"..." Lin Qian stood at the entrance of Houhai Street, his face filled with astonishment as he stared at the scene ahead, and after a moment, he turned to look at Zhang Zide, "Brother Zhang, is this the place you said would make people happy and excited?"
"Of course!" Zhang Zide flashed a brilliant smile at Lin Qian, as if it were obvious.
"You... are you kidding me?" Lin Qian helplessly pointed towards Houhai Street ahead and said to Zhang Zide, "This is clearly just a spontaneous street market, how could it possibly make anyone happy and excited?"
"Brother Lin, this is what you don’t understand. The Sea Clan vendors on Houhai Street come from various tribes and clans. They hail from all parts of the territories of the Eight-Armed Sea Clan, and they might have all sorts of bizarre items."
"Digging for treasures here is like gambling on who has the most discerning eye, so stimulating, how could it not excite people?"
"If you can unearth some interesting items, the kind of happiness that comes from deep inside…" Pausing there, Zhang Zide closed his eyes, lost in reverie for a moment before he suddenly opened them wide, "Wow, isn’t it thrilling?"
However, by that time, Zhang Zide realized that Lin Qian and Li Yunfeng had already disappeared from sight; looking towards Houhai Street, he saw that they had walked in.
"Hey, you two wait for me!" Zhang Zide called out from behind and hurriedly followed them.
Lin Qian walked down Houhai Street, continuously looking around curiously. Along both sides of the lengthy street, numerous Sea Clan members were setting up stands to sell their goods.
Items included damaged scriptures, unidentified stones, sealed jade vials, and even some members of the Human Clan had set up stalls, with others wandering about.
Just as Zhang Zide had said, Houhai Street during the clan gatherings serves as an informal marketplace for the Eight-Armed Sea Clan.
Not only were competitors of the clan gathering present, but other accompanying members of the Sea Clan from various parts of their territories were there too; naturally, they had their treasures to offer.
Thus, Houhai Street, this small marketplace, was naturally the best place for them to sell their goods.
With the addition of ancient Human Clan relics discovered at the bottom of the sea, and Human Clan allies attending the gathering, the atmosphere at Houhai Street was exceptionally lively this time.
Houhai Street wasn’t a straight path; it had many intersections, and at the first intersection, Lin Qian suddenly found a stall that caught his interest.
This stall was selling various types of scriptures, Cultivation Techniques, soul skills, Artifact Refining and Alchemy secrets, and also some bizarre and unusual tales, among other things.
However, only catalogs and samples of these scriptures were displayed on the stall for people to browse through, the real items were likely still in the hands of the Sea Clan vendor.
"Brother Lin interested?" Seeing Lin Qian stopping in front of this stall, Zhang Zide asked.
Lin Qian nodded, and immediately squatted down to flip through the pages of the catalogs.
"I’ll leave you to it then, Brother Lin. I’ll just go take a look over there and come back," Zhang Zide told Lin Qian.
Lin Qian nodded, indicating he understood.
After that, Zhang Zide walked off in another direction. Meanwhile, Li Yunfeng also spotted something he liked, greeted Lin Qian, and ran off there too.
"Brother Lin, have you found a book you like?" At this moment, the stall owner suddenly asked with a smile, his demeanor somewhat ingratiating.
Lin Qian looked up in surprise and asked the stall owner, "You recognize me?"
"From the battle during the day, who doesn’t know Lin Qian by now? But I didn’t expect you to be Prince Zhang’s brother, my apologies," the stall owner said to Lin Qian.
Lin Qian chuckled and shook his head, then put down the catalog in his hands and asked the stall owner, "How many Soul Crystals would it cost for all these?"
"All... all of them?" The stall owner’s eyes widened in disbelief as he heard Lin Qian.
Lin Qian nodded and said, "Yes, name your price."
"For all of them, one hundred thousand Mid Grade Soul Crystals," the stall owner replied ecstatically, hastily quoting his price.
Lin Qian frowned, "Fifty thousand Mid Grade Soul Crystals. These scriptures aren’t worth the price you’re asking."
"Well... to be honest, these scriptures aren’t owned by just me; they belong to many people from my hometown who entrusted me to sell them. As for the price, they set it at a total of one hundred thousand, and I can’t really change it," the stall owner said with a troubled look to Lin Qian.
Lin Qian shook his head and said to the stall owner, "If I’m not mistaken, those people entrusted you to sell them at a fair price. Your quote of one hundred thousand is just because you see me as someone who doesn’t care about spending a bit more on Soul Crystals."
"Sorry, I don’t like being taken advantage of; fifty thousand is already letting you make a profit. If you’re going to be , then forty-eight thousand Mid Grade Soul Crystals."
As soon as Lin Qian spoke these words, the stall owner’s face changed suddenly, and he quickly waved his hand, "I’ll sell, but could it possibly be fifty thousand..."
"Forty-five thousand!" Lin Qian countered.
"This…" The stall owner hesitated.
Seeing the stall owner’s hesitant look, Lin Qian turned around, preparing to leave.
At that moment, the stall owner hastily called out, "I really admire you, let’s settle for forty-five thousand!"
"Deal!" At that, Lin Qian also turned around, smiling broadly, and took out a simple storage bag, handing it to the stall owner.
The stall owner also took out a storage bag with a resigned look and handed it to Lin Qian in front of him, "I really didn’t expect, Brother Lin, that you’d have such a sharp eye for pricing."
Lin Qian shrugged and said to the stall owner, "You were just too greedy; those scriptures are only worth about forty thousand. I let you make an extra ten thousand, which was already quite generous of me. Sometimes, it’s better not to be too greedy."
"Making an extra five thousand is already quite good," the stall owner said with a bitter smile, admitting his reluctance.
"Hmph, poor yet still making excuses?" Just then, a chilly voice suddenly rang out, the tone quite disdainful.
Having handed over the bag of Soul Crystals to the stall owner, Lin Qian stood up and looked towards the source of the voice, to find that it was a female disciple from the Yunhai Sect who had once scorned him as a cowardly, lecherous person.
Lin Qian glanced at the woman’s face, then briefly at her chest, and scoffed disdainfully before turning to leave, heading towards where Zhang Zide and Li Yunfeng were.
The female disciple’s face turned livid, and she shouted furiously, "You stop right there, what do you mean by that?"
Lin Qian ignored her increasingly irate words and just kept walking.
"I’m talking to you, did you not hear me, you lowlife?" The female disciple from the Yunhai Sect gritted her teeth and spoke, as her Soul Power suddenly condensed into a stream of Sword Qi, tearing through the water and rushing towards Lin Qian.
At that very moment the Sword Qi was about to hit Lin Qian, it was suddenly crushed by a hand, and a man dressed in a black robe with golden edges appeared before the Yunhai Sect female disciple, "You’ve got quite the nerve!"