6 The Dongluo Market

What happened on the day of the awakening of Soul Rings spread like wildfire.

As the son of the chief, Li Ran had awakened a Soul Ring. Moreover, it was a ten-year-old stone that had no offensive properties. This matter had spread throughout the entire Pure Wind Clan.

In the span of a single night, news of Li Ran's awakening of his Soul Ring had spread far and wide throughout Sifang Town. Everyone knew about it.

Li Ran had become a joke at the dinner table. He was frequently brought up at the tables of the various inns that night and was treated as a joke.

As the main character of the incident, he was leisurely lying on his bed and counting his money.

"How many magical beasts can I buy with 100,000 gold coins?"

Li Ran held a storage ring in his hand. Inside it was the reward of 100,000 gold coins given by the system.

With this money, he did not need to venture into the Magical Beast Mountain Range for the time being. Instead, he thought of a good place!

The Dongluo Market!

The Dongluo Market branch was the largest market in Sifang Town. It was not the headquarters, but the territory and area it covered were larger than any other market in the town!

There was another important reason it could occupy such a big spot in Sifang Town. It was because the force behind it was very powerful and mysterious!

This force spread throughout the entire Azure Dragon Continent. Almost every region had a branch of the Dongluo Market. It was precisely because of the powerful and mysterious force behind the market that it was able to stand firm in the turbulent continent for more than 1,000 years!

Li Ran did not go to the Dongluo Market this time to investigate what kind of force was behind it. He did not want to, nor did he dare to.

He did not know how much power was hidden behind the Dongluo Market. Nonetheless, there was one thing that he knew very well. There was something that he wanted there.

Magical monsters!

Many Soul Cultivators would exchange gold coins for other precious treasures. They would enter the Magical Beast Mountain Range near Sifang Town and kill all kinds of magical monsters.

Nevertheless, there was a great danger involved. High-aged magical monsters were very formidable and could not be taken down by ordinary Soul Cultivators.

Therefore, there were not many high-aged magical monsters in the Dongluo Market. Firstly, they were very difficult to kill. Secondly, high-aged magical monsters had very precious medicinal effects or other uses. They were usually not put on sale in the market and were secretly bought by people at high prices instead.

"Hopefully, if I'm lucky, I'll be able to encounter one or two 500-year-old magical monsters!"

Li Ran happily planned his arrangements for the next day. At the moment, his physique was very shocking. He was not worried about his cultivation speed at all. Furthermore, with the God-Tier Soul Ring Fusion System, he could absorb monsters infinitely and increase the age of his Soul Ring. This was the fastest way to increase his strength!

A night passed.

Li Ran woke up very early. After hurriedly washing up, he welcomed the morning light and walked out.

On the way, he met quite a number of disciples from the Pure Wind Clan who were doing morning exercises. The moment they saw him, they wore malicious smiles on their faces. Their eyes flickered with faint mockery and disdain.

"Junior Brother Ran, are you going to the training field to do morning exercises too?"

One of the disciples said sarcastically. The news that Li Ran had awakened only a ten-year-old Soul Ring had spread throughout the clan the day before.

Li Ran glanced at the group of disciples. He could not be bothered with them, so he walked straight to the main door.

That disciple could not keep his face straight. He spat at the back of the young man as he left. "How dare that trash go out and embarrass himself?"

"I heard that he was very happy on the altar. Trash is still trash after all. Hahahaha."

"I also heard that. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Chief must be so angry that he's going to die!"

The group of disciples began to chat and laugh again. Their laughter was very loud. Even the young man, who had left them far behind, heard every single word.

"Trash?"

Li Ran repeated the word and smiled lightly. If it was in the past, what they said was true. Now...

"It doesn't seem bad to occasionally play dumb to take advantage of someone."

He no longer felt sentimental. He walked out of the gate of the Pure Wind Clan and headed toward the Central District of Sifang Town. That was the place where the Dongluo Market was located.

The Dongluo Market was open every day but today, the auction area was exceptionally lively.

Li Ran came early but when he arrived at the market, he discovered that it was lively and crowded.

It was his first time coming to such a place.

The Dongluo Market was indeed the best market in the Azure Dragon Continent. It was just a branch but the moment Li Ran entered, he felt the prosperity of the market, as well as the powerful and mysterious force behind it.

Putting aside everything else, just the dazzling array of spiritual pills, holy medicines, and all kinds of rare treasures were enough to make all the forces jealous.

Despite that, no organization or rogue cultivator had ever dared to cause trouble in the Dongluo Mall. Just this alone made Li Ran admire them.

After entering the market, the main hall was divided into several small areas. The types of items displayed in each area were different. This was also to let every customer find the items they liked as soon as possible.

Behind the main hall, there was a corridor that led to the exhibition halls upstairs. Not everyone could enter there.

Only individual organizations and distinguished members had the right to enter those halls.

Li Ran glanced at the corridor then retracted his gaze and walked straight to a spot at the side of the hall.

That was the auction hall!

Those magical monsters whose Soul Rings were not destroyed would normally be auctioned in the auction hall on the same day. Those that were not auctioned off at the end would be dismembered into useful pieces and sold in various types of sales halls.

Hence, in various small areas of the hall, many types of magical monsters had had their Soul Rings either destroyed or incomplete.

Li Ran looked around but could not find any monster he liked. He thought of going to the auction house to try his luck, hoping to encounter one or two monsters that were at least 200 years old.

The auction house was located at the side of the hall. The area there was obviously larger. There were even several Great Soul Masters at the entrance.

They all had three Soul Rings on their hands. Having said that, the third Soul Ring on the hand of one of the Great Soul Masters was blank.

'His Soul Qi has reached the Great Soul Master realm, but he hasn't bound that Soul Ring yet.'

Li Ran kept quiet. When one truly broke through to the Great Soul Master realm, one's Soul Qi was secondary. The most important thing was for one to hunt down magical monsters that were at least 5,000 years old. Only by binding their Soul Rings would one truly be a Great Soul Master!

The same was true for the other realms.

Great Soul Masters were rare in Sifang town. To think that so many Great Soul Masters had appeared in the Dongluo Market all at once was enough to show how powerful the force behind the market was.

'No wonder no one dares to cause trouble in the Dongluo Market. There are probably even more powerhouses upstairs.'

Li Ran looked upstairs without batting an eyelid. The doors and windows there were tightly shut. Nothing could be seen at all.

However, there were several Great Soul Masters in the main hall, so there was no doubt that there would be a few of them upstairs. Furthermore, they were of a higher rank, so it was impossible for the market to not have one or two Soul Kings guarding it.

After several thoughts flashed through Li Ran's mind, he controlled his expression and walked to the side of the auction hall.

When he entered, several Great Soul Masters looked over in unison. Their gazes were sharp, but they did not open their mouths to stop him. They watched as he entered.

"Phew."

Li Ran heaved a sigh of relief. He was being watched by so many powerhouses at the same time. He was not afraid or nervous, but he still felt a sense of oppression.

It was the suppression from the powerhouses!

Anyone could enter or leave the auction house but generally speaking, the people who appeared the most were all from major families or organizations in Sifang Town.

Thus, the moment Li Ran appeared in the auction house, countless gazes swept over. When they saw that he was a ten-year-old child, many people were slightly stunned.

Soon, he could feel that many people withdrew their gazes and turned to look at the auction stage. Items that were going to be auctioned were shown there.

"The three great families are all here."

Coming from the three great families that were the most powerful in Sifang Town were Feng Ying, Wang Xiang, and Liu Gong.

Li Ran found an inconspicuous corner and sized up the people sitting in the front row. Their clothes were special, and one look was enough to tell that they were from the three great families.

As for the others, Li Ran could not tell, but he vaguely knew that they were from the other organizations in Sifang Town. That said, those organizations had always been mysterious, so it was difficult to see through the strengths behind them.

'All the influential people in Sifang Town have come. It seems that the items being auctioned in the auction house today are something.'

Li Ran lowered his head and did not look around too much, trying to reduce his presence.