"These materials, including the Exploding Bear Claw and the damaged Blazing Flame Fox fur... come to two hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones in total!" In a small shop, a gaunt old man spoke slowly.
The old man had run his shop here for over fifty years. No one knew exactly when he had begun purchasing materials from demon beasts. Even Ye Kongming did not know when Ye Xiwen had asked him. By the time Ye Kongming had arrived at Yi Yuan Sect, the old man had already been there. No disciple dared cause trouble here, and his prices had always been fair—honest to old and young alike.
"Do you have any objections to this price?"
"No." Ye Xiwen shook his head. The price was fair enough; he might not have gotten such a high price elsewhere.
Of course, the real bulk of the value was not here, but in the Demon Cores. Demon Cores gathered the essence of a demon beast's entire body; all their true essence was concentrated within them. The Demon Cores Ye Xiwen had on hand could sell for at least eight hundred Spirit Stones. Added to the thousand Spirit Stones he already possessed, he had roughly two thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones in total.
"These are all parts from ferocious demon beasts. You should have quite a few Demon Cores as well, shouldn't you?" The gaunt old man glanced at Ye Xiwen. "If you do, you can sell them to me together. I won't let you suffer a loss on the price."
Ye Xiwen thought it over and felt that made sense. It would save him a great deal of trouble, so he took all the Demon Cores from his Spatial Ring and laid them on the table.
The gaunt old man looked at Ye Xiwen with some surprise. He had evidently not expected Ye Xiwen to produce so many Demon Cores. Even ordinary Core Disciples probably could not take out this many Demon Cores at once.
"I'll value these Demon Cores at eight hundred and fifty Low-Grade Spirit Stones. Is that acceptable?" the old man asked Ye Xiwen.
"Very good. Thank you." Ye Xiwen nodded. It was even a little more than he had expected.
After collecting the Spirit Stones, Ye Xiwen walked out of the somewhat remote little shop. Suddenly, bursts of argument drifted over from outside.
"Nonsense! I never even looked at your Heavenly Immortal Steps manual!" A slightly anxious voice rang out.
"Hmph, you didn't look at it? If you didn't look at it, how did you know this manual was called Heavenly Immortal Steps? If everyone were like you, reading it and then refusing to buy it, how could I keep doing business?" A rough voice came from the crowd. "In short, today you'll buy this Heavenly Immortal Steps whether you want to or not. You looked at it, so you have to pay. Five hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones!"
The crowd erupted in an uproar. Five hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones—many Inner Disciples might not earn that much in their entire lives.
Ye Xiwen pushed into the crowd and saw two young men arguing, one fat and one burly. The plump youth was none other than Ye Xiwen's friend, Wang Lie.
The other was a tall, sturdy young man, a broad-shouldered brute around twenty years old. He looked exceptionally coarse, and as he stared at Wang Lie, his face carried the smug delight of someone whose scheme had succeeded.
"It's actually Ma Yan. Tsk, tsk, this disciple is truly unlucky, to be swindled by Ma Yan. Who knows where Ma Yan found that movement technique manual? He even had an elder in the sect appraise it. They say it's a Xiantian-level movement technique. Though incomplete, he relies on this manual, pretending to sell it. Once someone becomes interested, he shamelessly accuses them of reading the manual without buying it. Quite a few people have been driven to ruin by him!"
"Exactly. He's utterly shameless, but what can anyone do? His brother, Ma Ying, is one of the favored candidates in this grand competition. They say he has a great chance of standing out in the later clan competition and becoming a Core Disciple, leaping through the dragon gate like a fish. Those disciples who suffered losses could only swallow them. What else could they do? Never mind Ma Yan's brother—Ma Yan himself is already a Houtian Fifth Stage Peak expert, ranked among the top twenty Inner Disciples. If you suffer a loss, you can only endure it!"
Listening to this, Ye Xiwen finally understood. Yi Yuan Sect did not prohibit the trade of cultivation techniques, but there was one condition: they could not be techniques obtained from Yi Yuan Sect itself. Those were sect techniques, forbidden from being passed outside the sect and forbidden from being bought or sold.
Of course, techniques obtained from outside could be contributed to the sect in exchange for considerable benefits. Aside from Spirit Stones, there were also reward points. The rewards differed according to the techniques contributed, and they were extremely generous.
However, if one sold a technique personally, it could be sold many times. The advantages and disadvantages were hard to distinguish, depending entirely on one's choice.
"The cover of your manual clearly says Heavenly Immortal Steps. I'm not blind, so of course I could see that. But I never read the contents!" Wang Lie said anxiously. Wang Lie came from a wealthy family at the foot of the mountain, and his family had placed many hopes on him. He had always been far better off than Ye Xiwen, which was why he had come to buy a movement technique after breaking through to Houtian Fourth Stage.
For a martial artist, the importance of a movement technique went without saying. But five hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones were an astronomical sum to him. Even if his whole family went bankrupt, they could not afford it. He had been about to leave when Ma Yan stopped him and falsely accused him of reading the manual.
"I said you read it, so you read it!" Ma Yan sneered. How could he not know? One look at Wang Lie told him that his family was well-off. He was exactly the kind of target worth extorting.
"Enough nonsense. Hand over the money, or I'll cripple your martial arts!" Ma Yan said coldly.
The people around them shuddered. There had indeed been disciples whose martial arts had been crippled by him before, and they had ultimately left Yi Yuan Sect in destitution.
This was a world where the weak were meat and the strong ate. Ma Yan's brother was a powerful Inner Disciple with connections among the upper ranks. That disciple had already had his martial arts crippled, his life forever without light, and in the end the upper ranks had done nothing to Ma Yan.
"I don't have any money!!" Wang Lie said.
"Still talking tough? Let's see whether your mouth is tougher or my fists are!" Ma Yan gave a vicious grin and threw a punch. The force of his fist twisted the air, making it crackle and pop. Though Ma Yan threw his weight around, the skill in his hands was not weak. His place among the top twenty Inner Disciples was no joke.
Wang Lie gritted his teeth, raised his power to its peak, and assumed a stance to fight back.
Whoosh!!!
Bang!!!
Suddenly, a shrill sound of something tearing through the air came from the crowd. A small stone flashed like lightning, slicing through the air in an instant and smashing viciously into Ma Yan's fist.
"Ah!" Ma Yan immediately let out a scream like a pig being slaughtered.
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