Chapter 635: Just Keeps Coming
Following the directions they felt from the jade talisman Chen Yu handed over, they quickly located their residence. It was a small courtyard that could be converted into a shop front that faced the street if they so desired.
“Are they planning to let us do our business over here?” Chu Jia quickly took a look around the courtyard to see if there were any hidden formations or means left behind to spy on them.
She wasn’t the only one who did it. The first thing Shang Xia and the rest did when they entered was to cover the entire place with their divine sense. They carefully examined every spot in the courtyard.
Yun Yichen suddenly broke out into a soft chuckle. “Actually, it’s not a bad idea to do some business here, provided that the Three Unity Island lifts the restriction around the island. After all, how many Martial Extermination Realm experts do we have in both our worlds? Are there 500 of us? There might even be close to 800 of us. Whatever it is, we won’t be able to do much.”
Liu Qinglan muttered “I don’t know if there are 800 of us, but there are definitely more than 500. After all, our Tongyou Institution along with the great clans have more than 30 experts at that level. Not to mention the fact that we lost a few of them back on the Manyu Continent.”
“Even if there really are 800 or so Martial Extermination Realm experts, it wouldn’t be worth establishing a permanent trading center here. Much less when this place is stationed outside the heavens.” Yun Yichen shook her head and sighed.
After everyone finally settled down and cleaned up the place, Chu Jia, who was really excited about the whole matter started to kick up a fuss about wanting to set up store to do some business. She even managed to drag Yun Yichen over to help her and they hung a plaque outside where they named the place the ‘Tongyou Hall’.
Originally, Shang Xia thought that they would give it a simple name like the ‘Tongyou Store’ or something. However, he didn’t realize Chu Jia had already named it the Tongyou Hall.
Everyone knew that Chu Jia was basically messing around, and the name truly didn’t matter. As such, they didn’t really bother with her antics.
As the only Formation Grandmaster in the institution, it couldn’t be denied that Chu Jia truly had a ton of treasures on her. She also went to retrieve all the treasures the others had no use of for the time being to stock their newly opened store.
Her actions yielded quite a bit of treasure. It was especially so when she went to Shang Xia to ask for them. All of them knew that he was the richest among all of them, and the treasures he had was something hard for them to fathom. There was no way Chu Jia would let a fat pig like that off.
She not only managed to obtain a large number of low-leveled treasures from him, she also retrieved dozens of rank two talismans he forgot about in the past. He crafted them a long time ago. After digging around, Chu Jia even managed to get Shang Xia to cough up 10 rank three talismans. 2 of his low-grade weapons were also forcefully retrieved by Chu Jia and she managed to convince him to take out a piece of rank four Abyssal Void Shattering Talisman under the guise that she was using it to test the waters.
In just half a day, Chu Jia managed to fully stock the Tongyou Hall and establish themselves as a new store along the street.
Compared to many other stores, the treasures in the Tongyou Hall seemed all over the place. However, they were clearly separated into grades.
Right before Chu Jia really opened the store, Liu Qinglan’s order arrived. “If anyone comes to trade, only accept payment in essence crystals.”
“Essence crystals?” Shang Xia was immediately intrigued. It was the first time he was hearing of it and he asked, “Is that the currency used during the trade fair?”
Liu Qinglan glanced at him from the corner of her eye before muttering, “How long haven’t you been out and about in the past half a year?”
“This… I had been crafting talismans in seclusion in the Tongyou Mysterious World for the past half a year. I completed everything 7 days ago and I only emerged from seclusion 3 days ago..” Shang Xia explained.
“It’s no wonder…” Liu Qinglan added before handing an Embroidered Cloud Case over to Shang Xia. “Deputy Patriarch Shang gave this to me and instructed me to pass it to you after we arrive on the Three Unity Island.”
“Are these essence crystals?” Shang Xia wondered as he opened the case. His divine perception covered the items within and he noticed a bunch of crystals arranged neatly within. World origin was contained in them, and Shang Xia could feel the trace of it that leaked out.
“Huh?” Shang Xia frowned before taking out a single crystal. Playing around with it, he turned to ask Liu Qinglan, “Why will these be here?”
Liu Qinglan replied in a low voice, “You probably recognize them. They’re really similar to the fate dipper fragment you obtained in the Manyu Continent. Of course, they are far from comparable to the purity and amount of world origin contained in a fate dipper fragment.”
Shang Xia didn’t forget those fragments and how they were obtained by the experts of the Spirit Abundance World using the Sacrificial Formation. After hearing what she said, he growled softly, “How did we get these?!”
“Let me make the explanations.” Chu Jia spoke suddenly.
Turning his head, he stared at her.
“After the various powers returned, the Eternal Sect, the Divine Capital Sect, and the Northern Sea Mystic Sect imparted the method to produce these crystals from the world origin we obtained back them. Depending on how long they were refined for, we would be able to obtain low or mid-grade essence crystals. The 3 super factions also mentioned that they would be the only currency used during the trade fair.”
Shang Xia didn’t quite believe the explanation. Unwilling to believe whatever she said, he continued to press for an answer. “Do we truly only use world origin to refine them?! Is there no other price we have to pay? Since that’s the method to produce low to mid-grade essence crystals, what about making high-grade essence crystals? Won’t they just be fate dipper fragments?!”
Chu Jia wasn’t surprised by Shang Xia’s response. Surprisingly, she explained patiently, “Why are you getting all worked up?! They didn’t impart the method to craft high-grade crystals. Also, it might also mean that a fate dipper fragment might be a peak-grade essence crystal. From the way they taught us to evaluate essence crystals, your fate dipper fragment might be worth 10 peak-grade essence crystals.”
Pausing for a second, she continued, “Of course, the method to craft high-grade essence crystal is a massive secret of the 3 super factions. A peak-grade crystal would possess insane value! One might not be able to get one even if they had treasures to trade for it. Moreover, it can be used to nurture Origin Dippers. That concerns the breakthrough to the Martial Dipper Realm and there is no way to put a price on that.”
Seeing as Shang Xia had finally calmed down, Chu Jia added, “Anyway, it takes an almost negligible amount of world origin in our mysterious world to produce these low to mid-grade crystals. We would only need a day to turn ordinary jade into essence crystals after nurturing them with world origin. Those are low-grade crystals, and they will turn into mid-grade crystals after a hundred days. It’s an extremely simple process.”
“In that case, would a mid-grade essence crystal be worth 100 low-grade ones?” Shang Xia asked while taking out a clear crystal that contained a pale blue mist. He could tell that the density of world origin contained in there was at least a hundred times that of a low-grade essence crystal.
“Exactly.” Chu Jia replied.
There were 300 low-grade essence crystals in the Embroidered Coud Case Shang Bo gave to him and 5 mid-grade ones. The total value was 800 low-grade essence crystals in total.
Taking a deep breath, Shang Xia muttered, “I wonder how an essence crystal compares in value to the gold coins of silver essence we use…”
Seeing as Shang Xia’s emotions were under control, everyone from the institution heaved a sigh of relief. Smiles eventually returned to their faces.
Even though Shang Xia’s anger wasn’t directed at them, the feeling of oppression they felt from his aura alone was enough to cause their hearts to tremble. Due to that, they gained a better understanding of Shang Xia’s strength.
Liu Qinglan responded, “That’s hard to say. You best not forget that essence crystal contains world origin. Experts who can cultivate using the world origin contained in them have to possess their very own martial will. At the very least, they would have to be in the third layer of the Martial Extermination Realm.”
“Could the real reason behind hosting the trade fair before the 3 super factions to get their hands on all the essence crystals we produced?” Shang Xia asked.
Chu Jia chuckled softly in response. Clearly, she was the person in charge of producing essence crystals in the institution as she seemed the most familiar with it. “Even though that’s possible, I don’t think that’s their main goal.”
Without any prompting, she continued, “Even though essence crystals are precious, they are nothing compared to the world origin the various factions received. Our production of essence crystals the past half a year didn’t affect the reserves of our world origin in the slightest. Also, the number of experts who will use crystals as currency for the trade fair might not be large. They should mostly be trading with treasures.”
“Of course, if the 3 super factions wish to obtain those crystals, it wouldn’t be that easy. None of us who came to the trade fair are fools. If they don’t take out some truly precious treasures, no one would spend any.”
Shang Xia nodded slightly in response. “That’s true…”
Clapping her hands suddenly, Chu Jia mentioned, “Alright. Since you have a better understanding of the situation now, I’ll head back to look after the Tongyou Hall! Sister Yichen, won’t you come with me?”
“Of course!” Yun Yichen replied. Before leaving, she took out a wooden box and handed it over to Shang Xia. “Oh yes, my aunt instructed me to pass this to you after we entered the island.”
Receiving the box, Shang Xia removed the restrictions on it. He opened it slightly and world origin immediately leaked out.
It also contained a bunch of low-grade essence crystals. From a single glance, Shang Xia estimated that there were close to 300 of them.
“This…”
He wanted to say something, but Yun Yichen had already run after Chu Jia as they returned to the Tongyou Hall.
Ji Yu and Liu Zhidao also brought out a bamboo case and another wooden box respectively.
Hesitating slightly, Shang Xia asked, “This… Don’t tell me…”
Ji Yu shook his head and laughed softly, “I also received an order from my patriarch to hand this bamboo case to you after we arrived…”
Liu Zhidao forced a laugh and added, “None of us knew that we would all be doing this. Patriarch Liu Zhiyuan also told me to do the same. I didn’t know what was contained in it back then.”
Shang Xia nodded slightly and received both items before they returned to their rooms to cultivate.
The bamboo case and wooden box were ordinary artifacts that were sealed with a spiritual seal. There were 500 low-grade essence crystals in the bamboo case and 200 low-grade essence crystals in the wooden box.
Shang Xia didn’t reject them as he could guess that their trip to the Three Unity Island was like a small test given to him by the various patriarchs. It could be considered a pleasant surprise after he brought Ji Yu, Liu Zhidao, and Yun Yichen over to the island. However, he also knew that they were truly supporting him in his effort to buy treasures that would assist in his cultivation.
A feeling of gratitude filled Shang Xia’s heart no matter how many essence crystals he received from each of them.
After he kept them, he noticed Liu Qinglan standing silently at the side. She chuckled softly in amusement. “There’s no need to rush. There’s still something great waiting for you.”
“Oh?” Shang Xia gasped in shock. However, he couldn’t hide the pleasant surprise he was feeling.
“Those were just the support your Shang Clan and the other clans have given to you. As our institution’s Talisman Grandmaster, teacher, and the most outstanding disciple our institution has produced in its entire history, how could the patriarch not show some sincerity?”
“Oh… Hehehe…” Shang Xia grinned.
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