Chapter 358 Municipal Division
After everyone had finished their breakfast, Qingpingzi naturally followed Jiaojue outside, with Shanwu carrying Shanshui close behind.
Before leaving, Ji Rong leaned against the palace door and waved goodbye to Qing Pingzi and the others. She said, "Senior Brother Wanfa, because Senior Brother Guanshan had sorted out the underground water veins in the Danxue Mountains, Juejun gave Senior Brother Qing Guanzi a mountain of gold and jade for him to mine."
Senior Brother Guanshan also asked Juejun for the position of Mountain Patrol General, and now he's rich!
If you see him, you must bring me some fine jade to admire.
I haven't seen my senior brother Qingguanzi since he went to Hejian Mountain, which is rich in jade. I wonder if he's hiding in his cave, sleeping in and gaining weight.
Qingpingzi nodded to indicate that he understood, but after taking two steps, he turned back and asked Ji Rong, still unwilling to give up, "Junior sister, you always love to have fun, why don't we go together?"
Ji Rong shook her head firmly without blinking and said, "I can't go. I can only wander around on this mountaintop."
Qingpingzi had no choice but to leave with Jiaojue. They both concealed their auras and cultivation levels and went to Xingluo Plain first.
A market for talismans, a market for magical implements, a market for Taoist practices, and a market for elixirs have been built here, interspersed with small shops selling spiritual food and tea, making it very lively.
Each of the four market streets has eighty shops, all of which are ordinary-sized spirit wood houses.
The four main streets of the market are arranged in a cross shape. In the middle of this cross stands a three-story bronze building. The top floor is openwork, and you can see a large bronze bell on it. At the junction of the first and second floors, there is a plaque that reads "Market Office Building".
According to Jiaojue, this building was used to manage the market area.
All transactions in the market were not settled in person. Instead, the seller had to make two copies of a voucher, which included the name, quantity, and price of the goods. The buyer would then take one copy to the "transaction office" in the market building to receive a payment voucher, and then pick up the goods from the shop where they were sold.
At that time, the seller will provide proof of purchase, and the buyer will deliver the goods.
At the end of the Shen hour (3-5 PM), the buyer takes the two receipts in their hand to the market office to collect the goods they want.
If you can't think of what you need right away, you can leave your receipt at the city hall for seven days and then make a proper decision.
Jiaojue explained in detail to Qingpingzi and Shanshui that the rules of this market were personally carved by Ji Rong.
There are two main reasons for doing this. First, cultivators often exchange goods, and there is an "appraisal office" in the market where experienced and knowledgeable cultivators appraise the value of goods to prevent both parties from being taken advantage of.
Secondly, it is naturally to prevent counterfeit and substandard products from being sold as high-quality goods.
After all, the Danxue Mountains are now easily accessible, but most of the cultivators who do business live in remote areas and have little knowledge.
If outside cultivators were to replace their produce with inferior goods, it would be a catastrophe for the small clans within the Danxue Mountains who only own one or two shops.
Although these shops look the same size, the magic arrays inside are different, thus dividing the eighty shops on each avenue into three classes:
There are generally twenty to thirty first-class shops, and each shop requires an annual fee of 100,000 spirit crystals.
There are about thirty second-class shops, and each shop needs to pay 60,000 spirit crystals annually.
Third-class shops, due to their truly poor location, do not require rent for the shop space. However, the Market Office will take half a percent of each transaction to support the daily maintenance of the market.
If a third-tier shop collects 40,000 spirit crystals in advance each year, a "no-draw" sign will be hung in the main hall of this tower; for the rest of the year, no spirit crystals will be drawn from the shop's transactions.
However, if a third-class shop fails to collect 20,000 spirit crystals in commission each year for three consecutive years, the shop will be confiscated, which is quite fair!
As he spoke, Jiao Jue led the group into the "City Hall," saying, "There are often good shows to watch here. Let's wait here for a while, watch one of them, and then leave."
The entrance to the city gate was bustling with activity. Many merchant caravans and cultivators were parked outside, sitting in twos and threes on the bluestone bricks, chatting about everything under the sun or eating some spiritual food.
Jiaojue and his party walked into the inner room and saw a large hall. The hall was only covered with a thick layer of spirit bamboo for insulation, and there were no other decorations.
Inside the hall, from left to right, hung large and eye-catching signs reading "Mediation Office," "Appraisal Office," and "Transaction Office." These offices were all forged from two-foot-thick fine iron cages, and the outer walls were intricately engraved with defensive arrays composed of a solid array, a rock-solid armor array, a spike array, a mind-clearing array, and a mud-probing array. They looked extremely sturdy and impervious to water and fire.
The only flaw was that the table in front of the cage was decorated with a piece of inferior jade that wasn't very thick. This jade was only decorated with a simple support formation, and it looked like it wouldn't withstand being smashed.
There was a large wooden plaque hanging on the wall near the entrance, with a few copper pendants from the no-drawer shops sparsely hanging on it.
On the wall near the stairs, there was also a large wooden plaque with two lines of text inscribed on it.
A line of text reads "Second Floor Settlement Office (5-7 PM)".
Another line, in larger, blood-red lettering, read: "No hitting or smashing allowed. Violators will be held liable!" It was very eye-catching.
As soon as they entered the inner room, they saw a fierce argument taking place in the appraisal area. Jiao Jue squinted and whispered, "The show has begun. Follow me."
They stood discreetly under the sign that read, "No hitting or smashing, violators will be held liable!"
A black bear, a king-level cultivator with a skull necklace around its neck, was baring its teeth and roaring at the "Appraisal Office": "You little sparrow, you have no eyes! Open your blind eyes and take a good look. This is a precious herb from my mountain!"
"I guarded this for five hundred years to finally pick it, hoping to exchange it for some elixirs, and you actually say it's only worth a hundred spirit crystals! Why don't you just rob me!"
The mountain sparrow cultivator sitting inside is Shan Yan, a disciple recently accepted by Jiu Feng. He is a cultivator from the mountain. Before joining the "Great Wind Sect", he had already cultivated to the Profound Spirit Realm and has great talent for cultivation, but his talent for array formation is average.
After becoming Jiu Feng's disciple and gaining more experience, he naturally advanced to the Supreme Realm. Jiu Feng then had him hone his observation skills by serving as a consul.
The creature inside spread its wings and shouted loudly without any hesitation, "Fellow Daoist, your spiritual herb is of sufficient age, but you did not store it in the jade box in time after picking it."
Now that seventy percent of the spiritual energy has been lost, this kind of spiritual herb can only be used as a paper base for talismans. If I weren't an array cultivator myself, I wouldn't know that this thing is still usable.
If it were anyone else here, they would only advise you to find a different item.
Shan Yan felt that she had been very polite in her speech, but Xiong Xiu outside the iron bars was very dissatisfied!
He roared, "You blind bird, what right do you have to call me a fellow Daoist! And you dare to bargain!" As he spoke, he slammed his two bear paws heavily onto the jade bricks in the "Appraisal Area".
With this impact, the jade piece could not withstand the weight and immediately shattered into two pieces.
The bear thought to itself, "That's all there is to it!" Thinking it had gained the upper hand, it roared again and kept slamming its fists against the iron cage.
With another slap, the bear's paw got stuck in the middle of the iron cage and couldn't be pulled out.
"Oh dear, you've gotten yourself into trouble!" Shan Yan exclaimed excitedly from inside the cage.
He deftly grabbed a thick copper chain next to him with his two wing claws and pulled it down. Then, a few "creak, creak, creak" sounds of gears turning were heard, and the large copper bell on the third floor rang softly.
Immediately, a black and white bear got up from beside the bell, grabbed the corner of the bronze tower, and nimbly climbed down.
Just as it was about to touch the ground, the bear flipped over and transformed into a burly, thick-shouldered, good-looking male cultivator with rings on his arms, a chain around his waist, dark skin with white patches, two ears on his head, and thick black eye circles. He entered the inner room of the copper building and asked, "Where are you causing trouble?"
Shan Yan excitedly raised his wings and claws and shouted, "Senior Shi, this fellow Daoist Xiong is dissatisfied with my appraisal results. He smashed the jade ornaments, destroyed the artifact array, and even tried to attack me."
Zhan Shi glanced at it and saw that it was a king-like black bear. He immediately grinned from ear to ear, his fangs bared.
He strode forward, took a solid iron chain from his thick waist, and bound the troublemaking Xiong Xiu tightly. He also took three iron rings from his arm.
He chanted a spell, and the three iron rings tightly bound the troublesome Xiong Xiu's neck and four hands.
Then, he took small steps and ran to Jiao Jue's side, bowing to Jiao Jue.
Jiao Jue narrowed his eyes slightly at him, then shook his head slightly; Zhan Shi then grinned and walked to the "Appraisal Area" and said, "Where is that object? Since he is not convinced, I will take him to the Great Sage of Guanshan to make him submit."
Having said that, he took the jade box given to him by Shan Yan, picked up the black bear cultivator at the King Realm, and left happily.
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