Han Li didn't stand on ceremony. He immediately followed a group of Sky Peng clansmen heading toward one of the hall entrances on the second floor nearby.
He folded his wings, shifted his form, and slipped through the doorway just like a true Sky Peng clansman.
A burst of noise reached his ears, and his gaze swept the area. His eyes flickered several times.
This was a small plaza spanning several hundred zhang, lined on all sides by shops of various sizes. Several hundred Sky Peng clansmen were milling about, entering and exiting the storefronts.
At the very center of the plaza stood an imposing green stone pillar more than ten zhang tall, light shimmering across its surface as though something was faintly inscribed upon it.
At the base of the pillar, more than a dozen people gazed upward at what was on the pillar, murmuring among themselves.
Han Li glanced at the stone pillar and walked over with curiosity.
He could see that the pillar's surface was divided down the middle. Both halves were covered in densely packed text — one half glowing red, the other radiating a green luminescence.
Han Li focused his attention and studied the two sets of characters closely. He realized they were all names of items — some familiar, some entirely foreign.
The characters appeared and disappeared in turns, scrolling across the pillar's surface one after another, as if cycling in a continuous loop.
At the base of the pillar, a middle-aged man dressed like a guard sat in a half-lotus position, his eyes half-closed.
What is this…
After sweeping his gaze across both sets of text and the man's face, a hint of suspicion arose in Han Li's mind.
Just then, a man in a tattered robe shouldered his way out of the crowd below and handed several spirit stones to the guard at the base of the pillar.
The middle-aged guard opened his eyes, nodded, then drew a short red rod from his wide sleeve and handed it over.
The newcomer took the rod and waved it rapidly at a blank spot on the pillar.
Though the man's movements were incredibly swift, a flash of blue light in Han Li's eyes allowed him to see everything with perfect clarity.
Where the rod had waved, several bright red characters appeared, then flashed and sank into the stone pillar, vanishing from sight.
A moment later, those same red characters reappeared in the original spot.
A faint look of surprise appeared on Han Li's face.
After watching for a while longer, another person stepped forward. This one, however, ignored the middle-aged guard entirely. Instead, he spread his wings and soared several zhang into the air, extending a finger to touch several green characters on the pillar.
Immediately, the characters pulsed with green light that rapidly streamed into the man's fingertip, causing his entire body to blaze with spiritual radiance.
The Sky Peng clansman who had touched the characters tilted his head slightly, his eyes narrowing as if he were receiving some kind of information. After a moment, he withdrew his finger, turned, and flew straight toward the main hall entrance.
Below, several more people followed the example of the previous two — either writing something on the pillar or flying directly up to it and touching the red and green characters with their hands.
Watching all this, Han Li stroked his chin. A sense of understanding was beginning to dawn on him.
To confirm his suspicions, he strode forward without hesitation and extended a finger, tapping one of the rows of green characters near the bottom of the pillar.
The characters flashed with green light, and a cool sensation surged straight into his mind. A line of information appeared in Han Li's consciousness.
"Selling first-grade Flowing Light Wood, unlimited quantity, thirty thousand spirit stones per cubic zhang, Shop No. 31, Fifth Hall, Fourth Floor!"
The corner of Han Li's mouth twitched. He shifted his position to the other half of the pillar and tapped a row of red characters with his finger.
The same type of information surfaced in his mind.
"Buying a complete Phoenix-Tail Bird skeleton, price negotiable, Shop No. 10, Second Hall, Ninth Floor!"
Han Li's expression turned somewhat peculiar.
He hadn't expected the Sky Peng clansmen to use this method for buying and selling goods.
Obviously, the items posted on the pillar were either urgently needed or particularly rare treasures. It was quite an ingenious system.
This way, anyone who saw the information on the pillar could go directly to the listed shop to conduct the transaction. It was certainly far more convenient.
And the method didn't appear to be difficult at all — it could quite possibly be replicated in a human race marketplace.
While turning these thoughts over in his mind, Han Li stepped back and began carefully examining the green characters listing items for sale.
He intended to scan through all the information first, to see if anything caught his interest.
Although many item names differed between the two races due to racial differences, for some reason, most rare items had names that were quite similar. For certain materials that both races considered highly valuable, the names were identical.
This fact had surprised Han Li for quite some time when he first began studying the Flying Spirit Race's language and writing.
Still, strange as it was, he had no intention of digging into the reason behind it.