Chapter 96: The Illusory Market of Halo Star Valley, Part Three

The sun had only just risen, and a faint moon shadow still lingered in the sky when Li Hongshen stepped out of the shed, disheveled, holding a white teacup.

“Ahhh, that feels good.”

He took small sips of the still-warm goji berry water, then twisted his waist and loosened the muscles that had worked so hard through the night.

Last night, in order to test the effects of the spirit-grown goji berries, he had missed the unique spectacle of Dizzy Star Valley, a scene that seemed to shift like the turning of the heavens and the stars. It left him a little disappointed. Still, when push came to shove, sightseeing was never more important than taking care of the lady of the house.

“You’re up this early? Why not stay in bed a little longer?”

Ross, who lived next door, came out from his own stall. He was already fully dressed and looked as though he had been up for quite some time.

At that, Li Hongshen raised an eyebrow.

“Lying in bed too long isn’t good either. The body can’t take it. Young people need moderation, and going to bed early and rising early is healthy. As a lord, I still need to set an example.”

Ross clicked his tongue, and for some reason his teeth already felt faintly sore and itchy first thing in the morning.

“Today should count as your official opening, right? I’ll give you a proper boost and take your Dizzy Star Valley first time from you. How about that? I’m good to you, aren’t I?”

“Now that’s wonderful news. A warm welcome indeed. Brother Ross, one look and anyone can tell you’re a truly good man. Ha ha ha!”

After that, Li Hongshen did not even bother straightening his clothes. With the goji berry teacup in hand, he went to his own stall, knocked on the outer panel, and several warriors emerged from within.

It turned out those warriors had already risen early to take stock of the goods again. Because they had arrived a little late yesterday, by the time the stalls and sheds were finished, the sun had already set. Only today could the merchandise truly be said to be on sale.

“Look around as you please, look around as you please. It’s all the same old things—you know them well enough.

Oil, salt, sauce, and vinegar, along with five-spice seasonings, are all fairly ordinary items now. They are hardly anything precious here anymore.

And these: fermented black beans, bean paste, dried tofu, and tofu skin. All of them are excellent soy products and can be stored for a very long time. At noon, brother, if you come by my place, I’ll have the head cook from our team make you a dish of mapo tofu, our tribe’s specialty.

And these more novel iron spears: fine iron spearheads, with sharp and sturdy runic inlays inside, ironwood shafts, wrapped on the outside with spirit bamboo strips, then bound with iron wire and bull sinew, and finally coated with a brown-black oil finish.

You know how this kind of thing is made. These are top-grade spears through and through. The workmanship is solid, the shafts are sturdy, and they have excellent flexibility to keep them from warping. That brown-black coating also has very good anti-corrosion and moisture-resistant properties, greatly extending the weapon’s lifespan.

Take a look. If you want to try one, I’ll have someone bring a spear out for you to test.

And these, and these, and these are all ordinary spirit-plant specialties. Nothing much to speak of, hardly worth mentioning.”

Ross looked over the many shelves in the broad stall, where bottles and jars were arranged in neat order. There were also crates and boxes piled in the corners, bundles of long spears laid flat, and a great many runic-tech creations besides.

He pressed a hand to his chest. The sour taste in his mouth only grew stronger, as though someone had stuffed a lemon inside.

In the end, at Li Hongshen’s suggestion, Ross still chose a spear to test, then paid with blood crystals. After a round of mutual flattery and praise, he turned away and walked back to his own stall without looking back.

The goods Li Hongshen had brought to sell this time were no different from before. The spirit-based specialties were still much the same as well—spirit honey, spirit herbs, battle-wolf fur, and other such items that were, at this market, already highly homogenized.

After getting his day off to a good start through Brother Ross, Li Hongshen left the stall in the care of his people and became a hands-off manager himself, wandering out of his own camp to stroll through Dizzy Star Valley.

Unlike the temporary market that had been held in the receiving city before, this place was much larger. Li Hongshen roughly counted the tribes here and found there were no fewer than three hundred.

Among the lords here, only a very small portion were internal members of the Elite Society. Those people were concentrated in the inner ring of Dizzy Star Valley. The vast majority were members of other alliances, who rented suitable plots according to their own conditions and set up camp there.

In truth, the temporary market in Dizzy Star Valley had not even officially begun yet, and the number of participating lords was still relatively small. New tribes were still joining day by day. Over the next three months, the market here would remain open until the second-to-last month before the end of the long summer season.

There were many things here that were the same as what Li Hongshen sold. Take salt, for example: there were no fewer than ten salt merchants here, though their varieties and quality differed. Some sold rock salt, some sold salt extracted from brine, and two others, like Li Hongshen, sold sea salt.

Although the kinds of salt varied, the prices did not differ much. At most, there were slight fluctuations based on packaging and degree of refinement, but all of them tacitly kept their prices within roughly the same range.

Beyond that, Li Hongshen also found several other stalls selling spirit honey and spirit medicine. When he encountered varieties he did not have, he would step forward and trade for them. When he encountered the same varieties, he would chat with the lords behind the counters and exchange notes on cultivating spirit herbs.

After all, not everyone had a natural wonder like Phoenix Roost Valley or a lord talent rich in resources, so those who could successfully cultivate spirit herbs all relied on their own ability and skill. Exchanging knowledge allowed both sides to improve their techniques, a true win-win arrangement.

Of course, Li Hongshen also saw other runic creations, such as automatic bellows and heat-gathering furnaces. He went up to exchange ideas with them as well, discussing how runic technology was applied.

He wanted to see whether such techniques could be used in smelting. In the end, he found that they could be applied there, but the cost-effectiveness was not especially worthwhile.

Still, they were useful to a degree, so Li Hongshen quietly recorded that direction in his mind. Once he returned, he would assign new tasks to the masons and smiths.

While wandering through the Dizzy Star Valley market, Li Hongshen also spotted people selling their battle pets’ cubs. At a glance, it was obvious they were lords who could no longer afford to feed their battle pets.

Such scenes were very common. Some lords could not control the breeding of the battle pets in their territory, until the number of battle pets exceeded the number of people. Only then did they realize they could no longer sustain them.

In situations like that, they either sold off a batch to other lords or simply released them into the Great Wilderness. Especially on the Million-Mile Plain, many beast herds had in fact begun as the battle pets of novice lords, only to be abandoned in part when those lords could no longer afford to feed them.

Such behavior was highly irresponsible, but reality was like this. Even the teachers in the main world would not say much about it.

Because most lords did not regard battle pets with any real sense of responsibility at all. They merely saw them as a kind of combat tool or means of warfare. When the improper use of such tools caused losses, a lord would naturally prioritize abandoning the tool to reduce his own losses. It was a perfectly normal choice.

Seeing such scenes, Li Hongshen did not feel entirely comfortable himself, but he also said nothing. Coldly speaking, he thought that if he ever failed to control the number of battle pets properly, he might end up choosing the same thing one day, perhaps even more ruthlessly and without mercy.

Aside from these less pleasant matters, Li Hongshen also discovered a very distinctive bar. The two female attendants standing at the door were actually an elf and a beastkin girl.

That made him hesitate.

Go in, or not?