City of Sin (Yanyu Jiangnan)

Interplanar Trade Fair

As the group of powerful beings surrounded the tiny plane, someone in the form of a wild beast spoke up, “Let me clean the place up.”

A powerful wave of spiritual energy shot out from the speaker, crashing right into the plane. Two divine kingdoms started burning brightly in the skies, the gods owning them falling instantly. The group broke through the crystal sphere protecting the plane while leaving huge holes behind, the entire plane shaking as it tried to repair the damage. Even the human mage, the smallest of the lot, had left behind a hole that was kilometres wide. The damage one did to the crystal wall was a direct indicator of one’s might. The biggest beast wasn’t the one that left the largest hole, that honour being reserved for an octopode of sorts that cut apart more than ten kilometres in all directions.

The group chose the highest peak in the plane and descended one by one, their bodies ranging from less than two metres tall to over a thousand. They communicated purely through a common telepathic connection, overcoming all language barriers.

“The fifth Interplanar Trade Fair has some new participants, but they have already been briefed on the rules. If no one has anything to preface with, we can begin right now.”

Powerful conscients immediately exploded in the skies, displaying rare and powerful items to everyone present. Amongst the offers were entire planes, and even a lesser god with godspark still intact.

At a corner of the peak, the human mage was talking to a foreign being who was tall and thin as a pole. If Richard were present, he would notice instantly that this was a wanga black sorcerer from Daxdian, but this one was far more powerful than the ones that were routinely killed in the Land of Dusk. An enormous black crystal covered more than half of his forehead, a representation of his accumulated power. Richard had hesitated to fight any sorcerers with crystals when he was still training— each one had a sky saint’s power— but this one was clearly far more powerful than that. In fact, this was one of the ten epic beings of Daxdus.

“The doomsday imprint is very important. I will need to have a look before I make any decisions,” the human said seriously.

“Is my reputation not enough?” the sorcerer asked coldly.

“Heh, is reputation going to replace materials?”

The sorcerer grunted, “These imprints are called the beads of disaster on Daxdus. Once they appear on a plane, it is marked for destruction by the reapers.”

The human laughed, “This plane was going to be destroyed anyway, wasn’t it?”

The sorcerer nodded, taking out a normal wooden box and opening it carefully. Within was a pure crystal ball with a black metal core, seeming more like a toy than anything else. However, the mage’s irises narrowed rapidly as he enlarged the image more than a thousandfold, finally seeing some dense cracks on it. The sight left him in a daze; this wasn’t a natural piece of metal, but an object that took so much skill to produce that it went beyond one’s imagination.

The plane immediately started changing, the winds all around picking up speed while dark clouds rapidly covered the sky. Any boats still out in the waters scrambled for the coast, but it was already too late. A fierce storm roared at the coastline, sending in tidal waves that were more than ten metres high. Even many powerful sea beasts that were hundreds of metres long were thrown into the sky, falling back down as corpses.

The earth started shaking, cracks appearing all over the ground as towns and cities started to shake and collapse. Lava started surging out from within at places, spreading in all directions. A strange wind appeared in the skies, and despite sensing the danger a huge eagle suddenly lost all of its flesh and blood, leaving behind a skeleton that crumbled to the ground.

All this had arisen out of the enormous gaps in the crystal walls, allowing powerful energy storms inside that ravaged the plane. Even the trace amounts left behind after travelling such a great distance could destroy the weak beings here.

The powerhouses on the peak seemed to ignore it all, still in heated discussion. Every transaction could take multiple days to finalise, but with thousands of years at the minimum they each had great patience as well. Even the human just stared at the imprint for a whole day before sighing, “Truly a divine miracle.”

The sorcerer who had been floating at the side opened his eyes at the mage’s words, a sneer forming on his face, “How could a mere god make something like this?”

The human nodded, “Alright, I only have one check left.”

“You better be quick! You humans are so troublesome!”

Ignoring the quipping sorcerer, the mage placed his hand on the crystal orb and channeled a strand of mana within. The metal within immediately cracked apart, forming countless pieces that started to morph in shape.

*Slam!* The box was suddenly closed, “That’s enough. You can continue looking at it as much as you want after buying it, but not in front of me. I don’t want to be tracked by a reaper for no reason.”

“Sigh. Deal, here’s everything you wanted.”

The sorcerer grabbed a bracelet thrown towards him, sweeping through its contents before nodding with satisfaction, “Good. You humans rarely keep your promises.”

“The Scholars of Soremburg have always had good reputations.”

“Haha, these materials are enough to craft three divine weapons and allow a batch of legends to break through. You Norlanders will see at least ten new legends in the Land of Dusk in the coming years, I really don’t understand what your kind is thinking of.”

“The Land of Dusk is a problem for the empires to deal with, none of our business. Sometimes, crafting a perfect world requires that we remove some rotten leaves and branches. It doesn’t matter whether you’re the ones who do it or us.”

The sorcerer grunted, “Such cunning! If not for your backstabbing, we would have lost that battle years ago.”

“But that wouldn’t align with our benefits.”

“Fine, who am I to question a source of profit. If you have more of these materials, we can transact again in the future.”

“Of course we do, but what can you offer in return?”

“A fruit of darkness or an eternal core.”

Surprise flashed across the mage’s face, “The fruit that grants control of darkness origin? And the core is a thousand years of life, I presume?”

“You know quite a bit.”

“One year, you’ll get what you want.”

“Perfect!”

The deal was thus completed. As for how much power Daxdus would gain over the next ten years, the Scholar didn’t care.

Once the trade fair was over, the tyrannical beings left the plane one by one. Just like how they had arrived, they left enormous holes in the crystal wall when they departed as well. The planar source was unable to repair all of the damage, holes starting to form on its surface that expanded rapidly. The main continent of the plane started buzzing before breaking into pieces; it wouldn’t be long before the entire plane was ravaged by an energy storm that only left behind a pile of rubble. Any information related to this exchange would also be eliminated in the process.