Before the fat manager could say anything, Wu Qi's hand had already pressed against his big, fair face, which looked like a spongy dough, in a very rude and impolite manner. The manager was one head shorter than him, so he looked down at him and said gravely, "I want no nonsense, no nagging… I just want a planetary ship. Tell me if you have one or not. If yes, I'll buy it at a good price. If no, I'll leave immediately. Don't waste my time, I'm in a rush!"
The manager was struck dumb. Holding his big, fat belly, he gave Wu Qi a roughly three to five degree of 'deep bow' with great effort, then smiled and said, "You've come at the right time, sir! Half a year ago, Treasure Tower had found a planetary ship by chance. Originally, we planned to send it over to Thousand Waves Planet and sell it at a good price during the Rare Treasures Convention that happens every one hundred years. The convention will be held in another three years, but since you, sir, wish to purchase it..."
"Name your price!" cried Wu Qi with a deep voice.
The manager quickly gave him a flattering smile and said, "I'm truly sorry! As I am just a lowly manager here, I don't have the authority to discuss a deal of such a precious treasure with our distinguished guest. Sir, please come with me to the upper floor. We will have our Chief Manager serve you personally!" With great hospitality, the manager stretched his hand out and showed the way, then he guided Wu Qi to the stairway located at the far end of Treasure Tower, nearly bowing at every step.
Wu Qi nodded. He glanced at the crowd gathering on the first floor of Treasure Tower, and after making sure there was no suspicious person there, he stepped up the staircase.
Treasure Tower was a three floored building. The first floor mainly sold some ordinary lower-grade magical items, spirit talismans, and spirit pills, while the second floor was selling weapons of magical treasure grade. Occasionally, when there was a supply, some lucky fellows might find upper-grade magical treasures here as well. The third floor was the heart of the entire Treasure Tower, as it was where all the rare natural treasures were sold. Every now and then, there might even be some spirit items put on sale here. Although they were mainly low-graded spirit items, they were still capable of defending its owner and attacking the enemy by itself.
The third floor of Treasure Tower was scrupulously clean, brightly lit, and spacious. There were rows of big windows to the left and right, and through them, one could overlook the raising and undulating mountain ranges off in a far distance. The scenery was splendid and breathtaking. There were only a few exquisitely designed display racks placed in the spacious area, with a few glittering items placed in them that served as an impressive front. Wu Qi only gave these glittering 'treasures' a brief glance, and immediately lost his interest for a second look. They were just items used to show off, barely costing more than one piece of energy stone.
An old man, clad in a long green robe and looking clean while sending forth an elegant air, was seen sitting on a soft couch. His hand was holding a yellowish and ancient-looking book, and he was wagging his head while reciting some poem. Upon hearing Wu Qi's footsteps that came up from the stairway, he quickly put down the book, then rose and greeted upon Wu Qi with a bright smile on his face. "Welcome, my distinguished guest! Please forgive me for not welcoming you earlier. I am Feng Bailing. May I know your good name, sir?"
Wu Qi rolled his eyes and gave Feng Bailing a gaze. "I call myself Greed, and you can call me Daoist Greed," said Wu Qi coldly, "I suppose Chief Manager have learned my purpose here. Since Treasure Tower has a planetary ship now, I'll save your time and effort, as you don't have to send it to Thousand Waves Planet anymore. I am willing to purchase it with a good price now!"
The smile on Feng Bailing's face became even brighter when he heard Wu Qi's words. Vaguely, there was a bright gleam shining from his eyes, which instantly seized Wu Qi's heart. This Chief Manager of Treasure Tower was an early-stage Nascent Divinity cultivator! Judging from this, the overall strength of the two cultivator clans that controlled Treasure Tower, the Feng clan and Yu clan, was pretty strong.
Feng Bailing cupped fists and bowed at Wu Qi. He stretched his hand out and invited Wu Qi to sit on a soft couch. He took a moment to size up Wu Qi, then smiled lightly and said, "Daoist Greed, this name... hehe… I reckon this is fellow Daoist’s first visit to the Dark Radiance Planet, eh? After all, I know every single cultivator here with an established identity."
Wu Qi answered coldly and impatiently, "Chief Manager Feng, you are running a business, a business in which your customer pays and you give them the item they purchase. It is rather useless for you to poke your nose into my background. I'm not here to rob you! With your cultivation base of early-stage Nascent Divinity realm, could you be afraid of a mere mid-stage Gold Core cultivator? Give me the planetary ship, and I will pay you with sufficient amount of energy stones, or exchange with items of equivalent value. I pay, you deliver, isn't that simple?"
Feng Bailing was startled. It was out of his habit as a merchant to probe for Wu Qi's background. He did not expect that Wu Qi was in such a hurry, impatient to the extent that he could not wait for the time of a small conversation. Looking at the grim expression on Wu Qi's face and his gloomy undertone, Feng Bailing smiled wryly and clapped his hands.
Some noises were heard coming from a secret door near a corner on the third floor. In the next moment, two graceful and beautiful looking girls came walking out from the door, carrying a large jade plate. The jade plate looked as thin as a cicada's wings, plain and simple, without any decorative patterns. It was exuding a faint pale-green mist that swirled around it. A planetary ship was placed on top of the plate. It measured three feet and two inches long. The design was ingenious and elegant, and it took a dark-golden tone. Every now and then, auspicious rays and clouds would burst out from it, giving it a magnificent and extraordinary touch.
Wu Qi's eyes were immediately caught by the planetary ship, and very quickly, he sent his divine will over. It had a decent quality, at least three times better than Jiangcheng Zi's Shadowcloud. According to the standard grading of planetary ships, the Star, Heaven, and Universe grades, this dark-golden planetary ship should be a Star-grade ship of supreme quality. Although it could not be used to travel around in the entire Minor Heavenly Circle Realm, but using it to travel in Liyuan Galaxy was no different than an ordinary cultivator traveling on the surface of a planet with a flying sword.
The even more wondrous aspect was that this planetary ship actually had a total of 360 layers of defensive formations! It was nearly ten times more than Jiangcheng Zi's Shadowcloud, which only had several tens of them. With this, the planetary ship's defensive strength was improved by nearly one hundred times, making it the best treasure that one could use to travel between planets within a galaxy!
"A marvelous treasure indeed! Name me your price!" exclaimed Wu Qi with a clap of his hand.
Feng Bailing stared blankly at Wu Qi, as he never expected Wu Qi would be so straightforward. After a brief moment of pondering, he said slowly, "Fellow Daoist, I'm not surprised you can tell this is an extraordinary treasure, as you do have a keen eye. Even the cultivator clans that own the Treasure Tower do not have a planetary ship such as this. However, just because it is overly precious, no matter which one of the clans takes over it, that will only hurt the relationship between them. That is the reason why they are selling it."
Wu Qi frowned and glared at Feng Bailing impatiently. "I've told you, it is a marvelous treasure, and name me your price!" Word by word, he said, "I have no interest in the conflict of interest between your clans, and I don't want to know the origin of this planetary ship!"
Feng Bailing was nearly choked by his own words, and he glared back at Wu Qi grumpily. He had been in charge of Treasure Tower for nearly one thousand years, but never once had he met someone so unreasonable. If not for the sake that Wu Qi was a customer, Feng Bailing would have long grabbed him by the neck and thrown him far away.
Taking a deep breath and showing Wu Qi three fingers, Feng Bailing gritted his teeth and said, "This Darkcrow planetary ship does not come easy. It cost us, the Feng clan and Yu clan, a heavy price to obtain. The lower price I can give you is three million pieces of upper-grade energy stones." Staring at Wu Qi's face, he continued, "Although it is slightly expensive, but fellow Daoist, you ought to know that it required countless materials to build a planetary ship, let alone..."
Before Feng Bailing could finish his word, Wu Qi had already pulled out three storage bags and thrown at him. "Here are three million pieces of upper-grade energy stones. Count them well! So, it is called Darkcrow? Can I bring it away now?" cried Wu Qi with a deep voice.
He rose and reached out to the Darkcrow planetary ship with one hand. All of a sudden, a bright beam came shooting from the side, flying straight towards Wu Qi's palm and forcing him to hastily retract his hand. The tiny bright beam wheeled for three rounds around the jade plate while producing jarring whistles, then suddenly carried the Darkcrow and flew back towards the entrance of the third floor.
A few men clad in Daoist outfits were seen standing near the entrance. The man who unleashed the bright beam was a youth in his early twenties, carrying a towering arrogance and a proud expression on his face, while looking at everything with a lofty manner. The youth retracted the bright beam and clutched his hand tightly on Darkcrow. He did not even look at Wu Qi, but instead, turned to look at Feng Bailing with a smile while saying, "Ninth-Uncle Feng, I heard a supreme-grade planetary ship is put on sale here in Treasure Tower. My Master is very interested in it. Therefore, we come here purposely to have a look at it."
With utmost reverence, the youth handed the planetary ship to a middle-aged man, who looked in his forties and was also carrying a towering arrogance. He seemed like he would treat every person under the heaven with disdain. The youth laughed flatteringly and said, "Master, what do you think about this planetary ship? If Master likes it, I'll offer it to Master right now! According to Treasure Tower's rules, the members of the two cultivator clans can purchase anything here at the cost!"
The middle-aged Daoist took over Darkcrow in an indifferent manner, then said coolly while grinning from ear to ear, "Not too bad! It happens that I don't have a planetary ship, and it is quite troublesome to travel between planets. This Darkcrow planetary ship looks nice!"
Wu Qi's face turned gloomy immediately. He turned to look at Feng Bailing, who was holding three storage bags in his hand, and snapped coldly, "Chief Manager! I've paid you three millions pieces of upper-grade energy stones without even asking for a discount. Can you tell me what is this all about? Is Treasure Tower running a robbery business in the dark?"
Feng Bailing sprung to his feet instantly, turned to the youth, and shouted, "Yu Song, what are you doing? This planetary ship had been sold to this customer!"
The youth, Yu Song, was struck dumb, and so was the middle-aged Daoist beside him. Darkcrow worthed three million upper-grade energy stones? And yet Wu Qi, an unworthy Gold Core cultivator, had just paid the full price without even batting his eyelids? Yu Song looked at Wu Qi wonderingly, while the middle-aged Daoist kept sizing up Wu Qi at the same time.
Stretching his hand forward, Wu Qi told the middle-aged Daoist with a sneer, "Fellow Daoist, please return my Darkcrow."
The Daoist smiled faintly, then nodded and said, "Fellow Daoist, I am Yi Xuan, the Sect Elder from Yellow Dragon Sect of Yellow Universe Planet. May I know from which sect does fellow Daoist come from? And who is your Master?" While asking the questions, Daoist Yi Xuan unleashed his divine will of mid-stage Nascent Divinity realm and pressed towards Wu Qi.
Taking a deep breath, Wu Qi asked deeply, "Is fellow Daoist going to rob my treasure?"
Feng Bailing cried out immediately, "Daoist Yi Xuan, this Daoist Greed is Treasure Tower's distinguished guest!" He stepped forward and came standing right in front of Wu Qi, blocking off the spiritual pressure that was sent out by Daoist Yi Xuan.
Feng Bailing hefted the three storage bags in his hand, then he said with a frown, "Daoist Greed has paid the full price. So, according to the rule, Darkcrow belongs to him now! Daoist Yi Xuan, please do not spoil Treasure Tower's rules, as it is a merchant established together by the Feng clan and Yu clan, and we cannot afford to have our good reputation of over ten thousand years stained by anyone!"
Yu Song gave Daoist Yi Xuan a meaningful glance. In the next moment, Daoist Yi Xuan burst out into laughter and strode towards Wu Qi, then handed Darkcrow to him in a serious manner. Smilingly, he stared at Wu Qi and said, "Daoist Greed? There is a long way ahead of you in the galaxy. I wish you a safe journey!"
Wu Qi did not answer. He took over Darkcrow and shoved it into Black Dragon Spirit Ring, and without saying a word, he left the Treasure Tower.
Right after he came out from the front door, Wu Qi immediately heard some footsteps coming from his back. Daoist Yi Xuan and Yu Song had followed him, together with a few men clad in Daoist robes. Paying no heed to them, he stepped onto a sword beam and began to fly out from the Huixian Market. However, the group of men continued following him without even hiding their trace.
A feeling of annoyance arose in Wu Qi's heart. Clenching his jaw, he turned and flew straight towards the countryside of the city.
Before the fat manager could say anything, Wu Qi's hand had already pressed against his big, fair face, which looked like a spongy dough, in a very rude and impolite manner. The manager was one head shorter than him, so he looked down at him and said gravely, "I want no nonsense, no nagging… I just want a planetary ship. Tell me if you have one or not. If yes, I'll buy it at a good price. If no, I'll leave immediately. Don't waste my time, I'm in a rush!"
The manager was struck dumb. Holding his big, fat belly, he gave Wu Qi a roughly three to five degree of 'deep bow' with great effort, then smiled and said, "You've come at the right time, sir! Half a year ago, Treasure Tower had found a planetary ship by chance. Originally, we planned to send it over to Thousand Waves Planet and sell it at a good price during the Rare Treasures Convention that happens every one hundred years. The convention will be held in another three years, but since you, sir, wish to purchase it..."
"Name your price!" cried Wu Qi with a deep voice.
The manager quickly gave him a flattering smile and said, "I'm truly sorry! As I am just a lowly manager here, I don't have the authority to discuss a deal of such a precious treasure with our distinguished guest. Sir, please come with me to the upper floor. We will have our Chief Manager serve you personally!" With great hospitality, the manager stretched his hand out and showed the way, then he guided Wu Qi to the stairway located at the far end of Treasure Tower, nearly bowing at every step.
Wu Qi nodded. He glanced at the crowd gathering on the first floor of Treasure Tower, and after making sure there was no suspicious person there, he stepped up the staircase.
Treasure Tower was a three floored building. The first floor mainly sold some ordinary lower-grade magical items, spirit talismans, and spirit pills, while the second floor was selling weapons of magical treasure grade. Occasionally, when there was a supply, some lucky fellows might find upper-grade magical treasures here as well. The third floor was the heart of the entire Treasure Tower, as it was where all the rare natural treasures were sold. Every now and then, there might even be some spirit items put on sale here. Although they were mainly low-graded spirit items, they were still capable of defending its owner and attacking the enemy by itself.
The third floor of Treasure Tower was scrupulously clean, brightly lit, and spacious. There were rows of big windows to the left and right, and through them, one could overlook the raising and undulating mountain ranges off in a far distance. The scenery was splendid and breathtaking. There were only a few exquisitely designed display racks placed in the spacious area, with a few glittering items placed in them that served as an impressive front. Wu Qi only gave these glittering 'treasures' a brief glance, and immediately lost his interest for a second look. They were just items used to show off, barely costing more than one piece of energy stone.
An old man, clad in a long green robe and looking clean while sending forth an elegant air, was seen sitting on a soft couch. His hand was holding a yellowish and ancient-looking book, and he was wagging his head while reciting some poem. Upon hearing Wu Qi's footsteps that came up from the stairway, he quickly put down the book, then rose and greeted upon Wu Qi with a bright smile on his face. "Welcome, my distinguished guest! Please forgive me for not welcoming you earlier. I am Feng Bailing. May I know your good name, sir?"
Wu Qi rolled his eyes and gave Feng Bailing a gaze. "I call myself Greed, and you can call me Daoist Greed," said Wu Qi coldly, "I suppose Chief Manager have learned my purpose here. Since Treasure Tower has a planetary ship now, I'll save your time and effort, as you don't have to send it to Thousand Waves Planet anymore. I am willing to purchase it with a good price now!"
The smile on Feng Bailing's face became even brighter when he heard Wu Qi's words. Vaguely, there was a bright gleam shining from his eyes, which instantly seized Wu Qi's heart. This Chief Manager of Treasure Tower was an early-stage Nascent Divinity cultivator! Judging from this, the overall strength of the two cultivator clans that controlled Treasure Tower, the Feng clan and Yu clan, was pretty strong.
Feng Bailing cupped fists and bowed at Wu Qi. He stretched his hand out and invited Wu Qi to sit on a soft couch. He took a moment to size up Wu Qi, then smiled lightly and said, "Daoist Greed, this name... hehe… I reckon this is fellow Daoist’s first visit to the Dark Radiance Planet, eh? After all, I know every single cultivator here with an established identity."
Wu Qi answered coldly and impatiently, "Chief Manager Feng, you are running a business, a business in which your customer pays and you give them the item they purchase. It is rather useless for you to poke your nose into my background. I'm not here to rob you! With your cultivation base of early-stage Nascent Divinity realm, could you be afraid of a mere mid-stage Gold Core cultivator? Give me the planetary ship, and I will pay you with sufficient amount of energy stones, or exchange with items of equivalent value. I pay, you deliver, isn't that simple?"
Feng Bailing was startled. It was out of his habit as a merchant to probe for Wu Qi's background. He did not expect that Wu Qi was in such a hurry, impatient to the extent that he could not wait for the time of a small conversation. Looking at the grim expression on Wu Qi's face and his gloomy undertone, Feng Bailing smiled wryly and clapped his hands.
Some noises were heard coming from a secret door near a corner on the third floor. In the next moment, two graceful and beautiful looking girls came walking out from the door, carrying a large jade plate. The jade plate looked as thin as a cicada's wings, plain and simple, without any decorative patterns. It was exuding a faint pale-green mist that swirled around it. A planetary ship was placed on top of the plate. It measured three feet and two inches long. The design was ingenious and elegant, and it took a dark-golden tone. Every now and then, auspicious rays and clouds would burst out from it, giving it a magnificent and extraordinary touch.
Wu Qi's eyes were immediately caught by the planetary ship, and very quickly, he sent his divine will over. It had a decent quality, at least three times better than Jiangcheng Zi's Shadowcloud. According to the standard grading of planetary ships, the Star, Heaven, and Universe grades, this dark-golden planetary ship should be a Star-grade ship of supreme quality. Although it could not be used to travel around in the entire Minor Heavenly Circle Realm, but using it to travel in Liyuan Galaxy was no different than an ordinary cultivator traveling on the surface of a planet with a flying sword.
The even more wondrous aspect was that this planetary ship actually had a total of 360 layers of defensive formations! It was nearly ten times more than Jiangcheng Zi's Shadowcloud, which only had several tens of them. With this, the planetary ship's defensive strength was improved by nearly one hundred times, making it the best treasure that one could use to travel between planets within a galaxy!
"A marvelous treasure indeed! Name me your price!" exclaimed Wu Qi with a clap of his hand.
Feng Bailing stared blankly at Wu Qi, as he never expected Wu Qi would be so straightforward. After a brief moment of pondering, he said slowly, "Fellow Daoist, I'm not surprised you can tell this is an extraordinary treasure, as you do have a keen eye. Even the cultivator clans that own the Treasure Tower do not have a planetary ship such as this. However, just because it is overly precious, no matter which one of the clans takes over it, that will only hurt the relationship between them. That is the reason why they are selling it."
Wu Qi frowned and glared at Feng Bailing impatiently. "I've told you, it is a marvelous treasure, and name me your price!" Word by word, he said, "I have no interest in the conflict of interest between your clans, and I don't want to know the origin of this planetary ship!"
Feng Bailing was nearly choked by his own words, and he glared back at Wu Qi grumpily. He had been in charge of Treasure Tower for nearly one thousand years, but never once had he met someone so unreasonable. If not for the sake that Wu Qi was a customer, Feng Bailing would have long grabbed him by the neck and thrown him far away.
Taking a deep breath and showing Wu Qi three fingers, Feng Bailing gritted his teeth and said, "This Darkcrow planetary ship does not come easy. It cost us, the Feng clan and Yu clan, a heavy price to obtain. The lower price I can give you is three million pieces of upper-grade energy stones." Staring at Wu Qi's face, he continued, "Although it is slightly expensive, but fellow Daoist, you ought to know that it required countless materials to build a planetary ship, let alone..."
Before Feng Bailing could finish his word, Wu Qi had already pulled out three storage bags and thrown at him. "Here are three million pieces of upper-grade energy stones. Count them well! So, it is called Darkcrow? Can I bring it away now?" cried Wu Qi with a deep voice.
He rose and reached out to the Darkcrow planetary ship with one hand. All of a sudden, a bright beam came shooting from the side, flying straight towards Wu Qi's palm and forcing him to hastily retract his hand. The tiny bright beam wheeled for three rounds around the jade plate while producing jarring whistles, then suddenly carried the Darkcrow and flew back towards the entrance of the third floor.
A few men clad in Daoist outfits were seen standing near the entrance. The man who unleashed the bright beam was a youth in his early twenties, carrying a towering arrogance and a proud expression on his face, while looking at everything with a lofty manner. The youth retracted the bright beam and clutched his hand tightly on Darkcrow. He did not even look at Wu Qi, but instead, turned to look at Feng Bailing with a smile while saying, "Ninth-Uncle Feng, I heard a supreme-grade planetary ship is put on sale here in Treasure Tower. My Master is very interested in it. Therefore, we come here purposely to have a look at it."
With utmost reverence, the youth handed the planetary ship to a middle-aged man, who looked in his forties and was also carrying a towering arrogance. He seemed like he would treat every person under the heaven with disdain. The youth laughed flatteringly and said, "Master, what do you think about this planetary ship? If Master likes it, I'll offer it to Master right now! According to Treasure Tower's rules, the members of the two cultivator clans can purchase anything here at the cost!"
The middle-aged Daoist took over Darkcrow in an indifferent manner, then said coolly while grinning from ear to ear, "Not too bad! It happens that I don't have a planetary ship, and it is quite troublesome to travel between planets. This Darkcrow planetary ship looks nice!"
Wu Qi's face turned gloomy immediately. He turned to look at Feng Bailing, who was holding three storage bags in his hand, and snapped coldly, "Chief Manager! I've paid you three millions pieces of upper-grade energy stones without even asking for a discount. Can you tell me what is this all about? Is Treasure Tower running a robbery business in the dark?"
Feng Bailing sprung to his feet instantly, turned to the youth, and shouted, "Yu Song, what are you doing? This planetary ship had been sold to this customer!"
The youth, Yu Song, was struck dumb, and so was the middle-aged Daoist beside him. Darkcrow worthed three million upper-grade energy stones? And yet Wu Qi, an unworthy Gold Core cultivator, had just paid the full price without even batting his eyelids? Yu Song looked at Wu Qi wonderingly, while the middle-aged Daoist kept sizing up Wu Qi at the same time.
Stretching his hand forward, Wu Qi told the middle-aged Daoist with a sneer, "Fellow Daoist, please return my Darkcrow."
The Daoist smiled faintly, then nodded and said, "Fellow Daoist, I am Yi Xuan, the Sect Elder from Yellow Dragon Sect of Yellow Universe Planet. May I know from which sect does fellow Daoist come from? And who is your Master?" While asking the questions, Daoist Yi Xuan unleashed his divine will of mid-stage Nascent Divinity realm and pressed towards Wu Qi.
Taking a deep breath, Wu Qi asked deeply, "Is fellow Daoist going to rob my treasure?"
Feng Bailing cried out immediately, "Daoist Yi Xuan, this Daoist Greed is Treasure Tower's distinguished guest!" He stepped forward and came standing right in front of Wu Qi, blocking off the spiritual pressure that was sent out by Daoist Yi Xuan.
Feng Bailing hefted the three storage bags in his hand, then he said with a frown, "Daoist Greed has paid the full price. So, according to the rule, Darkcrow belongs to him now! Daoist Yi Xuan, please do not spoil Treasure Tower's rules, as it is a merchant established together by the Feng clan and Yu clan, and we cannot afford to have our good reputation of over ten thousand years stained by anyone!"
Yu Song gave Daoist Yi Xuan a meaningful glance. In the next moment, Daoist Yi Xuan burst out into laughter and strode towards Wu Qi, then handed Darkcrow to him in a serious manner. Smilingly, he stared at Wu Qi and said, "Daoist Greed? There is a long way ahead of you in the galaxy. I wish you a safe journey!"
Wu Qi did not answer. He took over Darkcrow and shoved it into Black Dragon Spirit Ring, and without saying a word, he left the Treasure Tower.
Right after he came out from the front door, Wu Qi immediately heard some footsteps coming from his back. Daoist Yi Xuan and Yu Song had followed him, together with a few men clad in Daoist robes. Paying no heed to them, he stepped onto a sword beam and began to fly out from the Huixian Market. However, the group of men continued following him without even hiding their trace.
A feeling of annoyance arose in Wu Qi's heart. Clenching his jaw, he turned and flew straight towards the countryside of the city.
