“Don’t be in such a hurry! I didn’t say I wouldn’t trade. I’ll take the pills, and this talisman is yours! But, big brother, you really know how to do business!”
Female Cultivator Chu swayed her hips and tucked the porcelain bottle into her robes in one fluid motion.
Then, she reached out, picked up a first-grade Top Grade Defense Talisman from the stall, and handed it to Su Twelve. As she passed it over, her fingers lightly teased his palm.
“Big brother, take a look, is there anything else you want? You could buy a few more things to take back with you!”
Su Twelve’s palm tingled. He tucked the talisman into his robes as if he had been shocked, his face instantly flushing red. He had never been close to women, and the woman before him was incredibly charming and alluring.
The fact that he hadn’t made a fool of himself on the spot already showed excellent self-control!
A second later, he took a deep breath, trying hard to calm his racing heart.
His gaze fell upon her stall. Looking over the talismans and talisman crafting manuals, he pondered for a moment before selecting twenty-four first-grade Middle Grade talismans and two incomplete introductory manuals on talisman crafting.
“How much for these?”
“The first-grade Middle Grade talismans are ten Essence-Nourishing Pills each, and these two books are fifty Essence-Nourishing Pills each. A total of three hundred and forty Essence-Nourishing Pills!” Female Cultivator Chu said quickly, her gaze occasionally sweeping over Su Twelve.
“Senior Sister, I’m buying so much from you, give me a discount. Three hundred Essence-Nourishing Pills, how about that?” Su Twelve scratched his head, smiling as he haggled.
“You’ve even bought my Top Grade talisman, yet you’re short on this little bit?” Female Cultivator Chu said with a beaming smile.
“How could I not be short? I only have this much left on me.” Su Twelve shrank his neck, looking honest and simple.
“Fine, three hundred it is!” Female Cultivator Chu gave a beautiful smile and nodded in agreement.
Su Twelve readily paid the pills, tucked his items away, turned around, and left.
With these purchases, his trip could be considered quite fruitful. At this point, he still had some Essence-Nourishing Pills left and wanted to look for manuals on cultivation techniques.
The moment Su Twelve left, the young man wearing a silk headband—the one who had previously stood with his arms crossed over his sword—hurried over.
Seeing the empty sandalwood box, the silk-headband youth frowned and hurriedly asked, “Senior Sister Chu, where is that first-grade Top Grade Defense Talisman?”
“Sold it!” Female Cultivator Chu said carelessly, her peripheral vision still fixed on Su Twelve in the crowd.
“Ah? Did a Senior Brother or Senior Sister at the sixth level of Qi Condensation or above come by?” The silk-headband youth’s brow furrowed, his expression somewhat vexed.
“No, it was a Junior Brother at the fourth level of Qi Condensation.” Female Cultivator Chu waved her hand and immediately replied.
“Senior Sister Chu, you’re not lying to me, are you? A Junior Brother at the fourth level of Qi Condensation can produce Qi Gathering Pills? And three of them at that?” The silk-headband youth looked astonished. Get faster updates on novelping.com.
“Why would I lie to you? Take a look.” Female Cultivator Chu grinned, opening the porcelain bottle to show the youth.
“What? Middle Grade Qi Gathering Pills?” The silk-headband youth was greatly shocked.
“That Junior Brother probably still has quite a few Qi Gathering Pills on him,” Female Cultivator Chu said with a half-smile.
“Are you sure?” The silk-headband youth was somewhat unconvinced.
“Hmph, what’s there to be unsure about!” Female Cultivator Chu raised her hand, and another medicine bottle appeared in her grasp.
Inside this medicine bottle lay yet another Middle Grade Qi Gathering Pill.
If Su Twelve were here, he would definitely cry out in surprise. This Middle Grade Qi Gathering Pill was exactly the extra one he had prepared.
“It seems Senior Sister Chu’s sleight of hand has become even more formidable!”
Seeing the two Middle Grade Qi Gathering Pills, the silk-headband youth’s expression changed slightly, and his breathing suddenly became rapid. Then, he let out a low gasp and hurriedly took a step back.
A second later, he lowered his voice and asked Female Cultivator Chu, “Senior Sister Chu, which Junior Brother bought the talisman?”
“What do you plan to do? Don’t forget, Sect rules strictly forbid disciples from fighting among themselves.” Female Cultivator Chu put on a stern expression.
“Senior Sister Chu, what are you saying? I merely want to get to know that Junior Brother.” The silk-headband youth quickly offered an awkward smile. After a moment of hesitation, he gritted his teeth, retrieved a Low Grade Qi Gathering Pill from his robes, and handed it over.
“Oh, in that case, there’s no harm. Over there, the one carrying the beast-hide sword sheath.”
Upon seeing the Qi Gathering Pill, Female Cultivator Chu’s eyes narrowed into slits. Without changing her expression, she accepted the pill and pointed toward Su Twelve in the nearby crowd.
“Thank you, Senior Sister Chu!”
The silk-headband youth revealed a joyful expression. He voiced his thanks, turned around, and began following Su Twelve from a distance.
Behind the stall, Female Cultivator Chu’s eyes darted around. She gathered everything from her stall, patted her waist, and all the items vanished. After that, she hurried off in the opposite direction.
Su Twelve walked at an unhurried pace through the crowd, completely unaware that his other Middle Grade Qi Gathering Pill was already lost.
He looked around as he browsed the market for a full hour. During this time, he saw quite a few rare treasures.
Among them, there was actually a cultivator selling a Low Grade spatial-type Magical Artifact—a Storage Bag.
That Storage Bag possessed a full ten cubic meters of storage space, comparable to a small portable room. It was incredibly wondrous. Of course, the price was not cheap either; the asking price was twenty Low Grade Qi Gathering Pills. This chapter is updated first at novelping.com.
Su Twelve’s eyes burned with envy. If he could have a Storage Bag, carrying his belongings would be much more convenient.
However, he also clearly understood that if he actually bought it, it would absolutely bring disaster upon himself.
In the end, he used his remaining one hundred Essence-Nourishing Pills to purchase two books from an old man.
One of them was a travel miscellany written by a cultivator named Perfected Qingzhu. It wasn’t worth much money.
The other book recorded three minor spells: the Rain-Summoning Technique, the Object Manipulation Technique, and the Heavenly Eye Technique. The old man had asked for one hundred and twenty High Grade Essence-Nourishing Pills, and Su Twelve haggled for a long time before finally securing it for one hundred.
Tucking everything securely away, Su Twelve hurried off.
In less than an hour, he arrived at the foot of Cuihuan Mountain.
But as he walked, his brow began to furrow, and a faint sense of foreboding rose in his heart.
“Am I being targeted? Who could it be?”
Su Twelve narrowed his eyes, his mind racing. He didn’t turn around. Instead, without altering his expression, he changed directions, heading toward the other side of Cuihuan Mountain, an area where he often hunted Demon Beasts.
An incense stick of time later.
Su Twelve passed by a towering ancient tree. The instant he walked past, the grass on the ground bulged. A large net woven from hemp rope suddenly shot into the air, as if it had ensnared something.
He swiftly turned his head to look. Inside the large net, accompanied by a burst of energy fluctuations, the figure of the sword-carrying youth in the silk headband came into view. On the youth’s shoulder, a first-grade Low Grade Invisibility Talisman was turning to ash and dissipating.
“It’s him?!”
His pupils abruptly shrank, looking somewhat surprised.
He had considered that it might be Female Cultivator Chu, and he had even suspected the old man who sold him those two books at the end.
But he had never imagined that this person would be the one following him.
Inside the net, the silk-headband youth struggled in frustration. “You brat, you actually dared to set me up?! Let me out right now! Otherwise, once I get out, I’ll definitely kill you!”
Hearing this, Su Twelve said nothing. He turned on his heel and ran as fast as his legs could carry him.
Was he joking? This was an expert at the fifth level of Qi Condensation. Su Twelve certainly didn’t believe that an ordinary trap could hold the other party.
If there wasn’t something fishy about this, that would be truly strange!
He outwitted and fought Demon Beasts every day, so he had plenty of combat experience.