First Bucket of Gold

Seeing her clansmen looking so utterly provincial, Luo Li felt even less able to hold her head up before Chen Daoxuan.

"Cough, cough!"

She could not help coughing softly, but how could the simple, honest Merfolk Tribe members spare any thought for discerning Princess's intentions? At that moment, their minds were filled entirely with the weapons before them.

"Princess, if we had these weapons, who knew how many casualties our clansmen could avoid in our struggle against the Demon Ape Tribe."

A male mermaid took a flying sword, poured a stream of demon power into it, and murmured.

Hearing this, Luo Li's heart also grew hot. She looked at Chen Daoxuan and said, "Human cultivator, is this all the weapons your people have forged?"

"Yes, this is far too few. There's nowhere near enough to go around!"

"Yes, far too few!"

The other mermaids all chimed in.

"Please forgive me, Miss Luo. The trading period you proposed was simply too short—only two months. We lacked both the Spirit Ore raw materials and the time needed to refine Magic Artifacts, so this is all we have for now."

Chen Daoxuan shook his head, his face full of regret.

"Spirit Ore?"

Luo Li seemed to recall something. She took a piece of ore brimming with Spiritual Aura from one of her mermaid subordinates and asked, "Is the Spirit Ore you spoke of this sort of thing?"

"Yes!"

When Chen Daoxuan saw the Spirit Ore in Luo Li's hand, his heart gave a violent leap. It was actually Second-tier Spirit Ore: Guishui Fine Gold.

The Myriad Star Sea Underworld was far too wealthy!

Unfortunately, humans were a land-dwelling race and simply could not survive in the deep sea. Otherwise, why would the Qianyuan Sword Sect need to attack Cloud Country? They would have long since punched straight through the Myriad Star Sea Underworld.

Seeing the Spirit Ore in Luo Li's hand, Chen Daoxuan could not help feeling an urge to venture into the Myriad Star Sea Underworld and investigate it for himself.

But when he thought of how entering the Deep Sea World required, at the very least, cultivating the second-tier Water Evasion Technique to the Great Accomplishment stage, he immediately lowered his banner and stilled his drums.

Cultivating the second-tier Water Evasion Technique to the Great Accomplishment stage was no simple matter. It meant a cultivator had to reach the Foundation Establishment Realm at minimum, and had to be a seasoned Foundation Establishment cultivator—not one who had only just broken through.

Only after reaching the Foundation Establishment Realm could cultivators practice all manner of evasion arts.

At that point, a cultivator's flight speed would surge dramatically. Familiar evasion arts such as turning Escape Light into a rainbow and Sword Flight were abilities only Foundation Establishment cultivators could wield.

Ordinary Qi Refining cultivators, meanwhile, could only travel by Wind Riding. Compared with the Escape Light of Foundation Establishment cultivators, they were slower by more than tenfold.

Luo Li was not foolish. Seeing the gleam in Chen Daoxuan's eyes, she knew the Spirit Ore in her hand was exceptionally valuable.

Her heart stirred slightly. "If we traded with your Chen Family using this Spirit Ore, what price could you offer?"

The market price of Second-tier Spirit Ore in Guang'an Prefecture was generally more than ten times that of First-tier Spirit Ore. Guishui Fine Gold like the piece in Luo Li's hand was one of the most expensive types among Second-tier Spirit Ore.

Its price was several times that of ordinary Second-tier Spirit Ore.

As far as Chen Daoxuan knew, Guishui Fine Gold sold for around 150 Spirit Stones per jin in Guang'an Prefecture's Spirit Ore market.

Moreover, it was often a case of high prices but no supply. One had to place an order in advance with sellers of this Spirit Ore or wait for it to appear at an auction house.

Although Second-tier Spirit Ore remained abundant in the Myriad Star Sea and Xianyun Continent, it was almost entirely controlled by sects and Great Immortal Clans. Small families and Rogue Cultivators found it difficult to obtain through any channel.

This was even more pronounced in Guang'an Prefecture.

As far as Chen Daoxuan knew, only a handful of major families, such as the Zhou Family, Yang Family, and Wu Family, controlled Second-Grade Spirit Mine veins.

Even ordinary newly established Foundation Establishment families did not possess such resources.

In Guang'an Prefecture, it was no great feat for a small family or group of Rogue Cultivators to produce one or two Foundation Establishment cultivators.

After all, many cultivators from small families and Rogue Cultivators could, with enough Battle Merit from the Cloud Country Battlefield and a stroke of luck, obtain sufficient resources to attempt Foundation Establishment.

But becoming a Foundation Establishment family with Foundation Establishment cultivators appearing generation after generation was far from easy.

Inherited family Cultivation Techniques, Spirit Veins of the second tier or above, all kinds of precious resources, highly profitable family enterprises, a large family population—none of these conditions could be absent.

Of course.

These foundations of a family had basically nothing to do with the Chen Family of Twin Lakes Island.

If the Chen Family barely possessed anything that met the standard, it was a highly profitable family enterprise.

The Artifact Factory Chen Daoxuan had built outside Changping County might not seem particularly large at present, but in terms of potential, it absolutely deserved the words "highly profitable."

Seeing Chen Daoxuan remain silent.

Luo Li could not help moving closer and pressing, "Human cultivator, what price can this Spirit Ore fetch exactly?"

Perhaps because they were closer now, Chen Daoxuan could actually smell a faint, delicate fragrance wafting from Luo Li.

Hearing Luo Li's question, Chen Daoxuan came back to himself. He cupped his hands and said, "My apologies, Miss Luo. I truly did not expect your side to produce such precious Spirit Ore, and I lost my composure for a moment."

After a pause, he continued, "The Spirit Ore in your hand is Second-tier Spirit Ore: Guishui Fine Gold. Its price is roughly one hundred Spirit Stones per jin.

This piece in your hand—"

Chen Daoxuan took the Guishui Fine Gold ore from Luo Li's hand and weighed it. "This piece of Guishui Fine Gold is quite heavy, approximately ten jin."

Luo Li's eyes lit up at this. "You mean this piece of Spirit Ore can buy two weapons like these?"

She pointed at the Crimson Shadow Flying Sword, her face filled with delight.

"That's right."

Chen Daoxuan nodded.

Hearing this answer, Luo Li was overjoyed.

The Spirit Ore in her hand had been mined by the Merfolk Tribe from a mine vein on Demon Ape Mountain.

But before the Merfolk Tribe had managed to extract much of it, they had been driven out of the mine vein by Water Demon Apes.

Though Luo Li kept saying that the flying swords Chen Daoxuan refined were cheap, in truth, the Merfolk Tribe did not have much Spirit Stone stockpiled.

They were in such straits because the Merfolk Tribe had hastily withdrawn from the waters near Spirit Shell Island and had carried very few Spirit Stones with them.

After all, Spirit Stones were of little use to the Merfolk Tribe.

Although the Merfolk Tribe also needed spiritual energy for cultivation, the tiny amount of spiritual energy within Spirit Stones was not even a drop in the bucket compared to the vast amount the Merfolk Tribe required for cultivation.

Naturally, the Merfolk Tribe would not carry large quantities of such useless "junk" while relocating their entire clan.

The few Spirit Stones remaining in the Merfolk Tribe's possession had only been brought because the Merfolk Clan Leader had possessed the foresight to recognize that Spirit Stones seemed extremely important to humans and had forcibly ordered the clansmen to bring some along.

Now, as the mermaids stroked the weapons in their hands, they could not help feeling grateful for the Clan Leader's farsighted wisdom.

Seeing Luo Li's pretty face slightly flushed with excitement, Chen Daoxuan pondered for a moment before saying, "Miss Luo, regarding cooperation between our two races, I have a small suggestion."

Luo Li was in high spirits. She raised her jade-smooth little hand and said, "Go on, then."

"I know little about the Deep Sea World, while the Merfolk Tribe seems to know little about the human world as well. How about this? I will give your clan an Illustrated Guide to various relatively precious ores and Spirit Herbs from the human world.

If you discover anything in the Deep Sea World, you can trade it with my clan. Of course, we can discuss the specific prices together at that time.

In any case, we will not let the Merfolk Tribe suffer a loss."

Luo Li seemed to have a favorable impression of Chen Daoxuan. She smiled and asked, "Where is this Illustrated Guide?"

Chen Daoxuan took out a Jade Slip from his Storage Bag and handed it to her.

Luo Li accepted the Jade Slip and directly tucked it beneath the two Spirit Shells before her chest, making Chen Daoxuan turn his head slightly away.

Luo Li did not mind in the least. She clapped her hands and said, "All right!"

"Mhm," Chen Daoxuan said with a smile. "In that case, count the weapons."

"They're only 128 weapons. There's no need to count them." Luo Li curled her lips. "You're afraid my Merfolk Tribe will cheat you, so you want to count the Spirit Stones instead, right?"

As she spoke, Luo Li waved her little hand.

The mermaids lifted up enormous clamshells one after another and opened them, allowing Chen Daoxuan to inspect the Spirit Stones inside.

Chen Daoxuan swept them lightly with his Divine Sense and said readily, "Miss Luo misunderstands. How could I doubt the Merfolk Tribe's integrity?"

With that, he swept his sleeve. Supported by true qi, all the Spirit Stones were gathered into his Storage Bag until it was filled to the brim.