Chapter 74

At the Ten Thousand Immortals Island, the abnormal fluctuations in the price of Spirit Mist Grass had already caused a great stir.

Li Fan, after a brief inquiry, understood the root of the matter.

As expected, someone had set a trap, reaping a heavy harvest from cultivators like He Zhenghao, who sought to profit from the situation.

The destruction of the island where Spirit Mist Grass was cultivated was indeed true, so once the news was confirmed, many people decisively entered the market, hoping to make a profit.

However, what they did not know was that the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance had recently discovered a cave heaven that had been sealed for a thousand years.

It was said that the cave heaven was rich in wood-element spirit qi and was filled with various rare spirit plants.

Spirit Mist Grass was everywhere, and one could crush several plants with a single step.

Until recently, only the high-ranking members of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance knew about this.

And it was only when the market was in chaos over Spirit Mist Grass that the news was suddenly released.

No wonder the price of Spirit Mist Grass plummeted suddenly.

"It seems that Daoist He has no chance of recovering his losses," Li Fan said with a regretful smile.

"But, this big shot isn't very fair in his dealings."

Li Fan checked the transaction records in the Heavenly Profound Mirror.

Qingmu Huasheng Zhenjun.

It was this person who first drove up the price of Spirit Mist Grass and then, during the battle between the bulls and the bears, delivered the final blow, sharply driving down the price of Spirit Mist Grass.

Clearly, he was an insider who had known the news all along.

Li Fan silently criticized him in his heart.

However, with a Yuan婴 Zhenjun (Nascent Soul True Lord) involved, those who suffered losses probably did not have the courage to seek trouble with him.

They could only grit their teeth and accept their misfortune.

Li Fan even maliciously speculated that the island where Spirit Mist Grass was cultivated might have been secretly destroyed by this Nascent Soul True Lord.

"The market is truly treacherous," Li Fan shook his head.

Just as Li Fan was gloating, a message from He Zhenghao arrived.

"Daoist friend, I have sold all the materials obtained from the journey to the Lijie." He Zhenghao's voice sounded weak and lifeless, as if he had been drained of all energy.

"I have earned a total of 2342 contribution points. According to our prior agreement, we will split it equally."

Although He Zhenghao suffered significant losses in this investment, he did not embezzle Li Fan's due share.

Receiving 1171 contribution points from He Zhenghao, plus the 125 points he had left, Li Fan now had 1296 contribution points, enough to last for a while.

After some thought, Li Fan did not immediately enter seclusion but instead searched for information on Jiao Xiuyuan.

He had heard that this person could obtain a large number of Concealment Talismans from the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance's Talisman Hall, indicating that he had good connections. It was a good opportunity to buy some spirit talismans and see if he could gather information about Sikong Yi from him.

The Ten Thousand Immortals Island was roughly divided into three main areas from the inside out.

The innermost core area housed the official buildings of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance, such as the council hall, martial arts hall, medicinal hall, and talisman hall.

The middle area consisted of individual cave dwellings, which could be purchased if one had enough contribution points, allowing one to move out of the cramped space allocated by the Heavenly Profound Mirror.

The cave dwellings were equipped with all the necessary facilities, and anything that could be done in the Heavenly Profound Mirror space could also be done in the cave dwellings.

The outermost area was a mix of commercial and residential zones.

The Transmission Square and the Heavenly Profound Mirror were located at the boundary between this area and the central cave dwelling area.

The residences here only provided basic accommodation, with no spirit qi enhancement and no connection to the Heavenly Profound Mirror. To cultivate, one still had to return to the Heavenly Profound Mirror space.

As for the commercial area, it consisted of shops run independently by various cultivators, outside the Heavenly Profound Mirror's trading system.

The prices of goods in these shops were often lower than those in the Heavenly Profound Mirror, but the quality was not guaranteed.

Jiao Xiuyuan had a shop here.

Following the information obtained from the Heavenly Profound Mirror, Li Fan arrived at the designated location.

Qianli Hall.

Looking up at the slightly crooked sign, Li Fan walked in.

The shop was small, with clutter everywhere, and a man's voice could be heard faintly.

"I'm telling you, these ten Concealment Talismans will definitely be traded at the price we agreed upon. I don't care how much the price has dropped now..."

"What? You're canceling the transaction? You don't even want the deposit!"

Bang!

"Damn! Another one! Do you think I, Jiao Xiuyuan, am easy to bully!" A man with a full beard and dark skin slammed the table and roared angrily.

But immediately, he wilted, muttering to himself, "It's over, it's over. I, Jiao Xiuyuan, have never done a losing business, but now I have a large batch of Concealment Talismans stuck in my hands..."

Only then did he notice a customer in the shop.

But he couldn't see the customer's face, clearly because the Concealment Talisman was being used.

Jiao Xiuyuan was used to seeing such people and didn't pay much attention.

"What do you want? Array talismans, magical artifacts, elixirs, we have everything, and the more you buy, the better the discount!" he said lazily.

"How much for Concealment Talismans?" the customer asked.

Jiao Xiuyuan's eyes lit up, and he perked up.

"10 contribution points each. How many do you want? If you buy more than ten, I'll give you a 20% discount. If you buy more than a hundred, I'll give you a 50% discount!"

Li Fan smiled. "Why would I need so many? Five or six are enough."

After a pause, Li Fan continued, "And your price is wrong, right? Before I came, I bought one from the Heavenly Profound Mirror. A Concealment Talisman that can shield a Golden Core cultivator's detection is now only 20 contribution points. Your defective ones are still so expensive?"

Jiao Xiuyuan's face twitched, and he quickly changed his tune. "8 points each, no lower. You have to understand that making talismans also has a cost!"

"Alright, give me six." Li Fan didn't haggle further.

Afraid that Li Fan would change his mind, Jiao Xiuyuan quickly took out six Concealment Talismans.

"How do you want to pay?"

The Heavenly Profound Mirror did not support anonymous transactions. If they directly exchanged contribution points, their identities would be exposed.

But Li Fan had prepared in advance.

"Use spirit stones." He took out five medium-grade spirit stones from his storage ring and handed them over.

Standard spirit stones were jointly manufactured by the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance and the Council of Five Elders, with different grades, serving as the legal currency of the cultivation world, and had unique anti-counterfeiting restrictions.

The exchange ratio between supreme, high-grade, medium-grade, and low-grade spirit stones was 10:1.

Within the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance, one low-grade spirit stone could be exchanged for one contribution point in the Heavenly Profound Mirror.

The five medium-grade spirit stones Li Fan handed over were equivalent to 50 contribution points.

"You don't need to give me change."

Li Fan put away the Concealment Talismans and casually asked, "Do you take commissions for gathering information on cultivators?"

Jiao Xiuyuan immediately became wary.

He sized up Li Fan and, after a long moment of thought, gritted his teeth. "Yes, why not. My business is so bad that I'm losing money left and right. If I don't take some side jobs, I won't be able to survive!"

"What name, and what cultivation level?" Jiao Xiuyuan whispered.

"Sikong Yi, Mid-Stage Qi Refinement."