Chapter 220 - 18: Trading Gala, Sword Nurturing Technique

Chapter 220: Chapter 18: Trading Gala, Sword Nurturing Technique

Yun Heqing’s body went rigid. He forced a smile that looked worse than crying and slowly turned back around.

"Miss Su, what a... a coincidence," he stammered, cold sweat trickling down his temples.

"It is quite the coincidence," Su Yuan said, looking at him with a grin.

"I thought you had already left Qingzhou."

"N-no, not yet. I heard Qingzhou Prefecture was lively, so I came to join in on the excitement." As Yun Heqing spoke, he quietly backed away, ready to bolt at a moment’s notice.

Chen Ye sat nearby, watching the scene unfold with a faint sense of amusement.

’Looks like Yun Heqing is utterly terrified of Su Yuan.’

However, he didn’t say a word, just watched with keen interest.

"Come sit. Why are you standing so far away?" Su Yuan beckoned to Yun Heqing.

"N-no, I can’t. I still have some things to do, so I won’t disturb you two." After saying this, Yun Heqing turned, intending to run.

But as he took his first step, he felt something tighten around his ankle. Looking down, he saw that a bizarre, pitch-black insect, resembling a cross between a centipede and a scorpion, had coiled around it.

The strange insect’s stinger shimmered with a faint, dark light, aimed directly at his major artery.

Yun Heqing’s face instantly turned deathly pale. He didn’t dare to move a muscle.

"My lady, please don’t! I’m scared!" he begged, his voice on the verge of tears.

Su Yuan’s smile remained radiant, but her words made Yun Heqing’s blood run cold. "Come here. Sit down."

How could Yun Heqing dare to resist? With a miserable look on his face, he shuffled over step by step and obediently sat down at the table.

"That’s more like it." Su Yuan nodded in satisfaction. Then, with a wave of her hand, the strange insect released Yun Heqing, transforming into a streak of black light that zipped back into her sleeve.

Yun Heqing let out a long sigh of relief. He felt as if he had just walked through the Ghost Gate and back; the back of his clothes was soaked through with cold sweat.

"Alright, spill it. Why were you sneaking around and following us?" Su Yuan asked casually, picking up a piece of osmanthus cake and taking a bite.

"I wouldn’t dare!" Yun Heqing frantically waved his hands.

"I was just... just passing by. Really, it was just a coincidence."

"Is that so?" Su Yuan tilted her head, a look of disbelief on her face.

What followed became a one-sided interrogation by Su Yuan.

Yun Heqing answered every question without daring to hide a single detail. He explained everything, from how he escaped from Yu Huo County to how he had been getting by in Qingzhou Prefecture City.

It turned out that after arriving in Qingzhou Prefecture, the guy had stuck to his old trade: setting up a fortune-telling stall under a footbridge, swindling people out of small change to get by.

He had just packed up his stall for the day and was planning to have a couple of drinks at this tavern when he ran into Chen Ye and Su Yuan.

After hearing his story, Su Yuan didn’t give him any more trouble. She just warned him not to try sneaking off again and that she would find him if she needed something.

Yun Heqing didn’t dare to disobey. He could only nod and agree repeatedly before making an excuse and scurrying away dejectedly.

Chen Ye shook his head as he watched the man’s pathetic retreating figure.

’That guy’s a real piece of work.’

...

「The next day, the grand trade fair officially began.」

It was held in a massive plaza in the city center.

When Chen Ye and Su Yuan arrived, the place was already a sea of people, bustling with extraordinary excitement.

The entire plaza was divided into over a hundred sections, each one filled with all sorts of stalls.

The stalls were dazzling, filled with a vast array of goods; you could find just about anything.

There were rare herbs exuding rich medicinal aromas, ore materials glittering with multicolored lights, strangely shaped Magical Artifacts and weapons, and the furs and bones of various Demon Beasts.

Some stalls were even selling live Demon Beasts and caged Demons, Ghosts, and Evil Spirits.

"Wow, look at all this amazing stuff!"

Su Yuan’s eyes lit up. Like a little mouse in a granary, she pulled Chen Ye along, darting from one stall to another.

Chen Ye was also dazzled by the sights.

He activated his Asura’s Eye to observe the items at the stalls.

In his vision, every item was surrounded by an aura of Energy of varying intensity.

Some auras were bright and pure, clearly indicating genuine treasures.

Others were dim, some even tinged with dark energy, clearly low-quality fakes.

He even saw an unremarkable-looking Iron Sword at one stall, but the flow of Energy within it was exceptionally smooth and condensed. It was clearly a Magical Artifact with hidden depths.

Chen Ye’s heart stirred. He had the urge to go over and snag a bargain.

But he felt the pathetic amount of broken silver in his pocket and ultimately gave up the idea.

Don’t be fooled by the fifty taels of Gold he had earned before; it had long been spent on his Cultivation. He was now so broke he didn’t even have the confidence to ask for the price.

’Forget it. I’m mainly here to gather information and find a Cultivation Technique anyway. I can worry about these external objects later when I have money,’ Chen Ye consoled himself.

He pulled Su Yuan, who was still lingering at a stall selling poisonous insects, and continued deeper into the plaza.

The deeper they went, the more precious the items at the stalls became, and the stronger the surrounding Cultivators were.

Chen Ye even saw several stalls specializing in selling Cultivation Technique Manuals.

He went over to take a look.

Most of the Cultivation Technique Manuals were common, low-tier stuff—things like Blazing Palm or the Cold Ice Spell, which could at most help one cultivate to the Unobstructed Realm.

Moreover, the prices weren’t cheap, easily costing over a hundred taels of silver.

Chen Ye shook his head, a little disappointed.

’It seems the truly good stuff isn’t just sold out in the open like this.’

Just as he was about to leave, his gaze was drawn to a shabby little booklet in the corner of the stall.

The booklet’s pages were yellowed, and scrawled across the cover in crooked script were three words.

Sword Nurturing Technique!

Something stirred within Chen Ye. Acting on a strange impulse, he picked up the little booklet.