The people of the Heavenly Origin Clan, perhaps because the sunlight of the Endless Wasteland was far too fierce, had dark skin covered in mysterious tattoos everywhere. Combined with their unnaturally long limbs, they were extremely easy to recognize.
At this moment, a group of Heavenly Origin Clan members and several merchants dressed in fine silk robes were locked in a heated argument.
A large crowd had gathered to watch, though most stood by with cold, indifferent expressions.
The two Heavenly Origin Clan members at the forefront were roughly forty or fifty years old, their faces flushed red with anger, eyes bulging wide. Behind them stood a group of Heavenly Origin Clan youths, around sixteen or seventeen, each wearing expressions of gloomy dejection.
"There is absolutely no way we can accept your terms. We've traded many times before, and it has always been priced according to cultivation level. Thirty thousand Spirit Stones — not a single coin more. If you won't sell, then forget it!" one of the portly, middle-aged merchants said with an air of complete nonchalance.
"We are from the Tianjin Tribe of the Heavenly Origin Clan. Our people are the finest warriors of the entire Heavenly Origin Clan, and these are the most talented youths of the younger generation. You cannot judge their worth by their current cultivation level alone!" the two Heavenly Origin Clan members retorted indignantly.
Murmurs rippled through the crowd.
"These Heavenly Origin Clan people are truly insatiable. Thirty thousand Spirit Stones per head is already an incredibly high price, and they still aren't satisfied!"
"If this kind of behavior is encouraged, the price of buying Heavenly Origin Clan slaves will only go up in the future!"
These merchants, who had come from all over, were all here to purchase Heavenly Origin Clan members, so naturally they stood on the same side as the middle-aged merchant before them.
As long as you had money, there was no shortage of Heavenly Origin Clan slaves to buy — every day, large numbers of them waited to be sold in the small towns along the border. After all, the number of wealthy individuals who could spend thirty thousand Spirit Stones on a single Heavenly Origin Clan slave was not particularly large.
Nie Li looked at the gaunt, skin-and-bones Heavenly Origin Clan members before him. He couldn't help but sigh inwardly. Once, the most powerful fighting race in the entire Dragon Ruins Domain, they had possessed supreme glory and ruled an incomparably vast empire. Now they had fallen to this state — haggling face-to-face with merchants over the selling price of their own people. The honor they once had was long gone.
Nie Li was not a person prone to sentimentality, but thinking about how the Heavenly Origin Clan had fallen to this state in order to fight against the Sacred Emperor, only to receive no respect from the other races — he could only let out a sigh.
The Sacred Emperor had sealed off countless planes of space-time, intending to refine hundreds of domains including the Dragon Ruins Domain, yet the people within the Dragon Ruins Domain remained completely ignorant, still trampling over one another.
Thinking of everything he had experienced in his previous life, Nie Li felt a surge of indignation in his heart.
"Who are those two merchants?"
"Don't you know? They're from the Dragon Breath Commerce Association. They control more than half of the entire slave trade. That long-faced middle-aged man is the vice president of the Dragon Breath Commerce Association. If these Heavenly Origin Clan people think they can negotiate prices with them, they're dreaming. In these border towns, no one is willing to cross the Dragon Breath Commerce Association!"
Nie Li listened and looked ahead. He could see the middle-aged man standing with his hands behind his back, an arrogant expression on his face — this must be the vice president of the Dragon Breath Commerce Association the others were talking about.
Here was an opportunity to purchase Heavenly Origin Clan members, and Nie Li naturally wouldn't let it pass. Those few Heavenly Origin Clan youths at the front had already reached the first level of the Dragon Dao Realm, and their talent appeared quite promising.
Nie Li squeezed his way through the crowd.
"Chairman Lin, all we're asking for is a fair price. These young people are all geniuses of our tribe. If our tribe weren't in such dire straits, we would never have let them become slaves!" the leading Heavenly Origin Clan member said with bitter indignation.
"A fair price? The price we've offered is already more than fair! If someone else is willing to pay more, you're welcome to sell to them!" said a middle-aged merchant in a silver brocade robe standing nearby.