Curiosity piqued, Yang Kai found himself genuinely interested in the candied hawthorn sticks. Recalling what he'd just witnessed, he ventured, "Ten copper coins?"
The old man nodded with a beaming smile. "Ten coins a stick. No tricking children or the elderly here."
"I'll take one." As he spoke, Yang Kai produced ten copper coins and extended them toward the old man.
As a Seventh Order Open Heaven cultivator, he naturally wouldn't carry something as trivial as copper coins on his person. Copper, silver, and gold coins were currency used by ordinary mortals in the secular world — anyone who had achieved any degree of cultivation had no use for them whatsoever.
However, a fair number of humans resided within Yang Kai's Small Universe, and the medium of exchange among them happened to be copper, silver, and gold. The ten coins he'd just produced had been taken straight from his Small Universe.
To his surprise, the old man merely glanced at them and made no move to accept them. Instead, his face darkened. "Boy, are you taking this old man for a blind fool?"
Yang Kai was thoroughly confused. "What do you mean, sir?"
Seeing his genuine bewilderment, the old man furrowed his brow slightly, looked him up and down, and then nodded in sudden understanding. "Ah, I see. Boy, seeing as you're new here and unfamiliar with local customs, I won't hold it against you. Today I'll teach you a lesson."
Yang Kai said respectfully, "Please, I'm all ears."
The old man chuckled. "In our marketplace here, all copper coins used for transactions are specially minted. Not just any copper coin will do."
As he spoke, he flicked a coin with his thumb, sending it flying toward Yang Kai.
Yang Kai caught it, spread it across his palm, and examined it carefully. The coin's material was nothing special, but it was indeed custom-made — each side bore a single large character, one reading "Yin" and the other "Yang."
Such things had no particular prohibitions or special refining techniques; counterfeiting them would be simple enough. At the very least, if Yang Kai wanted to, he could produce a batch without any difficulty.
But actually doing so would obviously be improper.
Left with no choice, Yang Kai could only be honest. "My apologies, sir. I don't have any of these coins on me."
The old man chuckled warmly. "Of course I know you don't. No coins, no problem — you must have some cultivation resources on hand. I can exchange some for cash."
"That's allowed?" Yang Kai was taken aback.
"If I say it's allowed, then it's allowed!" The old man nodded firmly.
Yang Kai considered for a moment, but his curiosity was too strong to resist. He turned his hand over and produced a Sixth Order Yellow Crystal. "What about this, sir?"
The old man's eyebrows shot up immediately. He reached out and picked up the Sixth Order Yellow Crystal, his face breaking into a wide grin. "An exceptional Sixth Order Yang-Element material. Not bad, not bad. It's rare to see something so pure these days."
Yang Kai thought to himself that of course it was pure — this was a crystallization of the Sun's scorching power. Was there anything in the world purer than this as a Yang-Element resource?
"That'll buy you ten sticks of tanghulu!" the old man declared with a resonant voice, already reaching to take down ten sticks.
"Wait!" Yang Kai was startled and hurried to stop him.
One stick of tanghulu was worth ten coins, so ten sticks would be a hundred coins — yet a single Sixth Order Yellow Crystal could only be exchanged for ten sticks. In terms of value, a Sixth Order Yellow Crystal was worth at least twenty million Open Heaven Pills, and that was on the rare occasions one could even be found. If the exchange rate held, that meant a single copper coin in this marketplace was worth a staggering two hundred thousand Open Heaven Pills.
Yang Kai felt ill. He didn't doubt the old man was cheating him, but the prices were simply outrageous.
No wonder that Seventh Order Open Heaven cultivator who'd bought just one stick earlier had looked like someone had carved a few pounds of flesh off his body.
A single stick of tanghulu was worth two million Open Heaven Pills!
What kind of thing cost this much?
Yang Kai had moved fast to stop him, but the old man's hands were even faster. By the time Yang Kai spoke up, five sticks had already been taken down.
"Sir, I may be new here, but you can't just bully people," Yang Kai declared with righteous indignation, fixing the old man with a firm gaze.
The old man beamed. "Would I ever do something like picking on someone weaker? Don't worry — I've always been fair in my dealings. Ask anyone around if you don't believe me."
Yang Kai frowned and considered briefly. "I only want one stick. I don't need that many."
The old man immediately shook his head so vigorously it was like a rattle drum. "That won't do. I've already taken down five sticks, and you'll have to buy all five."
Yang Kai was rendered speechless. "Can't you just put them back?"
The old man lowered his eyes, his tone dropping to a somber register. "If someone stabbed you with a knife and then pulled it out, would you pretend they'd never stabbed you?"
Yang Kai was left gaping. "How can you possibly compare those two things?"
The old man shook his head. "In my shop, it's the same principle."
Yang Kai erupted in fury. "And you call yourself fair? This is nothing but forced selling! Where is the fairness in that?"
The old man ignored him entirely. He stuffed all five sticks of tanghulu into Yang Kai's hand, made change of fifty coins, and spoke with a tone of heartfelt sincerity: "Young man, just consider this a lesson. When you're out and about in the future, you'd best be on your guard."
With that, he shouldered his basket of tanghulu and darted off in the blink of an eye, vanishing without a trace.
Yang Kai was left standing there, five sticks of tanghulu clutched in one hand and fifty coins in the other, utterly bewildered by the wind.
He couldn't make heads or tails of it. This marketplace… what the hell kind of place was this? How could somewhere like this exist within the Yin-Yang Pass, and what purpose could it possibly serve?