Chapter 4823 — Regional Sales

After wandering the jianghu for so long, Wei Zhao had by now accumulated considerable experience. He made it a rule to ask three questions before doing anything; only after he had scouted out the proper channels and rules could he truly achieve twice the result with half the effort. Otherwise, given the temperament of these East Continent academies, charging in blindly would invite trouble at any moment—and if he happened to provoke some formidable figure, he might not even know how he had died.

Emerging from the inn, Wei Zhao cast a half-smiling glance at the Xishan great one, who was huddled in a distant street corner. A mighty evil cultivator of the late Xuan Sheng stage, reduced to something little better than a street beggar—some passersby had even tossed him alms. The mere thought of it was truly pitiful...

After making a few casual inquiries, Wei Zhao headed straight for the largest market district in Morning Star City. It was where the crowds gathered, and the best place to pick up all manner of news.

He strolled through the market with the flow of people. Judging by its scale, this market district was not much inferior to the one on North Island—but when one considered that this was merely a small city on the East Continent, while that market on North Island represented the very highest standard North Island had to offer, the gap between them spoke for itself.

A short while later, following the crowd, Wei Zhao arrived at a public notice board plastered with all the latest announcements. A large ring of people had crowded in to stand and stare, whispering and discussing among themselves.

Wei Zhao gave it a cursory scan. The board carried notices of every kind—wanted posters, new regulations for the main city, current affairs bulletins—a bewildering variety, each different from the last. Of them all, the notice attracting the most attention was an announcement about an auction.

"The Morning Star Grand Auction?" Wei Zhao read the notice while listening to the chatter around him, and found himself somewhat tempted. Since he happened to be here for it, he might as well go along and join the excitement.

By the look of it, this grand auction was the highest-caliber auction Morning Star City had to offer. In the two months since coming to the East Continent, he had never once seen an auction. No doubt there would be all sorts of rare treasures of the very highest grade—this was the East Continent, after all. Its standard could hardly be lower than the auctions on the other Cloud Tier Islands, surely.

Yet though the notion appealed to him, getting into this Morning Star Grand Auction was probably no simple matter. The notice gave the time and place, true enough, but beyond that there was no more specific information—nothing about what qualifications one needed to enter. Surely they could not let just anyone wander in.

It looked as though he would have to find someone to ask about the particulars. After a few more glances, Wei Zhao withdrew and went on wandering through the market district.

From what he knew, the market districts in many places were not solely devoted to the trading of goods. There were also local fixers who made a business of information; so long as one could meet their price, it was easy enough to learn all sorts of secret tidings from such people.

The trouble was that much of this fixers' trade was underground business that could not see the light of day. Without paying attention to certain special marks in the streets and alleys, one would find it very hard to locate them simply by strolling about. Fortunately, Wei Zhao was a man of wide experience; so long as he kept his eyes open, it should not be difficult.

After drifting along with the crowd for a while, Wei Zhao suddenly stopped in his tracks—not because he had spotted some secret street mark, but because the signboard of the trading company before him felt warmly familiar: the Hong Clan Trading Company of Morning Star City.

He had no intention of buying anything, and he knew no one in a place like this. He was merely an honorary vice-chairman, and the only people he knew within the Hong Clan Trading Company were Hong Zhong and Chai Laoshi. He had never even laid eyes on anyone else. Even so, Wei Zhao found himself walking in without thinking.

"What can I do for you, honored guest?" A shop assistant came up at once to greet him warmly, his manners and bearing impeccable—clearly well trained. In the matter of employee quality alone, this branch outdid the branches on the other Cloud Tier Islands.

"Oh, nothing much. Just looking around." Wei Zhao waved a hand. For the time being, he had no intention of revealing his identity.

His status as honorary vice-chairman might count for something lofty, but that did not mean just any branch would be willing to defer to him. If he rashly sought out the branch manager here to ask for information, it might well stir up complications instead—who knew whether this one might turn out to be another Wei Zhaotong?

"Very well, honored guest. Call on me whenever you need anything. Please, make yourself at home." The assistant smiled and tactfully withdrew.

Scanning the display racks row by row, Wei Zhao's eyes could not help lighting up. He had actually spotted pills of the sixth and even seventh grade here—and not a few of them!

This came as a great surprise to Wei Zhao. These were scarce goods rarely seen on the open market. True, he did not see such heaven-defying seventh-grade pills as the Thunder Mystic Pill or the Beauty Pill among them—by comparison, these were all common stock. But they were sixth- and seventh-grade pills all the same.

Wei Zhao had never once seen pills of such high grade at the North Island branch. Even if there had been any, they would never have been brazenly put out on display racks on the first floor, and there would never have been so many. If these pills were taken to the Central Island, North Island, or even the Far North Island for auction, they would fetch an astronomical sum beyond imagining!

The marked prices here were not low either, but they could not begin to compare with the auction prices on the other Cloud Tier Islands. Wei Zhao immediately spotted a gaping loophole: if someone were to buy up sixth- and seventh-grade pills here specifically, then carry them off to auction on the other Cloud Tier Islands, would that not be an effortless way to pocket a huge margin?!

But once he saw the line of text beneath the display cabinet, Wei Zhao understood at once. A loophole so obvious could not possibly exist, for it was written there plainly: The above pills are for sale within the Yellow Tier sea region of the East Continent only.

"These pills are sold by region?" Though he could work out the reasoning behind it, Wei Zhao still found it rather odd, for this tactic was identical to the practices of the secular world. After all, certain goods in the secular world were also sold by region, and goods could not be freely shuffled between markets. He had not expected the same rule to be laid down here. Truly, merchants the world over were shrewd folk.

The assistant from before had been keeping an eye on Wei Zhao all along. Seeing this, he promptly came over and explained warmly: "Heh heh, honored guest, perhaps you are unaware—the great majority of trading companies here on the East Continent work in partnership with the academy's pill refiners. So to preserve the East Continent's transcendent standing, these pills may circulate only within the East Continent and are not permitted to be taken elsewhere for sale."