Chapter 415 - A Profiteering Merchant (1/2)

Translator: GE_Team  Editor: GE_Team

Ning Fan was stunned. This elderly man who was currently grumbling and complaining gave off an extremely strong aura force. To Ning Fan’s surprise, he was actually an old monster at the Void Inquiry Stage!

However, judging from this man’s words, he did not harbor an evil motive towards Ning Fan at all by concealing himself in this place as he was just sleeping here.

After pondering carefully, Ning Fan found it logical too.

When he ascended to the fifth floor from the fourth floor through the teleportation formation, his landing point was random. How could it be possible for someone to hide somewhere around his landing point beforehand to ambush him?

Thus, he concluded that this old man was really just sleeping here while keeping his presence concealed and that was it. The latter did not have the intention of sneak-attacking Ning Fan at all.

The only person who was to blame for this situation was the elderly man for not choosing a more appropriate place to sleep but rather the place where Ning Fan landed.

To every cultivator, if they suddenly sense a strong expert hiding near them when they have just descended somewhere, they would certainly be nervous and vigilant as well.

Ning Fan had already given enough face to the elderly man as he did not directly deliver a fatal blow to him but only forced the latter out of his concealment.

“Why would an old monster of the Void Inquiry Stage appear on the fifth floor of the lightning tower… According to Hong Yi’s information and the memories of the lightning lords on the previous four floors, there should be no creature of the Void Inquiry Stage in the first ten floors of the tower. Could it be that this elderly man is an expert who had come down here from the upper floors beyond the tenth floor? His name is Lei Shiyi, huh…?”

While Ning Fan was contemplating, he activated his lightning star and lightning diagram to guard against the elderly man from attacking him at any time.

An old monster of the Void Inquiry Stage could equally fight against several Void Glimpse Stage experts at the same time.

Even though Ning Fan was able to kill three experts of the Void Glimpse Stage throughout his journey, he does not have a chance against an expert of the Void Inquiry Stage. What he could do at most was to conceal himself and flee with the help of the Heaven Deceiving Cloak.

However, what Ning Fan had never expected was that although he had disturbed the elderly man’s sweet dream and made him wake up with resentment, the latter’s killing intent instantly dissipated after taking a deep look at him.

Ning Fan was observing the elderly man while the latter was also doing the same.

He sensed a hint of danger from Ning Fan’s lightning star. He did not know that it was the Tai Su Lightning Star but he was aware that it had a heaven-defying restraining effect on him.

The elderly man’s gaze turned away. He had a rough estimation of how strong Ning Fan was and no longer had the intention of making him an enemy.

He opened his mouth and revealed his yellowish teeth. His smile made him look rather wretched. He then took the initiative to strike a conversation with his fists cupped.

“Little Friend, you are strong, aren’t you? Hehe. Are you an undead spirit which moved up here from one of the four floors below? This old man is Lei Shiyi and I came from the eleventh floor. Let’s be friends, what do you say?

“Eleventh floor!” Ning Fan’s eyes flashed with sternness and a hint of surprise.

This elderly man is indeed an expert from the floors beyond the tenth floor.

He was filled with rage at first. However, after he inspected me, he wore a friendly smile and greeted me politely. I suppose he is intimidated by my presence.

That elderly man was no doubt very strong. Since he did not plan to rush at Ning Fan, the latter would also not ask for trouble by taking the initiative to attack a Mid Void Refinement Realm being like him.

As for the elderly man’s suggestion of befriending him…

Ning Fan did not say yes or no. Instead, he cupped his fists and said.

“Please excuse me!”

He actually wanted to walk away without giving him an answer.

He did not have the intention of becoming friends with the elderly man. The only reason why he came here was for the lightning bamboo leaves. He did not want to cause any other unnecessary troubles.

“You are gathering the dark golden bamboo leaves?” The elderly man’s eyes suddenly flashed with surprise. The creepy and mischievous bearing in him disappeared at once.

“…”

Ning Fan did not answer. The seriousness in his expression became more intense. Internally, he felt astonished.

How does this old man know that I am gathering dark golden bamboo leaves?!

“You don’t have to be nervous. I am just guessing as I sensed the smell of bamboo leaves from your body. Hehe. I always have a sharp nose… Besides, I have not only smelled bamboo leaves… Hmm? I also smell some lightning jades from you. 156 pieces. No. There are 157 pieces of silver jades! Four of them have almost reached the standard of a golden jade… Little Friend, you are very rich. Hehe.”

As soon as the elderly man mentioned the word “rich”, his eyes immediately burned with enthusiasm.

“I don’t understand what you mean!” Ning Fan’s tone was cold but internally, he was somewhat surprised.

This elderly man really has good means. He can even tell how many silver jades I have just by the smell.

“Lightning jades are supreme treasures for undead spirits that can help raise their cultivation bases. They are also the currency in use on the floors beyond the tenth floor. On the eleventh floor itself, those who possess 100 silver jades are all Void Refinement Realm experts. Judging from your expression, you didn’t seem to have heard of the lightning jades being the currency in the upper floors, did you?” The elderly man sounded a little astonished.

“It’s my first time coming to the fifth floor.”

“No wonder. No wonder… So that’s how it is. Hehe. *Dry coughs*…” The elderly man rubbed his hands, absorbed in his thoughts.

He saw through Ning Fan’s cultivation base which was at the Half-Step Void Refinement Realm but he only thought of the latter as an undead spirit.

Naturally, he could not understand why a Divine Transformation Realm undead spirit like him would not choose to devour the 157 silver jades in his hands.

After all, 157 silver jades contained an extremely large amount of magic power to undead spirits.

Or did it mean that Ning Fan had never planned on devouring the silver jades in the first place and he just treated them as currency?

However, Ning Fan had also never been to any floors beyond the tenth floor and he was not aware of the rules and regulations of the upper floors. It made the whole situation seem weird.

The elderly man found it even more confusing as he continued to think about it and thus, he chose to stop pondering on these tiny details.

The current him only had a single motive in mind.

Ning Fan’s riches were not little as he had accumulated 157 silver jades in total. Moreover, he was quite strong.

Hence, Lei Shiyi figured that Ning Fan could become one of his customers!

Lei Shiyi was a merchant who travelled around the eleventh floor.

What he was obsessed with was using the useless trash from the upper floors to exchange for lightning jades from the experts on the lower floors.

Of course, whether he would be willing to trade or not still depended on his customer.

If Ning Fan was slightly weaker, he could directly kill him and seize his jades. Why would he even bother to trade with him?

However, the fact that Ning Fan could force him out of his concealment and the sense of danger he could give him made him feel a little afraid. He did not have the idea of underestimating Ning Fan at all.

As such, it was still safer for him to carry out a proper trade with Ning Fan. It could not be any better to refrain from making an enemy out of him.

“Hehe. My name is Lei Shiyi. What’s yours?”

“Zhou Ming.”

“Oh, it’s Little Friend Zhou. Please excuse me for being ill-mannered earlier. Little Friend has quite a lot of money. Are you interested in buying something from me? I am a merchant and I have some good things with me. All of them were obtained from the eleventh floor. Perhaps there is something that Little Friend might need!”

“Buying your things?! What do you have?”

Ning Fan was a little dumbfounded. He had obtained quite a lot of lightning jades from killing the undead spirits. However, these lightning spirits were of no use to him.

Could those lightning jades which were useless to him actually be used to buy something? It couldn’t be better.

Seeing Ning Fan was interested in his offer, Lei Shiyi immediately revealed a greedy smile because he knew business had come to him.

He untied his storage pouch and took out the items one after another. There was no shortage of magic treasures, pills and cultivation methods among them.

Undead spirits did not know about treasure refinement and pill refinement in the first place. All of these pills and magic treasures were once the belongings of those who had died.

Most of the magic treasures were broken and their destructive power was greatly reduced. A majority of the pills had expired and their medicinal power had dissipated.

To the undead spirits in this tower, however, these items were extremely scarce and precious.

Cultivation methods were especially even more valuable.

To the low-grade undead spirits, a set of good cultivation methods would definitely help them break through to a higher grade.

Unfortunately, all of these items could not catch Ning Fan’s attention.

He was not an undead spirit after all, but a genuine living cultivator. He did not need these poor cultivation methods, broken magic treasures and expired pills.

Seeing Ning Fan show no interest or desire when his eyes scanned past the pills and magic treasures, Lei Shiyi frowned with a hint of surprise. Other than the feeling of surprise, there was also a hint of admiration.

He did not even set his eyes upon these good items? He really has deep insight. Perhaps he is also an expert in this line!

Lei Shiyi thought to himself.

If he is really an expert in this line, then I really have to take out the good things to sell to him.

But just as this thought rose in his head, he was nearly choked to death after hearing a single sentence from Ning Fan.

“Oh? You also have primordial lightning?”

Ning Fan’s eyes glinted with interest. He saw tens of traces of primordial lightning which were in a sealed state from a jade box.

These traces of primordial lightning were excellent items to cultivate his Primordial Lightning Armor!

“Hehe. Of course, I have primordial lightning… You want to buy them?”

Lei Shiyi’s face was filled with confusion. Vaguely, there was also a hint of contempt.

What bulls*** is this? How is it possible for him to be an expert in my line of work? He doesn’t know about items at all. He didn’t want the magic treasures and pills but rather trash like primordial lightning. What kind of insight does he have?

In Lei Shiyi’s eyes, primordial lightning was trash, utter trash.