The Sword God of the Universe

Chapter 229: Chapter 229 Lanqu Square Market Chapter 229: Chapter 229 Lanqu Square Market Juhua Restaurant was just a few hundred meters away from Prince Manor.

This restaurant was also considered a property of Prince Manor.

Besides Juhua Restaurant, there were two other restaurants nearby that were owned by Prince Manor.

All three would cease operations to the public during the period of the Three Major Academies’ examinations and cater exclusively to the young martial artists preparing for the assessments.

Jing Yan and the other nine, holding their examination tokens, entered the restaurant and, after the servants registered their information, were each allocated a room.

Martial artists like Jing Yan, who came from the cities below, would obviously not be given the best rooms in the restaurant.

Having a private room each was already considered good enough.

The better rooms in the restaurant were reserved for the influential forces of Lanqu County City participating in the Three Major Acadacemies’ examinations.

To this, Jing Yan didn’t pay much mind.

After all, his stay inside the restaurant was only temporary.

Once the assessments were over, he’d join Dao Yi Academy.

The three martial artists from the Zhao and Cai families, immediately after entering the restaurant, hastily separated from Jing Yan.

In his presence, they felt unsafe, and now, with City Lord Huo Chunyang gone, if Jing Yan found any reason to kill them, they’d die wronged.

Within his room in the restaurant, Jing Yan closed his eyes to conserve his energy.

A knock—”Dong dong dong”—resounded at the door.

“Is it Mr.

Jing Yan?” called a voice from outside.

“Come in,” Jing Yan said, glancing at the door.

A servant from the restaurant opened the door and entered, bowing slightly to Jing Yan.

“Mr.

Jing Yan, downstairs is a Miss Jing Ziqi who claims to be an acquaintance of yours, wishing to meet you,” said the servant.

“Oh?” Jing Yan’s eyes brightened slightly.

Jing Ziqi had always been cultivating at Red Lotus Academy.

A year ago, Jing Ziqi returned to the Jing family because of the family competition.

She returned then out of concern for Jing Yan.

Now that Jing Yan had arrived in Lanqu County City, Jing Ziqi got the news and immediately came to see him.

On the first floor of the restaurant, Jing Yan saw Jing Ziqi, wearing a purple long dress, who became even more charming and alluring.

Many martial artists on the first floor had their gazes drawn to Jing Ziqi, with some chuckling and even attempting to strike up conversation with her.

“Jing Yan!” When she saw Jing Yan, Jing Ziqi immediately leaped to his side.

Joy was written all over her face.

“Not bad, already at the Innate Middle Stage, huh!” Jing Yan observed Jing Ziqi and smiled.

When Jing Ziqi last returned to the Jing family, her realm was only at Early Innate.

Now, after more than a year, she had reached the Innate Middle Stage.

Jing Ziqi, being only a few years older than Jing Yan, was considered very young to have such cultivation, clearly indicating her high talent.

Of course, this was also related to Jing Ziqi’s cultivation at one of the Three Major Academies, which offered resources that were not available to a small city family.

Hearing Jing Yan’s words, Jing Ziqi was slightly dazed.

“Jing Yan, you can see my realm?

I’ve only broken through less than half a month ago, even my father doesn’t know about it yet,” Jing Ziqi said in surprise.

Only a few students who were close to her at Red Lotus Academy knew about her breakthrough.

Even her father, the Jing Family Patriarch Jing Chengye, was unaware.

So how did Jing Yan know?

Could it be that Jing Yan’s strength had grown so formidable that he could discern her realm with just a casual glance?

She scrutinized Jing Yan carefully, feeling a profound and immense depth to him, like a mountain, yet unable to discern Jing Yan’s realm.

Of course she wouldn’t be able to tell, not to mention her being at the Innate Middle Stage; even usual Dao Spirit Realm powerhouses would find it hard to accurately determine Jing Yan’s realm when he wasn’t channeling his Primordial Energy.

This was related to Jing Yan’s cultivation of the Sky Vaulting First Divine Skill.

“Hehe!” Jing Yan merely chuckled, offering no further explanation.

“Jing Yan, shall we go out for a walk?” Jing Ziqi didn’t press further, instead she asked eagerly.

Lanqu County City was undoubtedly bustling, a world apart from Donglin City.

Having not seen Jing Yan for a long time, Jing Ziqi wanted to talk more with him and see the prosperity of Lanqu County City.

“Alright!” Jing Yan looked around at the countless coveting gazes and nodded.

“Ziqi, another member of our Jing family has come for the examination, named Jing Luoyu.

Let me ask if he wants to join us,” Jing Yan added afterwards.

Naturally, Jing Ziqi agreed.

Jing Yan went upstairs but soon came back alone.

Jing Luoyu had no inclination to leave Juhua Restaurant.

After receiving guidance from Jing Yan on the road to Lanqu County City and gaining a deeper insight into Martial Arts, he immediately started cultivating upon entering the restaurant, unwilling to waste any time.

Jing Luoyu also wanted to explore the large, bustling, unfamiliar city with Jing Yan and Jing Ziqi, but ultimately, he restrained himself and declined.

Jing Yan and Jing Ziqi left the Juhua Restaurant and soon entered a market.

This market was no ordinary place; it was called the Lanqu Square Market, a property of the Prince Manor of Lanqu County City.

It was also the largest market in the entire region of Lanqu County City.

Here, you could find almost anything you wanted, as long as you had enough Spirit Stones.

Then, this place was paradise.

Upon entering the market, the first thing that caught one’s eye was a vast array of stalls.

This area of stalls looked rather chaotic, but one mustn’t underestimate it.

With a sharp enough eye, acquiring a peerless treasure at these stalls could be possible.

Even some experts of the Dao Spirit Realm would frequent this area of stalls.

With enough luck and a keen eye, the gains from the stalls could exceed one’s wildest imagination.

Jing Yan had heard of this area of stalls before, heard tales of someone finding treasures worth a fortune right here.

However, Jing Yan had never been here before.

When he was at the Divine Wind Academy, he hadn’t had many resources to spare, let alone the wealth to buy resources in the Lanqu Square Market.

“Jing Yan, which academy do you plan to join after this assessment?”

The two of them chatted casually as they walked.

“Why not join the Red Lotus Academy too?” Jing Ziqi hoped Jing Yan would join the Red Lotus Academy, where she was a student.

If Jing Yan joined, it would be good to have someone to rely on.

Although Jing Tianlong of the Jing Family was also a student at the Red Lotus Academy, Jing Ziqi did not like Jing Tianlong, and they hardly interacted.

“I’ve decided to join the Dao Yi Academy,” Jing Yan shook his head as he spoke.

Returning to the Divine Wind Academy was out of the question for Jing Yan.

As for the Red Lotus Academy, their Outer Court Deacon Leng Zhu had treated Jing Yan with coldness in Donglin City, not speaking a word in his defense.

This left Jing Yan with a significantly lesser impression of the Red Lotus Academy as a whole.

Jing Yan knew that one shouldn’t judge an entire academy based on a few individuals.

However, he had already promised Deacon Qing Mo from Dao Yi Academy that he would prioritize joining them.

Being a person of his word, unless something unexpected happened, he was determined to enter the Dao Yi Academy.

“Oh!” Jing Ziqi sounded somewhat disappointed.

“Heh, all three major academies are within Lanqu County City, we’ll be able to meet often,” Jing Yan said with a smile, noticing Jing Ziqi’s look of disappointment.

“That’s true,” Jing Ziqi’s mood brightened considerably.

After all, everyone was in Lanqu County City, and meeting was not difficult, unlike when Jing Yan was far away in Donglin City.

“Young master, young miss, come take a look!

My stall has only treasures.

These items were all brought out from an ancient relic, genuine treasures you shouldn’t miss.”

“Sir, lady, come see what I have!

My treasures are genuine, of great quality and fairly priced.

Take a look, you definitely won’t lose out!”

“Ha-ha, those junk items you have, you dare to bring them out?

The items I have here are the real deal!”

“…”

The vendors at each stall, upon seeing Jing Yan and Jing Ziqi, eagerly called out.

Their stalls were cluttered with an assortment of goods, ranging from ores to Spirit Grass, from weapons to Martial Arts, from medicines to elixirs, and more.

However, Jing Yan glanced over them and was nearly certain that those items were worthless junk.

Thus, the two paid no attention to the calls and quickly moved past the stalls.

“Jing Yan, there’s nothing valuable at these stalls; let’s look further inside,” suggested Jing Ziqi, pointing toward the deeper part of the market.

She was clearly not new to the Lanqu Square Market.

Perhaps she had never seen anything valuable at the stalls near the entrance, so she didn’t even bother giving them a glance.

“Mhm!” Jing Yan nodded.

The stalls had indeed been the site of many legends over a long period, but those were rare occurrences.

Every day, countless Martial Artists came here to try their luck, yet those who actually found a bargain were few and far between.

“Hmm?”

Just as Jing Yan was about to quicken his pace, his gaze suddenly sharpened and settled on one of the stalls.

This stall didn’t look much different from the others, but the items on it were relatively fewer in category, with over half of them being Martial Arts Steles.

These Martial Arts Steles were almost all damaged, with a terrible appearance.

And Jing Yan’s attention was focused on a broken Martial Arts Stele among them.

Involuntarily, Jing Yan paused, and Jing Ziqi, seeing him stop, naturally halted as well.

The stall owner was a Martial Artist in his forties or fifties, dark-skinned and tall yet thin.

His shifty eyes sparkled with excitement when he saw Jing Yan and Jing Ziqi halt.

“What would you two like to buy?” The tall, thin Martial Artist quickly stood up, eagerly greeting them.

Squinting his small eyes, he was very enthusiastic.

In his view, young Martial Artists like Jing Yan and Jing Ziqi were the easiest to swindle.

He had fooled many young Martial Artists here into buying worthless junk from his stall.