After having obtained the spirit herbs, Lin Mu just took a stroll around the city. He listened to their conversations and learned more about the situation in the Huiqing empire.
There were a lot of things that were not mentioned in the comprehensive intelligence set he had bought after all. It was mostly the concrete information about the things that would not change for a long time.
For the most recent news though he would have to depend on the people to learn more.
And he did learn a lot too.
From mundane things such as which restaurant was having the best dishes, to which poet ranked the highest in the rankings and earned the pleasure of the nobles and to which genius performed the best in recent days.
It was safe to say, that the little walk Lin Mu did enlighten him about the current situation of the Huiqing continent. It even got him the news of some fortunate encounters that were opening up in the area nearby.
Lin Mu actually felt like it was worth taking a look, but didn't know which one to pick simply because there were so many of them around.
'Just a single fortunate encounter was incredibly rare in my original world and now there are several of them being talked about like they are just some common goods being sold on the street.' Lin Mu thought to himself.
With the number of people speaking, there was a lot of information being thrown around but to Lin Mu it was easy to sort through. He took note of them since he didn't know about what was being spoken about and was intending to look at it later.
But while walking, he was suddenly stopped by Xukong.
"Lin Mu, halt." Xukong spoke.
"Huh? Is there a problem senior?" Lin Mu questioned.
"Did you hear that person talk about the Spiral Flake Crystal" Xukong asked.
"Yes, is it something important?" Lin Mu was now alert and focused on a person.
"A Spiral Flake Crystal is something that will be quite useful to you in training your Spatial Dao. It is one of the rare materials that are of dual elements.
The Spiral Flake Crystal belongs to the Ice as well as Spatial element. Most people use it has a material for special preserving tools, but there are other uses for it as well.
You should get it." Xukong explained.
The moment Lin Mu heard that the material had to do with the Spatial Dao and would be of help to him, he was already convinced.
"I'll look into it right away." Lin Mu turned into an alley before using phase to sink into the ground.
He moved under the place where the person talking about the Spiral Flake Crystal was located which was a relatively small tavern. There were not many people in it, and it also looked old compared to most of the other buildings.
"When do you think the shipment will arrive?" A man dressed in a warrior's armor questioned. He held a large mug of liquor and had an Axe strapped to his side.
"I'm sure that it is already here. They are simply trying to make people more desperate so that the sale would be higher." Another person that looked like a merchant replied. He had satchel strapped to his side and had no weapons on him.
"Bah! Those damned smugglers. It's stolen good and they are still trying to peddle it at an inflated price? Do they not think the authorities will act?" the warrior looking man scoffed.
"As long as they grease the right palms they will be ignored." The merchant looking man replied.
~thud~
The warrior slammed his mug on the table before standing up. "Let's go,"
"Go where?" The merchant asked.
"To get the Spiral Flake Crystal of course. If we just take it from them, not like they can complain to others." The warrior replied with a smug smile.
Hearing this the merchant also smiled, "that'll be perfect. I also have the right customers for it." He too stood up.
The two men walked out of the tavern and made their way to a distant area in the city. Just by looking around, one could tell that this area wasn't a good one and the people here looked to be similar too.
The buildings looked shady and had covered windows, while there were some that didn't have windows at all. One could also see a few beggars lying around. But even these beggars were cultivators.
Then there were a few that wore collars on their necks. The collars had several fine runes carved on them and one could tell that these people were slaves.
But the surprising part was none of the slaves looked haggard or weak. In fact all of them were strong cultivators and were decked in immortal tools.
Lin Mu who was observing everything from the ground was finding it strange. 'Are they slave warriors? Bodyguards perhaps?' He thought.
These slaves were walking behind their owners and were stronger than them too. Lin Mu also realized that all the owners of the slaves were young cultivators and were dressed richly too.
As Lin Mu continued following the two men, he realized that the slaves and their owners were also going on the same path. They passed one building after the other, until they finally reached what looked like a large warehouse.
And at the top one could see a large name board that read, Black Candle Pavilion.
"Huh, so this is the Black Candle Pavilion? It's located in such an area?" Lin Mu actually recognized the name as it was part of the intelligence set he had obtained.
The Black Candle Pavilion was technically a legitimate business and had branches all over the Rust Sky world. This particular one seemed to belong to the city he was in.
But while it was legitimate on the surface, there were a lot of shady deals going on in the underbelly.
It was even rumored that the Black Candle Pavilion had several links with Unorthodox sects in other worlds.
One could even call the Black Candle Pavilion one of the top powers of the Rust Sky world when one considered its scope.
"Looks like I'll need to change my tactic here." Lin Mu parted from the two men and surfaced at a secluded location nearby.
He couldn't enter the pavilion without being detected as there were tons of arrays set up around it.
'It'll also be risky to act with all the immortals inside.' Lin Mu thought to himself. "Time to take out the mask again."
The mask was the same spirit tool that he had used in Xiaofan world, but he knew it wouldn't be that effective here. There were immortals with immortal sense, and if they wanted to peek at him, they could do so forcefully.
Though Lin Mu knew, they wouldn't do this unless a conflict arose. But keeping his face hidden would still provide him enough time to escape.
"Buying it outright is also an option, but that'll bring more attention to me." Lin Mu muttered to himself.
He made his way back to the pavilion and followed the other people who were entering it.
Thankfully there was no need to talk, or verify anything and thus he was granted entry quite quickly.
"This way to the auction hall," A worker guided them to the area.
The Black Candle Pavilion had several services and had an auction house within their pavilion as well.
Lin Mu looked around and saw that there were several other people wearing masks as well. A few even wore masks that were Immortal tools and could fully conceal their aura and cultivation base.
'If it was the Saintess, she would be able to do this without the need for any tool. The Dao of Air is quite versatile.' Lin Mu felt interested in it too.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I welcome you all to our auction today!" A loud voice was heard pulling Lin Mu's attention.
He saw a fat man dressed in elaborate robes standing at the dais.
"I shall be your host today and will be introducing all our items for your pleasure." The fat man said with a wide smile on his face. "For our VIP guests, the booths are already prepared and the rest can simply find a seat in the hall." He gestured with his hands.
The people started moving according to their status and Lin Mu was going to find a seat in the general area as well.
But just as he was about to move in, he felt a gaze on his back. It made him shiver faintly, and he felt alert.
'Danger!' Lin Mu's muscles tensed up while his immortal sense spread around while avoiding the people.
He turned around quickly and was ready to escape at any moment.
"Where do you think you are going?!" A firm voice called him out. "You do not belong there."
