Xia Yunzhao looked at the handbook, and his expression suddenly turned grave.
Everyone watched to see what he would do.
He raised a hand. A burst of blue-green light gathered in his palm, and the bronze alchemy furnace appeared.
Xia Yunzhao held Xiao Qing up and declared solemnly, “Little Pot, I fished up tons of seaweed fronds for you. They’re all Level-Three materials. Hurry and try some!”
With that, he shot Su Ying a look.
Su Ying: “…”
Looking deeply apologetic, he brought over the pot of hideous-looking sludge. Xia Yunzhao raised a hand and poured it straight into Xiao Qing.
Xiao Qing: ?
Xiao Qing: .
Xiao Qing: !
With a whoosh, a streak of blue-green light flashed. Xiao Qing instantly shot to the side of the ship and perched on the railing, looking as though it wished it could turn itself upside down and dump everything in its belly straight into the sea.
This scene looked awfully familiar.
Xia Yunzhao fell silent.
Normally, Xiao Qing was not picky at all. Back when Xia Yunzhao still had to hunt for his own food, Xiao Qing would even eat an animal’s internal organs. He had always treated it like an environmentally friendly garbage disposal!
Was Soul-Entangling Seaweed really this powerful? Even Xiao Qing could not stand it?
Clang! After throwing up, Xiao Qing flung itself onto the deck and started hopping furiously. Its meaning could not have been clearer: Disgusting! It tastes awful! Throw it away! Throw all of it away!
Xia Yunzhao: “…”
He looked around. “How about…”
Everyone else immediately retreated three huge steps and waved their hands frantically. “No, no, we’ll pass.”
“Right. Something this good should be enjoyed by the City Lord himself…”
Xiang Moyue managed to keep his composure a little better and asked, “What if you refine it into pills?”
Xia Yunzhao pulled a long face. “I don’t have a suitable recipe. Besides, even if I refined this stuff into a pill, it would still taste like this…”
Well, there really was nothing to be done about that.
Xia Yunzhao found another storage pouch and stored the six-thousand-plus seaweed fronds separately. Then he left them alone. Throwing them away was out of the question. His family was nowhere near rich enough for that. He would see whether they had some other use later.
The rest of the voyage settled down again, and Xia Yunzhao began studying the spirit materials they had hauled up from the seabed.
Moonlight Gauze Algae was an artifact-refining material. Thin as gauze, it was particularly suitable for refining water-attribute magical artifacts. Xia Yunzhao experimented a few times and made a water-attribute fan as well as a gauzy water-attribute magical robe.
Xia Yunzhao held the two magical treasures and studied them, sighing. “Their attack power is a little low, but their defense is really high. Too bad they don’t suit anyone on the ship.”
Shang Shuangze had watched him refine them and naturally knew their properties. “Water-attribute magical treasures have always been like that. It isn’t your fault.”
Xia Yunzhao nodded and moved on to the other spirit materials. A Voice-Transmission Conch only needed a little ritual refinement to become a voice-transmission magical artifact. Once infused with spiritual power, it could be used immediately, and its transmission range reached more than ten thousand li. It truly was an excellent thing.
If they had possessed Voice-Transmission Conches earlier, they would be able to communicate with Brother Xing and the others right now.
Spirit Cattail Grass was slightly less useful, though not by much. It was a raw material for producing high-tier talisman paper. However, plenty of spirit plants could be used to make high-tier talisman paper, and Liancui Mountain had quite a few of them, so there was no need to search the deep sea specifically for this one.
Dragon-Blood Coral, on the other hand, was impressive. Combined with Dragon-Scale Grass, it could be used to refine the Level-Three Dragon-Blood Body-Tempering Pill. Combined with Dragon-Blood Tree Sap, it could instead refine the Level-Four Dragon-Power Pill. Both were body-tempering pills, and both were among the best body-tempering pills of their respective levels.
Xia Yunzhao first took half of the Dragon-Blood Coral and refined two furnace-batches of Dragon-Blood Body-Tempering Pills. He saved the rest until he acquired the recipe for the Dragon-Power Pill. By then, he and Shang Shuangze would surely have reached Nascent Soul and would be just in need of Level-Four pills.
* * *
He worked through the materials one after another like this, and more than ten days passed in the blink of an eye.
More than half of the spirit materials hauled up from the seabed had been turned into magical artifacts or pills. Only the Green Spirit Pearls and Cold-Jade Mystic-Water Clams remained.
Green Spirit Pearls could be used to refine the Level-Four Minor Return-to-Heaven Pill. Unfortunately, Xia Yunzhao did not yet have the recipe.
As for the Cold-Jade Mystic-Water Clams, he did have the recipe for Water-Jade Mystic Paste, but he had not gathered all the required spirit medicines yet. He was still missing Sea-Moon Stone, a kind of ore also found on the seabed. According to the information he had collected earlier, the ore was not especially rare. Xia Yunzhao and the others simply had not encountered any yet.
With all the spirit materials dealt with, Xia Yunzhao returned to his leisurely life of pill refining and fishing. As their voyage continued deeper, they drew closer and closer to the depths of Wangjin Sea, and the storms at sea grew increasingly fierce.
Fortunately, these were all ordinary storms. Everyone was becoming more practiced as well, and they did not encounter any real danger.
One evening, dark clouds gathered and another storm broke out over the sea. Everyone skillfully cleared the deck and put away the fishing gear. Xia Yunzhao activated the defensive formation and released the phantom of the Heaven-Reaching Tree. Cloudwater Ferry instantly enlarged until it resembled a small island, settling heavily on the sea and remaining unmoved by wind or rain.
The entire process took less than a quarter-hour. They looked like a crew of veteran fishermen who had been doing this for years.
Xia Yunzhao smiled and was just about to say something when Cloudwater Ferry suddenly shuddered. A tremendous crash followed. They had hit something!
The guards hurried over to check. Cloudwater Ferry spun in place, followed by another tremendous crash. They had struck something again.
A guard shouted, “City Lord! There’s a whole stretch of reefs here. We accidentally entered a reef zone!”
Xia Yunzhao stared. “Where would reefs come from in the deep sea?”
Du Yan said, “Could there be an island nearby?”
Xia Yunzhao thought an island would actually be convenient. They could go ashore and take shelter there. Shang Shuangze had already reached the side of the ship. He looked down and said decisively, “Those aren’t reefs. It’s a formation.”
Xia Yunzhao froze. The deep sea? A formation? Who had set it up, merfolk?
Surprised or not, his hands did not stop moving. He formed a hand seal, and Cloudwater Ferry began changing direction.
Adjusting their heading in the middle of a violent storm was extremely difficult. Fortunately, Xia Yunzhao’s control over spiritual power was now exceptionally precise, allowing him to guide Cloudwater Ferry little by little around the reef formation.
As they went, he gradually sensed something was wrong. “Is this formation… guiding us somewhere?”
Everyone hesitated. “It seems like…”
Xia Yunzhao said decisively, “Fellow Daoist Xiang, what do you say?”
Xiang Moyue understood that Xia wanted him to investigate. He closed his eyes. A moment later, he opened them again, a trace of realization appearing on his face. “So that’s what this place is.”
Without keeping them in suspense, he said, “We’ve run into a Drifting-Boat Market.”
“A Drifting-Boat Market…” The name sounded familiar to Xia Yunzhao, so he took out the handbook and started flipping through it again. Sure enough, the handbook really did mention them. Drifting-Boat Markets were mobile black markets on Wangjin Sea. The name did not refer to one specific market. Any black market made by joining ships together and letting them float on Wangjin Sea could be called a Drifting-Boat Market.
Supposedly, the largest Drifting-Boat Markets consisted of more than a hundred ships connected bow to stern like an enormous island. The forces aboard were a chaotic mixture: outlaws, exploration crews, disciples of major powers traveling under hidden identities, high-level cultivators avoiding their enemies… every sort of person could be found there. The goods being traded were equally varied, primarily Wangjin Sea specialties, but also all kinds of supplies, con-(ahem)-tra-(ahem)-band, and even repair services for treasure ships and magical artifacts.
Xia Yunzhao immediately perked up. “A black market, right? Do they buy Soul-Entangling Seaweed?”
Everyone laughed. Xiang Moyue said, “They definitely do. Soul-Entangling Seaweed may taste terrible, but it can save lives.”
“Good!” Xia Yunzhao immediately began forming hand seals again. As long as someone would buy it, any price was fine… although naturally, he would prefer that price not to be too low.
The storm outside still had not stopped, but Cloudwater Ferry nimbly avoided the reefs and entered the formation. In an instant, the wind and waves vanished.
The seawater looked like fabric pinned in place. No matter how violently wind and waves raged outside, within the formation everything remained utterly still.
His hand tightened. Shang Shuangze took hold of it and quietly said four words: “A Tidal Formation.”
Xia Yunzhao nodded slightly. He could see it too. Someone had established a Tidal Formation here to suppress the waves, which was why the water inside remained so calm.
For a Tidal Formation of this scale and power, the person who had established it had to be at least at Soul Transformation.
Cloudwater Ferry rounded the final reef, and the Drifting-Boat Market finally appeared before them. More than thirty treasure ships of different sizes and designs had been joined together, and every ship flew a flag. The flags bore different colors and symbols, making it possible to roughly tell what each treasure ship did.
Xia Yunzhao nodded to himself. So that was how the market was divided up.
Aside from those, there were also scattered ships that were not connected to any of the others. They cruised around the outer edge, stopped for a while, then departed. These were the people who had come to buy and sell things.
Those treasure ships came in every color and level. Cloudwater Ferry did not stand out among them at all. Xia Yunzhao quietly guided the ship closer.
A black Level-Three treasure ship docked at the same time as them. It looked far more battered than Cloudwater Ferry. The deck was covered in seawater, several large holes had been torn in the hull, and the cultivators aboard were pale-faced and soaked through. Clearly, the storm had given them no small amount of trouble.
Those people had no attention to spare for Xia Yunzhao’s group. The moment their ship stopped, they jumped onto a treasure ship flying a blue flag and shouted, “Is Old Man Wu here? Repair the ship! Add a defensive formation!”
So the Drifting-Boat Market really could repair treasure ships. They had no need for the service, though. Cloudwater Ferry was perfectly fine. The difference between a Level-Four treasure ship and a Level-Three one was obvious.
“Come on. Let’s go have a look too.” Once the ship was secured, Xia Yunzhao led everyone into the Drifting-Boat Market.
After everyone had stepped onto a nearby flagged ship, Xia Yunzhao raised a hand and put Cloudwater Ferry away.
He did not know why everyone else left their treasure ships moored instead of storing them. He still felt safer putting his away. Whenever he needed it, he could simply take it back out.
The treasure ships in the Drifting-Boat Market were linked by iron chains and wooden gangways, making it extremely convenient to move between them.
A few small stalls had been set up on the decks, and several stallholders enthusiastically called for customers. It actually looked rather like an ordinary marketplace, and the prices seemed fairly reasonable too.
Xia Yunzhao had just thought, This black market isn’t actually that black… when he heard a splash. He turned around and saw someone being thrown off the neighboring ship. The person did not struggle after hitting the water, simply sinking straight down as a patch of seawater turned red.
The people on that ship drew buckets of seawater and began washing the deck.
Xia Yunzhao: .
Everyone immediately became more vigilant. A black market operating at sea was several shades blacker than one on land.
Everyone except their group, however, seemed completely accustomed to it. This sort of thing probably happened several times every day.
“First time here, honored guest? Why not take a look at my wares? See, they’re all cultivation manuals and secret arts!” One stallholder probably thought Xia Yunzhao looked young and took him for a pampered young master from some great clan out traveling. He coaxed, “Look here! This is a fragment of the Earth-Vein Book from Fushui River back in the day! One sheet is only two hundred thousand spirit pearls!”
Fushui River? Isn’t that the place Brother Du went before? I heard some terrible disaster happened there… And what’s the Earth-Vein Book?
He looked at Du Yan. Du Yan seemed to misunderstand what he meant and quietly told him, “It’s fake. No fragments of Fushui River’s Earth-Vein Book ever circulated outside.”
Xia Yunzhao understood at once. Fushui River really had produced fragments of the Earth-Vein Book, but Qianyuan Sect had taken all of them away.
He asked softly, “Is the Earth-Vein Book the same thing as an Earth-Vein Contract?”
Du Yan shook his head. “Of course not. The Earth-Vein Book is one of the very few innate cultivation arts. It forms from the earth veins themselves…” He paused, then continued, “Qianyuan Sect’s cultivation art is the Earth-Vein Book. Qianyuan Sect’s versions are divided into different levels, and only core disciples may cultivate the highest level. If you encounter a Qianyuan Sect disciple in the future, you can identify their standing in the sect simply by looking at the color of their techniques. The deeper the color, the higher their status.”
Xia Yunzhao nodded to show he would remember. Then he grew curious. What standing did Brother Du have in Qianyuan Sect? He remembered that the light produced by Brother Du’s techniques was a very deep shade of brown.
Naturally, the so-called Earth-Vein Book fragment could not fool Xia Yunzhao. The group passed that ship and continued to the next one.
The moment he stepped aboard, Xia Yunzhao jumped in surprise. “Th-this is demonic qi? Why is there so much demonic qi on this ship?” Had the owner fallen to the demonic path? Why was no one doing anything about it?
A hoarse voice rang out with a croaking laugh. “Wangjin Sea was once the battlefield of the great war against demonic cultivators. What’s so strange about a little demonic qi?”
Black demonic qi churned, and a figure seemed to materialize out of nowhere in front of them.
Su Meng and Su Ying both shuddered. This person looked terrifying… All his facial features were gone, leaving only five large holes in his face! Where his nose should have been was a deep hollow, as though someone had gouged it out by force!
Xia Yunzhao frowned. “You… are a demonic cultivator?”
He could see it clearly. Demonic qi continuously seeped from the man’s body, and even from the five holes in his face, thin wisps of black demonic qi curled outward.
Good grief. This really was a black market… Even among black markets, the Drifting-Boat Market could be called the blackest of the black. There was actually a demonic cultivator hiding here. No, wait, the man was not even hiding. There was actually a demonic cultivator openly doing business here?
Everyone else was equally shocked. Following their City Lord really did broaden one’s horizons. They had seen several demonic cultivators before, but this was the first one they had ever seen living such a comfortable life. Just look at him. He even had his own ship.
Xia Yunzhao exchanged a glance with Shang Shuangze. Both of them had faced demonic cultivators directly before and had even killed demonic cultivators with their own hands during the Puppet City incident. Why did this demonic cultivator seem a little different?
The faceless man gave another crowlike croak of laughter. “Demonic cultivator? Yes, yes. Using your terminology, I’m a demonic cultivator. So, fellow spirit cultivators, what do you want to buy or sell?”
Xia Yunzhao frowned, finding this increasingly strange. Why did this demonic cultivator seem perfectly capable of holding a conversation? Weren’t demonic cultivators supposed to undergo drastic personality changes and start killing people and drinking blood at the slightest provocation?
The demonic cultivator waved a hand. The demonic qi covering the ship dispersed, revealing the things scattered across the deck. Clearly, this man was also running a stall. He simply lacked everyone else’s professionalism. Various spirit materials had been tossed around at random until the deck looked like a garbage heap.
Xia Yunzhao examined the items one by one, growing more shocked the longer he looked. Aside from artifact-refining materials, the thing this place had the most of was actually… demonic artifacts!
He had wondered about this before. The handbook said the Drifting-Boat Market traded in con-(ahem)-tra-(ahem)-band. At the time, he had thought, What even counts as contraband in the cultivation world? Human lives can already be bought and sold. How much darker could a black market possibly get?
Now he understood. So this was what “darker” meant… The Drifting-Boat Market even bought and sold demonic artifacts.
Seriously, who bought this stuff? Were there so many demonic cultivators now that they could casually go shopping at black markets?
More importantly, Xia Yunzhao pointed at a pestle. “Wasn’t this sealed away by the major sects? Is yours fake?”
The faceless man croaked with laughter. “If they can take it from me, why can’t I take it back?”
Xia Yunzhao’s expression became complicated. He felt that this demonic cultivator was not entirely normal either. You stole it back just so you could put it on a stall and sell it? And if he remembered correctly, this Demon-Subduing Pestle had been sealed by Wentian Sect. How had this demonic cultivator stolen it back? Had he stormed Wentian Sect by himself? How had there been no news at all outside?
“Don’t want it?” The flesh on the demonic cultivator’s face shifted. He might have made some expression, but no one could tell what it was. “If you don’t want anything, leave. Don’t disturb my sleep.” With a wave of his hand, the black demonic qi spread out again.
Xia Yunzhao’s head was now full of questions!
He had always believed demonic cultivators were cultivators corrupted by demonic qi, their minds muddled and their personalities drastically changed. They would slaughter people at the slightest provocation, just like Yan Sikong, which was why such cultivators had to be eliminated. Even demonic qi itself had to be cleared away. Ideally, it should disappear from the world entirely so it could not corrupt more cultivators.
But why did this demonic cultivator seem so lucid?
He muttered under his breath, “No way. Did I get lied to again? Is any of the information in your cultivation world actually reliable…?”
Everyone held their breath as they left the ship filled with demonic qi and moved onto the next one. Su Meng and Su Ying visibly relaxed, then tugged Xia Yunzhao’s sleeve. “City Lord, look! You can sell Wangjin Sea specialty spirit materials over there!”
Xia Yunzhao looked up and indeed saw a larger treasure ship. It not only flew a flag but also displayed a long banner reading, “HIGH PRICES PAID FOR WANGJIN SEA SPECIALTY SPIRIT MATERIALS. ENTER TO DISCUSS.” His spirits immediately soared. “Let’s go! We’ll discuss it in detail!”
Just as he was about to board, he abruptly turned around again. “Wait. No rush. Let’s first get a feel for the prices.”
Everyone was baffled. Where were they supposed to “feel out” the prices? Still, there was nothing else to do, so they followed behind him.
Zhong Yundu even muttered quietly, “No wonder Shang Shuangze talks so little. He normally doesn’t need to say anything at all, does he?”
Du Yan gave him a helpless look. “You’re already this old. Can you control that mouth of yours? In a few more years, Little Shang’s cultivation will surpass yours. Be careful he doesn’t beat you up.”
Zhong Yundu looked at the sky. They could deal with that when the time came.
Xia Yunzhao made a circuit of several nearby ships, deliberately choosing the ones with stalls and asking the prices of common spirit materials such as Soul-Entangling Seaweed, Spirit Cattail Grass, Dragon-Blood Coral, and so on. Once he had a clear picture of the market, he confidently headed off to “discuss things in detail.”
The treasure ship purchasing spirit materials had a large deck and many people aboard. It was divided into separate cabins. Customers entered one cabin at a time to negotiate their business privately. The people who hurried in and out were all there to sell things. They took their money and left immediately so no one would mark them as a target.
Xia Yunzhao chose a cabin and went inside with Shang Shuangze. Everyone else waited outside. If necessary, their presence could also provide a little physical intimidation, one of the small tricks of shopping at a black market.
The cabin was arranged like a small shop. Behind the counter stood a middle-aged man with two little mustache tufts, a long philtrum, and thick lips. He looked a little like a catfish.
The man looked up. The moment he saw Xia Yunzhao and Shang Shuangze, his eyes lit up and he hurried forward. “Two distinguished fellow Daoists! Judging by your impressive bearing, your voyage must have been extremely fruitful. Do you have any treasures you wish to sell?”
Xia Yunzhao knew perfectly well that no matter how sincere the man sounded at a time like this, it was all polite talk. What mattered was how hard he would haggle later. Smiling, he said, “We did all right. I have a batch of Soul-Entangling Seaweed fronds I’d like to sell. Does your shop buy them?”
“We do, we do.” The mustached man nodded immediately. “But we have to inspect the goods first.”
With a turn of his hand, Xia Yunzhao took out one seaweed frond and passed it to him.
This frond was much larger than ordinary Soul-Entangling Seaweed. A single leaf was almost the size of a tabletop.
Pretending not to care, Xia Yunzhao carefully watched the mustached man’s expression. He saw a flash of surprise in the man’s eyes, followed immediately by delight.
Xia Yunzhao understood at once. It seemed this batch of seaweed fronds was better quality than ordinary ones. All right, double the price he had planned to ask.
After carefully inspecting the frond, the mustached man put on a very regretful expression. “Fellow Daoists, Soul-Entangling Seaweed is not particularly rare in Wangjin Sea. This frond may be somewhat larger, but the power it contains to nourish the divine soul has not increased. If you want to sell it, our shop can only offer this much.” He held up five fingers. “Per frond.”
Xia Yunzhao thought for a moment. “Oh, five thousand spirit pearls per frond, right? Fine. I accept.”
The mustached man choked. “Fellow Daoist, don’t joke around. I mean five hundred spirit pearls!”
Xia Yunzhao smiled. “A Level-Three material that nourishes the divine soul, and you’re offering me five hundred spirit pearls? Do you have a death wish?”
Shang Shuangze lifted his eyes at just the right moment and looked over coldly, sword qi gathered but unreleased.
The mustached man shuddered in fright, but this was hardly his first time doing such business. He steadied himself and continued, “Please don’t take offense, Fellow Daoist. The quality of these fronds simply isn’t very high. If you have a large quantity, our shop can raise the price a little. If the quantity is small, there really is nothing I can do…”
Xia Yunzhao asked, “How much counts as a large quantity?”
The mustached man thought, This sword cultivator clearly isn’t easy to deal with. Better name a large number and make them give up. Soul-Entangling Seaweed is difficult to handle. There are only two of them. How much could they possibly have?
So he gritted his teeth and stamped his foot. “One hundred fronds! If the two of you have more than one hundred Soul-Entangling Seaweed fronds, I’ll add another hundred spirit pearls to the price!”
Xia Yunzhao giggled. “A hundred spirit pearls more once it reaches a hundred fronds? What a coincidence. I happen to have six thousand. Why don’t I knock off a zero for you and make it five thousand spirit pearls per frond?”
The mustached man’s jaw nearly hit the floor. The catfish almost transformed into an anglerfish. “S-six thousand? Did you blow up the Soul-Entangling Seaweed’s entire nest?”
Xia Yunzhao’s smile vanished instantly. He slapped the table and barked, “I was joking with you! You want to buy my Level-Three materials with spirit pearls? Dream on! Do you take me for some pampered young master who’s never left home? Let me tell you, five low-grade spirit stones per seaweed frond. Six thousand fronds makes thirty thousand spirit stones. Not one less!”
The mustached man’s heart sank. The instant he heard that price, he knew he had run into someone who understood the market. And six thousand seaweed fronds… this expert’s strength was no small matter either!
If they could do business at the Drifting-Boat Market, then of course they possessed some strength of their own. But compared with strength, knowing how to read people mattered even more in a place like this. Countless experiences had taught him that an opponent whose depths he could not see was best left unprovoked.
The mustached man abandoned the idea of simply robbing them and pondered. “We can pay in spirit stones. One spirit stone per frond.”
Xia Yunzhao: “Five spirit stones!”
The mustached man: “Two at most! Not a single one more!”
Xia Yunzhao: “Then I’ll give up one. Four spirit stones!”
The mustached man gritted his teeth and stamped his foot. “Three spirit stones per frond!”
Xia Yunzhao: “Deal!”
The mustached man: “No! Not one more… Huh?”
Xia Yunzhao’s smile instantly returned. “Many thanks, Shopkeeper. Three spirit stones it is. I’m not a stingy person. I’ll leave you a little profit too.”
The mustached man: “…” Damn it. He had gotten carried away.
In all fairness, the fronds these two had brought out were of excellent quality, among the finest Soul-Entangling Seaweed fronds he had ever handled. But no matter how good the quality was, they were still only Level-Three materials!
Besides, Soul-Entangling Seaweed really was common! He had not lied about that! He would swear it on his mustache! Other Soul-Entangling Seaweed simply did not grow this large!
He had only been willing to pay in spirit stones because the quantity was enormous, and somehow they had haggled all the way up to three spirit stones per frond… He could practically see his commission waving goodbye and flying away.
Still unwilling to give up, he said, “Fellow Daoist, why don’t we discuss this a little more…”
Xia Yunzhao turned his hand over, flashing a black stone. “Oh? Shopkeeper, are you saying everything we just agreed on doesn’t count?”
…A Phantom Stone.
What cultivator remembered to record a business negotiation with a Phantom Stone?!
This man was definitely an expert at this. He might even be in the same line of work!
The mustached man gritted his teeth. “No. What I mean is, let’s discuss whether you’d like the low-grade spirit stones packed in storage pouches or storage boxes.”
Xia Yunzhao narrowed his eyes. “Storage pouches, of course. Storage boxes still have to recognize a master. Don’t try anything clever. I’ll be recording the transaction with the Phantom Stone too.”
The mustached man wiped his sweat. “Of course, of course.”
The transaction went smoothly. One hand paid, the other handed over the goods. Watching eighteen thousand spirit stones land in Xia Yunzhao’s hands, the mustached man looked as though Xia had nearly plucked his mustache clean off.
After this deal, the owner might still make some money, but he himself might not! He might have done all that work for nothing!
The thought made him harden his heart. No. He could not swallow this loss. He pulled out an invitation and called after the two men who were about to leave. “Fellow Daoists, please wait. The Drifting-Boat Market is holding an auction tonight. Why not go take a look? You two are honored guests of the Drifting-Boat Market, so consider this invitation a personal gift from me to both of you.”
The Drifting-Boat Market’s auction would be packed with spirit items of every level imaginable. There was no way Xia Yunzhao would remain unmoved! Whether those things were genuine or fake, however, would depend on his own judgment!
The mustached man gritted his teeth. The money you made off me has to be spent back here tonight! Every last bit of it!