Shady Merchants, All of Them Shady Merchants

This time, Luo Chen did not go to the Rogue Cultivator Market for his purchases.

He had only made a major purchase yesterday. If he went again today, it would be far too suspicious.

Moreover, that place was crowded and full of loose tongues. Most of the people there came from the Outer City Area. Anyone with the slightest intention of investigating would discover Luo Chen's changes.

Thus, Luo Chen gritted his teeth and went to Hundred Herbs Hall to buy what he needed.

In the end, he spent ten more Spirit Stones than before just to gather all the raw materials needed for alchemy.

That left him with only twenty-nine Spirit Stones.

If he later bought various daily necessities and firewood, he would have to spend another four Spirit Stones.

Twenty-five Spirit Stones!

Just last night, he had possessed the enormous sum of nearly one hundred and fifty Spirit Stones.

"Spirit Stones really don't last when you spend them."

"This little money isn't enough to buy the Attraction Art."

Standing at the crossroads, Luo Chen looked at the antique and elegant Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion. Gritting his teeth, he walked inside.

As an enterprise of the Six Great Upper Sects, its reputation and strength were the greatest in Great River Market.

If he made purchases in a place like this, other rogue cultivators would find it difficult to pry into his affairs.

"Guest, are you looking to buy a Magic Tool?"

The moment he entered, a maid approached him.

It was Luo Chen's first time in such a high-end establishment, and he felt somewhat uneasy.

He said that he wanted to look around first, and the maid left.

There was no enthusiastic sales pitch.

That was because he was only at the Qi Refining Fourth Layer. His robe was half-new and half-worn, and slightly too small, stretched tightly over him.

At a glance, he looked like the sort of rogue cultivator with little purchasing power.

After wandering around the spacious first floor for quite a while, Luo Chen's uneasiness gradually settled.

Especially after he examined several shelves of High-Grade Magic Tools, he felt even more confident.

Calling the maid over, Luo Chen said directly, "I want to sell a Magic Tool. You buy those here, right?"

The maid nodded. "We do, but a master must first appraise it before we can offer a price. As for whether the price is suitable, the guest may decide then whether to sell."

"You don't charge an appraisal fee, do you?"

"Hehe, you must be joking, guest. You are the one selling to us, so naturally there is no appraisal fee."

Luo Chen had truly been frightened by Sun Shou's performance yesterday.

All sorts of fees had appeared one after another without end.

Sun Shou belonged to the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect, while Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion was an enterprise of Sky Sail City. Luo Chen feared that these wealthy yet heartless great sects were all birds of a feather.

On the second floor, an old man was drinking tea while rolling two red walnuts in his hand.

"Old Chu, this guest wishes to sell a Magic Tool."

"Mhm, you may go back down first!" Old Chu said. One hand played with the walnuts while the other stretched out. "Let me see the goods."

A short sword was placed in his hand, its hilt shaped like a swallow.

Old Chu nodded. "A standard-issue Flying Swallow Sword forged by our Sky Sail City. High grade."

After weighing it in his hand, he shook his head again. "It is short by one tael in weight, and the blade has suffered severe wear. It needs to be reforged."

Mana flowed into it and circulated through the sword. In the end, light shone from three places: the tip, the blade, and the hilt.

"The Sharp Metal Array is damaged."

"The Qi Dissipation Array retains eighty percent of its effectiveness."

"The Fortification Array is unstable and its formation patterns must be reconstructed."

"Oh, and the sword's owner was an idiot. He even carved words on it."

After saying that, Old Chu casually tossed the Flying Swallow Sword onto the table.

"One thousand. If you want to sell it, Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion will take it for one thousand Spirit Stones."

Hearing that enormous number, Luo Chen's eyes immediately widened!

Not because it was too high.

But because it was too low!

Everyone knew that Magic Tool prices followed the market, and cultivators were highly sensitive to them.

Low-Grade Magic Tools sold for between one hundred and five hundred Spirit Stones.

Mid-Grade Magic Tools sold for between five hundred and one thousand Spirit Stones.

High-Grade Magic Tools started at one thousand Spirit Stones.

Among them, offensive Magic Tools generally cost less, with the most common sabers and swords sitting at the bottom.

Defensive Magic Tools were the most expensive.

As for strange and unusual Magic Tools, cultivators judged them according to their effects, but their prices also remained lofty.

There was no saying in this world that the stranger the Magic Tool, the faster its owner died.

The stranger a Magic Tool was, the more often it possessed unexpected effects. In battle or while exploring secret realms, it might deliver a surprising victory at a critical moment.

Luo Chen had been mentally prepared for Flying Swords to be cheap.

But he could not accept them being this cheap.

"Your Flying Swallow Swords sell for two thousand five hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones in your store!"

Old Chu said indifferently, "Don't you know that Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion usually buys secondhand Magic Tools back at half price?"

"But this isn't even half price!" Luo Chen argued with conviction.

Those sect people might not care about an extra one or two hundred Spirit Stones, but to him, that was his entire fortune earned through years of struggle.

"Then do you know how much effort we must spend from buying back these Magic Tools to putting them back on the shelves?"

Counting on his fingers, Old Chu said, "First, we have to send them back to the sect. Transportation costs are an expense."

"Then we have to select suitable materials for repairs. Another expense."

"Hiring a Formation Master to restore the formations costs even more."

"Furthermore, to ensure our quality standards and prevent people from criticizing Sky Sail City for selling inferior goods, we must ask high-level cultivators to conduct careful inspections."

"Finally, we have to go to great lengths to transport them across thousands of miles to Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilions everywhere."

"As for all the other miscellaneous costs, I haven't even counted those for you."

Luo Chen's teeth ached.

This old man possessed none of a Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator's magnanimity. His penny-pinching rivaled Old Taoist Chen's.

"Now that we're on this subject, I have to say something about you young people."

Old Chu shook his head and said with the frustration of one who hated iron for not becoming steel, "All you know all day is fighting and killing. Are Magic Tools meant for showing off and fighting fiercely? They are weapons that protect your path. You must cherish them carefully."

"After battle, shouldn't you at least wash and wipe them down?"

"When you have nothing to do, shouldn't you nourish them with Mana?"

"Every secondhand Magic Tool sent to me has been ravaged beyond measure and left broken beyond repair."

"This old man's heart aches just looking at them!"

By the end, he had actually become emotional.

The way he looked at the Flying Swallow Sword was like seeing his beloved defiled, played to ruin, and sent back home.

Luo Chen could barely stand it.

But for cultivation resources, he still gritted his teeth and persisted. "Too low. This junior truly cannot accept that price. If I take it to the Rogue Cultivator Market, someone will definitely pay fifteen or sixteen hundred Spirit Stones."

After saying that, he picked up the sword and turned to leave.

"Hey, hey, young man, wait a moment."

Old Chu hurriedly called out, "One thousand one hundred. How about that? That is the highest price I can offer within my authority."

"Still too low."

"It's not little, truly not little. I've never offered that price even for Flying Swords in better condition than this one."

Old Chu said seriously, "And besides, for a Flying Sword with words carved into it like this, ordinary rogue cultivators wouldn't dare buy it, right?"

"One thousand one hundred, that's the price. If you sincerely wish to sell, Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion will take it. And we promise that we absolutely will not reveal any information about your sale of the Magic Tool!"

Luo Chen stood where he was, his expression shifting between light and shadow.

At last, he let out a long sigh.

"Fine. Deal."

A short while later, Luo Chen walked out of Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion.

Facing the dazzling sunlight, he crudely spat on the ground.

"Damn it, shady merchants!"

A female cultivator passing nearby shot him a disdainful glance.

What awful manners!

Inside Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion.

Old Chu smilingly handed the Flying Swallow Sword to a burly man with a bare upper body and knotted muscles.

"Melt away the words on it, add a little metal essence, then send it to the shelves on the first floor!"

The burly man accepted the Flying Sword and scratched his head.

"The condition is quite good. It hasn't really suffered much damage. Old Chu, how many Spirit Stones did you buy it for this time?"

"Not bad. One thousand one hundred. There's profit to be made."

Old Chu said with a smile, then paused and sighed.

"Young people these days really know how to manage their lives. They even haggle with this old man over one hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones. Being so stingy, how will they ever cultivate the Great Dao!"