Translator: Asuka
Editor: Dhael Ligerkeys
Lu Ye was unmistakably much calmer when he left the mountain again. He came to Green Cloud City located at the foot of the mountain and arrived at the Divine Trade Association with practiced ease. Without waiting for the maid at the door to ask, he spat out the words, “To sell!”
He sat inside the compartment and drank the Spirit Tea provided by the Divine Trade Association as usual. It was a pity that he only managed to finish one pot of tea before somebody walked in.
“You waited a long time, Fellow Cultivator!” Following that voice, a middle-aged man walked into the compartment and bowed at Lu Ye. “This lowly one is Liu Quan. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Lu Ye nodded in acknowledgement. Liu Quan took a seat and got straight to the point. “What do you want to sell?”
Lu Ye took out the few mineral ores he had prepared in advance. Needless to say, the Yuan Metal ore was the most expensive. Most of the Spirit Stones he earned from selling those mineral ores previously came from the value of the Yuan Metal ore. This time around, the Yuan Metal ore that he brought out was slightly bigger than the one before. Hence, the price might be more expensive as a result.
Liu Quan checked the mineral ores one by one, then he gave a quotation for each piece of mineral ore. During this period, Lu Ye said nothing and simply drank his tea quietly. Finally, Liu Quan placed the Yuan Metal ore down and said, “This item is rarely found in the Outer Circle. I can give you a price of 38 Spirit Stones. The total price comes to 51 Spirit Stones. If you are happy with the price, we can complete the transaction immediately.”
“Can’t you increase the price a little more?” Lu Ye looked at Liu Quan.
Liu Quan shook his head with a troubled smile. “I can’t increase the price any further. After purchasing these raw materials, they will need to be refined and extracted by professionals before they can be made into something useful. There will be no profit margin for the Trade Association if I increase the price any further.”
[This guy is harder to deal with than Liu Ru Yin!] Lu Ye criticized Liu Quan in his heart. The last time he had tried to bargain with Liu Ru Yin, she had immediately increased the purchase price by 4 Spirit Stones. She was much more easy-going than Liu Quan even though she was a woman.
Unbeknownst to him, Liu Ru Yin had only been willing to raise the price for him because of an unwritten rule. Besides, she also wanted to do another business with him. That was why she had agreed so readily. Unfortunately, he was completely oblivious of the unwritten rule and had not bothered to give her a reward for her efforts. It had left her feeling quite upset as a result.
On the other hand, Li Quan was a man. He was not hoping to do any other business with Lu Ye, so it was only natural that he adopted a business-like attitude.
Lu Ye fell silent for a moment. He couldn’t be bothered to waste his time on nonsense. Taking out 4 Storage Bags, he asked, “Do you have a way to unlock these?”
Those were the Storage Bags that Yi Yi had offered to him in the past. She once told him that there were people in Green Cloud City who had the ability to unlock the Restraining Lock on the Storage Bags. Unfortunately, he had forgotten all about them during his last trip here.
Liu Quan calmly took the Storage Bags from Lu Ye. It was clear that he was well-versed with such things. He checked the Storage Bags briefly and said, “We do offer such service if you wish for us to help you unlock these Storage Bags. But, there is a fee involved.”
“How much?”
He responded with a number.
Lu Ye’s expression turned gloomy. The price was a little too high.
Liu Quan smiled. “Of course, you can also sell these items to the Trade Association. Every Storage Bag will be priced at this amount.”
He indicated a number with his hands.
Lu Ye laughed. “This number is lower than the quotation you gave me just now!”
In other words, the amount of Spirit Stones required as payment for the Trade Association to unlock these Storage Bags was higher than directly selling these Storage Bags to the Trade Association. It seemed a little unreasonable.
Liu Quan replied with a smile, “I understand what you are thinking, but I’m afraid this really is the price. You must understand; the Storage Bags belonging to cultivators in the Outer Circle are not worth much. It might even turn out to be just an empty bag with absolutely nothing inside. The Trade Association will be taking some risks in this transaction, so the price will not be high. Of course, if you wish to take a gamble to see if there are any valuable treasures in these storage bags, you only need to pay a small fee to unlock them. It’s entirely up to your choice.”
Lu Ye thought back on the three cultivators Yi Yi and the tiger had robbed just now. Their Storage Bags had not contained anything of value at all. Thus, he immediately made up his mind and started bargaining with Liu Quan again. In the end, he sold the 4 Storage Bags to the Trade Association for a total of 20 Spirit Stones. Combined with what he had already sold just now, the total amount came up to 71 Spirit Stones!
Liu Quan clearly looked a little happy once their transaction was completed. He asked, “Fellow Cultivator, how would you like your payment? Will you take your payment in Spirit Stones or Spirit Pills?”
Lu Ye said, “Do you have a map of the Spirit Creek Battlefield?”
The reason he asked this question was that he recalled hearing from the local wealthy man he met when he first entered the city not long ago that there were maps for sale in the Trade Association. If he wanted to head toward Crimson Blood Sect’s base, he first had to pinpoint the exact location where Crimson Blood Sect was situated. Thus, it would be more convenient if he had a map on hand.
Liu Quan immediately became enthusiastic. “Of course, we do. Which kind of map would you like?”
“How many types do you have?”
“There’s a 3-point map, a 7-point map, and a 10-point map. Three kinds in total.”
“What are the differences?” Lu Ye couldn’t help frowning. [They are just selling a map. Why make it so complicated?]
“It’s like this…” Liu Quan began to explain. After listening to Liu Quan’s explanation, Lu Ye slowly began to understand the differences between the three kinds of maps.
There were countless bases located across the entire Spirit Creek Battlefield. Every Sect in Jiu Zhou had their own base in the battlefield after all. These forces were constantly at odds with each other and the bases would change hands frequently. Therefore, drawing a map was an extremely troublesome affair.
Even so, the Divine Trade Association had the ability to do so. Due to the Trade Association’s countless branches located across the entire battlefield, they could easily draw up a map of the entire battlefield just by compiling the information from the various areas. None of the other forces could have done this.
A complete map would feature the situation of all the bases in the Spirit Creek Battlefield. It included a description of which faction these Sects belonged and which Tier the Sects were on. That wasn’t all; the various terrains and topography of the battlefield were also clearly indicated on the map. That was the 10-point map.
Meanwhile, the 7-point map was a simplified version of the 10-point map which only included the general situation of 70% of the forces on the battlefield…
The 3-point map provided even less information. It only provided 30% of all the information regarding the bases. There was no information whatsoever on the topography and landforms found on the battlefield…
In Lu Ye’s case, it was clear that he had to buy a 10-point map if he decided to buy a map. The Crimson Blood Sect was a Ninth Tier Sect, so it might not be written in the 7-point map and or the three-point map. It would be a huge waste of money if he bought the map only to discover that the Crimson Blood Sect was not indicated on the map.
Furthermore, there was another advantage to buying the 10-point map. He could simply go to any Divine Trade Association branches in the future to update the map. Due to the constant wars across the Spirit Creek Battlefield, the Sects changed hands frequently. A base might belong to the Grand Sky Coalition today, but it might belong to the Thousand Demon Ridge the very next day. If a person failed to pay attention to these changes and plunged right into the situation, it would surely lead to a disastrous ending. Hence, having a map that could be updated in real time would inadvertently help with avoiding many unnecessary risks.
Unfortunately, he immediately gave up on the idea when he heard the prices involved. A 10-point map was priced at 600 Spirit Stones. Moreover, this was already after a discount. On the other hand, even the 3-point map that Liu Quan had recommended was priced at several dozen Spirit Stones. But, what would he do with a 3-point map? 𝙫.𝒎
In the end, he could only end the transaction there. Out of 71 Spirit Stones, only 1 remained. The rest of the 70 Spirit Stones were used to buy 7 bottles containing 63 Spirit Restoring Pills. With so many Spirit Restoring Pills, it was only a matter of time before he broke through to the Second Order Spirit Creek Realm.