Zhegu appeared quickly. It wasn’t long before he emerged from the stairwell. “Little Ancestor, you’ve finally come!”
He had arrived two days early, and counting the three days he had spent waiting, he had now been there for a full five days.
He didn’t mind waiting himself, but he hadn’t come alone. This was such a huge transaction involving such an important client that Zhegu had even summoned the young master of the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion.
“So you’re the one?” The newcomer wore a blue-green robe and had a slender build. Holding a blue jade folding fan, he slowly walked up to Nangong Yu.
Nangong Yu looked him over in turn. “And you are?”
This person gave her the impression of a bird that had cultivated until it took human form.
His brows and eyes were elegant, his features delicate, sharp, and shrewd. He wasn’t flamboyant, yet there was something about him that made it difficult to tell whether he was male or female.
“This is our young master, Lan Ji!” Zhegu hurriedly introduced him. “Lan Ji.”
Lan Ji? Which two characters was that?
Nangong Yu didn’t ask. Instead, she greeted him politely. “Disciple of the Ziyang Sect, Nangong Yu, pays her respects to Lord Lan.”
She was wearing the Ziyang Sect’s disciple uniform, and it looked brand-new. Presumably, she wasn’t an impostor.
Lan Ji nodded at her. “Did you bring everything?”
“I did,” Nangong Yu replied.
Lan Ji gave a slight nod and turned to walk upstairs.
“Follow us.” Zhegu hurriedly waved Nangong Yu over before following closely behind Young Master Lan Ji.
Nangong Yu lifted her feet and followed.
Upstairs were several private rooms specially designed for entertaining distinguished guests.
There were also rooms where the owner, the young master, and the managers could rest. Nangong Yu was led into the VIP room reserved for honored guests.
When the carved wooden doors opened, she entered an elegantly furnished room filled with abundant spiritual energy. Clearly, a spirit-gathering array had been set up there.
Lan Ji sat down beside the table. His pale, slender fingers rested on its surface, tapping lightly in indication.
Nangong Yu looked around. Although the room was spacious, it still wasn’t large enough for her to pile everything up.
So she took out her items one by one and placed them on the table.
Lan Ji didn’t reach for anything. Most of the time, it was Zhegu who picked up each item to identify and appraise it.
“Purifying Azure Lotus, upper-grade Yellow rank, worth…”
“Nine-Section Purple Ganoderma, lower-grade Earth rank, worth…”
“Stardust Flower, middle-grade Earth rank, worth…”
Only when something caught Lan Ji’s interest would he reach out and toy with it for a while.
But he didn’t participate in the appraisal. He merely looked at the items without saying anything, leaving Zhegu’s voice to fill nearly the entire room.
“Little Ancestor, what about the things you showed me last time?” Zhegu asked respectfully.
Nangong Yu replied, “It’s not as if I have to sell everything.”
Zhegu froze.
“Although they’re things my master didn’t want and asked me to dispose of on his behalf, some of the magical treasures don’t seem entirely useless to me,” Nangong Yu said. “I’d like to keep a couple for myself.”
…Keep them for herself?
If that was what she intended, she didn’t need to come here at all. She could just keep everything!
Treasures belonging to a Nascent Soul cultivator—how many of them could possibly be useless? To a little Qi Refinement cultivator like her, every single one was a priceless treasure, all right?
“Of course.” Zhegu smiled. “Whenever our honored guest wishes to sell something, you can come to us. Our prices are absolutely fair. We conduct business with cash on the barrelhead, and we never cheat anyone.”
Nangong Yu continued taking things out.
Every so often, one or two particularly valuable items appeared—things she had shown him the last time.
Whenever that happened, Zhegu could barely conceal his excitement. He glanced at Lan Ji and hinted, “Our Heavenly Secrets Pavilion also has some rare pills, manuals, magical treasures, and magical artifacts. Would our honored guest like to take a look?”
Nangong Yu nodded. “Sure!”
How could she pass up a chance to broaden her horizons?
The moment she nodded, Zhegu produced a jade slip and enlarged it with his spiritual power.
In an instant, a three-dimensional holographic catalog appeared before Nangong Yu.
“This is the catalog,” Zhegu explained. “We have items for tempering the body, items for nourishing the primordial spirit, items that increase vitality, defensive items, offensive items… Please, have a look.”
Oh. There were no actual items.
Nangong Yu was a little disappointed, though she had expected as much. The real treasures naturally had to be kept somewhere safe. If anyone could casually get their hands on them, what would happen if one was lost?
She skipped directly to the offensive items.
“Blazing Sunfire, nineteenth among the divine flames…” Not even in the top three. Skip.
“Mysterious Ice Fan, upper-grade Earth rank. Can instantly freeze the physical body of a Nascent Soul cultivator…” Hm? Would it be able to freeze a player too?
Since this item had appeared in front of a player, the implication was obvious. If the player didn’t claim it, it would fall into someone else’s hands and be used against them.
Nangong Yu pointed at it. “Set this one aside.”
She continued flipping through the catalog.
“Tai Bai Sword (damaged), said to be capable of slaying immortals…” Damaged. Skip.
Nangong Yu had taken gambles like this before. She had thought her luck was good and spent a fortune repairing a damaged item, only to discover that it was completely worthless.
These were nothing more than despicable traps created by the infinite-flow game to drain players of their wealth.
“Houyi’s Bow (imitation), lower-grade Heaven rank. Can pierce ten thousand techniques with a single arrow…”
That was somewhat interesting.
“Set this one aside too.”
She flipped through the catalog at lightning speed. Zhegu’s eyes shone brightly, and his voice became exceedingly respectful. “Yes. Rest assured, honored guest.”
The Heavenly Secrets Pavilion possessed a great many treasures, some of which had astonishing prices. Nangong Yu’s gaze froze on one particular page.
“Killing Sword (damaged), middle-grade Heaven rank. Highly concealed and completely silent; it can kill a cultivator’s primordial spirit with a single strike.”
“Void Blade (damaged), middle-grade Heaven rank. Contains the power of spatial laws and can bypass a cultivator’s front to strike directly at a vital point.”
Nangong Yu’s heart began to pound. She pointed at the entries. “Why are they damaged?”
Even damaged items could be middle-grade Heaven rank?!
Hadn’t she been told that magical treasures only had four grades—Heaven, Earth, Profound, and Yellow? These were practically maxed out!
Zhegu glanced at the page and smiled. “Because they’re incomplete. It’s said that they are two of the four swords once wielded by a human sage ten thousand years ago. The other two swords have gone missing. If all four swords were reunited, they could slay a demon god.”
“I’ll take them.” Nangong Yu immediately made up her mind.
She was sorely lacking weapons that could kill monsters quickly.
Stockpiling was the way to go.
“These few magical treasures are all quite expensive…” A smile flashed through Zhegu’s eyes. “Honored guest, what do you think…”
Nangong Yu shot him a glance and took out all the junk she had looted from Elder Xuanqing.
“Calculate the total first,” Nangong Yu said as she continued browsing the catalog.
Zhegu devoted himself to two tasks at once. While organizing the enormous pile of treasures that had spilled over the table and fallen all over the floor, he reminded her, “Little Ancestor, don’t just look at the magical treasures. Take a look at the pills too.”
He prompted her, “There are treasures among the pills as well.”
Nangong Yu had always been willing to take advice. She immediately flipped to the section on pills.
The moment she scanned the list, her eyes lit up.
“Immortalizing Powder. Without contact with blood, it is as ordinary as dust. Once it touches blood, however, it clings like a bone-devouring maggot until it turns the victim into a pool of bloody pus.”
What a good thing!
Just smear a little on a sword, stab the opponent once, and the problem would be solved quickly and easily!
“How many bottles are there in total?” Nangong Yu looked at Zhegu. “I’ll take all of them.”
At this point, even Lan Ji glanced at her twice. “Each person may purchase no more than three items.”
Nangong Yu froze.
She looked toward Zhegu.
“Master?” Zhegu put on a pleading expression. “Little Yu is someone I’ve vouched for. Please, Master, give your subordinate a chance this time.”
Pulling the favor card right in front of her?
Nangong Yu secretly curled her lips, but said aloud, “A sale is a sale. Why does it matter who buys it?”
Lan Ji glanced at her and said, "The three items I mentioned are not the Immortal Transformation Powder. They are the total number of Tian-grade magic treasures you are allowed to buy from the Heavenly Secret Tower. Only three."
Nangong Yu froze for a moment, "Is the Immortal Transformation Powder also Tian-grade?"
Lan Ji nodded gently.
"Sister~" Nangong Yu put on a pitiful, wide-eyed look, "I've had it so rough. I'm only at the Qi Refining stage, but my senior brothers and senior sisters are all incredibly powerful. They're jealous that Master dotes on me, and they keep trying to kill me. I just want to get a few things to protect myself and stay alive..."
As she spoke, she equipped a special title.
[Just Listen to Her]: Equipping this title gives the target a certain chance to listen to you attentively.
(Note: Completely ineffective against stubborn mules, and will 100% enrage them.)
She hoped Lan Ji was not a stubborn mule.
But even if she was, it was no big deal. The best case scenario was that they got into a fight, and then Lan Ji would immediately call in True Person Qinghong to demand justice.
Were the disciples of Zi Yang Sect people you could just beat up for no reason? Her master was the Hall Master of Discipline, one of the grand elders of Zi Yang Sect. If his disciple was attacked, wouldn't he have to stand up for his own people?
"Five then." For some reason, maybe the title had worked, Lan Ji relented.
But five items was far from Nangong Yu's goal. She quickly scanned the rest of the catalog, and saw that apart from the precious treasures in the elixir section, there were also talismans and formation arrays.
The talismans included the Nine Heavens Profound Thunder Annihilation Talisman, the Soul-Locking Soul-Snatching Talisman, the Death Talisman, and more. Some could stir up heavenly thunder across a hundred miles to blast the enemy to bits, some quietly devoured the target's soul and turned them into a mindless husk, and others used a personal item of the target as a trigger to make them drop dead out of nowhere.
So sneaky and vicious, full of underhanded tricks—this really was a high-risk instance!
"Save all these for me." Nangong Yu said.
Then she looked at the formation arrays: the Void Spirit-Severing Array, the Heart-Bewitching Illusion Array, the Ten Absolute Netherworld Array... Anyone trapped in these arrays would either die from their spiritual energy draining dry, lose their mind to madness, or drop dead on the spot and turn into a ghost.
"I'm taking all of these!" Nangong Yu slammed her hand on the table.
Standing aside, Zhegu's smile slowly faded. He kept wiping the sweat off his forehead. "Little Ancestor, there's so much here. Do you even have enough spirit stones to pay for all this?"
He had taken out this top-secret register of the Heavenly Secret Tower not to sell things to her, but to coax her into selling the rare items in her possession to him. He never expected her to go on a shopping spree!
Could she even afford any of this?
Even though her master was a Nascent Soul cultivator, and the things he "discarded" were all pretty good, even if her master came in person, he couldn't afford more than a couple of items from this register!
"Uh... how many spirit stones do I need for all of this?" Nangong Yu blinked, looking from Zhegu to young master Lan Ji.
Young master Lan Ji said, "Maximum five items."
It wasn't that cultivators in the Canglan Realm couldn't afford these things.
If a Nascent Soul cultivator couldn't afford them, a Soul Transformation cultivator surely could.
If a Soul Transformation cultivator couldn't afford them, a Mahayana cultivator definitely could.
And if a Mahayana cultivator couldn't afford them... wouldn't they just rob the place?
If there was no limit on the number of items a single person could buy, one rich customer could buy everything in stock, and how would the Heavenly Secret Tower keep up its business with other clients?
Put it another way, the Myriad Treasures Chamber of Commerce was loaded, right? If they could buy everything, there wouldn't be a Heavenly Secret Tower left in the Canglan Realm at all.
"This..." Nangong Yu looked back and forth between the magic treasures, the talismans, and the formation arrays, gritting her teeth in frustration. "I have a magic treasure I can sell to you two."
Both of them turned to look at her.
"A life." Nangong Yu said, "Anyone's life."
Lan Ji raised an eyebrow. "A Life-Stealing Talisman? The Nine Revolutions Revitalization Pill?"
"Neither of those." Nangong Yu produced a card in her hand, flashed it quickly in the air, then put it away. "This can bring anyone back from the dead."
The moment those words left her mouth, Lan Ji's expression shifted. "Bring people back from the dead?"
"That's right." Nangong Yu lifted her chin proudly. "No matter how long they've been dead, as long as their soul hasn't dissipated between heaven and earth, they can be resurrected."
