Chapter 535: Speculator
Surrounding these cold condensing pills that suddenly appeared, there were frequent storms in the market for a while, and the undercurrent was surging.
But no matter which force, before figuring out the true origin of this alchemy master, they all tacitly told their disciples that they must not offend those who came to sell elixir.
But most people with abilities had very quirky personalities, and if they irritated the alchemy master who obviously didn’t belong to any side, it would be terrible.
Bai Lian Pavilion, as a force of the Taiqing Sect, naturally received the news quickly.
On this day, on the third floor of Bai Lian Pavilion, Shopkeeper Ye stood respectfully in front of Liu Ming, reporting something.
“Does Envoy Liu know that a large number of cold condensing pills suddenly appeared in the market, and an alchemy master came and quietly hid in this place?”
“I haven’t heard of it yet. I have been practicing behind closed doors for the past few days. There was actually such a thing in the market?” Liu Ming raised his brows and said calmly, showing a look of interest on his face.
“This matter has caused a sensation in the public. It is said that there are hundreds of elixir being sold. Many businesses are inquiring about the source of these elixirs.” Shopkeeper Ye was obviously also interested in this matter.
“As far as I know, the cold condensing pill is a kind of elixir that is extremely difficult to refine. How can there be so many at once? Is it because someone is refining this elixir in large numbers?” Liu Ming touched his chin and said noncommittally.
“A lot of people thought so too. It seems that there is an amazing alchemy master in this Changyang Market.” Shopkeeper Ye said with a wry smile.
“Shopkeeper Ye is also interested in this person?” Liu Ming took a sip of tea and smiled faintly.
“This person is good at refining rare pills like the cold condensing pill. If he can be recruited into our sect, we will certainly make a great contribution.” Shopkeeper Ye said solemnly.
“Okay, then I will leave the matter to Mr. Ye to handle it all.” Liu Ming said calmly.
“Yes, I will try my best to find this alchemy master.” Shopkeeper Ye said with joy when he heard this.
If he found the alchemy master himself, the credit would be really great.
Then the old man turned around and talked about other things in the Changyang Market.
After ten minutes, Shopkeeper Ye got up and left.
Liu Ming also put down the blue and white porcelain cup in his hand, and a faint wry smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
Although he was very careful when he was selling those elixirs for the two times, he still failed to escape the attention of the people.
With so many forces looking for him, it would be a bit risky to go out and purchase alchemy materials.
He could only think about this matter when the commotion had pa.s.sed.
In the following time, Liu Ming cultivated behind closed doors, and he took a cold condensing pill every few days, which was quite extravagant, to slowly cultivate the properties of the elixir.
While his spiritual power was steadily improving, he also put the search for ten thousand years old spirit turtle’s blood essence and the upgrade of the prototype of Nine Skulls Shield on the agenda. These two major events were related to his future cultivating plan.
Ten thousands years old spirit turtle’s blood essence was extremely rare. He could only try his luck. For the materials needed to refine the last enchantment of the Nine Skulls Shield, Liu Ming had obtained most of them. He still needed three more materials now.
Filth yin liquid, demonic crow crystal and spirit essence powder.
These three materials were not easy to find. Filth yin liquid and demonic crow crystal were rare yin materials; spirit essence powder was a very rare spiritual material.
Liu Ming brought more than one million spirit stones from selling the cold condensing pills; while cultivating, he started to search in the Changyang Market. In the previous days, he almost searched everywhere in the market, so he wasn’t looking for the things cluelessly.
…………
In the Changyang Market, in an alley near the southeast corner, there were many shops with uneven heights on both sides. They were selling basically everything.
In a shop selling forging materials, Liu Ming, who changed his face, talked with the shopkeeper, then he walked out helplessly with an apologetic expression on his face.
In the past few days, he had visited many shops.
What made him a little frustrated was that not only he got no clue of the ten thousand years old spirit turtle’s blood essence, but he also didn’t find any of the three auxiliary materials.
If he asked the Bai Lian Pavilion to search for them with his ident.i.ty, it would be faster. However, this might attract attention from the sect; that would be troublesome.
Just as Liu Ming turned and walked to the next material shop, a male voice suddenly came from behind.
“Mister, please stop for a moment.”
Liu Ming paused and turned around. He saw a man in green shirt in his early thirties standing not far behind him, looking at Liu Ming with a smile on his face.
“Do I know you? Why are you stopping me?” Liu Ming frowned, vaguely feeling that the person in front of him was a bit familiar; he asked coldly.
“I’m Lu Yanping, I have seen mister looking for something for these two days. I have lived in this market for many years. I believe I’m more familiar with the situation here than mister. I should be able to help you out, and this can save you some time as well.” The man in green shirt laughed; he wasn’t bothered by Liu Ming’s indifference.
“Mister is following me?” Liu Ming’s face turned dark. There was a flash in his mind, and he immediately remembered it.
This man in green shirt, when he was looking for materials in the past two days, he did encounter him by chance. However, they just pa.s.sed by, and they had not talked before, so Liu Ming didn’t pay attention to him.
“Please forgive me, mister. I’m not having ill intentions; I’m just a speculator in this market.” Seeing Liu Ming’s annoyance in the man in green shirt, he quickly waved his hand to explain.
“Speculator?” Liu Ming’s expression looked relieved a little when he heard it.
He looked up and down at the man in green shirt for a moment, but he didn’t speak immediately. His mind turned quickly.
Liu Ming was not unfamiliar with these speculators. He was also a frequent visitor to the market. He knew that speculators were generally divided into two types; open speculator and secret speculator.
Open speculator was simply connecting relationships or inquiring matters for some foreign cultivators, and they got some commissions from it.
On the surface, the secret speculator was doing the same thing as the open speculator. This kind of person was also a spy of the local forces. He would sell the information of the person who hired them to the others.
He didn’t quite like these people before, and he had never worked with them before. After all, he himself had many secrets.
Although he didn’t know what kind of speculator the person in front of him was, he had been searching for materials for two days and hadn’t found anything yet. If he continued to search, it was likely to be a waste of time. If he worked with people familiar with the market, maybe this could work.
Seeing Liu Ming’s expression, the man in green shirt knew that he got this, and he waited patiently.
“How long have you been in this city?” Liu Ming asked calmly after thinking about it for a moment.
“It’s not too long, it has been ten years.” The man in green shirt replied with a slight smile.
“How is the fee charged?” Liu Ming nodded when he heard the words. With more than ten years of experience, this person should be quite familiar with the Changyang Market, so he asked,
“Haha, it depends on what is mister looking for. If you are not in a hurry, we might as well find a place and sit down and talk slowly.” The man in green shirt suggested.
A quarter of an hour later, the two sat in Piao Xiang House in the market. They ordered two cups of tea and chatted while drinking.
“Filth yin liquid, demonic crow crystal and spirit essence powder are indeed some rare materials; they are not easy to find.” Lu Yanping listened to Liu Ming’s request, put down the cup, bowed his head and muttered to himself.
“Mr. Lu must have a clue right?” Now that Liu Ming had made up his mind to cooperate with this person, he was calmed instead.
“The three materials that mister wants, the first two items should be fine. Although they are scarce, as far as I know, they should be available in this Changyang Market. However, there is no guarantee that I can find spirit essence powder.” Lu Yanping spread his hands and said with a smile.
“As for the fees, just pay me two thousand spirit stones for each material that I help you buy.” Lu Yanping added after thinking about it.
Liu Ming hesitated for a while, and quickly nodded in agreement. Although the fee was not low, if the materials could be found smoothly, he would naturally not be stingy with a few thousands of spirit stones.
“It’s a deal, but I will only pay when I get the materials.” Liu Ming pointed at the table and said.
“Of course. In that case, I will take mister to find filth yin liquid and demonic crow crystal. There should be a shop that has these two things.” Lu Yanping said, and stood up.
“I have one more thing, if Mr. Lu can help me find the ten thousand years spirit turtle’s blood essence, I’m willing to pay double the reward.” As the man in green shirt just got up, Liu Ming said in a low tone.
This time Lu Yanping thought about it for a while, but he didn’t reply immediately. He only slowly replied after a while,
“Ten thousand years old spirit turtle’s blood essence is not like those few materials; it is a real rare thing. I can only inquire about it for mister. As for whether you can find it, it depends on luck.”
“Very good, then I will entrust it on mister.” Liu Ming naturally had no objection to this.
The two then left Piao Xiang House and joined the crowds on the street.
Liu Ming followed Lu Yanping for a while, then he appeared in a dark alley.
Seeing this, Liu Ming frowned slightly, but he still followed silently.
After the two walked for a while, Lu Yanping stopped in front of an inconspicuous shop.
This small shop didn’t even have a plaque on the door. It was crowded by several nearby shops. There was only a small door that was more than two feet wide. It was really simple.
“The materials that mister want to buy are not ordinary things, and you can probably only find them here in the entire Changyang Market.” The man in green shirt explained and took the lead in pushing open the half-covered door and strode in.
Liu Ming hesitated and walked in.
As soon as he walked in the door, he glanced away and saw that there were a few wooden shelves arranged in a mess in the room. There were some common alchemy and forging materials randomly placed on them.
A skinny old man with withered hair and beard was sitting on the recliner behind the counter, closing his eyes and resting.