Chapter 6. A Good Samaritan

 Being aware that if she continued to wander through memories, she would have nothing to gain but a bad mood, Liu Fengying decided to shift her focus to the current issues she faced, the most urgent one being the creation of a formation for attracting spiritual energy, to make her cultivation sessions much more effective.

 Although in her previous life, creating formations wasn't one of her main occupations, during her time in the Wild Territory, she gained enough knowledge in this field, as she often collaborated with cultivators with experience in creating formations to set traps for enemies or establish defense barriers. Therefore, creating simple formations posed no problem for her.

 However, in her previous life, acquiring the necessary materials for forming a formation wasn't very difficult, because there were many places where a cultivator could find them independently, and many sect-owned stores where they could be purchased, but in the world she currently found herself in, about which she had no information that would have anything to do with cultivation, finding everything she needed, even for a simple formation, might take quite some time.

 'Hmm, even though I can use the internet for research, I think it would be best to buy the materials I need for the formation in person, to ensure their authenticity and quality. I believe the cheapest and quickest option would be to visit the city's large market and some antique shops...', thought Liu Fengying, still lying in bed, not intending to get up until she found information about all the necessary materials on the internet.

 Although for Liu Fengying, the existence of smartphones was as ordinary as the existence of the sun in the sky, having always been a part of her life, once she got the memories of her previous life, she couldn't help but marvel at the ingenuity of the people in the world she currently inhabited every time she used her smartphone, a state she had at that moment as well, after she picked up the phone from the bedside table and started entering the names of the materials she needed in the search bar.

 'Even though people lived in my former world for over 5 million years, I never heard of them creating such complex devices unrelated to spiritual energy. But it's not surprising if you know human nature. Yes, people will never bother to solve a problem for which a solution already exists, and the existence of a high concentration of spiritual energy in my former world made many of the problems people faced easily solvable...', Liu Fengying thought, imagining how her former world would have looked if people had also focused on technological development.

 'I can almost see my father as the emperor of a galactic empire... Lightning Galactic Emperor... with such a position, he probably wouldn't have hurried to try ascending...', Liu Fengying continued to fantasize, unable to suppress a burst of laughter when such a scenario came to her mind.

 ............

 'As expected, searching for information about materials related to spirituality on the internet is like looking for a feng shui expert at a carnival. How can someone believe that a 1000-year-old ginseng root is real when the products next to it are werewolf hair and mermaid tears? Anyway, from what I've seen, the only spiritual energy gathering formation for which I could find the necessary materials is the Jade Flowers Formation, but it won't be cheap to obtain enough jade, and the effect of this formation will start to diminish after a month...', Liu Fengying concluded at the end of two hours of internet searches that led her to various dubious websites.

 With no excuse to laze around anymore, Liu Fengying finally got out of bed, and after putting her smartphone on charge, which had started to have battery problems due to being over 3 years old, she began preparing to go out.

 'Hmmm, consuming only foods suitable for a monk's diet rather than a teenager's in the last few months, it's no wonder I reached enlightenment and gained memories from my previous life... Well, I think it would be good to stop by a supermarket today to buy some higher-quality ingredients... and some ice cream...', Liu Fengying said to herself after finishing her breakfast, which consisted only of a bowl of oatmeal, as there wasn't much else suitable to prepare.

 After getting up from the table and washing the bowl she ate from, Liu Fengying went into the bathroom for a quick shower, at the end of which she tidied up for a few minutes and tied most of her hair into a ponytail without paying much attention to the fact that the scar on her face was easily noticeable.

 Aware that she had a lot of ground to cover, Liu Fengying chose to dress in a very comfortable sportswear set, and then, taking three-quarters of the total money she had, she left the apartment, heading towards one of the antique shops she had researched online.

 ...........

 "Young lady, even though this vase is cracked, the jade it's made of is of superior quality. It's impossible to sell it for less than 20,000 ruans," the seller from the second antique shop Liu Fengying visited continued to insist full of irritation, refusing her offer of 15,000 ruans.

 Since she hadn't found anything suitable within her budget in the first antique shop, Liu Fengying decided to try her luck at a shop on the outskirts of the city, which, despite not having very good reviews from customers, many of whom were dissatisfied with their purchases, it had a greater variety of products than the better-reputed stores, as it didn't prioritize the quality of the items it sold. Once inside, Liu Fengying immediately spotted a vase that she was sure was made of jade of sufficient quality for creating the formation, and after noticing a discreet but fairly long crack on the bottom, she tried to convince the seller to sell it to her for half the displayed price of 30,000 ruans.

 "Well, it's your store, so you decide. I guess I'll keep looking until I find something that fits both my needs and budget...", said Liu Fengying with a hint of disappointment in her voice, giving the impression that she had completely given up on buying the vase.

 "Hmph, do as you wish...", the seller replied, not intending to sell the vase without making almost any profit, then he took the vase from the counter and headed towards the showcase where it had been displayed, his movements being very sharp as he was very dissatisfied with wasting more than five minutes on such a difficult customer who, despite being very young, haggled like an old aunt.

 Liu Fengying, not very surprised that the seller didn't want to lower the price, as he didn't seem like the type to engage in charity, began casually browsing through the shop's display cases, giving the impression that she had no intention of leaving empty-handed.

 "Darling, what do you think of this pearl necklace? I think it would go very well with the pair of earrings I bought last month...", Liu Fengying overheard a middle-aged woman saying to her husband, both standing next to a secured display case containing various exposed jewelry.

 "Yes, that's true. I think it will suit you very well. I'll go fetch the seller immediately and..."

 "Hmm, 50,000 ruans... I'm not sure if this necklace is worth that much...", suddenly came Liu Fengying's voice from the other side of the secured showcase, her words instantly grabbing the attention of the couple who intended to buy the necklace.

 "Uh, excuse me, young lady? What do you mean? I'm sure the pearls are genuine...", the man asked Liu Fengying, not wanting to take any risks, as he wasn't the type of person to throw money out the window.

 "Oh, are you also looking at this necklace? Yes, it's true that the pearls are real, but the nacre layer on them is very thin, and I think it will start peeling off soon from some of the pearls..."

 Hearing Liu Fengying's words, the couple began to scrutinize the necklace more carefully, and following Liu Fengying's guidance, they were able to discover the clues that revealed the pearls were not of high quality.

 "Thank you, young lady. If it weren't for you, we might have been fooled. As a reward, I would like you to accept this voucher. With it, you can spend three days at the spa center on the other side of the city owned by us...", the man said, handing Liu Fengying a golden coupon she made no effort to refuse.

 "Um, excuse me for a moment. I see that you're quite knowledgeable about jewelry. What do you think about these earrings?", a young woman nearby asked Liu Fengying after the middle-aged couple moved away, present when Liu Fengying was describing the defects of the necklace.

 "These earrings? Hmmm, they look pretty good, but their price is a bit exaggerated... Considering that the two rubies they're decorated with are not natural, I don't think they're worth more than 20,000 ruans."

 "Uhh, so the rubies are not natural... Anyway, I like how they look, so I'll go ask the seller if he's willing to cut the price. Thank you for helping me....", the young woman said, then headed to the counter where the seller was to discuss the price of the pair of earrings.

 After the young woman walked away and she saw that no one was around the jewelry showcase, Liu Fengying didn't linger in the same place where she had no interest. Instead, she headed towards other parts of the store that were more populated, where she might find others who needed assistance.

 .........

 "Young lady, haven't you found anything you like yet? If not, I can recommend another shop on the other side of the city...", the seller told Liu Fengying about an hour after she helped the couple who wanted to buy the pearl necklace, his benevolent smile not matching the irritation in his gaze.

 Having learned that Liu Fengying was the reason dozens of customers had come to negotiate prices or left without buying anything in the past hour, the seller had initially considered asking security to throw her out. However, not wanting to cause a scene in front of dozens of customers, he decided to try to convince her to leave using words.

 "Uhh, not yet, but I haven't seen even a quarter of the products displayed. Anyway, when I find something, I'll call you immediately...", replied Liu Fengying, seemingly unable to grasp the subtext of the seller's words.

 Recalling how he saw Liu Fengying on surveillance camera footage flying from customer to customer like a bee from flower to flower, leaving behind losses of tens of thousands of ruans for his business, the seller couldn't risk letting her stay one more minute in his store. Otherwise, the losses she might cause in that day wouldn't be covered even in a week.

 "Young lady, I've reconsidered what you said about the jade vase you wanted, and I've come to the conclusion that you were right. I believe 15,000 ruans would be a fair price for it... So, I don't think you have any reason to continue searching...", the seller finally said, willing to sell the vase almost without any profit rather than let Liu Fengying stay longer in his store.

 "Hmm, I don't know what to say... Maybe if you add a set of tools for carving jade, I think I can accept...", said Liu Fengying without much enthusiasm, as if she were making a concession to the seller.

 Since she had received almost 7,000 ruans and several coupons for restaurants or relaxation centers from various business owners as a reward for her help in the last hour, she might have been willing to spend a few more hours in that antique shop to increase her earnings. Hence, she felt like she had the most to lose by accepting the seller's offer. However, being aware that everyone's patience has limits and that the seller might resort to more drastic measures, she decided it would be wise not to be too greedy and stop at what she had earned so far.

 "Yes, I think I have a set of tools for carving jade in the storage. You can take the vase and go to the counter; I'll be right there with it...", said the seller through gritted teeth, willing to take a loss in that transaction just to see Liu Fengying leave.

 'Hmm, it seems I was wrong about this seller, thinking he doesn't know how to be kind to customers. Maybe I can overlook his earlier behavior, and I'll come back to this store in the future...', Liu Fengying thought as she watched the seller heading almost in a rush toward the storage, then she made her way to the showcase where the jade vase was displayed, for which she had finally managed to obtain a 50 percent discount.

***Author's Thoughts: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. The next chapter will arrive next Wednesday (on the 14th) because this week I want to do two updates for my other novels as well.