually rising from its beak.
[Enter.]
Whoosh.
They appeared in the Space.
Luo Feng immediately opened the cage and dumped the dying bird onto the cool, black Spirit Soil.
"System! How do I save it?"
[Recommendation: The bird suffers from Yang Overload. It needs Yin Energy to balance its core.]
Luo Feng looked at the thick, swirling white mist that walled off the farm.
"The Yin Mist!"
He picked up the hot little bird—it burned his hand like a coal—and walked to the edge of the farm. He gently placed the bird into the swirling fog.
Hiss...
Steam rose from the bird's body as the cold mist touched it.
The bird stiffened, then relaxed. The violent heat radiating from its body began to subside. The cool mist seeped into its pores, soothing the burning organs.
The bird opened its eyes. They weren't black. They were molten gold.
"Chee..." It let out a soft, comfortable sound and nestled into the cool mud, falling asleep instantly.
Luo Feng let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.
"It will survive," Luo Feng said, watching the steam rise. "The cold mist balances its fire blood. This space... it's the only place in the world where this bird can live."
Luo Xia walked over, looking at the ugly, balding creature. "It's barely got any feathers. It looks like a nugget of gold. What should we call it?"
Luo Feng looked at the golden eyes that had flashed for a second.
"Little Gold," Luo Feng smiled. "When he grows up... he's going to burn the sky."