"This area is called Ziqiong Market, covering an area of roughly... five hundred thousand square meters according to the old homeland's terms."

Within the market, Brother Qiangsheng was guiding and introducing the market to Lin Ziming:

"There are two main avenues running horizontally and vertically through the market. Aside from a few open areas, most of the shops are located along these avenues.

The overall layout somewhat resembles a local character 'kou' with an added 'jing' inside, which makes it quite convenient to navigate."

Lin Ziming listened quietly and didn't tell Brother Qiangsheng that Huaxia actually has a character called 'wéi,' as doing so would serve no purpose other than to make the other person feel awkward. He then asked:

"Brother Qiangsheng, have all our goods been unloaded?"

Brother Qiangsheng pulled out a list from his waist, the list was written in a mix of Damo language and Chinese, and it was clear that every item on the list was checked off:

"Chief of Staff Gu left fifteen warriors from the old homeland to help unload the cargo. Currently, all goods have been unloaded and moved into the market.

However, the local goods and those from the Wei Mansion are stored separately, since your joy sticks are somewhat special..."

A hint of a smile appeared on Lin Ziming's lips:

"I understand, I understand, given they're detonator talismans in the literal sense."

Brother Qiangsheng then gestured for him to turn a corner, continuing his explanation:

"The rent for the shops inside Ziqiong Market varies depending on the location. The prime spots near the entrance have already been signed by several Core Formation Realm families.

Due to Uncle Changge's fall during the recent beast wave, the spot we were allocated this time is not as favorable as in previous years and is relatively remote."

The Uncle Changge that Brother Qiangsheng referred to was the old man in green who fell during the beast wave. After making a desperate attack to slay a second-tier perfect giant serpent, he was besieged by demon beasts and unfortunately fell.

With Wei Changge's death, only two Foundation Establishment stage combatants remain in the Wei Mansion now.

The strongest among them, Patriarch Wei, is merely at the fourth layer of Foundation Establishment, and having lost part of an arm, his vitality is severely depleted, likely capable of only exerting second layer combat strength.

So the treatment of the Wei Mansion's trade caravan has also suffered a lot.

Although the Yang Family hasn't explicitly stipulated which family occupies which spots, in the Damo Realm, it's your prowess that gives you the right to speak.

If you're a family with merely fourth layer Foundation Establishment, who would want to fight for positions against families seated with eighth or ninth layer Foundation Establishment unless necessary?

However, Brother Qiangsheng's words are mainly a description of the situation, without implying any blame towards the rabbits.

After all, the rabbits didn't really know the background of Chixian City, and from the perspective of potential Huaxia people, it was already quite righteous of them to intervene when the city was on the brink of destruction.

The survival environment in the Damo Realm is much harsher than in our homeland, so most of the Wei Mansion cultivators understand this logic.

After all, bloodlines don't mean much in the Damo Realm. For the sake of interests—such as a Spirit Stone mine or rare treasures—it wasn't uncommon for a son to lead an attack on his mother's family city or for a branch family to watch a main family branch in distress while munching on seeds, such occurrences happened from time to time.

Thus, the most the Wei Mansion's cultivators did was occasionally lament that if only Wei Changge could've held on a bit longer and escaped into the city, he might have survived. Besides this, there was no resentment towards the rabbits.

After all, it wasn't the rabbits who stirred up the beast wave.

The two walked on and came to a fairly backward street.

The street was about three to four hundred meters long, with a group of people busy in front of a few houses towards the end of it.

Lin Ziming instantly saw Wang Qiang and Ma Ning chomping on apples at the side, just about to go say hello when a figure quickly jumped in front of him.

"Hello, Colonel Lin."

Lin Ziming looked at Wei Xixi before him with a face full of helplessness, his head hurting: "...."

Although compared to when they first met, Wei Xixi's Chinese had improved a lot, but.... this wasn't a matter of language proficiency, wasn't it?

Whether it was due to the atmospherics of the Damo Realm or what, this girl who was extremely graceful when they first met recently had suddenly become increasingly passionate.

Almost whenever she had a spare moment, she'd come looking for him, yet Lin Ziming often had to go to Chixian City and engage with Shi Zehong or Wei Fan due to his role, unable to avoid her.

He couldn't very well tell the organization that some girl was interested in him and ask for someone to replace him in his duties, could he?

Originally, Lin Ziming thought he could have a few peaceful days during this trade caravan trip, but who would've thought this girl would sneak into the caravan too?

Moreover, her reason for joining was particularly legitimate:

This girl's alchemy talent was exceptionally high, being groomed as the next generation alchemy pillar of the Wei Mansion. Her trip to Ziqiong City was to experience various pills and see if she could communicate with some masters,

as Ziqiong Market only opens once every three or four years, which is very helpful for broadening one's horizons.

The Wei Mansion took this opportunity to broaden the younger generation's horizons, allowing Wei Xixi to smoothly join the trade caravan, while Wei Niandong didn't need to worry about being threatened by Wei Xixi...

Thus, a world where only Lin Ziming suffered appeared.

Although this girl had the classic black straight long hair, standing over 172 cm tall, with long legs that were straight and white, possessing a killer figure, and incredibly beautiful in a traditional-style gauzy dress that gave off an ethereal aura,

for some reason, Lin Ziming felt a bit intimidated upon seeing her.

Damn, it's not like I'm into doing fencing either.

Fortunately, in the end, Brother Qiangsheng came to his rescue:

"Xi Xi, Colonel Lin has important matters to attend to, don't hold him up here."

"Tch, I'm just infatuated with him, so what..."

Wei Xixi mumbled something indistinct, before obediently running off to find Wang Qiang to play with.

After all, Wei Qiangsheng was not Wei Fan, and the fifth house where Wei Xixi belonged had always been closest to the main branch.

Perhaps it was due to certain concepts instilled from a young age.

To Wei Qiangsheng, the one who controlled the purse strings of the third house, Wei Xixi always felt he was like a sinister merchant, which made her less close to him.

After Wei Xixi left, Lin Ziming wiped the non-existent cold sweat from his forehead and said to Wei Qiangsheng:

"Brother Qiangsheng, let's go check out the shop."

Wei Qiangsheng rolled up his sleeves and extended his left hand forward:

"Please."

Then the two of them took a few steps forward, crossed the threshold, and entered the shop that belonged to them in this market.

Upon entering the shop, Wei Qiangsheng waved his hand in the air and said:

"Colonel Lin, this room has a commercial area of over two hundred square meters, which should be sufficient for displaying local goods.

There's a storage room in the back that can fully accommodate your materials, and the daily rent for the entire shop is five spirit stones."

Lin Ziming glanced around briefly; the shop was entirely made of wood, exuding an antique charm, somewhat reminiscent of Xilaile's drugstore in "The Miraculous Doctor of Xilaile."

After scanning the place, a rather satisfied expression appeared on his face:

"Brother Qiangsheng, where's your shop then?"

Wei Qiangsheng pointed to the adjacent shop and said:

"It's right next door, but since we brought a lot of beast materials this time, the shop area is slightly larger, about five hundred square meters."

Then Wei Qiangsheng suddenly remembered something and continued:

"By the way, Colonel Lin.

If you exit the shop and turn right for over three hundred meters, there's an open space, which is a specialized training ground for detonator talismans or Sword Qi Talismans, with reinforced arrays all around.

If anyone wants to understand your joyous sticks, you can take them there for a demonstration."

After listening, Lin Ziming cupped his hands to him and said, "Thank you, Brother Qiangsheng, for informing me."

There were many matters the Wei Mansion caravan needed Wei Qiangsheng to handle, so Lin Li didn't deliberately keep him. After briefly understanding the shop information, Wei Qiangsheng took his leave.

After seeing off Wei Qiangsheng, Lin Ziming rejoined Ma Ning and others.

Since the accompanying warriors and Wei Mansion servants helped with organizing the shop, everyone chatted on the spot, occasionally contacting command to confirm that equipment communications were working properly.

Thus, about four to five hours passed, the shop gradually got organized, and some goods began to be placed on the shelves.

Meanwhile.....

The trade mission's dedicated communicator in Lin Ziming's pocket also vibrated.

Previously, considering that Mu Ge and others might be negotiating within the chamber of commerce, Lin Ziming had not proactively contacted them—answering a call during a meeting is taboo everywhere.

"A great haul, Colonel Lin!"

As soon as the voice call connected, Mu Ge's voice rang out, sounding extremely excited with his extensive experience in international trade:

"More than sixty-one thousand spirit stones, except for a thousand spirit stones reserved, we converted them entirely into beast materials, with an average premium rate of only 17%!"

In the cultivation field of the Damo Realm, the term "beast materials" covers many things:

Bones like beast heads and feet, hair that can be refined into talisman pens, unique sharp horns of some beasts, and various scales and armor....

Except for hair, the average price of most ordinary beast materials is about one spirit stone per pound, as most beasts are below the mid-stage of one tier or even unlabeled.

As for beast materials above the mid-stage of one tier, they have already departed from ordinary beast materials' nature, and price fluctuations are significant.

This time, the Wei Mansion brought twenty tons of materials. After excluding specialities like the Seven-Color Vine from Chixian City, the beast materials weigh about ten tons, or around twenty thousand pounds.

Of course.

The amount of goods from the Wei Mansion is never as much as this time. Getting a quarter of this amount is considered good, given that this beast tide was completely annihilated without casualties by the rabbits.

This was clearly indicated in the conversation about the chamber of commerce between Lin Ziming and Wei Qiangsheng when getting off the flying ship.

"Together, our two teams made deals with fourteen business associations. For safety, we didn't buy too much material from each, but combined, it was enough to spend the spirit stones, and because the trade volume was moderate, none of the shopkeepers noticed anything unusual and even gave us varying degrees of discounts."

After listening to Mu Ge's report, Lin Ziming continued to ask:

"Director Mu, you did leave those special items prepared by the main base for those shops, right?"

"Rest assured, I personally handed those small gadgets to the shopkeepers. Colonel Lin, now that our trade mission members have completed their tasks, we request to return with the goods."

Lin Ziming exhaled deeply and solemnly said:

"Welcome back, Comrade Mu Ge!"

.....

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