Chapter 71
Chapter 71
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 71
Chapter Title: A Clumsy Ploy
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Leaving the cultivation arts section, he walked towards the artifact counter. Unlike the Yun Clan's shop, the artifacts in the Hundred Treasures Pavilion were openly displayed.
Furthermore, next to each artifact was a jade tablet detailing its information and price.
"Fifteen spirit stones? So expensive?"
He saw that a low-grade flying sword was priced at fifteen spirit stones, which didn't seem like something intended for early-stage Qi Refining cultivators.
It was more like an artifact for mid-stage Qi Refining cultivators.
For an early-stage Qi Refining cultivator, like a Yun Clan Fishery Farmer, fifteen spirit stones were equivalent to thirty years of salary.
To spend it on an artifact? Would they even have anything left for cultivation?
He glanced at the low-grade defensive artifacts and saw they were indeed more than twice the price of offensive ones, costing as much as thirty-six spirit stones.
Only a mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator could afford such a price. No wonder the *Yun Clan Gazette* mentioned that artifacts were typically owned only by clan disciples.
As for rogue cultivators, most of them used artifacts of a lower grade.
In other words, mid-stage Qi Refining cultivators used low-grade artifacts, and late-stage Qi Refining cultivators used mid-grade artifacts.
Although this limited a cultivator's offensive capabilities, it was the harsh reality for rogue cultivators.
The Hundred Treasures Pavilion's artifact counter was of a high standard, even selling high-grade artifacts. However, they only had high-grade offensive artifacts, not defensive ones.
Chen Jianghe took a look at both the mid-grade and high-grade artifacts, getting a good sense of their prices.
A mid-grade flying sword cost fifty spirit stones, while a mid-grade defensive artifact was around one hundred and twenty-five spirit stones.
A high-grade flying sword was priced at one hundred and fifty spirit stones.
Since there were no high-grade defensive artifacts on display, there was naturally no price for them.
As for the top-tier artifacts used by Foundation Establishment Ancestors, the counters here certainly wouldn't sell them, but one could imagine they would be astronomically expensive.
"It seems many cultivators came to Mirror Moon Market City specifically for the grand opening of the Hundred Treasures Pavilion."
Chen Jianghe saw quite a few cultivators buying artifacts, clearly taking advantage of the Hundred Treasures Pavilion's five percent grand opening discount.
There were even a few great cultivators at the ninth level of Qi Refining purchasing high-grade flying swords.
They paid one hundred and fifty spirit stones without hesitation, making Chen Jianghe quite envious. His entire fortune was just over eighty spirit stones.
But he wouldn't choose to buy a mid-grade artifact.
Artifacts were of little use to him at the moment. He wasn't getting into fights in the inner waters, so why waste spirit stones on them?
Besides, even if he were to buy an artifact in the future, he would go to the Yun Clan's Mirror Moon Treasure Pavilion. After all, they offered a permanent five percent discount to senior Fishery Farmers.
The Hundred Treasures Pavilion's discount was only for today, but the Yun Clan's Mirror Moon Treasure Pavilion was different.
As long as he remained a senior Fishery Farmer, he would always enjoy that discount.
The next moment, he arrived at the spirit pill counter. Seeing the crowd gathered around, he had no choice but to queue up at the back.
"So many people are buying Calamity Dispelling Pills!"
Chen Jianghe noticed that many cultivators were purchasing Calamity Dispelling Pills. In the short time he had been waiting in line, seven or eight cultivators had already bought them.
The Calamity Dispelling Pill had significant drawbacks for attempting to break through to Foundation Establishment later on.
But upon further thought, he understood.
Most people in the cultivation world had miscellaneous five-element spiritual roots or pseudo four-element spiritual roots. Without a special skill to rely on, they had no hope of reaching Foundation Establishment.
In fact, the vast majority wouldn't even get the chance to take a Calamity Dispelling Pill.
Just because Yun Bufan had successfully reached Foundation Establishment a few years ago didn't mean it was easy for those with true three-element spiritual roots.
In reality, without a clan providing massive resources, the success rate for those with true three-element spiritual roots to reach Foundation Establishment in the cultivation world was less than fifty percent.
Therefore, reaching the late stage of Qi Refining already placed one among the elite in the cultivation world.
The ancestors of many cultivation clans were great cultivators at the ninth level of Qi Refining.
"Eight Spirit Accumulating Pills."
"One moment. That will be thirty-eight spirit stones."
The female clerk, an early-stage Qi Refining cultivator, retrieved eight Spirit Accumulating Pills for Chen Jianghe, placed them in a jade vial, and handed it over.
Chen Jianghe paid the spirit stones, took the jade vial, and left.
He then went to the medicinal herb counter, purchased eight Spirit Nurturing Flowers, and paid thirty spirit stones and forty spirit sand.
After that, he arrived at the spirit talisman counter.
He wasn't there to buy talismans; it was just that talismans and talisman-crafting materials were sold at the same counter.
"One low-grade peach wood talisman brush."
"Alright, that will be nine spirit stones and fifty spirit sand."
Chen Jianghe took the talisman brush, left the counter, and wandered around the first floor for a bit. He wanted to check out the second floor but found that it didn't admit cultivators below the late stage of Qi Refining.
He could only leave the Hundred Treasures Pavilion.
"I saved four spirit stones. It really was a small fortunate encounter."
This was because he had too few spirit stones. If he had enough, he could have saved even more by purchasing high-grade artifacts or cultivation arts.
The opening of Mirror Moon Market City was indeed a small opportunity.
After this large purchase of resources, he was left with only three spirit stones and fifty spirit sand.
Checking the time, he headed to the Listening Rain Pavilion. His appointment with Talisman Master Chu Lang was approaching.
This time, he arrived at the Listening Rain Pavilion first and waited for about an hour before Talisman Master Chu Lang finally arrived.
The moment Talisman Master Chu Lang saw the twenty-seven spirit stones, a look of surprise crossed his face. He clearly hadn't expected such a large share this year.
He immediately guessed that Chen Jianghe hadn't tried crafting other types of talismans, but had instead focused on the ones he was best at.
He had obviously heard about the Hundred Treasures Pavilion's discount in advance.
Considering Chen Jianghe's relationship with Yu Daniu, it all made sense.
He was also well aware that next year's share would likely be much smaller.
After bidding farewell to Talisman Master Chu Lang, Chen Jianghe headed to the port, preparing to return to his own aquaculture waters.
His meeting with Yu Daniu and Zhou Miaoyun was still more than half a month away.
As for reminding Yu Daniu about the passenger ferry route, today was not the day. On the first day of the Mirror Moon Immortal Pavilion's opening, Yu Daniu would surely be swamped with work.
Besides, he didn't have many spirit stones left.
"Fellow Daoist, please wait."
"Is there something I can help you with, Fellow Daoist?"
When Chen Jianghe arrived at the port and was about to board his boat, a young man darted out and blocked his path, causing his expression to darken.
This was a young man with an honest-looking face, at the fourth level of Qi Refining. Judging by his attire, he was also a senior Fishery Farmer.
"Could we perhaps talk aboard a boat?"
The honest-looking young man pointed to a nearby fishing boat and asked with a smile.
"We can talk just fine right here." Chen Jianghe didn't board the young man's boat. His face was stern, showing his displeasure.
He was already disinclined to interact with others, so being suddenly stopped by a senior Fishery Farmer at the fourth level of Qi Refining naturally displeased him.
The honest-looking young man's smile faltered, and a sharp glint flashed in his eyes before he said awkwardly, "I have a good opportunity I'd like to cooperate with you on, Fellow Daoist."
Chen Jianghe scoffed inwardly.
He knew being stopped like this couldn't be anything good.
And here it was, a "golden opportunity."
"What kind of opportunity?"
"I have an underground connection, completely safe, for selling surplus Lesser Azure Fish. You can profit three spirit stones per fish, but as the middleman, I'll need to take fifty spirit sand from you for each one."
The honest-looking young man whispered, his eyes darting around as if afraid of being discovered.
"Oh? Such a good opportunity? I suppose that means I'll have to go to Port Number One first and sign a confidentiality agreement with the buyer!"
"Huh? How did you know?"