TBIP: Chapter 30 Part 2

In this way, let’s go back to the two fasting pills of Lou Xingyao and Shopkeeper Qian.

With Lou Xingyao’s pill, the fragrance was more intense and the patterns even started to faintly have auspicious cloud lines.

This type of performance didn’t reach the level of top-grade but was only one step away.

“Being able to refine a pill of this level is enough to show that the alchemist’s skills are good, and they will definitely be able to obtain a top-grade pill in the process. Perhaps there can also be a best-grade pill.”

The shopkeeper opened his mouth at the right time and continued to talk about his conclusions. Halfway through his words, he acted as if he had made a mistake and hurriedly made up for it. “This is just a small possibility. Let’s not talk about it. In any case, a top-grade pill must not be difficult for this alchemist. I am not greedy. If you can timely sell me some so that I can show my face to those in the main house., I will be grateful.”

Originally, Lou Xingyao didn’t want to do so.

After all, Shopkeeper Qian’s eyes were too vicious. Just by seeing the difference between the medium-grade pills, it could be seen that Lou Xingyao had some top-grade pills.

If he gave the other party the top-grade pills, perhaps some clues could be seen, and Shopkeeper Qian could determine that he had best-grade pills. Then the matter wouldn’t end well.

Unexpectedly, the shopkeeper was very persistent in this regard. He said that he was willing to give a high price of only 20 gold below the market price, obviously aiming at the top-grade pills in Lou Xingyao’s hands.

If not, the price wouldn’t be successful and it would be pushed down by at least another 40%.

Shopkeeper Qian removed four-tenths in one go, which was nearly half the proportion. How could Lou Xingyao be willing?

But he also knew the price at the beginning was indeed a great concession by Shopkeeper Qian.

After all, the spiritual plants store bought these pills and sold them. This would inevitably incur a series of costs such as store rent, staff salaries and so on.

In this way, it was more reasonable to purchase it at a price at about 50% of the market price.

Clearly, Lou Xingyao couldn’t accept such a price difference.

After several push and pulls, Lou Xingyao finally relented and agreed to the request of the shopkeeper for top-grade pills.

However, the price wasn’t discounted at all and was directly set in line with the market.

In addition, Lou Xingyao took the opportunity to make a request.

At the time of the checkout, three-quarters of the payment needed to be delivered in the form of spiritual beads.

After walking through the Endless Forest, Lou Xingyao could probably understand the reason why Wen Hanshan never bargained when buying things.

Mundane things such as gold and silver were really easy for cultivators to obtain.

For the sake of a few dozen gold, it was better to hunt one more demon beast during training.

But spiritual beads were different.

This item could not only be used as currency on the Tianming Continent, but the energy contained in it could be used for cultivators to cultivate.

Unlike the free energy in the air, the energy contained in the spiritual bead had no attributes.

In other words, if there were enough spiritual beads, the cultivator no longer needed to meditate hard and painstakingly capture the energy that matched their own attributes from the free energy of different attributes.

Instead, they could directly extract the energy contained in the spiritual beads and the efficiency was much faster than meditation. This could be described as twice the result with half the effort.

Due to this, the spiritual beads were also in the hands of a very small number of people, like the vast majority of scarce cultivation resources.

Ordinary casual cultivators wanted to ask for one or two, but it was even more difficult than ascending to the sky.

However, since Lou Xingyao dared to make this request to Shopkeeper Qian, he was naturally sure that the other person would be able to do it.

After all, he must have a background behind him to be able to have a spiritual plant store of this scale in Xilin County.

Besides, when he asked Lou Xingyao for the top-grade pills, Shopkeeper Qian had also made it clear that he wanted to show his face in front of the main house.

Sure enough, after thinking about it for a long time, Shopkeeper Qian finally nodded and agreed to Lou Xingyao’s request.

However, he stuck to the ratio of 1,500 gold to one spirit bead. He was unwilling to let go no matter what.

Since Shopkeeper Qian was so insistent, Lou Xingyao rarely loosened up this aspect of the price and agreed to such a ratio.

In this way, the cooperation between the two sides was agreed upon.

Don’t be fooled. Before the deal was sealed, Shopkeeper Qian was extremely stingy and haggled over every last cent.

But after the transaction was completed, he was extremely refreshing and would never deduct it.

If it wasn’t for this, Lou Xingyao wouldn’t have been willing to continue trading with him after cheating him on the matter of the spiritual plants.

Perhaps because they were familiar with each other, but Shopkeeper Qian’s glittering and calculating expression wasn’t as hateful as it was in the beginning to Lou Xingyao.

In the present, he could even smile and say, “Shopkeeper Qian, you are so kind. I have just arrived.”

Shopkeeper Qian wasn’t a stranger to Lou Xingyao. He said a few polite words before going directly to the topic. “I don’t know how many goods you brought this time?”

“It is the same as last time. Two hundred pills of each type.” Lou Xingyao didn’t drag it out. He directly took out a storage bag and put it on the table.

“Please wait a minute.” Familiar was familiar, but the shopkeeper still took the storage bag and counted it.

During this period, he didn’t forget to take out a few jade bottles from them occasionally, opening them to check the specific appearance of the pills inside.

Lou Xingyao wasn’t dissatisfied with this. It was indeed possible to relieve a lot of trouble by checking it in person.

What’s more, Shopkeeper Qian was used to acting quickly. Sure enough, within a cup of tea, Shopkeeper Qian had already come to a conclusion.

He also took out a storage bag and put it in front of Lou Xingyao. “Young Master, take a look. This is the payment this time. 30 spiritual beads and 10,000 gold. Do you want to check?”

Lou Xingyao didn’t directly grab the storage bag. Instead, he asked, “Can I get an answer for what I asked you last time?”

“Look at my memory. I almost forgot such an important thing.” Shopkeeper Qian patted his head in annoyance. Then he took out a storage bag and put it on the table. “These are the second-grade and third-grade spiritual plants collected according to your request. Take a look?”

After some checking, Lou Xingyao knew that Shopkeeper Qian had taken this matter to heart.

The number of spiritual plants in the storage bag wasn’t much, but it was better to have a complete variety.

Even if some varieties were missing, some seeds were found to make up for it according to Lou Xingyao’s requirements.

There weren’t many third-grade spiritual plants, but a lot of seeds had been collected.

In addition, Lou Xingyao bought some seeds from the market so he had actually collected a lot of third-grade spiritual plant seeds.

“How much do these spiritual plants cost?”

“It is good that you are satisfied. They are just some seeds, and the quantity isn’t much. It isn’t worth the expense.” Shopkeeper Qian replied with a smile. This meant he didn’t plan to collect money for it.

Lou Xingyao refused a few times. Then once he saw that Shopkeeper Qian was insisting, he didn’t say anything else and just smiled. “Then I thank Shopkeeper Qian for your kindness.”

Seeing this, the shopkeeper also showed a satisfied smile. He didn’t forget to add, “Originally, these third-grade spiritual plant seeds weren’t something that I could obtain. Fortunately, the top-grade pills provided by you the past few times allowed me to enter the eyes of the main house. This is why there are these rewards.”

Lou Xingyao heard this and knew what he meant. He took out another storage bag and put it on the table.

Shopkeeper Qian hurriedly stepped forward and took the storage bag. After a bit of testing, he knew that it was indeed the top-grade pill he wanted.

The already smiling face developed more wrinkles.

He spoke polite words to Lou Xingyao while not forgetting to take out two hundred spiritual beads according to the market price.

The swift appearance made it seem that if he moved a bit slower, Lou Xingyao would take back the top-grade pills.

In this way, the transaction between the two of them came to an end.

As usual, Lou Xingyao counted the money and confirmed that it was correct. Then he got up directly to say goodbye.

Shopkeeper Qian knew the other person’s temperament very well, and no longer tried to politely keep him. He got up and sent the person out respectfully.

The moment Shopkeeper Qian finished sending Lou Xingyao away and returned to the box where he had traded with Lou Xingyao, he saw an extra figure in black clothing in the room.

Shopkeeper Qian was obviously very familiar with this person, and there was no surprise on his face.

The man in black saw Shopkeeper Qian coming back and couldn’t help asking, “Why don’t you send someone to follow him and take a look?”

Shopkeeper Qian glanced at him. “Follow and see. Then what?”

“Naturally, find out the details of the other person and see if he can be used by the head of the family.” The man in black replied as if it was obvious.

“Do you think I haven’t thought about it?” Shopkeeper Qian sneered and took a sip from the cup of tea on the table that was still steaming. “Look at it. How many times has he come here? He hasn’t touched the tea in the store at all, and never takes away the storage bag I give him. Do you think the other person is rash?”

Speaking of this, Shopkeeper Qian added with some regret, “If I knew this when he came to sell spiritual plants before, I would’ve had someone test him. Then it wouldn’t be like this…”

Yes, don’t look at how Shopkeeper Qian was always smiling in front of Lou Xingyao.

Being able to sit here firmly in a place like Xilin County meant he naturally wasn’t a good person. He did things like robbery.

In the beginning of Lou Xingyao’s transaction with Shopkeeper Qian, he was cautious due to Wen Hanshan’s influence and never showed his true face.

At that time, Shopkeeper Qian didn’t care about the spiritual plants he sold.

The quality might be good, but they were only first-grade. They weren’t worth his trouble.

Later, he did think about things when discovering that Lou Xingyao could even take out top-grade pills.

As a result, he found that the other person was simply a loach. He could disappear from under the noses of the people the shopkeeper sent out to keep an eye on him several times.

Shopkeeper Qian secretly hated it in his heart, but he thought about the huge benefits brought about by the transactions with the other person and finally endured it.

Now that the people in the room brought up these old things again, it aroused the embarrassment of Shopkeeper Qian in tracking Lou Xingyao.

He saw that the man in black seemed unconvinced. The two of them had been partners for many years. There might’ve been all types of unpleasantness, but on the whole, they had a tacit connection.

He sighed slightly and couldn’t help giving a reminder. “Suppress that little thought in your heart. He isn’t someone to mess with.”

“What’s wrong?” The man in black also knew Shopkeeper Qian and that he wasn’t someone who spoke without reason. His previously restless thoughts calmed down a bit.

Unexpectedly, Shopkeeper Qian changed his words and only talked about another person. “Yang Jirong died a few days ago. Do you know about this?”

“I heard he was beheaded by an extremely strong sword cultivator.” The man in black nodded. He wasn’t allowed to go out due to needing to be in the store, but he had other channels and knew everything about the city.

In addition, Yang Jirong’s death caused waves in Xilin County, and there was no way he could miss it.

However, this matter happened some time ago and the hottest news in Xilin County had changed many times.

Why start rehashing this old matter?

Just as the man in black was feeling puzzled, he heard Shopkeeper Qian sigh slightly. “When that person came to sell the pills for the first time, there was a person with a sword next to him.”

“You mean?” The heart of the man in black immediately tensed.

“I can’t confirm it, but it is almost certain.” Shopkeeper Qian nodded. When it came to preying on his own kind, the most important thing was keen eyesight.

If he underestimated the strength of the other person, meeting someone who pretended to be a pig when he was actually a tiger, he wouldn’t be able to get any money and might die.

The fact that Shopkeeper Qian had been safe for so many years was inseparable from his keen vision.

Wen Hanshan’s sword intent that day wasn’t as outward as when he killed Yang Jirong, but it was enough to make the shopkeeper feel great pressure from it.

He had only experienced such a powerful feeling from the head of the family, who was a golden core cultivator.

If it wasn’t for this, Shopkeeper Qian wouldn’t have decisively chosen to give up after following Lou Xingyao several times and failing to do so.

The man in black also felt a chill at this moment.

It had to be known that when Yang Jirong was still alive, the cultivation realm wasn’t as good as his, but it wasn’t much worse.

If the two of them fought with all their strength, it would be a question mark over who won or lost.

In this way, the other person didn’t even exchange a few blows with the sword cultivator. If it was changed to himself, the consequences could be imagined.

Thinking of this, the man in black hurriedly suppressed the small thoughts in his heart about dealing with Lou Xingyao and nodded in agreement. “So… this seems to be the only way.”

Fortunately, the top-grade pills were very useful. The benefits were considerable, and if operated properly, he could get a lot of favors and benefits.

It could be regarded as making up for their inability to rob.

Thinking about it like this, the pity in their hearts dissipated a lot. The two of them had a tacit understanding and no longer mentioned the matter of tracking Lou Xingyao.