Martial Peak

Chapter 2816, Here Comes an Opportunity

Translator: Silavin & Tia

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

Yu led the rest of the Frost and Snow Clan’s Warriors towards a tall building. Meanwhile, Yang Kai stood in the middle of Frost and Snow City and pondered quietly for a while. He was in no hurry to follow Yu’s instructions to find a place to live and instead wandered around the bustling city to explore.

The reason why he agreed to come to Frost and Snow City was none other than to obtain some Monster Cores as soon as possible to continue cultivating. However, he had nothing on him aside from the seven Monster Cores of the Bone Melting Wolves and a bag of wolf blood. Unfortunately, he needed all of these items; therefore, he had to check out the market situation for now before he could figure out his next plan. Yang Kai believed that with his abilities, even if his starting point was very low, he would quickly be able to start accumulating what he needed.

Looking around as he walked, Yang Kai stood out like a sore thumb in a city filled with the Ancient Barbarian Race. It couldn’t be helped though as his figure was just too weak looking, lacking the aesthetics of the Ancient Barbarian Race. Hence, he attracted strange and contemptuous glances wherever he went. Fortunately, he had long since grown accustomed to this, as it seemed every member of the Ancient Barbarian Race that met him for the first time would eye him with such intent.

Frost and Snow City was extremely prosperous, not inferior even when compared to the large cities of the modern era. Among the chaotic mess of countless buildings, stalls, goods, and Shamans from different clans gathered in this place, a Low-Rank Shaman Warrior like Yang Kai did not stand out at all.

Using the knowledge the Village Chief had taught him before he left the village, Yang Kai identified the origins of those Shamans, one by one. People of every city and every clan were gathered here, a grand sight that was very rare indeed. It was a scene that could only be seen in Frost and Snow City during winter because, unlike Frost and Snow City, such unique conditions did not exist elsewhere. This place was protected by the Evergreen Divine Tree, so even in the middle of winter, it remained in a state of spring.

The cities of the other clans did not have such good conditions; hence, it naturally attracted many Shamans here to exchange information and goods. Once winter passed, most of these Shamans that came from afar would return to their respective clans and cities. For that reason, Frost and Snow City became the most prosperous city every winter.

Yang Kai browsed through all the stalls, inspecting their wares and bargaining with the stall owners. He thought that trading would be carried out through bartering in this ancient era, but to his surprise, he found out that he was greatly mistaken. Frost and Snow City had its own currency, something similar to green leaves, which were known as Green Coins.

Since the Village Chief had not taught him about the Green Coin, Yang Kai concluded that it was a feature unique to Frost and Snow City. Green Coins weren’t used for cultivation and were rumoured to be the fallen leaves of the Evergreen Divine Tree that never decayed. It could only be used for transaction purposes and was only limited to transactions in Frost and Snow City. Even so, that was enough as the mere existence of a standard currency would have a great impact on the circulation of materials.

Business in Frost and Snow City was carried out all day long, so Yang Kai spent three consecutive days browsing without stopping for a single moment, forming a vague plan during this time.

After three days, he slowly walked to the bottom of the Evergreen Divine Tree, took out the water skin Yu had given to him previously, and poured it onto the roots of the Evergreen Divine Tree.

As the red blood landed on the ground, it was quickly absorbed and disappeared until not even a drop was left. In the next moment, a green light radiated from the canopy and shone down on Yang Kai. At the same time, an inexplicable force guided him and he slowly moved upward as if an invisible hand was lifting him up.

After soaring upward a few dozen metres, the lifting force stabilized and a clean and comfortable Tree Cave that was neither large nor small appeared before him. This would be his residence for the next thirty days.

There were two ways for outsiders to find a place to stay in Frost and Snow City. One was to live in places similar to inns, but those places required Green Coins. The other was like what Yang Kai just did. By watering the roots of the Evergreen Divine Tree with Monster Beast blood, the Evergreen Divine Tree would lend a Tree Cave to the waterer.

There were numerous Tree Caves like these located all over the towering Evergreen Divine Tree, and every Tree Cave was a natural residence. Upon receiving the protection of the Evergreen Divine Tree, one would not be disturbed by others no matter what they did inside the Tree Cave.

The Tree Cave was not that large, barely able to accommodate three people inside it, but it was enough for Yang Kai. Besides, the environment inside was extremely comfortable, so he sat down cross-legged to cultivate while working out the details of his plans in his head.

The next day, Yang Kai walked out of the Tree Cave and slowly dropped to the ground under the guidance of the Evergreen Divine Tree. Then, he went straight in one direction. Soon, he arrived outside a store that specialized in the acquisition of Monster Cores. Taking out the seven Monster Cores in his possession, he sold them all. A moment later, he left the shop with a bag of Green Coins in hand, turned around, and disappeared into the crowd.

A quarter of an hour and a difficult haggling session later, Yang Kai reached an agreement with an unfamiliar stall owner. He bought all the herbs sold at the store for the price of fifty Green Coins. Hence, the stall owner couldn’t help but be overjoyed as he knew he had met a big customer and enthusiastically wrapped up the purchase for Yang Kai.

A short while later, a similar scene occurred at another stall. It didn’t take long before Yang Kai spent all the Green Coins in his possession. In exchange, he obtained a relatively large amount of common, low-value herbs. After that, he returned to the Tree Cave and took out all the herbs.

There was no need to investigate them carefully as he simply took out a few random herbs by hand. Then, a bright and warm flame bloomed in his hand. Casually tossing the herbs into the flame, Yang Kai concentrated on refining them. Just like how Alchemists were very rare and sought after in the present, the status and number of Herbalists in the ancient era were no different.

A Herbalist was a rare talent in any clan. Moreover, the Herbalists of each clan would only create potions for their own clansmen. In this era where the Martial Dao was not popular and Alchemy was even less known than that, the process a Herbalist used to create potions was simple and crude. They would simply mix in a variety of herbs and blend them all together, which of course could not bring out the full effects of those herbs.

Yang Kai was an Emperor Alchemist, so even though his cultivation was sealed and his Divine Sense could not be used, the items he could refine with his current methods would still be superior to what an ordinary Herbalist from a large clan could produce. The medicines he refined would then become his way of making money and the starting point for creating a snowball effect.

Since the eras were different, Yang Kai did not dare to create anything that was too shocking. Besides, his strength was greatly suppressed at the moment so he couldn’t be perfect in his refining process. Even so, the items he refined and arranged were the embodiment of tens of thousands of years of accumulated knowledge, fundamentally incomparable to the crude potions produced by the current Herbalists.

Half a day later, all the herbs were consumed, and Yang Kai had a pile of bottles and jars in front of him. In this era, jade bottles to store pills were practically non-existent. However, Yang Kai was not very fastidious about the containers; after all, what he refined this time was not a pill. Rather, it was a large batch of paste, so it didn’t matter even if he stored them in those stone and wood containers.

After cleaning himself up briefly, Yang Kai left his Tree Cave once again.

Arriving at the most prosperous area in Frost and Snow City, where traffic flowed continuously, Yang Kai sat down cross-legged in a corner and placed what he had refined in front of him before taking out a piece of wood and using his finger like a sword to drew a single flamboyant word on the plank. He then placed the wood plank next to him, sat in an upright position, closed his eyes, and began meditating.

The Ancient Barbarian Race stall owner next to him glanced at him and the wooden sign with the large ‘medicine’ character written on it before snorting in disdain. [That black, sticky paste that resembles rotten mud is supposed to be medicine? Does this brat really think he is a Herbalist?] Herbalists were generally very well respected, so how could one possibly fall so low as to open up a stall by the roadside? If not for the Shaman aura coming from Yang Kai’s body, this stall owner might even suspect that he wasn’t part of the Ancient Barbarian Race. [Unless a miracle occurs, he won’t ever sell anything.]

And just as he expected, Yang Kai’s stall was completely ignored for the next two days. Even though this was a busy area with people passing by non-stop, all the Ancient Barbarians passing by Yang Kai’s store took one glance at the gooey paste he was selling and walked away.

Even so, Yang Kai remained as calm as an unmoving mountain. He simply sat there cross-legged without any worries. He was so immovable that even his neighbour began to admire him for his tenacity.

Two days later, that next-door stall owner had practically sold out his goods and was about to close his shop. Perhaps it was out of sympathy, but he couldn’t help saying, “You won’t be able to sell anything like this.”

Yang Kai opened his eyes to look at the stall owner and grinned in response, “In your opinion, how should I sell my medicine?”

The stall owner replied, “You should at least call out your wares once in a while. Although these medicines don’t look like much, somebody will eventually come and take a look at them if you advertise enough.”

“Quality goods need no advertising. My medicines are excellent, so people will come to buy them even without me advertising them.”

The stall owner spat disdainfully when he heard those words, clearly disagreeing with that statement even though it sounded rather reasonable. Shaking his head, he said, “You will never sell any of your wares unless a miracle occurs.”

Yang Kai smiled, “I don’t need a miracle. I only need an opportunity… And here comes an opportunity!” While speaking, his eyes suddenly sparkled.

The neighbouring stall owner was surprised by this sudden change and glanced in the direction Yang Kai was looking in only to see several Ancient Barbarian Race Warriors from the Frost and Snow Clan supporting each other and walking in this direction. They were covered in blood and fresh wounds, as if they had just come back from a huge battle. Moreover, one of them even had a large slash in his abdomen. It was an extremely deep injury that looked absolutely terrifying.

[How is this an opportunity?] The stall owner was a little puzzled, but just as he was wondering, those Ancient Barbarian Warriors walked by the front of the stalls.

At that moment, Yang Kai, the medicine seller, smilingly spoke up, “Please wait, strong warriors! The Heavens must be smiling down on us for us to have such a fateful meeting! As a Shaman, I feel a strong connection of destiny with you, so I would like to give you a small gift. I hope you will accept it!”