Chapter 25: The Unscrupulous Merchant

  "Shopkeeper, do you have sword leaf grass for sale?" Inside the Huangji old shop, a middle-aged man dressed in 'luxurious' attire stood, but when he saw Jiang Cheng wearing a coarse linen and beast skin short jacket walk in, he didn't even lift his head.

  "Jianye grass, ah, one plant is worth ten taels of silver!" In the gap, the shopkeeper raised his head and looked at Jiang Cheng, who was sizing up the store, with a flash of disgust in his eyes. Silver, how could these mountain people possibly afford it?

  "Do you want to sell sword leaf grass? If so, one plant of sword leaf grass can be exchanged for 50 kilograms of grain." The shopkeeper added another sentence.

  Jiang Cheng smiled and his eyes continued to scan the walls of this old Huang's shop, with a hint of nostalgia.

  This store finally allowed Jiang Cheng to find some evidence of the world's prosperity, when he first arrived at Gusu Lan, Jiang Cheng almost thought he had entered a primitive society.

  "Shopkeeper, this Tempering Body Pill..."

  "Tempering body dan? Yes, but can you afford it? Two hundred taels of silver for one! Are you selling mountain goods? If not, hurry up and leave, don't disturb me while I'm calculating." The shopkeeper's face was full of impatience.

  Jiang Cheng's face suddenly fell, the guy in front of him was looking down on him with a condescending attitude, but Jiang Cheng couldn't afford to lose his temper. After walking around the Giant Elephant Mall for a while, he estimated that only Huang Ji Old Store, which had a fixed storefront, could afford to sell the Body Tempering Dan.

  "I'm selling Ginseng!"

  "What are you selling?" The shopkeeper suddenly looked surprised.

  "Do you accept physical coupons?"

  At the moment when the shopkeeper's mouth corner revealed a sneer, Jiang Cheng took out a Tempering Body Pill and placed it in his hand. If Jiang Cheng didn't think this Tempering Body Pill wasn't hard enough, he would have had an urge to slam the table.

  The shopkeeper's mouth suddenly formed an O shape, and finally magically transformed into a faint smile: "Accept, accept, of course accept!"

  "Lustrous and round, it's indeed a good product from Dan Shi. Little brother, how much do you plan to sell this Tempering Body Pill for? My surname is Huang, you can call me Old Huang." Manager Huang asked with a smile.

  Jiang Cheng's eyes rolled around and he suddenly stretched out two fingers: "Two hundred taels, isn't that the price you're selling it for?"

  The shopkeeper's face suddenly changed, "Two hundred taels, you're robbing me!" As soon as he finished speaking, the shopkeeper knew he had misspoken and hastily added: "How can the selling price be the same as the purchase price? The labor costs, transportation fees, and losses are all a huge expense."

  "Right, little brother, which tribe are you from around here? Why come alone? What's the use of having so much silver? How about I exchange it for food, 500 pounds of good meat grain, what do you say?"

  Watching Huang Zhanggui's inquiry about his own situation, the price he offered was so low that Jiang Cheng put on a silly expression and said directly: "I want to exchange for Xianye grass, one Tempering Body Pill, twenty Xianye grass, not one less!"

  Jiang Cheng wanted to change the grain, but from this giant elephant collection to Ge Shan Department, the road is far away, and there is a blockade of the White Hun Department. He bought grain here, but it's a problem whether he can transport it or not.

  "Twenty stalks of sword leaf grass?" Manager Huang shook his head like a rattle drum, "Too high, impossible! I can offer you the price for ten stalks!"

  Jiang Cheng shook his head firmly, here a Body Tempering Pill sells for 200 taels of silver, but the Sword Leaf Grass only sells for 10 taels of silver. In terms of price alone, the value of the Body Tempering Pill is twenty times that of the Sword Leaf Grass, and anyone can see which one has higher profits.

  "Twelve shares?"

  "Fifteen shares?"

  "Sixteen taels, sixteen taels and not a single tael more or I'll call off the deal. If it's any more, I'll be selling at a loss!" Looking at Jiang Cheng's stubborn face, Huang Zhuangpai reluctantly raised the price again.

  He has been doing business in this giant elephant group for years, how can he not know that these mountain people who come out of the mountains are stubborn and strong-willed to death.

  Jiang Cheng smiled and held out four fingers to Huang Zhanggui, saying: "I have four of these Tempering Body Pills!"

  "Four?" Huang Zhang's eyes widened in surprise, his face filled with astonishment as he looked up and down at Jiang Cheng. When his gaze passed over the bow and arrows on Jiang Cheng's back, his eyes suddenly froze, revealing an extremely shocked expression.

  "We had eighteen shares, and if we had four of them, I would have exchanged all eighteen! Moreover, brother, the entire Giant Elephant set, which merchant can take out so many Jianye grasses at once? It's just our family." Huang Zhanggui's face was full of bitter expressions.

  Jiang Cheng's expression turned bewildered: "My grandfather said, either don't sell it, or if I do sell it, but if I sell one less stem of Sword Leaf Grass, he'll break my leg! Or else I'll go find some more..."

  Jiang Cheng stood up and wanted to leave, but Huang Zhuang was anxious. This Shen Ti Dan is a hard currency everywhere, with extremely high profits. In this Giant Elephant Collection, selling one pill would yield a profit of 150 taels, and even if it were sold elsewhere, the profit of 50 taels per pill would still be unavoidable.

  "Alright, alright, I've got it! Twenty shares, all of them!" Half a day's effort in haggling had failed to knock off even half a point from the price, leaving Huang Zhuanggui's chest puffed out with anger.

  It's unexpected that Jiang Cheng was also surprised. He had seen all sorts of merchants before, and they all said they would lose money if they let him have his way, but Jiang Cheng wouldn't easily give in. Unexpectedly, this experience also worked here.

  "Alright, 80 stalks of Jianye grass, deal! The shopkeeper suddenly pulled Jiang Cheng and said: "Young brother, will you sell the bow on your back? If so, I can offer up to 20 stalks of Jianye grass!"

  "Not for sale!"

  He slammed down the two words and Jiang Cheng quickly left the house with his sword, a sly smile still on his face.

  Jiang Cheng was afraid of running into swindlers, so he had already prepared for the worst. As long as someone would buy it, even if one Tempering Body Pill could only be exchanged for ten stalks of Sword Leaf Grass, Jiang Cheng would still make the exchange.

  Other people's business can be ignored, but the Bai Hu Ba Bian Bei Wu Dui (White Tiger Eight Trigrams Martial Arts Competition) a month later will not wait for anyone.

  Unexpectedly, he ran into a shopkeeper who took him for a fool and sold him a batch of inferior goods. The goods were sold at the psychological price, eighty stalks of Jianye grass, which was enough for Jiang Cheng to cultivate for a while.

  Jiang's expression suddenly changed from silly to extremely decisive, and he strode out of the store with big steps, leaving Huang Zhuang stunned.

  After some thought, the old man suddenly gritted his teeth: "Good kid, I wanted to take advantage of a country bumpkin, but didn't expect to be played by a country bumpkin instead, ah!"

  Huang Zhanggui's face was filled with a hateful expression, but if he calculated it, this business would still make him a big profit. However, Huang Zhanggui's expression suddenly froze, "If he had just cheated me, wouldn't that mean the grandfather he mentioned was also fake?"

  "Right, among all the tribes nearby, even the White Wolf Tribe, when trading so many treasures, they would at least send three or four Soul Warriors and a team of hunters to escort them."

  "How can such a young fellow come alone to sell so many treasures? Moreover, the bow on his back is a rare commodity even in the imperial city, and it's not something that can be bought easily. How did it end up on this country bumpkin?"

  As he pondered, Huang's eyebrows suddenly rose: "Could it be that this kid has stumbled upon good luck and inherited a dead man's wealth?"

  "Yes, it must be the wealth of the dead. The quality of that bow is at least a mid-grade Soul Warrior instrument of the Yellow Rank. Not to mention this country bumpkin, even the chief of the Bai Hun Department may not necessarily possess one."

  "Huang Li, Huang Jun, come here!" Huang Zhuangju suddenly shouted loudly.

  Two burly men, one tall and one short, walked out from the back hall, chuckling: "Boss, another customer has come to your doorstep?"

  "You're not taken in by that little brat just now, are you? For us brothers to take action for 80 stalks of Sword Leaf Grass, this is also too humiliating!"

  "Lost your share?" Huang Zhuang scolded, pointing at the noses of these two men: "By the time you find the fat sheep, we'll probably have starved to death!"

  "That kid's carrying a Soul Warrior Instrument, and that thing on his back is probably a mid-grade yellow-rank war bow. That thing is extremely valuable."

  "What? A mid-grade Yellow-tier war bow?" The short-statured Yellow Army member suddenly became extremely excited, "Really? Boss, it's really going to work out, how about equipping me with it? With my cultivation, if I'm equipped with this mid-grade Yellow-tier war bow, taking down a Soul Warrior two tiers above me won't be a problem at all!"

  "Hmph, you think you're worthy of that treasure's blessing?" The shopkeeper jeered, then continued, "Alright, if this deal goes through, I'll get the higher-ups to give each of you a low-grade Yellow Rank Battle Soul Artifact."

  Huang Li and Huang Jun, who were just feeling a bit depressed, suddenly looked delighted and hastily went out.

  "They're all far away, that little guy is from the mountains and forests, his eyes are full of spiritual energy, he should be a four-heavy soul martial artist in the Cheng En realm! Huang Jun, use your talent to hang back as far as possible, wait for the right opportunity before making a move."

  "Alright, don't worry, boss. My brother and I have been assigned to this place for a year now. When have you ever seen us lose? Besides, one of us is at the fifth level of Cheng En realm and the other is at the sixth level, can't we handle that turtle?" Huang Jun laughed loudly as he walked out the door.

  All of this happened here, but Jiang Cheng didn't know about it.

  But Jiang Cheng, who had successfully completed the transaction, did not leave Juexiang immediately. Instead, he took advantage of the remaining daylight to quickly stroll around the market.

  Battle Soul Secret Book, Jiang Cheng was ready to take a look at the Giant Elephant Collection to see if there were any suitable Battle Soul Secret Books. There wasn't one that matched with the Blood Tooth Pig King's, which was a problem for Jiang Cheng.

  As for what to trade, Jiang Cheng didn't worry at all. In this giant market, most of the time it was bartering.

  You'd better believe it, this giant elephant collection actually has a lot of Battle Soul Secret manuals for sale.

  But after the initial excitement, Jiang Cheng became somewhat disappointed.

  Because what is sold here are all low-grade yellow-level Soul Warrior manuals, there isn't even a single mid-grade yellow-level Soul Warrior manual available.

  But this is not surprising at all.

  According to Grandpa, the yellow-level medium-grade Battle Soul Secret Manual is a relatively precious treasure in many one-pillar tribes. The yellow-level high-grade Battle Soul Secret Manual is also a treasured heirloom of the two-pillar tribe.

  Although Ge Shan Department is a single pillar department, it has been passed down for a very long time and possesses a yellow-grade top-quality war soul secret book, which is not surprising at all.

  But what's even more depressing for Jiang Cheng is that, even in this giant elephant collection, there isn't a single pig-class battle soul cultivation manual. The other battle soul manuals are also very common and mass-produced, not even as good as the ones stored in the clan, and they don't have much value for cultivation.

  "Old man, do you have any Soul Scripture of Pig-like Battle Souls?" After rummaging through the white-haired old man's stall for a while, Jiang Cheng asked with some persistence.

  "Ah, the secret manual of the Pig-like War Soul? No!" The old man shook his head and added: "It's said that someone has seen the secret manual of the Pig-like War Soul in the War Spirit Temple of Bì Yuán Country!"

  "Bì Yuán Guó!" Jiang Cheng responded with a hint of helplessness, and was about to turn around and leave when he suddenly saw a book in the corner - "War Soul Technique Secrets"?

  PS: Thanks to Ansonlu for his second reward support, thanks to the first captain of this book for his strong support, thanks to gangxiwanzao,眠浅, srqg, for their reward support, thanks to Huang Xiaotang, and thanks to all brothers who support Zhu San.

  To be honest, the new book period, especially when a new book is just released, is very depressing. Your every click, every recommendation, and every collection can give me more confidence!

  Kowtow!

  I love you all!