64: Market outside the city

Luo Chen and Luo Yuheng arrived at the East Gate of Qingyang City.

Half a month ago, this place had just endured an attack from the [Tide-Calling Mermaid].

The city walls, looking brand new compared to other sections, seemed to tell the tale of that fierce battle.

The gray city wall was over thirty meters high, with a node every few dozen meters. The energy barrier that enveloped the entire Qingyang City was emitted from those nodes.

After having their identities verified by the City Guard, the two passed through the twenty-meter-long tunnel beneath the city gate.

Their vision suddenly opened up, and a vast world appeared before Luo Chen's eyes.

In the distance was an endless plain, and further away, mountain ranges seemed to rise and fall.

However, in the next instant, Luo Chen was drawn back by the nearby noise, and he finally saw the marketplace Luo Yuheng had mentioned.

On one side outside the city gate, a huge plaza had been man-made, surrounded by many simple one-story houses with different signs standing in front of their doors.

But even more people simply chose a suitable spot on the plaza to set up a stall, which served as their shop.

With a quick glance, Luo Chen spotted stalls selling potions, shops buying beast cubs, and small stands selling various rare resources.

All kinds of businesses were being conducted, and they were all related to beasts.

As Luo Chen and Luo Yuheng walked toward the marketplace, Luo Yuheng shared some basic knowledge with him.

"Most of the people doing business here are from the city's Hunting Teams. They spend the year traveling between the wild and various secret realms to obtain resources.

Initially, it was just the various Hunting Teams coming here to exchange resources. Over time, it attracted various merchant guilds from the city to come here and buy resources directly, which greatly saved the Hunting Teams' time.

So, this marketplace grew stronger and stronger until it formed the State it is in today."

As he spoke of this, a look of reminiscence appeared in Luo Yuheng's eyes.

"Don't they need to pay taxes here?" It had to be said that Luo Chen's point of focus was quite peculiar.

Luo Yuheng's reminiscence was interrupted, and a look of helplessness appeared on his face. "Perhaps they collect stall fees. After all, for this marketplace to exist peacefully, it still relies on the stationing of the City Guard.

Let's not worry about that for now. We'll browse through the marketplace first, and then set up a stall to buy beasts."

Luo Chen nodded. "Alright."

Not long after entering the marketplace, a stall selling beasts caught Luo Chen's attention.

Five beasts were locked in cages—two large ones and three small ones—looking like a complete family.

The two large ones had obvious injuries, with blood still seeping out from time to time; it was clear they had only received rudimentary treatment.

Furthermore, one of them was clearly on the verge of death, likely unable to hold on for much longer.

They looked very similar to the Siberian tigers from his previous life, but these beasts had three bone spikes protruding from their spines.

This was observed from the three small beast cubs, as the bone spikes on the backs of the two large ones seemed to have been broken by some external force.

[race: Bone-Spike Spirit Tiger

Rank: 4-Star Spirit Beast

Type: Martial Type

State: Near Death

Aptitude: Good

Skill: 1. Pounce (Yellow Grade): Instantly bursts with speed to approach the target.

2. Golden Claw Blade (Mystic Grade): The Bone-Spike Spirit Tiger's claws emit projected wind blades, dealing damage to targets in their path.

3. Strike Weak Point (Mystic Grade): A Bone-Spike Spirit Tiger with excellent hunting experience can always find the weak points on a target's body.

4. Flying Bone Blade (Mystic Grade): The three bone spikes on the Bone-Spike Spirit Tiger's back can leave the body to deal damage to a target and return to the spine after the attack.]

These Skills were fairly standard, but what attracted Luo Chen was that one of the three cubs had an Excellent grade Aptitude.

If he took it back for evolution, the evolved Skills might give him a surprise.

Sitting behind the stall was a burly, thickset man with developed muscles and a thick beard; his first impression was that of someone not to be trifled with.

"Excuse me, boss, how much are these five beasts?"

Zhao Qingfeng, who had been sitting listlessly behind the stall, felt his mood instantly calm after hearing Luo Chen's inquiry. He simply replied flatly,

"The three small ones are 60,000 spirit coins each. For these two large ones, the heavily injured one is 250,000, and the slightly lighter one is 350,000."

As Luo Chen watched the man's facial muscles twitch while he spoke, he couldn't help but get a bit distracted.

"If I bundle all five together, can you make it cheaper?"

"Kid, do you really want to buy them all? You're not pulling my leg, are you?"

Luo Chen smiled helplessly. "Do I look like I'm joking? If the price is right, I will naturally buy them all."

Zhao Qingfeng looked at Luo Yuheng, who was not far behind Luo Chen, and understood. With a grand wave of his hand, he said,

"If you really want them, this whole family will be 700,000 spirit coins total."

Luo Chen rubbed his palms together; this price was indeed much cheaper than selling them in a store.

"Alright, deal."

He took out his terminal and transferred the entire amount to Zhao Qingfeng.

Luo Chen pointed at the dying [Bone-Spike Spirit Tiger] in the cage and shouted to Luo Yuheng not far behind him, "Dad, stabilize this tiger's life."

Upon hearing this, a vine appeared on Luo Yuheng's arm.

He walked up to the cage, and the vine on his arm extended its body, then secreted a drop of emerald-green liquid from the leaves at its tip, which slowly dripped onto the forehead of the most severely injured [Bone-Spike Spirit Tiger] in the cage.

Not long after the liquid was absorbed, the tiger's breathing actually stabilized.

Only then did Luo Chen use the bracelet on his wrist to scan the tiger family and put them all away.

Although he didn't know what the beast on Luo Yuheng's wrist was, he could tell it was a high-level Spirit Beast just from its aura.

Consequently, Zhao Qingfeng couldn't help but become a bit more cautious; there were many combat-Type beasts, but beasts with healing Skills were relatively rare.

To be able to cultivate a healing beast to this level, their main combat beast would only be more powerful; he might even be a King-Rank Beast Master.

Ignoring Zhao Qingfeng's cautiousness, after Luo Chen took away the [Bone-Spike Spirit Tiger] family, he continued to browse along the small paths of the plaza.

Most things here were much cheaper than in the city, but the quality was also a mix of good and bad; even if one was cheated, the sellers wouldn't acknowledge it once you left the stall.

So, to buy truly good things, it really tested one's judgment.

With an old hand like Luo Yuheng around, they actually bought many resources to serve as inventory for the Chenyang Pet Store, as they might be needed someday.

During this time, they also bought quite a few beasts, though beast cubs were still rare here; most were injured adult beasts.

It made sense; generally, cubs were more popular with those big families because it allowed them to build a bond with the family's younger generation.

As for these adult beasts, only after a Beast Master's own contracted beast died in battle would a new slot open up for them to form a contract.

Compared to adult beasts, if they weren't in a hurry, most people still preferred to raise them from cubs, because the habits of wild beasts were very difficult to correct in a short time.

It would cause great trouble when trying to cultivate rapport and coordination.

Even if they contracted an adult, they were more inclined to buy a domesticated one from a shop, which also resulted in the low prices of the beasts here.

Because if they couldn't be sold, the sellers didn't have that many resources to keep raising them, and in the end, they could only be sold as meat.

Of course, this applied to common beasts; if it were a rare and precious beast, it would still be highly sought after regardless of whether it was an adult or not.

After a rough circuit, Luo Yuheng and Luo Chen paid 500 spirit coins at the marketplace management office and obtained the usage rights for a stall near the center of the marketplace.

Luo Yuheng even directly bought a large wooden board and came to the purchased stall.

He wrote 'Buying All Kinds of Beasts' on the wooden board and stood it up in front of the stall.

The first business deal came very quickly; not long after the stall was set up, a resolute-faced woman came to the front of the stall.

She asked, "Do you buy sea beasts?"

Luo Yuheng and Luo Chen looked at each other before Luo Chen responded, "We do, but we need to see what kind of beast it is."

The woman looked around before taking out a basin filled with water from her bracelet.

In the basin was a shimmering golden, palm-sized carp; under the sunlight, the golden light felt like it could dazzle one's eyes.

Setting aside strength and Skills, just from its appearance, this fish made one feel it was opulent.

"How much do you think it's worth?"