When Lu Ye came out of the mountain again, he appeared much more composed, easily making his way to the Qingyun Market at the foot of the mountain and then to the Tianji Merchant Alliance.
Without waiting for the attendant at the entrance to ask, Lu Ye said, "Sell!"
Sitting in a private room, he drank the spirit tea from the Tianji Merchant Alliance as usual. However, this time, he had only had one pot when someone walked in.
"Sorry to have kept you waiting, Fellow Daoist!"
Following the voice, a middle-aged man entered the room and bowed to Lu Ye, "I am Liu Quan, nice to meet you, Fellow Daoist."
Lu Ye nodded, and Liu Quan took his seat, getting straight to the point, "May I ask what you wish to sell?"
Lu Ye then took out several pieces of ore he had prepared earlier. Of course, the Yuan Magnetic Ore was the main part. The price of the ore he sold last time was largely due to the value of the Yuan Magnetic Ore.
This time, the piece of Yuan Magnetic Ore was a bit larger, so the price might be a bit higher.
Liu Quan inspected each piece and quoted a price for each one. During this time, Lu Ye remained silent, only drinking tea.
Finally, he put down the Yuan Magnetic Ore and said, "This item is not commonly seen in the outer circle. It can be priced at thirty-eight spirit stones. The total price would be fifty-one spirit stones. If you find this acceptable, we can proceed with the transaction."
"Can't it be a bit higher?" Lu Ye looked at him.
Liu Quan shook his head and smiled bitterly, "It cannot be higher. These items need to be processed and refined by specialists before they can be turned into useful materials. If the price is too high, the merchant alliance will not make a profit."
This guy is harder to deal with than Liu Ruyin! Lu Ye thought to himself. Last time, he haggled with Liu Ruyin, and she immediately added four spirit stones. Although she was a woman, she was much more straightforward than this Liu Quan.
What Lu Ye didn't know was that Liu Ruyin had a certain unwritten rule for raising prices and also wanted to do another business deal with him, which is why she was so quick to agree. In the end, Lu Ye didn't know about this rule and didn't even give her a tip, making Liu Ruyin a bit unhappy.
Liu Quan, being a man, didn't expect to do any other business with Lu Ye, so he maintained a strictly business attitude.
Lu Ye remained silent for a moment, not wanting to waste words, and took out four storage bags, "Can you open these?"
These were given to him by Yi Yi earlier, who had told him that there were people in the Qingyun Market who could unlock the restrictions on storage bags. However, Lu Ye had forgotten about this last time.
Liu Quan calmly took the storage bags, clearly having seen this many times before. After a brief inspection, he said, "If you want us to help you open them, we can, but there will be a fee."
"How much?"
Liu Quan quoted a price.
Lu Ye's face darkened; the price was a bit high.
Liu Quan smiled, "Of course, you can sell these items to our merchant alliance. Each storage bag can be priced at this amount."
He gestured with his hand.
Lu Ye laughed, "This price is even lower than the one you just gave!"
In other words, the cost to have the merchant alliance open the storage bags was actually higher than selling the storage bags directly to them, which seemed a bit unreasonable.
Liu Quan smiled, "I know what you're thinking, but this is the price. You need to understand that the storage bags of cultivators in the outer circle are not valuable. They might be empty, and the merchant alliance has to bear the risk. Therefore, the price won't be high. Of course, if you want to take a chance and see if there are any valuable items inside, you only need to pay the unlocking fee. It's up to you to decide."
Lu Ye thought back to the three cultivators who were robbed by Yi Yi and Da Hu; their storage bags indeed didn't contain anything valuable.
He quickly made up his mind and haggled with Liu Quan. In the end, the four storage bags were priced at twenty spirit stones and sold to the merchant alliance.
Including the previous transaction, that made a total of seventy-one spirit stones!
The deal was done, and Liu Quan clearly seemed pleased. He asked, "How would you like to receive the payment? Spirit stones or spirit pills?"
Lu Ye replied, "Do you have a map of the Lingxi Battlefield?" He asked this because he remembered the wealthy man he met when he first entered the market mentioned that the merchant alliance sold maps.
If he wanted to go to the Bi Xue Sect's base, he needed to know its exact location, and having a map would make things much easier.
Liu Quan immediately became enthusiastic, "Of course, we have them. What kind of map would you like?"
"What kinds do you have?"
"We have three types: the three-tenth map, the seven-tenth map, and the full map."
"What's the difference?" Lu Ye frowned, wondering why they had so many options for a simple map.
Liu Quan explained, and as he listened, Lu Ye gradually understood the differences between the three types of maps.
The entire Lingxi Battlefield is filled with numerous bases of various forces. After all, every sect and force from the Nine Provinces has a base in the battlefield, and the territories often change hands. Therefore, creating a map is a complicated task.
However, the Tianji Merchant Alliance has the capability to do this because it has numerous branches throughout the battlefield. By consolidating information from each region, they can easily create a map of the entire battlefield, a feat no other force can achieve.
The full map includes all the bases in the Lingxi Battlefield, detailing which camp they belong to and the ranks of the sects. It also marks various terrains and landscapes.
This is the full map.
The seven-tenth map is a simplified version of the full map, including only about 70% of the bases in the battlefield...
The three-tenth map is even more limited, showing only about 30% of the bases, and the terrains and landscapes of the battlefield are not included...
For Lu Ye, he definitely needed the full map because the Bi Xue Sect is only a ninth-rank sect, and it might not be marked on the three-tenth or seven-tenth maps. If he bought one and couldn't find the Bi Xue Sect, it would be a significant loss.
Moreover, buying the full map has the advantage of being able to update it at the Tianji Merchant Alliance in the future. The Lingxi Battlefield is in constant turmoil, and bases frequently change hands. If you're not careful, you might end up in the wrong place. Having a map that can be updated in real-time can help avoid many risks.
However, after asking about the price, Lu Ye gave up on this idea.
A full map costs six hundred spirit stones, even with a discount.
As for the three-tenth map, which Liu Quan strongly recommended, it costs several dozen spirit stones, but why would Lu Ye need a three-tenth map?
In the end, he concluded the transaction, keeping one spirit stone and using the remaining seventy to buy seven bottles of sixty-three Lingyun Pills. With so many Lingyun Pills, he was confident he could soon reach the second level of the Lingxi realm.