Wanton Treasure Hunting, I Lost

Picking up the two stones with the highest concentration of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy and casually sorting out the remaining high-value ores from the stall, Mo An looked at the vendor who had been observing him for a long time. "Boss, how much for these ores?"

"Little customer, these ores were brought back by me from a perilous region in the Sunset Forest. For these items, our Soul Hunting Squad—"

"Stop, stop, stop, I don't want to hear all that. Just state the price directly, and if it's reasonable, I'll naturally buy them."

Suddenly interrupted, the vendor looked dumbfounded at this young master who was followed by guards, somewhat unsure of how to continue making things up.

Back in the past, he only needed to fabricate a few semi-true and semi-false stories to sell these ores brought from the Sunset Forest at high prices. Now that he was suddenly cut off, he—sigh—it seemed the young master in front of him wasn't some brainless fool.

Pondering for quite a while, the vendor looked at Mo An and asked tentatively, "A total of 200 Gold Soul Coins?"

"Although there's a bit of a markup, it's not too excessive. Let's make it 200 Gold Soul Coins."

On the Douluo Continent, blacksmiths belonged to a low-tier profession. Their numbers were small, and they weren't held in high regard; naturally, the ore industry related to blacksmiths didn't have much demand either.

Without massive demand, the price of ores naturally wouldn't be too expensive.

That piece of Plate Crystal attributed with gold that Tang San bought for 200 Gold Soul Coins at Flender's small black shop in the original work was an utter rip-off, a super rip-off.

The ores he selected were the highest-valued ones at this stall. At this price, the vendor wouldn't suffer a loss, and he wouldn't either—a win-win.

"Good, good, good, of course."

Overjoyed, the vendor nodded without hesitation and agreed to the transaction. Taking the 200 Gold Soul Coins handed over by Mo An, he waved and sent off this generous little customer.

After leaving this stall, Mo An continued to wander through the Free Trade Market, relying on Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy to judge and search for high-value treasures.

After successively buying a few more pricey items, he discovered a piece of herbal medicine at an herb-selling stall whose Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy was terrifyingly dense.

Mo An had seen this herb in the Green Bamboo Compendium of the Azure Bamboo, knowing its name and effects.

The Essence-Consolidating Grass was a rare herb growing in places where Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy gathered, containing a massive amount of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy inside. When brewed into a medicinal solution paired with several other common herbs, it performed remarkably well whether used to elevate cultivation or to recover Soul Power during critical moments.

The main reason this medicinal solution hadn't spread across the Douluo Continent was that the Essence-Consolidating Grass was scarce in number, and its refining method was mastered by only a tiny few.

The only somewhat regrettable thing was that the harvesting technique for this herb was far too violent; once made into a medicinal solution, its effectiveness might be greatly discounted.

Since the vendor didn't know his goods, coupled with the fact that the herb itself was extremely damaged, Mo An secured this precious herb—which could be resold for thousands of Gold Soul Coins—for a mere 20 Gold Soul Coins.

If sold to the Breaking Clan, who adored herbal medicine, it could fetch an even higher price. This point was even recorded within the Green Bamboo Compendium, which even listed several types of herbs that sold well and provided a few classic examples to teach later generations how to sell them.

Because the Azure Bamboo frequently acquired various rare treasures, the Azure Jade Ring—representing the authority of the Azure Bamboo—naturally possessed the ability to store living creatures. Placed inside the Azure Jade Ring, there was no need to worry about the Essence-Consolidating Grass suffering secondary damage.

Speaking of the Breaking Clan, Mo An thought of the Speed Clan and the Defense Clan, as well as the various Small Clans that had suffered misfortune because of the Clear Sky Sect. They also harbored hatred toward the Clear Sky Sect, making them forces that could be won over to deal with Spirit Hall and the Clear Sky Sect.

As for the Strength Clan, forget it. They were loyal to Tang Hao and Tang San; the moment those two showed their faces, those people would happily scamper off to become slaves, casting aside the feud of their slain master, and winning them over would just be a hidden time bomb.

This train of thought appeared in his mind for only a brief moment before being cast aside; these matters were not things he ought to be considering right now.

As expected of a Free Trade Market backed by the Sunset Forest, the good stuff in here really is quite plentiful.

Mo An inwardly marveled while happily picking up bargains in this Free Trade Market. The things he bought had long since exceeded the 500 Gold Soul Coin limit agreed upon with Ning Rongrong.

Following right behind him, the guard who had witnessed this small competition looked at Mo An—who kept buying and buying—with a hesitation in his expression, not quite knowing what would be best to say.

In stark contrast to Mo An was Ning Rongrong on the other side. She was meticulously calculating, studying how to maximize the value of these 500 Gold Soul Coins. She was determined to secure victory in this competition and prove that the support capabilities of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda were truly the strongest.

Over two hours later, Mo An and Ning Rongrong—having finished browsing the entire Free Trade Market—reunited inside a teahouse.

"Little An, you know, I actually picked up a pretty fantastic treasure. You're going to lose to me this time, oh."

The moment she saw Mo An, Ning Rongrong impatiently flaunted the treasure she had picked up, expressing her absolute determination to win.

"Oh? I wonder what sort of treasure you managed to find."

Mo An, who understood Ning Rongrong fairly well, was somewhat curious about what kind of treasure could prompt her to issue a declaration of certain victory.

"A really great treasure, but I don't know what it is." Ning Rongrong took an ugly-looking branch out from her Storage Soul Tool, placing it in front of Mo An. "Don't look at how ugly this thing is; the light it emits is quite intense. This is definitely a rather extraordinary treasure."

"Let me see."

Taking the branch, Mo An cautiously channeled Soul Power into it. After carefully sensing it for a moment, he handed it back to Ning Rongrong:

"The branch contains the power of the Light Element, and this power is extremely pure. It should indeed be a treasure, but I don't know what this is either. Relying on just this won't be enough to defeat me, oh."

Heh heh heh~, this is the cheapest one among the bargain treasures I picked up. I've got a whole pile of them here, oh."

Smiling, Ning Rongrong took out one treasure after another from her Storage Soul Tool, explaining the names and values of the treasures she recognized.

Through Ning Rongrong's display, Mo An discovered that most of the bargain treasures she had picked up were ores, gems, and the like. This likely had to do with the fact that the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda was a gem-type Martial Soul, which granted special effects toward gem-based items.

By comparison, his Ink Jade Divine Bamboo Martial Soul was more comprehensive in its treasure-seeking ability; the treasures he had picked up spanned plants, ores, gems, herbal medicine, and other categories.

"It seems I've lost, then."

Hearing Ning Rongrong finish, Mo An helplessly spread his hands, casually pulled a few treasures out from his Storage Soul Tool, placed them on the table, and conceded that he had lost the match.

Winning or losing the competition wasn't very important to him, but to Ning Rongrong, it ought to be quite significant. Yielding to her a little and humoring her was completely fine.