"Because I was beaten by someone." In response to his sister's inquiry, Su Mu dared not remain silent, answering while secretly observing Su Yan.
The latter's face was cold and clear: "Why were you beaten?"
"Outclassed..." Su Mu lowered his head a bit.
"Why were you outclassed?" Su Yan pressed on.
Su Mu replied dejectedly: "I didn't practice hard enough."
Su Yan nodded slightly: "At least you know your limits! Do you know what to do from now on?"
"I do."
"Remember your words today. If you dare to be lazy in the future, the one who will beat you won't be someone else, but me personally."
Su Mu's expression changed, and he quickly promised to practice hard and not let his sister down.
After lecturing Su Mu, Su Yan raised her head and looked at the people behind him. Her beautiful eyes swept over them and stopped on Yang Kai, a look of surprise flashing in her eyes. She said, "Was it you who beat Cheng Shaofeng?"
Yang Kai thought this senior sister was well-informed, knowing what happened outside even while practicing here. He nodded slightly and said, "Yes."
"You're more promising than Su Mu." Su Yan didn't pay much attention. Yang Kai looked young, but he was already sixteen or seventeen. Being only at the eighth level of the Body Tempering stage, his talent wasn't great, so he naturally didn't catch her eye. She spoke to him only because he had saved Su Mu.
"I have a piece of advice for you."
"Please, Senior Sister, go ahead." Yang Kai's expression was calm.
"Stay away from Su Mu. If you keep hanging around him, your achievements will stop here."
Yang Kai smiled slightly but didn't respond. She could belittle Su Mu, but he couldn't.
Upon hearing this, Su Mu's face turned bitter, but he didn't dare to speak.
"Go out, I need to practice." Su Yan closed her eyes after speaking.
The group quietly left, closing the door. They exchanged glances and all breathed a sigh of relief. The pressure inside was too great. Although the beauty was pleasing to the eye, staying too long might freeze both body and mind.
"I'll go check on the pills I had someone refine a few days ago." Li Yuntian said and left.
"Me too." A few others quickly followed.
After a while, everyone dispersed, each with their own business, leaving only Su Mu and Yang Kai.
Seeing that Su Mu also had something to do, Yang Kai smiled and said, "Junior Brother, go about your business. I'll just wander around here."
Su Mu nodded: "Alright, if you see anything you like, let me know. I'll help you check it out. Although most people here are decent, some are very cunning. Don't let them take you for a fool."
After parting ways with Su Mu, Yang Kai wandered around the Black Wind Market.
The disciples of the three sects were seated randomly, setting up stalls in front of them, displaying items for sale or putting up signs for items they wanted to buy.
The stall owners had various appearances. Some shouted loudly, like vendors in a vegetable market, enthusiastically promoting their goods. Others were haughty, acting as if you could take it or leave it, trying to lure people in. Some, bored, even practiced cultivation right there, not fearing that their goods would be stolen. The scenes were diverse.
After walking for a while, Yang Kai found that the stalls here weren't just for buying and selling. Some low-level alchemists put up signs to refine pills for others, and they did it for free.
Don't think they were doing good deeds; they just needed materials to practice. Due to their lack of experience, eight out of ten furnaces would fail, so these stalls were relatively quiet.
There weren't many such stalls, as alchemists were relatively rare.
Yang Kai had been paying attention to yang-attribute items. Even before entering the Black Wind Market, the Yang Source Seal on his chest had reacted, indicating that there were many yang-attribute treasures here.
But as he walked, he found that many items were of low quality. The yang energy in the herbs was less concentrated than that in the Dragon Trapped Valley, so he naturally didn't find them appealing.
He also liked a few items, but after asking the prices, he could only sigh. The prices were too high, far beyond what he could afford now.
After half an hour, Yang Kai found nothing useful, but he did get a good sense of the price of Small Rejuvenation Pills.
Since Small Rejuvenation Pills were only effective for Body Tempering stage seventh to ninth level martial artists, one pill was worth about fifty taels.
The bottle Su Mu gave him contained ten pills, worth about five hundred taels.
Five hundred taels, not enough to do much.
On a stall in front of him was a fiery red stone. Yang Kai could clearly feel the intense yang energy within, much more concentrated than that in the Dragon Trapped Valley. He estimated that if he absorbed the yang energy from this stone, he could condense at least two or three drops of yang liquid, equivalent to many days of hard cultivation.
Even knowing that the stall owner, who didn't seem easy to deal with, would likely ask a high price, Yang Kai still squatted down in front of him.
The stall owner had a cold face, as if someone owed him money. He glanced at Yang Kai and then ignored him.
Yang Kai pretended to pick up a few other items and asked about their prices. The stall owner was stingy with words, answering casually. Then, as if by chance, Yang Kai picked up the fiery red stone and asked, "How much is this?"
The stall owner sneered, this time saying more: "This is the most expensive item on the stall, three thousand taels."
Yang Kai was completely discouraged. This was an outrageous price. The asking price was far beyond his budget. How could they even negotiate?
Just as he was about to get up, someone patted his shoulder. Turning around, he saw a charming woman smiling at him.
"It really is you." Hu Meier was somewhat surprised.
"Is there something you need?" Yang Kai frowned. To be honest, he didn't have a good impression of this somewhat promiscuous woman. Although she was dressed neatly now, her behavior that day had left a bad impression.
Noticing Yang Kai's coldness, Hu Meier gave him a playful look and said in a sweet voice, "No, just came to say hello."
"Alright, goodbye!" Yang Kai responded indifferently and turned to leave.
"Hey..." Hu Meier followed closely, walking alongside him and intentionally or unintentionally pressing her frail body against him, observing his reaction.
After a while, Yang Kai felt annoyed. He realized this woman was not only flirtatious but also shameless. Despite his clear unwillingness to talk to her, she refused to leave.
"Why are you following me?" Yang Kai stopped, clearly unhappy.
"I'm not following you. This is the Black Wind Market, I'm just wandering around. What's wrong, do you care that much?" Hu Meier laughed sweetly.
"Stop following me, or I won't be nice to you." Yang Kai was angry.
Hu Meier wasn't afraid; instead, she seemed eager: "How won't you be nice? Like last time?"