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Bursts of flames blossomed like flowers in the bright sky, and they covered the sky in a blaze of colors.
News of the ant army being exterminated and the Black Fog Bridge rupturing quickly spread. The residents of Heavenly River State all rejoiced at this news, and its cities started to bustle with activity.
An Lin and Xu Xiaolan wandered about the vibrant streets and tasted many delicious local foods. They even packed lots of these delicacies into their storage rings so that they could snack on it later when they were feeling a bit peckish.
Soon, the two of them arrived at the foot of a majestic pagoda.
This was a white brick pagoda with dazzling golden roof tiles. Shimmering clouds drifted around it, making it appear like a ferocious tiger which was curled up amid the prefectural city. A plaque hanging above its doors had two large words carved upon it—Golden Pagoda.
An Lin’s eyes lit up. “I heard that Golden Pagoda is one of the very best treasure pagodas in Heavenly River State. There’s countless exotic treasures and marvelous weapons here…”
“You already have handy weapons such as the Evil-Slaying Sword and Realm-Piercing Nail,” Xu Xiaolan chuckled and said. “Also, you’ve got quite the large collection of extremely rare treasures. And you’re still interested in this treasure pagoda?”
“Uh… Actually, it’s not that I want to buy anything. It’s just that I have too many treasures so I want to sell a bit of them off…
“For example, that pile of rare tool refinement materials. I don’t know how to perform tool refinement, so those are useless to me. There’s also that pile of exotic ingredients. I don’t know how to perform pill refinement, so those are also useless to me. There’s still one high-rank spirit tool, two intermediate rank spirit tools, nine elementary rank spirit tools, and that awful mess of stuff in the storage ring that belongs to the grand elder of the Heavenly Cloud Palace. It’s easier if I trade all of these for spirit stones…”
An Lin wore an expression of annoyance as he checked off all the things useless to him. Xu Xiaolan grimaced at this. She felt that it was tiring talking to people like this. It made her feel as if she had become a poor bugger.
The two of them hopped off Da Bai’s back and walked into the Golden Pagoda.
The entrance fee was two hundred spirit stones. This fee probably kept out many people who simply wanted to go in for the sake of amusement. Those who could enter were usually people of high status.
“Greetings, Sir and Madam. I’m Huang Shi, one of the sales assistants here. What would you two like to purchase?” A suave male walked over and greeted them. When he saw Xu Xiaolan, a look of wonder flashed across his eyes. However, his expression quickly returned to normal as he respectfully joined his hands in salute.
An Lin waved his hands in acknowledgment. “Oh, I’m not here to purchase anything. I came here to sell some things…”
Huang Shi stole a glance at An Lin and measured him up. His aura was average, so his cultivation base most likely wasn’t high. He was dressed in simple white robes and didn’t wear any valuable adornments. After performing a rough analysis, he clasped his hands in salute and said in reminder, “Although Golden Pagoda offers fair prices when buying treasures, we only accept artifacts that are above the rank of intermediate rank magic tools. If it’s elixirs, pills, or rare materials, then we only accept those above the spirit rank. We don’t accept things if their rank is too low.”
“Oh, I don’t have magic tools.”
Huang Shi frowned. “Then that’s too b—”
“I’ll sell these dozen or so spirit tools first.”
Huang Shi: “…”
Dozen or so spirit tools? Even medium-sized cultivation sects probably don’t have this many spirit tools!
Huang Shi grimaced and tried his best to compose himself. “Okay sir, please follow me.”
Although An Lin didn’t look like a wealthy person, Huang Shi was very professional in what he did. He forcefully suppressed his feeling of absurdity as he led the way in front of him.
He had already thought this through. If An Lin dared to trick him, he would beat An Lin senseless until he couldn’t even recognize his own mother.
“Sir, these are Golden Pagoda’s appraisers, Hei Mu and Liu Huo.” Huang Shi brought An Lin and Xu Xiaolan to an elegant room and introduced to them the two elderly men sitting inside.
Both these elders had white hair and piercing eyes. Their appearance was as if they had seen all the vicissitudes of life and possessed an abundance of knowledge and wisdom.
M-hm… Their appearance and demeanor are not bad…
An Lin gave them a thumbs up in his mind.
“Young lad, you plan on selling spirit tools?” Looking at An Lin, Hei Mu observed that both his appearance and temperament was young. Usually, it was rare for these types of people to have valuable treasures. Thus, there was a hint of uncertainty in his tone.
An Lin was aware that these two elders were renowned throughout the Heavenly River State for their fairness and honesty. As such, he didn’t need to take extra precautions and tossed out a dozen spirit tools all at once.
The room was instantly flooded by the energy fluctuations of the spirit tools. Their glow was dazzling and brilliant, and the quality of their make was magnificent.
“This…” Hei Mu and Liu Huo both drew in a sharp breath as their eyes widened in astonishment. These artifacts which were casually thrown onto the floor were undoubtedly all spirit tools. What more, their quality and make was all quite high!
Huang Shi also had a look of amazement. Even though he was mentally prepared, he still had a small fright when he saw An Lin toss these spirit tools out from his storage ring as if he were tossing out stones.
“Oh… I also want to get rid of these tool refinement materials and exotic ingredients. I don’t know how to refine tools or pills anyway…”
Saying this, An Lin continued to toss things out from his storage ring. Piles of rare tool refinement materials clanked onto the floor like scrap metal. Exotic ingredients also thudded to the floor like worthless goods. As they lay on the floor, these things all exuded rich spiritual energy.
Hei Mu and Liu Huo both gulped with unease as they exchanged a glance. Holy sh*t! Is this some prince or one of the heirs to the four great sects? Is he here to sell off the family property because he’s feeling upset about something?!
Huang Shi grimaced. Fortunately, he hadn’t berated this male before. Otherwise, his face would have been beaten black and blue by now.
“Hmm… For the time being, I’ll just sell these. Help me appraise them!” An Lin’s expression was as if he had been freed of a heavy burden. He clapped his hands together and even sighed in relief.
Seeing An Lin’s attitude, a knot formed in Huang Shi’s chest. He really wanted to roar, “What the hell is with your look of disdain? Are these treasures going to bite you?!”
Sure enough, Hei Mu and Liu Huo were very professional. They quickly got down to business and started appraising the treasures. For each treasure, they were able to list its virtues and defects, as well as determine its quality. Then, they would state the purchase price. If An Lin was dissatisfied with the price, he could choose not to sell the item.
Golden Pagoda already had thousands of years of history in Heavenly River State, so its public reputation was unquestionable. Moreover, these two elders were eagle-eyed and experienced, thus could enthusiastically utter a lengthy speech for any given treasure.
After a long time, they finally finished the appraisal. The total price came out to be 3.05 million spirit stones or three hundred and five vital stones.
An Lin nodded indifferently and placed the three hundred and five vital stones into his storage ring. In addition to his original 4.2 million spirit stones, he now had a total of 7.25 million spirit stones.
This wealth… He already didn’t want to comment on it.
To him, spirit stones were just a number.
Thereupon, he tossed Huang Shi one hundred spirit stones. There wasn’t any special reason for this. He merely tipped him because he was feeling happy and in the mood.
Huang Shi grimaced as he held these one hundred spirit stones, and his body swayed.
Holy Sh*t! So stingy! Aren’t you a tycoon?!
Xu Xiaolan pursed her lips. She was far too familiar with this. Next up, he was probably going to wave his sleeve and then gracefully leave.
Sure enough, An Lin glanced at Xu Xiaolan then smiled and said, “Let’s go.”
After learning that An Lin was a super tycoon, Hei Mu and Liu Huo exchanged a knowing glance. They had to treat certain matters with fairness and professionalism. However, they could try to generate some extra revenue through other means…
“Mr. An Lin, please hold on. Are you interested in checking out Golden Pagoda’s collection of ancient artifacts?” Liu Huo called out to An Lin who was just about to leave.
An Lin paused and asked curiously, “What’s so interesting about ancient artifacts?”
Liu Huo smiled mysteriously. “Hehehe… If you and the ancient artifact have a bond, then you’ll even be able to leave with it…”
“Really?” An Lin’s eyes lit up.
He didn’t expect for the Golden Pagoda to have such types of activity, and his interest was instantly piqued.
One had to realize, things that could be referred to as “ancient artifacts” in the Kingdom of the Nine States weren’t merely antiques used for decoration. No, these were artifacts which contained ancient energy fluctuations.
Some of them contained mystical cultivation methods, while others possessed unique powers. Some even had astounding secrets hidden within them. It could be said that they were all very valuable items.
“Mr. An Lin, please follow me.” Liu Huo smiled faintly and led the way.
An Lin nodded and eagerly followed behind Liu Huo.
Xu Xiaolan frowned slightly but didn’t say anything.
Hei Mu and Huang Shi appeared calm and indifferent as they followed behind their two customers. However, their minds were bursting with delight.
This big fish… has finally swallowed the bait…