Chapter 679: Scarlet Essence Herb

First, I want to thank everyone for their opinions and thoughts on how we should overhaul completed novels. We've reviewed nearly 2000 comments across multiple platforms and forum, and while we haven't responded to everything I can promise I HAVE read it all. First, I'm going to briefly go into some of the things which were discussed which may or may not work, because I don't want people to think I ignored anything. I'm putting those in 'spoiler' tags so people who don't care can skip it. Then, we'll talk...

“Daoist Heavencrystal is far too polite. But since I’ve grown rather impatient, how about I start off?” An embroidered-robed cultivator said with a smile.

“Hehe, since Fellow Daoist insists, so be it.” Daoist Heavencrystal smiled and casually withdrew a few steps, inviting the embroidered-robed cultivators to step forward.

There were no rules given for the trade meeting as the cultivators that were present were rather experienced.

“Hehe, since Brother Heavencrystal agreed, this old man won’t refuse.” The embroidered-robed cultivator boldly stood up and saluted the cultivators in the room. He lightly slapped the storage pouch at his waist and summoned a palm-sized wooden box into his hand with a flash of red light.

The wooden box was refined from a fantastical wood of some sort. Red flames faintly flickered from its dark green body with two intersecting gold and silver restriction talismans laid over it.

This mysterious box attracted the various gazes of those in the room. These experienced cultivators naturally knew that this box was certain to hold a precious item. Seeing this treasure being exchanged at the very start of the trade meet was cause for excitement.

The embroidered-robed man swept his eyes past the crowd in a display of pride. He then pointed at the two talismans on the box, and the box opened by itself once the talismans flew off. Suddenly, a glowing red spirit mushroom slowly floated from the box.

The spirit mushroom was only a few inches large, but the scorching heat that it emitted and its sparkling exterior revealed it to be a divine object - not to mention the red mists that spiralled around it.

As Han Li was dumbstruck from the sight of it, there were already others calling out its name.

A black-clothed sighed and muttered, “Scarlet Essence Mushroom! A three thousand year old Scarlet Essence Mushroom! It only grows where lava flows. It cannot ordinarily be spotted, let alone acquired. Fellow Daoist must be truly skilled!” It was unknown whether he was envious or impressed by his tone.

An uproar was raised among the cultivators. They even began to talk amongst one another.

“Scarlet Essence Mushroom? This is one of the ice-fire spirit mushrooms. It is clearly worthy of its reputation from the impressive Fire Spirit Qi that its emitting.”

When the embroidered-robed man heard that its name was mentioned, his eyes betrayed surprise, but he soon recollected himself and said, “Since Fellow Daoist has recognized this item, there is no further need for me to speak of it. It is a three thousand year old Scarlet Essence Mushroom, a top grade material for fire attribute medicine pills. I will exchange it for either a hundred thousand spirit stones or its equivalent in earth attribute materials.”

‘A hundred thousand spirit stones?’ Han Li was astonished and his heart began to stir. This price was far lower than Han Li expected. This mushroom wasn’t something that could be compared to high grade demon cores; it was on the level of the Ninecurl Spirit Ginseng itself.

Not mentioning his many precious treasures, Han Li had acquired several hundred thousands of spirit stones from the storage pouches that he looted. The disciple of Archsaint Six Dao in particular possessed three thousand mid grade spirit stones, enriching Han Li greatly. It was a sum that was comparable to the entire wealth of many Nascent Soul cultivators.

Of course, these spirit stones were far inferior in value to spirit tools, magic treasures, and even ancient treasures. After all, there were precious items that couldn’t be bought. If he could spent all of his spirit stones on ancient treasures similar to his flower basket and small bell, he would do so without question.

Just as Han Li mused about this, other cultivators were also tempted by the item. Several cultivators promptly stepped forward and sent a few voice transmissions to the embroidered robed cultivators. Afterwards, they took out several items for the cultivator to see.

While the others couldn’t see these items clearly, the embroidered-robed cultivator bluntly refused them each with a single glance, causing them to resentfully withdraw.

“Is there anyone else? This three thousand year old Scarlet Essence Mushroom was acquired over six years of immense toil, and it is being sold for only a hundred thousand spirit stones. It definitely isn’t expensive. However, I also wish that this item may be exchanged for some suitable earth attribute materials. Even if it is somewhat inferior in comparison, I will still take it. But if there is too much of a difference in value and you merely wish to take advantage of me, don’t bother wasting my time.”

As if truly wishing to trade with the item in his hand, he grew impatient from seeing that no one was stepping forward.

Han Li swept his gaze past the other cultivators and noticed that many wore expression of greed, yet none of them stepped forward. It seemed that they didn’t believe the price to be too expensive but that they didn’t have anything suitable to trade for it.

Even the Child Fire Dragon wore a face of regret. He cultivated a genuine fire attribute cultivation technique, and it would prove incredibly useful towards him.

Seeing that there were no further offers, he helplessly grasped the lid of the wooden box and was about to close it when Han Li sent him a voice transmission, “Don’t be so hasty Fellow Daoist. Would you be interested in an earth-attribute demon core?”

The embroidered robed man stopped upon hearing Han Li. With slight surprise, he replied to Han Li through voice transmission, “You have demon cores? However, my Scarlet Essence Mushroom must be exchanged for a grade seven demon core or several grade six demon cores at the very least.”

Han Li pondered after receiving his reply. He still had a few demon beast cores leftover from refining his medicine pills. Since they came from particularly rare demon beasts, he kept them in case they may have other uses, such as now.

The spirit mushroom could be further matured through use of his green liquid, unlike his demon cores. As for their prices, it was somewhat hard to say. In the Scattered Star Seas, grade seven demon cores were extremely precious, but far less valuable than a Scarlet Essence Mushroom.

However, this was different in the Heavenly South. Not to mention grade six demon cores, even grade five demon cores were rarely seen items. There were few places in the Heavenly South where high grade demon beasts dwelled. In this case, a grade seven demon core was a fair trade for a three thousand year old Scarlet Essence Mushroom.

Having came to a decision, Han Li stood up and walked towards the embroidered-robed cultivator.

This came as a surprise to the Child Fire Dragon and Lu Luo, and they looked at him with amazement.

Han Li took several steps towards the embroidered-robed cultivator and summoned a jade box with a flip of his hand. He then tossed it to cultivator without saying a single word.

The embroidered-robed cultivator calmly caught the box and opened it. After carefully examining it for a long while, his gaze revealed delight.

“We’ve reached a deal!” He beckoned to the floating mushroom and sealed it before handing it over to Han Li. At that same moment, he swiftly placed the jade box into his own storage pouch.

Han Li nodded his head and placed the wooden box into his own storage pouch before turning to his original position.

Lu Luo and the Child Fire Dragon were both completely astounded, but the two tactfully avoided asking Han Li any questions and simply sent him a few words of congratulations. Han Li accepted their words with a tranquil expression.

Nevertheless, Han Li could already feel the many gazes of the seated cultivators examining him once more. Obviously, being able to afford the Scarlet Essence Mushroom had attracted much interest.

However, Han Li was unconcerned. With his current abilities, he had no problems escaping from anything short of a late Nascent Soul cultivator.

“Alright, since this Fellow Daoist has finished trading, let’s have the next Fellow Daoist head up,” Daoist Heavencrystal beamingly smiled at a female cultivator sitting nearby the embroidered-robed man and suggested, “How about you?”

The green-robed woman gracefully replied, “Of course, I shall be presenting my treasures next.”

She stood up and slowly said, “I didn’t have such a good opportunity to acquire as rare a treasure as the previous Fellow Daoist; however, I am proficient in tool refinement techniques, and have refined a Immortal Binding Ring that has never been bonded. So long as someone perform the rites to accept a master, one will be able to make full use of its abilities.

I don’t mean to boast, but while this treasure was created with common materials, it’s might is quite formidable. It is remarkable effective at both restraining enemies and protecting its user.”

With a flutter of her sleeve, a fine white ring flew out and began to fluctuate in size and flicker with light.

Without speaking any further, she pointed to the ring and it suddenly trembled before expanding to three meters in length. The walls of the ring were as thick as an arm and emitted silver talisman characters along with an astonishing spiritual Qi.

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