Chapter 56 Spiritual Materials Market

Chapter 56: The Spiritual Materials Market

In the blink of an eye, a week passed, and Qin Zhe's academy life gradually returned to peace.

During the first few days, the information successively released by the academy administration sparked quite a stir, but eventually, the students' emotions turned into a yearning for an unknown secret realm.

As for the defection of Academy Director Zhou Wu, nobody cared at all.

As practitioners, who would not harbor expectations for a secret realm?

In just a few days, quite a few students in the academy had already spontaneously formed groups, banding together in preparation to join the vanguard team and enter the Abyss Secret Realm together when the time came.

Throughout this past week, Qin Zhe had received numerous invitations.

Most of them were from the Martial Arts Department, but there were also quite a few from the Immortal Arts Department and the Demonic Arts Department.

Regarding this, Qin Zhe didn't take them to heart at all and uniformly chose to refuse.

The exploration of a secret realm—how could it be that easy?

Not to mention that the Research Institute hadn't made any concrete moves yet and was probably still calculating coordinates, even if the location of the Abyss were truly confirmed and a vanguard team organized, a large batch of people would still end up being screened out.

Especially students whose overall strength was generally only at the second or third tier; going in would be no different from delivering themselves to their deaths.

The Dragon Country official authorities were not fools, and neither was the academy; how could they possibly let people with insufficient capability tag along and meddle?

Setting aside these random matters, Qin Zhe had become famous during the exchange tournament. For the past week, he had maintained a low profile, spending his spare time in the library.

There was still no precise news about the Abyss Secret Realm, but since the signs were already there, making preparations early could not hurt.

What annoyed Qin Zhe somewhat was that, perhaps due to the heaven-defying combat power he displayed during the exchange tournament, the usually desolate library was packed to capacity every day.

Fortunately, loud noises were prohibited in the library, and everyone minded their own business, so it didn't cause him too much trouble.

On this day, Qin Zhe finished his martial arts class and, seeing that it was still early, felt the urge to take a stroll through the spiritual materials market.

Through a week's worth of hard work, he had learned quite a few handy martial arts techniques in the library; what he lacked now was only spiritual energy.

The spiritual fruits in his spatial ring had long since been munched away, and his Essence Conversion talent had also reached 30%. Converting the one hundred top-tier spiritual stones in his hand into cash would at least allow him to accumulate another potential point.

Returning to the dormitory to change his clothes, he casually grabbed a spiritual fruit that Gu Ming had hidden away to satisfy his cravings, and Qin Zhe walked straight out of the school gates.

Lately, that kid Gu Ming had truly been exerting himself. After class, he either spent his time in the cultivation chamber or delved into the library, making Qin Zhe very unaccustomed to it.

After all, with that flamboyant person missing from his side, he didn't even have anyone to talk nonsense with, which honestly felt quite uncomfortable.

...

The so-called spiritual materials market was roughly identical to a farmer's market.

The only difference was that they sold all kinds of spiritual items and spiritual beasts instead of ordinary fruits, vegetables, and meat.

The spiritual materials market closest to the academy took only half an hour to reach on foot, so Qin Zhe arrived at the location before long.

Although this world had not reached the stage where every single citizen practiced cultivation, business in the spiritual materials market was quite good, especially since this particular market knew how to pick a location, opening right near the academy.

Undoubtedly, students in their growth phase had a much higher demand for spiritual items than ordinary practitioners, and their purchasing power was not weak. Placing the market's location near the academy ensured it would never lack business.

Sure enough, as soon as Qin Zhe stepped into the market, he raised his eyes and saw quite a few people wearing academy uniforms wandering around.

Confirming that there were no acquaintances among them, Qin Zhe walked up to a stall selling spiritual fruits, casually picked up a few, and examined them one by one, feeling less than satisfied.

Perhaps because the stall was located near the outer entrance of the market, the quality of these spiritual fruits was extremely poor, and the concentration of spiritual energy was almost negligible, making them no different from ordinary fruits.

Seeing that Qin Zhe only looked without buying, and had practically picked up and examined almost every type of spiritual fruit on the stall, the stall owner grew unhappy.

"Young man, are you going to buy or not? If you're not buying, can you stop touching things at random? If you end up damaging them by handling them, how am I supposed to do business?"

Spiritual fruits could be damaged by touching?

Qin Zhe was left speechless, glanced at the owner, and asked, "Do you have any better spiritual fruits here?"

"Can you even afford the better ones?"

The stall owner looked at him with disdain as he tidied up the rumpled stall, muttering under his breath, "I can see your aura isn't strong, you're just someone who has newly entered the martial arts path—why are you being so picky? You're so young yet you already know how to aim too high; do you mind having a bit of self-awareness?"

"..."

Qin Zhe opened his mouth, shook his head, and decided not to lower himself to the man's level.

Just as he was about to leave, a female voice abruptly rang out.

"How do you talk to people? Is that any way to run a business? Do you even know what 'the customer is God' means? What's wrong with having a weak aura? He could probably beat you with one hand tied behind his back, you know!"

Hearing the female voice launch straight into berating the owner, Qin Zhe frowned slightly.

For no other reason than the fact that this voice sounded somewhat familiar.

With a strange expression, he turned his head, and Nie Wenru's delicate face came into view, causing Qin Zhe a sudden wave of annoyance.

How was it that whenever he went out to buy something, he invariably ran into this crazy woman?

To this day, Qin Zhe still vividly remembered the scene where Nie Wenru shoved Tang Xiaoyou into his arms without rhyme or reason.

If not for her, he probably wouldn't have crossed paths with Tang Xiaoyou at all.

Having been confronted and scolded several times right in the face, the stall owner's expression immediately turned unpleasant.

The crucial point was that Nie Wenru's Martial Arts Department uniform was extremely eye-catching, and who didn't know that martial artists nowadays were dirt poor?

"Hah! I was wondering what kind of wild girl this was, turns out she's from the Martial Arts Department of Sea City University! Do I need you to teach me how to run a business?"

The owner shouted, his body shuddering as he revealed a formidable immortal arts aura, and said, "I'm at the third tier of Immortal Arts at the very least! You say I can't beat him? Aren't you overestimating you martial arts people way too much?"

"You just can't beat him! So what if you're at the third tier of Immortal Arts? Do you even know who he is?"

Nie Wenru stared with wide eyes, showing not an ounce of fear, and her little mouth opened ready to keep shouting, but Qin Zhe beside her could no longer watch.

He was still slightly grateful that Nie Wenru had jumped out to speak up for him.

However, if the two of them kept bickering like this, more than half the people in the market would come over to watch...

What was the point?

Upholding the principle that avoiding trouble was better than courting it, Qin Zhe pulled Nie Wenru back and said, "Save your breath. Some people are just born with eyes in the back of their heads looking down on others; there's no need to argue over such nonsense."

Hearing this, Nie Wenru looked at him and said with a strange expression, "He talked to you like that just now, and you're not angry?"

"What's there to be angry about? If you get bitten by a dog while walking down the street, would you bite it back?"

Qin Zhe rolled his eyes, dragged her over to a neighboring stall, and casually tossed out one hundred middle-tier spiritual stones.

"Boss, business is here. Give me a bit of every kind of spiritual fruit you have here—the ones with rich spiritual energy and better effects. If it's not enough, I'll add more money."

The owner of the neighboring stall was a potbellied, chubby man.

Originally, the fat man was standing aside watching the show, but when he abruptly saw one hundred middle-tier spiritual stones, the flab all over his body trembled, and his eyes instantly lit up.

Holy crap! A major patron!

Daring not to be negligent in the slightest, the fat man split his mouth into a wide grin and said, "Young master, please wait a moment, I'll pick them out for you right away! Give me some time, and I guarantee I'll pick the absolute best ones for you!"

The previous stall owner was left dumbfounded by the sight; he never imagined that Qin Zhe would be so extravagant as to drop one hundred middle-tier spiritual stones right off the bat.

Hawkers setting up stalls at the entrance of the market mostly sold mediocre spiritual fruits, and they might not even earn all that many spiritual stones after an entire day of setting up shop.

How could he not turn green with envy at a transaction worth one hundred middle-tier spiritual stones?

Seeing the fat man next door grinning from ear to ear as he nimbly picked out the fruits, he wished he could slap himself a couple of times.

If he had just spoken in a civilized and calm manner earlier, there was a good chance this transaction would have been his!

Nie Wenru, standing beside him, was also startled by this person's "opulence." She looked at him in disbelief for a few moments and lowered her voice to say, "Um... isn't this a bit too extravagant of you? With one hundred middle-tier spiritual stones, why buy the stuff right at the entrance? You can buy much better ones if you go deeper inside."