Lin Mu and the three beasts continued wandering deeper into the sprawling market district. What had begun as neatly arranged rows of shops, polished storefronts, and tidy merchant squares gradually transformed into something far more chaotic.
The air thickened with smells from unknown cuisines, pungent herbs, and spices so strong they made even Little Shrubby sneeze.
Haphazard tents leaned against each other like drunken cultivators. Vendors sat cross legged on carpets, selling strange items that looked half stolen, half scavenged. A few hawkers waved half finished talismans in the air, claiming they were ancient techniques lost for ten thousand years.
Lin Mu immediately recognized the territory.
This was the unregulated district, also known as the wandering cultivator market.
The place where things of questionable origin and even more questionable quality were freely traded.
