Chapter 267: An Exchange

Tong Tianyun’s eyes brightened. “Fellow Daoist Qingwei…”

Everyone’s attention now fell on Mo Tiange. Qin Xi frowned; his gaze at her seemed to contain some inexplicable meaning.

Mo Tiange’s face remained calm as she continued on: “Although Fellow Daoist’s Crystal Soul Jades are also very rare, they aren’t as rare as a ten-thousand-year-old spiritual plant—this trade seems a bit unfair.”

After a momentary delight, Tong Tianyun very quickly regained his calm. He said, “I’ve spent half a lifetime collecting these Crystal Soul Jades. Forget about anything else—even a Nascent Soul cultivator wouldn’t be able to come up with this many. Fellow Daoist Qingwei, you shouldn’t make exorbitant demands!”

Mo Tiange was indeed going to make an exorbitant demand. Qin Xi already said to her that exchanging a ten-thousand-year-old spiritual plant for so many Crystal Soul Jades was worth it, but his only offer was 100,000 spirit stones and a five-thousand-year-old spiritual plant. A five-thousand-year-old spiritual plant was naturally rare in this world, but it wasn’t much compared to a ten-thousand-year-old spiritual plant. Moreover, although 100,000 spirit stones was naturally an incredible amount to Foundation Building and even ordinary Core Formation cultivators, it still wasn’t enough to make up for the difference in value between a five-thousand-year-old spiritual plant and a ten-thousand-year-old spiritual plant. Obviously, Qin Xi also had the same thought.

The most important thing was that ten-thousand-year-old spiritual plants might only be found in deserted places or secret lands like Demonic Mountain. No matter which cultivator accidentally obtained a ten-thousand-year-old spiritual plant, as long as its existence became known to the world, it would soon fall into a Nascent Soul cultivator’s hands. That being the case, even if it could be priced, it wouldn’t have any buyers.

Nevertheless, Mo Tiange was confident that if Tong Tianyun really wanted a ten-thousand-year-old spiritual plant, he wouldn’t let it slip by once he came across one.

In addition, she also wasn’t afraid of this trade failing. A ten-thousand-year-old spiritual plant didn’t mean much to her, and she wanted Crystal Soul Jades only because she wanted to know whether they had anything to do with the Art of Engineering or not.

Because of that, she merely smiled and said, “Fellow Daoist Tong, you can’t speak like that. No matter how many Crystal Soul Jades you have, I can always get as many as I want as long as I take my time looking for them. But a ten-thousand-year-old spiritual plant isn’t the same—you can’t gather a plant, one leaf after another!”

Right after she said that, many of the people present at the scene smiled. Some even snorted loudly, although they immediately muffled their voices.

For a moment, Tong Tianyun was silent. There was no expression on his dried, shriveled face. He originally thought Mo Tiange was nothing but a relative novice who’d just formed her Gold Core compared to him. Even if she had Qin Shoujing by her side, she still wouldn’t have enough confidence. He never expected her to be that shrewd and courageous—she wasn’t at all like those females from cultivation groups who knew nothing about the world.

He took some time to think then said: “Fellow Daoist Qingwei, if your spiritual plant’s good enough, I’m willing to add other treasures or spirit stones into the exchange. However, you have to let me assess the quality of the spiritual plant first.”

“No problem,” Mo Tiange agreed straightforwardly, but she didn’t immediately take out the spiritual plant.

Tong Tianyun was also shrewd. He extended his hand to the side to make a “please” gesture and said, “Fellow Daoist Qingwei, please follow me.” There was a slight flicker in his gaze, and he promptly continued on: “Fellow Daoist Shoujing, how about you also come and serve as our witness?”

He actually said that because he was taking safety into consideration. This was Kunzhong City, after all, and Mo Tiange had a lot of unique treasures; if anything happened while she was alone with him, he really couldn’t afford to shoulder the responsibility—after Master Daoist Qingwei advanced into the Core Formation realm, her name spread all over west Kunwu, and her reputation had long spread to this place, so who could possibly not know she was Lord Daoist Jinghe’s beloved disciple? With a middle stage Nascent Soul cultivator protecting her, the entire Kunzhong City couldn’t afford to offend her, not to mention him.

Qin Xi naturally understood this, and he was indeed a bit uneasy with the transaction, so he smiled and didn’t refuse. He promptly stood up and slowly walked through a small door, following after them.

The room they entered was nothing but a tiny storage room half-filled with piles of goods, but there was a table near the door.

“Fellow Daoist Qingwei.” The moment they entered the storage room, Tong Tianyun immediately complained, “If I knew you had one, I wouldn’t have brought this deal to the trade fair. Ay~ showing our wealth isn’t good…”

Mo Tiange chuckled then said, “I also didn’t know Fellow Daoist Tong wanted it. This was really a coincidence.”

The two people spoke on familiar terms, but they were actually just exchanging pleasantries. Once she finished speaking, Mo Tiange immediately took out a jade case from inside her Qiankun Bag. She knew that if a thousand-year-old Chalcedony or Qiyun Stone appeared in the market, they must be extremely expensive. Afraid that she didn’t have enough spirit stones for the trip, she picked some spiritual plants from the Virtual Sky World. Initially, she didn’t intend to use spiritual plants older than three thousand years, but after giving it some thought, she ended up bringing one stump with her. She didn’t expect it to really come into use.

Right after the jade case was taken out, spiritual aura leaked from inside despite the case being properly shut. Both Qin Xi and Tong Tianyun fixated their gazes on the jade case.

Tong Tianyun took the jade case and tore off the talisman on top of it. The moment he opened the case, an intense medicinal fragrance directly assault their senses. His eyes instantly widened. For a moment, he seemed to have forgotten to breathe.

A long moment passed before he slowly let out the breath he was holding. “This should be right—a ten-thousand-year-old Drunken Orchid.” He then lifted the jade case to take a sniff of the fragrance, carefully appraising the scent and the stems, and he quite skillfully began evaluating its medicinal qualities. “The roots are intact; its medicinal quality is also well preserved. Drunken Orchids can’t be categorized as extremely rare spiritual plants, but this one must’ve grown with rich spiritual aura in the vicinity for ten thousand years, so it indeed surpasses rare spiritual plants that grow in places with average spiritual aura.”

With much effort, Tong Tianyun shifted his gaze away from the Drunken Orchid, closed the jade case, and stuck a talisman on top of the case like before. He then lifted his gaze to look at Mo Tiange, saying: “Fellow Daoist Qingwei, these Crystal Soul Jades belong to you. In addition, I still have some other unique materials. They can’t be considered very valuable, but they’re extremely uncommon; you can consider them as my thanks. Will that do?”

Mo Tiange lowered her gaze to look at the bag Tong Tianyun handed over. It was bulging, so there were indeed many things inside. Nevertheless, she softly pushed the bag back.

Tong Tianyun’s expression changed and became rather unsightly. “Fellow Daoist, you…” He thought Mo Tiange wasn’t satisfied with his offer. When he said the materials in this bag weren’t very valuable, he was just being modest. As one of the members of the individual cultivator alliance who managed Kunzhong City, he’d remained in Kunzhong City for years, during which he had gathered many peculiar materials. Normally, even if others approached him with ten thousand spirit stones to exchange for something, he would never yield!

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Tong Tianyun took a deep breath before he spoke again. “Fellow Daoist Qingwei, you better name your price. I’ll make up the difference with spirit stones.”

However, Mo Tiange only smiled and shook her head. “Fellow Daoist Tong shouldn’t misunderstand me. I want neither your spirit stones nor your materials—Fellow Daoist can trade those Crystal Soul Jades with me, but I also want Fellow Daoist to promise me one thing.”

Tong Tianyun was stunned as he didn’t expect her to say that. He asked, “What thing?”

“As a member of Kunzhong City’s individual cultivator alliance, Fellow Daoist Tong surely has current and abundant business news. As it happens, I’m currently looking for the whereabouts of two kinds of materials. I hope Fellow Daoist Tong can help me in inquiring about them.”

Upon hearing her request, a smile once again appeared on Tong Tianyun’s face. He also regained his former friendly tone. “Fellow Daoist Qingwei, how can you talk like this? Out of consideration for Fellow Daoist Shoujing, what’d be so hard about inquiring about the whereabouts of some materials? Did you have to make this kind of joke to me?”

Mo Tiange chuckled. “It’s indeed my fault.”

Once the two of them finished exchanging items, Tong Tianyun asked in a very concerned tone, “What kind of things is Fellow Daoist Qingwei looking for? You can tell me now; I might be familiar with them.”

“In that case, I’m going to be blunt,” Mo Tiange said, “I’m looking for two kinds of things. One of them is a Chalcedony which has to be at least a thousand years old—the older, the better. The other one is a Qiyun Stone; I have no conditions for this one. Fellow Daoist Tong, I hope you can inform me if you receive news about these two things.”

“Well…” A hesitant expression emerged on Tong Tianyun’s face. He looked at Mo Tiange then at Qin Xi, who’d been standing next to the door and hadn’t participated in their conversation from the beginning. “I’m going to be honest with Fellow Daoist. I haven’t seen any Qiyun Stones for years, but I indeed saw a thousand-year-old Chalcedony a few days ago. However, it was already bought by someone.”

“Oh?” Mo Tiange said with delight, “Does Fellow Daoist Tong perhaps know who bought it?”

Tong Tianyun apologetically shook his head. “Fellow Daoist Qingwei, according to Kunzhong City’s rules, if a buyer asks for their information to be kept secret, then we must never disclose their information, so I really can’t give you an answer for this question.”

“…” Mo Tiange felt rather disappointed, but she soon heard Tong Tianyun say: “However, Fellow Daoist has done me a big favor. Since I happen to know the buyer, I’ll ask them on your behalf.”

Mo Tiange originally thought there was no hope, but things unexpectedly took a new turn. She said, “Then I’ll have to trouble Fellow Daoist Tong regarding this matter. Fellow Daoist Tong can tell your friend that if they’re not willing to give up the item for spirit stones, I can also add in other spiritual objects to trade with them.”

Tong Tianyun’s eyes brightened. “Including spiritual plants?”

Mo Tiange shook her head. “Fellow Daoist Tong, one can only run into a ten-thousand-year-old spiritual plant by chance; I only had that one in my possession. But even if I had a thousand-year-old spiritual plant, I think your friend wouldn’t care about that, right?”

Rich Core Formation cultivators like them indeed wouldn’t perceive ordinary thousand-year-old spiritual plants to be important. Tong Tianyun had to be disappointed. Nevertheless, on second thought, it was naturally impossible for ten-thousand-year-old spiritual plants to be everywhere. Being able to find one of them was already very lucky of him!

“Alright, before we depart, I’ll definitely give Fellow Daoist an answer.”

“In that case, many thanks to Fellow Daoist Tong.”

Now that the exchange was done with, the three of them once again returned to the small hall and sat back in their seats. Tong Tianyun said, “I’ve finished my exchange with Fellow Daoist Qingwei. Now, are there any other Fellow Daoists who have anything to be exchanged?”

Although everyone in the hall was curious about what things they exchanged, Tong Tianyun obviously wouldn’t reveal the details, so they could only curb their curiosity. A while later, a Core Formation cultivator spoke, saying he wanted to exchange a Grand Limestone for Clear Sky Pills or other high-grade medicinal pills. Normally, this deal would have certainly been an attractive deal. Grand Limestone was a rare kind of unique stone used by sword cultivators to cultivate their swords. Unfortunately, because this trade was already overshadowed by Crystal Soul Jades and ten-thousand-year-old spiritual plants from the start, this deal became very unattractive.

Before long, the trade fair was hastily concluded. During the entire trade fair, many people were preoccupied with their own thoughts. Their gazes always drifted towards the dried, shriveled-faced Tong Tianyun or Mo Tiange, whose eyes were downcast as if she was meditating.

Up till the end of the trade, both Mo Tiange and Qin Xi didn’t see anything else they fancied. However, Qin Xi unexpectedly took out a bottle of high-grade medicinal pills, saying he wanted to buy information about a thousand-year-old Chalcedony and Qiyun Stone. Sure enough, no one had any such information.

When the trade fair was concluded, everyone went out through the entrances each came through. This trade fair had several entrances; the one through which Mo Tiange and Qin Xi entered was a public one, while several other secret entrances served as entrance and exit passages for those who didn’t want to divulge their identities.

By the time they returned to the main street, it was already late at night. Confident about their skills, the two of them were quite bold. They didn’t disguise themselves and walked plainly towards the small courtyard they were temporarily staying at.

The people leaving the trade fair had long dispersed in all directions, leaving only the two of them together.

A cool night breeze blew. On the ground, the shadows of their fluttering robes were entangled together.

Qin Xi suddenly stopped. He grabbed Mo Tiange’s wrist and pulled hard. In an instant, the two of them had already dashed a few dozen feet away from their original spot.

Qin Xi shifted his line of sight, staring coldly at a certain spot in the darkness. He said gloomily, “Gentleman, you’ve been hiding your breath and following us—what are you trying to do in the end?!”