Not too long later, Sun Qiang returned with an attendant. As soon as he caught sight of the young master, he couldn’t help but freeze in shock.
At this moment, the young master was wearing an extravagant robe that screamed exorbitance. In his hand was a foldable fan, which he was using to fan himself leisurely. An arrogant smirk sat on his lips. From afar, it looked as if he was a profligate scion.
‘What is the young master up to?’ Sun Qiang thought in bewilderment.
However, not wanting to foil the young master’s ploy, he suppressed his astonishment and walked up to the latter, clasped his fist, and greeted obediently, “Young master!”
Back in Tianxuan Kingdom, the old master had also brought him to Tianyu Trading Firm once and behaved bizarrely. In the end, Ling Tianyu made a personal visit to their residence and even willingly gave up large sums of money to them. Could it be that the young master was trying the same tactic as well?
“Un.” Zhang Xuan nodded before shooting a sideward glance at the attendant behind Sun Qiang. “You are the manager here?”
The attendant smiled.
“I am not a manager, but I should be able to answer most of your queries…”
The attendant was a young man who seemed to be in his early thirties, possessing the cultivation of Transcendent Mortal 5-dan. As an attendant here, he was in charge of introducing and selling the products on display, so he did possess some authority here.
“That’s good. I wish to buy a few items, recommend me some of the more expensive artifacts here!” Zhang Xuan said proudly as he waved his fan leisurely.
‘Expensive artifacts?’ Sun Qiang’s eyelids twitched.
He had conducted business at one point in his life, so he understood the various conventions in the market. For fear of being taken advantage of, most buyers would choose to maintain a low profile, feigning a lack of money just to push down the prices. Yet, the young master had actually asked for the attendant to recommend the expensive artifacts… Wasn’t this practically screaming ‘I have too much money on hand, please take advantage of me!’?
Such a customer was a dream come true for any store attendant; they would be mistreating themselves if they didn’t attempt to make a killing out of him!
Wasn’t the young master here to exact vengeance?
Why did it seem as if he was trying to give money to the Spirit Emporium instead?
As expected, upon hearing Zhang Xuan’s words, the eyes of the attendant immediately lit up. He immediately walked up to a nearby shelf and gestured toward an item. “Young Master, this Bronze Gong is an excellent artifact smithed by a 6-star blacksmith. It has reached Spirit intermediate-tier…”
On the shelf was a bronze gong with several inscriptions on it. A cold gleam reflected off its surface.
“Let me take a look!” Zhang Xuan gestured for the attendant to bring the Bronze Gong to him.
“Sure!” A gleam flickered across the attendant’s eyes as he hurriedly took down the gong and passed it over respectfully with both hands.
Zhang Xuan casually took it and slapped it lightly with his palm.
Weng!
A resounding metallic call echoed from the gong, and a powerful gale swept into the surroundings, creating an immense pressure on the crowd in the area.
“This is good stuff…” Nodding in satisfaction, Zhang Xuan casually tossed the gong to Sun Qiang before glancing leisurely at the attendant. “How much does it cost?”
After a moment of hesitation, the attendant said, “Young Master, this Bronze Gong was smithed personally by 6-star Blacksmith Zhu Quan more than a hundred years ago. Not only is it a powerful weapon, it can also be considered as a valuable antique with significant history behind it. To be honest, it’s one of the top treasures of our Spirit Emporium, so the price… might be a little steep!”
“Here it comes…” Sun Qiang shook his head as he heard the words and the tone of the attendant.
This fellow was indeed scheming. Seeing that the young master was a ‘public gold mine’, he intentionally phrased his words in a provocative manner, suggesting that the Bronze Gong was beyond the financial ability of the young master.
It was a cliché trick, but somehow, it was peculiarly effective on those prideful profligate scions…
Just as Sun Qiang was thinking that the attendant would be sorely disappointed, the calm young master of his suddenly harrumphed coldly. “A little steep? Are you trying to say that I won’t be able to afford it?”
Sun Qiang clutched his forehead and nearly burst into tears.
‘Young Master… Are you sure that you are here for vengeance?
‘Why does it seem like you are a new rich scion in town asking for others to scam you of your wealth?’
“Of course not, there is no doubt that a man as noble as you will be able to afford it…”
As if embarrassed by his previous doubts, the attendant smiled awkwardly. After which, he gritted his teeth in hesitation, as if he was going to make a huge loss from this deal, before mustering up his determination and said, “This Bronze Gong is worth five thousand middle-tier spirit stones, but your straightforward and candid personality has won my respect. Thus, if you really wish to buy it, I will negotiate with my manager to sell it to you at three thousand spirit stones!”
‘Three thousand?’ Sun Qiang spewed a mouthful of blood.
What else could this be if not daylight robbery?!
An attendant was marketing this Bronze Gong to another customer when he came yesterday, and the offered price was only one thousand middle-tier spirit stone. But in the end, the customer turned down the deal. Yet, this attendant actually dared to say that it was worth five thousand, and even acted as if he was making a huge loss by selling it at three thousand…
Did he take them to be fools?
Just as Sun Qiang was about to offer a word of advice to the young master, the latter nodded in satisfaction and said, “The work of a 6-star blacksmith is indeed worth such a price. Sun Qiang, wrap it up. I will be taking it!”
“You will be taking it?” Unable to believe his ears, Sun Qiang’s body swayed weakly.
Did the young master eat something wrong this morning?
Putting aside the fact that they didn’t even have three thousand middle-tier spirit stones with them at the moment, even if they did, they shouldn’t waste it on something as useless as this!
What 6-star blacksmith or Zhu Quan whatsoever, it was clear that was all bullshit!
With that much money, one could easily afford a Spirit high-tier weapon! Why would one spend it on this?
But since the young master had said that he would be taking him, it would be inappropriate for him, as a servant, to refute his decision. Thus, he could only go along with it.
The attendant also widened his eyes in surprise at the sight. He hadn’t thought that Zhang Xuan would take the gong so swiftly.
That useless object had already been sitting on their shelves for several months, and despite their best efforts, they hadn’t been able to sell it out. Yet, the other party actually bought it without hesitation. It seemed like he had really happened upon an easy gold mine this time around!
With a hand behind his back and the other fanning him leisurely, Zhang Xuan said impatiently, “Is there anything more expensive and better in the store? Don’t tell me that the best product your Spirit Emporium has is only this Spirit intermediate-tier Bronze Gong?”
It was as if the item he had bought was too cheap, unworthy of someone of his standing.
“We do! Of course, we have far better products than the Bronze Gong!” The attendant’s eyes lit up. Just as he was about to lead the way to the other shelves, he suddenly paused for an instant before asking, “Young master, regarding the money for the Bronze Gong…”
It wasn’t that he didn’t trust the young man before him, but it was difficult to tell what could happen in the next moment. To be safe, it would be better for him to collect the money first.
“Are you suggesting that I’ll renege on my payment? How dare you!”
As if his dignity had been sullied, Zhang Xuan harrumphed coldly. Just as he was about to fly to a temper, he suddenly fell into a momentary contemplation before saying, “Fine, take this. With this, you should work harder on finding items for me!”
With those words, he flicked his wrist and threw a spirit stone over casually.
The attendant caught it and subconsciously glanced at the item in his hand. The next moment, he froze. “High-tier spirit stone…”
The item that the other party had thrown over casually contained spiritual energy so pure that he could feel a tingling sensation in his skin.
It was actually a high-tier spirit stone!
High-tier spirit stones were only useful to Chrysalis realm experts and above. However, due to its rarity, often, only Saint realm experts would have it in their possession. Yet, the other party threw it to him so easily just to purchase the Bronze Gong…
He couldn’t help but feel his throat run dry.
“That’s right. A high-tier spirit stone is worth ten thousand middle-tier spirit stone, so that should be enough to cover the Bronze Gong, right?” Zhang Xuan sneered coldly.
“Enough, it’s more than enough…” The attendant hurriedly nodded.
All the doubts he harbored regarding the customer before him vanished in an instant.
How could a person who would fork out a high-tier spirit stone easily possibly renege on his payment? Most likely, the other party was a young master from some wealthy clan, and having lived in luxury from young, he was accustomed to spending such large sums of money.
“What are you waiting for? Hurry up and lead the way!” Zhang Xuan snapped.
“Yes!” After seeing the high-tier spirit stone, the attitude of the attendant became even more respectful than before.
He hurriedly led them through the crowd, and soon, they arrived in the depths of the Spirit Emporium.
There were significantly fewer people here, but those who were present here were notable personages in the capital. The items that were placed on the shelves in the room were also clearly much more valuable than those in the main hall.
Zhang Xuan swiftly scanned through the items.
“Spirit high-tier weapon, rare ores, a spirit fruit which can extend one’s longevity…”
Under the discerning gaze of his Eye of Insight, he swiftly identified the various items in the room.
As expected of the Spirit Emporium! Even to someone as picky as Zhang Xuan, he couldn’t help but feel a little moved by some of the items in the room.
Suddenly, his gaze stopped on a certain artifact, and the edges of his lips crept up. Following which, he began walking toward a jade box on the shelf.
Gesturing to the jade box, Zhang Xuan asked, “What is this?”
“This is a grade-6 Bottleneck Surmounting Pill! A Transcendent Mortal 9-dan expert can advance one’s cultivation stage by consuming it, and there are no prerequisites to it. On top of that, it was forged by Vice School Head Luo of the Apothecary School personally, making it extremely valuable!” the attendant said.
“Grade-6 Bottleneck Surmounting Pill?”
The higher one’s cultivation, the more difficult it would be to advance it. It was truly incredible for a pill to be able to raise a Chrysalis realm expert’s cultivation by a single stage without any prerequisites to it. It was difficult to imagine the value of the pill.
“Let me take a look,” Zhang Xuan said.
“Ordinarily, we wouldn’t allow anyone to touch it, but since you are the one who wishes to look at it, I’ll bring it to you…” Knowing that the man standing before him was a big fish, the attendant agreed with a smile.
“Un.” Zhang Xuan nodded.
The attendant stepped forward, opened the protective casing, took the jade box from the shelves, and opened it gently.
Hong long!
A surge of pure spiritual energy gushed from the box, leaving one feeling refreshed throughout. It felt like, if one consumed the pill, one would surely make immense progress in one’s cultivation.
Green mist drifted above the pill, and it felt as if it would morph into a dragon at any moment and escape.
Despite only being Formation-grade, perhaps due to the valuable medicinal herbs involved in the forging process, it was still pulsating with energy. Most likely, its price would be exorbitant as well.
“It’s a good pill…”
“A grade-6 pill! Even if I wanted to buy it, I couldn’t afford it at all!”
“Indeed, it’s too expensive…”
The surge of spiritual energy from the opening of the jade box had caught the eyes of many in the area.
The guests who were browsing through the other artifacts shifted their attention to the source.
Seeing that the pill was catching many gazes, Zhang Xuan waved his hands and said, “Close the lid. This pill is not bad. How much does it cost? I’ll take it!”
Hearing that the other party would take it, the attendant closed the lid swiftly and replied excitedly, “As this is a grade-6 pill forged by the vice head of the Apothecary School, using 81 different valuable herbs, it’s inevitable that its price is higher than other pills. If you want it, you can have it at a discounted price of two high-tier spirit stone!”
“Two high-tier spirit stone?”
“What kind of lousy price is that?”
“Wasn’t it five thousand middle-tier spirit stones just a few days ago? When did the price inflate to two high-tier spirit stones?”
…
A huge commotion broke out in the area.
Most of those gathered were frequent guests of the Spirit Emporium, so they had a rough gauge of the prices of the items displayed here.
Even though the Bottleneck Surmounting Pill had reached grade-6, it was only at a low-tier. On top of that, the pill had barely achieved Formation. As such, it was only worth five thousand middle-tier spirit stones at most. To actually attempt to sell it for two high-tier spirit stones… That attendant must be out of his mind!
Just as everyone thought that Zhang Xuan would turn it down due to its exorbitant price, the other party glanced at the pill and said, “A grade-6 pill for two high-tier spirit stones, that isn’t too expensive. I’ll take it!”
“He’s going buy it?”
Everyone was stunned. They had seen plenty of foolish men in their time, but never had they seen such a dimwit before!
Did price not matter to him when it came to buying items?
“That’s great. I’ll have it wrapped up for you right now…” Upon hearing that Zhang Xuan would buy it, the attendant leaped in joy. He hurriedly passed the jade box into Sun Qiang’s hands.
However, at that moment, Zhang Xuan abruptly frowned in worry and asked, “Could the items you sell possibly be fakes?”
“Fakes? You sure are good at jesting!” the attendant swiftly replied.
“The items sold in our Spirit Emporium have undergone the appraisal of master appraisers, so it’s impossible for there to be any fakes in here. If you were to find any fakes amidst our goods, our Spirit Emporium will refund you tenfold of the selling price!”
Just for reference in case some people find it weird, the age stated is not exactly reflective of the person’s true age, just their physical appearance in reference to the normal aging process. For example, a Transcendent Mortal will age slower than a Fighter due to their longer lifespan, so they may appear younger than their true age. Thus, a twenty-year-old guy might just be a thirty-year-old cultivator.
