Chapter 29: A Flourishing Trade

In the southwestern part of the valley, the sounds of beastly roars and the clashing of metal rang out without end.

Lin Yue had been locked in battle for some time.

Originally, he had made thorough preparations, confident he could take down that first-grade mid-rank Corrosive Toad.

But to his utter surprise, a buzzing sound suddenly filled the air. In the next moment, agonizingly painful welts erupted all over his face and body.

These welts diminished his combat ability and obstructed his vision, causing him to lose the upper hand and fall into a disadvantage.

Just then, a sting on his eyelid caused it to swell rapidly into a large lump.

Lin Yue’s vision blurred.

Through his hazy sight, he saw a streak of green hurtling toward his face.

Lin Yue instinctively raised his arm to block. A sizzling sound followed, and a large patch of his arm was corroded.

The Corrosive Toad’s mucus was toxic.

Lin Yue stumbled backward, a coppery taste rising in his throat.

His hand clenched the tracking token as emotions of unwillingness, struggle, and despair welled up from deep within.

Just as Lin Yue was about to channel his spiritual energy, a deafening bang rang out.

Lin Yue froze, staring dumbfounded at the scene before him.

A young girl, gripping a thick, blunt object wrapped in layers of cloth, casually slammed it down on the Corrosive Toad’s head. A dull thud echoed.

Flesh and blood splattered everywhere.

The Corrosive Toad that had made him so miserable was defeated in a single move by the girl.

Lying on the ground, Lin Yue watched in a daze as the girl, without a backward glance, carried her heavy burden and walked away. His heart was filled with longing.

This, he thought, was what a true cultivator should be like…

****

Nangong Hehe cheerfully retrieved the demon core and left, continuing on her way, killing as she went.

If she didn’t encounter any beasts, unlucky for her. If a beast encountered her, unlucky for the beast.

Humming a tune, Nangong Hehe happily counted the demon cores she had gathered, calculating how many spirit stones they would fetch at the Hidden Market once she got out.

Occasionally, a buzzing sound would arise near her ear, but just before it could touch her, the insect would split in two and fall lightly to the ground.

After walking for some time, Nangong Hehe suddenly heard the clamor of human voices.

Curious, she moved forward. After a short walk, the path opened up into a clearing.

A group of candidates were noisily surrounding someone in the center, holding up various artifacts, spirit stones, treasures, and spirit plants. It seemed they were competing to hand over their treasures to the person in the middle.

Nangong Hehe’s interest piqued, she moved a few steps closer.

Over here, Song Zhiyou had one foot propped on a rock, examining a magical artifact that a warm-hearted fellow cultivator had traded to her.

“This first-grade low-rank Green Vine Bracelet of yours isn’t enough. It can only emit a phantom vine when attacked. Frankly, it’s not even worth two hundred spirit stones, yet you want to trick me into giving you my Nine Nether Ten Land Shadowless Evasion Illusion-Breaking Revealing Powder, which is worth a thousand? No way. No, no, absolutely not!”

“You need to add more!”

“Come on, fellow cultivator, the spiritual energy on this Water Spirit Flower is almost gone. It’s clearly a defective product. I think you’re deliberately taking advantage of me, a sickly spiritual root weakling!”

“But that’s okay,” Song Zhiyou said with a wave of her hand, causing the artifacts and treasures hanging on her to clatter and jingle.

She was brimming with boldness.

“I, Song Zhiyou, am kind-hearted. For every new fellow cultivator you bring to buy my Illusion-Breaking Revealing Powder or Void-Returning Shadow-Hiding Water, you’ll get a discount of five hundred spirit stones!”

Li Xiaoye covered his face.

He suddenly felt a bit reluctant to admit he knew Song Zhiyou.

Nangong Hehe listened for a bit but was still confused. She pulled aside a candidate who had just emerged from the crowd.

“What’s going on over there? What are you all doing?”

The candidate was about to brush her off, but upon recognizing Nangong Hehe, swallowed his words.

“It’s Fellow Daoist Song selling things to deal with the Hidden Bees. One makes the bees visible, costing two thousand spirit stones. The other allows one to move freely among the bees, costing five thousand spirit stones.”

Seeing Nangong Hehe still staring at him, the candidate hesitated for a few seconds, then reluctantly pulled out the Illusion-Breaking Revealing Powder to show her.

“Fellow Daoist Nangong, this is the Illusion-Breaking Revealing Powder. I… I’m strapped for cash, so I could only afford this.”

Nangong Hehe opened it and widened her eyes in shock. “Isn’t this flour?”

The candidate scratched his head in confusion. “I don’t know, but it works like a charm!”

Speechless, Nangong Hehe returned it to him.

If the Illusion-Breaking Revealing Powder was flour, what could the Void-Returning Shadow-Hiding Water be? Nothing good, surely.

But… this stuff actually sold for two thousand spirit stones!

Suddenly, Nangong Hehe felt that the demon cores in her hand weren’t so attractive anymore.

Her gaze fell on Song Zhiyou, who was adorned with artifacts. The light reflecting off them made Nangong Hehe’s eyes turn even redder with envy.

A brilliant smile spread across her face as she hopped over to Song Zhiyou. “Fellow Daoist Song…”

Strangely enough, Maple Spirit Valley wasn’t that large. In the past day and a half, she had already encountered half of the candidates.

But she hadn’t run into Song Xiaoqi yet, and had no idea how he was doing or if he had been eliminated.

Just as Song Zhiyou was thinking this, a bright yet annoying voice squeezed in beside her.

These traits shouldn’t coexist in the same voice, but Song Zhiyou could distinctly feel them.

She turned to see Nangong Hehe.

Warily, Song Zhiyou said, “Fellow Daoist Nangong?”

Nangong Hehe leaned in and lowered her voice. “Fellow Daoist Song, your business is thriving. Might I seek a bit of your advice?”

Song Zhiyou’s attitude immediately softened, and she flashed a grin as sunny as Nangong Hehe’s.

“Thanks for the kind words, Fellow Daoist Nangong. As for the path to wealth… I, humble as I am, do have a few small tricks, but…”

She rubbed her forefinger and thumb together.

Nangong Hehe understood instantly and immediately began rummaging through her sleeve.

Sensing Song Zhiyou’s odd look, Nangong Hehe coughed awkwardly and explained proactively.

“A few days ago, I had my eye on a crystal. I emptied my entire fortune of spirit stones but still couldn’t afford it, so I even sold my storage pouch. In the end, though I was still a bit short, I managed to resolve it with my strength.”

Song Zhiyou’s expression was wooden.

Just then, Nangong Hehe pulled out a handful of demon cores and placed them in Song Zhiyou’s hand.

“I hope Fellow Daoist Song will enlighten me!”

Song Zhiyou’s face lit up with a brilliant smile. “Fellow Daoist Nangong, you’re too kind!”

“The key to wealth lies in hitting the buyers’ most urgent needs. For example, right now, what do the candidates want most? To pass the assessment.”

“And what we need most is to discover our own strengths to meet the buyers’ demands.”

A light bulb went off in Nangong Hehe’s head. She suddenly understood!

Song Zhiyou’s items could sell at such high prices because they were related to the sect entrance assessment.

What was the most important thing in this assessment?

Demon cores!

“Fellow Daoist Song, thank you!”

Nangong Hehe clasped her fists and left cheerfully.

Song Zhiyou was dumbfounded.

She hadn’t even told Nangong Hehe about the exquisite formula of her Void-Returning Shadow-Hiding Water!

After running low on flour, Song Zhiyou had spent half an hour in careful study, extracting a ‘pheromone’ from the Hidden Bee’s stinger gland.

The pheromone contained the scent that Hidden Bees used to identify each other. After a simple treatment to diffuse the scent, applying it to one’s body would make the bees mistake the cultivator for a fellow bee, thus ignoring them.

But Nangong Hehe was gone… just like that!

Song Zhiyou had no idea what she had understood.

But soon, she understood.

She watched as Nangong Hehe kicked off the ground and leaped onto a distant rock.

She pulled out a pile of demon cores exuding dense demonic aura and announced loudly.

“First-grade low-rank demon cores, two thousand spirit stones each! First-grade mid-rank, four thousand each! First-grade high-rank, eight thousand each! Second-grade low-rank, fifteen thousand each! Second-grade mid-rank, thirty thousand each!”

After a two-second pause, she added, “Limited stock, first come, first served!”

“Pfft!!!”

Song Zhiyou sprayed out a mouthful of water.

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