Living steadily in the world of gods and mystery

"A high price! What price can you offer?" Chen Li asked.

"If they are all of this quality, our Treasure Talisman Pavilion can offer 460 low-grade Spirit Stones!" The shopkeeper pondered for a moment before speaking, "The price of Water Element Talismans is stable; in any talisman shop, almost all of them have a fixed price of 5 mid-grade Spirit Stones. Other shops can also only offer this price at most, otherwise, there would be no profit."

"That price is still reasonable!"

Chen Li said, taking out five stacks of Water Element Talismans from his storage bag and placing them one by one on the counter.

"So many!?"

The shopkeeper couldn’t help but exclaim softly.

"Inventory accumulated over the years!" Chen Li replied and then fell silent.

The shopkeeper knew better than to ask any further, and began carefully inspecting the talismans, occasionally frowning and setting aside one to the side. Gradually, the five stacks of talismans were sorted into clearly distinguished three groups.

Chen Li thought to himself it was no wonder—the expert could tell. The group on the left was the batch he had drawn earliest, rough in quality with chaotic internal Spiritual Power, belonging to the entry-level among Water Element Talismans.

The middle group was basically of the proficient level, with the majority of merchandise from various companies being of this grade.

As for the far right, they were of the expert level and were considered fine products.

With five hundred talismans being no small number, Chen Li decided to sit to one side, sipping the fragrant tea offered by the host while patiently waiting.

After a full half an hour, the shopkeeper finally completed the inspection. He exhaled deeply and pushed the batch of inferior products toward Chen Li, "The quality of these talismans is somewhat uneven. We will not accept these forty-two flawed ones; we can only offer 410 low-grade Spirit Stones for the one hundred sixty-three ordinary ones, and for the rest, we will take them for the previously agreed 460. What do you think, Fellow Daoist?"

The price had already exceeded Chen Li’s expectations, but he still made a token effort to haggle.

Eventually, he managed to raise the price for the proficient batch to 415, a small victory.

The transaction was completed swiftly.

In total, he sold for: 19 top-grade Spirit Stones and an additional 55 mid-grade Spirit Stones.

The low-grade Spirit Stones were hardly worth considering.

Chen Li secured the Spirit Stones and swiftly walked out the door.

"It’s just earning some hard-earned money." Thinking about the shield talisman he had seen in the store previously, priced at one top-grade Spirit Stone, Chen Li couldn’t help but sigh to himself about the truly exorbitant profits.

Shield Talisman: A Seventh Level Second Order talisman.

The key point was that the method for making such high-level talismans wasn’t even available to the Golden Core Sect like Returning True Sect, and you simply couldn’t buy them on the market, obviously being tightly monopolized by those powerful forces.

Knowledge is wealth, as this world vividly demonstrates.

"There are still forty-two Water Element Talismans that are useless to keep with me; might as well go to the stalls to sell them off."

Thus thinking, Chen Li walked towards the outskirts of the city.

In order not to affect the business of shops within the city, Red Pillar City tightly regulated street vending, leading many Loose Cultivators to spontaneously form a market around Red Pillar City.

Chen Li hadn’t been there even once, as the place was a mix of dragons and snakes, brimming with powerful individuals; a slight misstep and one could become a target.

No one would casually visit that place without good reason!

On his way, he changed his appearance.

Soon, he had left the city.

It was now the dead of winter. The city was like spring all year round and he hadn’t felt anything. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

But once he was outside the city, he immediately felt the winter chill, the entire land blanketed with snow, dressed in a coat of silver.

The market was situated in a mountain hollow, a few dozen li away from Red Pillar City.

It wasn’t large, only about ten to twenty acres.

Formations had been set up above it.

From Chen Li’s observation with his Qi-watching Skill, it was at least a Third Order low-grade formation.

Clearly, someone was organizing this place.

Moreover, being able to open such a market so close to Red Pillar City, and with tacit approval, meant that the person behind it was clearly influential.

But this also meant it was safer, protected by strong forces.

Chen Li descended from afar, paid an entrance fee of one low-grade Spirit Stone, and followed the flow of people inside.

There were people everywhere.

Bustling and exceptionally noisy.

Here, First Order items were common, and Second Order items were not rare at all.

Chen Li even saw a group of five people displaying over a dozen Second Order Magic Artifacts, boldly shouting to sell them.

He strolled around and saw several sellers of Water Element Talismans, so he stepped forward to inquire about the price and immediately understood the market here.

Each was basically four Mid-grade Spirit Stones.

That was even a bit lower than the purchase price in the stores.

One could imagine the poor quality of these talismans for sale, which were basically entry-level.

At that moment, he saw a stall about to close and quickly stopped the Qi Cultivation cultivator.

After a brief communication,

the other party politely left their beast skin and stool used for setting up the stall to him.

Then he picked up a wooden board, concentrated his Spiritual Power into a force, and swiftly wrote the prices on it, before taking out all the Water Element Talismans and setting them up.

Initially, Chen Li was quite enthusiastic.

But after having set up for over an hour and only selling three talismans,

Chen Li grew impatient.

Why put himself through this agony here when, with the same effort, he could be sitting in the talisman drawing room, casually creating a few Water Element Talismans to earn it all back?

Just as he was about to pack up and sell these talismans to other stall owners at a low price, suddenly he heard a familiar voice:

"Fellow Daoist, could you make the Water Element Talisman a bit cheaper?"

Chen Li looked up.

Xiao Yuan!?

Even though the other person had changed his appearance, his skin had tanned considerably, and he had a scruffy beard, Chen could still recognize him at first glance.

It had been only half a year since they last met.

The other person had acquired a slick aura and lost the immortal grace he used to have.

"You there, are you going to answer me?" Xiao Yuan saw Chen’s startled look and said somewhat irritably.

"Oh, you mean a lower price, right? I was about to pack up. What price were you thinking?" Chen Li snapped out of it and said.

"I name the price? How about three Mid-grade Spirit Stones?" Xiao Yuan asked with a twinkle in his eye.

"Fine," Chen Li said.

"Really selling?" Xiao Yuan said.

"Really selling!"

"Even if I want ten?"

"...Sold!"

"Then I’ll take all the rest," Xiao Yuan’s eyes widened with a sly expression.

"This..." Chen Li was instantly a bit helpless.

It wasn’t a matter of the amount of money.

He had been prepared to sell them at a low price to other stall owners anyway.

It was just that... things had become somewhat awkward!

"What’s wrong? You spoke so confidently, but now you’re reluctant?" Xiao Yuan teased when he saw Chen hesitate.

"Sigh, take them, take them all," Chen Li sighed.

Xiao, it seems you’ve fallen on hard times.

After the transaction,

Chen Li watched Xiao Yuan move on to other stalls, then stood up, found a secluded spot, quickly changed his robe and boots, and restored his original appearance before pretending to browse casually and walking towards Xiao Yuan.

Xiao Yuan was surprised and hesitant when he saw Chen, which then turned into excitement:

"Chen, it really is you! That’s great, I thought I was mistaken. I didn’t expect you’d also survived."

"Fellow Daoist Xiao, I didn’t expect to see you here either. When did you arrive?" Chen Li responded, much calmer in comparison.

After all, he had already seen him before and any joy of meeting an old acquaintance in a foreign land was diluted by the prior embarrassment.

"I came here half a year ago... This isn’t the place to talk, come with me to where I’m staying. We must have a good drink today. You don’t know how many of our fellow sect members have also come to Red Pillar City," Xiao Yuan said excitedly.