Chapter 50. Anling Bird Market After the green flames burned out, all that remained on the ground was a pile of white powder.
Leilin's expression was grave. He pointed lightly at the pile of powder, and whoosh! The powder rose into the air, forming the face of a woman. "Enemy!!! Enemy!!!"
"Toxins laced with resentment — no wonder the bacteria were so stubborn!" Leilin shook his head and splashed a green reagent from his side onto the face.
Ssss!!! The face rapidly dissolved into white vapor, then vanished completely.
"Chip, scan!" Leilin issued the command.
"Ding! Scan complete. Detection results: all bacteria within the subject's body have been eliminated!"
Hearing the Chip's voice, Leilin's face finally showed an expression of relief.
He stretched lazily, then touched the scars on his body. "They're a bit ugly, aren't they? I wonder what expression Ni Lan would make if she saw this?"
He rummaged through the large crate and found a vial of potion, which he swallowed.
After ten-odd minutes, the skin across his body's surface undulated, pushing out layers of scars and dead skin. His skin became noticeably smoother.
"As long as the bacteria are gone, treating surface scars is just a matter of a few potions!"
Leilin touched the now greatly faded scars. "One more round should eliminate them entirely!"
Next, Leilin took the remaining bear paws from the unfortunate black bear and prepared himself a hearty feast as a reward.
After eating and drinking his fill, the sky outside had grown completely dark. Leilin lit a fire inside the cave and began to think about the road ahead.
"
"The Academy's mission isn't urgent — I have three years, after all. I just wonder how things are back at the Academy?" Although Leilin could have gathered news about Black Bone Forest Academy right there at the market, he still didn't dare.
After all, enemy spies could very well be lurking here. If his identity were exposed, he'd be walking straight into a trap.
Only after crossing the majority of the Duchy would Leilin begin to seek out intelligence.
Either way, something this big would definitely be talked about at every
"All of this can wait. What matters is converting these potions into Magic Stones as quickly as possible — traveling with so many crates is far too inconvenient!"
Leilin patted the enormous hardwood crate and thought back to how that yellow horse had nearly collapsed a few days ago. He couldn't help but smile bitterly.
"The Walker Family's market is off-limits now. After all, I just sold potions there!"
He pulled up the map and located his current position.
"From the Academy to East Forest Province, I'll have to pass through five other provinces. I can only sell potions along the way as I travel, and at most, I can only sell as far as Gesara Province."
On the map, Gesara Province sat right in the middle of the territory, still two large provinces away from East Forest Province.
If he sold potions all the way to East Forest Province, wouldn't that expose both his route and his destination? Leilin wasn't about to be that foolish.
Even if selling along the way might not necessarily be noticed — after all, the daily volume of transactions was enormous — Leilin would rather play it safe than risk having his movements discovered.
And Gesara Province, situated in the heart of the Marsh Duchy, was a crossroads in every direction. There was no way anyone could deduce Leilin's destination from there.
"Hmm! There's still plenty of time. If necessary, I can even take a longer detour. No matter what, I absolutely cannot let my identity slip!"
Leilin stared at the map marked with routes and Wizard gathering points, sinking into deep thought…
More than two months had passed.
On a main road in Gesara Province, a sturdy black horse galloped along, carrying a wooden crate and a figure in black robes.
The robed figure had a mane of fiery red hair and strikingly handsome features.
This was, of course, none other than Leilin in disguise.
Since that last encounter, Leilin had been seeking out Wizard markets and small-scale exchange gatherings from time to time while traveling, selling off the potions he had crafted.
Since he never sold in large quantities at any one time, he hadn't attracted the greed of any truly powerful individuals. The occasional apprentice blinded by profit was no match for him at all. The most dangerous incident had been an ambush led by a Third-rank Apprentice, but Leilin had used the Chip's detection to slip away unharmed.
Through these trades, he had also obtained some rare materials along with a great deal of unique Wizard knowledge, greatly enriching the Chip's database.
Furthermore, over the course of these two months, he had finally used the Chip to record every single Shadow-attribute Spell Model he had purchased, and then destroyed all of the original books.
This also freed him from the burden of numerous belongings.
Having sold most of his potions and destroyed the bulky spell books, Leilin's current luggage could now be packed entirely into a single box.
He estimated that once he sold off the remaining potions, he could simply sling a bundle over his shoulder and be on his way.
"I did underestimate the popularity of finished potions. Just from what I have now, I've already accumulated nearly two thousand Magic Stones. If I hadn't bought so much knowledge and other miscellaneous items, I'd probably have over two thousand five hundred by now!"
Leilin reached into his robe, feeling the hard bag there, and couldn't help but smile.
"Fortunately, the Wizard world has High-grade Magic Stones—one is equivalent to one hundred ordinary Magic Stones. Otherwise, I'd have a headache just figuring out how to store them..."
"Chip, pull up my data!" Leilin commanded.
"Leilin Farell, Second-rank Apprentice, Formal Knight. Strength: 2.7, Agility: 2.8, Constitution: 3.0, Spirit: 4.6, Mana: 4.0. Status: Healthy," the Chip's feedback came.
"Good! Strength and Agility have both increased. This is the result of the Knight's Life Energy continuously stimulating me. Once I settle down, I can do some Knight training—at least get my stats over 3! As for Spirit, it only increased a little. That's the reward from those few life-and-death situations. Wizard cultivation really does get harder and harder!"
Leilin sighed, then called up a map.
On the large map, Gesara Province was located in the center of the Marsh Duchy, where many small Wizard families were established.
Furthermore, this was where the mortal duchy's capital was situated, gathering many Roving Wizards, travelers, and even Wizard criminals!!
Many Wizards, due to ideological differences or other matters, had been marginalized and persecuted by their original organizations, even wanted, turning them into Rovers. They were often very dangerous.
"In Gesara Province, there happens to be a very large Wizard market. And the Wisteria Family that controls this market is one of Black Bone Forest Academy's three great families. I can definitely get the latest news there!"
Over the past two months, Leilin had also secretly gathered a lot of information about Black Bone Forest Academy, but it was all very vague. He only knew they were at war with enemies to the west, but who the opponent was, or even the outcome, was extremely muddled.
"Right here, at the Anling Bird Market. I'll sell all the remaining potions, get a bit of news about the Academy, and then head straight out!"
Leilin made his decision.
...
A small village, a dilapidated dock.
"If the intelligence hadn't said so, I'd never have believed that the Marsh Duchy's largest Wizard market was hidden beneath an ordinary mortal village."
Leilin scanned the village briefly — it looked completely lifeless.
"The Wizard market beneath this place constantly emits radiation. The villagers living above must be perpetually sickly and weak, with the risk of sudden death. How could this place ever develop? Give it a few more decades and this will be a dead village!"
Leilin pulled his gray robe tighter to conceal his face and approached a large house built of stacked bricks and stone.
He knocked on the door at random, and the rotting wood produced a dull, muffled sound.
"Who's there?" A cold voice came from behind the door.
"I'm a wandering Wizard Apprentice looking to enter the market!"
Creak! The door swung open, revealing a cloaked figure in black.
Leilin felt a jolt of alarm. He sensed killing intent emanating from the black-robed person — it was a vague instinct, but anyone who had taken a great many lives would inevitably carry a different air about them. The feeling this black-robed figure gave Leilin was that the lives of numerous same-rank powerhouses were on their hands.
"As expected of a major market — even the guards are this imposing!" The black-robed figure radiated the energy fluctuation of a Third-rank Apprentice, and even carried disposable energy items, but none of it escaped the Chip's detection.
"Whether this is your first time here or not, let me lay down the rules: any fighting inside the market will be considered an act of provocation against the Wisteria Family!" the black-robed figure said coldly.
Only then did Leilin notice the wisteria emblem on the person's cuff.
"Understood!" Leilin nodded.
"Good. The fee is one Magic Stone!"
After Leilin paid the Magic Stone, the black-robed figure knocked on the fireplace. The sound of steel mechanisms whirring rang out as the fireplace rotated to the right, revealing a descending staircase.
"Even the style is just like Black Bone Forest Academy," Leilin thought, shaking his head internally.
Once he entered the passage, the fireplace behind him slammed shut and the corridor plunged into darkness, with only a few lanterns casting faint light.
Leilin followed the staircase down, feeling as though he descended more than ten meters underground before a massive cavern finally opened up before him.
The market was enormous — roughly the size of several football fields. The cavern ceiling was covered in stalactite-like formations, making Leilin wonder whether this place had originally been a natural formation.
At the heart of the market stood a row of buildings constructed from gray stone. An outer ring of wooden houses surrounded them, while open stalls were comparatively rare.
Wizards clad in white robes, black robes, and gray robes of every variety moved back and forth between the shops.
By now, Leilin had picked up some understanding of the customs in the Wizard world.
Generally speaking, official Wizards wore white robes or black robes, while Apprentices wore gray. White robes represented the more pacifistic factions, such as those focused on healing, while black robes tended toward combat-oriented specializations and were often associated with more eccentric personalities.
Of course, these were merely conventions — there were some Wizards who dressed in bizarre outfits that looked quite peculiar.