Chapter 69: Artifact Refinement Apprentice

In the blink of an eye, more than twenty minutes had passed.

Quite a few customers came and went around Xu Jiayi’s shop, but no one came in.

This was not surprising to Li Jing.

This shop primarily handled identification and acquisition and did not engage in sales.

It was probably the case that sales were conducted elsewhere.

Most who visited the spiritual marketplace aimed to buy things, with only a few intending to identify or sell spiritual objects or materials, and even if they did, they didn’t necessarily come at night.

So, Li Jing chatted back and forth with Ji Qing as he patiently waited in the store.

Identifying and assessing spiritual objects and materials was skilled work.

Not only did it require various detection tools, but relevant magic skills were needed for testing too.

The required time varied according to the quality and the difficulty of identification.

The more time Xu Jiayi spent, it indicated that the essence of Qu Lianghong was more valuable, and Li Jing would rather wait longer.

As he was chatting casually with Ji Qing, a young man with a delicate face suddenly walked into the shop.

Having caught a glimpse of the young man coming in, Li Jing spoke up.

"The shop assistant is busy; you will need to wait a while."

Hearing this, the young man paused and nodded in understanding, then went to the counter and took out five flying swords from his storage space.

Li Jing called over the young man, intending to continue his casual conversation with Ji Qing.

However, seeing the young man display five flying swords all at once, his interest was piqued.

Clearly, this fellow was here to have his flying swords appraised.

Just when he himself was planning to buy a sword, might he not arrange an exchange?

Ordinarily, to buy a precious flying sword, one would have to visit a regular magic tool shop.

The price of the items in these shops was clearly marked, leaving no room for negotiation.

But if you could buy directly from an artifact refiner, the price could be negotiated.

The price would be decided by the artifact refiner, and since there would be no middleman like in the magic tool shop, there would be no price mark-up.

Without thinking twice, Li Jing approached him.

"Are you an artifact refiner, brother?"

The sight of Li Jing striking up a conversation didn’t put off the young man who gave a shy smile in response.

"Not really. I would not call myself an artifact refiner yet, I’m just an apprenticeship."

As he spoke, he glanced at Ji Qing, who had come over with Li Jing, and his back straightened slightly.

"I am a second-year student majoring in Artifact Refinement at North City Immortal Academy. I won’t be eligible to get the certification until next year. These flying swords are my practice works and are not of very good quality. The shop happens to be my senior’s property, so I thought why let outsiders benefit when I can get these appraised here and trade them in for some money for materials."

Seeing the young man disclose all his circumstances after glancing at Ji Qing, Li Jing couldn’t help but smile.

He couldn’t help but wonder, did he need to announce everything, like how many people lived in his family when Ji Qing hadn’t even spoken a word?

Ji Qing also found the young man amusing.

Such a simple-minded youngster was really a rare sight these days.

"My name is Li Jing."

Li Jing introduced himself.

"Xiang Minghui."

The young man smiled, his gaze inevitably landing on Ji Qing.

Ji Qing smiled faintly.

"Ji Qing."

"Nice to meet you."

Xiang Minghui respectfully responded. He didn’t dare maintain eye contact with Ji Qing and turned to Li Jing, asking.

"Brother Li, did you and Miss Ji come to my senior sister’s shop for an appraisal?"

"We’re here to appraise a monster, a Three Realm monster."

Li Jing responded casually.

Just as he was about to take advantage of his relationship with Xu Jiayi to get closer to him, Xiang Minghui’s eyes lit up.

"A Three Realm monster, that’s a rare treasure!"

And then quickly said.

"Brother Li, to tell you the truth, I am refining so frequently to prepare for the final project. Despite many attempts, I can’t seem to produce a satisfactory piece. I’m running short on high-quality materials. What do you think about selling your monster to me?"

"..."

Li Jing.

He hadn’t even had a chance to ask if he could sell him one of the flying swords at a reduced price, but Xiang Minghui was already eyeing his monster.

Finding Xiang Minghui’s brimming anticipation strange, Li Jing said,

"If you can offer a fair price, I can sell you the monster."

"Not a problem, I will simply use the appraisal result from senior sister and trade with you based on that."

Xiang Minghui responded with exceptional frankness.

"Agreed."

Li Jing nodded in approval.

Those who dabbled in artifact refinement, were not short of money.

Precious items were expensive for a reason.

Before craftsmanship, high-quality materials were needed.

If one wished to refine high-quality precious or even spirit weapons, one could not skimp on materials.

On the other hand.

Artifact refinement was a kind of gambling.

You might pour in expensive materials that could potentially be used to create a level eight treasure, only to end up with a one or two-level treasure, or even a mortal tool.

Breaking even was difficult.

Earning more is even harder.

In reality, apart from mass-produced treasure-level artefact like the Standard Flying Sword provided to the Inspection Bureau, most treasure-level artefact below Level Eight are considered failed products of Artifact Refiners.

The work of Artifact Refiners involves high risk, always striving to refine at higher levels.

If successful, they could get rich overnight.

If not, committing suicide depends on the situation.

Apart from these, let’s get to the point.

Xiang Minghui is willing to offer a price according to Xu Jiayi’s appraisal result, which is quite fair.

If the transaction takes place, it could be a win-win for both parties.

Li Jing doesn’t have any selling channels himself, so he can only sell to merchants who trade in spiritual objects and materials.

But merchants would always buy at a reduced price.

Coming to Xiang Minghui, it’s just like Li Jing trying to get close to him to buy a flying sword, significantly cheaper than buying directly from merchants.

Whether the middleman is black or not is hard to say, but they absolutely need to make money.

While the two were talking, Xu Jiayi carrying the snake monster walked out of the side door of the shop.

She raised her eyes and noticed Xiang Minghui had entered the shop, her eyebrows furrowed.

Seeing five flying swords on the counter, Xu Jiayi’s delicate brows twisted into knots.

"Xiaoxiang, you’ve lost so much in artifact refining that you’re almost bankrupt. Why don’t you give up? It’s just a term paper, it won’t affect your qualification exam for becoming an Artifact Refiner. Why don’t you just submit a Treasure-Level artifact of Level Three or Four?"

Xiang Minghui obviously knew Xu Jiayi quite well.

Hearing her words, he twisted his head bashfully.

"I’ve lost everything already. If I don’t earn it back, my dad will beat me to death. Besides, the higher the quality of the artifact I submit, the more credits I’ll earn, which will let me focus on obtaining the certification next year."

Having said this, he cast his gaze on the snake monster in Xu Jiayi’s hands.

"Brother Li just agreed to sell his snake monster to me. What was the appraisal result?"

Xu Jiayi froze upon hearing this, suspiciously looked at Li Jing.

Li Jing felt somewhat embarrassed when she looked at him.

If it weren’t for Xiang Minghui showing up, Xu Jiayi would most likely have bought his snake monster at a discount.

Furthermore, he knew Xu Jiayi.

Knowing her, she would definitely negotiate better prices.

He had bypassed Xu Jiayi this time, causing her to earn a little less.

Despite the situation, Xu Jiayi didn’t say much.

It’s a free market. Li Jing can sell his snake monster to whoever he wants, she couldn’t possibly comment on that.

Going to the counter, Xu Jiayi put down the snake monster and told Li Jing,

"The quality of your snake monster is good, it seems that it had already evolved into a human form when still alive. It’s a bit of a pity that including the poison pancake, its internal organs and other parts that could have been used for elixir manufacturing have all been destroyed."

"Then?"

Li Jing asked.

He had expected what Xu Jiayi had said.

After all, he had used the Standard Steel Knife as a lightning rod when he killed Qu Lianghong, releasing three Palm Thunders into its body.

The Standard Steel Knife had been melted on the spot, so how could the internals of Qu Lianghong be any better?

"Other parts are still good."

Xu Jiayi said that, took out an appraisal report, put it on the counter, and explained,

"The snake skin is very tough, and the two poisonous fangs are intact and of high quality. Both can be used as materials for crafting Level Nine treasure-level artifacts. As for the snake meat, it’s a little cheaper. The appraisal result shows that its medicinal value is limited, and the effect of refining elixir is not very..."

Before she could finish her sentence, Ji Qing pulled Li Jing to her side.

"Keep the snake meat for me, I’ll pay you according to the appraisal result."

"Deal."

Li Jing turned his head and answered.

Ji Qing suddenly opened her mouth, obviously because the snake meat is cheaper.

If she wanted it, how could Li Jing refuse?

Xu Jiayi watched as another person showed interest in the snake meat, her mouth twitched.

There were too many people causing trouble today, right?

Letting out a deep breath, Xu Jiayi continued,

"The snake meat is roughly worth eight hundred thousand, and the snake skin and poison fangs are worth six million two hundred thousand."

Eight hundred thousand, plus six million two hundred thousand!?

Seven million!?

Li Jing widened his eyes.

He knew Monsters of the Three Realm were valuable, but he hadn’t expected it to be worth that much.

And this was only for part of it.

If it were intact, wouldn’t the price be ten million or more?

Ji Qing, hearing Xu Jiayi’s estimate, didn’t think much of it.

Unlike Li Jing, her vision was broader.

The price of a perfect Three Realm Monster worth tens of millions was relatively cheap.

Whether the value is high or not mainly depends on the refinement level of the monster’s body and how the parts could be used, along with their effect.

Xiang Minghui who was standing aside, hearing the price, was not surprised, but even looked a little overjoyed.

The snake skin and snake teeth can be used as materials for creating Level Nine Treasure-Level artifacts!

He must get these!

Materials worth six million two hundred thousand would cost him an extra hundreds of thousands if bought from a legitimate merchant.

Taking out his phone to check his account balance, Xiang Minghui’s face stiffened, coughing awkwardly.

"Big sister, have you managed to sell the Qingfeng I brought last time?"