It had to be said that the marketplace created by Haohan Lou indeed held many good things.
Even a seemingly unremarkable stall on the street often had one or two magical artifacts as its prized possession.
Occasionally, one could find several spiritual items at street stalls, though their prices fluctuated wildly. Some were below market price, while others were even tens of percent higher.
The quality of these spiritual items varied, but most were far inferior to those found in shops.
It made sense, though. If they were of good quality, they would likely have been sold to shops or bought by collectors long ago. Only the poorer quality ones, unwilling to sell cheaply, would end up on street stalls, hoping to find a fool.
As he walked, Ji Yuan saw some items of excellent quality and reasonable prices, but he made no purchases.
After all, with the backing of Mingxin Xuan, he could acquire most spiritual materials, except for those exceptionally rare finds. Moreover, both their quality and price were far superior to what was available here.
Therefore, he was mostly broadening his horizons, only considering buying one or two items after careful thought if he encountered something truly remarkable.
Seeing this, Xia Dong rolled her eyes several times. For a young man, why was he so indecisive when shopping?
Ji Yuan, however, remained unfazed. He had even decided that in the future, all procurement for Xuantian Temple should be handled by him and absolutely not by this young lady from the Qian family.
It wasn't that he feared she would embezzle anything, but it was clear she had never experienced hardship and wasn't one for careful budgeting. She would likely waste a considerable amount of his hard-earned money!
With this decision made, a hint of smugness appeared on Ji Yuan's face. He truly believed he had met his match in no one when it came to being thrifty.
"Young Master, you'll never find a wife acting like this."
As if sensing his thoughts, Xia Dong couldn't help but sigh.
Ji Yuan merely grunted, ignoring her comment. He had witnessed enough domestic squabbles in the county town, even overhearing arguments between couples outside his courtyard at night.
Because of this, he had long since resolved to dedicate his life to the Great Dao and never bring home a "foreigner" who would turn his life upside down and leave him no peace.
"What is this..."
He had only walked a few steps when he spotted an exceptionally luxurious building in the distance.
This building occupied an entire street frontage, spanning three stories, yet it was taller than most six or seven-story buildings. Its roof was covered with colorful glazed tiles, its pillars were painted gold, and it was adorned with numerous exquisite jade and wood carvings.
Even the decorative streamers were made of the finest silk.
"That's Haohan Lou," Xia Dong said softly beside him.
Although this wasn't her first time here, every time she saw Haohan Lou, she couldn't suppress her awe.
"Let's go in and take a look," Ji Yuan said, heading towards the grand building.
Haohan Lou was vast, its structure occupying three streets. It was impossible to say how much silver had been spent to construct such an opulent building.
The first floor was a free market. As long as one registered with Haohan Lou and paid a deposit, they could occupy a stall and sell anything.
Due to Haohan Lou's vetting process, while finding treasures was difficult, there were virtually no fakes. This attracted many cultivators.
The second floor housed various shops in cooperation with Haohan Lou. One could even find merchants from outside Lingyang Prefecture, selling specialties from all over the Great Yu Dynasty.
"Haohan Lou itself doesn't sell anything. It primarily operates as a venue and organizes auctions," Xia Dong explained. "Therefore, the third floor, besides storage and administrative areas, is entirely dedicated to the auction venue."
This business model, where they didn't trade themselves but instead provided space to attract other merchants and collect rent and commissions, was something Ji Yuan had never encountered before.
Though it seemed like a whimsical idea, Haohan Lou had been remarkably successful for many years. Each year, without doing anything, countless merchants brought them money, eager to rent a stall.
"Doesn't anyone imitate this?" he asked instinctively.
As soon as the question left his lips, he shook his head, having clearly grasped the key issue.
A place that brought together so many merchants relied on reputation and connections. Ordinary forces would lack the credibility to impress, and they couldn't attract merchants from all over. Therefore, even if they wanted to imitate it, they couldn't.
"Young Master, should we go directly to the second floor, or should we look around the first floor first?" Xia Dong asked.
Ji Yuan surveyed his surroundings and said, "Let's look around the first floor first. We're not short on time anyway."
Hearing this, Xia Dong's face fell. To explore both floors in one go would be exhausting, even for a cultivator at the early to middle stage of the first realm.
However, since she couldn't make the decision herself, she could only follow Ji Yuan, walking with a dejected look.
Yet, after only a few steps, Ji Yuan suddenly stopped. His gaze swept past several stalls and landed on a wooden box.
Even from a distance, he could clearly see a piece of iron ore, the size of a child's fist and completely sky blue, placed inside the wooden box.
He quickly stepped forward, crouched before the stall, and picked up the iron ore from the box, examining it closely.
"Young Daoist priest, you truly have a keen eye. This iron ore is impervious to fire and difficult for blades to leave a mark on. It is undoubtedly a supreme treasure!" the stall owner said with a smile, seeing a potential customer. "With the Haohan Lou auction about to begin, I've given it a special discount. You can have it for just one hundred taels of silver!"
Upon hearing this, Xia Dong rolled her eyes and pointed to the price tag next to the wooden box: "Doesn't it say thirty taels here?"
The stall owner, unfazed, put away the original price tag and replaced it with a new one marked at one hundred taels.
"Oh, what a coincidence, I was just about to change the price tag," he said cheerfully, appearing quite adept at this sudden price increase.
Seeing this, Xia Dong's brow furrowed with anger. Just as she was about to argue with him, Ji Yuan threw out a bag of snowflake silver.
The stall owner quickly took it, weighed it in his hand, and knew it was exactly one hundred taels, neither more nor less. Upon opening the bag, he saw it was indeed pure snowflake silver.
Despite concluding the transaction, the stall owner showed no sign of joy. Instead, his expression became anxious, and he quickly said, "No, no, I picked up the wrong tag earlier. This item should be three hundred... five hundred taels of snowflake silver!"
Xia Dong, who was about to intervene, clasped her hands on her hips and prepared to argue with the stall owner. However, Ji Yuan pulled her arm and left the spot without paying any further attention to him.
Seeing this, the stall owner could only sit back down. Haohan Lou had a rule: as long as it wasn't forced buying or selling, they wouldn't interfere with matters at the stalls, including sudden price increases.
However, once a customer left the stall, they had to abandon their little schemes, or their stall would be confiscated, and a hefty fine would be imposed.
Although Ji Yuan had never been to Haohan Lou before, he had already thoroughly investigated the rules of the place through Mingxin Xuan.
"Young Master! How could you tolerate that!" Xia Dong said indignantly. "Even though we've settled the transaction, he shouldn't be allowed to arbitrarily increase the price like that! We should at least scold him!"
Ji Yuan looked at her in surprise. If he remembered correctly, when they first met, she had seemed shy and timid. After only a few days, she had developed the temperament of a spoiled young lady.
Sensing his gaze, Xia Dong naturally shifted her expression, reverting to her meek demeanor.
"My master was right, beautiful women are the best at deceiving people," Ji Yuan thought to himself. He didn't say anything more, put away the iron ore he was holding, and continued browsing among the stalls on the first floor.
Seeing this, Xia Dong thought he was displeased and a flicker of anxiety crossed her eyes. Her clear, bright eyes darted around, and she quickly followed him.
She moved closer, her voice almost like a spoiled child's, asking, "Young Master! You haven't answered my question yet!"
Ji Yuan, whose face had just turned slightly red, shuddered at her words, a wave of revulsion washing over him. He instinctively took a step or two sideways.
Seeing Xia Dong about to approach him again, he straightened his expression and said sternly, "Arguing with people is simply a waste of time and energy. It's a losing proposition."
In his view, if one could use force, they shouldn't argue. If force couldn't be used, then one could simply turn and leave. Wasting time and energy on arguments, and worse, losing them, would only upset one's health.
"Remember, even if you win an argument, it's only momentary satisfaction. But if you lose, there's nowhere to seek justice," he said earnestly. "However, fighting is different. If you win, everything is decided by you. If you lose, you can always gather friends and fight back!"
He cared nothing for chivalry or bullying the weak. He wasn't a martial artist and didn't need to adhere to such principles. Besides, in a fight, it was all about strength.
And having many friends was also a form of strength!
Xia Dong nodded thoughtfully, clearly taking his words to heart.
"A promising student!"
Seeing this, Ji Yuan nodded with satisfaction and then slowly scanned the surrounding stalls.
In reality, a part of his mind was already immersed in the storage bag at his waist, focused on the sky-blue iron ore.
After repeated confirmation, he finally breathed a sigh of relief, his heart filled with elation. He had actually stumbled upon a treasure!
This piece of iron ore was not worth a mere hundred taels of silver; even ten or a hundred times that amount, he would still have to acquire it!
This was a rare spiritual material recorded in the Xuantian Sword Manual. Legend had it that it was formed when a meteorite from outer space struck a spiritual spring and was nurtured by the laws of heaven and earth for countless years before a small piece had a chance to form.
Its value was incomparable to mere gold and silver. If exchanged for goods, it could at least fetch one or two low-grade magical artifacts!
In the Xuantian Sword Manual, this material ranked among the top three in importance. It was specifically noted that if one's cultivation reached a certain level in the future, they must find a small piece and smelt it into their natal flying sword.
Only then would the flying sword be considered complete and possess unparalleled destructive power.
His natal flying sword, although a magical artifact of extremely high quality, was forged from a thousand-mile jade vein and ten-thousand-year-old jade marrow. It lacked a certain metallic sharpness.
With this newfound material, it could perfectly fill this gap. Once smelted in, it would make the flying sword incredibly sharp, imbuing it with a metallic aura.
"According to the Xuantian Sword Manual, among the past ancestors, only the one who perfected the sword manual managed to find a single piece!" Ji Yuan couldn't help but murmur to himself.
Such a magnificent start filled him with anticipation for what lay ahead. He wondered if he would discover any more exceptionally valuable spiritual materials.