Chapter 244: Shopping

Stepping into the Mount Tianmu Lu's Alchemy Room, a clerk came up to greet them: "Are you guests here to see spirit elixirs? Please this way."

What kind of spirit elixirs were needed often indicated the current situation of the visitor—what injuries they had suffered, what bottlenecks they had encountered in cultivation, and even what they wanted to do in the future could all be revealed from this.

If they were here to sell alchemy materials, it could also judge the origin of the guest, where they had been, or what they had just done.

Therefore, when discussing business, they would be introduced into a separate secret room so that the guest's privacy would not be known by idlers nearby.

There were eight secret rooms in the Lu's Alchemy Room. Liu Xiaolou and Fang Bu'ai were introduced into the second room on the left. After closing the door, the noise of the marketplace outside could no longer be heard, and it was strangely quiet.

The clerk handed over a booklet, which listed twelve kinds of spirit elixirs in total, each with an explanation of its efficacy. Among them, spirit elixirs for assisting cultivation were the most numerous, accounting for a full half. These were the spirit elixirs that Mount Tianmu, as one of the alchemy sects, often refined.

Liu Xiaolou scanned it roughly and didn't see Foundation Establishment Pills, so he lost interest. He closed the booklet and said: "Do you accept alchemy materials?"

The clerk replied: "We do! What good alchemy materials do you have, honored guest?"

Liu Xiaolou signaled Fang Bu'ai to open the cover cloth of the back basket, and he took them out one by one and placed them on the table. For this batch of alchemy materials from Fenglin Manor, he and Fang Bu'ai had shared a total of eighteen items, piling up the whole table.

Seeing this, the clerk immediately said: "Please wait a moment, guest. I will go and invite the manager to talk."

Before long, a manager knocked on the door and entered. After bowing and greeting, he began to check the alchemy materials one by one. After the check was completed, he asked: "What does the guest want?"

Liu Xiaolou said: "Spirit stones."

The manager asked again: "How many does the guest want?"

Liu Xiaolou said: "I just don't know if your house wants them all?"

The manager nodded and said: "We want them all."

Of course they wanted them all. These spirit materials were originally needed by Mount Tianmu for alchemy and were prepared by Fenglin Manor in advance according to their needs. Other alchemy sects might be picky, but here at the Lu's Alchemy Room, every item was on their demand list.

Liu Xiaolou gave a package price directly: "Twenty."

This price was naturally called high, but it wasn't called blindly. It was stuck a little above the real market price, indicating that Liu Xiaolou understood the market situation.

The manager then reported a relatively fair price. After all, these spirit materials were what Mount Tianmu truly wanted.

After a few back-and-forths, a consensus was quickly reached, and the transaction was finally completed for fourteen spirit stones.

Robbing things from the other party's home and then selling them back to the other party, this feeling was still quite good. The regret was that it couldn't be spoken out loud and could only be secretly enjoyed.

Coming out of the Lu's Alchemy Room, Fang Bu'ai suddenly couldn't help but laugh out loud. Liu Xiaolou glanced at him: "Very happy?"

Fang Bu'ai said: "Of course happy. It would be better if there were more businesses like this."

Liu Xiaolou pointed to a tea house opposite and said: "For the next few days, you stay in the tea house, keep an eye on the Lu's Alchemy Room, recognize the people well, and record the situation of those entering and leaving... Also, listen more to what news other guests in the tea house have."

Fang Bu'ai immediately became excited: "Understood, Big Brother!"

Liu Xiaolou reminded him: "This is not the time to be reckless. Just watch and record with your heart. Don't even ask too much. You don't know that when you are trying to get information out of others, others might also be trying to get information out of you. Mount Tianmu has been opening shops here for I don't know how many years. Perhaps the manager and clerks in the tea house have all been bought by them. As soon as you show a sign, they will know what you want to do. Remember?"

Fang Bu'ai blinked: "Understood..."

Watching Fang Bu'ai go in to order tea and sip it slowly, Liu Xiaolou left here and continued to shop. Since he had finally come to Chicheng Mountain Marketplace, of course, he had to go and see the shops selling array plates to understand the market, otherwise, could he be called an array master?

After wandering for half an hour, shops selling array plate materials finally appeared ahead. Array plate materials and alchemy spirit materials and magic treasure spirit materials were both the same and different. Laymen looked at them as the same, but experts looked at them as different.

Liu Xiaolou could now be considered an expert. Starting from the most basic five metals and eight stones, he shopped one by one, watching with great interest. Combined with the records in the "Thousand Extremes Formula," he only felt that he had gained a lot.

By the time he shopped until evening, he had only shopped in more than ten shops. Although he still had unfinished business, he returned to the tea house opposite the Lu's Alchemy Room and called Fang Bu'ai out to eat. This time, he chose the wine house opened by the Weiyu Xianghe Sect.

After going in and sitting at the table, the two, who originally thought they had a little bit of family wealth, were immediately beaten back to their original form. Looking at the menu, the two looked at each other.

The wine house clerk was still recommending: "This sweet and sour fish uses Golden-Bearded Dragon Carp, a specialty of our Weiyu Cave Heaven. The taste is very good, and it has the effect of thickening spiritual power and accelerating the absorption of true yuan. You two will know after trying..."

Liu Xiaolou naturally knew the benefits of Golden-Bearded Dragon Carp. When he was at the Su family before, Susu often made it for him, but he didn't expect it to be sold so expensively in Chicheng Mountain Marketplace.

A three-pound Golden-Bearded Dragon Carp, cooked and served, cost fifty taels of silver!

If a few other dishes were added, they wouldn't even be full, and two hundred taels of silver would probably be gone!

Facing Fang Bu'ai's unconfident questioning gaze, Liu Xiaolou coughed: "What's wrong with you? Order the dishes... Eh? Where is your peach wood sword?"

Fang Bu'ai: "Ah?"

Liu Xiaolou said angrily: "You just spent ten spirit stones to buy it, why is it gone? Or did you leave it in the shop and didn't take it?"

Fang Bu'ai touched the back of his head: "Oh no, Big Brother, forgot to take it..."

Liu Xiaolou scolded: "What's going on? So careless, what are you thinking about all day long?"

He pulled Fang Bu'ai up: "Hurry back and find it!"

The two hurriedly left the table, leaving behind the clerk's disdainful gaze: "If you don't have money, just say so. Who are you fooling? I've seen this routine three or five times every month..."

They changed to another wine house that didn't look so extravagant. This time, looking at the menu again, they felt much more comfortable. Although they still spent fifty taels of silver, eating it felt like they had taken a big advantage—at least they saved one hundred taels!

After eating, the two summarized their experience: Tianfu Ji was still the most affordable.

They found an inn to stay in, five taels of silver a night, which was still very expensive, but unknowingly, their psychological expectation of spending money had been raised by a large level, and they didn't feel it was expensive.

The next day, Fang Bu'ai continued to drink tea and keep watch, and Liu Xiaolou continued to shop for array plate spirit materials. After shopping for three consecutive days like this, he finally finished shopping in dozens of shops selling array plate materials.

When he looked up again, ahead was a shop specializing in selling array plates—Siming Mountain Array Technique.

Seeing this sign, Liu Xiaolou felt quite close for a moment. A figure appeared in his mind, and he stepped in subconsciously.

There were very few customers in the shop, which was normal. The value of a finished array plate was very high, starting at least at dozens of spirit stones, and complex large-scale mountain-protecting magic arrays required face-to-face negotiation. Therefore, most people were naturally blocked outside.

Only five array plates were displayed in the main hall, each placed on a special table, blocked by a red thread, indicating "Do not touch." Five clerks were guarding a table each, looking at Liu Xiaolou who came in vigilantly. One of them took the initiative to step forward and politely but firmly made a request: "Please take off your bamboo hat, honored guest. Guests are not allowed to enter our shop wearing bamboo hats or veils. I hope the honored guest will understand." ===== CHAPTER 245 =====