After pouring herself a blood tea, Mei Lin took a sip and stored the tea table back into her storage ring. Ensuring that everything was ready, Mei Lin switched the flood flowers pot, added a little more blood to her, and entered the cultivation state. Mei Lin entered into her cultivation state and in the blink of an eye, she opened her eyes, concluding the cultivation session.
For the people outside, it was quite a long time, but for Mei Lin, the sense of time-shifted as she immersed herself in cultivation. Only thanks to this phenomenon were cultivators able to cultivate for years long without a problem. Only those with an unyielding spirit and an unbroken will could hope to ascend to the heavens. For those who faltered, the dream of reaching the pinnacle would forever remain out of reach, as distant as the stars themselves.
When Mei Lin glanced out of the window, the outside world had already been shrouded in darkness and lanterns all across the city replaced the light of the day. Except for that, the city was still bustling with life as ever. Mei Lin was instantly overwhelmed by the view. Mei Lin wanted to stay next to the window for the whole night, but exhaustion and the lack of energy made Mei Lin change her mind, and hunger filled her body.
Mei Lin descended the stairs to find the tea house once again empty. All meals had been consumed, leaving only one on the kitchen table and chopped spirit fruits. Mei Lin began eating the fruits, surveying the surroundings to see what the others had been up to.
Everything appeared mostly unchanged, except for the absence of the vine jars and a reduction in the rubbish from the room where Mei Lin had been cultivating. Seeing the improvements, she felt a sense of satisfaction. After sipping the remaining drops of the vine in her cup, she returned to the second floor and entered her room. Xia was already asleep, so Mei Lin, being careful not to disturb her, settled in for the night.
*****
One month later. In the early morning. Tea-house, East Part of the Yellow zone.
Mei Lin left their room and headed to the market to purchase food. In just one month, the tea house had undergone renovations, attracting a few customers who stopped by, and from a nearly ruined building emerged a beautiful two-story tall tea house.
On the other hand, Mei Lin used all her blood, which she got from the bandits, and with that, her cultivation progress was much slower, as she was not able to absorb the needed natural energy from around her and spirit herbs from the tea she drank. Except for the regular visits to the market to buy spirit herbs, Mei Lin overheard shopkeepers discussing an upcoming auction in the green zone.
"I heard that too. The Caravan leader repaired the caravan, and before they left, they would sell most of the important goods."
"I heard that they bought here some rare treasure, and because of that, they were the target of the bandits the month before."
"We will need to prepare to go there…"
Mei Lin was surprised by the news, as she frequently visited the market once a day before starting her cultivation routine to collect information and to relax the mind before immersing herself in cultivating.
Mei Lin quickly returned to the tea-house and began preparing breakfast. Xia arrived not long after and joined in to help. Once everyone was present, Mei Lin started asking about the auction. Having dedicated most of her time to cultivation, she hadn't engaged in much else, except for meals with Xia and the others.
"I heard in the market that the Green Zone will hold an auction before the Merchant caravan departs. Is that true?" Mei Lin inquired, eager to learn more. The others shared everything they knew.
"Four days from now, a City representative will host an auction in the auction house in the green district. It will be a huge auction, and you can buy there everything you want. There will be auctioned houses, cultivation pills, cultivation techniques, weapons, and other resources."
"From what I heard, you will need to have some kind of invitation," said Xin Ming, and as he was about to take a piece of the pork from the plate on the table, Mei Lin perked up, nearly turning the table over and went to the doors. All three of them were looking at her and didn't know what happened.
Immediately after, Mei Lin returned to the market to inquire about how to secure an invitation to the auction. Despite questioning everyone present, no one seemed to have the information she wanted. Summoning a lot of courage, Mei Lin proceeded to the main hall in the yellow zone. Though it was her first visit, she found it to be strikingly similar to the one in the green zone.
An enormous luxurious building many floors tall was standing tall inside the Yellow Zone, and a large number of people were going in and out. Everyone was talking and it looked like chaos right in front of her eyes.
Mei Lin entered the house and began eavesdropping on conversations, hoping to catch information about the auction. After listening for a while, she overheard a discussion mentioning that to attend, one needed to pay a fee to get inside and participate in the auction.
Just as Mei Lin absorbed this information, two guards approached her with already surging natural energy, ready to fight without the slightest problem. Both of them emanated their fourth stage of BT energy, which was imposing and making everyone around feel a cold, domineering aura press on them.
"Are you looking for something?" Asked Mei Lin. Frustration surged within Mei Lin, tempted to retaliate, but she suspected this exclusion was linked to her conflict with Shi Ming Lia and Feng Shen. Given the influence of the two figures, it was likely that many individuals, including guards, in the market worked for them.
"We have many questions for you to ask. Why don't you go with us for a moment?" Said one of the guards and was immediately ready to fight with Mei Lin. Mei Lin, on the other hand, didn't want to have anything with the guards and was forced to get away. As she turned around Mei Lin went out of the main hall.