CH 163

Chapter 163 – Grand Erudition House and Grand Erudition Hall

Several Sea of Qi stage disciples clad in the apparel of Splendid Commodity Peak flagged Xu Disheng down. One of them said, “Senior Martial Brother, disciples belonging to a Peak must pay a fee of 10 spirit stones to enter Splendid Commodity Peak.”

“Okay,” Xu Disheng said, not caring about a few spirit stones. After paying 10 spirit stones like the other people entering Splendid Commodity Peak, he went in.

Splendid Commodity Peak was vast. It was split into multiple districts, with the most famous one being the market district. There were even stores in the market district that belonged to Primordial Lords. No matter what rare treasure or exotic beast, these shops would have it all.

As Xu Disheng wandered around the marketplace of Splendid Commodity Peak, he found that there weren’t any stalls run by disciples. It was only a continuous, unending array of countless stores and luxurious pagodas, making the scenery almost too much for the eyes to take in.

With Splendid Commodity Peak’s entry fee being set as high as 10 spirit stones, it kept out many ordinary disciples who were short on money. As a result, the people who frequented Splendid Commodity Peak’s marketplace were mostly Dao Foundation stage disciples or wealthy Sea of Qi stage disciples from the Eight Mountains. Now that the Grand Auction was approaching, there were quite a few Sea of Qi stage geniuses here from the Eight Mountains who had received invitations. These geniuses came in grand style, putting on a big show of extravagance.

In just the time it takes an incense stick to burn, Xu Disheng had already walked past several groups of three to five Sea of Qi stage disciples. All of these people had impressive auras. The light of treasures twinkled all over their bodies, and many of their robes were of the Magic Treasure rank. Clearly, they were all incredibly wealthy.

Xu Disheng stopped and looked off into the near distance, where an opulent, stately pavilion had caught his gaze. It seemed to be called the ‘Grand Erudition Hall’, and it was even more elegant and refined than the other stores in the vicinity. The decorations were impressively ornate, and many people were entering the pavilion. Among the people who were coming out of the pavilion, some of them had looks of satisfaction on their faces. They must have gotten their hands on what they were looking for within.

After a moment of contemplation, Xu Disheng went in. Immediately upon entering, a maid in black clothes approached him with a smile. “Senior Martial Brother, what are you looking for today?”

Xu Disheng looked around at the items on display on the first floor of Grand Erudition Hall. There were many common Magic Treasures, and only very few Spirit Tools. After a moment, he said, “I would like to sell some Magic Treasures and Spirit Tools.”

Without a single change in her smiling expression, the maid said, “Is this Senior Martial Brother’s first time coming to Splendid Commodity Peak? We, the Grand Erudition Hall, are a branch of the Grand Erudition House, and only take items at the rank of Psychic Magic Treasure and higher. If Senior Martial Brother would like to sell items, please go to the pavilion across the street.”

When she finished speaking, she tread daintily over to the door of the pavilion and pointed towards a black pavilion right across from them at the street corner. There was a signboard on it indicating that it was called ‘Procurement Pavilion’.

Xu Disheng nodded, then turned to leave Grand Erudition Hall. The maid in black clothes was still smiling as she greeted the next customer, clearly not finding the situation that occurred just now strange at all.

After all, with the Grand Auction only a few days away, there would be many people who were coming to Splendid Commodity Peak for the first time and didn’t know what shops there were in the marketplace. This maid was already used to it and simply pointing them in the right direction wasn’t any extra effort on her part.

The shop space of Procurement Pavilion wasn’t large by any means, but business was flourishing. Many disciples went in and came back out with pleased expressions, clearly having struck an extremely favorable business deal inside.

After Xu Disheng entered the pavilion, a male disciple in green clothes approached him and said, “Respected customer, if you have things you would like to sell, please hand them to me and I would be happy to appraise the value for you.”

Without hesitating, Xu Disheng took out an interspatial ring. Leaving only the several Magic Treasures he normally used and the precious items behind, he loaded everything else inside and gave it to the male disciple.

The green-clothed disciple took the interspatial ring and handed it to someone behind him, who took it to the back hall. At the moment, there were many people who were just like Xu Disheng. Having handed over the items they wanted to sell to the disciples in green clothes, they were just patiently waiting in the main hall.

The green-clothed disciple carefully sized up Xu Disheng and said, “Respected customer, this must also be your first time coming to our Procurement Pavilion. Our pavilion accepts any items for sale, but our rules state that the price will be 65% of the market value. We must let you know this beforehand to prevent any potential misunderstandings.”

Xu Disheng nodded and replied, “That’s fine.”

What Xu Disheng disliked the most was needlessly wasting time. He could slowly sell each thing one by one and get a relatively higher price, but it would waste too much of his time and energy.

Procurement Pavilion had taken into account the disciples’ needs regarding this point. They would take anything, but the prices they would offer in return would be a bit lower, offering their customers a trade-off between price and speed and convenience. Thus, they were making a considerable profit margin and their business was also booming.

After the time it takes an incense stick to burn, several disciples came out from the rear hall, bringing 6-7 interspatial rings, which they handed to different disciples wearing green clothes.

The green-clothed disciple standing by Xu Disheng received an interspatial ring. After looking through it, he handed it to Xu Disheng and said, “Please confirm the contents, respected customer. The items you have sold have amounted to a total of 17,385 spirit stones. If you are unsatisfied with the price, I can go and retrieve your items for you.”

Xu Disheng nodded, then put away the interspatial ring and walked out of Procurement Pavilion.

The green-clothed disciple watched Xu Disheng leave. He didn’t think anything of it and continued on with his work, helping the next customer.

These items consisted of only a few Magic Treasures, while the remaining majority were Spirit Tools. There were also some items he got as rewards from the Internal Disciple Tournament, but he didn’t have any use for them so he simply sold them as well. Originally, Xu Disheng’s estimated value of these items was over 20,000 spirit stones. However, exchanging the items at Procurement Pavilion was extremely simple and convenient, but the low prices they offered were famous on Splendid Commodity Peak. From this one transaction, they turned a profit of several thousand spirit stones.

But at this point, the number of spirit stones in Xu Disheng’s possession had already reached a terrifying figure. He had no less than 100,000 spirit stones. This was an amount of wealth that even an old, experienced peak Dao Foundation stage cultivator had no way of competing with.

Xu Disheng browsed a few more shops and pavilions, but he didn’t find anything he could use. He saw quite a few common Magic Treasures, but they were just far too lacking in comparison to the powerful Magic Treasures he had like Disperse and the Demon Punishing Array Diagram.

Psychic Magic Treasures, on the other hand, were only sold at time-honored establishments like Grand Erudition Hall. They were also extremely expensive, easily reaching prices of 40,000 to 50,000 spirit stones, but they weren’t that useful to Xu Disheng.

After all, Xu Disheng was only at the peak of the Sea of Qi stage, so he had no way of displaying the full might of even a common Magic Treasure. No matter how many Psychic Magic Treasures he had, there was no point if he wasn’t even able to bring out the full might of a single one.

It was like that time back in the Zhao Territory, where in Xu Disheng’s hands, the Smoky Cloud Screen, a top-grade Magic Treasure, was only able to block a single attack from an Evil Spirit stage ghost. In the end, he had to ignite its source to protect himself, but that meant destroying a top-grade defensive-type Magic Treasure.

If even the most ordinary Dao Foundation stage cultivator used the Smoky Cloud Screen and summoned a barrier of light, they could stand there and tank the attacks of an Evil Spirit stage ghost for a while before it would break.

Thus, destroying a top-grade Magic Treasure like this was a huge waste. It was a terrible pity.

Golden Sun Pavilion was the largest establishment for spiritual food and accommodation in the market district of Splendid Commodity Peak. Renting even the most ordinary room for a day there cost no less than 60 spirit stones.

Xu Disheng sat down on a plush, cozy couch and took two Qi Boosting Pills. He held several spirit stones in each hand, closed his eyes, and began to cultivate.

The Black Sky Yellow Earth Pagoda had returned to its form as the cyan jade flute, which was no longer revolving above his sea of consciousness. It was now wrapped up in profound light at the deepest depths of his sea of consciousness. No matter how Xu Disheng tried to activate it, it didn’t return the slightest response.

Although it no longer spilled forth cyan light, Xu Disheng recently felt that his cultivation speed had undergone a change. This meant that his talent had already been increased to Rank 4 Spiritual Root!

Rank 4 Spiritual Root geniuses were those like Yu Yangyao and Jian Liangbi. Even in the entire Mingxin Mountain Range, geniuses of this caliber were extremely rare!