Chapter 351: The Treasure Pavilion (2/2)

He gave a bitter smile and followed the folks.

The Treasure Pavilion was somehow... one-of-a-kind, very much different than the other shops the folks had visited before. The pavilion was not the one with the fanciest furnishings but it just felt different. The items offered in the shop were measly, only few tens of them, pathetically measly compared to other shops, except they were given exceptional care as being kept inside a single wooden cabinet each.

There were no other customers than Ye Chong and the folks. The owner of the shop was a middle-aged man who stood expressionlessly at the counter. The norm of friendly business courtesy seemed to be non-existent on that unsmiling face of his.

Ye Chong gave a glance around and he found what he wanted.

”How much is this?” Pointed Ye Chong at one brownish nut which had the appearance of an ostrich egg, with wavy stripes over it while exuding a particular kind of aroma.

Nobody knew what kind of nut it was.

”Not for sale.” The owner looked at Ye Chong and flatly he stated, ”We only do exchanges. Get something of a similar value and we'll talk.”

Only exchanges? That's new...

That was new indeed. Wang Meng had once heard of this fairly odd shop with odd rules and an odd-tempered owner yet having an array of oddly good stuffs. The owner's odd temper and regulations had offended quite a number of customers when the shop first opened. Moreover the number of goodies inside the shop was envy-inducing that a handful of people coveted but all of them somehow vanished by the time things were supposed to happen.

The owner might be odd-tempered, but he seemed to be highly respected by the mistress so not many villagers would want to cause havoc in his shop.

”Exchange?” Ye Chong frowned with his head tilted.

”Yeah, yeah, only exchanges, we don't want your money,” the owner emphasized.

”Well, guess I can't help you with that,” shrugged Wang Meng.

”What do you want in exchange for that?” asked Ye Chong.

The owner got up and gave a close look at Ye Chong whose expression seemed convincingly determined, ”Regardless of what the thing is, the deal is on as long as it's something I've never seen before.”

Something he had never seen before?

Ye Chong pondered, as he took out some red strands from his bag. The red strands about breadth of a thumb were glossing in brilliant scarlet. Those were the loot from Ye Chong's adventure in the Red Sea back then, the remnants after the living strands disappeared, the very essence of their entity. The strands were highly durable, uncuttable using normal knife, only Ye Chong's modified dagger so far could leave a mark on it.

”How about this?” asked Ye Chong.

The owner jumped from his seat and took the red strands, gave a few looks, astonishment then filled his quivering cheeks. ”Very strange.”

And he gave a pull, a violent pull, a more violent pull. Thump~ the red strand was stretched, yet it never broke no matter how violently the owner pulled.

”This is good stuff! Very resilient being! And it's so elastic! Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant!” The owner was very fascinated as he kept stretching the strand playfully. Wang Meng was astounded though... as he realized the owner was truly not an ordinary folk, judging by how the strand was pulled, the owner was clearly very powerful of his strength. No wonder the mistress once warned them to not mess with his shop.

”Deal?” asked Ye Chong.

”Deal! I'm a fool if I don't accept this deal!” He rose his brows, the owner quickly replied and happily gave Ye Chong the brown nut with both hands.

”Okay.” Ye Chong took the brown nut and left the shop right away.

”Hold it right there,,” shouted the owner.

”Yes?” Ye Chong seemed bewildered.

”What do you call this?” he asked Ye Chong curiously.

”I dunno. You could give it a name yourself,” Ye Chong said and walked out of the Treasure Pavilion right after.