CH 137

6-8 minutes 23.06.2021

Sixty-one Dragons (1)

Mu Wanwan ran her fingers around the brim of her hat, her eyes shining—

The appearance of the dwarves was slightly different from what was described in some books. Their average height was about 1.23 meters, but unlike in books, not all dwarves had green skin and stout bodies with unattractive features.

Among a row of male dwarves, Mu Wanwan spotted a very cute dwarf girl. Her skin was somewhat rough but she was rather pretty, and her cultivation must be quite high as Mu Wanwan couldn’t discern her cultivation level.

The entrance fee for the market jointly operated by humans and dwarves was indeed much more expensive than that of the elves. At the elven market, a Rank 1 cultivator only needed to pay two silver coins as the entrance fee, and as for Rank 2 cultivators, the fee was only doubled to four silver coins. However, here, the fee for Rank 1 cultivators was three silver coins while Rank 2 cultivators had to pay six silver coins. As for Rank 3, the fee skyrocketed to one low-grade spirit stone.

Mu Wanwan felt a little embarrassed as she had used up her last backup spirit stone to bribe Hongye in the morning.

“Can I pay with silver coins instead?” she asked.

The person receiving her was a young female human cultivator. She raised her eyebrows at the request but still maintained her poise. “Yes, you can. Also, are you going to set up a stall inside? That will require additional payment based on the items you’re selling.”

Mu Wanwan placed the basket in front of her and said, “Just some ordinary vegetables and Grade 1 spiritual plants.”

The female cultivator glanced at the contents of the basket and her expression visibly turned cold. “The entrance fee is fifteen silver coins, and you need to pay one silver coin as the stall fee for the things in your basket.”

“Fifteen coins?” Mu Wanwan was a little unhappy. Although there was a certain exchange rate for converting spirit stones into coins, the exchange rate for low-grade spirit stones to silver coins was usually around 1:11 or 1:12 at the most. She was clearly trying to rip her off by asking for such a high fee.

Or rather, she was making things difficult for her.

“Fifteen coins,” the female cultivator rolled her eyes at her, clearly impatient.

“According to the exchange rate, you should only charge me thirteen silver coins.” Mu Wanwan restrained herself and tried to reason with her.

“Oh,” the female cultivator raised an eyebrow. “If you don’t want to pay, then don’t stand here. There are many people waiting in line behind you.”

On hearing her words, Mu Wanwan understood that this female cultivator probably didn’t like her. She felt a bit angry, but there was nothing she could do. She had to go see Uncle Zong. So, she didn’t continue to argue with her and counted out fifteen silver coins and handed them to her.

“Ha,” the female cultivator took the money and waved her hand to signal the people behind her to let Mu Wanwan in. As Mu Wanwan walked away, she heard the woman’s mocking laughter, “A Rank 3 cultivator dressed so plainly and selling vegetables? She’s probably a good-for-nothing wandering cultivator.”

Mu Wanwan clenched the wooden token she had just received, and her lips set into a cold expression——

She was indeed a wandering cultivator, but she didn’t expect these people to judge her just based on her appearance. Wasn’t it too much?

Mu Wanwan squeezed her sleeve and felt a little upset. She began to look for the shop that Uncle Zong and his friend co-owned using the information he had given her previously.

The market jointly operated by humans and dwarves was much livelier than the elven market. Compared to the elven market, there were many more weapon shops, most of which were owned by dwarves.

After passing several weapon shops, Mu Wanwan realized that there was a hierarchy in the shops. Some were operated by dwarves dressed as blacksmiths who specifically catered to ordinary people, while others were larger establishments in which the majority of the items were items like flying swords and such, presumably meant for servicing cultivators.

Mu Wanwan walked for a while and took several turns before finally finding the shop jointly owned by Uncle Zong and his friend. It wasn’t as secluded as the shop in the elven market, but the location wasn’t particularly good either, with a low footfall.

When she approached, Uncle Zong happened to be outside the shop. When he saw her, his eyes lit up.

“Lassie, you’re here.”

They entered the shop, and Uncle Zong immediately activated a mechanism, then led her into a courtyard behind the shop.

Auntie Yun and another female orc were seated on stools, and beside them stood a sturdy orc of similar build to Uncle Zong.

“This is my sworn brother. You can call him Uncle Chen,” Uncle Zong introduced with a smile. “And this is the talented girl I’ve been mentioning.”

Mu Wanwan smiled at the orc and greeted him as Uncle Chen. Seeing that he didn’t know how to address her, she thought of the dragon and little chirp waiting for her at home, and something sparked in her heart. “You can call me Xiao Qian1.”

Uncle Zong was somewhat surprised. “Xiao Qian?”

Mu Wanwan smiled. “Mhm. And this is…?”

The female orc sitting next to Auntie Yun smiled kindly at her and said, “You can call me Auntie Hua.”

“Auntie Hua.”

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Mu Wanwan didn’t waste any time. Under the expectant and somewhat embarrassed gazes of Uncle Zong and the others, she took out her interdimensional pouch.

“Auntie Yun, these are the spiritual plants I cultivated for you. I had a small stroke of luck this time, and my abilities have improved,” Mu Wanwan said as she took out the fifteen Grade 2 Bixing Grass and fifteen Grade 2 Baizhen Fruits that she cultivated for Auntie Yun from her interdimensional pouch.

Footnotes:

1 Xiao Qian: Mu Wanwan introduces herself as Xiao Qian, where “Xiao” is a diminutive pre-fix in names elders use to call younger ones, and “Qian” is “money”. She came up with the name while thinking of Mister Long and Mengmeng, and the money she needs to earn to take care of them.