"Fine, my mistake. Then may I ask, young man, what good things do you have for sale?"
Gu Rong had no intention of revealing his identity and throwing his weight around. Instead, he planned to have a little fun with Mo Lin.
"Uncle, do you understand Soul Tools? If you don't, you might not understand even if I explain. I run a shop for a living. Can you trust what I say?"
"It's like buying fruit and asking the seller whether it's sweet. Would they tell you it wasn't?"
Keep acting. Go on. Let's see how long you can keep this up.
Mo Lin was starting to wonder whether these Titled Douluo all had something seriously wrong with their brains.
Every last one of them seemed to have nothing better to do.
Dugu Bo was understandable. The defect in his Martial Soul kept him from cultivating normally, so Mo Lin could understand him running around.
But Gu Rong simply had so little to do that his balls ached. Why had he come out alone instead of staying by Ning Fengzhi's side?
And of all places, he just had to come here.
Heaven Dou City was so big, yet they had still run into each other. The odds were even lower than winning the lottery in his previous life.
"Can't I just ask?"
Gu Rong had dug his heels in against Mo Lin, looking very much as though the harder Mo Lin tried to drive him away, the more determined he was to stay.
Little did he know that this was exactly the outcome Mo Lin wanted.
After all, he could finally get rid of that heap of scrap metal sitting in his warehouse.
Researching Soul Tools burned through money. If he hadn't gone out regularly to rob the rich and aid the poor, he really couldn't have afforded the expenses.
Metal resources were terribly underutilized in this era, and many rare metals had yet to be mined.
Some were even used as decorations, which also made them extremely expensive. No wonder Tang San's hidden weapons could rise like a sudden new force. There was a reason for it.
"You can, but to avoid wasting either of our time, I'll need to verify your funds first. Nothing here is cheap."
"Verify my funds?"
Well, now. In all his years, this was the first time anyone had asked to check his assets.
"Fine, but let me make this clear first. If I'm not satisfied with what you give me, I'll smash up your shop."
Gu Rong changed tack and began threatening Mo Lin.
But Mo Lin refused to buckle under pressure and simply chose the most shameless approach.
"Oh, then leave. Troublemakers aren't welcome here."
At those words, the corner of Gu Rong's mouth twitched involuntarily.
A troublemaker? Me?
"What do you mean by that, brat? You're the one who set conditions first. How am I the troublemaker now?"
No, I can't swallow this loss. Where would I put my face?
Seeing this, Mo Lin raised an eyebrow, his tone unhurried.
"I'm only checking whether you have the money to buy anything, while you're threatening to smash my shop if you're dissatisfied. Does that sound reasonable to you?"
"And what counts as dissatisfied? Isn't that entirely up to you? So have I wronged you?"
"..."
Gu Rong fell silent.
All right, put that way, I really do seem to be in the wrong.
But I'm a Titled Douluo, after all. Couldn't you give me a little face?
Uh... he doesn't seem to know who I am.
At that thought, Gu Rong felt rather like a mute swallowing bitter herbs, unable to voice his suffering.
Why the fuck did I have to stir this up just because I had nothing better to do?
Gu Rong muttered inwardly, but still did not reveal his identity outright.
There was no helping it. He had lived so long that life had become dull and monotonous. He had to come out and find some amusement. Titled Douluo were people too, after all.
"This card holds ten million Gold Soul Coins. Is that enough?"
Gu Rong took a gold card from inside his clothes and tossed it to Mo Lin, his tone casual, as though ten million was beneath his notice.
The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect possessed wealth to rival a nation. As one of its two great pillars, Gu Rong naturally had no shortage of money.
A mere ten million was just a sprinkle of water.
Taking the gold card, Mo Lin glanced over it a couple of times before setting it back on the counter.
"What type of Soul Tool are you looking to buy?"
"I have four main categories: offensive, defensive, functional, and support."
There were actually many subdivisions of Soul Tools, but broadly speaking, they fell into those four categories.
"No need for defense. Show me the other three. Make sure you pick out the good ones."
Seeing how little concern he had for money, Mo Lin said nothing more.
After making a show of rummaging beneath the counter, he took a palm-sized metal sphere from the Storage Soul Tool he carried.
The sphere's surface was covered, with no visible seams, though it looked no different from an ordinary metal ball.
"What's this?"
Curious, Gu Rong asked.
"I call this the Heavenly Eye. It has only one purpose: to monitor a certain area and relay information back in real time."
Put plainly, it was a surveillance camera, only more convenient with the aid of Soul Power.
It was something Mo Lin had made when he had nothing better to do. Simple in construction, it was at most a level-two Soul Tool and wasn't worth much.
But that was only to him. Selling it was another matter entirely.
"Monitor? How does it monitor things?"
Gu Rong had never seen anything like what Mo Lin had brought out.
Never mind seeing it, he had never even heard of it. His curiosity was immediately hooked.
"You're a Soul Master, right?"
"Yes. Why?"
What a joke. Would I be here looking at Soul Tools if I weren't a Soul Master?
"Then pour your Soul Power into it and activate it. After that..."
Mo Lin explained the operating method to Gu Rong, then handed him the [Heavenly Eye].
Gu Rong began operating it according to his instructions.
As Soul Power flowed into the Heavenly Eye, dense patterns began appearing across the metal sphere's surface.
The next instant, the sphere began to change, a round opening slowly spreading across its surface.
The opening grew wider and wider until it finally spat out a small, diamond-shaped crystal.
Gu Rong reached out and took the crystal.
After ejecting the crystal, the opening did not close. Instead, a layer resembling transparent crystal appeared in its place.
Changes took place behind that layer, turning the previously transparent opening into a black eyeball.
The eye opened, and an entirely new view immediately appeared in Gu Rong's mind.
"This... this is!"
A viewpoint. An entirely new viewpoint.
It was like an eye had grown out of thin air, allowing him to see everything around it.
Even with his own eyes closed, he could still see.
"A Heavenly Eye indeed. What a fitting name."
An extra eye-wasn't that a heavenly eye? There was nothing wrong with that name.
"How much? I'll take it."
The fish has bitten. Time to draw in the net.
"How many do you want?"
"How many?"
From the sound of it, he seemed to have plenty more of these.
"How many do you have?"
"I can have as many as you want, provided you have enough money."
The Heavenly Eye was extremely cheap to make, costing only around ten Gold Soul Coins.
That might be an enormous sum to an ordinary person.
But compared to the money-burning bottomless pit of Soul Tools, it could hardly have been cheaper.
That was only the production cost, however. He certainly couldn't sell it at that price.
Adding production costs, intellectual property fees, labor costs, and all sorts of miscellaneous expenses, charging him ten thousand Gold Soul Coins apiece wasn't excessive, was it?
It was only a small profit. The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had vast holdings and wouldn't miss that little bit of money.
And that was indeed the case. Gu Rong didn't haggle at all and ordered a thousand outright.
He was so decisive that Mo Lin briefly wondered whether he had priced them too low.
But none of that mattered anymore. After all, he had left himself a back door in these things.
The Heavenly Eye's master control panel was still in his hands.
As long as Gu Rong dared install them in the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, Mo Lin could monitor their every move in real time.
A thousand Heavenly Eyes couldn't cover the entire Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, but the area they covered would be far from small.
Besides, judging by his manner, he would clearly be making repeat purchases.
"It feels so good to fleece the rich."
While Mo Lin was still savoring that thought, the communication crystal he carried stirred.
Before you continue