Myriad Rivers to the Sea

Chapter 1075: The Onyx Market

The dirt road widened as the three travelers continued their journey further into the western territories and the landscape slowly transformed from open plains into a sprawling valley. Li Yu walked at a steady pace while looking at the towering black stone walls rising in the distance. The imposing structure belonged to a famous trade hub known far and wide as The Onyx Market. It was a city where spirit stones dictated the value of a person and the weak or poor were often devoured by the wealthy.The Onyx Market was established and ruled by two Sovereign level experts who built the city upon the foundation of commerce. Lord Vance controlled the merchant side of the operations while Commander Seryn led the strongest mercenary group in the region. Together they maintained an iron grip over the bustling territory. Their combined strength ensured that money spoke louder than any clan name or royal title.

Li Yu approached the towering front gates and noticed the heavy guard presence standing watch over the entrance. The guards wore dark armor and held sharp spears while scanning the crowds with vigilant eyes. The city was widely known as a haven for the lawless, with enough wealth that is, but it operated under a very strict set of internal laws enforced by Commander Seryn and her soldiers.

While a wealthy cultivator could buy almost anything or anyone in one form or another inside the walls, the streets themselves were heavily monitored to keep the peace. Those who lived and worked in the city as regular merchants, cooks, crafters and blacksmiths were kept safe from random violence. If the working class was not protected, no one would ever set up shop and the entire economy of the city would eventually collapse. The strict security allowed normal commerce to thrive right alongside the darker trades.

Li Yu paid a small entrance fee using spirit stones and the guards waved the trio through the gates. As they stepped onto the paved streets, a vibrant and chaotic energy washed over them. The air was filled with the scents of meats and rare spices drifting from the food stalls while the sounds of haggling merchants echoed from every corner.

However, the main commodity in The Onyx Market was not rare herbs or forged weapons. The primary trade flowing through the veins of the city was flesh. People traded their very beings for money in a variety of ways. Strong cultivators stood on platforms and offered their services as hired guards or mercenaries for expeditions. Others dressed in revealing silks and offered themselves as prostitutes to anyone willing to pay their expensive rates. All other manners involving flesh were readily available here.

The darkest aspect of the city was the sprawling slave trade that occupied the central plazas. Many of the people bound in Qi restricting chains or seals were forced into servitude because of insurmountable gambling debts, inherited family debts they could not pay off or some other form of debt. Others were prisoners of war taken from defeated families and ruined kingdoms across the realm.

Li Yu walked down a wide avenue and observed the stark contrast of life within the walls. He saw a wealthy young master from a prominent sect lounging in a luxurious palanquin carried by four muscular beast kin. The young master tossed handfuls of spirit stones to a group of beautiful women dancing in the street while laughing loudly. Just a few steps away, a desperate man with tears in his eyes was signing a blood contract to sell his own body into servitude just to pay off a debt he owed to a local gambling den.

It was a city of extreme highs and crushing lows where a person could live like a god if they had the wealth or suffer a terrible fate if they fell into poverty. It reminded him somewhat of Gilded Fate City back on the Omen Realm but taken to a much further extreme. Li Yu kept his expression calm and navigated the busy streets without drawing too much attention to his group.

As they approached a secure courtyard guarded by elite mercenaries, Li Yu spotted a group of familiar faces sitting inside a reinforced iron cage. He stopped walking and narrowed his eyes to inspect the prisoners. The group consisted of several young men and women wearing torn silks that still held the faint lingering traces of royal designs. They were the princes and princesses of the Solaris Empire.

Li Yu remembered seeing some of them charging out as Zhan Chen had attacked the gates and walls. Now they were covered in dirt and shivering in the corner of a cold iron cage. The Lunaris Empire had clearly decided against executing the royal children and chose to sell them into slavery so they could suffer a prolonged humiliation instead or perhaps to profit off of them.

Li Yu scanned the group but did not see the king of the Solaris Empire anywhere in the courtyard. He guessed that the Lunaris forces either killed the king outright or bound him via a soul seal to act as a personal slave for their own royal family. The king was a powerful cultivator after all and it would be a shame to waste such a strong fighter when a seal could ensure his obedience. Clearly his children were not deemed to be so.

The Solaris royals sitting in the cage did not recognize Li Yu as he stood near the edge of the crowd. They were too broken and exhausted to pay attention to the passing faces, trying to block it all out in fact. Furthermore, during the battle at the capital, Zhan Chen had commanded all the attention with his dramatic aura while Li Yu stayed relatively hidden near the ground at that time.

Li Yu looked at the shivering princes and princesses but he did not feel any pity for their current situation. He activated his karmic senses and looked at the karmic auras radiating from their bodies. The karma coming from them reeked of dark cruelty and needless suffering. They had spent their entire lives treating others like disposable trash and now they were experiencing the very same fate. Li Yu could only hope they suffered further for all the terrible acts they had committed while sitting on their comfortable thrones.

He listened to the murmurs of the surrounding crowd and learned that the Solaris royals were a highly anticipated item. Many powerful cultivators wanted to buy them either to exact revenge against the fallen empire or simply to own a piece of royalty for their own twisted pleasures. The only reason they had not been sold yet was because Lord Vance was hosting a grand auction for high quality goods in two days and they were being saved for that.

Li Yu turned away from the iron cage and decided to continue exploring the market districts. He had no interest in buying fallen royalty or getting involved in their miserable fate.

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They wandered through the sprawling slave markets where thousands of people were displayed. As they passed a row of sturdy elemental beings, Borum suddenly stopped walking and stared at a specific platform. Li Yu turned around and saw his silent companion looking at a rock elemental bound by heavy metal chains.

The enslaved elemental was much smaller than Borum and possessed a rough exterior made of dark gray stone. His cultivation base was only at the Soul Transformation level which made him significantly weaker than the towering Domain King golem. The slaver standing next to the platform held a glowing whip and occasionally struck the gray stones to show off the durability of the merchandise.

Borum watched the display for a few moments before turning his heavy gaze toward Li Yu.

"Li Yu," Borum said with his deep and rumbling voice. "May I use my own spirit stones to buy his freedom?"

Li Yu smiled and nodded his head without any hesitation. "Of course you can. The spirit stones you gathered from our travels belong to you and you can spend them however you see fit. Go ahead and handle the transaction if that’s what you want to do."

Borum bowed his head in gratitude and walked over to the wooden platform. The slaver saw the towering golem approach and quickly put his whip away while offering a greasy smile.

"Greetings respected senior," the slaver said while rubbing his hands together. "Are you looking to purchase a sturdy servant? This rock elemental is very durable and can carry heavy loads for weeks without needing rest."

"How much for him?" Borum asked simply while pointing a thick stone finger at the bound elemental.

"For you senior, I will give him up to you for a ten percent discount on the listed price here" the slaver offered while watching Borum with a smile.

Borum pulled out a leather pouch filled with glowing stones and tossed it onto the wooden table. The slaver eagerly opened the pouch and counted the currency before unlocking the heavy metal chains binding the gray elemental. The heavy chains fell to the ground with a loud clatter and the enslaved man rubbed his wrists while looking at Borum with narrowed eyes.

Borum did not say anything dramatic. He simply looked at the freed elemental and pointed down the street. "You are free now. Be on your way and try to stay out of trouble."

Borum turned around and began walking back toward Li Yu. He did not expect anything in return for his generous act, he simply saw a member of his own kind suffering and decided to use his wealth to alleviate that pain because the person did not cost much. As he was walking back, Borum realized that he had changed slightly since coming along with Li Yu. He was doing something he wouldn’t have done before. It was a mundane act, a simple one to him but it carried his new outlook on life.

However, the gray rock elemental did not run away toward the city gates. Instead, he hurried after Borum and stepped in front of the giant golem.

"Wait," the gray elemental said with a gravelly voice. "My name is Garren. Why did you buy me just to let me go?"

"Because you should not be kept in chains," Borum answered while looking down at the smaller elemental. "You have your freedom. You should leave this city before someone else tries to capture you or they try to capture you again."

"I have nowhere else to go," Garren admitted while lowering his head. "The world outside these walls is dangerous for a rogue elemental at my cultivation level. I will just be hunted down again or destroyed by wild beasts. Please let me follow you. I can carry your things and help set up your camps. I can do all tasks that need manual labor."

Borum looked at Garren and then turned to look at Li Yu for guidance. Li Yu walked over to the two elementals and studied Garren with a calm expression.

"I do not mind if you tag along with us," Li Yu told Garren while crossing his arms. "But Borum is my companion. If you travel with us you will see things and learn secrets about my cultivation that I cannot allow anyone to just know. If you want to follow Borum, you will have to look after him and pull your own weight. Furthermore, you will need to be bound via a soul seal to me so I can trust that my secrets remain safe."

Garren listened to the strict conditions and understood the gravity of the offer. Taking a soul seal meant reentering a life of servitude and placing his very life in the hands of a human cultivator. But he looked at Borum and saw how the giant golem was treated. Borum was allowed to walk freely, speak his mind and even use his own personal wealth to buy things.

Garren believed that if this human master gave his servants enough freedom and respect to buy their own kind out of slavery, serving him would not be a bad life at all. Being out there on his own in a cruel world was much worse than serving a reasonable master.

"I accept your terms," Garren said while bowing. "I will take the soul seal and I swear to keep your secrets safe. I only ask that I am allowed to serve alongside senior Borum."

Li Yu nodded his head and extended his hand toward the bowing elemental. He gathered a dense concentration of Qi and formed a complex glowing rune in the air. The soul seal drifted forward and sank into the forehead of Garren. The binding took effect immediately and Li Yu could feel a faint mental connection linking him to the new servant. He could end the life of the elemental with a single passing thought but he had no intention of doing so unless Garren somehow betrayed them.

"Welcome to the group, Garren," Li Yu said while lowering his hand. "Borum will explain our rules and how we operate. As long as you do your job and stay loyal, you will be treated fairly."

Garren stood up and bowed deeply to both Li Yu and Borum again. The giant golem patted the smaller elemental on the shoulder and led him toward Faen who was busy inspecting a nearby weapon stall.

With their new companion in tow, the group spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the vibrant and dangerous districts of The Onyx Market. They walked past the grand auction house being decorated for the upcoming event and luxurious restaurants where rich cultivators dined on exotic beast meat.

The city functioned like a well oiled machine built on a foundation of suffering and commerce. Li Yu saw young men and women willingly signing themselves over to mercenary companies just to ensure their families could eat for another year. He saw skilled artisans forging beautiful weapons in secure courtyards while debt collectors dragged screaming gamblers out of hidden alleyways right across the street.

The heavy guard patrols maintained a strict boundary between the legitimate businesses and the lawless trades. As long as the spirit stones kept flowing into the coffers of Lord Vance and Commander Seryn, the city would continue to thrive in its own twisted way.

As the sun began to set over the high black walls, Li Yu rented a spacious suite at a high tier inn located near the center of the merchant district. He paid for the rooms upfront and ordered a large feast for him and his companions to enjoy. They sat around a sturdy wooden table and ate the various dishes while Borum quietly explained their travel routines to Garren.

Li Yu looked out the window of his room and watched the glowing lanterns illuminate the busy streets below. The Onyx Market was a fascinating place filled with endless opportunities and hidden dangers. He intended to spend the next two days relaxing in the inn and observing the local culture before attending the grand auction himself. He did not plan on buying any slaves as his needs were met but he was curious to see what kind of rare treasures and exotic goods the two Sovereigns managed to gather for the event.