Chapter 649: Serene Immersion Clay

Shang Xia concluded his conversation with Chu Jia suddenly as he discovered a slight disturbance in the jade coin at the end of his fishing line.

Sending a trace of his consciousness into the jade coin, Shang Xia didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. A Talisman Fish approached his jade coin, but it was the fish he just tossed out! A portion of his consciousness was still trapped in it!

“Ahem… Go, go! Go away!” Shang Xia muttered and he heard his voice back in his mind again.

After having been rejected, the Talisman Fish left the ball of light 5 feet wide before swimming deeper into the Cloud Sea.

Shang Xia was bewildered by the earlier interaction, but he found it extremely entertaining.

It wasn’t hard to see that it was the first time the 3 super factions were using the method for the trade fair. There were still some problems they had yet to iron out.

An example of that would be that one couldn’t control the fish despite having their consciousness stuck within. It greatly lowered the efficiency of trade.

There was also the matter where one’s fish ran back into their jade coin.

The reason Shang Xia fed the fish a strand of fate dipper essence was that he wanted to use it to trade with other people for different types of fate dipper essence, but from how he only managed to attract a single party over, things weren’t looking too good.

As his fish swam through the Cloud Sea in search of an opportunity, Shang Xia’s consciousness returned to the Tongyou Platform. He saw Yun Yichen pull up a fish and complete a trade. However, something shocked him. Even though they were all on the same platform, he was unable to see what Yun Yichen obtained.

Instead of giving her fish more treasures, she turned around and handed the fishing pole over to Ji Yu.

There were 3 fishing poles on the Tongyou Platform and Shang Xia was in sole possession of one. Liu Qinglan was sharing hers with Chu Jia, and the last pole was shared among Yun Yichen, Ji Yu, and Liu Zhidao.

Before he could do anything else, he felt a sudden jolt in his mind. His Talisman Fish was summoned once again, and it started to accelerate in a certain direction.

Shang Xia turned his attention back to the fish and a ball of light that covered an area of 10 feet appeared in the distance. There wasn’t anyone else around and his Talisman Fish directly entered the area covered in the light.

This time, there was no queue at all!

Slamming directly into the jade coin, a voice rang in Shang Xia’s mind. “I wish to obtain fate dipper essence. I’ll pay 300 essence crystals for one.”

Shang Xia quickly gave a reply. “That’s a little too low!”

The divine perception of the fisherman descended and the voice came again. “Fellow cultivator, 300 essence crystals is a fair price. After all, a complete Origin Dipper has the worth of 10 strands of fate dipper essence.”

“Oh? If I give you 3000 essence crystals, will you give me a complete Origin Dipper?” Shang Xia asked.

A roaring laughter immediately rang in Shang Xia’s mind. “Fellow cultivator, you must be joking. You can’t look at it that way. A strand of fate dipper essence might be worth 300 essence crystals, but a complete Origin Dipper that is worth 10 of them costs 3500 essence crystals at the very least!”

Thinking about it for a moment, Shang Xia decided to move to his true objective. “I have a strand of fate dipper essence, but I only wish to trade it for another one!”

The owner of the divine perception immediately turned unfriendly at the request. “Aren’t you just wasting my time in that case? Please take your leave.”

Shang Xia wasn’t willing to let a single possibility go and he yelled hastily, “The fate dipper essence I have isn’t ordinary! It’s the Dark Void Life…”

“I’m not trading fate dipper essence! Scram!” The voice rang again. Before Shang Xia’s Talisman Fish could swim away, the snort came from above. A strong fluctuation came from the jade coin and pushed the fish out of the ball of light.

Shang Xia wasn’t angry by how things progressed. Instead, he gasped softly, “One can actually use the jade coin that way…”

“For the light to cover an area of 10 feet, that would mean that the fisherman belongs to the upper ring. For him to be buying fate dipper essence would mean that they have a strong foundation. Seeing as there are little to no Talisman Fish in the surrounding area, his business can’t be that good… Moreover, he seems to have a good grasp of how to use the fishing rod and the jade coin. That would mean that the person on the other end of the fishing pole is a lot more familiar with the entire trading process…” Having thought of that, Shang Xia felt that things weren’t great.

Shang Xia might have said that 300 essence crystals for a strand of fate dipper essence was low, but he could tell that the cultivator on the other side had already given a fair price.

As Talisman Fish with what he required would be attracted to his jade coin no matter where they were in the Cloud Sea, it wasn’t hard to estimate that there weren’t many people willing to trade fate dipper essences.

In order to gather enough fate dipper essence for his advancement medicine, he needed 7 more of them. He was far from obtaining what he required.

The more he thought about it, the more his heart started to pound in his chest.

The Talisman Fish his consciousness was sealed within also seemed to sense his anxiety as it started to swim quickly through the Cloud Sea. Unfortunately, he didn’t feel a calling wherever he went.

That wasn’t all. The jade coin he tossed over the platform wasn’t attracting any fish either.

Reaching his divine perception into the jade coin below, he could see that there wasn’t a single fish in the area.

Shang Xia thought that most fishes would be concentrated in the center of the Cloud Sea, but after what he experienced, he knew that that wasn’t the case. If his Talisman Fish wasn’t attracted to anything, it would swim randomly around.

As such, there should be Talisman Fish swimming everywhere. The platform they were on might not be near the central region, but they were close enough. How could there be no fish around?!

At the end of the day, there was only a single explanation. Not many people were willing to trade fate dipper essence!

When Shang Xia was thinking about whether he should retrieve his fish to change whatever treasure he had to trade to try his luck somewhere else, his Talisman Fish felt a calling and sped through the Cloud Sea.

A moment later, Shang Xia arrived at a ball of light that covered an area of 5 feet. It seemed as though he arrived at the middle regions, and he didn’t expect anyone there to seek fate dipper essence.

As the thought ran through his mind, his Talisman Fish slammed into the jade coin suspended in the Cloud Sea.

A voice rang directly in his mind. “Sincerely looking to obtain fate dipper essence.”

Feeling the divine perception entering the jade coin, Shang Xia spoke directly. “I’ll do a trade for other treasures. I don’t need essence crystals.”

The divine perception that arrived didn’t expect Shang Xia to immediately reject the most basic form of currency the moment he spoke. He grunted once and Shang Xia could hear the dissatisfaction in the other party’s voice.

“Can I ask what trade you wish to make?” The voice returned and it still maintained a form of cordiality.

Due to the Three Unity Pagoda concealing their voice, no one could be sure whether or not they were hearing the real voice of the other party.

Shang Xia replied without hesitation. “Do you have any fate dipper essence yourself?”

His words caused the other party to be completely flabbergasted. Luckily, the other side seemed a little more friendly and a chuckle came. “Fellow cultivator, you have to be joking. If I had fate dipper essence, why would I be looking for them?!”

Shang Xia felt a wave of disappointment, but he still replied while keeping his civility. “Do you really not have any? If not for the fact that this strand of fate dipper essence isn’t suited to me, I wouldn’t go around looking to trade for another!”

The other party didn’t seem offended after Shang Xia revealed his intentions. Instead, a serious question came. “I wonder if fellow cultivator is interested in other types of trade?”

“Feel free to give me ideas. However, I don’t want essence crystals.” Shang Xia responded.

After some time, the voice rang in Shang Xia’s mind. “First, shouldn’t you tell me what type of fate dipper essence you have?”

“I have the Dark Void Life Extermination Evasion Fate Dipper Essence.” Shang Xia thought about it for a second before he replied.

“Huh?” A shocked cry came from the other side.

Shang Xia seemed to hear a trace of delight from the other party.

“If you truly have the rare Dark Void Life Extermination Evasion Fate Dipper Essence, I can accept most types of trades. I have mid and high-grade weapons, spiritual ingredients of different levels, spiritual treasures of the fourth and fifth rank. I can also accept weapon forging commissions. I will never make a mistake when it comes to crafting mid-grade weapons. I am also very confident when it comes to crafting high-grade weapons…”

The other party didn’t try to hide how excited he was at all.

With a sudden thought, Shang Xia interrupted the other party. “Fellow cultivator, are you a Grandmaster Blacksmith? Are you gathering fate dipper essence to craft a divine weapon?”

“Huh?! How did you guess that?!” A helpless cry rang in Shang Xia’s mind and it seemed as though the other party was really shocked by his deduction.

Shang Xia chuckled. “You just said that you were confident when it came to crafting high-grade weapons. Only Grandmaster Blacksmiths will have the confidence to say something like that. Moreover, every Grandmaster Blacksmith will be gathering fate dipper essence in preparation to craft a divine weapon. What else can you be buying fate dipper essence for?!”

“Is it really that obvious?” The other party didn’t seem to be that much of a schemer and he thought about what Shang Xia said for a second. However, he brought the topic back on track the next moment. “Oh yeah, are you still trading your Dark Void Life Extermination Evasion Fate Dipper Essence?”

“Did you say that you had rank five spiritual treasures earlier?” Shang Xia asked.

“Yeah, I do…” His tone seemed to turn a little guilty and he continued, “I have 3 or 4 of them. However, I prepared most of them to craft the divine weapon. I can only trade one of them. If you don’t need that treasure, I apologize, but I can’t give you the others.”

Shang Xia didn’t think that he would run into rank five spiritual treasures so easily and he asked, “What is it?”

“It’s a small piece of Serene Immersion Clay. if not for the fact that I have no idea if it can be used during the crafting process, I definitely wouldn’t take it out…” The voice replied. From Shang Xia’s words, he could feel an opportunity arriving.

Shang Xia was naturally unwilling to listen to him going on about it and he muttered, “I wish to take a look at it first.”

“Um…” Grunting softly, the other side muttered, “Sure, but…”

Shang Xia couldn’t care less and the Talisman Fish swallowed the jade coin.

Seemingly having thought of something, the other side didn’t pull him up immediately. Instead, his voice rang in Shang Xia’s mind again. “Let’s be clear about this. The value of my Serene Immersion Clay seems to be higher than your fate dipper essence…”

𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Shang Xia’s Talisman Fish didn’t respond, and it simply tugged at the fishing line violently in response.

Somewhat understanding that Shang Xia was getting impatient, the other side tugged on his fishing pole and pulled the fish up.

Unfortunately, he read Shang Xia’s emotions wrong earlier. Shang Xia wasn’t impatient. He was extremely eager to see if the spiritual treasure was something he needed.