“How did this happen? Wasn’t Linglong Hall supposed to have everything? How could you be lacking a mere Hundred-Year Golden Snake Eyes and King Bear Gall!”

Yuan Qinghua’s expression became cold. Earlier, he had praised Linglong Hall greatly, saying that they could provide anything under the sun. In the end, the moment he had requested something, he was made to eat his words.

Xu Yi was also extremely dissatisfied. After hearing Master Zhou’s explanations, he had high expectations of the Raging Force Mantra. According to Master Zhou, the most difficult part of the Raging Force Mantra was the extreme pain that one had to go through when one reached the stage of reversing the flow in one’s tendons. However, Xu Yi had plenty of confidence in himself when it came to withstanding pain. He had initially thought that with the materials gathered, he could immediately begin to master the Raging Force Mantra in order to gain the skills to protect himself. He had not expected to run into such a problem.

“Can we request for the store purchase these items on our behalf? I do not believe that in a city as large as Guang’an, these two materials would be unavailable. I believe that with your store’s capabilities, this should not be a difficult task. We can wait here until it is done.”

Xu Yi proposed a compromise.

The brunette replied, “Dear sir, perhaps you are not aware of our Linglong Hall’s capabilities. Let’s put it this way: if there are materials that Linglong Hall lacks, it is not possible for any other shop in Guang’an to have them either. To be honest, materials such as the Hundred-Year Golden Snake Eyes and the King Bear Gall may not be that precious, but they are exceedingly rare. After all, demons are hard to encounter, and on the rare occasion that we do have the materials, they would also be purchased almost immediately.”

“So you mean that if we want to have all seven materials, we would just have to be really lucky?”

Seeing his deal with Xu Yi about to go up in smoke, Yuan Qinghua was greatly displeased.

“Quiet!”

Xu Yi glared at him. Anger was never the right way to deal with problems. “Under such circumstances, how is the matter usually resolved? I believe the store can enlighten me with regards to this.”

At this point, the brunette finally focused her attention on Xu Yi’s face and also saw clearly that this decrepit looking man with a scraggly beard was probably the person she was truly making a deal with. “You speak too highly of us, distinguished guest. Under such circumstances, the guest would usually make an order and proceed to pay a deposit. When Linglong Hall has gathered all the materials, you would be informed. After you pay the rest of the fees, you may leave with the goods and our deal will be complete.”

“Alright then. For these seven items, what is the cost and how much deposit will be needed?”

There was no choice. Since the timing was bad, Xu Yi could only wait.

With those words from Xu Yi, the smile on the brunette’s face finally became a genuine one. She knew that when the conversation came to such a stage, the deal was practically done. All that was left was to settle on a price.

Before Xu Yi could say any more, Yuan Qinghua cut in, ready to prove himself after his earlier mistakes.

After a battle of words and tongues, the materials worth a hundred and fifty gold coins and a deposit of fifty gold coins was slashed to a hundred and twenty gold coins and thirty gold coins for the deposit. In addition to that, Linglong Hall was to deliver the goods within two months’ time, if not, the deposit will be refunded, and they would also be compensated for their time.

With regards to the results of the negotiations, both Yuan Qinghua and Xu Yi were very pleased.

Having cut the price down by thirty gold, according to the deal, ten percent of that went to him. Hence, for this transaction, he earned a total of three gold coins. Xu Yi had heard from Master Zhou that he and his former master had put in a lot of effort in order to gather all seven materials. Xu Yi had thought that he would have to fork out hundreds of gold coins in order to get his hands on these materials. Having them for only over a hundred gold coins, it was much lower than what he expected. Naturally, he was very happy. But in actual fact, Xu Yi’s thinking was way off. He had earned lots of money quickly by killing and pillaging, and he naturally had no idea how hard it was for an ordinary person to earn over a hundred gold coins.

Only the brunette’s mood was slightly lowered by this deal. She had not thought that Yuan Qinghua would be that difficult to deal with, greatly reducing her joy of completing a large business deal. She put on a cute face and asked, “Would you be paying in gold? Or with a gold voucher?”

“Gold voucher? Could it be that banks exist here?” Xu Yi’s curiosity was piqued.

Yuan Qinghua was already aware of how lacking his client’s common knowledge was. He gave the brunette a quick stare before quickly adding, “Sir, you come from the countryside, so you might not be aware. Gold coins are precious, but they are also heavy. When doing business, a hundred or a thousand might still be alright, but when it comes to tens or hundreds of thousands, then it will become rather troublesome and practically impossible to carry around. For the convenience of the people, the Dayue Imperial Court has joined hands with the Five Great Noble Families and the Four Great Orthodox Sects to establish the ‘World Gold Depository’ to facilitate monetary transactions across the world.”

“I see!”

With some thinking, Xu Yi understood. After all, no matter where he was, certain laws of the world would remain the same. In both past and present worlds, people still needed to eat when they were hungry and drink when they were thirsty. Although this world did not have a bank, they had a gold depository. Although it felt strange, it was still normal.

“I will pay with gold.” Xu Yi fished out a single gold biscuit from his pocket and handed it over.

“Ugghhh!”

“Aghhh!”

Immediately, Yuan Qinghua and the brunette both opened their eyes wide. Their jaws dropped and they exclaimed loudly.

With a thud, Yuan Qinghua’s legs gave way as his knees fell to the ground.

The brunette simply stared speechless at the golden biscuit in Xu Yi’s hand, which was shining under the light with a glow that seemed to be sucking out her soul.

“Hurry and settle the bill. For the change, give me twenty gold coins, eight gold vouchers for a hundred gold, and fifteen gold vouchers for ten gold,” Xu Yi said loudly.

The brunette finally came to her senses, but she dared not take the gold biscuit personally. Relaying her apologies, she left the room quickly.

“Sir, you…you really know how to hide your capabilities well!”

Yuan Qinghua struggled to his feet, praising Xu Yi from the bottom of his heart.

Earlier on, he had addressed Xu Yi as ‘sir’ just to show him some face. Initially, he had truly looked down on Xu Yi for having so little common knowledge and had only thought of this as a one-time cooperation for a big business deal.

But when Xu Yi brought out an entire gold biscuit worth a thousand gold coins just like that, he was truly shocked.

“Calm yourself. Don’t forget, I still have another purchase to make. If you stay in such a stage, I’m afraid I won’t have the confidence to leave the next piece of business to you.”

Xu Yi naturally knew how large of a fortune that single gold biscuit was. Even with the Zhou family’s wealth, they had only managed to gather two gold biscuits to offer to Lingxiao Hall in three years.

“No no, don’t worry sir. Even if I have to give my life for it, I will accomplish the task you have for me.”

Money truly moved hearts. At this moment, after seeing that gold biscuit worth a thousand gold coins, Yuan Qinghua was so fired up that he might as well have been on steroids.

As the two of them spoke, the brunette returned, walking quickly. Very soon, a plump old man walked in and joined them. He wore a bright smile on his face and a jade-studded belt on his embroidered robes.

The brunette introduced the old man with a smile on her face. He was Manager Wu of Linglong Hall.

After exchanging pleasantries, Manager Wu clapped his hands. Immediately, an attendant quickly made his way over. On the tray in his hands were golden vouchers as wide as a palm and as long as two fingers, as well as a handful of gold coins.

Manager Wu pointed to the tray and said, “These are the gold vouchers that you requested. Please check them, sir!”

Xu Yi did not stand on ceremony. He placed the gold biscuit onto the tray, grabbed the gold coins and gold vouchers, and began to count them. When he was done, he frowned. “What is the meaning of this?”

He had asked for eight gold vouchers worth a hundred gold and fifteen gold vouchers worth ten gold, along with twenty gold coins. A total of nine hundred and seventy gold, after deducting the deposit of thirty gold.

However, on the tray were eight gold vouchers for a hundred gold, eighteen gold vouchers for ten gold, and twenty gold coins, a total of a thousand gold.