The Immortal's Trap

Poverty! Poverty is so unbearable!

It turns out that people really shouldn't be poor. When you're poor, you not only lack confidence when you speak, but you're also more likely to be taken advantage of when you're down.

Ma Feifei stared coldly at Yun Qingyang, a string of curses swirling in his mind, but he didn't know whether he should say it or not.

This female tyrannosaurus, ever since she came to the Mysterious Bookstore, has secretly accumulated at least eight million, if not ten million, of Spirit Crystal. Now she actually has the nerve to ask me for ten thousand Spirit Crystal as a control fee? Female tyrannosaurus, are you sure your conscience doesn't hurt?

Thinking of this, Ma Feifei subconsciously glanced at the spatial ring on Yun Qingyang's hand.

"Grab it! Grab it and you'll instantly become rich and reach the pinnacle of life!"

"Go ahead and rob it. Don't worry about not seeing the sun rise tomorrow, just rob it boldly."

'What are you afraid of? You're in the Bookstore; if she dares to resist, just suppress her!'

'...'

In Ma Feifei's mind, two little figures were frantically tormenting his nerves, one on the left and one on the right.

Finally, Ma Feifei couldn't hold back any longer!

'Smack!'

"Here you go, ten thousand Spirit Crystal, keep the change."

"..."

In the afternoon, Ma Feifei moved her small stool and, unusually, sat in front of the door in place of Yun Qingyang. She leaned against the eaves, watching the crowd coming and going across the street, lost in thought.

Currently, one-third of the Main Quest given by the system have been completed, with only the 'Kingdom Thief' and 'Tomb Raider' remaining; however, there is still no clue, the whereabouts of Crown Prince Yan are unknown, and Lin Wuchi and Li Beiguo are even more insignificant figures, given their personalities, whether they are alive or not is questionable.

Ever since Zhang Yunji finished reading the Legend of the Condor Heroes, he's been living at the Gongsun Manor's residence, becoming Gongsun Qiong's part-time bodyguard. Seeing such low loyalty from his future second-in-command at Bookstore, Ma Feifei is also quite desperate; who knows when this Side Quest will be completed?

The last Side Quest was the most awkward. The Pokémon drawing could have been finished in the last couple of days and then displayed for cultivators to study. However, due to the Thousand Gold Formulas incident, Ma Feifei only had 120,000 Spirit Crystal left in his spatial bag. Adding the 10,000 he paid to Yun Qingyang, Ma Feifei only had 110,000 Spirit Crystal left in his spatial bag.

Based on the number of Spirit Crystal Ma Feifei has spent drawing Pokémon during this period, the final finishing touches will require at least 200,000 Spirit Crystal.

So, with no money in his pocket, Ma Feifei could only stare helplessly at the nearly completed Pokémon, leaning against the door and beginning to question his life.

"Money! Money! Where am I going to get money?!" Ma Feifei sighed to the heavens.

"Hey bro, wanna 'call'?" Suddenly, a conversation reached Ma Feifei's ears.

Ma Feifei looked in the direction the sound came from and saw a man in a golden robe stopping a passing cultivator in a corner not far away, taking out a unique number issued by the Wantong Trading Market from his pocket.

"What era is this from?" The passing cultivator was clearly interested, stopped in his tracks, and reached out to take the unique number.

The man in the golden robe twitched his hand, dodging the cultivator's outstretched hand. He chuckled and said, "You can't touch it. You cultivators are all-powerful; who knows where this account will go after you touch it? You can only look, you can only look."

"Oh? You're not a cultivator?" The cultivator who had been stopped asked meaningfully. He hadn't been able to discern the golden-robed man's cultivation level earlier, assuming that the man's cultivation was far superior to his own. Now he realized that the man was just an ordinary person!

The man in the golden robe seemed completely unconcerned about being an ordinary person, nodding and saying, "Of course, I have extremely poor talent, and my family is poor, so naturally I have no way to cultivate. I can only go into business and serve you cultivators."

At this point, the man in the golden robe took out the exclusive number in his hand again, facing it towards the cultivator, pointing to the date on it with his index finger, and said, "Brother, look, I snagged this ticket on the first day it went on sale at the Wantong Trading Market. Look at the date, valid until: March 2nd, 351st year of the Great Chu Dynasty. As long as you buy this ticket, you can enter the Mysterious Bookstore to read books next spring."

The cultivator was somewhat tempted and nodded. These days, with the Mysterious Bookstore's popularity soaring, the exclusive phone numbers are selling out ridiculously fast, reportedly even extending to thirty years into the future. Currently, to quickly enter Bookstore, one either needs to draw a special number or purchase one of these front-row exclusive numbers from some merchants.

Seeing that the cultivator was tempted, the man in the golden robe continued to Captivate him, "Brother, this is the last exclusive number I have recently acquired. If you don't seize this opportunity, it might be bought by someone else soon. You know, exclusive numbers are selling very well on the market right now. Especially the Diamond Sutra that just came out of the Bookstore recently, you know? It's incredibly popular. It's said that those big shots who read the Diamond Sutra all gained some enlightenment and went home to cultivate in seclusion. Who knows how much their cultivation will have increased after they come out of seclusion?"

"Isn't it said that one needs to delve into the Diamond Sutra to understand it?" the practitioner asked, puzzled.

"Eh~" the man in the golden robe said with an air of "you don't understand," "The Diamond Sutra contains so much profound wisdom. Brother, you don't know, do you? Right now, everyone divides the understanding of the Diamond Sutra into two states: one is entering the world within the Diamond Sutra; the other is called 'minor enlightenment'! This means not being able to enter the world within the book. Although minor enlightenment is inferior to great enlightenment, the Diamond Sutra is one of only two Yellow Quality books Diamond Sutra the Mysterious Bookstore. Even minor enlightenment is incomparable to Blue Quality books like the Legend of the Condor Heroes."

"That makes sense!" The practitioner nodded in agreement.

The man in the golden robe chuckled and said, "Makes sense, doesn't it? How about I buy one, brother?"

"How many Spirit Crystal?" the cultivator asked.

"Not expensive, not expensive at all, two hundred thousand."

"Two hundred thousand?" The cultivator was taken aback.

The man in the golden robe nodded calmly and said, "Of course, brother, don't think I'm lying to you. You can go to the trading market and ask around. There are stalls there selling exclusive phone numbers, and their prices are no lower than mine. To be honest, if I didn't want to pay that stall fee, I would have set up a stall in the market myself. Selling exclusive phone numbers there, the price would be even higher."

The man in the golden robe was clearly lying. While exclusive phone numbers that hadn't been used for long were indeed being speculated on very highly in the market, the highest price was only 100,000 Spirit Crystal, and that was for a number valid only for that day. Exclusive numbers older than a month would drop in price significantly, and as for those that were six months old, they would only fetch a maximum of 1,000 Spirit Crystal in the market.

After all, while the Mysterious Bookstore Bookstore indeed magical, it has very few books with magical effects. Most of them are useless white books, and there are only a handful of Blue Quality books, the most famous of which is only "The Legend of the Condor Heroes. "The Yellow Quality book, "Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold Formulas," is for treating illnesses. Only the newly published Diamond Sutra is popular.

However, there were only two or three truly popular books. A dozen or so cultivators would enter the Bookstore each day, but only a handful would actually get their hands on those two books. Most cultivators obediently queued up and spent ten Spirit Crystal to buy a unique number. Those who got a number near the front sold it to get more Spirit Crystal, would pay a high price to buy shorter-term unique numbers from the market.

But these exclusive phone numbers for next March are asking for 200,000 each? That's just a pipe dream.

The cultivator took out ten Spirit Crystal from his spatial bag, handed them to the golden-robed man, and said, "I won't let you lose money. Consider these ten Spirit Crystal as payment for the purchase. Take them."

The man in the golden robe smiled awkwardly when he saw the ten Spirit Crystal the cultivator offered, and said, "Brother, are you joking with me?"

"Give me the number," the cultivator said calmly.

"Brother, even if a deal falls through, we can still be friends. You're trying to rob me outright!" The man in the golden robe said, his face darkening as he took a step back.

"So what?" the cultivator laughed.

He didn't really care about an ordinary person.

"What if I don't sell?" the man in the golden robe asked.

"Then he must die." His words suggested he didn't value a life at all.

"You dare to lay a hand on me in the city? Aren't you afraid of the authorities?" The man in the golden robe glanced around and asked.

No matter where you are, killing is prohibited within the jurisdiction of a state-run town or city. Violators will be punished by the state, and even cultivators are no exception.

Although many cultivators didn't take it seriously, they were still somewhat wary, since the five nations were all very powerful, and no one would want to provoke such a powerful organization as a nation.

"Just killing an ordinary person." The cultivator shrugged, tossed ten Spirit Crystal on the ground, and said, "Take them or die."

The man in the golden robe suddenly smiled, his face grim. He looked at the cultivator and said, "Gentlemen, did you hear that? He wants to kill me."

The cultivator was stunned. Before he could react, some passersby who had been walking around him suddenly walked towards the corner and surrounded him. The leader was a short man with a stern and imposing face. Although he was dressed plainly, the cultivator clearly recognized him and exclaimed in shock, "General Zhang Wu!"

Zhang Wu, one of the generals of the Great Chu, was granted the Earl and also served as the deputy mayor of Dubian Town. His cultivation level peak Spirit King ninth stage!

Zhang Wu looked at the cultivator and said, "Either leave behind 200,000 Spirit Crystal, or come with me."

Finally, the cultivator handed over 200,000 Spirit Crystal and left in a dejected manner, without mentioning the matter of the exclusive number at all.

"It's a honey trap!" Ma Feifei couldn't help but exclaim as he watched the man in the golden robe and Zhang Wu leave together.

From beginning to end, the man in the golden robe had no intention of selling the exclusive number to the cultivator. Not only that, the man in the golden robe also set a trap for the cultivator with his words, deliberately saying that he was an ordinary person, leading the other party to have the idea of forcing a sale, and then having Zhang Wu, the deputy mayor of Dubian Town, wait for an opportunity to make his move, and finally using his strength and authority to force the other party to comply.

"Tsk tsk, this Zhang Wu doesn't seem to be a good person either." Ma Feifei shook his head.

In his memory, Ma Feifei had heard some rumors about Zhang Wu; when the Chu Kingdom and Qin State were at war, Zhang Wu was the first commander, but later the Great Chu sent General Baili to take over command, and Zhang Wu relinquished his military power and became a deputy. The main reason Zhang Wu was replaced was because he lacked ability and was narrow-minded, making him unsuitable to serve as the supreme commander of that great battle.

Ma Feifei wasn't entirely sure why the man lacked ability or was narrow-minded, but after witnessing this scene, Ma Feifei genuinely felt that King Chu Heng had the ability to judge character. If such a person were to lead troops into battle, he would likely hasten the demise of the nation.

His greedy nature and dark psychology alone are enough to prove everything.

"Hmm, I think I've got a good idea." Suddenly, an idea popped into Ma Feifei's head.

"Since the market price for exclusive phone numbers is so high right now, could I try to make some extra cash by doing some tinkering around with these numbers?" Ma Feifei wondered.

Due to the system's strict rules, the price for reading is one Spirit Crystal per hour, and this cannot be changed no matter how high the price is speculated on outside.

"We can't raise the price of reading books, but we can sell tickets!"

"For example, tinkering with two special numbers and then selling them on the market?"

"Wow! I'm so smart!"

Ma Feifei clapped her hands and jumped up excitedly.

He finally found the loophole in the system! A path to wealth was appearing before Ma Feifei's eyes.

Thinking of this, Ma Feifei abandoned his small stool and rushed to the Wantong Trading Market across the street, where he found Gongsun Qiong.

After several days of recuperation, Gongsun Qiong's injuries had healed. She was currently dealing with the backlog of business from the market when Ma Feifei came to ask for a special number. Gongsun Qiong couldn't help but ask in confusion, "Why does the owner need this special number for their own Bookstore?"

The Bookstore is owned by Ma Feifei. Letting anyone in is just a matter of a word from him, right? Can this special number be as effective as Ma Feifei's word? Obviously not.

Ma Feifei rubbed his hands together, chuckled, and said, "I can't explain the reasons, just give me a few special numbers, that's enough, eight hundred or so will do."

Wow~ Ma Feifei is really asking for an exorbitant amount. Gongsun Qiong's eyelids twitched in shock, and she said, "I only had twenty of these special number copies printed, and ten have already been given away through a lottery these past few days. Only ten are left."

As special numbers, it's absolutely impossible to produce too many of them. If too many special numbers were to flood the market, it would affect the sales of regular exclusive numbers and negatively impact the stability of number sales.

Moreover, the rarer something is, the more prestigious it appears, and the more likely it is to give people a sense of accomplishment.

In this respect, Gongsun Qiong, as the president of the No. 1 Chamber of Commerce in the Great Chu, was a master of the craft.

"Then give me all ten." Ma Feifei said, waving his hand.

Gongsun Qiong shook his head, stretched out one hand with his five fingers pointing upwards, and said, "Five at most."

"Deal!" Ma Feifei reached out and slapped the card.

"You~~" Gongsun Qiong stared blankly at Ma Feifei, then realized what was happening, her ears turned bright red, she lowered her head, picked up five special numbers from the table next to her and handed them to Ma Feifei.

Ma Feifei also realized that this was not her previous life, and that this action was considered taking advantage of someone.

Feeling a bit awkward, Ma Feifei took the special number and slipped away.

Gongsun Qiong stared blankly at Ma Feifei's departing figure, propped her head up with her hands on the table, and drifted off into a daze.