The next day, Li Ling left his home and couldn't help but glance towards the Chen Couple's courtyard. It was still as sealed off as the day the couple were brutalized, and no sound had come out since, making those in Ivy Lane feel more and more ominous about the whole thing.
Li Ling took his focus away and began walking towards the hunting grounds of the marketplace.
Now, when establishing a marketplace for a sect, what kind of things would you look out for? Naturally, it was accessibility, defensibility, and profitability!
Accessibility so that it was easy for cultivators of any kind to reach the market (safely), defensibility so that in the case of beast tides or enemy sect raids, one could retain control over the area with the least cost and finally, profitability in the sense that the market should not only be self-sustaining, but also should be in possession of a system that allowed the creation of excess which would feed upwards to the main sect.
To that end, the market was set here, which was not only easy to reach - even for 15-year-old Li Ling back then - but defensible enough that there hadn't been a single external attack in the almost 6 years he had been here.
Most importantly, it had its own ecosystem, nurtured initially by the sect and now expanded to cover the entire needs of the market and more. One of the facets of this ecosystem was the hunting grounds, a place where demon beasts in various levels of Qi Refinement were bred and raised through the free-range natural method, then harvested by cultivators and sold to the market or within the market.
The economics behind it were entrenched in the market's entire operation model, but it actually did not matter much to Li Ling. What mattered was that any cultivator of any age or level could pay a fee to hunt within the designated area, and their spoils belonged to them… as long as they did not try to take it out of the market, of course.
For Li Ling, this was even better since trying to find demon beasts out in the wild was quite difficult and time-consuming. They each had their lairs and territories spread out over the entire region, and where a Qi Refinement demon beast might stay might be within the range of a Core Formation demon beast as well.
It was only in a place like this market where one could find a place with controlled cultivation and segregated territories for demon beasts by tier of their cultivation, with a small margin of error.
As Li Ling arrived, he saw that there was a pavilion near the entrance of a forested meadowland where cultivators of various levels, ranging from modest to the highest, were either registering or gathered in groups, seeking out new team members.
When he appeared, many eyes and senses scanned him, noting his age and his low cultivation, then losing interest. Here, they either recruited because they wanted a competent team member or they wanted cannon fodder, and Li Ling couldn't be both.
He was still young enough to develop further, so he was not desperate enough to join a team that would abuse him, and he was not nearly strong enough to join a team and be seen as a useful member. As for leading people inside to kill them and steal their belongings, if you could think about it, couldn't the Market Guards?
The Hunting Ground was one of the market's biggest money makers, especially through the entrance fee, so if people lost confidence in it, who would dare come to hunt? As such, teams were registered before entering and would be questioned upon return if any teammate died.
If you could prove they were killed by demon beasts, then good for you, but the absence of any evidence was taken as culpability, with the entire team being severely punished.
Li Ling noted the dismissal and was fine with it, as it would be problematic to have teammates at this stage when he was still weak and starting out. He approached the open-air pavilion and came up to the desk where registration occurred.
There was a young man with Qi Refinement level 6 cultivation who was boredly recording details. When he looked up to see Li Ling, his eyes showed barely concealed disdain as he went through the motions.
"Name?"
"Li Ling."
"Cultivation?"
"Second-level Qi Refinement."
"Are you a market resident or guest?"
"Market resident."
This made the fellow pause a little, and he nodded. "As a resident, you are entitled to a 10% discount when entering the hunting ground and can take any hunted beasts out of the hunting ground. Show me your Residential Token."
Li Ling silently handed over a token shaped like a coin made of jade, which had his details imprinted into it with spiritual qi. It was precisely because of this that he did not dare to give a false name, despite what he was about to do not being illegal at all.
The registrar saw this and paused again, smirking with amusement. "Over half a decade, huh? You're practically a member of the Qing Shan sect at this point."
Li Ling laughed lightly at the joke but did not expand on it or even show excitement. This kind of joke was fine for the other party to make, but not for him to indulge.
The registrar seemed even more bored by Li Ling's tact and finished up the registration by throwing his token back at him.
"You've been registered and only need to pay the fee to enter from now on."
Li Ling moved on cue with the cold dismissal, paying for a 'session' in the hunting ground, which cost two spirit stones. This price could be either cheap or expensive, depending on how great your harvest was versus your cultivation level.
Cultivation level decided the entry fee, harvest decided the income, and your profit or loss lay in the difference.
For Li Ling though, 2 spirit stones to gain any amount of Slaughter Points was simply a jackpot!