Chapter 80 - 78: Selling Again

Compared to before, he still looked rough.

But his sharp aura was clearly beginning to recede, and his scars were fading. However, the cold, unapproachable air about him had only intensified.

Zhang Deming just watched him from afar for a moment as he processed another Demon Beast carcass, but didn’t go over to greet him.

This sheep still had wool, but it wouldn’t be easy to fleece—especially given how difficult he was to talk to.

’Best to let him be for now. I don’t want to spook him, and it’s better for my long-term interests.’

Zhang Deming left the market stalls and headed to the central area. After a moment of thought, he went straight to the Hundred Spirits Tower.

As soon as he entered, a young female greeter came up to him.

Before she could speak, Zhang Deming preempted her with a practiced tone, "I’m here to sell something that needs appraisal. Take me to the side room."

The young woman was taken aback for a moment by Zhang Deming’s directness.

She then led Zhang Deming to a side hall. Seeing that he knew his way around, she gestured toward Elder Bai, who was fiddling with something at the counter, and left without calling out to him.

Seeing this, Zhang Deming walked right up to the counter.

Elder Bai, who was absorbed in his fiddling, sensed someone approaching. Since the greeter hadn’t announced the visitor, he knew it was a regular and said without looking up:

"If you want an item appraised for consignment, just put it on the tray and I’ll get to it later. If you’re selling it outright, you can just show it to me."

Hearing this, Zhang Deming took out a Spirit Nurturing Bead and placed it in front of Elder Bai.

Elder Bai’s hands paused. He looked at the glass-like bead, then instantly glanced up. Recognizing Zhang Deming, he chuckled, "Ah, it’s you, little one. Here to sell another Spirit Nurturing Bead?"

Zhang Deming nodded and smiled. "I’ll need you to take a look, Elder."

The old man looked at the Spirit Nurturing Bead. This time, he didn’t take out his spectacles and said directly, "An Agility Technique Spirit Nurturing Bead. This thing contains one of the most fundamental Basic Techniques."

"Although they’re easy to sell due to high demand, it’s too basic. The best I can offer is a price of six Spirit Stones."

Zhang Deming nodded, then took out two more glass-like orbs.

Elder Bai was surprised again. He looked at the three Spirit Nurturing Beads and said, "Don’t tell me you stole your master’s entire spare output for the month?"

’A month?’

’Without the plug-in, the Spirit Nurturing Technique can only produce three to five a month?’

’Does that mean my success rate is already very high?’

’Oh, ’spare output’... Does that mean the Sect has a required quota?’

Zhang Deming remained silent. Elder Bai tapped his head and said:

"Sorry, that’s an old habit of mine. When I see something interesting, my curiosity gets the better of me. I can’t help but ask a lot of questions."

Of the two remaining Spirit Nurturing Balls, one showed a swaying Vine, the other a flickering Shield.

Elder Bai gave the Spiritual Shield one a quick glance and set it aside.

As for the Vine one, even though he’d seen it once before, he still carefully took out his monocle, examined it for a moment, and then said:

"Normally, the Growth Technique would be seven Spirit Stones, and the basic Spiritual Shield would be six. That’s nineteen Spirit Stones in total."

"However, since you’re delivering a small batch, I’ll give you a supplier’s discount to win your business. Let’s make it an even twenty Spirit Stones for the lot."

As the old man spoke, he counted out the Spirit Stones.

By the time he finished speaking, he had already placed twenty Spirit Stones into a small pouch.

Zhang Deming: "..."

’It’s confirmed. This old man is definitely not a professional businessman.’

Elder Bai held up the pouch and asked, "Well? Any objections? If not, we have a deal."

Zhang Deming shook his head. "No objections."

Seeing this, Elder Bai tossed the small pouch to Zhang Deming.

Zhang Deming caught the pouch, counted the stones again right in front of him, and after confirming the amount was correct, left the Hundred Spirits Tower with this huge sum of money.

Elder Bai held the three Spirit Nurturing Balls, turning them over and over in his hand.

After a long moment, he said, "What is it? The kid’s gone. How long are you going to keep staring at me?"

Just then, another old man of about the same age emerged from the back. "I come back to see you conducting business like this. Are you trying to shut down our branch?"

"Three Spirit Nurturing Balls, at most, would sell for twenty-three Spirit Stones. And you bought them for twenty."

"And what’s this about a ’small batch’?"

"I’ve been gone for half a month, and you’ve really been having a grand old time, haven’t you?"

"You even managed to come up with a ’supplier’!"

Being berated to his face didn’t bother Elder Bai in the slightest. Like a pig that doesn’t fear boiling water, he said, "We’re still making a profit, aren’t we?"

"You... You..." The old man stuttered for a long time but couldn’t get anything else out.

Utterly helpless against him, he simply snatched the Spirit Nurturing Balls from Elder Bai’s hand and turned to head for the main hall.

"By the way, do you know which old master in the Celestial Spirit Sect has taken on a new Disciple?" Elder Bai asked.

The other man paused. "Don’t meddle. We’re running a shop inside their Sect. If we poke our noses into certain affairs, the nature of our presence here changes."

"Once you get labeled, it’s not so easy to tear that label off."

"Spirit Nurturing Masters are treasures to every Sect. The waters here are murky; it’s best we don’t get involved. We should just quietly live out our retirement."

"The last thing I want is for you to drag me into some pit in my old age."

With that, the old man left directly.

Elder Bai reached out a hand, his lips moving slightly.

But in the end, he didn’t say a word. He just shook his head and went back to fiddling with his things.

...

After leaving the Hundred Spirits Tower, Zhang Deming looked at the twenty-odd Spirit Stones in his pocket.

His financial crisis was temporarily alleviated, so now he needed to consider his next move.

’Selling Spirit Nurturing Balls like this won’t work in the long run. I’m inside the Sect; to maintain secrecy, I have to operate from behind the scenes.’

’And I can’t sell too many within the Sect, or I’ll be discovered in a matter of days.’

’Selling so brazenly only works for one or two items at a time, and only if I can find a large, professional shop to offload them.’

’Since their shop is inside the Celestial Spirit Sect, they don’t dare to casually investigate things.’

’But if the quantity increases, that won’t hold true.’

’The number of Spirit Nurturing Masters in the Celestial Spirit Sect is said to be extremely small, so every single Spirit Nurturing Ball is tightly rationed.’

’It’s not guaranteed that using a Spirit Nurturing Ball will let you learn the technique, but it gives you at least a twenty to thirty percent chance.’

’And once you learn it, you can save countless years of effort and grow much stronger.’

’Therefore, Spirit Nurturing Beads are incredibly precious. Even if they’re just for a Low-Level Technique, if too many appear, anyone would realize the Sect has a new Spirit Nurturing Master.’

’And as for an Apprentice Level Spirit Nurturing Master... it’s unknown if one has ever even appeared in the Hongmeng Realm. If this gets out, the ramifications will be enormous.’

’So, I must stay hidden behind the scenes and start building my own sales network.’

After a moment of contemplation, a rough idea formed in Zhang Deming’s mind. He turned and walked over to a materials stall.

"What can I get for you today, Senior Brother?"

The stall owner, Qin Shizhong, had an excellent memory and recognized Zhang Deming immediately.

Zhang Deming had bought materials from him once before, and he remembered him with just a glance.