Xiao Ji greeted the warmth of the sun’s rays with content. He spent a few hours basking in them in a way he had sorely missed. When he went back to meet the others, he was feeling refreshed. It was almost like he had experienced a breakthrough, yet this feeling was clearly different from cultivation.

“You seem happy,” Qian Shi said.

He supposed his good mood was noticeable. Not that it was a bad thing. After being moody for so long, it was about time he stopped being a drag on everyone’s mood.

“I am. Yesterday I was a chicken. In a way I have not been since I met Master.”

She nodded at his answer, as if she understood. He supposed it was not far-fetched that she did. After all there were certainly going to be some nostalgic things that she could no longer do because of her circumstances.

“So what do you wanna do today?”

That was a good question. He gave it some thought before settling on a simple answer.

“I would like to see the markets and explore more of the city.”

The very concept of a city was still something he had not quite gotten used to. And he was even more fascinated by large markets..

They finished eating and headed out soon after, Ruo Long following behind them. He drew eyes, as he always seemed to do since they entered the city. But Ji paid that little mind. Instead he was exploring the beautiful world that was a bustling city.

According to Shi, they had passed a straightforward road that mostly avoided the main commercial districts when they arrived the previous day. Which meant it was an entirely new experience.

There were a few things that stuck with him when he entered the commercial district. One of the major ones was the sheer mass of people. Though it was a relatively small city, The Settlement was quickly growing and had quite a bit of trade, according to the others at least. This meant that the commercial district was a big draw for a lot of people from farther into the empire.

There was a mix of human and spirit beasts carrying different items and shouting what sounded like the names of their wares. Qian Shi identified them as sellers. Though there were quite a few of them, they were still easily outnumbered by the multitude of people looking to buy different wares.

They weaved through the traffic, Ji’s cultivation enhanced reflexes thankfully helping him avoid getting stepped on or some other unpleasant fate. They finally got to a place where the crowd was a bit thinner, allowing them some breathing room.

Truth to be told, the experience was not what he would normally call pleasant. He would even go as far as to say it was stressful. Yet whether it was because it was his first time, or his already wonderful mood, he was actually enjoying the experience. For someone who grew up in a small village, it was a truly enlightening experience to see so many people. He would even go as far as to say the rush of weaving through them was even exciting.

They finally slowed down when they reached an area that had multiple stalls arranged in haphazard lines.

“This is one of the entrances to the main market,” Qian Shi helpfully pointed out. “It's quite large. And always fun to explore. Do we have enough money, Ruo Long?”

“Define enough.”

Shi rolled her eyes

“Can we buy anything that catches our fancy here?”

“As long as no one decides to shop for an entire town, then yes.”

The pointed way Ruo Long said it while staring at Shi told Ji there was likely some history there. It was kind of funny, and he found himself giggling in a way that was not uncharacteristic of him. He ignore the odd looks he got from Ruo Long and Qian Shi’s obvious embarrassment and led the way into the market, well aware that he had no idea where he was going.

“Buy original cultivation pills! Guaranteed to help you break into the Qi Condensation realm.”

The call of a seller from one of the stalls caught his attention. He had heard of cultivation pills and their effects, though his Master had said it would be a while before he would need them because of his natural cultivation speed. That did not mean he was not fascinated by them. It felt a little strange that someone might need outside assistance to do something as simple as enter Qi Condensation, but he recognised that was just his privilege talking.

It was easy to consider cultivation simple when you were an awakened with a Beyond grade breathing technique after all. Not to mention being personally mentored by a Divine. He supposed the situation would be a lot different for ordinary mortals with a lot less talent and no access to cultivation manuals. The implications of that for the kind of society that existed in the empire was not something he had given much thought to, but simple logic told him it was likely not pretty.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

He soon noticed a pattern as they continued walking. Most of the stalls around them were selling things related to cultivation. For some, it was manuals and techniques. For others, it was weapons and pills. Some one even claimed to be selling access to the System, something that cracked up both Qian Shi and Ruo Long.

“There are a lot of people selling cultivation related things here,” he pointed out.

He briefly wondered if the sect disciples bought things here.

“Yes, this is the cultivation section of the market,” Shi said, ignoring Ruo Long’s snort “That’s why I chose this opening.”

“Cultivation materials indeed,” the dragon chuckled. “These people are all scammers. The quality of what they sell is so poor that they shouldn’t be called cultivation resources. They’re essentially scams.”

That brought a frown to Ji’s face. He had seen a lot of people flocking to buy different materials from the cultivation stalls. He assumed they had been selling for a fairly long time, given that the other disciples both knew about them. Why would people still buy from them if they were so obviously scams?

“Don’t listen to him,” Shi said while glaring at the dragon in question. “Cultivation is very hard to access for most people. There are the lucky few that are born with enough talent to have it easy. Those ones usually get picked by the sect. The rest of them have almost no other options though. So they come here. The pills and techniques are very bad by our standards, but they work, no matter how slow or subpar they are. And that is usually all that matters to their buyers.”

That made a lot more sense when he thought about it. It threatened to put a bit of a damper on his mood, so he turned his attention to the stalls once more. He was about to keep moving forward when something interesting caught his sight.

On a fairly large stall, a short distance away from him, was a large human male. There was an assortment of all kinds of trinkets and objects, mostly labelled as cultivation resources. They were of dubious quality, in Ji’s opinion, if only because they generally showed up as mundane to his qi senses.

The first thing that attracted him was the fact that the man actually labelled his products. A strange thing, given that the kind of people that would likely buy from him were unlikely to know how to read. Still, that would have just made it a mild fascination at best.

What truly drew him over was a stall he saw labelled in a language he did not recognise. It was a strange mix of curved and straight lines written in what he thought was surprisingly neat writing . Under the labelling was a small bottle of blue pills.

“Hello good sir,” he greeted as jovially as he could.

The man looked around before turning down and doing a back take. Ji saw the moment he caught sight of his companions and some fear filled his eyes. After a little bit of awkward fidgeting, the seller finally answered.

“Oh hello there customer,” he said with a fake smile and very false bravado. “What can I do for you all.”

Ji did not miss the way the man’s voice increased in pitch at the end. He shook his head at that, wondering if the man knew of their relationship with Master Fan Guo or the fact that they were awakened. Though it could also be that he was just scared of the giant dog and the dragon that were in front of his stall. Rather unusual customers, he suspected.

“I would like to know what that means, please,” he said, managing to point at the label with his claws. I don’t recognise the language.”

The man’s eyes lit up when he noticed what Ji was pointing at.

“Ah! That is one of my most prized finds. It is from a land very very far away. One has to cross the entirety of the Great Sky Road to reach it. The merchant that sold it to me got it from someone that lived there. According to him it was a fairly new product, one that was in very high demand in his home country. I decided to bring it here to see if I would find any buyers.”

The Great Sky Road was something Ji remembered reading about. There was not much information on it in the scroll he had read, except for the fact that it was extremely long and almost impossible to cross for the vast majority of people. That the pills came from the end of that road made them a lot more interesting.

Of course that was if the man was being truthful. The look on Ruo Long’s face was more than enough proof of what the dragon thought of the man’s story. Even Qian Shi looked at the pills with scepticism. Ji pushed on, however.

“So what do the words say?”

“Well that was the strange part, because the translation did not match too well with some of the things the man described, but I think it roughly translates to ‘Cock enlargement pill’.”

The moment the man said the words, Ji felt his heartbeat speed up as excitement started to build up in him. It almost sounded too good to be true. And yet…

“Are you sure that is what it says?”

“Yes,” the man said, quietly, then more confidently. “Yes. I am sure. It is supposed to be for making roosters larger, according to what the merchant told me.”

“How much for all the pills.”

The man looked at him strangely, before seeming to think about it for a short while.

“1 gold coin,’ he said.

Ji turned to Ruo Long, who held the spatial ring and their money, with pleading eyes and he saw whatever the dragon wanted to day die on his tongue. Perhaps Ji looked desperate enough.

The merchant received the gold coin with ravenous eyes, while Ruo Long muttered loudly about thieving merchants. Just as he was about to take his wonderful prize, a large claw snatched it and put it in the spatial ring. He glared at the dragon.

“No. You will not take strange pills before Mei checks them.”

Ji argued and pleaded, all to no avail, before resigning himself to waiting a whole week before he could take it. They continued their market scroll, and slowly, his anxiety bled off. He was still eager to take the pills, but he also felt calm once more.

They left the market eventually with a mostly full spatial ring, courtesy of Ruo Long, much to everyone else’s surprise. Qian Shi said something teasing him about shopping for a village, while he retorted with something equally petty. Ji was barely listening to them though. Instead, he was filled with impatience and joy for what would happen the next week. The childhood dream that he could finally accomplish.

Finally becoming a big, resplendent cock.