Elder Hong wasn't angry. Instead, he was delighted. He had already expected that, with Xu Yi's cunning, he would haggle over the terms. This reaction was perfectly normal; if Xu Yi had agreed at once, Elder Hong would have grown suspicious.
"I wonder how many Wind Spirit Stones and Origin Blast Beads Brother Xu wants. As for borrowing the Spirit Gathering Array, given our friendship, I'll let you use it for free."
Getting Xu Yi to agree to pledge the Soul-Summoning Banner had already been a tremendous boon for Elder Hong and the Blazing Fire Merchant Association. Offering up a few benefits was a small price to pay to save face. After all, if Xu Yi really did kill Old Demon Zhong, the Blazing Fire Merchant Association would likely have to treat him as a genuine honored guest.
Xu Yi said, "Ten Wind Spirit Stones and five Origin Blast Beads. That isn't too high a price, is it?"
A Wind Spirit Stone normally sold for two thousand spirit stones. Given its scarcity, a markup of twenty or thirty percent was common. Ten Wind Spirit Stones amounted to only a little over twenty thousand spirit stones.
An Origin Blast Bead was worth ten thousand spirit stones, so five came to fifty thousand. Altogether, that was only seventy thousand spirit stones.
Third-rank magical artifacts, especially soul artifacts, were hard to put a price on. That was particularly true of third-rank artifacts that could be used right away. They were worth at least a hundred thousand spirit stones.
Elder Hong said, "That price isn't too high. However, we already supplied Brother Xu with seven Wind Spirit Stones last time, and our association has none left in stock. We only have two Origin Blast Beads, either. Why not choose some other treasures? In any