Chapter 69: Young Lord Ding (1/2)
Chapter 69: Young Lord Ding
Shangguan Xiu, garbed in a black robe, frowned as he walked down the street in Milky Way City. Two Cultivators of the seventh level of Qi Condensation, also wearing black robes, walked behind him. From the looks on their faces, they seemed to admire Shangguan Xiu quite a bit.
Accompanying Shangguan Xiu in his inspection of the city, they walked past the shop Meng Hao had just ducked into.
Meng Hao’s expression was the same as ever. Even if it wasn’t, no one would have been able to see anyway, because of the wide bamboo hat that covered his face. His gaze swept around the place he had entered.
It was a pill shop, only one story high and not very large. Racks filled with pill bottles filled the small space. The bottles were obviously empty, although on the surface of each one was written the name of a pill along with a price.
Off in the corner, a young man sat cross-legged. Other than him, Meng Hao was the only person in the shop.
Meng Hao walked along, examining the names of the various medicinal pills. Eventually, he found a bottle upon which was written the characters “Earthly Spirit Pill.” It instantly caught his eye.
“So it’s worth three hundred Spirit Stones….” Meng Hao frowned. The copper mirror required two hundred Spirit Stones to duplicate an Earthly Spirit Pill. Although there was a bit of difference in the two prices, it wasn’t very much.
Seeing Meng Hao muttering to himself, the man sitting cross-legged in the corner opened his eyes and coolly said, “Earthly Spirit Pills are from the Southern Domain. We don’t have many in stock, only five.”
Meng Hao nodded. Looking around one final time, he made to leave, but then suddenly stopped. “Do you happen to have Foundation Establishment Pills?”
When the man heard this, he smiled, although it contained a barely perceptible air of doubt. “Fellow Daoist, this must be your first time in Milky Way City. Foundation Establishment Pills can easily run over one hundred thousand Spirit Stones. They are truly precious. Unfortunately, we don’t have any in stock at all. I’ve only seen one in my entire life. If you are really interested in purchasing one, you’ll have to go to the Milky Way Workshop.”
“So expensive!!” said Meng Hao, his voice filled with awe. Hearing his tone of voice, the young man’s doubt seemed to disappear. He could tell that Meng Hao was simply inquiring, and didn’t have the resources to actually make such a purchase.
Hearing Meng Hao mutter to himself enviously about the incredible price of Foundation Establishment Pills, the young man ignored him and close his eyes again.
Meng Hao left the shop and moved along down the streets of Milky Way City, his eyes shining. Moments later, though, he frowned, for two reasons. One reason was that it didn’t seem it would be that simple to sell medicinal pills and magical items. The other reason was Shangguan Xiu.
“He was wearing a black robe, and was accompanied by more black-robed Cultivators. Those robes are the same ones worn by the city guards. It seems that after leaving the Reliance Sect, he didn’t join another Sect, but rather came to this place.” Meng Hao lowered his head. Instead of leaving, he continued to stroll through the city, checking out shop after shop. As he did, his frown deepened.
It seemed that pills for every level of Qi Condensation were available here. On the one hand, there weren’t a huge amount of pills available, but on the other hand, the prices were not much higher than what he would have to pay to duplicate them. In other words, the profit margin would not be very high.
“Forget about Medicinal Pills. I’ll go check out some magical items.” Meng Hao turned, heading down a different street. There were many Cultivators coming and going, their Cultivation bases of various levels. Most seemed to be between the third and fifth levels. Meng Hao had only seen three Cultivators who, like him, were at the eighth level of Qi Condensation. Their faces were covered, making it impossible to see their faces clearly.
There were many Treasure Pavilions here. Meng Hao visited them one by one, carefully examining their wares. Soon, evening fell. Meng Hao sighed. Low-level magical items fetched a high price, but nothing close to the hundred thousand Spirit Stones he wanted. To get that much, he would have to sell nearly one thousand flying swords, but such an astonishing event would attract unwanted attention. He simply could not do such a thing.
His other magical items varied in price, but none alone would earn him that many Spirit Stones. And if he sold all of his magical items, it would attract too much attention.
What he wanted to do was handle everything at once, then leave immediately.
Meng Hao currently sat cross-legged in a room in an inn. “If I really want to sell the Foundation Establishment Pill… I have to do it very carefully,” he said to himself quietly. “I can’t act rashly.”
Milky Way City wasn’t very big. By the evening of the second day, he had explored the entire city. Finally, he ended up standing across from a luxuriously decorated building. Muttering to himself, he walked toward it.
An inscribed board above the main door read, “Milky Way Workshop.”
It was three stories tall. Meng Hao wandered around the first floor, but was prevented from going up to the second. To gain access to the second floor, one must produce evidence of a large number of Spirit Stones.
Meng Hao didn’t force the issue. He turned and walked around for a bit looking at things, as if he were just an ordinary customer. Finally, he left.
He sat cross-legged back in the inn, frowning to himself. “There’s only one door, guarded by three Cultivators of the eighth level of Qi Condensation, and one of the ninth level…. I can’t go up to the second floor, nor see past the curve of the stairs. Everything on the first level is ordinary items, without any spiritual energy… I need to know what’s on the second level. You can tell by looking at the windows on the outside that there is an abundance of spiritual energy there. But the windows are sealed tight.” After a long moment, he pulled out the copper mirror.
In his bag of holding, he currently had just a bit over ten thousand Spirit Stones. Gritting his teeth, he took out the Foundation Establishment Pill and placed it onto the copper mirror. It instantly sank into the mirror, disappearing. With a deep breath, Meng Hao began feeding Spirit Stones into the mirror.
When he put the ten-thousandth Spirit Stone into the mirror, a bright light shone out of it, and then a second Foundation Establishment Pill appeared. Meng Hao was prepared; as soon as the fragrant medicinal aroma began to spread out, he put the two pills into his bag of holding, looking around cautiously.
Because of his speed, barely any of the aroma escaped out, and therefore no one noticed.
He sat cross-legged on the bed, his eyes filled with thought. After a moment, he slapped his bag of holding, producing a long, white robe. This was some clothing he had obtained from Ding Xin’s bag of holding. He put it on, then hung Ding Xin’s jade identification slip around his neck. He stood and started to pace back and forth in the room, looking even more thoughtful than before.