Thinking this over, Su Li still felt that the bronze bell in his hand was a bit too crude. If it was a gift for his Master, it naturally had to be of the finest quality; perhaps it was best to look around the bazaar.
He took large strides toward the market.
Weapons, spirit ores—none of these could compare to the items his Master had prepared for him; as for talismans, being a disciple of the Linghua Sect, that was his strong suit… Looking around carefully, Su Li didn’t find anything he particularly wanted to buy. Suddenly, a utensil stall caught his attention.
The stall owner wasn’t mysterious either; he wore standard Feixing Workshop attire and had an upright, square face that looked very reassuring.
Su Li pointed at a small compass on the stall: “Treasure-Hunting Compass?”
The square-faced owner put on a polite, fake smile: “Indeed! It can help increase your chances of finding heaven-sent treasures and earth-born riches. Interested? If you’re genuinely buying, it’s yours for five hundred spirit stones.”
“Chances?” Su Li didn’t fall for it. He had seen far too much of this kind of rhetoric in street scams and had no intention of being duped. “How so, specifically? Increased by how much? Is the chance the same for every single treasure?”
The square-faced owner’s smile faltered. Looking at this well-dressed youth who clearly didn’t lack money, how were the young disciples from major sects nowadays so hard to fool? He said half-heartedly: “Well, it can increase the odds to at least fifty percent for everything. Fewer heaven-sent treasures, but more earth-born ones. After all, it also depends on your karmic fortune. On the path of cultivation, having a fifty-percent chance is already pretty good, isn’t it? Are you buying or not? If not, don’t block the way.”
Su Li thought that what he said wasn’t entirely unreasonable. Rare treasures were naturally hard to come by, and it ultimately came down to luck and opportunity—especially since Master had instructed him to find meteoric iron… He looked around, and this was the only stall selling compasses.
However, the owner’s attitude clearly indicated that his price was indeed unreasonable.
Su Li flashed a mocking smile: “Five hundred spirit stones for something like this? You’d be better off robbing someone. I’ll take it for one hundred.”
The square-faced owner thought: Good grief! This guy looks like a proud prodigy of a top sect, so why is his bargaining technique so terrifyingly skilled?!
“One hundred?!” he exclaimed in shock. “You might as well kill me! Four hundred and fifty! Take it or leave it!”
Su Li countered: “The condition of this compass isn’t even new. Is it a secondhand item returned by someone else that you’re reselling? You dare charge four hundred and fifty for this? One hundred and fifty, and we have a deal.”
Square-face: “…That shell is made from the branches of the Ancient Bodhi Tree! Of course it looks aged! What, do you want me to paint a new coat on it for you? Four hundred, not a single spirit stone lower!”
Su Li waved a hand dismissively: “Forget it, forget it. Seeing as you’ve been setting up stall here for a while, have you sold anything yet? Why not just sell it to me as a good omen to kick off your day’s business? I’ll take it for two hundred.”
Square-face: “…YOU!!”
The two went back and forth, bargaining with great gusto. Holding himself as a veteran stall owner for many years, this was the first time Square-face had met an opponent evenly matched with him. Though they appeared at each other’s throats on the surface, there was a bizarre sense of mutual respect brewing between them.
Soon, this “harmonious” atmosphere was shattered once again.
“Haha! Look what I found! The top rising star of Linghua Sect is actually here haggling over prices?!” A loud, sneering laugh broke through the clamor, sounding extraordinarily piercing—one could tell it had been roared out using spiritual energy.
Su Li: “…”
Square-face: “…”
Several red-robed disciples from Red Blood Lake walked over with swords in their arms, wearing expressions that said ‘caught you red-handed.’ Among them, a disciple with messy bangs giggled: “Ah, well, if Linghua Sect can’t afford it, it doesn’t matter—we, Red Blood Lake, can!”
“Boss, don’t waste your breath. Name a number, and I’ll buy it!”
Square-face and Su Li exchanged a glance. Su Li answered first: “I just bargained with the boss down to four hundred.”
Messy Bangs made a grand wave of his hand: “I’ll offer five hundred. Boss, sell it to me.”
Just then, another voice rang out: “Six hundred! Boss, sell it to me instead.”
Everyone turned around to find a young disciple wearing the uniform of Supreme Will Valley, his eyes crinkling like crescent moons as he smiled at the crowd. Beside him stood a pretty girl, also wearing the uniform and jade pendant of Supreme Will Valley.
The square-faced owner never expected that an old compass that usually couldn’t be sold at all would now become a hot commodity. With the three major sects gathered together, it was practically comparable to a miniature auction!
Over here, Crescent-Eyes from Supreme Will Valley draped a hand over Su Li’s shoulder, throwing a provocative glance at the Red Blood Lake disciples.
Messy Bangs took the bait as expected, huffing angrily: “Seven hundred! Are we, the outstanding disciples of the grand Red Blood Lake, supposed to worry about lacking a few spirit stones?!”
Su Li’s smile deepened: “How about seven hundred and fifty?”
Messy Bangs stiffened his neck: “Eight hundred!”
The square-faced boss shouted out in one breath: “Sold!” This was a fat sheep delivered right to his doorstep—he couldn’t let him run away!
The Red Blood Lake disciple grabbed the compass and ran off, glowing with pride.
Su Li turned his head and shared a look with the square-faced owner: “Boss, since you’ve kicked off your business with a bang, do you have any other compasses? Bring them out.”
The square-faced owner shook his head with a chuckle: “Young man, you really are something!”
Saying so, he prepared to pull out another compass: “This one—I’ll sell it to you for two hundred as a reward for helping me boost my business!”
Su Li paid smoothly and collected the goods.
Beside them, Crescent-Eyes from Supreme Will Valley watched in sheer dumbfoundedness: You can even do it like this??
Su Li smiled: “Even if he sold it to me for two hundred, counting the previous sale, the boss effectively sold each one for five hundred. He actually made quite a hefty profit.”
“I stand corrected, Senior Brother.” The Supreme Will Valley disciple bowed politely to Su Li. “I am Wu Haiqing, and this is my junior sister. Please guide us well.”
Su Li returned the gesture: “Not at all, not at all. Meeting today is fate. I have yet to thank Brother Wu for helping me out of that bind…”
Wu Haiqing replied: “I simply can’t stand the overbearing attitude of those Red Blood Lake fellows!”
The two had a delightful chat, even agreeing to look out for one another should they cross paths in the Qingpeng Secret Realm.
Just like that, an alliance was forged right in the middle of the market.
However, the moment Su Li walked away, Wu Haiqing’s face darkened completely.
Beside him, his junior sister asked timidly: “Senior Brother, did you really brush the Misfortune Powder onto him?”
Wu Haiqing glared at her: “Of course! Otherwise, why would I casually put my arm around the shoulder of a stranger? It’s extremely unhygienic!”
He tugged at his cuffs, letting the colorless and odorless powder drift further away: “It’s fine, we used the antidote, so we won’t be affected by the Misfortune Powder.”
The junior sister lowered her head, twisting her fingers nervously: “Oh.”
Wu Haiqing scolded her for failing to live up to expectations: “Think about it! If he hadn’t defeated our Senior Brother, would Supreme Will Valley have been forced to open the Qingpeng Secret Realm, even letting the people from Feixing Workshop enter for free to help mine?!”
“If our sect were the only ones entering the secret realm, we wouldn’t have been placed in Team Two; we could have entered together with Team One! Wouldn’t that be much safer?!”
Junior Sister muttered: “But… it was Senior Brother who was in the wrong first…”
Wu Haiqing spat: “Would Senior Brother contaminate his own furnace just to win against someone from Linghua Sect? I don’t believe it for a second!”
“The Misfortune Powder was bought from the market. At most, it’ll just render that compass useless—it’s no big deal. If anything happens, I’ll take the blame! Stop walking around with that mournful face!”
Scolded so harshly, the little junior sister couldn’t even cry. She could only keep her head down and follow him back.
And it had to be said that this Misfortune Powder was indeed potent—the moment Su Li walked out of the hall to wait for his fellow disciples, he was cornered by the Red Blood Lake people once again