"I need to buy some cheap traveling cloaks, maybe some extra salt and snacks, and then I need to get out of this city before someone recognizes me."
The Eastern Market of the Azure Capital was a chaotic overload of monumental proportions.
It was the primary staging ground for merchant caravans, rogue cultivators, and mercenary guilds heading out toward the territories of the border towns.
The air was thick with the smell of roasting meats on open spits, the pungent aroma of low-grade alchemy pills, and the sharp tang of freshly forged steel.
Hundreds of stalls lined the narrow, winding avenues, packed shoulder-to-shoulder with screaming vendors, haggling merchants, and heavily armed warriors seeking lucrative escort contracts.
Ji'an pulled the hood of her decoy traveling cloak over her head, desperately trying to blend in.
She hunched her shoulders, adopting the shuffling, unassuming gait of a low-level scholar.
She was doing exceptionally well.
