Translated by Yan of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
In order to see something embarrassing happen to You XiaoMo, there were actually two people following behind them.
You XiaoMo was rendered speechless when he looked behind. They were truly a senseless group of people; so what if he looked soft and delicate? So what if he was a grade five mage? Should he be glad that he said he was grade five, because if he said he was grade six, wouldn’t they all laugh their heads off?
The calmest one was the manager, who led them directly to the fifth floor.
The fifth floor seemed to be high, but it actually wasn’t. They got there quite soon.
The manager stood at the entrance to the stairs. He spread out his hands and said to You XiaoMo, “This way! Your room is the third one on the left. This is the room card for your room. When you wish to check out, all you have to do is bring the card back to the front desk.” He handed a small black card to him as he spoke.
You XiaoMo took it and nodded. “Thank you very much!”
“It’s my duty, that’s all!” The manager laughed lightly before he turned and went back downstairs. He unexpectedly didn’t plan on waiting.
The two people following behind them shared looks of dismay. Typically, if guests lied about their cultivation base, the manager would follow them from beginning to end to prevent the guests from flying into a rage if they lost face. But since he actually left, did that mean You XiaoMo’s cultivation base was actually grade five?
Downstairs, those who bet that You XiaoMo wouldn’t be able to reach the third or fourth floor had long since revealed ugly expressions. They continuously cursed their bad luck.
You XiaoMo tossed the room card in his hand and shot a glance at the two people below who were preparing to watch the show. His lips curled and he finished walking the stairs to the fifth floor without any obstructions with Ling Xiao.
The two people’s faces were ashen, and they immediately dejectedly went back down. Since he was actually a real grade five mage, it made them too surprised. Now they’d done it – they’d offended a grade five rainbow level mage. They could only pray that he was magnanimous and wouldn’t bear a grudge against them.
You XiaoMo didn’t know what they were thinking, or else he would’ve mocked them.
Since they knew they would offend someone, why would they bother placing a bet just then? There was simply something wrong with their brains.
Holding the room card, You XiaoMo entered the third room on the left of the corridor. Even though a grade five mage was only lower than a grade six mage by one level, it was still a very uncommon high-grade mage. The room that WuShuang Hotel prepared naturally wouldn’t be too bad.
The room was very spacious, equivalent to a presidential suite. It was made of soundproof wood, and when the door closed, they couldn’t hear anything from outside. It was also an exceptionally good place to cultivate.
“It is indeed very comfortable. Even something free can be this good.” You XiaoMo threw himself onto the bed, rubbing his cheeks against the soft comforter as he let out a satisfied sigh.
Ling Xiao sat next to the bed. “Grades five or six mages are still considered the peak in the Continent. WuShuang Hotel isn’t lacking in spirit gems, and furthermore, they will get on these mages’ good sides, what would they have against that?”
“That’s also true.”
The next day, the shopkeeper gave You XiaoMo an invitation.
The invitation was for the gathering that was mentioned earlier, set up by several large hotels in Central City. They invited all of the high grade mages, or in other words, those of grades five or six. As for grade seven, none had appeared yet in TongTian Continent. Zu Ma couldn’t be considered a pure grade seven either.
However, Zu Ma was someone from the Black Spider. She most likely wouldn’t participate.
The gathering would be happening the next night. The location was in a pawnshop located on a street behind WuShuang Hotel. Of course, on the surface it was a pawnshop, but in reality, it was a place for trade. The gathering wouldn’t purely be just a gathering; it also included a trade fair. Anyone who was interested could attend, the communication fair was just secondary.
You XiaoMo accepting the invitation meant that he would attend.
Next, they still had two days to spare. In any case, lazing around was still lazing around, so they might as well go take a look. If they ran into any acquaintances, it would be even better.
Speaking of which, You XiaoMo discovered that he still hadn’t notified anybody else after arriving in Central City. He asked for Ling Xiao’s opinion.
“Might as well. When the time comes, you can ask them about the Mage Assemblage’s situation.” Ling Xiao was lying on the bed as he recommended, bored to death.
You XiaoMo found the manager that night. Since the boss of the hotel was Qiao WuShuang, the manager definitely had a way of notifying them immediately. In addition, he felt like the manager was neither haughty nor humble, and didn’t care whether he was favored or humiliated, so he should be pretty good at getting things done.
Sure enough, the manager wasn’t surprised in the slightest when he found out You XiaoMo wanted to find Qiao WuXing. On the contrary, he smiled at him and said, “Master You, I will immediately send someone to notify Young Master WuXing.”
“Ah, you know me?” You XiaoMo was startled.
The manager laughed. “Master You is the two Young Masters’ friend. Of course I know you.” Originally, he wanted to tell Young Master WuXing of his own accord, but then he was worried that they didn’t want Young Master WuXing to know, so he hesitated and didn’t notify them. Now he was very glad.
The manager was quite fast, and he relayed Qiao WuXing’s message to him that very day.
Since Qiao WuXing had some business to take care of, he couldn’t come find them immediately. He told the manager to tell them that he would see them the next night at the gathering, and that he and Jiu Ye would both be going.
You XiaoMo shut the door and ran into the inner chamber. He threw himself before Ling Xiao, who was currently meditating with his eyes closed. “I just asked the manager if I could bring someone to the gathering. You should come with me tomorrow.”
Ling Xiao’s eyes opened a tiny bit. “Of course we’re going together. Mages most likely aren’t the only ones going to the gathering this time.”
The next night, You XiaoMo stood in front of the pawnshop with Ling Xiao, looking at the sign board on the verge of collapse in silence.
As expected, it was deeply hidden. Not even this world could break away from convention: the more broken down and dilapidated a place was, the more likely it would be completely opposite on the inside…
The two of them walked inside the pawnshop. The boss of the pawnshop was an old man whose eyes were so narrowed that they were basically a line. When he saw them, he walked over.
You XiaoMo didn’t give him a chance to speak. Instead, he directly handed over the black invitation that the manager gave him. The old man opened his mouth, but he didn’t say anything as he took the invitation silently.
“Please follow me!”
The old man walked towards the courtyard in the back. There was a hidden door in it, followed by a black passageway. It could still be considered spacious, as four people could walk shoulder to shoulder at the same time in it. The old man handed them each a black cloak, which had the ability to block out other people’s inquisitive looks. Some people weren’t willing to let others see their real faces, so they all draped black cloaks over them. However, they could also opt out of it, since this was still a communication fair.
The gathering was split into two parts. The first part was a trade fair, and after that ended, it was a communication fair. When that time came, nobody would need to wear a cloak.
There were two people guarding the end of the passageway. When they saw the old man, they immediately opened the door and let them in. The black passageway immediately became a bright and wide hall. They didn’t come too late, but there were already quite a few people chatting in the hall. Most people were standing in the corners alone.
You XiaoMo looked around curiously. Everyone was wearing their cloaks, so there was no way to tell who was who. It was much too hard to find Qiao WuXing. After living for twenty something years, could this be the long-awaited childhood game of hide-and-seek?
“Are Qiao WuXing and Jiu Ye here?” You XiaoMo couldn’t help but ask Ling Xiao.
“They shouldn’t be. They’re most likely coming to attend the communication fair. When the trade fair is over, we can take a look then.” Ling Xiao responded.
“Alright.” You XiaoMo said helplessly.
Half an hour later, the trade fair finally began.
All of the people participating in the trade fair were high grade rainbow level mages, and the trading took place between mages. If there was something that a certain mage wanted, they could go up and mention it, while simultaneously taking out what they wanted to trade. If someone was willing to trade, they could begin negotiations.
Besides that, there was another problem. They heard that this time, the Mage Assemblage might require them to bring their own magic herbs to refine pills, so it would never hurt to prepare in advance.
At first, nobody went up, but shortly after, someone with an elderly voice was the first to go. He beautifully finished the transaction, and people finally went up with itching hearts.
You XiaoMo didn’t really have anything he wanted to trade for. He already had a lot of varieties of transcendent level magic herbs growing in his dimension. He had even less of a need for pill recipes; the Mage Association and Beast Transfiguration Guild probably didn’t have as many pill recipes as him combined, so he didn’t need to trade, unless there was a magic herb or pill recipe that he didn’t have.
Not even an hour later, many people had finished their exchanges.
Some returned disappointed, some came back full of satisfaction, either excited or happy or crestfallen… Another half an hour later, the trade fair slowly entered its final stages.
At that moment, a thin figure walked up to the trade table.
She took out a jade box and placed it on the table. One could faintly make out a magic herb lying inside. A slightly lower voice said, “This is a Dragon Ginseng Grass. It iwas a level twelve high-grade magic herb…”
Following her voice, the sound of whispers erupted in the trade hall.
You XiaoMo, who hadn’t moved the whole time, suddenly sat up straight, staring directly at the jade box. His burning gaze seemed to pierce through the jade box into the magic herb inside.
You XiaoMo turned to look at Ling Xiao only to see that his expression no longer looked so indifferent and languid. He narrowed his eyes with an unreadable expression as he stared at the jade box.
“Is this that magic herb that we were looking for?”
Ling Xiao nodded. “Judging from its exterior, it should be. If we wait and see, we’ll know for sure.”
The outside of the Dragon Ginseng Grass was a fairly rare golden color, in the shape of ginseng. But it also looked a bit like a dragon’s tail, so it was called Dragon Ginseng Grass. This kind of magic herb was an ingredient for grade seven magic pills, and it was extremely uncommon. If this was the ancient times, this would be a kind of magic herb that nobody wanted, but now, it was priceless.
The reason was very simple: there weren’t any grade seven mages yet in TongTian Continent. The highest grade one was still only Zu Ma, who was a mage half in grade seven.
Therefore, even if someone got this magic herb, first of all, there weren’t any pill recipes, and second, they weren’t strong enough to use it. So there were even some people who said that grade seven magic herbs were a kind of useless herb. Even though that’s what people said, the Dragon Ginseng Grass was still very valuable. When this kind of magic herb entered a trade, it usually wasn’t something extremely bad.
The hall quieted down again after that.
Everyone looked at her. If she didn’t want something too excessive, they could exchange with her.
