In Everdawn City, one of the most bustling market was the Windshift Bazaar and it took up a square mile of land. Although it wasn't the most lavish, wealthiest, or biggest of market, it was a fine area to buy and sell for those of the middle and low class. Hundreds of merchants set their shops here and there was always something new in every direction.

Within the bazaar, Jiufeng and Yangjian were both eating fried chicken wings as they walk around. However, they were chewing and biting the chicken wings like wolves, making any passerby that see them inch away with a nuance of disgust on their faces. But neither did Yangjian nor Jiufeng notice this. 

"This place is great!" Jiufeng said excitedly. 

"Mm, Windshift Bazaar is one of the best places in Everdawn City, in my opinion." Yangjian took a big bite out of the chicken wing. "There are plenty of good food here and some cool stuff too." 

"Cool stuff?" Jiufeng also took a big bite out of his chicken wing and then threw the bone into a nearby trash bin. 

"Yup. You just haven't seen it yet since I've only taken you to the 'food' region of the bazaar." Yangjian also threw away his chicken wing bone. "All the cool stuff like magical treasures and artifacts are at the western region of the bazaar. Let's go!"

Yangjian and Jiufeng swiftly walked to the western region while eating more chicken wings.

.....

In the western region of Windshift Bazaar, there were many shops and stores set up with hundreds of treasures, magical tools, and powerful weapon on displayed. 

In a specific shop that sell magical jewelries and gems, Yangjian and Jiufeng were viewing all the treasures that were displayed in the shop.

A young attendant walked over and greeted them, "How are you two young masters? May I assist you in anything you find troubling?" 

Yangjian spoke up, "Yes, I would like to buy ten pounds of Greatfire Rubies." 

"Greatfire Rubies?" The young attendant blinked her eyes. 

"Yes, is there something the matter? Did you perhaps ran out?" 

"No, no, no young master!" The young attendant quickly said. "Please forgive me and wait for several moments." 

The young attendant hurried off to the curtains behind counter and entered it. Moments later, a red haired old man with a metallic eye-patch over his left eye walked out of the curtains and over to them. 

The old man clasped his hands and said politely, "Greetings, Young Master Bai." He also clasped his hand at Jiufeng. 

"Owner Li, it's great to see you again." Yangjian clasped his hand as well and Jiufeng copied him. "I've come here to purchase my usually Greatfire Rubies." 

"My apologies, young master. We ran out of materials a while ago, and thus, couldn't restock." An expression of grief surface in Owner Li's face. "Although we no longer have Greatfire Rubies, young master, I've made a new type of gem that you would like as well." 

He turned to the young attendant, "Tao'er, go get the crystal I made two days ago." 

The young attendant nodded and left. A minute later, she brought out a small wooden chest and opened it. The content of the chest was a small blue gem. Although it appeared like a sapphire at first glance, at closer look, it appeared more like a diamond. However, whether sapphire or diamond, the small blue gem was releasing an intense heat and fiery blue glow that lit up the entire store, but the old man quickly closed the chest before anyone else beside them could see it. 

"This is my latest invention, the Bluefire Soulgem. It's very similar to the Greatfire Ruby, however, it's far more destructive and powerful. Not even a hundred pounds of Greatfire Rubies can be a match for a tenth of this thing's power, much less ten pounds." 

Owner Li had an expression of pride as he stare at blue gem. "Young master, I don't know how much you bought today, but, no amount of spirit stones or coins would I be willing to sell this off. If you want this, then you would have to trade something of equal value for it." 

Yangjian closed his eyes and stood there in deep thoughts. After many moments, he opened them again and wry smile formed on his refined face. "Welp, if that's the case, I'll return tomorrow to trade with you." 

He clasped his hand. "Goodbye, Owner Li. I'll see you tomorrow at around nine in the morning, how does that sound?" 

"Splendid, young master." Owner Li clasped his hand in farewell as well. 

"Little Jiu, let's hurry."

Jiufeng clasped his hand and followed Yangjian out of the store. Owner Li looked at their backs silently before turning his head toward the young attendant. His eyes filled with affection.

"Don't worry, Tao'er. Young Master Bai will definitely trade with us some kind of plant, medicine, or pill. Once he does, you can finally start cultivating."

The young attendant's eyes rounded. "Ah! Grandfather, that young master just now was Bai Yangjian?" 

"Indeed. As I said before, he usually comes here to buy some attack-type jewels and gems from us. However, in the last four years, I haven't seen him as often. I'm also quite curious about that boy next to him."

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Owner Li murmured the last two lines to himself and then walked back into the curtains behind the counter while Tao'er followed suit and offered to make tea for him.

.....

On a street in the Windshift Bazaar, Jiufeng and Yangjian were walking in long strides in a straight manner. Jiufeng glanced at the young man standing next to him who was in deep thought. 

"Big Brother Yangjian, what's wrong? Is the Bluefire Soulgem too expensive for you?"

Yangjian blinked. He smiled, "What's expensive? I'm only thinking of which of the thousands of treasures that I have should I give to him that's all. Ah! It really is a pain to have too many good things." 

"He and Big Bro are practically the same." Jiufeng couldn't help, but muse about how similar Qin Daozi and Bai Yangjian were. "Since you have so much, will you give me some?" 

"..." Yangjian smile stiffened and he remained silent. He turned his head around to avoid Jiufeng's gaze. However, his eye widen slightly as he stared at an alleyway. 

"Huh, I was walking so absent minded that I didn't realize we near Erwin's shop." He turned and walked into that alleyway. "Little Jiu, hurry up. I'm going to go meet a friend." 

Jiufeng followed him into the alley way. At the end of the alleyway was an old and large shop. Smoke rose from the shop's chimney and sound of metallic wire and roaring engine noisily sounded from the shop. Atop the shop was a large sign with the name of the shop forged with dark-colored iron: Erwin's House of Mysteries. 

Yangjian turned the handle of the door, the chimes of bell rang from above and they entered the shop. As they walk in, they were greeted by the spectacular sight of thousands of items. Complex machinery on shelves, crystals and metals lying around, paintings hanging on the wall, and robotic-looking sculptures standing around. There thousands of item here and as far as they could see, there were no two items that were the same. Everything here had a "one of its kind" appearance. 

"Please wait for a moment!" A young male voice echoed in the shop. At the center of the shop was a spiraling staircase and a figure rolled that staircase into a pile of papers. 

That figure screamed in pain. "Ah!" 

Yangjian walked over white rubbing the bridges of his nose. "Hah...you really need to organize this place, Erwin." 

The figure's ear perked up and he quickly stood up. "Bai Yangjian!" 

Now that his face wasn't on the ground, Jiufeng can now see his features. The figure in front of him was a brown-haired young man who looked no older than 17, but was 6'3 feet tall! 

Other than his height, another disguising feature about this young man were his two eyes, which were heterochromatic. His right eye was golden yellow, like Qin Daozi, and the other eye was sapphire blue, much like the eyes of Jiufeng. 

He also wore a black tank-top and pants while wearing two fingerless gloves. Although he had a wild look, there was a hint of grace within his moves.

"Hm?" The young man, Erwin, turned his head and looked at Jiufeng who was slightly startled at the former's eyes. Erwin smiled in amusement and led Jiufeng and Yangjian upstairs to the second floor of the shop. 

.....

Several minutes later, the three of them were now sitting by a wooden table with three cups of ice coffee on it. 

"Ah, so he's the kid that was picked up by Grandpa Hai." Erwin rubbed his eyes slightly before facing Jiufeng, "Haha, since you know Grandpa Hai and Yangjian and is also a student of Everdawn, you can call be Senior Brother or Elder Brother Erwin from now on, okay?"

Jiufeng nodded white drinking his cup of coffee. Erwin turned his head toward Yangjian and said, "So why are you guys here?" 

"We were walking around the city for a bit and then we accidently arrive at your shop. However, I would come looking for you sooner or later." 

Yangjian took a moment before saying, "Erwin, how much are you willing to sell me one of your Spiritual Base Elixir?" 

"Spiritual Base Elixir?" Erwin had a ponderous look. "Although those are pretty rare, I can give it to you for free if you really need it. However, give me the reason as to why you need it."

"Do I really have to?" 

"Of course you do, it's to fill my curiosity." 

Yangjian slowly said, "I need it to use to trade for something." 

Erwin only nodded and reached out to a nearby box. He grabbed it and passed it to Yangjian who looked at the box with a daze expression. 

"Huh?"

"What? That box has the elixir inside." Erwin spread out his arm and said, "See, sometimes being messy could also be orderly." 

Yangjian had a wry smile on his face as he said, "Thanks." 

.....

The trio walked downstairs and Erwin said, "Yo Jiufeng, since this is the first time you’re at my store, go pick out any one item you want." 

"Any item?" 

Yangjian crouched down and whispered into his ear, "You should take one. Erwin usually doesn't do this kind of thing, but he allows anyone he's close to or have good impression on, so you need to take one. Every item in this shop of his are spectacular and rare."

Jiufeng said nothing and started to look around under the eyes of expectant from the two young men.

However, even after 20 minutes, Jiufeng couldn't decide what item he wanted. Indeed as Yangjian said, they were all spectacular, but too spectacular. 

Whenever he was interested in an item, Erwin would explain to him the item's function and history. Each and every item made yearn for the item. However, the more item he was interested in and learn about made his decision of taking whatever one item he wanted harder. 

Another 20 minutes pass by until Qin Daozi quickly said in his head, "Jiufeng, take that wooden box with the wave-looking crest on it now!" 

Jiufeng turned his head and spotted a green wooden box with three waves drawn within a circle at the center of the box. He reached out and grabbed the box with curious eyes. Although it looked very beautiful, it had a very mundane and ordinary aura around it. In this sea of treasures, this is the most "ordinary" box he had seen. Yet possibly, that normality could be a reason for it being special and eye-catching in its own way in the first floor of Erwin's House of Mystery.

Though he had his doubts, Qin Daozi still telling him to take the box. "You have to get this box no matter what! This box will help your body advance to the Spirit Cycle Realm!"

Hearing Qin Daozi again, Jiufeng raised the box high for Erwin to see and said, "Elder Brother Erwin, I want this!" 

"Hm? This box? Do you even know what's in here?" 

"Nope. However, I felt a connection between me and this box," He lied. "I feel as though whatever is inside here is something that I must have." 

"This box, huh?" Erwin picked up the box and said, "This box has been in the store for quite a while now. It's been here since the day my dad actually open the shop. He told me that a customer who was dressed in rags actually sold it here for a low price. The wood that this box is comprised of is very rare and the content of the box is most likely even rarer. However, what he found was a crystal that didn't serve much purpose. Although it's pretty rare and good, it's not the best quality of any gems and could at most make some decent jewelry." 

Erwin clearly didn't think much of the content of the green wooden box, however, seeing the look of determination on the child in front of him made him stop. 

"Well since you want this and I did say you could have whatever you want, go ahead and take it." He passed it back to Jiufeng.

Soon, Jiufeng and Yangjian left the store and was now walking back to the academy. Once they entered the campus and Jiufeng returned to his dorm, Qin Daozi madly and excitedly yelled from the ring. 

"Yes! Yes! Yes! Now that you have the box, hurry and go find somewhere quiet and spacious tomorrow. Starting tomorrow, you're going to meditate and cultivate to Spirit Cycle!"