Ye Xiao had nearly finished his shopping tour. He had just walked into the last store, but he was immediately attracted by a fluctuation in the surrounding spiritual qi before he could even utter a word.
He quickly follow the fluctuation of spiritual qi and discovered that it had originated from inside a dusty box sitting in a remote corner of the store.
"What is that?" Ye Xiao asked as he pointed at the box, before nonchalantly picking it up.
"Hmm… I have no idea. Well, to be honest, even our manager has no idea as to what it is. It may be just some weird weed, nothing of value really. The only strange thing about it is that it never withers. Although it has been in the box for a few years, it is still vividly green. Maybe it is useful in some way… But none of our staff really know…" The sales clerk answered honestly.
Normally, when a customer would ask about a specific item, they would be told that they had sharp eyes and that they had spotted a treasure in an attempt to make a greater profit.
But since the sales clerk was working in a store here for some time, he had developed a keen eye. He instantly guessed Ye Xiao's status from the way he was dressed and how he acted, so he didn't talk tall but decided to tell the truth instead. He knew that it would be better to lose the deal than get into trouble afterwards!
The guy understood it clearly: a man like Ye Xiao could not be mentioned in the same sentence as some fools that he could casually mess around with.
"Hmm? Since it is useless, why do you keep it?" Ye Xiao displayed calmness as he asked further questions while holding the box.
"We had collected it several years ago… Well, I have forgotten the details. Anyway, we haven't been able to sell it, so we just keep it in the corner." The salesclerk showed embarrassment and rubbed his head.
Ye Xiao nodded, and then spoke carelessly, "I will take it. Give me the price."
He actually felt extreme happiness in his heart.
He was thinking, [What 'maybe just some weird weeds'? What 'isn't something valuable' and 'always stays green', you fool? How hilarious! It is the Heaven's Cyan!]
From a straw to a tree, it takes ten thousand years; to cook it into tea, he who drinks it could be led to heavens!
The seedling of the Heaven's Cyan would grow by one inch every five hundred years. It would take ten thousand years to fully grow its roots and become a tree. In the last day of the ten thousand year period, the tree would rapidly grow from a twenty inch sapling to a tree approximately a foot in diameter. After that, it would go back to growing one inch per five hundred years again…
Ten thousand years were only enough for it to grow one full cycle.
It needs neither sunshine nor water, nor trials of winds and thunders. Seasons would never influence it. It only required a private space to automatically absorb the spiritual qi from the world which was present in the air.
There weren't many people that knew about the Heaven's Cyan, yet Ye Xiao happened to know clearly about it. And he also knew the name of it when it had blossomed.
The Tree of the Cultivating Tea!
People at any cultivation level, even those at the top level of the Dao Origin Stage like Ye Xiao was in his previous life, could boost their cultivation process with the Cultivating Tea
Now in Ye Xiao's discerning eyes, the Heaven's Cyan in the box was over nine thousand years old. It needed only a short time to become a Tree of Cultivating Tea.
How could he not be astounded when he saw such a treasure?
It was a super valuable treasure that could hardly be found anywhere. In the Qing-Yun Realm, a pot of the Cultivating Tea was worth at least 100 thousand Golden Crystals! [1] The cost of an actual Tree of Cultivating Tea would be utterly inconceivable!
After the Heaven's Cyan transformed into the Tree of Cultivating Tea, it acquired the appearance of a normal tea tree that wouldn't draw any eyes. One would be very lucky to be able to come across one and recognize it, so the best way to find the tree was to find it when it was still in its infancy and could be recognized with it's always-green feature.
However, even if somebody found it, it would still require an entire ten thousand years to complete a single cycle of growth to obtain the tea leaves.
Who on earth could live for ten thousand years?
So the Tree of Cultivating Tea was very rare, even in the Qing-Yun Realm.
Ye Xiao had been extreme lucky to see a Heaven's Cyan that was over nine thousand years old, so he knew about this 'weird weed'.
He really couldn't have imagined that there was really an almost blossomed Heaven's Cyan in this low-grade mortal world where it was quietly soaking in spiritual qi!
Wasn't it like a pie from the sky?
"You… You will take it?" The salesclerk blinked his eyes and felt that it was hard to comprehend why someone would like to buy such a weed, so he asked, "Well… It really isn't priced yet… Do you really want it?"
[How on earth would I know it's worth?] The sales clerk thought.
Ye Xiao casually took out a note worth 5 taels of silver, "How about this? Is it enough for you?"
"Yes… Yes…" The salesclerk was delighted. A weed for 5 taels of silver, he felt like this was a small fortune for some weed.
Meanwhile, a slow and heavy voice sounded instantly, "I will take it for 50 taels of silver."
A silk-robed man walked into the store with his hands clasped behind his back. It was Mu Chen-Bai!
The salesclerk was stunned hearing his words. A weed, which has been here for three years and nobody ever asked about it, now suddenly had two customers who want it, and they were even raising the price!
"I am the one who saw it first." Ye Xiao frowned and felt something was wrong. He thought, [This guy comes with strong hostility! But I barely know him. Who is he?]
"Well, you just offer your price. Since the deal is still uncertain, whoever gives the higher price surely gets it." Mu Chengbai said chillily.
In fact, Mu Chengbai had no idea about the contents inside the box. But that didn't matter to him, he just did this to displease Ye Xiao.
"The higher price you said? 500 taels of silver then." Ye Xiao curled his mouth as a cold light shone in his eyes.
"5 thousand." Mu Chengbai held his arms behind his back and looked up.
"50 thousand." Ye Xiao narrowed his eyes.
If someone who had known Ye Xiao well was present, he would have recognized that Ye Xiao was actually livid.
"500 thousand then!" Mu Chengbai moved his neck and smiled disdainful. He was here to provoke Ye Xiao, so he would do anything necessary. No matter what price Ye Xiao would say, he would follow it by ten times as much.
He thought that in the capital, there was no one who really dared to ask for his money anyway. He didn't care what price he needed to offer, because the sales clerk would not really get his money.
However, right after he spoke out his words, he felt his belly deform into a concave shape and experienced a sharp pain. WHOOSH! The next moment, he flew away and a voice sounded in his ear, "Fxxk your five! Hundred! Thousand!!"
Ye Xiao was really pissed and became violent. He thought, [Bastard how dare you mess with me, the Xiao Monarch?]
He had no hesitation as he had viciously kicked Mu Cheng Bai in his stomach. This kick contained such force that Mu Chengbai was kicked out of the door!
He crashed through the portiere and flew out far into the street.
What a spiffy kick!
At one moment, he was still talking, but in the very next moment, he suffered a crushing defeat!
PUFF! Mu Chengbai forcefully fell on the street and coincidentally landed on a big basket of persimmons. Yellow pulps were now covering his body, but he couldn't prevent his body from rolling over, causing the pulps to get into his mouth. His mouth was now stained with yellow pulp, and people might now think that he was getting off that big basket as he finished eating those persimmons…
Mu Chengbai was quite a cultivator himself, but he hadn't thought that this girly foppish lord could actually surprise him with a kick. He got kicked completely unprepared. This 'flight' had made him really embarrassed.
His guards were also stunned and were unable to take any action in the blink of an eye that they saw their master was flying out like a rocket.
They were just going to hit Ye Xiao angrily, but unexpectedly, Ye Xiao was the one who had rushed out through the door, now completely furious.
And then the angry words boomed outside the store in succession.
"You dare! I will let you have it! You want to take it from me, huh? You actually… You actually… You prick…" Ye Xiao swore loudly. And Bam! Puff! Slap! He didn't let up with the beating even while swearing.
A moment before, he was thinking, [This prick clearly came to me to pick a fight. Then he must be either with Wang Danian or the Crown Prince's Palace. Or he is just some moron! Whoever he is, I am going to beat him up today! So what if he is a big shot?!]
Then he kicked the man again before grabbing the box. He rushed in to leave the 5 taels of silver note on the desk as payment for the weed. He then got out on the street and stepped on the belly of Mu Chengbai, and afterwards, he even rained punches on him like raindrops in a storm.
The first punch made Mu Chengbai's left eye black, and the second one, the other… He just created a panda, then the panda's nose became red, and then his mouth turned black too…
As the young generation of the eight noble clans, Mu Chengbai was still a cultivator of the Mortal Origin Stage, although he was doing better in literature than martial arts. However, he had no ability to react when Ye Xiao had kicked him. That time, the primary spiritual qi in his dantian had already dispersed as he dropped to the floor in disgrace and failed to get up. He could offer no resistance at all.
After that, before he realized anything, Ye Xiao had already ridden on him like riding a horse and punched him with the two fists like a jackhammer!
"You…" Mu Chengbai was only able to speak out one word before his mouth was punched by Ye Xiao. What he wanted to say was punched back into his throat.
"Me? What about me! You asked for this you bastard!" Lord Ye was high-spirited and vigorous at the moment. He was showing his rascal specialty of 'the three lords' right in the crowded street.
He represented the saying vividly - when reasoning didn't work, actions of a scamp really helped…
————
[1] Golden Crystal: The money in the Qing-Yun Realm.