Feng Miaojun had Lu Chuanying accompany her to the Luofu Fish Market. Despite his young age, he had extensive experience and could offer her valuable advice.

The method for land creatures to enter the Lower City through official channels was quite simple. The Upper City’s shell had a hole that the merfolk had modified, adding formations and an ornate gate.

Officially guests could naturally pass through.

The style of Luofu’s Lower City was completely different from the Upper City. In the Upper City, people lived on the surface of the shell, but here, citizens’ dwellings were inside the shell itself. There were no city walls, only colorful seaweed marking different territories.

Of course, even among supernatural beings, there were commoners and the wealthy. Feng Miaojun saw houses made from whale skeletons, inside which lived beautiful merfolk.

Since not all patrons of the Luofu Fish Market were sea creatures, the temporary passage to the Lower City was protected by water-repelling formations. Walking here was like strolling through a glass corridor in an ocean park – completely dry yet offering unobstructed views of the surroundings.

After paying the entrance fee, an attendant led them to the main hall of the Luofu Fish Market. White Board transformed into an earring, attached to Feng Miaojun to smuggle itself in without paying. Liquid metal spirits were too rare a species, and with their shapeshifting abilities, the market manager failed to notice their presence.

Because the auctioned items were so diverse, the venue was divided into twenty-one different areas, each dedicated to specific categories. Guests could freely move between areas and participate in any auction they wished. Of course, the privileged sitting in private boxes could use water mirror techniques to view all auction items without leaving their seats.

Feng Miaojun couldn’t afford such luxury, so she and Lu Chuanying wandered between different areas, broadening their horizons.

Just as the pufferfish auctioneer in the Ghostly Palace had said, each auction area in the Luofu Fish Market was completely open. Customers sat on benches and bid on whatever caught their eye, with no barriers between them.

Only private box owners had the right to conceal their identities.

The items here were truly extraordinary. Feng Miaojun saw a pearl as big as a fist lying in a clamshell, emitting white light that concentrated into a beam, forming the image of a dancing woman singing and moving gracefully. The song was ethereal, with light-formed butterflies fluttering around, creating a dreamlike scene.

This was the kind of curiosity wealthy people loved. Feng Miaojun heard the starting price: forty spirit stones.

Who would spend over ten thousand silver taels on a useless trinket?

Someone would.

As soon as the bidding started, offers came from below. Eventually, this rare pearl clam sold for eighty spirit stones.

That was twenty-four thousand silver taels.

Well, thinking about the luxury bags and jewelry she had bought in her previous life, Feng Miaojun could only maintain her smile.

After walking through several areas, she did find something of interest:

The Nurturing Sun Pearl.

According to the auctioneer, this was the core of a two-headed fire lizard. This type of supernatural creature lived near active volcanoes, was naturally adept at controlling fire, even able to stay in boiling lava for about ten breaths. Therefore, their cores were scorching hot and needed careful preservation, otherwise burning down a house would be a matter of seconds. However, this particular fire-lizard had a unique talent: one head breathed fire, the other ice. As a result, its core wasn’t solely of the fiery attribute. With ice and fire in balance, its heat was no longer intensely scorching but instead emanated a gentle warmth.

Hence it was named the “Nurturing Sun Pearl,” which highlighted its precious quality.

Typically, fire-attribute cores were too domineering and could generally only be used to forge magical tools. But the Nurturing Sun Pearl was different. Its power was exceptionally gentle and beneficial for practicing fire-system divine techniques without easily harming oneself. Even when absorbing the sun’s true fire each dawn, it could protect one’s meridians from injury.

Considering its versatility, anyone could tell it was a good item.

Feng Miaojun’s heart raced. She had inherited both cold and fire divine techniques from Yun Ya, and although she carefully refined her body with spiritual medicines and strengthened her meridians, this wasn’t spiritual power formed from her innate talents, so there would be minor damage over time. Moreover, Yun Ya had given her a core from a Northern Hairy Kui, with ice-cold attributes, which made it easy for her spiritual power to become uneven when she used it for breathing exercises. So she never dared to use such good things.

The State Preceptor had mentioned before that it would be best to find a fire-attribute core to balance it.

If she acquired the Nurturing Sun Pearl, using both cores together would yield results far beyond simple addition.

Everyone wanted good items, so bidding for the Nurturing Sun Pearl was fierce from the start. After two or three rounds, the price had already risen from the starting eighty spirit stones to over one hundred and eighty.

Feng Miaojun had been watching coldly, calculating silently. Only when the bidding slowed did she finally try calling out: “Two hundred and twenty!”

The venue quieted momentarily, then someone raised it to two hundred and thirty.

She raised her bid twice more, each time increasing by thirty or more. The number of competing bidders immediately decreased, with only one person still contending with her. Each time she raised, the opponent would add a small amount.

Feng Miaojun smirked.

She had participated in countless auctions in her previous life. How could she not understand the opponent’s trick? They were trying to use her as a cash cow. It seemed troublemakers existed in every world.

When the opponent raised again, she simply stopped bidding.

The entire venue fell silent. Though the Nurturing Sun Pearl was good, not many who could use it for cultivation were masters, and how many spirit stones could they have? This Fish Market had countless treasures; it wasn’t worth going bankrupt for just one Nurturing Sun Pearl.

The auctioneer began to inquire, but she remained silent.

Until after the second hammer call, she unhurriedly called out: “Three hundred and fifty spirit stones.”

This time, the opponent finally dared not raise the price, and the Nurturing Sun Pearl successfully landed in her possession.

Holding this warm core, the cold sweat on her hands had not yet dried. The abundance of treasures at the Luofu Fish Market was indeed proportional to their prices. Three hundred and fifty spirit stones converted to over a hundred thousand silver taels, a figure beyond the imagination of many in the mortal world. Yet here, it could only buy a single core, and not even top-tier goods. The wealthy bigwigs here were numerous, and they didn’t even care for these small items.

Next, she walked through two more areas. Lu Chuanying only viewed these rare treasures out of curiosity, without any intention to acquire them. Feng Miaojun, however, bought two pieces of mermaid silk, each less than one square foot, costing her thirty spirit stones.

Real mermaid silk in my hand felt light as a feather, almost weightless. Its surface shimmered with brilliance, incomparable to mortal fabrics. The two pieces Feng Miaojun purchased were water-colored and dawn-colored respectively. The former resembled a calm sea under sunlight, with gleaming blue and sparkling lights, while the latter looked like dawn clouds, gloriously ablaze.

Feng Miaojun had to admire that the embroiderers of the human world could not create such splendid brocade.

The Fish Market also displayed mermaid silk priced at one hundred spirit stones per square foot, a treasure made from the first ray of golden light on the sea each morning, taking ten years to complete.