Slave Market

Think about it carefully: those thirty jin of spirit stones weren’t just paying for a place to rest.

What you were really buying was your own safety.

For example, if someone provoked a powerful figure and couldn’t escape, the only thing they could do was stay here. The longer they remained, the greater their chances of survival.

If you considered it a life-saving fee, thirty jin of spirit stones really wasn’t expensive.

As Xu Mu’s storage space grew larger, the number of spirit stones he obtained from the lottery increased as well.

For example, in one of his previous draws, he had won an entire ton of spirit stones.

That was two thousand jin—more than enough to cover lodging for everyone around him. During this period, they wouldn’t be spending money constantly, and if they participated in competitions, they might even earn some.

Xu Mu and the others entered the palace-like building together. He lowered his head to look at the floor and was immediately struck by how lavish the place was.

From the moment they stepped inside, the formations beneath their feet were already at the ninth level.

Xu Mu glanced around and discovered that the interior resembled a private club.

At the reception desk stood nearly twenty women in a long row.

They all wore identical black dresses, but they belonged to different races.

For example, Xu Mu spotted a nine-tailed fox with beast ears. Her hair wasn’t white—instead, it was a fiery red.

Her beast ears, hair, and eyes were all the same shade of red.

Cheng Zhiyi said to Xu Mu, “You came here to fight too, didn’t you?”

“That’s right. The two beside me are your competitors as well.”

Xu Mu smiled and gestured toward Meng Wanyue and Dai Xingluo.

“Don’t worry. If we really meet in the future, we’ll stop after exchanging a few moves.”

Cheng Zhiyi pointed toward the reception desk in the distance. “You can go to them for both lodging arrangements and competition registration.”

Xu Mu nodded, bid farewell to Cheng Zhiyi and the others, and brought his own people over to the reception desk.

He deliberately stopped in front of the nine-tailed fox, intending to see whether he could obtain some information from her.

The nine-tailed fox looked young, perhaps around twenty years old.

Her red hair hung down her back, and her slightly chubby cheeks still retained a hint of childishness.

“Hello. What can I help you with?”

The nine-tailed fox smiled.

“We’d like to enter the competition.”

Xu Mu spoke to the nine-tailed fox while checking her information.

Name: Su Yi

Identity: Descendant of the Fire Fox Clan’s Nine-Tailed Fox lineage; receptionist at the Sacred Battleground

Favorability: 1

Destiny Level: 5 (Maximum: 10)

Judging from this information, she wasn’t some important figure, nor was she a female protagonist.

Yet for an ordinary person to possess a Destiny Level of five, it seemed her luck in life was quite good.

“Are you applying for competition qualification cards? Each person needs to pay a deposit of fifty jin of spirit stones.”

Su Yi smiled.

“That expensive?” Meng Wanyue muttered.

“The deposit is refundable,” Su Yi explained with a smile. “The deposit is the same for everyone at the Sacred Battleground.”

“All right. We’ll apply for all four of us.”

Xu Mu took out spirit stones from his storage ring. He had plenty of the stuff at the moment.

There were still dozens of tons piled up inside the underground illusion formation beneath his villa. He felt they took up too much space if he carried them around.

“All right. Please fill out the forms. And whatever you do, don’t lie about your cultivation level. If our referees discover that you’ve concealed anything, not only will your deposit be forfeited, you’ll also be expelled and permanently barred from entering this place again.”

Su Yi explained the rules.

Xu Mu looked over the form. This time, he had learned his lesson. He had to keep a low profile and avoid drawing attention.

So he falsified the name section, writing Xu Shuimu instead.

At first, he had considered writing names like Chen Xuan or Ye Chen, but those names were too conspicuous. What if they also participated in the competition and achieved good results? If he happened to share a name with one of them, wouldn’t that attract attention?

As for Meng Wanyue and Dai Xingluo, they didn’t conceal anything. They weren’t famous figures.

However, Tong Guoguo changed her name, while Wang Hun often moved about in the Inner Realm.

In the end, she wrote Xu Guo in the name field.

After submitting their information, they each had their photograph taken and fingerprints recorded.

Xu Mu hadn’t expected the facilities here to be so advanced.

Finally, each of them received a round metal token.

Their names and identification numbers were engraved on the backs, clearly intended to prevent impersonation.

Xu Mu glanced at an advertising board nearby. It listed the lodging prices.

A single room cost thirty jin, a double room fifty jin, and a triple room sixty jin. There were also deluxe suites and other options.

Xu Mu decided to book a triple room. He didn’t plan to stay here permanently, after all. He still had a mission to complete.

Nor was he afraid of being hunted down. If he really encountered someone he couldn’t defeat, he could always come back here afterward.

In the end, Xu Mu booked a triple room for three consecutive days.

Once everything had been arranged, Xu Mu led the others deeper inside.

They wandered around for a while and discovered that many of the facilities were located within illusion formations.

There were restaurants, taverns, massage parlors, pill shops, slave markets, brothels, and more…

Xu Mu realized that this so-called Sacred Battleground had completely borrowed the commercial model of the outside world.

For example, when they had previously visited the Heavenly Imperial Clan, that race had still cared about appearances. They couldn’t go all the way, for fear of being mocked by the other races.

But here in the Sacred Battleground, they didn’t have to worry about such things. They merely rented out the establishments and took a cut.

Whatever business was conducted here had nothing to do with them.

The group then headed toward the combat area and discovered that the battlefields were also located inside illusion formations.

Anyone who wanted to watch a fight from inside had to pay an entrance fee, though people outside could observe the battles through the formations.

There was a betting counter outside every battlefield.

…

“All right. I’ll give each of you another thousand jin of spirit stones so you can spend them as you please.”

Xu Mu took out three rings and handed one to each of them. “Once you’ve gotten familiar with the place, you can start participating in the battles.”

“Brother Mu, are you planning to leave and carry out a mission?”

Meng Wanyue asked.

“Of course not. He’s sending us away so he can go visit the brothels.”

Dai Xingluo stood to the side, speaking in a sarcastic tone.

“Don’t talk nonsense! I’m not going to any place like that. I’m going to carry out a mission.”

Xu Mu glared at Dai Xingluo. “All right, you’re dismissed. I’ll come back to see you in a couple of days.”

With that, Xu Mu said goodbye to the three of them.

Dai Xingluo really was talking nonsense. The place he was more interested in visiting was the slave market.

In the novels he had read before, quite a few protagonists had discovered their female leads in markets like this.

With his Divine Eye, Xu Mu could rescue those female protagonists ahead of time.

His requirements weren’t high. He only needed to ensure that they wouldn’t become overwhelmingly grateful to the male protagonists.

He had tried this before, but he hadn’t found anyone worth saving. This time, he was simply trying his luck again.

Following the map, Xu Mu arrived at a massive illusion formation.

Inside was a grassland beneath a blue sky and white clouds, with beautiful scenery stretching as far as the eye could see.

However, the iron cages scattered across the grassland—and the raggedly dressed people imprisoned inside them—created an atmosphere of filth and disorder.

“Customer, what kind of slave are you looking for?”

A fat man approached from a distance with a smile. “Someone for your personal enjoyment, or someone to help you fight?”

“I’ll take a look first.”

Xu Mu activated his Divine Eye and examined the people inside the cages one by one.

Hopefully, he could rescue a female protagonist this time. After all, saving someone’s life was a tremendous favor, and her favorability would surely rise rapidly.

“Holy crap?”

His gaze fell on a man, and he was utterly stunned.