Almost every cultivator was here at this point and time. Even hunters and merchants had finished their trade and it was time to buy something genuine.
The strong medicinal scent took over the majority of all scents. Almost every stall was selling pills. Some had weapons and others had herbs and some sorts of fruits.
There were technique manuals and some students stood in a specific shade to give cultivation advice.
Lyren and Claire walked through the crowd evading them and stopping at a stall here and there. The students did not advertise their product loudly like other merchants.
Instead, they were calm as they waited for customers to come on their own. After all, it was empty vessels making the loudest noise.
Lyren did not find the specific type of pill he wanted and he could not help but feel frustrated.
"Where do I get the pills like the one you gave me?" He could not keep it in anymore and he realized that Claire had been waiting for him to ask.
"You can't find it here. The academy is not stupid enough to sell such high-level pills here. The pills you see here have less than 20% purity.
"The one I gave you is the peak of alchemy and it has a 50% purity. You can understand why you can't find them now right?" Claire asked and Lyren felt like he had been cheated by her again. Why had she not told him earlier?
"So, anything interesting here I can buy from your view?" Lyren asked feeling like giving up.
"I don't think anything is of enough value for you to buy. Those fruits you see are actually useless after you pass the fifth stage. In short, what the academy is doing is exchanging some of its trash for money.
"Many cultivators end up buying them and these merchants will be selling them at exorbitant prices. We can just look around maybe we will find something interesting," Claire said and Lyren pulled a long face when he heard her reply.
Of course, it was true and it was confirmed instantly when a guy from a stall jumped over his stall and stood before them, baring his fangs.
"Who do you think you are to try to brand our academy resources as trash? Are you looking down on our academy?"
He was in the eighth stage and he made sure that his voice was loud enough to draw attention from the crowd and also fellow students.
When they heard that someone had called their resources trash. Glares flew to the two and Claire bit her lower lip as her loud mouth had definitely caught the attention of the owners.
"How are you going to compensate us for that slander. I hope that you are prepared to face the consequences of your actions. What are you willing to give as compensation?" The guy asked and Claire looked at Lyren with a sorry smile.
Maybe she should have lowered her voice. She now had brought him trouble.
"Sorry Young Master," Claire said and bowed. Lyren felt like chewing her alive as he gritted his teeth. She was not willing to take responsibility for her actions.
"Wow! What a wonder! Even non-cultivators nowadays have been able to get some status as long as they have money. So, Mr. Young Master, how are you going to compensate us for slandering our academy resources?"
The guy asked and instantly those close realized that Lyren had no cultivation. What was he doing this deep into enemy territory?
Lyren did not seem to get used to everyone calling him a useless young master. Now he was in the hands of the academy and the culprit behind it all had shifted all blame on him.
She did not meet his eyes and this made him chuckle and he yawned loudly.
"Now I understand what you were trying to tell me. I was just not in my right senses but now I have connected what you were saying and you were right about the academy.
"They are just pieces of trash trying to sell pieces of trash. Pretty boring." Lyren's yawn was exaggerated with his palm covering his mouth, his face looking up and Claire could not help but chuckle.
She had wanted to see how Lyren was going to deal with the academy students but his reaction was far off from her expectation.
She had expected that he would give a gold piece but who could have told her that Lyren was the kind to add insult to the injury.
He had gone from insulting just one student to insulting all the students who were selling goods.
His words stung and Claire knew exactly why. They were already past twenty and the academy was about to give up on them.
They were scraping for the remaining missions in order to have a chance of advancing to the second realm.
If they reached thirty without advancing, it was going to be their end of academy life and in some sense, they were the pieces of trash of the academy.
But calling them pieces of trash made everyone stare daggers at Lyren. Adding that they were selling pieces of trash was adding salt to the injury.
The guy had an ugly look and he wanted to draw his sword and slash off the kid's neck instantly.
There several people who understood the dynamics of the academy including the hunters and when they heard Lyren's comment, they realized that it was true and they had not seen it long ago.
"Let's go, there is nothing for us to buy here," Lyren realized he had touched upon a taboo and it was in his best interest that he left but was it that easy?
Every student had marked him as an enemy and they could even chew him alive.
Lyren turned back and he was surprised when he found out that the path of retreat had been blocked.
'Shit!' he cursed as he smiled self-deprecatingly.
This was supposed to be a normal excursion but he had ended up making an enemy out of the bigshots. Now he was surrounded by a group of angry cultivators.
How was he going to survive this?
***
"Lady Sera please. We have not begged you before but we are begging of you to leave the academy just for today. The market is usually a fun place and you get to gain experience," a sweet voice spoke and another chimed in.
"Pleease…"
"We've been begging you the whole day, Lady Sera please hear us," Julia finally spoke and Sera finally opened her eyes.
It was true that they had been begging her since morning and the sun was already setting.
She sighed and she finally gave in. They had gone ahead and brought Julia and she had a bond with her.
Julia was still in the process of healing and to see her begging, she finally could not reject them. Of the group, only Julia was in the sixth stage and the other two were in the eighth stage.
"Okay, let's go."
"Yay…" The three other girls cheered as they led the way.
Sera was still as beautiful as one could remember and it seemed their bond with Julia was now deeper. She followed them outside leaving their weapons.
They were surprised by how much crowd had turned up. The gate was crowded with people peeping from the outside and when they saw her, word easily spread that she was leaving the academy.
This was actually a reason she did not like leaving. She wore a veil but everyone knew that it was her.
They made way for her and she decided to head towards the stalls and see how every one was fairing. This was an important event for their academy and no mistakes were allowed.
Everyone greeted her but she could not help but note that the influx of people kept increasing and there was malice in the air.
Could it be that someone was trying to foil their academy's name. It was one of the reasons the students could get together this way.
She made her way towards that direction and when people saw her, they paved way and the deeper she moved, the more concentrated the crowd became such that it was difficult for her to get through.
What was happening?