Zhou Xuan watched Wang Teng's retreating figure without expression, but his heart was ice-cold.
Damn it!
He'd miscalculated!
He'd underestimated the arrogance and shamelessness of these Inner Sect Disciples, and overestimated what he could handle at his current level.
A common man was innocent, but a man with a treasure was guilty.
He was only a Chore Disciple, yet he'd brought out a defensive Dharma Artifact in such pristine condition to sell. That alone made him far too conspicuous.
In the eyes of those self-important bastards, he was practically a fat lamb, stretching its neck beneath the butcher's blade.
No wonder he'd drawn their attention!
It seemed that until he had enough strength, he couldn't bring out anything else of such high value.
With that thought, Zhou Xuan didn't hesitate. He put the Black Iron Shield back into his Universe Bag.
From now on, this thing would be his trump card for saving his life. He'd never sell it again!
But if he wasn't selling the shield, what about his other wares?
Zhou Xuan's gaze fell on the Green Edge Sword and the Sharp Metal Talisman.
These things were decent, but nowhere near as valuable as the Black Iron Shield. They shouldn't cause the same kind of trouble.
He sat behind his stall, his mind racing.
Waste Recycling could make him money, but the risks were too high, and the supply was unreliable. He couldn't count on Zhang Ling, that Explosion Fairy, to blow up her furnace every day, could he?
He needed a safer, more discreet, and more profitable way!
What was he supposed to do?
Suddenly, his gaze landed on the repaired Sharp Metal Talisman.
Talismans!
An idea struck like lightning, cleaving through the fog in his mind!
That was it!
Talismans!
Of the major production trades in the Cultivation World—alchemy, artifact crafting, talisman-making, and formation-setting—which had the lowest barrier to entry, the most practitioners, and the most mass-produced goods?
Talismans!
How much could the cheapest first-rank talisman possibly cost to make?
A blank talisman paper and a little cinnabar mixed with demon beast blood—it wouldn't even cost half a Low-grade Spirit Stone!
And the Spiritual Energy contained in one of these things was pitifully small.
Didn't that mean...
Zhou Xuan's heart began to pound wildly, beyond his control.
He didn't need to dig through trash heaps for damaged talismans to repair!
He could draw them himself!
With the Soul Power of someone who'd lived two lives, along with the comprehension of a transmigrator, copying the designs of some basic talismans shouldn't be difficult, right?
Even if his drawings looked like a ghost's scrawl and couldn't draw in the Spiritual Energy of heaven and earth, so what?
He had a system!
As long as the talisman paper had even the tiniest trace of cinnabar infused with Spiritual Energy on it, wouldn't the system recognize it as an item that could be Enlightened?
Then he could scribble out any old useless talisman, spend a point or two of Gold Touch Value, and turn it into a perfect, Spiritual Energy-rich premium talisman!
Now that was a real money-making machine!
A real way to pluck a goose without spending a feather!
The more Zhou Xuan thought about it, the more excited he became. The more he thought about it, the more feasible it seemed!
He could already see countless points of Gold Touch Value waving wildly at him!
"Heh-heh..."
He sat at his stall, joy bubbling up inside him.
The disciples passing by saw his expression and took him for a fool, walking around him.
"Senior Brother, how much for this Green Edge Sword?"
A timid voice interrupted Zhou Xuan's daydream of getting rich.
He looked up and saw a boy dressed in the same Servant Robe as him, gazing longingly at the sword on the ground.
The moment Zhou Xuan the Swindler saw him, his foolish grin vanished, replaced by a kindly smile.
"Junior Brother, out browsing the Marketplace too? You want this sword? It's cheap. Since we're all brothers here, four Low-grade Spirit Stones and it's yours!"
After what had just happened, no more troublemakers came looking for trouble at Zhou Xuan's stall.
His refurbished wares weren't high-grade, but they were in good condition and fairly priced.
To the poorer disciples at the bottom, they were treasures hard to come by.
In less than half an hour,
the Green Edge Sword, the Sharp Metal Talisman, and the handful of odds and ends—small Dharma Artifacts—had all been snapped up.
Zhou Xuan packed up his stall with satisfaction, slipped into a corner, and secretly counted his gains.
One, two, three...
Thirty-three Low-grade Spirit Stones in all!
He'd struck it rich!
Zhou Xuan was so excited his hands trembled!
Thirty-three Low-grade Spirit Stones—enough to get his talisman money printer plan off the ground!
He carefully put all the Spirit Stones into his Universe Bag. Without stopping for a moment, he headed straight for the shop district in the Marketplace.
His target was clear.
A general store!
Talisman paper, cinnabar, a wolf-hair brush!
And, most important of all, demon cores!
Here I come!
Zhou Xuan zigzagged through the chaotic outskirts of the Marketplace and soon found an unremarkable-looking shop.
It was small, with a signboard that read Myriad Things Pavilion. The lettering was plain, neither imposing nor mysterious, but the wares were varied.
Zhou Xuan peered inside. The shelves were crammed with everything from low-grade spirit herbs and ores to blank talisman paper and pill bottles, as well as the pelts and bones of demon beasts.
This was just the place for a low-level cultivator like him to hunt for bargains.
He took a deep breath, tamped down his excitement, and stepped inside.
"Welcome, customer. What can I get for you?"
Behind the counter, a middle-aged shopkeeper with a goatee was lazily working an abacus. Hearing someone enter, he asked without looking up.
When the corner of his eye caught sight of Zhou Xuan's faded gray Servant Robe, even the faint trace of warmth in his eyes quickly vanished.
Another penniless customer who'd only look and never buy.
Zhou Xuan noticed it all and chuckled to himself, but didn't call him out.
He walked straight up to the counter and asked clearly, "Shopkeeper, how much for a first-rank Demon Core?"
The shopkeeper's fingers paused on the abacus. At last, he deigned to raise his head and look Zhou Xuan in the eye.
"One Low-grade Spirit Stone each. No haggling."
His tone remained flat. Clearly, he didn't think a Chore Disciple could afford more than a few.
Demon cores were among the most basic and cheapest materials in the Cultivation World.
Though the Spiritual Energy inside them was violent and impure, making it impossible for cultivators to absorb and refine directly, they were important auxiliary ingredients for crafting pills and Dharma Artifacts.
Even the lowest-grade first-rank pills, such as the Qi Gathering Pill Zhou Xuan had gotten from Zhang Ling, could fetch at least three Low-grade Spirit Stones in the Marketplace.
As one of the ingredients, a first-rank Demon Core was naturally much cheaper.
The price was about what Zhou Xuan had heard.
He nodded and, without hesitation, held up two fingers.
"Give me twenty."
"How many?"
The goateed shopkeeper froze, nearly dropping the abacus in his hands.
He jerked his head up and gave Zhou Xuan another thorough look, his eyes full of shock and suspicion.
Twenty?
That was twenty Low-grade Spirit Stones!
Where had a Chore Disciple gotten that kind of fortune?
In the more than ten years he'd run this shop, he'd seen at least eight hundred Chore Disciples. Most couldn't even scrape together one intact Low-grade Spirit Stone.
This kid looked utterly ordinary, yet he'd opened by asking for twenty Demon Cores?
"Customer, you're not joking, are you?"
There was a note of uncertainty in the shopkeeper's voice.
Zhou Xuan couldn't be bothered to waste words. With a thought, he tipped a small pile of gleaming Low-grade Spirit Stones out of his Universe Bag and onto the counter.
"Shopkeeper, count them. There are twenty Low-grade Spirit Stones here. Is that enough?"
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