A part of Aksai really wanted to enter the cultivation cave himself and have a look.
Maybe he would get lucky. The feeling was almost like someone cultivating the possibility of drawing the lucky lottery and winning big overnight. No matter how low the possibility was, it was pretty humane to consider oneself lucky.
However, Aksai knew much more about the Bloodfiend creation manuals than most members of the Lakir clan themselves. He knew that those who cultivated this art to its peak would have some means at their disposal to prolong their lives. They would also be able to use human sacrifices as fuel to make a comeback.
Aksai had dabbled into the Bloodfiend creation himself. So when he thought of entering the 3rd-order cave once again, a cold shiver ran down his spine.
‘Baaaah! To hell with these possibilities. I don’t want to end up like a silly protagonist who goes inside a cultivation cave and gets trapped by an evil ancient cultivator on his deathbed who is trying to find a perfect vessel for himself.
It would be really pathetic if, after staying put on an island for many years, I were to have my soul replaced by some Bloodfiend user in my first exploration. Plus, I can’t let my maids’ honor be sullied by allowing someone else to have “good times” with them using MY body.
So what if there’s a chance the cave holds a big opportunity for me at the cost of taking some risks? So what if it could give me the complete Bloodfiend creation series?
Know thyself, Aksai. I am just a humble Spirit farmer with serious trust issues. I don’t think I’m special enough to have some beautiful maiden come to my help just because I smiled at her or have an old sage come to my rescue just because I acted nicely to him.
There’s no dragon that owes me a favor. There’s no phoenix whose eggs I protected in my childhood.
Forget it. It’s better to let others take the risk of exploration. I’d just focus on buying these things using the power of money. Hehehe.’
The rich Spirit farmer thought to himself, prioritizing his safety over an unpredictable adventure.
“What is this strange man thinking? Why is his face so stiff when reading this gibberish? Does… does that mean this book is really worth more than my initial investment?”
Shameen asked herself as she looked at Aksai with a curious expressions on her face. As far as she knew, this book was just something someone had obtained from the cultivation cave through some chance encounter. They sold it to her shop for a measly 50 Spirit stones.
Shameen had asked a curator to decode the text written inside the book. However, the curator just told her that the book was some random gibberish that had no meaning. He charged her an additional 5 Spirit stones to come up with that verdict.
As such, Shameen had almost lost all hope of selling this old book for a huge profit. As long as it could recover her investment, she was willing to sell it to the first customer who’d ask for it. At least that’s what she thought in the beginning.
However, a few days ago, a girl came to explore Shameen’s shop casually just like Aksai. Coincidentally, she also picked up the same book and was immediately surprised by it.
This girl wasn’t as good at keeping her calm as Aksai was. She couldn’t hide her excitement from Shameen’s scrutinizing gaze. As such, the shopkeeper came up with an absurd amount for the book—500 Spirit stones.
Shaameen was merely trying to test the waters. This was Business 101– put the price as per the customer’s need. She was willing to let the girl bargain and bring the price down herself.
However, this mysterious and masked girl seemed to not possess the art of bargaining at all. She almost snapped at Shameen for her greediness. But for some reason, she chose not to cause a ruckus.
Instead, the masked girl buyer said she would give Shameen the 500 Spirit stones for the book. She was even willing to offer Shameen some extra amount if she were to take the book off the shelf and reserve it for her. It seemed that she was short on cash but had the means to gather the amount if there was a need to.
Shameen agreed to the girl’s request immediately, not giving too much importance to the fact that the girl had asked her to take the book off the shelf and reserve it for her. After all, Shameen was a businesswoman who preferred profits over perfunctory acquaintances.
As long as Aksai gave her more than 500… no… 600 Spirit stones, she was willing to sell it to him.
Shameen didn’t care if the girl buyer came to her after she sold the book to Aksai. It was not like she had given the amount in advance. So she was technically not bound to reserve the book for her.
***
Aksai didn’t know what the antique shopkeeper was thinking. He also wasn’t aware that there was someone else who wanted to buy this book from Shameen a few days ago.
Thus, Aksai focused his attention on the book.
As he read further, he saw mentions of peculiar crystals required for the lamp’s creation. Without these, human souls could be used as substitutes.
‘This is a legit Bloodfiend manual alright. It talks a lot about human sacrifices and soul harvests. This art is highly demonic in nature.’
The Spirit farmer was no saint. However, he had always found the requirement for human sacrifices distasteful and impractical.
Despite his tendency to dispense vigilante justice, he couldn’t afford the time and effort to hunt down and sacrifice thousands of evil mortals and low-level cultivators. It was inconvenient and gave him no practical benefits.
Aksai wasn’t a cape hero who would run around from point A to point B vanquishing evil for measly gains. He wasn’t trying to join the righteous faction of the Spirit cultivators by battling with all the demonic cultivators.
This was why he had relegated the Blood Soul Lamp to his clone, who could make better use of it. The lamp was useless for him for his current cultivation base anyway.
However, the manual offered an alternative: the artificial creation of these crystals, albeit still requiring human sacrifices.
But Aksai quickly realized that the crystals being described were none other than Aether Crystals, known for their rarity and power.
‘This… I can finally use the supplies I get from Acarnis. Hahahaha.’