Chapter 337 - 337 Ten thousand beasts' city
Walking past through the city gates, Shun Long and Liu Mei both entered the bustling city in front of them without any obstruction.
Surprisingly, although this city wasn't too big in size, it seemed to have even more people than medium-sized cities like the 'Silver sword city' and the 'City of Sin'.
People had crowded the streets, while the amount of street stalls that were erected as people showed off their merchandise exceeded anything that Shun Long or Liu Mei had ever seen before.
After a brief glance, Shun Long noticed that most of these people were selling rank 3 and rank 4 magic beast corpses, or beast cores, while their cultivation mostly ranged at the middle and late-stages of the Spirit realm.
It only took a moment for Shun Long to realize what was going on.
It was obvious that once these people had a successful hunt in the 'Ten thousand beasts' mountain range', they would bring their loot in this city that was located right at the edge of the mountain range itself.
The prices for the rank 4 magic beasts varied greatly, depending on the magic beast's level, whether or not the beast's parts were useful in alchemy of in the creation of formations, as well as the condition of the beast.
A single early rank 4 magic beast was priced at 600 middle-grade spirit stones, a middle rank 4 beast was priced at 1000 middle-grade spirit stones, while a peak rank 4 magic beast's price varied from 2000 to 4000 middle-stage spirit stones!
Of course, Shun Long guessed that for people to hunt a single peak rank 4 magic beast, they needed to have at least a single Nascent Soul stage expert in their group, or at the very least, 3 or 4 peak rank 9 Spirit realm experts.
The person who was responsible for selling the beast corpse was most likely just a member of one big group.
After all, people usually fought in numbers when they hunted magic beasts, and this was even more true for mercenaries from the 'Mercenaries' Association'.
Shun Long noticed quite a few people with the badges of the Association on their c.h.e.s.ts, most of them being A-rank mercenaries.
However, Shun Long spotted even a few S-rank mercenaries either watching the sales of the street stalls, or wandering around in the streets of this city.
Liu Mei also remembered that S-rank mercenaries corresponded to powerful early and middle-stage Nascent Soul experts.
No matter how strong she and Shun Long were right now, Liu Mei knew that they were unable to fight against an S-rank mercenary by themselves head-on.
Shun Long however didn't seem too bothered by the Nascent Soul stage experts on the streets.
Aside from the countless street stalls that seemed to have taken up every corner of the city, Shun Long saw many different shops, including alchemy shops that sold pills, or the corpses and cores of magic beasts, as well as many formation masters' workshops.
Of course, these alchemy shops charged a huge premium in order to sell the magic beasts' parts that the mercenaries usually found, taking more than 40 percent of the profit.
This was the reason why many mercenaries preferred to set up their own street stalls and patiently wait until they sold their loot.
And yet, the alchemy shops continued to thrive in this city no matter what.
Since people would enter the 'Ten thousand beasts' mountain range' to hunt magic beasts, they needed pills to ensure their own survival.
Pills that healed these mercenaries' injuries, as well as 'anti-toxin pills' in case they met with an accident were the most popular ones that were purchased.
However, the formation masters also made a huge amount of spirit stones that wasn't inferior to the alchemy shops.
Repairing the weapons and the armors of these mercenaries' was extremely important as well.
After all, even if the mercenaries had pills to heal themselves, if their weapons were unable to pierce through the bodies of the powerful magic beasts, their pills would be unable to save them in the end.
Keeping their weapons and armor in top condition was vital to every mercenary who wanted to enter the 'Ten thousand beasts' mountain range', including even the S-ranked mercenaries.
Shun Long also got to know that the name of this city was the 'Ten thousand beasts' city'.
He also heard that a late-stage Dao King was actually responsible for keeping order in this city, but because he was a solitary figure, he didn't care about placing any guards in the city entrance to collect fees.
Instead, the pill shops and the formation masters' workshops would proactively offer this powerful figure a cut of their own profits every year, and in return, that person would make sure to keep order in the city.
Hearing that there was a late-stage Dao King inside the city, Shun Long avoided from having Little Black scan the city with his soul search.
Since he wasn't planning on actually staying in the city, there was no reason to try and verify whether there really was a late-stage Dao King in this place.
Instead, after understanding the general situation, he and Liu Mei didn't stay in the 'Ten thousand beasts' city' any longer, as they headed towards the gigantic mountain range in the distance.
This was the most famous mountain range in the entire 'Night star continent', as well as one of the most dangerous places as well.
Even Dao Kings were said to have lost their lives in this place, which gave the rumor that there were powerful peak rank 6 magic beasts hidden inside.
As they neared closer to the 'Ten thousand beasts' mountain range', Shun Long noticed countless groups that had set up camp outside the mountain range's boundaries.
Even though there were many inns inside the 'Ten thousand beasts' city' for the mercenaries to rest, Shun Long could easily guess, that these people who were waiting here, were either trying to find more powerful groups to join, or they were waiting for their own partners or guild members to come out from the 'Ten thousand beasts' mountain range'.
After all, it wasn't uncommon to get separated from your group inside this place, especially if you chanced upon the den of a powerful magic beast.
Seeing Shun Long and Liu Mei walk forward by themselves, some groups tried to probe them out of curiosity, since they could easily see that Liu Mei's strength was only at the middle rank 4 of the Spirit realm. However, after seeing that they were actually unable to discern the strength of the young man next to her, they avoided doing anything in broad daylight.
Liu Mei frowned when she noticed that some people seemed to have set their sights on Shun Long and her.
Shun Long however understood, that aside from the powerful magic beasts in this place, there was an equally as dangerous enemy... other mercenaries.
An incense stick of time later, Shun Long and Liu Mei had already arrived at the huge green forest that covered the entrance of the 'Ten thousand beasts' mountain range'.
The roars of magic beasts resounded in the air, bringing an aura of solemnity, as well as excitement to those who were entering this place for the first time.
Liu Mei turned her head to the side, to look at Shun Long who was standing in front of the entrance of the forest for a moment without saying anything.
After taking a deep breath, a smile soon appeared on his face, and looking at Liu Mei's bright eyes, Shun Long held her hand before he stepped forward, entering inside the 'Ten thousand beasts' mountain range'.