Because this variant was so rare and also served as the main ingredient in pill formulas, these medicines were extremely scarce, naturally driving up prices. Correspondingly, the variant's price was also much higher. In the market, anything obtained for under one hundred taels would be profitable.
If that were the case, buying it for ten taels of silver wasn't being cheated or overpaying, but getting great value, exceptional value.
Now the girl recalled what Xiaoyao had said at that time and seemed to realize that the Purple Sun Flower might indeed be a variant. If so, the situation became amusing and interesting.
However, she believed no one would ever know about this, because she and that young man would never have another chance to meet Xiaoyao. In life, there were too many people one could only encounter briefly before never seeing again.
Soon, Xiaoyao and the girl's group separated. Xiaoyao continued browsing while the girl and her companion browsed their own items. The two groups looked at different things, unless they deliberately stayed together, they would inevitably separate.
Earlier, it was because the girl wanted to pay attention and the young man was very displeased that they had followed Xiaoyao for a while, but it became boring after a while.
Xiaoyao paid no attention to the two and looked for what he needed. In this Heavenly Entry Town, there were indeed many rare treasures, giving Xiaoyao a full harvest.
The next day, Xiaoyao got up very early and set off. After his departure, the young man and woman he had briefly encountered also set off, seemingly in the same direction. However, due to the significant time difference and Xiaoyao sometimes going off the beaten path to gather herbs, they didn't run into each other.
...
...
Along the way, Xiaoyao gathered herbs, killed some unperceptive low-level monster beasts, and collected quite a lot of materials. He had to find a place to refine pills, processing the collected materials. At this time, Xiaoyao truly felt that Heavenly Heart Mountain was a treasure land, treasures were everywhere. Anyone willing to take risks could earn quite a bit of money.
Well, willing to take risks meant bearing the risk of death.
The deeper he went, the fewer people there were, and towns like Heavenly Entry Town almost ceased to exist. Of course, it was almost nonexistent, not completely nonexistent. Xiaoyao stayed overnight at a nameless town on Clear Sky Peak deep inside, sold some pills, and purchased quite a lot of materials, earning a small profit.
Soon, he left Clear Sky Peak. Seven days after going deeper into Heavenly Heart Mountain, he arrived at the location marked on the map. On the outskirts, he encountered a defensive formation that surrounded the entire treasure location. To enter, one had to break through.
Xiaoyao wasn't surprised by this situation. Since there was treasure, having protective measures outside was very normal, otherwise, anyone could pass through.
So Xiaoyao began observing this formation, calculating methods to break it. After one day, he began entering the formation. Three days later, he finally entered the area surrounded by the formation, the treasure location.
"Ah... what... what is this situation!" Xiaoyao's mouth gaped open, his face full of surprise. Obviously, the situation here was completely beyond his expectations.
What was the situation inside?
Xiaoyao saw magnificent buildings and jade structures, Xiaoyao saw a human paradise, Xiaoyao saw a group of people active inside...
This place wasn't empty as Xiaoyao had imagined. On the contrary, there were far too many things here. This situation made Xiaoyao understand that he seemed to have intruded into the location of a legendary sect.
In Heavenly Heart Mountain, there seemed to be several legendary sects, but no one knew where these sects were located, and no one knew how to enter them.
Regardless of what sect this was, this sect's location happened to be exactly where the treasure was. The question was whether this sect had excavated this treasure or still didn't know about the situation.
Now Xiaoyao had a headache. If this treasure hadn't been excavated, then what he needed to do was enter the treasure location unnoticed, then remove the treasure inside unnoticed, and finally leave unnoticed.
Damn, so many "unnoticed" operations weren't simple at all.
Xiaoyao had a bit of a headache. This matter seemed to require long-term planning. He needed to first survey the situation here, and most importantly, find the treasure location and the method to open it, whether there would be major disturbances...
All these needed to be investigated clearly before arranging a plan.
While Xiaoyao was thinking, he seemed to forget something, something very important at the moment: he needed to hide and not be discovered.
"Boy, who are you?" Several figures flashed over and surrounded Xiaoyao. From these people's movement techniques, they should be experts with considerable strength.
With Xiaoyao's current strength, he was just their prey, he could directly give up on violent solutions.
"Ah, I'm called Xiaoyao. I was gathering herbs nearby and somehow ended up here. May I ask, what is this place? Why are there so many beautiful buildings..." Xiaoyao immediately pretended to be an herb gatherer. In Heavenly Heart Mountain, herb gathering was a major profession with numerous practitioners and the easiest profession to get lost in.
Therefore, using the herb gatherer excuse would be the perfect disguise, no one would suspect anything.
However, there was one point Xiaoyao couldn't explain away as an herb gatherer...
"Herb gatherer? If you're an herb gatherer, how did you get in here? Outside is our Heavenly Gate's mountain-protecting formation, ordinary people can't pass through," one person said somewhat proudly.
Heavenly Gate! It was actually Heavenly Gate! What kind of situation was this!
Xiaoyao felt this matter was becoming more and more interesting, more and more troublesome, and the difficulty was getting higher and higher.
Heavenly Gate was one of the ten great sects in the world, and its strength had always ranked in the top three. The strength differences among the top three sects were very blurred, sometimes one was higher, sometimes another was higher. They couldn't absolutely determine who was stronger or weaker.
The most important factor was how many naturally gifted talents the current generation of each sect had, this was the key to strength.
It was said that this generation of Heavenly Gate seemed to have produced several super geniuses, so the current Heavenly Gate should be considered the first sect. Of course, the other two sects disagreed and were still competing.
Regardless of the situation, Xiaoyao had a headache. Whether Heavenly Gate was the world's number one sect or not, he had a headache that this place had become Heavenly Gate's location. He felt very depressed and wanted to say: why did you Heavenly Gate choose this place? Couldn't you have chosen anywhere else.
According to Heavenly Gate's history, it seemed to have only about two thousand years of heritage. He didn't know if it was luck or intentional that they chose this location.
At the same time, Xiaoyao now understood something. During these days when he was breaking this mountain-protecting formation, he discovered that some traces didn't belong to three thousand years ago, and some formations were the same, they were built by Heavenly Gate itself.
From this point, one could see that Heavenly Gate had strong foundations, otherwise, how could they possibly establish such a mountain-protecting formation.
"I don't know. I got lost inside and wandered around everywhere, then arrived here!" Xiaoyao shook his head, as if he truly knew nothing.
Based on Xiaoyao's understanding of formations, he knew there was a very, very small probability that even someone who understood nothing could pass through, but this probability was so small as to be almost impossible. However, this probability did exist.
"..." Those people fell silent for a while, then discussed directly in front of Xiaoyao. Some said Xiaoyao was lying and was a spy, others said Xiaoyao might really be lost. The discussion continued for several minutes before everyone seemed to reach a decision.
"Take him to see the Mountain Guardian Elder and ask how the old man wants to handle this."
This was their final decision, because this matter could be big or small. They didn't want any trouble afterward, and besides, such matters were originally the Mountain Guardian Elder's responsibility.
Why see some Mountain Guardian Elder? Better not!
Xiaoyao had a headache. The current situation seemed to deviate more and more from his plans. Originally, he should have hidden early, and then nothing would have happened. Now he wouldn't have been discovered by the other party and wouldn't need to see the Mountain Guardian Elder.
Who knew how the Mountain Guardian Elder would deal with him?
However, perhaps this was also a good thing, because this way he might find an opportunity to stay here and investigate the situation.
Actually, Xiaoyao not hiding might also be because when he realized he had walked in here, he had already been discovered. If he tried to hide, it would only arouse others' suspicion. Better to stand here openly and pretend he had entered accidentally.
Along the way, Xiaoyao looked around everywhere, observing the surrounding environment. He wasn't worried about this behavior being discovered because those people should be chuckling, thinking Xiaoyao was a country bumpkin entering the city, finding everything novel.
Like this, Xiaoyao looked around unscrupulously and openly.
Through Xiaoyao's observation, Heavenly Gate seemed to be a small town, but there was no trading market here, it seemed to be a town with only residents.
These "residents'" food, clothing, housing, and transportation were all provided and distributed by the sect, but this didn't mean these "residents" didn't need to do anything. They had to do various things, but these results would all be collected by the sect.
Also, the sect seemed to pay wages, distributing different salaries according to different "resident" levels, with different benefits.
Among these "residents," not all were Heavenly Gate disciples. Some weren't even outer disciples - this portion was just "Heavenly Gate Town residents" serving Heavenly Gate.
(End of Chapter)