"Ah... I think I might have walked a bit off." Xiuying muttered.

"What do you mean?" Yingyi asked.

"There are actually some shops and stuff on one side of the tree, but we walked into the cultivation area," Xiuying explained.

Buildings built under a tree... that seemed pretty weird to her. Well, if many disciples visited, it made sense for people to set up shop and sell things here, Mei figured.

Looking closer, she realised there was a huge gash on the bark of the tree where they stood, huge amounts of Qi wafting out of it.

It was big enough that several people could crawl inside, but for a tree this big, it was probably just a scratch.

As Xiuying led the group around the massive trunk, Mei reached a hand out to touch the bark. It was very rough and unlike normal bark, it felt almost as if it were rock, not something that could just be peeled off. How strong was the weapon that made the cut?

She imagined the sect master standing before the tree with a stoic expression, a gigantic sword in his hands. After readying himself, he swung with all his might! An incredibly loud sound rang out, the air swirling as violent as a tornado, sending the plate sizes leaves flying everywhere and making the entire tree shake.

How awesome would that be? But how it happened was probably a lot less cool... Heck, maybe the cut was made by constant sawing for weeks... or even months...

After a short walk, they saw lights in the distance, fairly visible with the shade's contrast. When night came, it would probably be pitch black.

She could see a gigantic root digging into the ground. Beside it, there were 3 shops built.

"That's it? Only three?" Wang Wei asked. "I thought there would be a lot more!"

Xiuying laughed.

"There's more! You just need to get closer."

As they went around, Mei saw that there were actually two giant roots. In between, there was a small shopping district set up! There had to be at least 30 shops inside. The shops they saw earlier were just built on the outside of the area between the roots.

And with the roots curving towards each other, a gate was able to be built between them, essentially walling off the area. Still, cultivators could easily climb or fly over the roots.

While there probably weren't any practical reasons to build it here specifically, Mei thought it was rather cool. She could definitely understand why they decided to set up shop here.

Outside, there were dozens of carts, tents and more too.

"I heard the shops here are all set up by disciples! If you want to buy stuff cheap or sell something, this is a pretty good place."

Mei glanced over to Wang Wei and Yingyi. As they were studying to be alchemists, they'd probably start selling their own pills eventually.

"Seems like a really nice place!" said Liu Qiang.

At the gate, someone was sitting in a booth. There was a sign that read: "Entry cost: 1 Jade".

Mei immediately grimaced. She only had 6 Jade...

Noticing it, Xiuying quickly said something.

"Ah, I wasn't bringing you guys here to enter that area! Stuff inside is generally more expensive, so we probably should check out the shops outside. I actually bought you all here to see a specific shop."

"What shop?" Liu Qiang asked.

"It's some kind of... general shop? There's a senior brother there called Yang Ning who sells stuff really cheap. Mostly pills though."

They headed back to the area outside with only 3 shops. 

The shop in question was basically a 3-metre tall box made crudely out of wood. A board with the words "Yang Ning" was nailed onto the top of it. Inside, there many shelves stocked with random items, slips of paper stuck to the items for labelling.

A man who looked around 20 with a black blindfold sat inside. His disciple robes were dirty and worn and he looked rather bored. Despite signs that he had been wearing it for many days straight, it didn't stink.

She wondered if he was wearing the blindfold to train spirit sense or something.

Thin wisps of qi slowly being sucked into him. Mei almost didn't realise he was cultivating.

"Welcome," he said unenthusiastically. "I accept Jade and Qi Pills of any quality."

Xiuying waved, making him nod.

"Why are you wearing a blindfold?" Wang Wei asked, suddenly.

"Wang Wei! Don't be rude!" said Xiuying.

"Oh? You want to know?" a twisted grin came over Yang Ning's face.

"Uh..." went Wang Wei.

As the man took off the blindfold, Xiuying averted her eyes. Wang Wei and Liu Qiang let out gasps of horror.

Under damaged eyelids, there were no eyes. There were just two hollow eye sockets, the insides riddled with scars. 

The sight made Mei's stomach churn with disgust. She was suddenly reminded of her fathers warning.

Just as quickly, the man put the blindfold back on.

"What happened?" Wang Wei asked.

"Wang Wei..." Xiuying mumbled.

"Nothing special. One of my enemies dug them out years ago." the man said nonchalently.

"Yang Ning!" someone shouted.

From the side, a middle-aged man wearing a chef's hat poked his head out the store next door.

"You're scaring newcomers again!" he turned to Mei and her friends. "Ah, don't mind him. He just likes to scare people."

Yang Ning simply gave a cold snort. Xiuying laughed nervously.

"Well... uh..." she started.

There was a bit of awkward silence as she tried to figure out what to say.

"I'm sorry about that. Maybe there are pills that could heal them?"

"Hmph. I'm not interested in chit chat." Yang Ning said. "Buy something or leave."

"Right..."

Mei figured she probably touched on a sore spot.

As she looked at one of the shelves filled with jars of pills, she saw all kinds of interesting labels. Soup pills, mental focus pills, stomachache pills, headache pills, healing pills, meridian stimulating pills...

For some reason, most of them seemed to be rather mundane, making her a bit disappointed.