14 Money Moves

Sacred Seeds Emporium.

Hour of Dragon. ( 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM )

A scrutinizing gaze fell upon Aksai's offered products as an elderly man behind the counter began his assessment. Every detail was meticulously examined with Spirit Sense after being touched.

"Three stalks of Lunar Blossom Vine, four stalks of Solar Ember Orchid, two stalks of Thunderstrike Root, and seven Aetherial Lotus—all in the 1st Order state. High-quality produce," the old man, Suo Shayal, chuckled and teased Aksai.

"Boy, did you rob some poor old Spirit farmer who couldn't fight? How can a youngling like you cultivate such high-quality produce?"

This old man was named Suo Shayal. He was one of the attendants in the Sacred Seeds Emporium. Aksai had dealt with this man before in his previous transactions. Thus, he chose to sell the produce this time through Suo as well.

Aksai could have set up an open stall by the main street in Lakir City after paying a modest city tax, which was collected differently from the entrance fee he had paid at the time of entering. Cutting the middleman would have given him more profit if he had sold his produce from morning to evening.

However, Aksai didn't like interacting with customers. He also didn't like haggling with them over small price differences.

Plus, the stall owners in Lakir City were often seen as easy targets. Even though the bandits and rogue cultivators did not dare to commit crimes within the city walls, it was very easy for these stall owners to get targeted by such characters with ill intentions outside the city walls.

Even though Aksai had reached the 7th stage of Spirit Refining, he had achieved that using the automated cultivation function of the neural link fabric. He was nothing more than a paper tiger in front of the real late-stage cultivator.

After his first bloodthirsty incident, Aksai was mentally prepared to kill anyone and anything that got in his way. However, he didn't have any delusion in his mind regarding his lack of experience fighting against real cultivators. After all, he had only slayed a bunch of mortal bandits.

Even the low-stage cultivators had their ways of defending themselves, utilizing talismans and runic weapons to enhance their battle prowess.

Against this backdrop, Aksai preferred paying a fee to the middleman to avoid unnecessary trouble. Once he sold his products to the shop, it became the shop's responsibility to sell or make proper use of them through alchemy.

Moreover, who had time to waste on running a stall?

Aksai, especially after the addition of Everwood farmland into the equation, was a busy man. His focus was on farming, and then farming some more.

"It's not what you think, old Suo," Aksai sighed dramatically, speaking in a solemn voice. 

"I have stopped my Tantra practice for a few years and am now focusing on cultivating my farm. Now, will you tell me how much I can make selling these to you?" Aksai asked impatiently, seemingly ready to take his business elsewhere.

"Alright, alright. No need to get so salty. I was just asking," the old man, Luo, snorted before pondering for a bit. He furrowed his brows, performed some mental calculations, muttered a few words under his breath, and then came up with a number.

"How about 70 low-grade spirit stones for all of your lot?"

Aksai smiled at the old man and offered him a bow. While Suo thought that Aksai had agreed, he soon saw Aksai packing his things, placing the produce in small wooden boxes, and closing their lids.

Even someone as clueless as a brain-dead corpse turned into a puppet zombie could sense that Aksai wasn't pleased with Suo's initial offer.

"Um… boy… Hey! Hey! Don't ignore me. Wait," old man Suo grabbed Aksai's hands in desperation, looking at him as if the young man had just kissed his beautiful wife back home. 

"Youngsters these days don't have any semblance of patience or respect for their elders. 80 spirit stones," Suo changed his initial offer. However, Aksai already had a specific total buyout price in mind for the entire lot he had brought this time, and Suo's new offer fell short of his expectations.

"Do you think I was born yesterday, old Suo?" Aksai looked at Suo and chuckled before continuing.

"An inheritance ground of the last-stage foundation-building expert has been found. Soon, people will start their first expedition.

No matter how it ends, it will only attract more cultivators to join the next rounds of expeditions. They'll swarm the inheritance ground like a school of locusts.

Whether the cultivators participate in this expedition or not, let's just say that most of them are bound to get hurt one way or the other.

At that time, the prices of these ingredients will skyrocket, as most of them could be used to make healing-type elixirs.

Why do you think I brought them to sell today?"

'He is well-informed. And smart. I... I think I underestimated this kid.'

Old Suo saw Aksai in a new light. As much as he didn't want to engage in bargaining, the young man was actually quite adept at it. One could say that people often found themselves gaining expertise in fields they didn't like to work in.

"105 spirit stones and 20 spirit crystals," old Suo finally sighed and caved in. "I won't offer a spirit crystal more," he declared it to be the final price.

"Deal," Aksai put forward his best business-friendly smile as he agreed. The old man's offer was as close to the number he had calculated himself after asking around in the market.

Aksai didn't immediately collect his payment.

Since he had come to the Sacred Seeds Emporium, it was natural to buy some seeds for Spirit farming.

After deducting the prices of seeds and some other materials, he left the shop carrying 82 spirit stones and some spirit crystals as a loose change in his sack.

Aksai then went into a clothes shop and selected a bunch of random-looking clothes and masks.

He also went to an old alchemy shop and bought an appearance-changing pill, which would alter his appearance and breath for a few hours.

Although he was a bit reluctant to part with the 10 spirit stones he had just earned for the appearance-changing pill, safety was paramount for Aksai.

He then visited a weapon shop to buy a 1st Order low-grade weapon for himself – a simple 3-feet long light sword with a single rune formula etched over it for flying sword attack amplification.

Hour of Goat (01:00 PM - 02:00 PM)

After making sure that he had prepared as much as he could, Aksai decided to visit the black market.