Sunlight spills across the golden sand dunes, shimmering with a captivating glow. The desert city, like a jewel embedded in the yellow sand, radiates a unique light. Strolling along the narrow, winding streets feels like stepping into an exotic dream.
Shops line both sides, offering a dazzling array of unique goods. There are weapons inlaid with rare gemstones, gleaming with a cold light; exquisitely hand-embroidered silks, soft and comfortable; and mouthwatering delicacies emitting enticing aromas.
Occasionally, you'll encounter exotic merchants dressed in unusual attire. They enthusiastically introduce their wares with genuine smiles, but their true intentions are to squeeze every last drop of money from your pocket.
While strolling through the streets, you can also admire the beautiful scenery of the desert city. The distant sand dunes appear particularly magnificent under the sunlight, while the city's architecture blends seamlessly into the desert environment, possessing both ancient elegance and a sense of mystery. But
if you think the Desert City is only this, you're sorely mistaken. Located in a desert region, constantly at war with the snake-people, and imbued with a fantastical atmosphere, the girls here are passionate and unrestrained. They wear leather armor that exposes their navels and combat shorts that reach their hips, some even with a dagger tucked into the side of their boots. If anyone harbors ill intentions towards them, they can take your life without warning.
Of course, if you're handsome enough, they'll transform into alluring enchantresses. For example, right now, facing the prodigy Lin Feng, they openly and subtly flirt with him, wishing they could immediately throw themselves into the arms of the alchemist, much to the annoyance of the little Qing Lin standing nearby.
"Hmph, these enchantresses, they're all bad guys! Brother Lin Feng, don't let them bewitch you!" Qing Lin clung to Lin Feng's arm, her little face puffed out in anger.
"Hahaha, you little rascal, I think you're the biggest enchantress of all," Lin Feng playfully flicked Qing Lin's nose.
"Brother Lin Feng, you bad boy, I...I was only doing this for your own good." Qing Lin buried her face in Lin Feng's arm, blushing. She thought to herself, "Brother Lin Feng is mine, and you vixens won't take him away! Humph!"
The market in Shimo City had only gradually prospered in recent years, and it was all thanks to Lin Feng. Since revealing his identity as an alchemist, perhaps due to inheriting the legacy of a fourth-grade alchemist, he had become wealthy. Lin Feng had developed a penchant for finding bargains.
Therefore, he frequently visited the market to hunt for treasures. Thanks to his extraordinary soul talent from his transmigration, he had managed to snag a few bargains, even obtaining a low-level Xuan-rank combat skill—the Vajra Finger.
As the name suggests, it aimed to cultivate fingers as hard as Vajra. By opening the tiny meridians in the fingers, upon mastery, it could achieve instantaneous attacks, making it essential for home, travel, and even killing.
If one could absorb rare and precious materials, this combat skill could even rival the power of a mid-level Xuan-rank combat skill. Although Lin Feng didn't just find ordinary medicinal herbs for refining, the purity of his five elemental battle qi still achieved the effect of rare and precious treasures.
Therefore, Lin Feng frequently visited the market to hunt for bargains, spending lavishly, hoping to find something similar to the Vajra Finger at a bargain price. He mostly traded for healing pills, and he bought up all the medicinal herbs, rare bone fragments, and so on that he wanted.
This attracted more and more people to trade in the Stone Desert City market. It was believed that even if Lin Feng left Stone Desert City, it wouldn't have a significant impact on the area, as a brand effect had already been established.
Footsteps weaved through the market, accompanied by Qing Lin's cheerful footsteps. Initially, even after being adopted by Lin Feng, who revealed himself to be an alchemist, Qing Lin was still met with disgust by those around him.
This was normal in Stone Desert City, a place of generations of war with the Snake-People, but for Qing Lin, it was a tremendous injustice, as most people couldn't choose their birth.
Qing Lin's life before meeting Lin Feng was predictable. Later, a drunken mercenary attempted to ambush her, but Lin Feng, reacting quickly, used his Vajra Finger to kill her in one fell swoop, greatly improving her situation.
As for why he killed her, in the world of Dou Qi Continent, where the strong roamed freely, how could Lin Feng not be ruthless? As for why he didn't wait for his enemies to grow stronger before reaping their rewards, Lin Feng explained that there were plenty of enemies; why would he let one plot against him in the shadows? After scavenging the corpse, he earned several hundred gold coins, grateful for nature's bounty.
After Lin Feng's encouragement, Qing Lin became much more cheerful, even secretly considering herself Lin Feng's little housekeeper—don't ask Lin Feng how he knew.
"Hmm! What's this?" Lin Feng walked to a small stall, bending down to look at the items displayed by the vendor. In front of a burly man's stall was a seemingly ordinary black iron plate, which had just given him a strange feeling, as if his soul had suddenly trembled.
"Hahaha, esteemed alchemist, what has caught your eye? Hahaha, we have everything!" A burly man hurriedly stood up to introduce the items. Despite his simple appearance, Lin Feng, with years of experience in trading, was quite shrewd. He immediately noticed the cunning glint in the man's eyes.
"Alright, since you know my name, Lin Feng, you should also know my rules. These herbs, along with these five first-tier desert scorpion-tiger beast magic cores and this second-tier fire serpent magic core, and all the other miscellaneous items on this stall, pack them all up. I'll give you three bottles of first-grade hemostatic powder, three bottles of first-grade detoxifying pills, and one bottle of Qingling pills that can increase a Dou Shi's cultivation efficiency by 30%. How about that?" Lin Feng waved his hand, stopping the burly man from continuing his promotional speech.
"Hahaha, Alchemist, you're so generous! Good, good, good, welcome to your next visit, Alchemist!" The burly man rubbed his hands vigorously and packed up the items on the table with great speed. Lin Feng also took out the corresponding pills from his storage ring and put them into his storage ring.
As he put the items into his storage ring, he touched the black iron plate, and his soul felt a strange sensation again. This made him certain that he had found another treasure.
Of course, he wasn't in a hurry to go back and verify immediately. As a dignified third-grade alchemist and a six-star Great Dou Master, he wasn't like some guy who'd had his fire drained for two and a half years and was in a real rush. (Xiao Yan said he'd had his fire drained for three years, but it actually seems to have been two and a half; I'm not entirely sure.)
After browsing around and buying some cultivation items and alchemy herbs, he accompanied Qing Lin to buy some cosmetics before returning to the Crimson Fire Mercenary Group's base.
How could a dignified third-grade alchemist like him haggle? He just casually threw pills at people's faces. Hehehe, that's only because they were pills he didn't need.