Selling Pearls

Wang Chen had no desire to join the recruitment drives of the Outer Sect's three halls.

But he still had to make a trip to the Main Hall.

He first took his Identity Token to the Merit Affairs Hall and collected the battle merit reward that belonged to him.

Five hundred Merit Points.

Then he headed to the Hall of Inherited Teachings.

There were quite a lot of people at the Library Pavilion today to exchange for cultivation techniques. Wang Chen had to stand in a long queue before his turn finally came.

"Senior."

He respectfully handed his token to the Elder of Inherited Teachings. "I'd like to exchange for an evasion technique that suits me."

The Elder of Inherited Teachings accepted the token, a glint flashing through his eyes.

"Fourth layer of Qi Condensation, five hundred Merit Points."

The Elder of Inherited Teachings nodded. "Last time, you exchanged for the subsequent technique of the Five Elements Technique. The most suitable choice would naturally be the Five Elements Evasion Technique, but your cultivation is currently too low to practice it."

Whether Inner Sect Disciples or Outer Sect Disciples, all were issued an Identity Token representing their status.

This token was exceptionally important. It contained the sealed aura of its owner's Divine Soul, making forgery or impersonation impossible.

Its function was much like the electronic cards Wang Chen had often used in his Previous Life. It could store and pay Merit Points, and it could record personal information as well. It was truly one of the Cultivation World's great inventions.

Thus, so long as the Elder of Inherited Teachings held the token, he could understand Wang Chen's basic circumstances.

Wang Chen bowed again. "Please enlighten me, Senior."

The Elder of Inherited Teachings considered for a moment. "If what you need is an escape technique, then I recommend Shadowless Divine Movement. It costs three hundred and fifty Merit Points, and you can cultivate it all the way to the great perfection of Qi Condensation without issue."

"Thank you for your guidance, Senior!"

Wang Chen did not hesitate. "This disciple would also like to exchange for the Breath Concealment Technique."

As its name implied, the Breath Concealment Technique was a spell for drawing in and concealing one's aura. It was mainly used when one needed to sneak about unseen and hide oneself.

Furthermore, once Empowered with the Breath Concealment Technique, it became difficult for others to see through one's true cultivation.

It happened to counter the Spirit Eye Technique.

Of course, counters went both ways. The effectiveness of a spell often depended on the practitioner's strength, as well as the skill's level!

As a minor cultivator at the fourth layer of Qi Condensation, Wang Chen had no immediate need to conceal his cultivation.

But Shadowless Divine Movement combined with the Breath Concealment Technique was undoubtedly an excellent combo for escaping with one's life!

Exchange for it, exchange for it!

The Breath Concealment Technique cost only thirty Merit Points. After spending three hundred and eighty Merit Points, Wang Chen gained two more Law Seeds bearing sealing incantations in his Sea of Consciousness.

Naturally, he saved the remaining one hundred and twenty Merit Points for emergencies!

After leaving the Outer Sect Main Hall, Wang Chen headed to the Four Seas Chamber of Commerce.

This time, he sought out Manager Jin, with whom he had dealt before.

"Greetings, Fellow Daoist."

Manager Jin clearly had an excellent memory. The moment he saw Wang Chen, he smilingly asked, "How goes your cultivation of the Heavenly Dragon Vajra Righteous Dharma?"

"Not bad."

Wang Chen did not waste words with him and directly took out the Yin Qi Bead. "Please appraise it."

"Oh?"

Manager Jin was surprised. "This Yin Qi Bead is quite good."

He accepted the Crystal Bead and carefully inspected it. After pondering for a moment, he said, "How about four hundred Lower Spirit Stones?"

"Forget it."

Wang Chen frowned, displeasure showing on his face. "I'll go ask at the Myriad Treasures Pavilion."

In truth, Wang Chen had no idea how many Spirit Stones this Yin Qi Bead was worth. The records concerning Yin Qi Beads in On Malevolent Spirits could hardly have listed a specific price.

But he understood the saying that no merchant was without guile all too well.

The Four Seas Chamber of Commerce certainly had a fine reputation, but if one thought that meant every price they gave was fair and honest, that would be far too naive!

"Wait!"

Manager Jin clearly did not want to miss this deal. "Then name your price."

Wang Chen said, "Eight hundred."

Manager Jin immediately returned the Yin Qi Bead to him. "You'd better ask at the Myriad Treasures Pavilion first!"

"Fine."

Wang Chen put the Crystal Bead back into his Storage Bag, patted his backside, and prepared to leave.

A deal worth more than four hundred Lower Spirit Stones was already enough to cross the threshold of the Myriad Treasures Pavilion.

Even if their offer was lower, it did not matter. Wang Chen could always come back and continue haggling.

As for whether doing this would cost him face...

How many Spirit Stones was face worth, anyway?!

"Five hundred!"

Seeing that Wang Chen was really about to leave, Manager Jin stamped his foot and voluntarily raised the price.

He feared that Wang Chen, young and hot-blooded, would care too much about his pride and would rather sell at a low price to the Myriad Treasures Pavilion than turn back.

Then the opportunity would truly be lost.

Yet Wang Chen walked even faster!

In the end, however, Wang Chen still failed to walk out of the Four Seas Chamber of Commerce.

Manager Jin offered a price of six hundred and eighty Lower Spirit, successfully halting his steps.

Wang Chen felt that this had already reached the other party's limit.

After the transaction was completed, Manager Jin said with a wry smile, "Fellow Daoist, I can guarantee that you absolutely won't get this price if you go to the Myriad Treasures Pavilion."

The reason for the premium was that the chamber's upper management had recently ordered its branches to purchase large quantities of all kinds of precious spirit materials.

Yin Qi Beads were among them.

As a manager, he had KPI performance evaluations too!

It was simply not something he could reveal to outsiders.

Wang Chen did not take all the Spirit Stones away either. He bought thirty bottles of Vajra Butter from Manager Jin.

Three hundred Lower Spirit vanished in one go.

Vajra Butter truly was good stuff; it had exceptionally fine effects in assisting body-tempering cultivation methods.

Since Wang Chen began cultivating the Heavenly Dragon Vajra Righteous Dharma, he had yet to break through the first level of the Copper Skin realm, yet his physique had already gained 2 points.

It currently stood at 6 points.

Both his frame and constitution far surpassed what they had been when he had first transmigrated!

The main issue was that this stuff was a consumable, and the more one used it, the more addictive it became.

So while he was still relatively flush with funds, he bought a few more bottles, lest he run out and suffer through the withdrawal.

"It's still this price for now," Manager Jin told Wang Chen. "But if you come again next time, it'll probably go up."

Wang Chen's heart stirred, but he did not mention buying more. After exchanging a few polite words, he took his leave.

He made a round through Yunyang City, only to discover that the price of White Corn had actually risen to eight Shattered Spirit per jin.

It had doubled compared to before!

The new rice was about to be harvested. Normally, the price of old rice should have dipped slightly at this time; there was no reason for it to soar instead.

And although rice prices had risen so much, people still streamed endlessly into the Immortal Grain Shop to buy Spirit Rice.

Some cultivators cursed and grumbled, and the atmosphere was rather tense.

After giving it some thought, Wang Chen did not join the ranks of those buying grain.

Last time, he had already purchased a thousand jin of Spirit Rice, and there had been no problems with the harvest from his own ten mu of Spirit Fields.

So although he knew the price of rice might rise further still, Wang Chen had no intention of hoarding goods to profiteer.

Compared to Spirit Rice, he needed Demonic Beast Meat more to meet his body-tempering needs.

In the end, Wang Chen bought five hundred jin of Demonic Beast Meat from a butcher's shop, then picked up some commonly used Talismans to replenish his arsenal.

Demonic Beast Meat had gone up in price as well.

But the increase was nowhere near as large as that of Spirit Rice.

It instead seemed like quite a bargain.

The Talismans he added were mainly Exorcism Talismans, Rebirth Talismans, Dust Smoke Talismans, and so on.

They were all ones that had proven quite effective in actual combat.

And this extra expense further strengthened Wang Chen's determination to master the art of talisman-making.

Whether he could earn Spirit Stones was not important; what mattered was that making Talismans himself could save Spirit Stones!

He also bought two packets of Cloud Mist Spirit Tea.

Wang Chen planned to visit the Village Chief again to gather some information—Old Master Sun greatly enjoyed tea.

On his way back, Wang Chen heard mournful, miserable crying drifting from several households by the roadside.

White funeral banners hung beneath the eaves of some farmers' homes as well.

Faced with such a scene, one could not help but feel weighed down at heart.

The second update is here.