Talisman Trading

Shen Ge stopped in his tracks, crouched down, and picked up that Fire Dragon Talisman to examine it.

Seeing business arrive, the stall owner immediately introduced, "Brother, I am Wang Wei. The one you are holding is a mid-grade Fire Dragon Talisman, and its power rivals a full-strength strike of the Great Perfection of Qi Refining. Furthermore, this talisman is brand new and can still be used three times."

Shen Ge nodded. What the stall owner said was not false, for this talisman had indeed been drawn not long ago, and its quality was considered top-tier among mid-grade talismans as well. The person who drew talismans should be very proficient in this Dao.

However, Shen Ge did not buy it, instead picking up another talisman and chatting casually, "Stall owner, did you draw all of these talismans?"

Wang Wei nodded, saying somewhat proudly, "Brother, I am not boasting, but not a single person who has come past here to buy talismans has a technique that compares to mine."

"You are a person from an immortal-cultivating lineage?" After all, drawing talismans required diligent practice, and those with a rogue cultivator background truly could not support it.

Sure enough, Wang Wei nodded in admission, saying, "Brother has a good eye. I am precisely a person of the Wang Household of Returning Cloud Commandery. I wonder if brother has any interest in coming to our Wang Household?"

True to one being in business, he did not forget to pull people in to strengthen their own forces while selling things-what a brilliant move of killing two birds with one stone.

However, Shen Ge had no interest in this. He stated directly, "The talisman is not bad. If you can make it two spirit stones cheaper, I will take it."

"Deal!" Wang Wei's expression turned joyful, and before Shen Ge could even continue speaking, he shouted impatiently.

Shen Ge was slightly surprised. This price was clearly quite low, so how could he agree without even thinking? Was he afraid of not being able to sell it?

Thinking no more of it, Shen Ge directly took out spirit stones to pay. Anyway, calculating it this way, he was the one profiting, and furthermore, he had looked over this talisman and there were no problems with it.

Looking at the eight lower-grade spirit stones he had obtained, Wang Wei let a smile curl the corners of his mouth. Then, with a mysterious air once more, he pulled a box out from his bosom and introduced it in a low voice, "Brother, I see you have some capital. I still have a good item here-do you want it?"

Seeing his secretive appearance, Shen Ge grew interested as well. After putting away the Fire Dragon Talisman, he leaned in closer, "What good item? Let me take a look first."

"This is an upper-grade talisman brought out from my family, personally drawn by my grandfather. The quality is guaranteed with no problems."

As he spoke, he carefully pulled open the box.

Shen Ge looked closely and found three talismans lying inside the box. Although it was only a general glance, Shen Ge still recognized what talismans they were, and he exclaimed in surprise, "A Golden Body Talisman, a Spirit Sword Talisman, and another Flying Heaven Talisman-goodness, these are all good things."

Wang Wei glanced at Shen Ge in surprise. He had not expected this person to actually know his goods; it seemed he was not an ordinary rogue cultivator either and likely had a master's heritage.

Wang Wei's eyes rolled, and he dismissed the thought of fleecing Shen Ge. Steeling his mind, he spoke, "Brother has a good eye. Now, with your Ninth Layer of Qi Refinement cultivation, obtaining these three talismans means you can basically guarantee your safety throughout the Qi Refining Stage."

"How are you selling them?" Shen Ge asked with a frown. There was no help for it, as he truly wanted these items.

"Not expensive either-two hundred spirit stones will do. Rest assured, this price is absolutely reasonable."

Shen Ge knew that the other party was not quoting wildly. The defensive Golden Body Talisman alone was worth one hundred spirit stones, and while the other two could not compare to the Golden Body Talisman, fifty spirit stones each was still well worth it.

However, Shen Ge did not directly take out money to buy them. Instead, putting on a tempted look, he frowned and said, "Too expensive! Two hundred spirit stones-you take me for a sect disciple with a stable source of spirit stones? These three talismans are good, but you also have to consider the market. Look around here, who can pull out two hundred spirit stones without batting an eye?"

With a ingratiating smile, Wang Wei said, "It does not all have to be spirit stones. Brother, you can also use items to offset the spirit stones."

"That is more like it." With a grand wave of Shen Ge's hand, twenty stalks of Clear Brightness Grass instantly appeared on the stall: "A total of twenty stalks of Clear Brightness Grass. Offsetting ten spirit stones per stalk is fine, right?"

With a sweep of his spiritual sense, Wang Wei inspected all the Clear Brightness Grass and shook his head, saying, "Brother, there is no problem with the spirit herbs, but none of this Clear Brightness Grass of yours has been properly preserved. At least three parts of this medicinal efficacy have dissipated. Of course, even if this Clear Brightness Grass of yours had been very well preserved, it would not be worth ten spirit stones a stalk. You must know that a single Detoxification Pill only costs fifteen spirit stones. Pills are expensive because of the alchemists' pill-refining process, not because of the spirit herbs and medicines themselves. Therefore, brother, I can count this Clear Brightness Grass of yours for at most eighty spirit stones."

"You hacked off half at once-why don't you just go rob someone!" Shen Ge said viciously, a fierce glint flashing even deeper in his eyes.

Yet Wang Wei turned a blind eye to it, only saying with a bland expression, "Alright, brother, you do not need to try to scare me. These stalks of Clear Brightness Grass are only worth this price. Even if you hit me, I will not raise it by a single spirit stone."

The ferocity in Shen Ge's eyes instantly vanished, and he curled his lip, saying, "You actually were not scared by that; what a pity."

The corner of Wang Wei's twitched, and he did not open his mouth to take up that thread.

Shen Ge pulled a Storage Bag out from his waist, opened it to take a look, and the next moment said with a look of utter disgust, "Truly poor enough. There is nothing you could possibly want, no wonder you have to come out and waylay people."

He casually tossed the Storage Bag onto the stall: "This Storage Bag plus everything inside it counts for fifty spirit stones. There is no problem with that, right?"

Wang Wei picked up the Storage Bag, bound it to himself, took a look, and then said, "Forty spirit stones. This is the highest price. Apart from this Storage Bag, the things inside are not even worth ten spirit stones."

"Brother, since we are doing business, let us be open and honest, alright? Don't always think about overquoting prices. Everyone knows their goods-do you think I would let you trick me?"

"Alright, alright, let us be open and honest. That makes one hundred and twenty spirit stones now, right? Let me see what else there is to trade, hold on a moment."

"Five stalks of Five-Leaf Ginseng, three stalks of Human-Shaped Fleeceflower Root, ten flowers of Chicken Blood Flower-these should be about enough, right?"

At this moment, the pedestrians walking along the path stopped in their tracks. Their gazes swept over this stall intentionally or unintentionally, for the value of the items currently piled on this stall already exceeded several hundred spirit stones, making it hard not to attract attention.

Perhaps noticing the greedy gazes within the crowd, Wang Wei nimbly gathered up everything Shen Ge had taken out, while calling out the prices aloud at the same time: "Five stalks of Five-Leaf Ginseng, worth thirty spirit stones; three stalks of Human-Shaped Fleeceflower Root, worth fifteen spirit stones; ten flowers of Chicken Blood Flower, worth forty spirit stones. That is enough. Brother, these things belong to you."

Wang Wei directly shoved the wooden box into Shen Ge's hands, looking as though he feared the other party might renege.

"Brother, you still have quite a lot of spirit herbs and medicines on you. You must have spent quite a bit of time deep in the mountains and forests, right?" Wang Wei bantered.

After putting away the wooden box, Shen Ge stared eagerly at Wang Wei and said, "Never mind how long I stayed deep in the mountains and forests. Did you or did you not have five spirit stones left over that you haven't refunded me?"

Wang Wei's face darkened as he stared at Shen Ge and said through gritted teeth, "Brother, you are going too far! Selling these three talismans to you at that figure was already a low price. I gave you the lowest price and you are still fussing over those five extra spirit stones-are you even human!"

"I don't care about that. This price was settled beforehand, and since the things I gave exceeded that price, you must refund me. After all, I am not wealthy either."

With a dark face, Wang Wei pulled out two Chicken Blood Flowers and a handful of spirit stones, handed them to Shen Ge, waved his hand, and said, "Scram, scram, scram! If I do business with you again, I'll run straight into a Ghost-Faced Monkey's nest."