: Selling Magical Artifacts, Buying Spiritual Ginseng

Chapter 6: Selling Magical Artifacts, Buying Spiritual Ginseng

Compared to a small place like "Qingyun Valley", Hongya Market is much larger.

This market was built on a mountain peak that was two or three hundred feet high. The entire mountain peak, including several nearby hills, was included in the market, which contained more than a hundred shops.

As Zhou Chun entered, he could easily spot the figures of cultivators moving about on the mountain.

Such a bustling scene truly deserves the name "marketplace".

The market was naturally safe. After looking around for a while, Zhou Chun slowly strolled around the market, looking for an opportunity to inquire about the Zhou family's whereabouts.

Having experienced the attack, Zhou Chun definitely needs to be more careful when gathering information.

We must never again let people so easily associate him with the Zhou family, thereby giving rise to malicious intent towards him.

After wandering around the market for a while, Zhou Chun quickly found a shop that looked decent and went inside.

The shop, named "Wu's Grocery Store," was not large. There was not a single shop assistant in sight; only an elderly man in blue robes was sitting in a chair reading a book.

Upon seeing Zhou Chun enter, the old man in blue first glanced at him, and after realizing he wasn't a regular customer, he lazily said, "Greetings, fellow Daoist. All the items sold in this shop are listed there. The prices are fair, and we treat everyone fairly, young and old."

After saying that, he gestured with his lip towards a white cloth covered with black writing on the wall next to him.

Look at him, he doesn't seem to have any sense of "the customer is always right".

But Zhou Chun knew that this was the normal state of things in this world.

Those who are able to open shops in the market are either highly skilled, wealthy, or possess special skills.

Either the shops are opened by sects or families, and the people in charge of managing them are also disciples of these sects or families.

In either case, they are of a much higher status than ordinary independent cultivators.

Under these circumstances, how could they possibly treat the Qi Refining cultivators who come to the shop as "gods"?

Moreover, even in his previous world, there weren't many street-side shops that could do this; it was already good enough if they didn't bully their customers because they were big shops!

Zhou Chun, of course, did not care about the old man's attitude.

He didn't look at what was written on the white cloth, but simply cupped his hands in greeting to the old man and said, "Greetings, shopkeeper. I have a few discarded magical artifacts. I wonder if your shop would be willing to take them in?"

"You want to sell your magical artifacts?"

The old man in blue was taken aback, then put down the book in his hand and squinted at Zhou Chun.

Looking at Zhou Chun's young and handsome face, he frowned slightly, as if he couldn't believe that such a young junior cultivator would be the kind of bandit cultivator who made a living by killing and robbing.

But if he wasn't a rogue cultivator, how could someone of Zhou Chun's age and cultivation level possibly have extra magical artifacts to sell?

The old man in blue robes had a variety of thoughts running through his mind. After a long while, he nodded slightly and said, "Then take the items out and let us take a look. If there are no problems, our shop can consider taking them back."

Their kind of general store sells and buys everything.

Without saying much, Zhou Chun took out the magic artifacts he had obtained from the two rogue cultivators, as well as the two low-grade first-tier magic artifacts he was carrying.

The magical artifacts, spells, talismans, pills, and formations used by cultivators are all graded.

Generally speaking, they are divided into first-order, second-order, and third-order, and then further subdivided into three smaller levels: first-order low-grade, first-order medium-grade, and first-order high-grade.

Basically, first-tier magic artifacts are used by cultivators in the Qi Refining stage, second-tier magic artifacts are used by cultivators in the Foundation Establishment stage, and third-tier magic artifacts are used by cultivators in the Purple Mansion stage.

The value of a ritual implement is not only closely related to its grade, but also to its purpose, performance, and other factors.

The magical artifacts that Zhou Chun took out at this time were all single-purpose offensive artifacts, and they did not have any outstanding special abilities. They were just artifacts used by a novice who had just entered the world of cultivation.

So after some appraisal, the two magical artifacts he obtained from killing the two rogue cultivators were returned to him by the old man in blue, leaving only the two magical artifacts that he and Li Han had actually discarded.

Then, looking at him, he said, "These two magical artifacts are of decent quality, which shows that the craftsman's skill level is quite good. Our shop is willing to buy them back for twenty spirit coins each."

"As for these two magical artifacts, fellow Daoist, you should take them to the market stalls in the city. Perhaps some fellow Daoists who have just entered the world of cultivation will be willing to buy them as their first magical artifact."

This result made Zhou Chun feel somewhat heartbroken for the two rogue cultivators who died at his hands.

It turns out that the magical artifacts those two guys used were so bad that even general stores wouldn't take them back, which shows just how miserable their lives were.

For the time being, he could only do as the old man in green said, accept the two returned magical artifacts, and then count and accept the forty spirit coins given by the old man in green.

After leaving "Wu's Grocery Store", Zhou Chunzhen went to the street market in the neighborhood, just as the shopkeeper had suggested.

Street markets are a must-have in every market in the cultivation world. They are places where cultivators trade freely, but also places where counterfeit goods are rampant.

By paying one spirit coin to the market management staff as a stall fee, one can stay in the market for a whole day and even meditate and cultivate.

The premise is that there are truly people who are bold enough to enter a meditative state and cultivate in that kind of environment.

When Zhou Chun arrived at the street market in Hongyafang City, he found that the number of cultivators here had indeed increased significantly. The number of cultivators setting up stalls and those visiting the market was roughly equal.

Since most cultivators prefer peace and quiet, the street market isn't too noisy unless they encounter a situation where they can't agree on a price.

Zhou Chunzhen actually saw several rogue cultivators who had casually set up some things in front of their stalls as a pretense, and were meditating with their eyes closed.

Seeing this, Zhou Chun hesitated for a moment, then paid a spirit coin to rent a stall, set up two magic artifacts and a few miscellaneous items, and started his business there.

Of course, Zhou Chun's real intention was not to set up a stall, but to use the stall as a pretext to chat and make small talk with some other independent cultivators who were also setting up stalls there, trying to subtly find out the information he wanted to know.

In less than two days, Zhou Chun successfully sold two magical artifacts at the market stalls in the market, for thirteen and fourteen spirit coins respectively.

However, the search for information did not go smoothly. Many of the independent cultivators who set up stalls here had heard about the Three Absolutes Sect being split up, but no one knew exactly where the Zhou family went after leaving the Three Absolutes Sect.

Seeing this, Zhou Chun could only patiently continue waiting for an opportunity in the market.

On the third day after he arrived at the market, a rogue cultivator with the tenth level of Qi Refining suddenly appeared at the market stalls.

As soon as the old man with gray hair set up his stall, he put out more than a dozen items, including newly picked spiritual herbs, spiritual minerals dug from who-knows-where, and slightly damaged magical artifacts.

Upon seeing this, many of the cultivators at the stall began to look at the old man with strange expressions.

Generally speaking, cultivators who sell everything are very likely to be bandits who specialize in killing and robbing.

Or even if one is not a bandit cultivator, one may have a great connection with bandit cultivators and be responsible for handling the treasures they have stolen.

But while they might think that way, no one would meddle unless someone they were close to wanted to get their hands on something at the stall.

On the contrary, most of the time, because the items sold by bandits are slightly lower than the market price, they will attract many cultivators who want to take advantage of the bargain to buy them.

However, when these cultivators who wanted to take advantage of the situation stepped forward and asked about the price, they immediately became so angry that they turned and left.

Although the old man was setting up a street stall, his prices weren't much cheaper than the market price, leaving him little room to resell and make a profit.

The people who had gathered there quickly dispersed.

Seeing this, Zhou Chun's eyes suddenly lit up, and he also stepped forward to ask about the price.

"Fellow Daoist, may I ask how much this spiritual ginseng costs?"

He pointed to a yellowish-white ginseng root on a street stall, its whiskers still covered in soil, and asked about the price in a low voice.

"Wild ginseng over 150 years old, only 24 spirit coins, no bargaining!"

The old man looked up at Zhou Chun and casually stated the price.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Chun frowned and said, "The wild spirit ginseng is filled with turbid and malevolent energy. To use it as medicine, we must first remove this energy. Twenty-odd spirit coins are really too much!"

Upon hearing this, the old man immediately snorted coldly with displeasure, "Hmph, if the methods to remove the turbid and evil energy from these spiritual objects weren't all controlled by those sects and families, would a hundred-year-old spiritual ginseng only sell for such a small amount of spiritual coins?"

After saying that, he glared at Zhou Chun and said, "Young man, if you want to buy it, then buy it. If you don't want to buy it, then just stand aside and watch. Don't try to make fun of this old man!"

"Hey, I was just saying. Why are you angry, fellow Daoist? In business, people always have to bargain."

Zhou Chun shook his head, then glanced at the other spiritual herbs on the stall and said, "How about this, I'll buy all of your herbs, fellow Daoist. You can give me a discount of a few spirit coins, how about that?"

Upon hearing this, the old man remained cold and said, "No, not a single spirit coin can be missing. If even one is missing, I'll send them all to the pharmacy to be disposed of!"

Upon seeing this, Zhou Chun's tone softened immediately, and he looked at the old man with pleading eyes, saying, "Please, have mercy and help this junior out, okay? Earning spirit coins at my level isn't easy. You also started as a junior cultivator, you should understand!"

"Ha, if I were to help you, then who would be willing to help me?"

The old man sneered repeatedly.

Then, looking at Zhou Chun with a mocking expression, he said, "Stop playing the victim in front of me. Judging by your young age and cultivation level, you must be a member of some cultivation family. You want to buy spiritual herbs at a low price in this market and then resell them to your family at a higher price? I understood this trick of yours more than ten years ago!"

"Ahem, fellow Daoist, you're overthinking it. I had absolutely no such intention."

Zhou Chun coughed awkwardly twice and quickly denied it.

Although he did have this idea, it was completely different from what the old man said.

However, the old man clearly didn't believe him, and just gave a cold laugh without saying anything more.

In the end, Zhou Chun could only buy the spirit ginseng for twenty-four spirit coins.

(End of this chapter)