Chapter 657: True Worth
“Oh mighty Talisman Grandmaster, someone’s interested in your rank two Golden Sword Talisman Seal!” Chu Jia yelled from the other side of the platform and interrupted their conversation. They quickly turned to look at her.
Liu Qinglan’s expression sank and she growled, “Chu Jia, where did you get your hands on the talisman seal?!”
Turning to Shang Xia, she questioned, “Did you give it to her?”
Shang Xia shook his head in confusion. He created a Golden Sword Talisman Seal and a Golden Lantern Barrier Talisman Seal, but after showing them to the members of the Tongyou Institution, he retrieved them and placed them in his Spatial Pouch. He brought it with him wherever he went and he didn’t take it out during the trade fair.
“Yeah, he didn’t give it to me! I brought it up to the person I was trading with!” Chu Jia explained.
“This is ridiculous! The matter concerning the Talisman Seal is of great significance, especially rank two talisman seals! How can you reveal it so easily?!” Liu Qinglan erupted in anger.
Chu Jia grumbled after feeling wronged by Liu Qinglan’s sudden scolding. “He agreed to buy the rank one talisman seal I had for sale and he’s not stupid! Since I had a rank one talisman seal, he guessed that we had rank two ones.”
With a gloomy feeling in her heart, Liu Qinglan turned to look at Shang Xia.
However, she was greeted with a chuckle. “I have long since decided on trading the talisman seals. Instructor Liu, you took away the 3 rank one talisman seals in order to prevent them from leaking out to the outside world, but with the measures the Three Unity Pagoda have in place to protect our identities, it’s our best shot at selling them off!”
Even though Shang Xia had described the situation, Liu Qinglan was still feeling somewhat reluctant.
“Instructor Liu, leave it to me! The person is willing to trade a rank five spiritual treasure for it. I know that Grandmaster Shang is currently gathering rank five spiritual treasures and I know what I have to do!” Chu Jia hastily added.
Liu Qinglan was shocked, and Shang Xia was equally as surprised.
Glancing at each other, they started walking over. Liu Zhidao and Yun Yichen also learned about the matter and started to crown over.
Liu Qinglan asked, “Which seal did you trade with him? Was it the Wind Arrow Talisman Seal or the Stimulation Talisman Seal?”
“Of course it was the Wind Arrow Talisman Seal!” Chu Jia muttered.
“Heh.” Liu Qinglan snorted once in response. “Why didn’t you give them the Stimulation Talisman Seal?”
“That’s mine! … ” Chu Jia yelled. Regret filled her heart the moment she did. She glanced at Shang Xia before quickly turning away.
With a glare that clearly expressed her dissatisfaction, Liu Qinglan growled, “You’re no longer a kid! Didn’t you turn 30 not too long ago? Why are you still acting like a little lass? You don’t have the air of being someone’s teacher in the slightest…”
Liu Qinglan thought that she was giving Chu Jia a quick lecture, but she didn’t expect Chu Jia’s reaction. Like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, Chu Jia widened her eyes in shock and she gnashed her teeth, “Teacher, how can you say that!”
“Alright, stop messing around. Don’t forget that someone here was your student…” Liu Qinglan patted her head softly and softened her tone.
A wave of shame immediately battered against Chu Jia’s heart. She glanced at Shang Xia from the corner of her eye and saw the cheeky smile on his face. Quickly glancing downward to avert her gaze, she growled, “He… He… How can he be considered a student?”
“Alright, alright, let’s stop playing around now,” Liu Qinglan muttered, “Tell us what you said to the other party.”
With no other choice, Chu Jia could only restrain her emotions and she repeated everything she said.
After analyzing their conversation, Liu Qinglan said, “So… You gave them the Wind Arrow Talisman Seal and allowed them to create a rank one Wind Arrow Talisman for themselves?”
“If I didn’t do that, they wouldn't believe me!” Chu Jia pouted.
Yun Yichen felt a wave of confusion and she wondered out loud, “Other than Talisman Masters, who would bring talisman paper into the Three Unity Pagoda?”
“Do you mean…” Chu Jia gasped.
Liu Qinglan sighed before giving her explanation. “You’re really lucky to run into a talisman paper. The other party might also be a Talisman Grandmaster for all we know. After all, no one knows about the value of those talisman seals more than those talisman masters!”
“Teacher Little Chu…” Shang Xia chuckled.
Turning suddenly to glare at Shang Xia, Chu Jia snapped, “Who the hell are YOU calling Teacher Little Chu?! You’re A Little Chu, your whole family are Little Chus.”
Ignoring Chu Jia’s anger, Shang Xia continued, “Did you tell them about the origins of those talisman seals?”
“Relax. I’m not stupid. I told them that I managed to obtain these talisman seals while adventuring in some ruins.” Chu Jia mumbled.
Shang Xia couldn’t help but chuckle bitterly.
Liu Qinglan nearly slapped her forehead in disbelief. “They can obviously tell you’re lying. It’s clear the talisman seal had been made recently. Now that you told them you obtained it when exploring some ruins, you might as well have told them we were the ones who made the talisman seal!”
Chu Jia didn’t know what to do now that Liu Qinglan had explained the situation. She turned to Shang Xia to plead for help before muttering softly, “What do I do now?”
“It’s alright. Even if they know we made the seals, they won’t be able to tell who we are due to the suppression of their divine perception,” Shang Xia chuckled.
The anxiety Chu Jia felt was greatly alleviated.
However, the frown on Liu Qinglan’s face remained. “What? Are you really going to sell a rank two talisman seal?”
Shang Xia chuckled in response, “If the price is right, of course I’ll sell it.”
“Are you sure other people won’t be able to replicate the method and craft another talisman seal? It truly isn’t safe if you’re only relying on the special properties of the material used…” Liu Qinglan couldn’t put down her worries.
Shang Xia’s confident chuckle came soon after. “The Impaled Stone is merely one of the limitations they will face. The fundamental reason they won’t be able to copy the talisman seal will be because of my unique crafting method. Without learning how I did it, any copies they make are useless!”
Liu Qinglan wasn’t fully convinced and she wanted to say more, but Chu Jia interrupted her, “He’s here! The Talisman Fish is back!”
Signaling for everyone to back away, he didn’t wish for anything to go wrong. The divine perception sealed in the Talisman Fish wouldn’t be able to detect them even if anything went wrong.
After thinking about it for a second, Shang Xia tossed a rank two Golden Sword Talisman Seal over to Chu Jia.
A greenish-brown fish was pulled onto the platform and a voice immediately rang in Chu Jia’s mind. “Where is your rank two talisman seal? Can I take a look at it?”
Chu Jia instinctively turned to look at Shang Xia and saw him nodding slightly with a smile on his face.
Making up her mind, she brought out the rank two Golden Sword Talisman Seal. Bringing out some talisman ink and several pieces of rank two talisman paper, she followed Shang Xia’s instructions and restrained her inner qi to that of extremity qi. Sending it into the seal, she dipped it in some ink before pressing down on the talisman paper. A rank two Golden Sword Talisman was thus completed.
“Amazing! This is truly amazing!” The Talisman Fish sent out a wave of praise towards Chu Jia. It was fortunate his consciousness was stuck in the fish. Otherwise, he would be jumping about in joy and clapping his hands.
“How about it?” Chu Jia turned a little more serious and she used her words a lot more concisely.
“I always keep my word! I’ll definitely give you a rank five spiritual treasure for this! However, I wish to ask again… Do you have any other talisman seals with you? Or perhaps… Do you have talisman seals of higher ranks?” If you do, I’ll let you pick any treasure I have on me.”
Chu Jia opened her mouth but before she could say anything, Shang Xia and Liu Qinglan’s voice transmission boomed in succession in her mind.
“Tell him this is the only one you have!”
“He’s baiting you!”
In stunned silence, Chu Jia hesitated for a second before she replied, “I apologize. These are the only talisman seals I have. I might want to obtain more treasures, but I have no other talisman seals to trade…”
With the restriction from the Three Unity Pagoda and Chu Jia disguising her voice, the other party was unable to discern whether she was lying or not. He could only sigh helplessly, “It’s a shame… It’s a real shame! If you really had a rank three talisman seal, I would be willing to give you all the treasures I brought!”
Seeing how Chu Jia hadn’t reacted to his final attempt, he knew that his luck had come to an end. He wouldn’t be able to learn anything more and he muttered, “In that case, let’s carry out our deal according to the agreement we made. I’ll use a rank five spiritual treasure to trade for both seals.”
Seeing as it was about to take place, Shang Xia’s voice rang in Chu Jia’s mind and she quickly conveyed it over to the other party. “We might have agreed to trade the talisman seals for a rank five spiritual treasure, but that’s only if it’s something I need. If I don’t find it suitable, please swap it for another one.”
“Lady, that wasn’t a part of our agreement,” a confused cry came from the Talisman Fish.
With an expressionless face, Chu Jia replied, “We were negotiating earlier and we didn’t reach a proper agreement. Now that we’re about to complete the deal, I’ll have to make things clear.”
“I only brought a single rank five spiritual treasure with me! If you can’t use it, won’t it mean that I won’t be able to obtain these talisman seals?!”
Chu Jia’s voice rang across the platform again. “Do you have fate dipper essence? If you do, I’ll agree to trade them for one. Even though a fate dipper essence is a little less valuable than a rank five spiritual treasure, I’ll take the loss.”
“What if the fate dipper essence isn’t something you need?”
“Change it to an extermination origin then!” Chu Jia snapped.
Annoyed by Chu Jia’s sudden request, he grumbled, “The combined worth of a fate dipper essence and a rank five spiritual treasure can’t match up to a complete extermination origin! Lady, what type of trading method is this?!”
Too lazy to even raise her brow, Chu Jia snorted in contempt, “Oh really? Do you have a problem with that? You can always choose not to make the trade!”
This content is taken from fr(e)ewebn(o)vel.𝓬𝓸𝓶