Chapter Thirty-Five: Astronomical Price
“Ahem, please, both of you, calm yourselves. I haven’t finished speaking yet. Though the Ancient Buddha’s Lamp is indeed an ancient treasure, it has its flaws.” Wang Daozong forced a chuckle.
Tu Lu was taken aback. “What do you mean?”
Even the middle-aged man looked stunned for a moment.
Wang Daozong shook his head. “Well, perhaps ‘flaws’ isn’t the right word. Let me put it this way: this treasure is certainly a relic from antiquity, but for some unknown reason, it cannot be refined or controlled by anyone. Thus, its true might cannot be unleashed. Its only effect is to invigorate the minds of those nearby, making their thoughts sharper and clearer.”
Upon hearing this, Tu Lu’s heart was stirred.
What he needed was precisely this—an item to invigorate the mind and sharpen thought!
If this ancient treasure were whole and flawless, he might have hesitated, but with such a defect, he fancied he could afford it.
Yet Wang Daozong’s next words dashed his hopes.
“That being said, ancient treasures are mysterious and unpredictable, their intricacies far beyond anything of our age. There may yet be great secrets hidden within this lamp, secrets we are unable to unearth. It is only because our establishment could not crack its mysteries in the short term that we have decided to put it up for sale. Therefore, the price cannot be low.”
As he spoke, Wang Daozong extended five fingers. “According to the orders from above, at least this much!”
“Fifty thousand thunderstones?!” Tu Lu exclaimed in shock.
“No, five hundred thousand thunderstones,” Wang Daozong replied, a hint of disappointment in his eyes. He shook his head.
He had been a merchant for many years and was adept at reading people. Tu Lu’s astonishment at a price of fifty thousand thunderstones made it clear that five hundred thousand was out of the question.
In truth, Tu Lu was deeply shaken.
This was outrageous! Five hundred thousand thunderstones was an astronomical sum, even among magical treasures—only full sets of high-quality artifacts might fetch such a price!
And this was for a treasure that could not even be refined!
Wang Daozong spoke pleasantly enough, but even if there were some hidden secret within the Ancient Buddha’s Lamp that even the Tianlong House could not discover, why should he expect to uncover it?
“Manager Wang, aren’t you exaggerating a little? Even flawless treasures rarely fetch more than a hundred thousand thunderstones,” Tu Lu protested.
After all, he had less than fifty thousand thunderstones to his name. Five hundred thousand was so far beyond his means it wasn’t worth considering. Even if he sold all the rare treasures he’d looted from Gongsun Yan’s vault, he’d still fall short.
“Country bumpkin! Even if the Ancient Buddha’s Lamp can’t be refined, it is invaluable to an inscription master. If it were only worth a few thousand thunderstones, would it still be here waiting for you?” The middle-aged man sneered with disdain, though traces of shock lingered on his face at the sky-high price.
Tu Lu frowned slightly.
He had the distinct impression that this man was deliberately targeting him.
“As Young Master Yin says,” Wang Daozong offered a wry smile. “If it were up to me, I’d say fifty thousand thunderstones is already too much. But these are the orders from above; my hands are tied. In truth, if not for the city-wide lockdown, this Ancient Buddha’s Lamp would have long since been sent back to the branch in Azure Prefecture. Here in Divine Wind City, there are too few inscription masters at the Sea-Filling level—there isn’t even a single grandmaster!”
He shook his head as he spoke.
Tu Lu was rendered speechless. He wanted to buy it, but a few tens of thousands of thunderstones was his absolute limit; several hundred thousand was a different story entirely.
He simply couldn’t bring himself to part with such a sum!
“Well, then? Tens of thousands of thunderstones is not something most Sea-Filling cultivators can afford. If you can produce the price, I’ll happily yield it to you!” the middle-aged man sneered.
“As if you could come up with it yourself,” Tu Lu retorted, rolling his eyes.
The middle-aged man’s face darkened.
He was an inscription master, and his father was one of the five pinnacle Sea-Filling cultivators in Divine Wind City. Even other Sea-Filling cultivators treated him with respect.
And yet, even he could not produce five hundred thousand thunderstones.
It was simply too much! Even his father would be hard-pressed to scrape together that sum without disastrous consequences.
In fact, save perhaps for the city lord, Gongsun Yan, there was likely no one in Divine Wind City who could easily muster such financial might.
Tu Lu understood this well, and so his gaze toward the middle-aged man turned mocking.
He could smell the medicinal scent on the other, but so what if he was an inscription master? While inscription masters were wealthy compared to cultivators of the same rank, their expenses were even greater.
He himself had toiled for half a month, selling in a short time what ordinary inscription masters could not sell in over a decade!
Yet, even so, his accumulated thunderstones were under fifty thousand. Even if other inscription masters made more profit per artifact, their savings could not be much greater.
After all, in the time it took to sell so many inscribed artifacts, they had to spend even more time and resources honing their craft!
The middle-aged man knew all this as well. When he saw Tu Lu’s mocking look, his own face grew uglier, and he snorted coldly.
“I may not have five hundred thousand thunderstones on hand now, but my father can! And if even my father cannot, then there is no one in Divine Wind City who can produce that sum!”
His outburst immediately drew the attention of most of those within the Tianlong House.
But seeing who it was, they seemed utterly unsurprised, quickly turning their attention elsewhere as if long used to such displays.
A few curious onlookers cast glances at the ancient lamp, then cupped their hands and nodded in greeting.
“Well, do you still want the Ancient Buddha’s Lamp?” the middle-aged man asked coldly, then looked at Wang Daozong. “Manager Wang, I don’t have that many thunderstones on me. Can’t you lower the price a little? I know you managers are always looking for kickbacks—the price from above can’t really be that high!”
Wang Daozong’s face stiffened, his smile forced. “Young Master Yin, you are overthinking it. Five hundred thousand thunderstones, not a single one less—this is the absolute lowest price set from above.”
The middle-aged man’s face shifted. “Manager Wang, you’re really being unreasonable. My father and I have done business with you for years—”
At that moment, Tu Lu suddenly laughed.
“What are you laughing at?”
The middle-aged man turned, glaring frostily.
Tu Lu shook his head. “Nothing. I just find it amusing—some people call others country bumpkins, but they themselves can’t come up with the thunderstones either, yet have the nerve to haggle in Tianlong House. Truly shameless.”
“You!” The middle-aged man’s face reddened.
But Tu Lu ignored him and went on, “Still, you’ve given me an idea. I may not have five hundred thousand thunderstones, but I can have someone else pay for me. After all, someone did tell me that in Divine Wind City, I could take whatever I pleased.”
At these words, the middle-aged man was momentarily stunned.
He wasn’t alone—Wang Daozong was taken aback as well.
Five hundred thousand thunderstones—veteran Sea-Filling cultivators might be able to gather such a sum, but it would cost them dearly. For a defective ancient treasure, it simply wasn’t worth it!
Unless one was a Sea-Filling inscription master or a direct heir of one of the great clans from Azure Prefecture, no one would pay such a price.
Wang Daozong had only offered it to Tu Lu because he was at the Sea-Filling stage, but he never truly expected to sell it.
And yet, now this fellow claimed someone would pay for him?
“You must be mad!” the middle-aged man snapped. “The Ancient Buddha’s Lamp is worth five hundred thousand thunderstones, not fifty thousand! Someone else would pay for you? Dream on!”