50: Chapter 49: The Second Life 50: Chapter 49: The Second Life After gathering at Da Feng Tower, everyone dispersed cheerily, and Hou Niao took the opportunity to enter the circle of Anhe locals.

Although he did not participate in their daily activities, he was still recognized among the locals.

He had come to understand that circles were inevitable; living inevitably means having circles.

Relatively speaking, organizations like local associations were the most loose, natural, and least presence-feeling circles possible.

This also seemed more natural.

After the meal, Gu Weixin and the others had other things to attend to; he sauntered leisurely toward Jin City’s largest cultivation marketplace.

Some things had to be prepared.

The cultivation marketplace was an unavoidable hurdle for cultivators.

All resources needed during the cultivation process had to be coordinated there—selling what was surplus and buying what was urgently needed.

No one could delve into all aspects of cultivation, nor could anyone be completely self-sufficient.

Therefore, every major city had a similar place, which was the only consumption area for cultivators.

Jin City’s street was the busiest, had the most complete array of cultivation items, and was the richest resource district in the entire Da Feng Plain.

As long as you had enough Spirit Stones, there was nothing you couldn’t buy here.

This was Hou Niao’s first visit, and as soon as he stepped foot here, he could sense the scent of Spirit Stones in the air; the people coming and going around him were all cultivators.

He didn’t realize there were so many cultivators in the world.

Normally unseen, they were like fish crossing a river here, while mortals were rarely seen.

Only upon arriving here did he feel that his own Realm wasn’t so low.

Most people in the streets were at the Pulse Energy Induction level of cultivation; he even felt a sense of superiority here.

The stores varied in size but were very specialized: those selling elixirs never sold talismans; those selling talismans never sold artifacts; those selling artifacts never sold books.

Each managed their own section, specialized and coexisting peacefully.

He didn’t see any comprehensive large stores; perhaps that was a characteristic of Jin City, which, after all, was not a grand city like Divine City with a capped audience.

He was looking for an artifact marketplace.

Along the street, elixir shops were the most numerous, followed by talisman shops, then artifact shops, and finally cultivation technique shops.

The reason was straightforward—elixirs and talismans were consumables, in endless demand; artifacts had a much longer use life, and skills were something that could be used for a lifetime.

Walking down the street, after a brief observation, he chose a less frequented store called Top Quality.

From the name, one could tell this was a boutique, and from his life experiences, the places most liked by lower-level cultivators were not necessarily the best.

They might indeed be cheap, but their quality was also questionable.

There’s a concept difference between focusing on quantity and quality.

Upon entering the shop, no one came to serve him, giving him the opportunity to carefully examine the shop’s display and arrangement.

Inside the counter, artifacts were dazzlingly arrayed—magic artifacts, array plates, puppets, and more.

He glanced over them, but did not take them to heart; he knew what he truly needed.

There was an entire wall devoted to Swords, hanging full of weapons made of different cultivation materials and vastly different from ordinary quality.

This was his purpose here; he needed a good sword.

Having decided to focus on swordsmanship for now, the sword given by his sect seemed somewhat inadequate.

This was a choice every good swordsman would make.

The shopkeeper, an old man, stood quietly a few feet away by his side, not uttering a word.

He was an elderly person who clearly understood a swordsman’s psyche—knowing that when a swordsman evaluates swords, it was like a man appreciating a beauty; the least preferable thing was someone chattering ceaselessly behind him.

As Hou Niao browsed, he noticed that more than half of the Swords had attributes of the Five Elements.

This was the mainstream preference for low-rank cultivators.

At their current Realm, they didn’t possess the ability of the Five Elements; only after reaching the Tongxuan Realm could they manipulate the Five Elements.

So, to increase attribute power during combat, they would choose Swords with inherent Five Elements power.

When used, simply channeling the Gang Qi into the Sword would automatically convert it to Fire, Water, Metal, Ice, and other elemental powers.

Thus, as the sword light swayed, flames would leap chaotically, and ice shards would strike fiercely, causing substantial additional damage to the opponent, particularly effective against Demon Beasts with Five Elements attributes.

This served as a shortcut to enhance the power of the sword, but it also meant the sword wielder was giving up on focusing purely on swordsmanship techniques, with gains and losses for each approach.

Hou Niao observed quietly for a long time before he finally said, “Old man, I need an attribute-free sword, prioritizing sharpness and durability, priced around a hundred low-rank Spirit Stones.

Please recommend one to me.”

The old man smiled faintly.

It was a tacit understanding among those who loved swords, with no haggling or trading of treasures—this was respect for the sword, even if this business deal might not earn him much, it could earn him a good mood for the day.

Decades of cultivation and sword practice had not completed his Dao achievement, but his ability to discern people’s true nature was unmatched; he could instantly tell who genuinely used a sword to kill and who just wore it for show.

Without hesitation, he took out three sword boxes from underneath the counter,

upon opening the first sword box, “When the dragon returns, it meets the sword; the phoenix departs, unheard melodies…

This is the Xiao He Sword, left by an old friend, kept here merely to wait for someone worthy of it.”

Then he opened the second sword box, “The former Jin Cheng Sword, its cold light strikes the Dou Niu…

This is the Dou Niu Sword, left by a Quanzhen swordsman who died defending Jin City!”

Finally, opening the third sword box, “This sword, I have forgotten where it came from…

Lonely Sword Nameless!”

Hou Niao extended his hand, gently dragging his fingertips across the icy sword blades of the three longswords, intimately feeling the narrative of each sword, as if he could hear their once passionate and valiant stories!

Is the mental fusion between a person and a sword nonsensical?

But after dozens of battles with the Sword Soul in the Soul Realm, Hou Niao understood it was real!

Indescribable, inexplicable, no need to speak if understood, incomprehensible if spoken.

It was like now, as he caressed the sword edges, it was as if he could hear their thoughts!

Xiao He Sword felt lonely, Dou Niu Sword craved blood, Nameless Sword was silent!

In the end, his finger rested on the Lonely Sword Nameless, softly flicking it— the sword cried out like a howl!

With one hand he picked it up, the other wiped the blade, “I, too, am nameless; this is the one!”

The old man neither exaggerated the customer’s discerning choice nor blamed him for not appreciating the worth of the other swords, but simply silently packed the other two longswords, regretfully, their true masters had not yet appeared.

Hou Niao began to take things out of his Treasure Gourd—forty Spirit Stones in total, four bottles of elixirs containing forty-nine Energy Induction Pills, and two sets of talismans; it was all he had.

The Energy Induction Pills were roughly one Spirit Stone each, the talismans roughly the same, which meant that the items he now took out were valued at about one hundred and twenty Spirit Stones.

“You’ve overpaid…” the old man reminded him.

“It’s you who have underpriced!”

After all, how could there be a fixed price for a sword?

If one liked it, it became a priceless treasure; if not, it was but a piece of iron.

…As the dragon cries inside the box, there must be resentment in its voice.

A thousand gold are lightly valued, a hundred folds hold the reputation high.

Shooting the Dou is never unwarranted, casting pearls hardly startles.

Where will the remarkable skills stand, divine artifacts resonate with sincere spirits.