Chapter Twelve: Lavish Purchases

  After a long while, the shopkeeper finally regained his composure from the shock and asked in a doubtful tone: "Are you sure you want to sell this piece of Xuan Iron?"

  After getting a definite answer from Ishikawa, Xiaozijiu immediately grasped the piece of mysterious iron in his hand, as if he was afraid that Ishikawa would regret it.

  "Twenty pieces of spirit stone. If you have more, I'll take them all." The young shop assistant didn't hesitate at all in his words.

  Ishikawa smiled and shook his head, not saying much. In fact, Ishikawa was very satisfied with this price. To know that the black iron in the earth mother stone is worth hundreds of times more than this piece, if all were sold out, Ishikawa would be a rich man without discount. However, Ishikawa understood the principle of making money slowly but surely.

  Selling too many materials at once is bound to attract attention from some people. Looking at the young store owner's harmless appearance, who knows what he's thinking in his heart? If he sells at a low price, it's possible that he has ulterior motives.

  "Twenty-five spirit stones." The shopkeeper looked into Ishikawa's eyes and added five more.

  Ishikawa continued to laugh and shake his head.

  "Twenty-eight, can't be more." The shopkeeper gritted his teeth and said.

  Ishikawa smiled and said nothing.

  "Friend, 28 spirit stones is not a small amount. Since it's your first time visiting our Refining Workshop, I'll add two more spirit stones to make it 30. Let's consider this a friendly gesture. If you can find more high-grade refining materials in the future, our workshop will still buy them from you at a high price." The shopkeeper's words already contained 80% sincerity.

  "High-level refining material?" Ishikawa heard this term for the first time and couldn't help but ponder it in his heart. He had originally thought that all refining materials were like those in his own earth mother stone, never expecting there to be high-level refining materials as well. Thinking this way, Ishikawa also involuntarily shook his head.

  The shopkeeper's face turned gloomy "Friend, thirty pieces of spirit stone is not a small amount, we can't make much profit from buying it back. Since you're so knowledgeable, I'll give you thirty-two pieces of spirit stone, absolutely cannot be more. If not, you can go look elsewhere."

  The shopkeeper put the piece of dark iron on the table after he finished speaking.

  "Hmm, thirty-two spirit stones, then it's settled at thirty-two." After saying that, Ishikawa shook his head again and said something that almost made the shopkeeper spit blood: "Lately my neck has been feeling a bit uncomfortable, I've been liking to shake my head, don't mind me, friend."

  Shopkeeper: "......"

  ………………

  After leaving the small refining workshop, Ishikawa felt refreshed and obtained two pieces of information from selling this small piece of Xuan Tie. One, high-purity Xuan Tie is in great demand, and two, it comes at a hefty price.

  However, Ishikawa still didn't understand what high-level refining materials meant.

  With this question in mind, Ishikawa walked into the second foundry. As soon as he entered, Ishikawa asked: "Is there any Xuan Tie?"

  "Yes, how much would you like?"

  "Let me take a look first."

  The shopkeeper quickly brought out a piece of dark iron the size of an egg.

  "Is this Xuan Tie?" Ishikawa looked at this egg-sized thing called "Xuan Tie", which had at least 40% impurities.

  The shopkeeper said coldly, "Isn't it either a spiritual iron or an ordinary iron?"

  "This impurity is too much." Ishikawa asked, in his eyes, this piece of Xuan Tie was not as valuable as those abandoned artifacts, so he didn't even bother to ask the price.

  "Do you want mid-grade mystic iron?" The shopkeeper asked in puzzlement.

  "Middle grade, isn't there a higher grade?" Ishikawa suddenly realized that these refining materials were also divided into low, middle and high grades according to their purity, unlike the Xuan Tie in his Tu Mu Shi which was 100% pure.

  "Ishikawa said immediately: 'Take out the high-ranking mysterious iron for me to see.'"

  "You can't afford high-grade Xuan Iron." The shop assistant said, but still went into the inner room and after a long time, brought out a small box. Inside was a piece of Xuan Iron the size of a thumb.

  Estimated by Ishikawa, this piece of Xuan Tie has impurities below 1%, which can be considered high-grade Xuan Tie. However, compared to Ishikawa's Xuan Tie, it is inferior by more than 180,000 miles.

  "How many spirit stones?" Ishikawa asked tentatively.

  "Fifty pieces of spirit stone, non-negotiable." The shop assistant looked at Ishikawa's hand and said, as he quickly snatched the high-grade dark iron and ran away.

  "Isn't this expensive?" Ishikawa said in surprise, although he knew that the store owner would definitely make a profit, but this high-grade mysterious iron was still incomparable to his own.

  "This is high-grade Xuan Iron, and the quality of the artifact refined from it will also be relatively high. If you use those low-grade Xuan Irons, let alone refine a high-grade artifact, even refining one successfully would be difficult."

  Ishikawa looked at the high-grade Xuan Iron, wryly smiling to himself, thinking: "My own Refining Talent is really not that great, using the purest Refining materials and still failing so many times. If I were to use these so-called high-grade Refining materials, I'm afraid the number of failures would be several times more than now."

  "It's too expensive, I don't have that many spirit stones on me." Ishikawa figured out the high-grade refining materials and made an excuse to leave in a hurry, not caring about the shopkeeper's vicious curses.

  After visiting two shops, he spent more than half of his time in Ishikawa, and with the sun almost at noon, Ishikawa quickened his pace.

  Ishikawa first went to buy a magnificent Taoist robe for himself, and then repeatedly entered and exited several larger shops. These stores were wealthy and imposing, but they didn't pay special attention to Ishikawa, who was selling high-grade Xuan Iron. In their eyes, perhaps Ishikawa was just the descendant of some sect's elder.

  They don't care about the origin of these high-grade mystic irons, even if they were stolen. Even if investigated, nothing can be done because the Cultivation Town is under the protection of several surrounding sects.

  By noon, Ishikawa had over a thousand spirit stones on him, the largest sum of wealth anyone in the Steps to Heaven had ever received. And this was only what he got from exchanging just one percent of the materials on his body.

  And it's just Xuan Tie and Jing Jin, let alone other higher-level refining materials, Shi Chuan didn't even dare to take them out.

  Ishikawa took a deep breath and still had an afternoon to spare. Ishikawa, with 1,000 spirit stones in hand, began to make large purchases.

  Finally, Ishikawa chose a larger-looking store called "Jubaozhai Branch".

  The reason for choosing this house is also because Ishikawa doesn't understand Dan medicine and Gong method, if he goes to those small shops, he will inevitably be deceived, but in this large shop, such things won't happen.

  "Is there an elixir for the fifth layer of Qi Refining?" Ishikawa asked directly.

  The shopkeeper looked at Ishikawa and said: "Fellow Taoist has already reached the bottleneck of the fifth layer of Qi Refining, do you want the elixir to break through the bottleneck?"

  "Bottleneck?" Ishikawa looked puzzled: "The elixir I want to refine."

  The shopkeeper looked slightly puzzled, but immediately smiled and said: "Generally, cultivators who reach the fifth layer of Qi Refining will encounter a bottleneck, also known as the Cultivation Threshold. Once they pass this bottleneck, they can be considered true cultivators. Isn't it that you're looking for the elixir to break through the bottleneck?"

  The shopkeeper looked at Ishikawa, who was dressed in an extraordinary manner and directly asked for the dan medicine without asking the price, just like those young masters of large families. However, he didn't understand the bottle gourd, so he felt a bit puzzled, but still told him about the bottle gourd matter.

  Ishikawa's expression changed slightly, and he also understood why his cultivation had slowed down after the fifth layer of the Qi Refining stage. It turned out that he had encountered a bottleneck. If it were any other sect's disciple, they would have their master to guide them, and these things would be clear. However, Ishikawa had relied solely on his own breathing techniques to cultivate from the beginning, and he was completely unaware of these things.

  "Yes, the impact bottle ginseng, get me a sufficient amount, and also get more of the ginseng needed for the sixth layer of Qi practice and beyond. Master's training task is too strict, I don't have much time to go out and purchase."

  "Alright, sir, just a moment." The shop assistant immediately realized that he had encountered a big customer. This young man, dressed in luxurious attire, might have some powerful backing, and the shop assistant dared not offend him.

  To get back on topic, if Ishikawa purchases a large quantity of elixirs, he can also receive a substantial commission.

  Before long, the shop assistant came running over with a large pile of bottles and jars.

  He held up a small white bottle and introduced it, "This is the Dan medicine specially prepared by our Treasure Gathering House's Dan medicine master for cultivators who are stuck at the fifth layer of the Qi Refining stage. It's called Epiphany Dan. Three cultivators with the same spiritual root can take ten pills to break through the bottleneck." In fact, ordinary people only need five pills to break through the bottleneck. The shop assistant had taken a liking to Shi Cong and estimated that he had exaggerated by twice the amount. He thought to himself, "If Shi Cong takes five Epiphany Dan pills and breaks through the bottleneck, it just means that Shi Cong has good qualifications." Even if Shi Cong broke through the bottleneck and was excited, he wouldn't come looking for trouble.

  The shopkeeper's eyes were fixed on Ishikawa, and seeing his expression change slightly, he continued: "This Dan is only sold for ten spirit stones. What do you think, fellow Taoist?"

  "Ten pieces of Ling Stone?" Ishikawa hadn't expected this elixir to be so expensive, just this bottleneck-breaking elixir alone would cost one-tenth of his net worth.

  Ishikawa gritted his teeth, anyway the Ling Stone was an external object, breaking through the bottleneck was the most crucial thing, besides the materials inside the Earth Mother Stone could be sold for a large amount of Ling Stones.

  "I'll take ten then." Ishikawa said with a straight face.

  "Good!" The shop assistant's face showed a look of surprise, unexpectedly Ishikawa had only hesitated for a moment before agreeing to come down, it seemed that his worth was indeed not low. He then quickly picked up the other medicinal pellets and began introducing them one by one.

  Under the careful explanation of the shopkeeper, Ishikawa finally understood which were the elixirs to be taken during cultivation, which were the elixirs to enhance one's spirit, and which were the elixirs for healing and saving lives.

  The cheapest one is the wound medicine pill, which can be bought for 10 pills with a piece of spiritual stone, while the alchemy medicine pill costs more, ranging from 1 to 3 pieces of spiritual stone.

  Ishikawa spent over 400 more spirit stones to buy enough medicinal pellets for three months. The shop assistant was naturally delighted and couldn't close his mouth. Such a big deal is rarely encountered even once a year, so he happily gave Ishikawa a 10% discount.

  After settling the bill, Ishikawa was about to leave when he suddenly remembered something even more important.