The gate of the city was extremely grand and majestic, many cultivators wanted to enter the city and thus they had formed a long line, strangely none of them floated or rode a flying mount. It seemed flying was forbidden in the city and its surroundings. The gate was golden colored, the white walls seamlessly merged into it and the reflected light of the sun made the gate quite blinding. However, it was nothing for cultivators.
Lian Qiu and Ling Tian were also in this line, the latter had a bored expression while the former had opened the book in his hand to read it. Ling Tian occasionally tried to sneak a peek at the book only for Lian Qiu to dodge him and smile.
After a long while, finally, it was their turn. A guard who wore silver armor regarded them with disinterest as he extended his hands.
"10 gold coins or one low-grade spirit stone to enter the city, for extended stay pay 100 gold or 10 low-grade spirit stones. If you are on the official business of the Empire, give me the papers."
Ling Tian looked at Lian Qiu with a grin, "Pay up Brother Lian. You wanted us to enter..." Lian Qiu looked at him with disdain as he handed over two spirit stones to the guard, "Brother Ling, its a mere low-grade spirit stone, why are you so stingy?"
Ling Tian merely shrugged but inside he was quite frustrated, 'I am broke as hell dammit!' As they entered the bustling city, he thought of seeling some swords and making some money. He needed some equipment as well.
He noticed the city looked almost like an adventurer city from a fantasy world only with much bigger and grander buildings, most of the passersby also wore Cultivation robes of various designs depending on their power and background. The ones with higher cultivation and better backgrounds wore grander and more luxurious robes, they carried majestic looking weapons as a sign of their power.
Ling Tian's Wave Repulser also gathered some looks, which was why people made way for him when he passed by since he looked like someone of importance with his good looks, luxurious robes, and top-notch sword. A unique area of sharpness was being unconsciously being released from him that showed he was a sword Cultivator. He himself didn't notice it, however.
Lian Qiu also seemed like an extraordinary person and they had a good level of cultivation so people labeled them as young masters with great backgrounds. Ling Tian looked at the various crowded stores and seemed amazed.
"I need to buy pills and see how it affects my cultivation speed..." he murmured and Lian Qiu heard him.
Lian Qiu smiled confidently, "Brother Ling, Actually, I am a very bad fighter because my main focus of cultivation is alchemy. My talent sucks! I only have a peak elemental grade spiritual root, not even Earth grade! So I focused on Alchemy since I have a high affinity with fire, that's why I have such high cultivation for my age. If you need any pills, just ask me."
Ling Tian's eyes began twinkling with delight, "You are an alchemist? GREAT! Let's make some pills immediately. I need to test them!"
Lian Qiu shuddered under the stare of Ling Tian, wondering if he made a mistake telling him...
Ling Tian dragged him around until he found a big store, it sold swords only. He looked at his points and smirked.
'Let's make some money...' He entered the store with a distraught Lian Qiu behind him which he ignored.
He put on a fake smile as a scheming sparkle flashed in his eye, 'Bussiness mode Activated.'
He left Lian Qiu and left the store to enter a hidden alley. He bought 10 peak mortal grade swords and 1 high XianTian grade sword for 4600 EP and entered the store with the 11 swords in his hand.
He approached the old man who seemed to be in charge and dropped all the swords in front of him, saying, "How much for all these?" The old man opened his eyes with annoyance, "We don't bu...!" He stopped with shock as he examined the swords.
"What exquisite craftsmanship!" said the old man with disbelief.
He looked at Ling Tian with wide eyes, "Where did you get these?"
Ling Tian smirked, "I made them! Don't you see 10 identical ones?"
'Since the system made them and it is integrated with me, so I made them in a way.'
The old man stood up with shock, "You!"
He suddenly laughed out loud. "HAHAHA! A heavenly genius of craftsmanship! I will buy as many as you have! How about you work for me? I will pay you 100 high-grade spirit stones a month!"
Lian Qiu who looked on the happenings nearly fell down from shock, '100?! that's as much as an inner elder's allowance in the sect!'
Ling Tian who had no clue how much that was, turned to look at Lian Qiu, and seeing him fall down, he realized it was a lot.
He contemplated for a few seconds and shook his head.
"Sorry, I don't like to be tied down! How much for these?"
The old man visibly grew disappointed as he examined the swords and said, "1000 low-grade spirit stones for each one of the peak mortal swords. 5000 mid-grade spirit stones or 5 high-grade ones for this one."
Ling Tian looked at Lian Qiu. The latter said, "He is not scamming you. 1 top-grade spirit stone is equal to 1000 high-grade ones; each high-grade spirit stone is equal to 1000 mid-grade ones, And each mid-grade one is equal to 100 low-grade ones. The price of a XianTian grade artifact/treasures ranges from 1 to 15 high-grade spirit stone based on the artifact or treasure itself."
Ling Tian nodded and shook his head at the old man, "It is a high-grade XianTian sword so I won't sell it below 7 high-grade spirit stones!"
The old man frowned, "Young man, I can sell this sword at most for 6 high-grade spirit stones, have some conscience and leave some so I can make a living?"
Ling Tian fell in thought and said after a while, "Okay, but I want a treasure for free!"
The old man frowned more, "I have many things what kind of treasure do you want?"
Ling Tian said with focus, "some sort of special treasure to let me hold my items in. A ring or something perhaps..."
The old man relaxed and nodded, "Those are not rare at all, the bigger the storage size of the item, the higher the price. Here, we have rings, bags, pouches, and even bracers and necklaces. what do you want."
Ling Tian looked through the items and saw something amidst them that made him confused, 'That silver necklace has a ruby that is a perfectly cross-shape., like a crimson sword..' He pointed at the said necklace and said with interest, "Can you explain what that one is?"
The old man explained patiently, "This one is quite unique, it was made by a sword fanatic who touched the laws of space at the Divine awakening stage, that's why the Ruby has been carved like a sword. I have had many people check it and I have made sure it is a mere storage treasure, it has a storage capacity of 9 cubic meters so it is quite expensive. It will cost you 50 high-grade Spirit stones."
Ling Tian really liked that necklace. Not only did he like its shape and looks, but he also felt it suited him since he was a swordsman, he also needed a storage space since system inventory didn't accept items from outside the system. 'Hmm, It has twice the storage of a truck! I want it.'
"Wait here..." he said as he hurriedly left the store and vanished in the crowded street, Lian Qiu facepalmed as the old man looked with a puzzled expression. A while later, he returned with dozens of swords in a variety of shapes and forms, they were all XianTian grade.
He dopped them in front of the old man and shamelessly snatched the Necklace. "I made these a few months back and they were eating dust so you can have them for this necklace. Give me my 6 high-grade Spirit stones and we are good to go!"
The old man's jaw dropped, 'Does he have a hoard somewhere near?'
The old man looked at all the swords and picked one to see its blade, he sweatdropped when he noticed how sharp it was. The blade seemed wet and had a slight killing intent which made the old man sweat. He looked at Ling Tian's clothes and felt his aura and sensed his cultivation. He felt as if a sword was being aimed between his eyes when he felt his aura.
'I am at peak Inner heaven realm but I still feel a little fear from this sword's killing intent and that young man's aura, despite the fact he is in XianTian realm. It is impossible for him to have so many Swords that seem perfectly unused, all with the same level of quality and great craftsmanship. he must have made them! How many must he have killed to make his killing intent manifest in a sword? Let's just give him the stones, he is dangerous.'
He took out 6 light-azure-colored crystals that sparkled mysteriously, each was fist-sized and looked very clear and exquisite. Ling Tian hurriedly snatched them and dragged a confused Lian Qiu out of the store.
"Bye, have a beautiful day!"
The two gradually vanished in the street, leaving the old man behind in the store. He found Ling Tian's sudden retreat a bit suspicious so he drew another sword out of the scabbard and saw it was only low-mortal grade! The scabbard was XianTian grade and gave the aura, the sword itself was worthless. And the scabbard was not worth much either.
The old man shouted in anger, "You bastard! You scammed me!!!"
Meanwhile, Ling Tian hurriedly ran away and dragged Lian Qiu behind him.
He had a smile as his heart was beating rapidly in excitement, 'I made a lot of profit; I only spent 2000 EP to buy scabbards and useless mortal swords and only one Top-grade Xiantian sword with a special ability that enhanced killing intent for 3500 EP. I specifically put that one in the front to make him think the others are like that and the killing intent to make him a bit afraid to cloud his judgment. Meanwhile, I quickly gathered everything and ran before he figured it out. Planning these things is so fun, I should do it more often...'
He ran for a while and saw an Inn. Lian Qiu who was silent all this time, trying his best to not stand in his way, couldn't hold himself back anymore, "Brother Ling, I promised not to stand in your way but I am very curious what happened..."
Ling Tian wondered, 'How is this guy alive? He is so naive... Well, I was naive at first and kinda still am compared to old monsters...'
"We made a quick transaction. Ignore that, let's rest at this Inn for a few days, I need to cultivate!" he said as he thought, 'My talent won't upgrade itself...'
He booked a room and left Lian Qiu to his own devices. He quickly entered a room and grasped the Spirit stone in his hand and tried to absorb Qi from it while cultivating.
[+1000 EP]
His eyes grew wide as he saw the gain, 'In stories, spirit stones are way better for cultivating than the Qi of the world and this is a high-grade one. So it is true, a high-grade one seems to increase my cultivation speed by 10 times! I wonder how long it will last...' he thought as he entered his cultivation state after laying all the spirit stones on his lap to absorb Qi from.
[+1000 EP] [+1000 EP] ...