6 Making connections

After a further small talk, Xia Hongyi finally got to the business. Shen put all the cores on the table so Hongyi could observe them.

"These are some high-grade cores despite being only Nascent Profound cores. Pardon my curiosity but was it you who got them personally?" He asked while taking one into his hands and observing it from all sides.

"Does it even matter?" 'For a businessman, you ask too many questions' Shen asked but kept the second part for himself since he didn't want to make himself look like a problematic fellow.

"It doesn't, it's just the fact that you have managed to easily overpower the guards at the entrance that made me curious. You look to be of similar age as my daughter, yet you are already so strong. It wouldn't be an understatement to call you one of the strongest and most talented youngsters in Floating Cloud City." On the surface, it might have looked like Xia Hongyi was complimenting him but Shen noticed Hongyi's shift of expression when he mentioned his daughter as if he was expecting Shen to show some kind of reaction.

Shen slightly narrowed his dull green eyes at the man in front of him and started speaking.

"Lord Xia is too kind with his words, however, I favor intentions over words and those are not as kind as they might appear on the surface. Lord Xia, please, both of us perfectly know I am not from Floating Cloud City, no need to test me by mentioning your daughter who is probably supposed to be famous around here."

Hearing his words, a surprised expression appeared on Hongyi's face.

"It seems like I have misjudged mister Shen, please forgive me for prying, it's a bad habit of mine, being a businessman and all."

"Don't worry, I don't care about that, however, please do tell me how much are you willing to pay for those profound cores." Shen waved his hand and relaxed his expression, urging him to finally finish the deal.

"Hmm...I am willing to pay you 250 yellow profound coins for each." Hongyi thought for a moment while looking at the core in his hand before raising his head to observe Shen's reaction to his offer.

"...I wholeheartedly accept your offer" Shen's expression didn't change a bit as he nodded his head since he had no idea what was the real price.

"...Mister Shen, do you perhaps not know the initial price of such profound cores?" Hongyi asked with a slightly confused expression and Shen quickly nodded his head in response with a blank expression.

"I-I see, well, the most you could get for one core of this grade is around 200 yellow profound coins." Hongyi kindly explained which finally made sense to Shen why Hongyi was observing his reaction again.

'He wasn't looking if I was okay with the price, he was looking if I was delighted to get more than I could ask for.'

"I understand, still, Lord Xia is a very confident man, I can only admire your courage" Shen said with a faint smile which slightly confused Hongyi as he slightly tilted his head to the side.

"Making connections like that with someone you know only for several minutes...just true fearless merchants can do such act. Maybe the lord Xia is hoping for us to meet in the future, well, I won't say it didn't work. I already feel like sparing-*cough* helping the lord Xia" Shen said with an amused smirk but at the end, he almost gave away his real thoughts.

"...Hahaha, mister Shen is certainly an amusing and straightforward young man. It has been a pleasure doing business with you. Here you have a card with 1.000 yellow profound coins inside, you may make sure of it yourself." Hongyi enjoyed talking with Shen but there was also something making him feel slightly uneasy while he was looking at Shen's amused smirk. It made him feel as if Shen was the one in lead here, it made him feel as if he was sitting in front of an intelligent beast that has found an interesting toy to play with.

"I have also enjoyed our talk...truly. Thank you for the smooth transaction. Lord Xia has mentioned that he has a daughter, are there only two of you in Xia's family?" 'I am not completely ungrateful swine, I might avoid killing any of your family members if you keep giving me good prices' Shen thought with an urge to lick his lips. Even his words weren't empty, in the end, he truly enjoyed this small talk despite being slightly bored at the beginning.

"Oh, I also have a son. Would mister Shen want to meet him? However I am not sure if we can catch my daughter wandering around, she spends a lot of time cultivating." Strangely, Hongyi was slightly enthusiastic when Shen expressed his wish to know more about Xia family.

"Of course, I am currently free therefore I am eager to meet new people." 'And how else could I avoid accidentally killing them if I didn't even know how they look.' Shen replied with a friendly smile.

Both of them left the room with satisfied expressions, while they were walking down the halls, Hongyi started talking about his family in more detail. He couldn't tell why he was feeling uneasy before since Shen was a very polite person and most importantly very talented individual in Floating Cloud City without a hint of arrogance inside him, unlike the other cultivators.

'He is also very mature for his age...maybe a bit too much' Hongyi thought before they finally found his son. Coincidentally, when they found him, they also found Hongyi's daughter talking with him.

'Damn, he is tall and full of muscles considering he is just 15 years old.' Shen admitted that he probably wouldn't forget his appearance outside so with that done, he looked at the girl.

Shen's brows were immediately raised in surprise since the girl was the prettiest one he has ever seen, both in his previous world and this new one. He actually still preferred his old world's beauties but her beauty surprised even him.

'Oddly...if it was old me, I would feel my heart skip a beat but now I feel nothing. Do you know anything?' Shen asked the system as they were approaching them.

[The master's mental health shifted too fast, if it wasn't for the master's bad karma, he would most likely die only a few times in several months, however, the master died 20 times within an hour which would cause most humans to break. If the master's real question is if he can feel emotions similar to love, he can, however, looks alone are not gonna cut it. Master's mind is too twisted to be captivated by beauty alone.]

"You two! I have someone to introduce you to" Hongyi greeted them with a warm smile and they did the same, well, except for the girl who wasn't smiling at all while staring at Shen as if deep in thought.

'...She is strong, I doubt I would even be capable of killing her so my business is done here.' Shen could feel that attacking her would not play out well and since he finally knew how they look like, he was done here.

Hongyi explained how they have met and even mentioned the incident at the front gate which made for some reason his son quite excited.

"My name is Shen, it is a pleasure to meet you two. I apologize if I interrupted you two, however, I will be going shortly. I just wished to meet Lord Xia's children." Shen slightly lowered his head as a greeting.

"I-I am Xia Yuanba" The tall boy introduced himself rather timidly, contrary to his massive frame. Still, it was evident that he was much friendlier than the girl.

"Xia Qingyue" The girl followed Shen's example and politely nodded her head but her expressionless face stayed the same.

'Is she acting like she knows all the pain and suffering of the world? I already don't like her behavior, it's not someone I can make use of. I better just disappear for now, though, befriending this big guy might not be a bad idea, still, I don't see any of his uses for now. I will think about it later.'

"Lord Xia, though I would love to spend more time here, I think it is time for me to take my leave. I could visit you a few days later if you are interested."

"Of course, could you walk our guest to the front gate to avoid any further incidents?" Hongyi replied with a polite smile before turning to Yuanba who just nodded his head.

Yuanba led Shen back and on their way they exchange a few words, Shen was slowly making an expression of a laid-back cultivator on Yuanba which made it easier for them to talk at ease.