It took Suzy a mere 0.1 seconds to come to terms with this reality.
Her capacity for acceptance had always been remarkably high—she had embraced the existence of her magical space without missing a beat, so something like this barely rattled her. As long as her space functioned normally, nothing else mattered.
Without dwelling on it any further, Suzy quickened her pace. While the town had looked rather small from the outside, the interior proved to be a world of its own, and she was eager to explore every inch of it.
As she walked down the main thoroughfare, her eyes swept across the roadside stalls one by one: vendors hawking talisman papers, spiritual elixirs, magical artifacts, and exotic beasts. Every single table was laden with items that filled her with boundless wonder. She felt like a wide-eyed country bumpkin visiting the big city for the first time—everything felt fresh, and everything made her want to linger just a moment longer.
Before long, she came to a halt in front of a modest stall nestled between two ancient locust trees. It had no signboard or banner, just a dark gray cloth spread out on the ground with a handful of items scattered across it.
The most eye-catching object was a piece of black jade about the size of a thumb. Pitch-black with no intricate carvings, it absorbed the sunlight, giving off a deep, heavy luster.
Next to the jade sat a palm-sized wooden box made of dark red sandalwood, its surface carved with fine, intricate patterns that were hard to decipher. Alongside those lay a short section of withered wood—it looked as if it had been chopped from an unknown tree, its clean cross-section releasing a faint, medicinal fragrance.
The vendor was a lean, middle-aged man dressed in a faded gray robe, sitting cross-legged behind his wares. He held a coarse ceramic bowl filled with steeping, unnamed leaves, warm steam curling gently upward from the surface.
When he noticed Suzy stopping by, he glanced up at her, his gaze lingering on her for a split second before drifting away. He didn’t greet her, nor did he shoo her away; his expression suggested this was a completely ordinary sight.
Suzy suddenly recalled what the old vendor who gave her the fire date had said: An outsider!
A subtle theory began to form in her mind. Aside from herself, there were clearly other people capable of entering this small town. Furthermore, they were likely travelers from entirely different realms or dimensions.
I wonder if I’ll ever run into one of them, she pondered silently.
Pulling her thoughts back to the present, Suzy crouched down, her eyes fixing on the black jade pendant. She couldn’t quite explain why, but she felt a faint, magnetic pull coming from it. As her senses brushed against its surface, it felt as though she were gently repelled by an invisible barrier—not sharp or painful, but carrying a heavy, grounding weight.
"What is this?" Suzy asked, pointing at the pendant.
The middle-aged man set his bowl down, glanced at the jade, and then looked back up at her. "A protective jade pendant. It can ward off three fatal attacks."
Suzy’s pupils contracted slightly. Three fatal attacks. She couldn’t help but wonder if it would work in her own world, or if it could stop something like a bullet.
As if reading her mind, the vendor added casually, "It works."
"How much is it?" Suzy asked hastily.
The middle-aged man sized her up once more, his eyes shifting from her pajamas to Kitty in her arms, and then from Kitty to Dummy coiled around her wrist. "Do you have spirit stones?"
Suzy shook her head.
"Then do you have spiritual herbs? Elixirs? Spiritual beasts or materials?"
Suzy shook her head again.
The man let out a small sigh, seemingly losing all hope for a deal. "Then we’ve got a problem. We only accept spirit stones or cultivation-related items here. As for the things from your world..." He paused, his eyes flicking down to her cotton slippers. "...they’re of no use to us."
Suzy’s heart sank slightly.
She really didn’t possess anything useful in a cultivation setting... Was a trade truly impossible? Maybe there were items from the modern world that could still serve a purpose here?
Suzy racked her brain, but nothing came to mind. Smartphones? Laptops? Drones? None of those would be of any use in a world of immortals. Besides, without a cellular network or internet, phones and computers were practically useless bricks anyway.
As Suzy remained lost in thought, a young man dressed in an azure robe strode over. He had a tall, slender build, a jade token hanging at his waist, and his dark hair was neatly secured with a simple wooden hairpin. He looked to be in his early twenties, with delicate, refined features.
His eyes swept across the stall before settling on the very object Suzy had been eyeing.
Crouching down, the azured-robed man picked up the protective jade pendant, turning it over in his hands. His brow twitched slightly before he turned to the vendor. "How much for this?"
The vendor offered a lazy reply. "Fifty low-grade spirit stones."
"Thirty."
"Fifty."
"Forty-five."
"Fifty. Final price, no bargaining."
"...Fine!"
Grititng his teeth, the young man pulled a pouch from his sleeve, weighed it in his palm, and was just about to count out the spirit stones.
"Wait a second!" Suzy blurted out.
The man in azure turned to glance at her. His gaze was perfectly calm, devoid of any annoyance at being interrupted; in fact, he looked rather curious as he sized her up from head to toe. He had clearly never seen anyone dressed quite like her.
Suzy felt a bit self-conscious under his gaze, but having already spoken, she had to press on. "Could... could you let me have that?"
The young man looked at her. "How many spirit stones are you offering?"
Suzy offered an awkward smile. "I... don’t have any spirit stones."
"Then what are you offering to trade? Spiritual herbs? Spiritual fruits? Elixirs work too."
"I... don’t have those either."
Without another word, the man turned back around and resumed counting his spirit stones, clearly deciding she was no longer worth his time.