Chapter 685
On the border between Mingu Province and a sixth-grade province under Zhong Province's jurisdiction, there stood a nameless mountain range .
Hundreds of years ago, Zhong Province's Directorate of Celestials had turned this nameless mountain range into a testing ground for new Oracles, where they carried out experiments for various strange curses, spells, and sacrifices; and even fought with strong demons . It had been inaccessible for a long time .
If one happened to visit here, a casual walk between the mountains might put one in a danger of being possessed by some ghost who had escaped from a random experiment in the past, and have one's blood essence and soul seized; if one heard someone calling one's name and answered, one might have one's soul taken away instantly; if one saw a clean and refreshing little stream and took a sip out of it, it was very likely the water was poisoned by some Oracle who specialized in the research of poisons, and the water was so potent that a single drop of it could kill tens of thousands of people . . .
It was a region riddled with dangers, a barren land devoid of natural products, and a mountain range that neither Mingu Province nor Zhong Province would pay attention to . All year round, novice Oracles from Zhong Province infested this place . No immortals or itinerant cultivators were to be found here; even all the little demons who had just gained their sentience and learned how to cultivate with natural energy had been wiped out . There was nothing worthy of attention in this mountain range that spanned for millions of miles across .
However, as the common people always said — the darkest spot could always be found right beneath a lamp . An itinerant Heaven Immortal named Immortal Gourd had gathered a group of itinerant cultivators and established a pretty large immortal market right within this mountain range . After centuries of development, thanks to the 'protection' provided by those novice Oracles and Immortal Gourd's extraordinary caution, it had become the largest, safest, and most secretive immortal market in both Zhong Province and Mingu Province .
However, Gourd Immortal Market had very strict rules and complex safety regulations . Only immortals introduced by friends who were absolutely reliable could enter it through teleportation formations built in different places . So far, no one had ever found out where the immortal market was located in the mountains, nor who or which powerhouse was behind it .
Deep beneath an unknown mountain, some five hundred miles underground was a naturally formed, gourd-shaped cave . This was where the Gourd Immortal Market was located . The cave measured three hundred miles long, with the smaller part being about one hundred and thirty miles in diameter and the larger part being about two hundred and seventy miles in diameter .
Numerous shops floated mid-air in the huge gourd-shaped space, divided into nine distinct levels from top to bottom .
The shops on the topmost level were all tall, luxuriously built buildings that looked as grand as palaces, owned by the most powerful immortal leagues and cultivator clans in Zhong Province and Mingu Province . One of the most luxurious shops with nine courtyards and four miles around was the 'Myriad Immortal Palace', which was owned by, unsurprisingly, the Myriad Immortal Alliance . Its main business was the selling all kinds of flying swords and magical artifacts, as well as the buying all valuable natural treasures .
From top to bottom, the shops shrunk in size, and those at the lowest level were simply small, two or three-storied buildings made of green bricks that looked ordinary . These shops were effectively the strongholds of some weaker itinerant cultivators, who were here to do some small business in order to earn energy stones for cultivating . And whenever they were lucky enough to purchase valuable treasures, they would immediately send them to shops owned by those powerhouses such as Myriad Immortal Palace in exchange for large sums of energy stones and immortal stones .
The whole Gourd Immortal Market consisted of about seven thousand shops . The vast space was divided into nine levels from top to bottom, each separated by streets condensed from clouds . The space between shops was wide enough, and with the complex defensive mechanisms in place, all guests' privacy was well protected .
It was clear that Immortal Gourd had spent a lot of effort and money here, for he actually obtained hundreds of giant stone pillars from Directorate of Celestials and erected them on the streets on all levels . Dazzling green light filled the cave, rendering all invisibility magic or escape arts completely useless . In addition, these pillars also connected with underground spirit flames, forming a powerful Earth Fire Formation . If anyone dared to create trouble here, hundreds of stone pillars would shower the troublemaker with green fires that could melt even ordinary Gold Immortals instantly .
With such tight protection, there had never been an accident in centuries since the Gourd Immortal Market was built .
Sitting in the backyard of a small palace on the third level of Gourd Immortal Market, Lu Buwei flipped through a thick ledger placed in front of him as he mentally calculated all the income and expenses for the month, while jotting down lines of numbers in another . Gradually a smirk of satisfaction appeared on his face . Shaking his head and humming a little tune, he pleasingly jotted down the last few numbers in the ledger .
After being badly injured in the Dark Abyss and forced to flee for his life, it took Lu Buwei almost no time to get himself into Gourd Immortal Market with his extraordinary approach and ability . At first, he took temporary shelter as a shopkeeper in an ordinary shop; when he had spent a year mending his wounds, he killed the owner and his whole family, seizing their souls to reform his heavenly ghosts .
With his extraordinary business skill, Lu Buwei thrived in Gourd Immortal Market in just a few years, turning a medium-sized shop on the seventh level into a large trading shop on the third level . At present, his 'Spring and Autumn Trading' employed hundreds of people, including dozens of Heaven Immortals; his monthly income in the form of energy stones and immortal stones was astronomical .
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