Chapter 185: Treasure Pavilion Amulet

Zhou You spent a total of over 10,000 taels at Xingren Tang in Fucheng.

Other miscellaneous items added up to about 3,000 taels, with the final bottle of Grey Jade Snake venom accounting for the bulk, about 7,000 taels.

The greeter definitely received a commission, because when the payment was made after the deal, his face blossomed with smiles.

"Walk slowly, guest. This is a medicinal tea drink gifted by our humble shop."

Zhou You carried the gift wrapped in a paper bag, thinking that Doctor Hua had quite a head for business.

The only fly in the ointment was that after spending so much, they didn't even give him a gold membership card or a twenty-percent-off discount or anything.

After he left, the greeter let out a sigh of relief and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

"Master, if you hadn't nodded, I would never have dared to sell this bottle of snake venom to a stranger."

Doctor Hua was already at leisure; with no customers in front of him, he held a cup of flower tea to soothe his throat.

Hearing this, he replied, "Ordinary snake venom can still be used as medicine, but this bottle of Grey Jade Snake venom is fierce and hard to tame; plus, it is very old, and most of its toxicity has been lost. It is a stroke of luck that it could be sold at all."

"That may be so, but what if something happens later..."

The greeter's words were interrupted by Doctor Hua, "Nothing will happen."

"This person's name is Lu Zhigang, and the name he left is his real name; he has a nickname called Du Yan."

"Lu Zhigang bought the snake venom for only one purpose: to practice Poison Palm; it will not be spread around to harm others."

"Besides..."

Doctor Hua's gaze was dim, "Those noble and wealthy families practice techniques that are immune to the Hundred Poisons, and they have fellow disciples from the Medicine King Sect by their sides to provide personal care. What poison could possibly harm them?"

"If it were ordinary commoners, even if thousands were poisoned to death, no one would even ask."

He looked in the direction Zhou You had left, feeling strange in his heart; Du Yan Lu Zhigang had actually come to Fucheng—this guy had a keen sense of smell.

Zhou You left Xingren Tang and suddenly realized that his money wasn't enough to spend!

Half of the Money Note he had just withdrawn was already spent, and it looked like the rest wouldn't be able to be taken out of Fucheng either.

Even so, the feeling of spending money lavishly was truly good.

After leaving the Yiyao Jie district, there were fewer and fewer pedestrians on the road, to the point where they could only be seen sporadically.

"Rare treasures, seldom seen in the world; passed down for three generations, and it's still here after the grandfather is gone!"

"Fierce tigers in the mountains, dragons in the sea—we have everything; good prices and clear listings, absolutely no inflated labels."

"A thousand gold is not worth a single pearl, ten thousand gold cannot buy a flawless jade; cast aside pearls and jade as dirt, and look to the human world's Treasure Pavilion!"

This street was for selling all kinds of rare treasures.

Zhou You felt he had come to the right place; he had a whole pile of things on hand waiting to be liquidated!

He was just scouting the path this time; his backpack contained two or three jade carvings and a large string of pearls.

He kept the gold items because they were inconvenient to sell; gold and silver could be melted into ingots or bricks, but the patterns and characters on bronze and tin items had histories, making them easy to trace if sold.

He hadn't finished walking the whole street after a long stroll, and being famished, he bought 10 meat-filled flatbreads from the roadside, eating while walking and looking.

The Treasure Pavilion had the loudest advertisements, and the customers coming and going were either rich or noble; it should be positioned for a high-end clientele.

A shop with such a large foundation would care about its reputation to some extent and couldn't just play dirty.

Zhou You made his decision, finished the flatbread, clapped his hands, and walked toward the Treasure Pavilion.

He was stopped when entering the door, and the other party kindly reminded him, "Is the guest here to sell treasures? Go to the right."

It turned out the Treasure Pavilion both sold and bought goods; the left side was for consuming customers, and the right side was for pledging, pawning, or selling.

Zhou You looked at his own clothes and laughed silently; so that was it? In high-end places, one still had to respect the clothes before respecting the person!

Counters were neatly arranged, and old men with white beards wore tortoiseshell glasses, examining items carefully under lights even in broad daylight.

Zhou You spotted a gap and sat down; the appraiser opposite was straightforward, "Take them all out!" After some appraisal, the results came out.

"A string of 18 pearls, each with a diameter of over two-thirds of a cun (2cm), with a margin of error of no more than one fen per pearl; these are High-grade."

"The color is ivory white, not quite beige; these are High-grade."

Based on a comprehensive rating of roundness, luster, and so on, this string of pearls was estimated at 3,700 to 4,200 taels.

If he needed it urgently, he could take 3,700 taels in cash; if he wanted to raise the price, he could choose to consign it, and the Treasure Pavilion would only charge a ten-percent commission.

Then there were the few jade carvings.

"The other two are trash; look at this knife work and the lines—it completely ruined such good jade quality."

"This last stone lion is somewhat interesting; it carries the exotic style of the West, with delicate knife work and seasoned polishing."

"How about this, I'll take the lot for 8,000 taels."

The advertisements saying a pearl was worth a thousand gold and a piece of jade ten thousand gold were indeed exaggerations; the real price was just like this.

Zhou You decisively chose to take the money and leave, emptying out the treasures he had brought this time.

Having money on him made a difference; someone immediately invited him to the left area to consume, focusing on the idea of spending what you just earned and not taking it home.

Zhou You suddenly had a thought and asked, "Is there any way to deal with a Transformation Charm?"

As expected of people in a big city, their quality was solid; upon hearing "Transformation Charm," the Treasure Pavilion clerk's expression only showed slight surprise before immediately giving an answer.

"Pardon me, guest, but charm-creatures are rare after all; anything with great lethality is either treasured by noble families or only possessed by the City Gate Guard."

"If you are looking for self-defense and protection, I recommend an Amulet."

It was a triangular copper piece with dried black bloodstains on the surface.

Zhou You's eyebrows twitched; although this copper piece was small, it contained astonishing residual Qi and blood.

Compared to ordinary evil-warding wooden plaques, this copper piece was of a higher level, using Qi and blood as its bone with evil energy leaking from the outside.

"Is this an Amulet refined by an expert in the late stage of Qi and blood? How many years of tempering does it have?"

The clerk gave a thumbs up and said admiringly, "The guest truly has a sharp eye!"

Objects refined by Qi and blood had a higher threshold than those attached with evil energy; only those in the late stage of Qi and blood were barely qualified, and a proper one had to be at the Martial Master level.

Correspondingly, the cost was higher, and the effect was also higher.

The baleful wooden plaque can scare away phantom wraiths, but it is helpless against manifested wraiths.

If it were replaced with this Amulet, even a manifested wraith would not dare to touch it lightly.

Martial Dao experts have already compressed their Qi and blood to a terrifying degree, to the point where it would explode at the slightest touch.

They set up punishment mediums on the objects they refine; as long as a hostile target approaches, the erupting Qi and blood will explode outward, instantly wiping the enemy out without leaving a trace of residue.

"How much?"

"5,000 taels each; the labor is the main expense."

After all, it requires a martial artist in the late stage of Qi and blood refinement to spend several years focusing on crafting it, so the cost is truly impossible to keep down.

Good grief, two of them would be 10,000 taels; they calculated exactly that I had this much money after just finishing my purchases!

Zhou You had originally planned to give one to each of his parents for self-defense.

Evil-Warding Pills are not of much use now; he needs to upgrade to Amulets for his parents.

Zhou You pondered for a moment, "If I offer 10,000 taels for one, can you provide an Amulet crafted by a Martial Master?"

The shop assistant was stunned on the spot! Then he was overcome with wild joy; this was a huge deal! A single transaction of 10,000 taels would provide an extremely generous commission, and it would even allow him to be promoted by one rank directly.

(End of this chapter)