On the other side.
The moment Feng Qingran stepped into the shop, a wave of chill washed over her entire body.
Her almond-shaped eyes flickered with a hint of darkness as she noticed that the shopkeeper inside had hollow, lifeless eyes—like a walking corpse.
The shop sold rare spiritual plants that were seldom seen on the open market.
These spiritual plants were all sealed inside transparent bottles, making their condition clearly visible.
What surprised Feng Qingran was that compared to the bustling street outside, the shop was incredibly quiet, with only a handful of customers scattered about.
A few attendants seemed normal enough, but except for one, they all wore lazy, listless expressions.
After Feng Qingran entered, only one attendant came up to her with a welcoming smile.
“What kind of spiritual plants would you like to buy, miss?” the attendant asked with great enthusiasm.
“The higher the grade, the better,” Feng Qingran replied. She wanted to purchase some spiritual plants to keep on hand for alchemy.
The celestial plants in her spatial storage weren’t suitable for alchemy at the moment.
Upon hearing her words, the attendant’s expression turned wary. “So you’re looking to buy spiritual plants for alchemy, miss? May I ask what level of alchemist you are?”
At the same time, his eyes darted around, as if scanning for something.
Feng Qingran’s almond eyes turned slightly cold. Instead of answering his question, she countered, “Can’t someone buy spiritual plants if they’re not an alchemist?”
“No, no—please don’t be upset, miss. I just wanted to recommend the most suitable spiritual plants based on your status,” the attendant said, then raised his hand and gestured. “The better plants are on the second floor. Please follow me.”
Feng Qingran followed him upstairs.
The entire second floor was lined with rows upon rows of cabinets, each displaying all kinds of heavenly-grade spiritual plants.
However, about half of these heavenly-grade plants had an unusual aura about them.
“Miss, all the plants here are fresh stock. Feel free to browse and purchase whatever you like,” the attendant said, then began introducing the plants on the shelves.
Feng Qingran stopped in front of one shelf, picked up a transparent bottle, and asked, “May I open this and take a look?”
The attendant shook his head. “These bottles are used to seal in the spiritual energy of the plants. Once you open it, the spiritual energy inside will dissipate, and you’d have to buy that plant.”
Hearing this, Feng Qingran didn’t open the bottle. Instead, she picked up two identical bottles and held them in her hands.
These two Spirit Condensation Herbs appeared to have no differences at all—their auras were exactly the same.
But upon closer inspection, one of them, aside from having one main root and three smaller roots, also had some extremely fine rootlets.
If you weren’t looking carefully, you’d never notice those tiny rootlets at all.
“Miss, is there something wrong with that Spirit Condensation Herb?” the attendant asked, noticing she’d been silent for a while.
“No,” Feng Qingran replied without changing her expression, placing the bottle back in its original spot.
They continued browsing.
From start to finish, Feng Qingran showed no sign that she actually intended to buy anything, yet the attendant still patiently introduced each plant to her.
After they’d gone through everything, Feng Qingran finally spoke up: “How much would it cost if I bought all of these?”
The attendant’s face immediately lit up with disbelief. “Miss, are you serious?”
After the initial shock came overwhelming joy. If she really bought all these spiritual plants, he’d have enough money to buy his freedom!
He could finally leave this godforsaken place!
“Yes,” Feng Qingran nodded seriously. Among these heavenly-grade plants—some real, some fake—there was one called White Dew Grass.
White Dew Grass was a semi-celestial plant that could be used to refine top-tier Beauty Preservation Pills.
In the cultivation world, there were plenty of high-ranking female cultivators, and the higher their cultivation, the more stunning their looks tended to be.
The vast majority of female cultivators were willing to pay a high price for a Beauty Preservation Pill to keep their appearance frozen at under twenty-five years old.
And Beauty Preservation Pills refined with White Dew Grass didn’t just preserve youth—they actually enhanced one’s looks, making them the top choice for those female cultivators.
“There are a total of thirteen thousand seven hundred and thirty-three heavenly-grade plants here. Each one has a different price, so I’ll need to use an abacus to calculate the total for you. Would you mind waiting a bit?” The attendant stared at Feng Qingran, afraid she might show any sign of displeasure.
“Sure. Go ahead and calculate it now,” Feng Qingran nodded.
The attendant was beyond excited. He pulled an abacus out of thin air and walked over to the shelves to start tallying.
Feng Qingran stood where she was, waiting without asking any questions.
It was odd—a shop where the shopkeeper didn’t handle the accounts, and instead left it to an attendant to decide. What’s more, she’d been up here for quite a while and hadn’t seen anyone else come up to the second floor…
Noticing that the attendant was deeply absorbed in his calculations, Feng Qingran casually asked, “Why aren’t the merchants in a hurry to leave this place? Don’t you have to follow the five-hour rule?”
The attendant answered without thinking, “We’re trapped here forever. We can’t leave at all—”
He stopped mid-sentence, his head snapping up in shock. His face turned pale as death, and terror filled his eyes. His hands trembled as he gripped the abacus, frozen in place.
After a long moment, he finally calmed down, glancing around cautiously. Only after confirming no one else was there did he let out a sigh of relief.
“Miss, there are some things you absolutely cannot ask about. You almost got me killed just now!” The attendant’s complexion had recovered somewhat.
“I’m sorry,” Feng Qingran said, her eyes filled with apology, and she fell silent.
About half an hour later, the attendant finished calculating the total price and walked up to Feng Qingran. “Miss, the total comes to three hundred and fifty-seven billion low-grade spirit stones. Since you’re buying in bulk, I’ve already rounded down the smaller amount.”
“That’s a lot of spirit stones. There’s no way I can lay them all out here—you wouldn’t have room to stack them,” Feng Qingran said, looking a bit troubled.
“Miss, this is your first time at the black market, isn’t it?” The attendant’s eyes sparkled.
After that, he taught Feng Qingran how to transfer spirit stones directly using her token.
Once the transaction was complete, the attendant glanced around and whispered, “Miss, could we speak somewhere more private?”
