Chapter 272: Chapter 230: Eye-opening ’Convenient Spiritual Artifacts

The bustling street teemed with people coming and going.

On the seemingly endless, bluestone-paved street, large, horse-drawn carriages laden with goods would occasionally speed past Lin Li.

Both sides of the street were lined with many quaint, four- to five-story shops.

Although he didn’t enter the shops, a glance inside as he passed their entrances revealed that they were filled with a dazzling array of goods.

Even though it was early in the morning, a fair number of customers were already out shopping in these stores.

Unlike the other commercial streets Lin Li had seen, this one had no small vendors with roadside stalls.

’That makes sense. All the shops along this street are very upscale, and judging by their attire, the customers who can afford to shop here must have pretty decent incomes.’

’If both sides of the street were filled with haphazardly placed stalls from small vendors, the street’s overall business environment would surely suffer.’

’Then, some of the more affluent, high-status customers would stop coming here to shop.’

So Lin Li surmised that this street, free of small vendors, was likely managed by personnel from a relevant department.

’Or, even if there’s no official department managing it, the shopkeepers on this street have likely organized on their own to manage it and preserve the current commercial atmosphere.’

As Lin Li walked down the street, he occasionally sized up the rather high-end shops on either side, his mind involuntarily wandering to trivial matters.

...

Following the address he had gotten from his chat with the young carriage driver, Lin Li walked for about fifteen minutes and arrived at the chain store he was looking for—one that specialized in selling Spiritual Artifacts usable by ordinary people.

"Convenient Spiritual Artifact"

As Lin Li looked at the three-story, 350-square-meter shop before him, his gaze was immediately drawn to its sign.

The driver who had given him the store’s address had mentioned that after dusk, the sign would light up with a faint golden glow. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

And as a Cultivator standing before the shop, Lin Li’s Perception picked up on the faint Spiritual Energy Wave emanating from the sign.

The shop’s sign was, without a doubt, a Spiritual Artifact.

’Convenient Spiritual Artifact... That’s a pretty down-to-earth name! It’s simple and clear, instantly telling anyone who sees the sign what kind of products the store sells.’

Lin Li muttered to himself after staring at the sign for a few moments, then walked into the shop that specialized in selling Spiritual Artifacts even ordinary people could use.

...

The interior of the shop, named ’Convenient Spiritual Artifact,’ was decorated very simply.

The shop was lined with solid wood shelves, on which various kinds of Spiritual Artifacts were displayed.

The store’s layout was reminiscent of an appliance supermarket on Blue Star.

Compared to the other high-end shops on the street, the store named "Convenient Spiritual Artifact" had fewer customers inside.

Of course, that was only a slight difference. A closer look revealed that although there were fewer customers, they were buying quite a lot.

When Lin Li walked into the shop, quite a few customers were already in line at the checkout counter, holding piles of selected Convenient Spiritual Artifacts and waiting to pay.

"Welcome, sir. Is there anything you need?"

A sharply dressed clerk was restocking a shelf. Noticing someone standing beside him, he turned his head, glanced over, and offered a smiling greeting.

"I haven’t decided what I want to buy yet, so I’ll just look around for now..." Lin Li told the clerk, his gaze then falling on the product description card posted on the shelf.

Hearing this, the clerk said nothing more and returned to his work, continuing to restock the shelf.

The items on the shelf in front of Lin Li were small, finger-length metal rods.

One end of these small metal rods was red, making up about one-fifth of their length. The rest was silvery-white.

From the description on the product information card, Lin Li figured out the purpose of the small metal rod before him.

This small metal rod was called an "Ignition Stick." As the name implied, it functioned like a match.

’No, more like a lighter.’

Once activated, a flame would ignite from the red end of the small metal rod.

The nearby clerk finished restocking and walked away.

Just then, Lin Li took an "Ignition Stick" from the shelf. He wanted to test this Convenient Spiritual Artifact, which even ordinary people could use, to see if it worked as the product description claimed.

According to the product description, the user didn’t need to use Spiritual Energy to activate this Spiritual Artifact. All one had to do was press a small, protruding button on its surface.

CLICK.

After pressing the button to activate the Spiritual Artifact, Lin Li’s Perception immediately registered a faint, almost imperceptible Spiritual Energy Wave from the seemingly ordinary metal rod.

POOF.

After about three seconds, a small flame, the size of a fingernail, suddenly ignited on the rod’s red end.