Duan Ke had certainly not expected for Lin Mu to bring so many beast materials within a week. It seemed to her that Lin Mu had outdone himself this time, as looking at the materials she could tell that most of them were from high-tier beasts.
"I assume you are here to sell these materials?" Duan Ke spoke.
"And also to buy some things." Lin Mu hurriedly added.
After a few transactions, Lin Mu had understood that Duan Ke did not like it if he only sold and did not buy anything. Looking at her expression he could at least tell that she was probably not having a good day, thus he did not want to piss her off even more.
Lin Mu was indeed right about Duan Ke not having a good day. She had been searching for clues about the sword intent that was released two days ago. Her grandfather was also doing his best in scanning the library for any evidence of a hidden cultivator. Her grandfather's library had an enormous amount of materials, so much so that it could compare to that of the top sects.
If there was any clue about the hidden cultivator that ascended or the overbearing sword intent, it would be present in the library. There was no chance that a cultivator who had the aptitude of being able to ascend or having peerless sword intent would be able to hide every track of themselves. They must have had outstanding talent when they were younger, thus there should be some records of them.
Duan Ke felt a little better that Lin Mu would be buying something as well, hence her expression eased a bit. She went ahead and started checking the beast materials. Some of the materials were a little damaged, but most of them were fine.
After confirming the quality of the materials, Duan Ke calculated their value. There were some mid-tier beast materials mixed in, along with high-tier ones. Thus she took a few minutes. Five minutes later she had finished her calculations and concluded it to be 27 gold, 59 silver, and 11 copper coins.
To be honest, Duan Ke was a little surprised at Lin Mu's pace of making money. A month ago he had only 20 copper coins, and now he was making gold coins instead. She was also shocked by the growth of his strength. Just by looking at him, she could tell that he was already at the 9th stage of the body tempering realm at the very least.
"Your total would be 27 gold, 59 silver, and 11 copper coins." Duan Ke spoke.
Lin Mu nodded at this price, as he had already estimated it to be around this value.
"I would like to buy a weapons training manual for a sword." Lin Mu said.
"Very well, go to the fourth shelf from the right and pick out whatever one that you like." Duan Ke replied.
Lin Mu nodded and turned to the right and went towards the shelf. While he was looking at the old booklets and scrolls, senior Xukong spoke in his mind.
"Don't waste your effort here. None of these manuals are worth your time, you should instead ask that woman for a better one. She is hiding a lot of secrets, there are concealing and illusory formations placed all around this shop." Xukong spoke.
Lin Mu had suspected that Jing Wei and Duan Ke were cultivators, but now senior Xukong's words had just confirmed it. He wondered what their cultivation base could be.
"Do you know what their cultivation level is, senior Xukong?" Lin Mu asked silently.
"I would have to use my spirit sense to do that, but if I did, they would be alarmed and will know that I'm here. But from the formations, I can tell that at least one of them is a very high-level cultivator." Xukong answered.
"If you're this curious, why don't you try sensing it yourself?" Xukong spoke with a chuckle, as if he was looking forward to something fun.
Lin Mu felt a little strange upon hearing senior Xukong's tone, but did not think much of it. He returned to the counter and saw that Duan Ke was taking the materials to the back of the shop. Duan Ke saw that Lin Mu had returned, hence assumed that he had chosen a manual.
"Show me the manual that you want to buy." Duan Ke spoke.
"Oh, I don't want those weapon manuals, I want the ones better than that." Lin Mu spoke as he used his spirit sense to probe Duan Ke's cultivation base.
But Lin Mu was unsuccessful in finding her cultivation base. He felt as if there was a barrier stopping his spirit sense from getting close to her. Duan Ke was shocked by this but did not show it on her face.
"Is that so, please wait here for a bit then." Duan Ke replied.
Duan Ke then picked up the last of the materials all at once with ease and went into the door behind the counter. Lin Mu asked senior Xukong about the barrier that was surrounding Duan Ke.
"That was the effect of a defensive spirit tool. It was protecting her from spirit sense probes." Xukong spoke.
"Then what would her cultivation base be?" Lin Mu questioned.
"Well, just from her ability to use spirit tools, you can assume that she's above the Qi refining realm. As in order to use spirit tools, you have to be at the core condensation realm at the very minimum." Xukong explained.
Lin Mu gulped and became a little nervous as just Duan Ke was strong enough to defeat him alone. Who knows how strong her grandfather Jing Wei was. From senior Xukong's information, he already got that Jing Wei was the stronger one of the two and was the person who had set up these formations.
Five minutes later, Duan Ke walked out of the door with Jing Wei behind her. They came to stand at the counter when Jing Wei spoke.
"So, my granddaughter says you don't like the weapons manuals here and want better quality ones." Jing Wei spoke with an amused tone.
Lin Mu nodded and spoke, "Yes, Owner Jing Wei."
"Then let me see how strong you've become." Jing Wei spoke with a stern tone.
Before Lin Mu could say anything in reply, he felt a pricking pain in his head which he guessed to be Jing Wei's spirit sense. But in the next moment, he felt like a veil covered his body entirely and the pain in his head stopped.
Lin Mu then saw the pair of grandfather and granddaughter in front of him and became terrified. The condition of those two did not look good, their faces were drained of blood and became pale. Sweat could be seen on their foreheads, while Duan Ke was straight up shivering with fear.
A few seconds later senior Xukong chuckled in his mind once again. Suddenly, Jing Wei grasped the black-beaded bracelet on his wrist and broke it apart. In the next moment, he could see that Jing Wei and Duan Ke seemed to be free from whatever that was bothering them.
"Humph, and I was just starting to have fun." Xukong muttered.
The veil that Lin Mu felt was covering his body, slowly vanished. He then heard Jing Wei spoke.
"Okay, you satisfy my conditions. Now take this and please leave." Jing Wei hurriedly spoke.
A coin pouch appeared on the counter along with a booklet. This surprised Lin Mu, as Jing Wei had just used a spatial treasure. They had been concealing their capabilities all this time, but now they suddenly dropped all pretenses and revealed that they were a cultivator by using a spatial treasure.
Lin Mu took the coin pouch and booklet. He then turned around and left the old shop swiftly, as he felt like that was the right thing to do at that time. He touched the sled that was kept to the side and stored it in the ring.
Lin Mu walked out of the alley and left the old shop behind. He suddenly felt a fluctuation in qi, which made him turn around. Upon turning around, Lin Mu saw that the alley in which the old shop was located had vanished.
"How?" Lin Mu muttered to himself.
"That was the concealing formation being activated. And it's a high grade concealing formation as well." Xukong spoke.
"A high grade concealing formation?" Lin Mu questioned.
"It's strong enough to hide a place from the senses of a Dao shell realm cultivator." Xukong explained before Lin Mu could continue his question.
"Let's return to the forest. You should take a look at the weapons manual that the old man gave you." Xukong said.
"Yes, senior." Lin Mu responded.
After Lin Mu left the town, he thought about senior Xukong's strange behavior as well as the terrified pair of Grandfather and granddaughter. He wondered if he should ask senior Xukong or not, as it was picking at his mind.
While Lin Mu was out, he had no idea that what just happened in the shop had now terrified Jing Wei for a lifetime.