Chapter 3: The Domineering Mistress (Part 2)

Guo Shieru brought Yingmo back to the courtyard. It was a small courtyard by the riverbank, with the street in front of the main gate and a small river behind it. There were two-story wooden buildings. The courtyard wasn’t large, about ten square meters at most. By the enclosure stood an old locust tree, its canopy covering the entire courtyard, making it very quiet.
There were two young women, servants sent by Xie Lingyun, responsible for cleaning and cooking. Guo Shieru didn’t mind and let them live in the rooms next to the buildings.
Yingmo asked, “Are we going back right away?”
Guo Shieru shook his head and said, “Let’s get familiar with this place first. After staying for about ten days, there should be no problems. Then we’ll leave… Don’t disturb anyone.”
Yingmo nodded and said, “Mm, that’s the safest approach. Let’s stay a while longer. Oh, by the way, Shieru, should we buy some things for the old master to take back for everyone?”
Guo Shieru nodded and said, “Mm, good. Let’s see what local specialties there are and bring some back as gifts.”
…
Early the next morning, Guo Shieru and Yingmo went to Dachen Shop.
Xie Lingyun came out to greet them personally, followed by Xie Xiaoping. After a night’s rest, he had recovered and stood there in a sapphire-blue robe, looking very casual.
“Hehe, junior brother, you could have rested for a few days before coming. There’s no need to rush to work.”
Guo Shieru said, “I want to get familiar with the place first. Also, I plan to explore around. Well, I’ll need Xiaoping to show me the way.” He unceremoniously assigned the task to Xie Xiaoping.
Xie Lingyun quickly said, “No problem, no problem… Xiaoping, follow your junior uncle.” He had reminded his son repeatedly the previous night, believing he must have listened.
Xie Xiaoping wasn’t as reluctant as yesterday. After all, Guo Shieru was a high-level grand talisman master. Just from a professional standpoint, he was inferior to him. Especially since Guo Shieru was still a young man who had reached such a high level in his profession, even if he still felt a bitresentment, he could only keep it to himself. At least on the surface, he appeared calm.
“Junior uncle, where would you like to go? I’ll take you there… In Wuyu Town, there’s no place I don’t know or person I don’t recognize.”
Guo Shieru smiled slightly and said, “No need for much fuss. I just want to buy some things and get familiar with Wuyu Town.”
Xie Lingyun hurriedly said, “Buying local specialties, huh? Junior brother, just tell Xiaoping what you want, and he’ll go buy it. Hehe, everyone here knows him, so you won’t get fake goods.”

Guo Shier said, “Fakes?” Since arriving in this world, he had never seen any fakes, especially not at the North Talisman Gate, where he had never heard of such things. The people there were relatively simple, and even those who were malicious and cunning did not sell fakes, so he was quite surprised.

Xie Xiaoping said, “There aren’t many fakes, but when you encounter them, it’s really disgusting.”

Guo Shier nodded and said, “Okay, then I’ll leave it to you, Xiaoping.”

Xie Lingyun was busy and was called away by his assistants to handle some matters. Xie Xiaoping led the way, with Guo Shier and Eagle Demon following onto the main street. Xie Xiaoping said, “Wuyu Town has three docks and four streets in total. The largest commercial street is mainly for bulk trading, followed by the street for food and brothels.”

Guo Shier asked, “What do brothels sell?”

Xie Xiaoping smiled and said, “Brothels are… uh… well… places that men go to… um, nothing much…” He didn’t know what to say for a moment. Brothels were places where prostitutes worked. Although Guo Shier was a skilled fighter, he was still a child and had no idea what they were, so Xie Xiaoping didn’t know how to explain it.

But Guo Shier understood. After all, he wasn’t really a child. He could tell what a place where men went was just by hearing the name. He hadn’t expected such places to exist here either. He said, “No need to explain. I know what they are.”

Xie Xiaoping rolled his eyes inwardly, thinking, “Does he really know? How is that possible?” He accidentally muttered, “How could you know about such places… how is that even possible…”

Guo Shier looked at him with a half-smile, and Xie Xiaoping broke into a cold sweat, quickly saying, “There’s another street that sells various talismans and materials…”

Eagle Demon was very interested in brothels. He said, “Let’s go check them out later.”

Guo Shier was speechless. He thought, “Damn, why would a kid like me go to a brothel? Even if I want to see something, it can’t be like this.”

Xie Xiaoping said happily, “No problem!”

Guo Shier glared at Eagle Demon, but Eagle Demon pretended not to see and turned his head around, smiling as he looked around. Guo Shier shook his head helplessly. He couldn’t do anything. Eagle Demon had almost no entertainment since following him, always practicing constantly. Since he suggested going to a brothel this time, Guo Shier couldn’t stop him, nor did he want to.

The three of them strolled down the street, with Guo Shier entering almost every shop he saw. Xie Xiaoping was very clever; whenever Guo Shier picked out something he wanted, he would immediately buy it. Fortunately, they had a talisman bag, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to carry so many items.

Guo Shier was very happy. He had missed Master Luo Jie and his fellow disciples a lot during this time, so he was naturally delighted to be able to bring back gifts.

As they bought things along the way, there were many items, but they weren’t expensive. They mainly included locally crafted silks and fabrics, as well as various rare animal skins and daily necessities—most of which were things not found in the North Talisman Sect.

Guo Shier entered a shop, and Xie Xiaoping said with a smile, “Young junior uncle, this is our shop, specializing in real talismans.”

Xie Xiaoping went straight up to the second floor and called over the shop’s owner. The owner was also an inner sect disciple, dressed in a sapphire-blue robe just like Xie Xiaoping. The two seemed very familiar and started chatting as soon as they met.

“Lao Tong, let me introduce him. This is Guo Shier… Young junior uncle, a disciple of Grandmaster Kumu, a senior great talisman caster. This is the owner, Tong Zhi, a famous playboy among the inner sect disciples.”

Tong Zhi gave him a light punch and said with a smile, “Don’t listen to his nonsense… Uh, it’s you!”

Guo Shier also recognized this guy as one of the three who were with Xie Xiaoping—the inner sect disciple who had been terrified by Monier. He looked at Guo Shier awkwardly.

“Tong Zhi… Hello, I’m Guo Shier.”

Guo Shier spoke awkwardly—should he call him Tong Zhi or comrade? The name was quite distinctive.

Tong Zhi said, “Hehe, young junior uncle, my apologies.”

Guo Shier waved his hand generously and said, “It has nothing to do with me. I’m just here to buy some real talismans. Tong Zhi, give me some good ones.”

Upon hearing this, Tong Zhi immediately said cheerfully, “Great! Since young junior uncle has come to my shop, it means you value me, Lao Tong. I do have some good talismans here. Unfortunately, there are no talismans of the True Spirit level. The best ones are True Treasure talismans. I have three of them here, along with many ancient and spiritual talismans. You can take a look.”

Guo Shier was stunned. Spiritual and ancient talismans were treated as mere decorations in shops—this place truly was the Intermediate Talisman Continent, so extravagant. In the North Talisman Sect, the best talismans sold in shops were Treasure talismans. As for spiritual talismans, even masters might not be able to obtain them. Having one as a personal talisman was already quite good.

Guo Shier said happily, “That’s great! Show me, what kind of talismans are they?”

Tong Zhi called over a clerk and said, “Young junior uncle might be interested in True Treasure talismans. Do you want to see the others too?”

Guo Shier replied eagerly, “Yes! Of course! Anything above spiritual talismans.”

Tong Zhi and Xie Xiaoping felt a bit strange. In the Chenxiao Sect, once one reached the level of a senior grand talisman master, they would abandon spirit talismans and ancient talismans, at least switching to true treasure talismans, with most people starting to use true spirit talismans. However, true spirit talismans were quite precious and hard to obtain, though they could still be found in secret realms or acquired through killing and plundering.

Here, true ancient talismans were relatively rare. But once one reached the level to use true ancient talismans, they could begin learning to cultivate virtual talismans.

A guy brought in a pile of wooden boxes. Tong Zhi arranged them neatly one by one and said, “Young junior uncle, take a look first. These are all spirit talismans and ancient talismans. A few of them are quite rare and can be used as life talismans. Hehe, of course, you don’t need them.”

Seven spirit talismans and five ancient talismans. Tong Zhi was very sincere and took out twelve talismans at once.

Spirit talismans and ancient talismans also varied in quality. These twelve talismans weren’t particularly good, nor were they particularly bad. In the North Talisman Sect, they would be considered good talismans. Guo Shier’s standards were now quite high; having received the inheritance of the Virtual Mist Path, his requirements for talismans had changed from before.

“Lao Tong, I want all of these talismans.”

Tong Zhi was shocked and said, “All of them? That’s not cheap…” Even here, spirit and ancient talismans were very expensive, as they weren’t everyday items but essential tools for professionals.

Guo Shier threw over a talisman bag and asked, “How much in grand talisman coins?”

Tong Zhi did some quick calculations and said, “Spirit talismans… 5,600 grand talisman coins. Ancient talismans… 7,000… Um, seven spirit talismans total 39,200, five ancient talismans 35,000… In total, 74,200…”

Guo Shier glanced at Xie Xiaoping with a smile.

Xie Xiaoping said, “Lao Tong! Is that the listed price? What’s the discounted price?”

Actually, Guo Shier thought this price was already very cheap. In the North Talisman Sect, a single spirit talisman cost at least hundreds of thousands of grand talisman coins, and even at such a high price, it was hard to get one if you didn’t have money. Of course, he wouldn’t refuse to haggle just because it was cheaper here.

Xie Xiaoping and Tong Zhi argued for a while before finally agreeing on a price of 30,000 grand talisman coins. Guo Shier was stunned—this showed just how much markup was involved. He said, “Lao Tong, don’t you still have three true treasure talismans? Show them to me.”

Tong Zhi frowned and said, “Young junior uncle, you can’t take all three true treasure talismans. Please leave at least one behind, otherwise… I won’t have any high-level talismans left.”

Guo Shier replied indifferently, “Just show them to me first.”

Tong Zhi reached out and gently touched his waist, and two wooden boxes appeared in his hands. He carefully placed them in front of Guo Shier and said, “Our shop only has these three high-grade talismans. Few people are willing to sell true treasure talismans; most exchange them for materials. Take a look…”
Guo Shier swiftly took the three true treasure talismans without even looking at them and said, “No need to look. I want them…”
Tong Zhi was stunned and said, “Ah? Ah! This… this… this is…”