Chapter 36: Mysterious Everything

That place, if placed in an ordinary place, is nothing worth noting. After all, it is just a few temporary sheds, plus a large area of cars covered by tarpaulins…

But it exists in a place like the no-man’s land, which adds a few more mysterious colors.

I walked quickly towards it with excitement, and after half an hour, I finally reached the nearest shed.

Before I could even enter the shed, a somewhat indifferent person came out of the shed. When he saw me, his expression did not change at all. He just asked, “Are you here for the market?”

Isn’t that nonsense? This valley is extremely hidden, not to mention this season, there are very few explorers in the no-man’s land, and even if there are more, the probability of accidentally breaking in here is extremely small.

Although I was secretly thinking, I still nodded under the indifferent gaze of this person.

“Do you have an invitation?” The man asked again.

I took out the invitation that belonged to me from my clothes and handed it to him. He took it and looked at it carefully. His expression finally eased a little and he handed the invitation back to me.

“If you have an invitation, go into that shed over there.” He pointed to a shed not far away and then turned to go back.

This situation made me curious, and I couldn’t help but ask, “What if you don’t have an invitation?”

“No? Then get going immediately! Or you can pay a fee to rest in another shed.” The man simply explained, then ignored me and returned to the shed he had come out of.

The rules here are really strange, I thought to myself, but I didn’t stop walking and walked into the shed he pointed to me.

I lifted the thick felt cloth and found that there were already seven or eight people waiting inside. When they saw me walk in, one of them, who looked to be in his seventies, suddenly smiled and said, “The ninth one! If we’re lucky, we can leave before dark today.”

The old man’s words were a bit strange, but after I walked into the shed, I still smiled at the other people waiting, and didn’t ask any questions.

Compared to the indifference of other practitioners on the road, the people waiting in this shed were obviously much friendlier, and they all responded to my smile.

There was a blazing fire in the shed, the ground was covered with blankets unique to X Province, and in front of the fire there was a large plate of meat and a large pot of steaming drink. I saw someone pour out a cup, which should be butter tea.

Compared to the outside, it was like a warm paradise.

In the friendly atmosphere, I found a place to sit in front of the fire, and I was thinking about how to talk to these people and answer some of my questions. But then the old man who had been talking nonsense suddenly stood up and walked over to me, sitting down next to me.

“As long as we have ten people, we can set off for the big city. I originally thought that the weather was not good enough for us to set off today, but I didn’t expect you to come and bring us hope.” I see, no wonder I came here and the old man was so happy.

“But isn’t it better to rest here for the night? This place is very nice.” The old man’s enthusiasm gave me an opportunity to strike up a conversation, and I took the opportunity to speak up.

Everyone laughed when they heard my question, and the old man didn’t answer directly. Instead, he grabbed a piece of meat from the plate and handed it to me, then poured a cup of butter tea for me before saying, “Although I don’t know how you got the invitation, I know that you must be attending the fair for the first time.”

“Hey, how did you know?” I was eating the meat in my hand when I heard the old man say that. I was surprised. How did he know that I was attending the fair for the first time?

“Although this place is nice, compared to the magical existence of the Great Market, it is like comparing a latrine to a palace. If you have participated in the Great Market, you must be eager to go to the Great Market. Where would you want to rest here for a night?” The old man didn’t beat around the bush and directly stated the reason.

This undoubtedly aroused my curiosity about the Great Market, and I couldn’t help but ask, “What kind of place is the Great Market? What kind of existence is it?”

In fact, recalling the young man who robbed me last night and the attitude of many people towards the Great Market, I always feel that many cultivators have a kind of pilgrimage mentality towards the Great Market. Is it that magical?

Faced with my question, the old man smiled and didn’t answer. Another middle-aged man said, “There’s no point in saying too much about it. Anyway, once you get here, if you have an invitation, you’re safe. You’ll be able to see the Great Market for yourself. Just wait and see.”

This made me pause for a moment, and I couldn’t help but feel a little yearning for the mysterious Great Market.

The atmosphere in the shed was friendly. After all, because it was safe, everyone could put down some defenses and communicate. I listened to them talk about some strange things in the circle while eating and drinking, and I didn’t feel that the waiting time was too bad.

After about an hour, it was getting dark, and there was movement at the door. A bald monk with a huge build came in.

Faced with the arrival of the monk, the old man cheered and hurriedly went up to him, grabbed the monk’s arm and said, “You are really the lucky god of today. Your arrival means that we won’t have to wait long before we can set off.”

The monk was obviously not the kind of fool I was, but he was a little stunned and asked, “Does that mean I’m the tenth person to arrive with an invitation today? That’s really lucky. Buddha blesses you.”

“Hahaha, you are the 10th one! Originally, I was worried that I would have to wait here for a day or two, or even miss the big market, but I didn’t have to wait at all. I was lucky that the number of people who left before dark was enough. Nowadays, not many people have invitations in their hands.” The old man was very happy, and the others in the room were also very happy.

Of course I was happy too, but my reason for being happy was not because I was longing for the big market, but because I was finally able to go find my fellow students.

The atmosphere in the shed was even more lively. Perhaps it was because the number of people was complete, but everyone was smiling as they talked. It was less than ten minutes later when a man walked into the shed and said, “Everyone is here. Let’s go.”

I noticed that the person who came in was the same person who had previously looked at my invitation card with indifference. I never imagined that he would be the one to lead us to the city.

When I got out of the door, I saw three strange-looking horse-drawn carriages waiting at the entrance. Why were they strange? Because the shape of the carriages looked like small houses.

But what caught my eye were not the strange carriages, but the horses pulling them.

Their eyes were bright and full of a human touch, and I could even feel some of their emotions, like… For example, at this moment, I felt like the horses were saying, “What a bad luck! I didn’t expect that there would be ten people here, and I still have to be busy…

I was so shocked that I couldn’t even speak. Why did I know this? But then I saw one of the horses looking at me playfully, as if it was laughing at my fuss.

“Get in the carriage, big brother. When I first saw these horses, I reacted more exaggeratedly than you. Get in the carriage and we’ll talk about it.” I came to my senses and realized that it was the same enthusiastic old man who had appeared behind me.

I suppressed my curiosity and got into the carriage with the old man. When I closed the door, I noticed that there was another person in the carriage, the last monk to arrive.

There were two rows of chairs facing each other in the carriage. The chairs were very wide and covered with thick fur, which looked very soft. There was also a fixed long table with some food on it.

It seems that the city has really given VIP treatment to those of us who have invitations.

As I was looking around the inside of the carriage, the old man got in, closed the door, and pushed me into a chair, laughing and saying, “You two are my lucky stars. I’m going to ride with you today. Do you mind?”

“No, we don’t mind.”

“Of course not.”

The old man’s enthusiasm and sincerity were not fake, so who would mind traveling with him?

Seeing our attitude, the old man was very happy. He grabbed an apple from the long table, half-lying on the chair, and took a bite, saying, “That’s good. I just saw that big brother was very curious about the horses pulling the carriage. You don’t even know the origin of the big city?”

I was stunned. I simply thought that these horses were very strange, as if they had human-like intelligence, but what did that have to do with the origin of the city?

My expression obviously betrayed me. This time, not only did the old man laugh, but the monk also laughed.

“Forget it, let me tell you. Otherwise, you won’t know anything. When you trade freely, others will bully you and make you suffer.” The old man took another bite of the apple, let out a long sigh, and then said,

The origin of the market? I suddenly perked up. I had to listen carefully.