Chapter 703: Price Difference

"Have any of our wares caught your eye?" a Yin Tiger being with a scar on his face asked.

"I'm not here to buy anything. Do you do acquisitions here?" Han Li asked.

The three men exchanged a slightly surprised glance upon hearing this, and the scar-faced Yin Tiger being replied, "If you have something good to offer, then we'll naturally be open to acquiring it."

Han Li flipped a hand over to summon a palm-sized black jade box before handing it over.

The scar-faced man accepted the jade box before opening it a sliver, and his expression instantly changed slightly as he hurriedly closed the box again.

He then made a respectful inviting gesture to Han Li, indicating to a black room behind the stall as he said, "Please come with me."

On the way here, Han Li had noticed that almost every single stall here had such a black room behind it, and these rooms were used for private deals.

The furnishings in the room were extremely simple, consisting of only a table and two chairs, and there was some type of restriction inscribed onto the walls.

The two of them sat down across from each other, and only then did the scar-faced man take a deep breath before opening the jade box again. Inside the box was a fist-sized dark gray crystal that was riddled with countless tiny holes, looking much like a honeycomb.

Wisps of gray mist were flowing out of all parts of the crystal, giving it a rather mysterious appearance.

"This is a Nightmare Honeycomb Crystal of an extremely high quality. How many gray crystals do you want for it? Alternatively, you can trade it for other items as well," the scar-faced man said with an excited expression.

"Looks like coming to your Yin Tiger Tribe was a wise decision. In that case, let's not waste any time. I want three hundred gray crystals," Han Li said.

"Three hundred is a little expensive. I'll take it for 160," the scar-faced man bartered.

"270," Han Li countered.

"180 is the most that I'm willing to offer," the scar-faced man said in a firm voice.

After some bartering, the price was ultimately decided at two hundred gray crystals.

The scar-faced man flipped a hand over to produce a bone storage bracelet before handing it to Han Li, who accepted the bracelet before inspecting its contents with his spiritual sense.

Inside the bracelet was a small pile of gray crystals with visible wisps of gray qi flowing within them.

These gray crystals were used as a form of universal currency in the Gray Realm, and they were similar to Immortal Origin Stones, but they contained baleful origin power.

The Nightmare Honeycomb Crystal was something that Han Li had found in Dragon 4's storage pouch.

He was going to require some funds if he wanted to gather information, so it was definitely wise to have some gray crystals on hand, and he was quite elated by this outcome.

The Nightmare Honeycomb Crystal was one of the least remarkable materials in Dragon 4's storage pouch, so two hundred gray crystals was already a very good price.

In light of that, it seemed like Dragon 4's storage pouch was far more valuable than he anticipated.

"Do you have any more Nightmare Honeycomb Crystals or any other precious materials, Fellow Daoist? Don't bother going to other tribes, just sell them all to our Yin Tiger Tribe. Don't worry about the price, our tribe has always had an immaculate reputation, and you won't be disappointed trading with us," the scar-faced man said with a hopeful expression.

"I'm afraid not. This Nightmare Honeycomb Crystal was something that I only stumbled upon by chance," Han Li replied with a shake of his head, much to the scar-faced man's disappointment.

"I don't have anything to sell now, but I want to buy some things from your Yin Tiger Tribe," Han Li continued with a smile.

"Oh? What would you like to buy?" the scar-faced man asked.

"I want to buy some scriptures," Han Li replied.

"What type of scriptures?" the scar-faced man asked as a hint of apprehension appeared in his eyes.

"Rest assured, I don't want any of your tribe's cultivation arts or secret techniques. Instead, I want your scriptures on the local culture and geography. Ideally, I want scriptures that contain information about places outside the Six Moon Grassland or even outside the Black Teeth Region. The Yin Tiger Tribe is one of the most powerful tribes on the Six Moon Grassland, so I'm sure you have many such scriptures, right?" Han Li asked.

On the way here, he hadn't spotted even a single book on the stalls that he had passed by.

Then again, everyone was here to exchange resources, and no one would focus their attention on collecting scriptures.

"I see," the scar-faced man replied as his expression eased slightly. "We can sell those scriptures to you, but they weren't easy to come by for our tribe, so they won't be cheap."

"As long as they contain valuable information, I'll take as much as you have," Han Li replied.

"Alright, please wait here for a moment," the scar-faced man said before departing.

Close to an hour later, Han Li left the Yin Tiger Tribe's stall with a faint smile on his face.

He had obtained many scriptures from the Yin Tiger Tribe, and after briefly skimming through them, he discovered that many of them contained information about places outside the Six Moon Grassland and the Black Teeth Region.

Han Li continued onward without pause, and close to an entire day passed by in the blink of an eye.

At this point, it had already gotten quite dark, and giant cages had been hung up in each of the trading areas, within which were numerous fluorescent white insects that illuminated the entire area with their radiance.

As it grew deeper into the night, the trading area only became more lively and bustling.

Han Li wandered past one stall after another, and he was in a good mood.

After leaving the Yin Tiger Tribe, he had sold some materials to two other tribes and purchased some more books pertaining to the Gray Realm.

All three of the tribes that he had chosen were large tribes, and they had far more scriptures to offer than the Gray Lizard Tribe.

For now, he had decided that he wasn't going to purchase any more scriptures.

He had already gathered a lot, and information was quite isolated in the Six Moon Grassland, so there was a lot of overlapping content between the scriptures of all tribes.

On top of that, purchasing scriptures was very strange during the Tamda Festival, and doing so excessively could attract unwanted attention.

With that in mind, Han Li began to inspect the wares on the stalls that he was passing by.

Having read all of the Gray Lizard Tribe's scriptures on the way here, he had developed some ability to appraise items of the Gray Realm, and with his immense spiritual sense, he was quickly able to discover many precious items.

All of a sudden, he drew to a halt in front of a stall, and a hint of excitement appeared in his eyes.

The stall wasn't very large, and most of the wares on it consisted of things like spirit plants, ore, and materials. The two men standing behind the stall each had a pair of horns on their heads and fish scales on their faces, indicating that they were some type of humanoid fish tribe.

"Has something caught your fancy, my friend?" one of them asked in an enthusiastic fashion.

Han Li turned his gaze to a box on one corner of the stall, within which were dozens of semi-transparent plants with translucent leaves, within which the veins were clearly visible.

These were none other than Bitter Ornament Herbs, the main ingredient for refining Baleful Quelling Pill.

This was an extremely precious ingredient in the Immortal Realm, yet it was being casually displayed here in such a large quantity.

"How much for these spirit plants?" Han Li asked.

"Oh, you want Ice Crystal Herbs? It'll be three gray crystals per plant," the humanoid fish being replied in a casual manner, suddenly losing his enthusiasm.

Han Li was rendered speechless upon hearing this.

In the Immortal Realm, Bitter Ornament Herbs were premium spirit plants that were extremely expensive, yet they were dirt cheap in the Gray Realm.

All of a sudden, he recalled that he had read about Ice Crystal Herbs in the Gray Lizard Tribe's scriptures.

After some recollection, his hazy memory of the information quickly became clear.

It was said that his herb grew in dark and cold places, and deep within the Six Moon Grassland was a bottomless swamp that was filled with these things.

However, Ice Crystals Herbs were useless to beings of the Gray Realm, and there was only a brief description of the plant in that scripture with no accompanying illustration. Otherwise, Han Li would've been able to identify it right away.

Bitter Ornament Herbs were able to expel baleful qi, which made them harmful to living beings of the Gray Realm, so it was no wonder that they were so cheap.

"Is this all you have?" Han Li asked.

The two humanoid fish beings were both rather surprised to hear this.

Ice Crystal Herbs were only used when refining certain poisons, and they weren't rare at all. Anyone could easily gather a bunch at the swamp, so it was very surprising that there was someone who wished to purchase them in bulk.

"There aren't many uses for this plant, so this is all that we picked. My apologies," the other, slightly older humanoid fish being replied.

"I see. In that case, I'll take everything that you have here," Han Li said.

Having already obtained a map of the Six Moon Grassland from the Gray Lizard Tribe, he knew where the swamp that was home to the Bitter Ornament Herbs was situated, so he could go and harvest a batch at any time.

For now, these ones would be more than enough to satisfy his pill refinement needs.

The two humanoid fish beings eagerly packed up all of the Bitter Ornament Herbs before handing them to Han Li, and the transaction was quickly completed.

"My friend, if you need any other spirit plants, make sure to come to us. Our Yearn Fish Tribe excels at collecting all types of spirit plants. Take a look at this Lake Orchid, it's over ten thousand years old, and this Wither Tuber Herb was freshly picked, so it hasn't lost any of its medicinal effects," the elderly humanoid fish being eagerly introduced.

Han Li had seen descriptions of both of these plants in the Gray Lizard Tribe's scriptures, and they both contained immense baleful qi, making them quite precious in the Gray Realm.

However, they were useless to him, so he naturally wasn't going to purchase them.

Hence, he shook his head before departing with a contemplative look in his eyes.

Given the differences in resources in the Gray Realm and the True Immortal Realm, things that were worthless in the Gray Realm could be extremely precious in the True Immortal Realm.

Now that he was in the Gray Realm, he might as well take the opportunity to gather some things like these Bitter Ornament Herbs so that he could sell them for a profit upon his return to the True Immortal Realm.

He wasn't lacking in Immortal Origin Stones at the moment, but it certainly couldn't hurt to have more. There was no telling when he would suddenly require a huge sum of Immortal Origin Stones someday, so it was best to have a large stash in advance.

The problem was that the same item often had different names in the two realms, so illustrations weren't always reliable, so he would just have to try his luck.

Thinking back to the precious yin-attribute spirit plants and ore in the Immortal Realm, he began to release his spiritual sense to carefully scour through the nearby stalls.