Shopping-Crazed Old Man

The northern city's night market brimmed with voices. Shops and stalls were packed shoulder to shoulder, with at least one or two thousand cultivators gathered in this extraordinarily bustling marketplace.

Wei Suo, dressed in extremely ordinary blue cloth robes and drawing no attention whatsoever, walked along the streets, circling the plazas where stalls were most densely clustered, browsing one stall after another.

The shops and street stalls sold every kind of item imaginable—materials for refining artifacts, all sorts of weapons, magic artifacts, and more. There were plenty of good things among them, but Wei Suo had long since grown used to that. He did not have enough Spirit Stones on him, and when he knew he could not afford something, he did not even feel like stepping up to haggle over the price.

Yet before he had even made half a circuit, the Green Robe Old Man had already begun shouting nonstop.

"Buy it! The Quicksand Talisman is pretty good—it's very useful against demon beasts. Buy it now!"

"A second-tier Flying Cloud Talisman! Don't you know any Escape Arts? Hurry up and buy it."

"Wild Ice Thorn Pears—good stuff! Feed a few to an Ice Raven and it can break through to the next rank. Buy them, buy them..."

"Black Meteorite Iron! Excellent material for refining magic shields, something even earth fire cannot melt! Who would have thought that guy, who looks even more wretched than you, could get his hands on such material? Buy it!"

Fortunately, the Green Robe Old Man, hidden within the Ghost Nurturing Jar, had a method similar to voice transmission, so his voice rang directly in Wei Suo's ears. Otherwise, the surrounding vendors would surely have eagerly rushed over to sell things to this fellow who wanted to buy everything in sight.

"Damn it!" Wei Suo could not hold back any longer. "Old man, I can accept you telling me to buy the Quicksand Talisman and Flying Cloud Talisman. After all, I can still use those two things. But what use are wild Ice Thorn Pears and Black Meteorite Iron to me? If I buy these wild Ice Thorn Pears, where am I supposed to catch a live Ice Raven to stuff them into? Black Meteorite Iron cannot even be melted by earth fire—what am I buying it for, to use as a pillow? If you want to buy the whole market, I do not have enough Spirit Stones for that either. I'm still worrying about where to find Spirit Stones to refine the Heaven Mending Pill."

"Ahem, ahem..." The Green Robe Old Man was somewhat embarrassed after hearing Wei Suo's words. "I used to like wandering around markets like this and buying things. This time, I'd been cooped up in the Ghost Nurturing Jar for far too long. I haven't bought anything for ten or twenty thousand years, so my heart was itching terribly. But I'll watch myself from now on. I'll try not to buy useless things. Is that good enough?"

"Forget it." Hearing the Green Robe Old Man yield, Wei Suo instead felt a touch of sympathy. "Since you like buying things so much, I'll bring you along whenever I buy things in the future. Once I earn more crystals, I'll let you buy to your heart's content in one go, how about that? But we're all short on funds right now, so help me pick out things we need at the moment—things with good value for money."

To others, Wei Suo's lowered head and soft voice made him look as though he were talking to himself. A Rogue Cultivator at his level did not draw anyone's attention yet. Just as he said this to the Green Robe Old Man, two Rogue Cultivators who appeared to be doing fairly well happened to pass beside him. Hearing him, they exchanged a glance and immediately felt immense sympathy for Wei Suo. "Poor fellow. He's so short of Spirit Stones that something's gone wrong with his head. He's actually talking to himself, fantasizing about making lots of Spirit Stones someday and buying to his heart's content."

"It's that guy." At that moment, Wei Suo's gaze suddenly sharpened slightly without him realizing it.

"Who is it?" The Green Robe Old Man immediately sensed the change in Wei Suo's mood.

"A cocky guy at the Circulation Realm First Level. He snatched an Earth Fire Furnace Room from me that day. If there hadn't happened to be another room available, we would have had no Earth Fire Furnace Room to use for the time being. He's the one over there in the red magic robe."

The person Wei Suo had spotted was the grim-faced, red-robed middle-aged cultivator he had previously seen at the auction, the one who had later beaten him to an Earth Fire Furnace Room.

"Old man, what is that fellow buying?" Drawing closer without showing any outward reaction, Wei Suo saw the vicious-looking red-robed middle-aged cultivator purchasing a bag of fiery red crystal sand and a fist-sized black ore that appeared to contain gleaming silver crystals like kernels of corn.

"That is Fire Cloud Crystal. It can further increase the heat of flames. That ore is Yellow Tooth Copper Ore. Yellow Tooth Copper melds extremely well with other refined metals, and is generally used to increase the flexibility of flying swords. Thick and heavy magic treasure bodies usually do not require such flexibility." The Green Robe Old Man sneered. "Even the heat of the Green Toad Earth Fire Furnace is not enough for him—he needs Fire Cloud Crystal too. Together with this Yellow Tooth Copper, it looks like he's refining a flying sword."

"That fellow should be a Sword Cultivator. Earlier, he also wanted to buy Silver Gang Essence. If I ever run into him later, I'll have to be even more careful." Wei Suo nodded. He knew full well how powerful flying swords were.

Just then, as though sensing the hostility concealed in Wei Suo's gaze, the red-robed middle-aged cultivator, who was putting away the Fire Cloud Crystal and Yellow Tooth Copper Ore, abruptly turned around and cast a gloomy look in Wei Suo's direction.

Wei Suo's heart jumped. He immediately pretended to be nonchalantly examining the two nearby stalls alongside several other cultivators.

The red-robed middle-aged cultivator did not seem to recognize Wei Suo. After sweeping his vicious gaze around briefly, he headed toward a side street.

Wei Suo had no desire to provoke this red-robed middle-aged cultivator, who was very likely a Sword Cultivator, so he waited until the man's figure vanished into that alley before raising his head.

"Do you take me for an idiot? You want to sell me this piece of junk for three hundred Low-grade Spirit Stones, and even call it some mysterious Magic Treasure Fragment? Are you courting death?"

"If you don't want it, then forget it. Why do you have to spit such venom? Do you think I'm easy to bully?"

A fierce argument drifted over from a stall not far ahead.

"Magic Treasure Fragment?"

The moment he heard those words, Wei Suo was startled and hurried toward the stall. Magic treasures were things every cultivator dreamed of obtaining, and Wei Suo had personally witnessed the power of Nangong Yuqing's Magic Treasure Fragment. Although it could only be activated once a day, the power retained in that fragment, which still held a portion of a magic treasure's might, far surpassed Lin Daoyi's Magic Treasure Replica, which could be considered a Half Spirit Artifact.

The stall owner was a square-faced middle-aged cultivator in his forties, wearing a leather robe. His skin was dark, his hands and feet thick and broad. Arguing with him in front of the stall was a blue-robed cultivator around twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, thin as a bamboo pole, with a somewhat sallow complexion.

As if by reflex, Wei Suo used the Qi Gazing Technique and discovered that both cultivators were at the Divine Ability Realm Fifth Level, with little difference between them. The glow of their Sea of Consciousness was not intense, so the cultivation techniques they practiced were probably both low-grade Profound-rank techniques. Their robes were also fairly similar. The square-faced stall owner's leather robe was refined from the hide of a Black Water Weasel, while the thin cultivator's robe was woven from Blue Silk Bamboo fibers. Their defensive strength was roughly equivalent to first-tier defensive talismans.

At that moment, the bamboo-pole-thin blue-robed cultivator stared murderously at the square-faced stall owner, who glared back without yielding. In the stall owner's hand was a gray fragment shaped like half a small knife.

"Bullying you? If it were some other ignorant cultivator, wouldn't he be deceived by you and lose several hundred Spirit Stones for nothing?" the thin cultivator continued coldly.

"A deal like this is one party willing to sell and the other willing to buy. Besides, do you dare deny that this is not a Magic Treasure Fragment?" The square-faced stall owner sneered, flipped his hand, and took out a red jade pendant, as if the meaning could not have been more obvious.

"Fire Dragon Pendant!"

Several nearby spectators all sucked in a breath of cold air. What the square-faced stall owner had taken out was a famous Magic Treasure Replica from the Guiyi Sect. This Fire Dragon Pendant was on the same level as the Fire Phoenix Belly-Cover Wei Suo had obtained—a Half Spirit Artifact. The only difference was that one was an offensive magic treasure, while the other was defensive. The stall owner's meaning in taking it out was obvious: he was telling the bamboo-pole-thin cultivator to know his place.

"What, do you think I'll be afraid of you just because you have one magic treasure?" A cold gleam flashed in the thin cultivator's eyes. With a grab of his hand, he too produced two items: a round little shield wreathed in dense white qi, and a talisman resembling a white bone shard. Both bore skull-like runes.

"White Bone Magic Shield, Bone Arrow Talisman! He's White Skull Hermit's disciple!"

The crowd erupted again. The two items the thin cultivator had produced were signature goods of White Skull Hermit, a Rogue Cultivator capable of refining artifacts. White Skull Hermit was a ruthless figure near Luoyue City, and it was said that he had already reached the Circulation Realm Fifth Level many years ago. He sold Bone Arrow Talismans, whose power was equivalent to second-tier talismans. The White Bone Magic Shield's defensive power was also roughly equivalent to a second-tier defensive talisman, except it could be used continuously. Yet only White Skull Hermit's disciples possessed such an item.

"What, are you trying to use White Skull Hermit to pressure me? For an unknown nobody like me, even if White Skull Hermit wanted to deal with me, he would never be able to find me." The identity of this thin cultivator was now plain as day, but the square-faced stall owner gave him no face at all. He sneered, "If you want to throw your weight around, go back to Luoyue City and do it there."

"To kill you, would I need my master? Do you dare leave the city and fight me right now?" The thin cultivator flew into a rage.

"If you insist on courting death, I'll grant your wish." Killing intent burst from the square-faced stall owner, and it seemed a clash between the two was already unavoidable. But at that moment, a voice cut in. "Harmony brings wealth, gentlemen. Seeing that both of you have reached the Sea of Consciousness Realm Fifth Level, breaking through to the Circulation Realm is just around the corner. Why get angry over such a trivial matter? Even if you win the argument, it would not be worth it to damage a few magic artifacts. You are both experts. Since this dispute began over this item, why not let me take a look at this Magic Treasure Fragment? I happen to have a fondness for collecting ancient Magic Treasure Fragments. If I think it is worthwhile, I will buy it. How about you two turn swords into plowshares?"

"You want to look at this Magic Treasure Fragment?" The square-faced stall owner turned in surprise and saw that the speaker was a young cultivator dressed in ordinary blue robes. He could not have been entirely unafraid of White Skull Hermit, and someone stepping out to smooth things over was naturally the best outcome he could have hoped for.

The thin cultivator snorted, still sounding dissatisfied. "This Magic Treasure Fragment is far too ancient. Although it looks as though it retains some of its power, there is no way to know how to use it. It is no different from ordinary broken bricks and shattered tiles."

Seeing that the blue-robed young cultivator would not listen, and that he had stepped forward with good intentions to mediate, the thin cultivator could not say much more. Instead, he felt somewhat grateful. After nodding to the blue-robed young cultivator, he shot the square-faced stall owner a vicious glare, turned, and left.

"I've never seen a fragment like this before. How about selling it to me more cheaply?" The blue-robed young cultivator merely gave it a brief glance before smiling at the square-faced stall owner.

This handsome enough blue-robed young cultivator was naturally Wei Suo. Hearing Wei Suo's words, the square-faced stall owner spat toward the direction in which the thin cultivator had departed. After saying that he hated most the sort who used others' power to bully people despite having barely any strength themselves, he loudly declared, "I'd charge that kind of fellow three hundred Low-grade Spirit Stones, but for a brother like you, three Low-grade Spirit Stones will do."

(Your red votes are mighty! Do you dare push for seven thousand today and set a new record? In any case, I absolutely have to post an extra chapter today. Also, the first batch of names from the new book support event has been compiled. The first supporter was No-Tail Cat, the hundredth was Vanishing Gaze, the two-hundredth was Tiantian, the three-hundredth was Jesus Falls for a Pig—sweat—the four-hundredth and five-hundredth were both Luobei, and the six-hundredth and eight-hundredth were somehow Tiantian again... The seven-hundredth was Kewen, the nine-hundredth was Bookworm at the Bottom of a Well, the thousandth was 1ce Zi, the eleven-hundredth was Suoqingqiu, the twelve-hundredth was Feifei Little Beggar, the thirteen-hundredth was Bomb Chrysanthemum with Missiles, the fourteen-hundredth was I Am Long Road Ahead, and the fifteen-hundredth and sixteen-hundredth were both Panpan's Handsome Cricket. I will send gifts to all of the above. Administrators, please help contact them and collect mailing addresses. As of now, there have been a total of 1,646 support contributions. Thank you all for participating in the new book gift event. The event is still ongoing, and interested readers may still join. The winner lists for red-vote check-ins and review check-ins will also be compiled after the New Year. Also, my YY room number has been upgraded to the five-digit number 63803. If you want to open a room, don't touch the wrong room number and get molested, haha. Finally, the fourth update will definitely be posted later! Let's be mighty together!)