Chapter 164: Taiyi Zhu Long Dragon Pearl as the Eye, the Azure Dragon's Item Intercepts Fate【3k】

"Young Master has a keen eye!"

"This shield is no ordinary item; it was obtained by a close friend of mine who risked his life in an ancient Secret Realm."

"Don't let its battered appearance fool you; with some repairs, it would be a top-tier defensive treasure."

"Come to think of it, this close friend of mine..."

Speak to humans in human language, speak to ghosts in ghost language.

As this horse-faced cultivator nodded and bowed, he spouted nonsense without even needing a draft.

He described an ordinary, damaged Spirit Treasure as if it were some rare wonder of the world.

He even fabricated stories about close friends dying to obtain treasures, or entrusting their wives and children to him.

Truly, no matter what the item is, as long as you weave a story around it, you can sell it for a high price~ Fang Longye wore a constant smile, but he couldn't help but complain inwardly.

However, facing the horse-faced cultivator's sales pitch, he did not expose him; instead, he casually picked out four or five other items from the stall, finally arriving at the main target.

"Fellow Daoist, how much for this one?"

The horse-faced cultivator followed the direction of Fang Longye's finger and saw a dull, cracked Zhu Long Eye.

His eyes lit up, even though he hadn't spent much to acquire this item, as it clearly looked like something on the verge of shattering.

But at least it was associated with a divine beast like the Zhu Long.

That made it not so simple.

After all, thanks to the ancestor Zhu Long, every acquired Zhu Long is born with a Bloodline comparable to the primordial Honghuang exotic species.

Second only to innate beings.

Zhu Long Eye—it sounds like high-end merchandise.

Although any discerning person would look down on this nearly destroyed object, wasn't this a case of encountering a sucker?

The horse-faced cultivator's mind raced, and he immediately beamed: "Young Master, this is a rare Zhu Long Eye. Once you buy it, whether you use it for medicine or refining treasures, it is a wondrous object. It will be one thousand merit coins."

Qingli, standing beside him, naturally chimed in as if acting: "Hmph! Don't try to fool my Young Master with such defective goods. Look at the cracks on it; it's almost destroyed, and you have the nerve to ask for this price?"

"Cough, Fairy, you lack the eye for this, don't you? These are Dao Patterns, natural markings on a treasure."

The horse-faced cultivator argued without blushing or skipping a beat.

"Then how do you explain that its luster is dull and the energy inside is nearly non-existent?"

"Why else would this Zhu Long Eye be precious? This is called a divine object concealing its own brilliance," the horse-faced cultivator retorted with a straight face.

After some haggling, having played the part well, Fang Longye finally secured the dull, crimson bead for the price of one hundred merit coins.

Money and goods were exchanged.

"Fool!"

Fang Longye and the horse-faced cultivator secretly mocked each other.

As he rubbed the bead in his hand, he secretly probed it with a wisp of his Aura and thought to himself: "It really is so!"

In fact, among all the horse-faced cultivator's sales pitches, there was indeed one thing he said correctly: this bead really was a divine object concealing its own brilliance!

This bead, which the horse-faced cultivator looked down upon, was no Zhu Long Eye at all!

It was clearly a Dragon Pearl from a Zhu Long, and a Dragon Pearl left behind by a Zhu Long at the Taiyi Realm.

One hundred merit coins?

What a massive steal!

The preciousness of a Taiyi-level Zhu Long Dragon Pearl can be imagined.

It was only because this horse-faced cultivator was a rogue cultivator with limited knowledge. Furthermore, the Zhu Long Dragon Pearl truly deserved to be called a divine object concealing its own brilliance; if one were not connected to it, it would be impossible to detect the anomaly within.

That was how Fang Longye managed to pick up a bargain.

Fang Longye casually tossed the Zhu Long Dragon Pearl, which the horse-faced cultivator had mistaken for a Zhu Long Eye, to Ao Ying.

Ao Ying caught it in a flurry and decisively stored it within her own primordial spirit, bowing sincerely to Fang Longye in gratitude: "Thank you, Master!"

Although she was a Dragon Clan member in True Dragon form, her Bloodline was not without other traits; it just happened to contain a trace of the Zhu Long Bloodline.

It was just too thin for the external appearance to be manifest.

Fang Longye waved his hand lazily and said: "No need for thanks, it was just a damaged item!"

At the same time, he secretly transmitted: "This was merely your own predestined opportunity manifesting under the Heavenly Secrets!"

"Does the Young Master see anything else he likes?"

The horse-faced cultivator didn't care how Fang Longye disposed of the things bought from him. He was only focused on how to fleece more from this sucker before him.

Fang Longye smiled to himself.

Fine~ If you are willing to die, I am willing to bury you! Sorry about that!

He casually picked out some Five Elements spiritual essences from him, then used the same trick again, finally showing his hand and pointing his target toward the fortune that belonged uniquely to him under the connection of predestined opportunity.

"Fellow Daoist, how much for this piece of wood?" Fang Longye asked, pointing to a three-foot-long, arm-thick, dark green piece of wood bursting with wood spiritual essence.

Green Dragon Wood, a collective term for the Companion Spiritual Root of the Azure Dragon clan.

Like the Zhu Long before, the acquired Azure Dragon is also a divine beast whose Bloodline is comparable to the primordial Honghuang exotic species from birth.

And having inherited the secret techniques of the Azure Dragon clan, they often learn from their ancestor, the Qinglong Spirit Venerable, to cultivate an acquired Companion Spiritual Root in hopes of achieving an innate dragon body.

And this piece of spiritual wood was the remnant of a Companion Spiritual Root cultivated by a Taiyi-level Azure Dragon.

"This piece of spiritual wood is not simple! Back in the day..." The horse-faced cultivator began to spout another long, tear-jerking story of its origin.

"Young Master, look—this spiritual wood has distinct grain and is heavy in the hand; it is clearly of excellent texture." "Especially this wood spiritual essence, so surging it's about to burst out; it's clearly from an unimaginably top-tier Spiritual Root."

"One thousand merit coins, absolutely worth more than the price!"

"One thousand merit coins? One thousand merit coins is enough for me to buy a spiritual fruit produced by a Spiritual Root! Why would I buy this rotten wood?"

Although Fang Longye was not short on money, he still had to save where he could, so he tried his best to disparage it.

In particular, this horse-faced cultivator was clearly ignorant of the item's value and was basing his exorbitant asking price on his own subjective perception.

It was obvious that the price could be pushed down quite a bit.

He had money, but he was not a fool. If he could spend less, why wouldn't he?

It could only be said that Fang Longye's habit of being greedy for money had flared up again.

"How about eight hundred merit gold coins?" the horse-faced cultivator asked with a dry laugh.

Fang Longye did not say he would buy it, but instead pointed to the broken end of the wood and said, "Look at this cross-section!"

The horse-faced cultivator followed his instructions and looked where his finger was pointing. After studying it very seriously for a few moments, he raised his head and asked with a blank expression, "Look at what?"

"Look, there are no growth rings on this cross-section; it is clearly not from the main trunk, but a side branch."

"I am not buying this to absorb its wood-element essence, but to refine a Dharma Treasure. What if I encounter a Dharma Treasure refined from the main trunk in the future? Wouldn't mine be suppressed?"

Seeing that the horse-faced cultivator did not know what he was supposed to be looking at, Fang Longye had no choice but to explain.

"Growth rings? What are those? Are they worth money?"

The shallow-minded horse-faced cultivator clearly did not know what growth rings were and asked very earnestly.

This was hardly surprising; in this world, perhaps someone had already discovered the concept of growth rings, for the Primordial World was vast, and nothing was impossible.

But they were practitioners after all, and there was no need for them to judge the age of trees through growth rings like mortals.

Furthermore, immortal plants and Spiritual Roots were inherently different from ordinary objects and could not be judged by the same standards.

For instance, Peng Zu's great chūn tree, which takes eight thousand years for spring and eight thousand years for autumn—if it truly grew "growth rings" like ordinary wood to mark its age, the term "growth rings" would likely not be applicable at all.

Therefore, it was not strange that this horse-faced cultivator did not know.

It was just that—

"The world is truly going downhill; a mere True Immortal has fallen into the money pit!"

Hearing the horse-faced cultivator ask if growth rings were worth money, Fang Longye felt disdain in his heart and immediately labeled him as greedy.

"Growth rings are..." Fang Longye had just started to speak when he stopped, directly sending out a ray of spiritual light to make this horse-faced True Immortal understand what growth rings were.

He also understood that even ordinary wood had growth rings and that they were not worth anything in themselves, but when used to evaluate spiritual wood, there was much to be said!

"Look, your wood has no growth rings, it is clearly a side branch, and it is short and weak. Shouldn't the price be pushed down? One final price, four hundred merit gold coins, how about it?"

After finishing his explanation of growth rings, Fang Longye began to haggle.

"Although this wood is a side branch, the quality is there. I won't sell it for less than seven hundred merit gold coins!" The horse-faced cultivator began to quibble over every detail.

"Seven hundred is too expensive, lower it some more!"

"Six hundred and fifty!"

"Hey, you are being too stingy. I have bought quite a few things from you, at least—"

"Five hundred merit gold coins. That should be fine, right!"

After a final round of bargaining, Fang Longye finally nodded.

This was still because he considered that this horse-faced True Immortal had actually suffered a huge loss; otherwise, he could have pushed the price even lower!

In any case, in the mind of this horse-faced True Immortal who did not recognize the Green Dragon Wood, his psychological bottom line was low! So, he should be grateful for the benevolence and kindness of Lord Fang! Just as he was about to take out money for the transaction, he heard a loud laugh from beside him.

Following that came words that made Fang Longye's blood boil with rage.

"Green Dragon Wood! It's actually Green Dragon Wood! And it's a remnant from a Taiyi-level Green Dragon. Good stuff! This item has an affinity with me; this young master will take it!"

A young man's voice came, sounding exceptionally annoying.

Fang Longye immediately followed the sound, looking into the distance with eyes full of anger.

He did not blame others for competing with him for treasures.

After all, he was not the only one with a keen eye.

The key was, who the hell was so lacking in martial virtue, harming others without benefiting themselves, by directly exposing the essence of this piece of spiritual wood! If you had waited until I had secured it and then intercepted me halfway, I wouldn't even be angry!

But you had to expose the roots of this spiritual wood at the final moment of the transaction, maliciously driving up the price! At the same time, regret rose in his heart, realizing he had committed the sin of greed.

He saw that amidst the coming and going of people, two auras, one yin and one yang, moved from far to near.

Unconcealed, and inexplicably familiar.

"Sure enough, the ones who can recognize Green Dragon Wood at a glance have to be fellow members of the Dragon Clan!" Fang Longye felt the two auras permeating over, both belonging to the Dragon Clan, and lowered his eyelids, thinking to himself.

He saw the horse-faced cultivator hear the transmission, immediately withdraw the Green Dragon Wood, and interrupt the transaction.

He knew clearly that raising the price on the spot could no longer be avoided.

He said no more, stood with his hands behind his back, and looked at the man and woman approaching him, one fast and one slow.

Above their heads, clouds gathered and pearls and jade piled up; behind them, halos like wheels shone, and a dragon head stood proudly above, as if ready to choose someone to devour, adding three parts of ferocity.

He had to give the other party a taste of his own medicine.

(End of chapter)