Chapter 296: From Arrogance to Respect

Fang Chen's words caused some of the demons who had been selecting spiritual materials in the warehouse to turn their heads.

Their eyes were mocking.

One of the demons, a walking, upright crocodile, had extremely thick blood qi, and a stature of about a dozen meters high. It was so big, humans seemed like three year olds in comparison.

"This is the Qinghu Empire.” It sneered. “Here, we demons are like nobles. What are you humans? Are you even worthy of comparing yourselves with us?"

A demon cultivator chuckled. "Hehehe... Let's eat him when we leave."

Qin Wei, who had been pale, couldn't help but show a hint of joy at these words.

Seeing that, Shopkeeper Lin first placated the group of demon cultivators, then looked at Fang Chen. “I am assuming you’re here in the Qinghu Empire for the first time, so you don’t know how it is around here. Fortunately, you only said this in the Heavenly Treasure Pavillion. If you say such things out in the street, you’ll attract unnecessary trouble to yourself.” Pausing for a moment, he continued, "You said you wanted to buy this batch of yellow rank, mid-grade spiritual materials, right? Qin Wei, calculate the bill."

“Yes, Shopkeeper Lin." Qin Wei sneered and started to crunch the numbers.

The highest the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion had ever made on a single sale was about a thousand low-grade spirit stones. Now six thousand? That might already be half a month’s turnover.

They didn't believe that the human cultivator in front of them could fish out six thousand low-grade spirit stones.

After about ten minutes, Qin Wei looked at Fang Chen. "The total value of the yellow rank mid-grade spiritual materials here is six thousand four hundred and thirty-six low-grade spirit stones. I can round it down for you to six thousand four hundred and thirty lower-grade spiritual stones."

Shopkeeper Lin smiled, "Alright, pay up."

Fang Chen waved his hand lightly, and a neat pile of low-grade spirit stones appeared in front of him.

The atmosphere in the warehouse suddenly became somewhat awkward.

The demons who had just been mocking Fang Chen earlier turned serious, and their gazes toward Fang Chen no longer dared to be disrespectful.

Even if he was a human cultivator, the fact that he had six thousand spirit stones meant that he wasn’t to be trifled with.

The demon who had suggested to his friend that they should perhaps eat Fang Chen quickly whispered a few words to his pal and skedaddled out of the shop.

The first demon who mocked Fang Chen followed right behind them, walking in shame.

They could leave, and that was that; however, Qin Wei didn’t have the same luxury. When he saw the pile of spirit stones that had appeared, his face turned red. He knew it was coming.

Shopkeep Lin turned to Qin Wei and began, scolding, "Qin Wei, how many times have I told you? We treat our customers with sincerity and patience. That’s the reason our establishment has been able to make it in all the major empires," he said. "You can forget about your salary this month. Get out."

"Yes..." Qin Wei left with his head hanging low.

Fang Chen’s lips curved a little. “I know you have stores in all of the major empires. You don’t have to try so hard to remind me of your establishment’s foundations.”

Shopkeeper Lin was taken aback. A hint of embarrassment appeared on his face.

Fang Chen had picked up on what he was insinuating—which was a bit of a threat, honestly. He just didn’t want the situation to escalate.

"I'm here today to do business with you, not to make enemies. Count the spirit stones," said Fang Chen, storing the spiritual materials into his storage rings. He managed to fill up two storage rings. Apart from the storage ring where he stored the Purple Lightning Talisman and the low-grade spirit stones, he still had four storage rings on him. He gave the rest to Liu Mu and the others.

Shopkeeper Lin immediately began to count the spirit tones. After about ten minutes, he nodded at Fang Chen and smiled. "The amount is correct. Is there anything else you need? I can personally show you around the warehouse."

"How many mid-grade, yellow rank treasures do you have," asked Fang Chen.

Shopkeeper Lin was immediately stunned. Was he planning on buying treasure in blunk, too!

Jiang Zhong and Jiang Tianai were both stunned silly. Hadn’t he just spent a whopping six thousand spirit stones? He wanted to buy treasures now? Wasn’t he a little too rich!

Oh, right, he took over the Sea Dragon Sect. I reckon most of these spirit stones come from there,

speculated Jiang Zhong.

Noticing that the shopkeeper had fallen silent, Fang Chen prompted, "Shopkeeper Lin?"

"We have 13 yellow rank, mid-grade treasures up for sale," said Shopkeeper Lin, "They’ll cost you around five thousand low-grade spirit stones to buy them all.”

Fang Chen nodded. "I’ll take them." WIth a wave, he took out the appropriate amount.

Shopkeeper Lin inwardly gasped.

First over six thousand, and now another five thousand...!

He immediately put on a warm smile, "Please wait a moment. I'll go fetch the treasures. They're quite valuable and aren't kept in the warehouse."

"Wait a moment," Fang Chen interjected, "Do you happen to have yellow rank high-grade treasures, too?"

Yellow rank, high-grade treasures?

Astonishment flashed in everyone's eyes. Who exactly was this customer? He was so extravagant! He even wanted to buy yellow rank high-grade treasures! Those treasures were used by Golden Core Realm cultivators, and their pricing started at one to two thousand low-grade spirit stones. The fines of these treasures could fetch eight thousand low-grade spirit stones!

But that wasn't the most important part. The crucial point was that even the lousiest yellow rank, high-grade treasures had at least thirty-seven Soul Imprints, so it was quite challenging to activate them, especially for those at the Foundation Building Realm. If one wasn’t at the grand completion stage, then it was nearly impossible to fully unleash their power, making it a complete waste of spirit stones! Unless... he had a Golden Core Realm expert backing him up who was capable of using such treasures!

At that thought, Shopkeeper Lin's gaze toward Fang Chen became more respectful. A Golden Core Realm cultivator was highly regarded, even in the eyes of the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion.

" He can fish out so many spirit stones at once and he wants to buy yellow rank, high-grade treasures....”

To those in the shop, it seemed as thought they were watching some scion of a top-tier noble family pick out treasure to celebrate an ancestor’s birthday.

"He must be from a fifth-tier empire. Maybe a fourth-tier one, even."

"We... we don’t sell yellow rank, high-grade treasures in our Qinghu Empire branches. If you want to buy such treasures, you’ll have to visit our branch in the Grand Qian Empire," explained Shopkeeper Lin cautiously, not daring to be negligent. Pausing for a moment, he continued, "You can also participate in the trade conference. I heard that in a few months, there will be a trade conference hosted by a fourth-tier empire's chamber of commerce in the Grand Qian Empire. At that time, there might be even peak yellow rank treasures available...."

Trade conference?

Fang Chen's eyes lit up. Elder Jin Nan had mentioned that they bought the Spiritual Measuring Bell at a trade conference. It was a trade event tailored for lower-tier empires, allowing them to purchase some spiritual materials that were usually unobtainable. If he could really acquire peak yellow rank treasures, he believed that just one of them might be enough to advance Little Sword once again!

Treasures were forms of spiritual materials. If he had enough spirit stones, he’d be willing to buy them until his spiritual ring couldn’t take anymore.

"Shopkeeper Lin, go and get the treasures first. You can tell me more about the trade conference later," said Fang Chen.

"Yes, please wait a moment." Shopkeeper Lin nodded hurriedly and quickly left.