If someone else ran into this situation, they would definitely assume they’d run into the Horse Bandits.
In truth, that wasn’t the case!
This baldy was fundamentally different from those cutthroat thieves, the Horse Bandits. He’d grown from an earth supreme into a sky supreme, and had been robbed by the Horse Bandits before.
With this sort of personal experience, he detested the way the Horse Bandits handled things.
Although he also made his living robbing others, he didn’t hurt them. In fact, his subordinates were all people he’d saved from the Horse Bandits. They’d followed him with the utmost loyalty ever since.
He was a bandit, but compared to the Horse Bandits, he was kind.
“As expected, little brother. You know how to handle yourself!” The bald man laughed. He wasn’t at all surprised that Ye Zichen reacted like that.
He’d seen this sort of thing countless times, and had long since grown accustomed to it.
Their little group didn’t have very many ways of earning money.
Finding a fresh, recent ascender was absolutely wonderful news for them. So long as they took down Ye Zichen, an “easy target,” they wouldn’t have to worry about food and drink for at least a few months. If he was a big fish, then they might even earn enough to stay warm and fed for years.
He just didn’t know how much treasure he could squeeze out of Ye Zichen.
He waved his hands at Ye Zichen and smiled. “This meal wasn’t expensive. Three hundred thousand aureus. They’re the type of coins we use up here. You just got here, so you probably don’t have any of the local currency. But that’s okay… we accept payment in the form of goods too. Alternatively, you can use celeste from the Lower Lands instead, but it’ll take a whole mountain of them.”
“I left my celeste behind for my friends in the Lower Lands, so I’ll have to pay with something else. Big Bro, what other things do you accept?” asked Ye Zichen.
Wonderful!
The baldy couldn’t help but inwardly rejoice. He loved this sort of understanding child.
In truth, it didn’t matter whether Ye Zichen used celeste or treasure to pay down his debt; the baldy had the absolute advantage either way. Under this sort of situation, the exchange rate between celeste and aureus was whatever he said it was, and he could name any price he wanted for treasures.
Thirty thousand aureus was just an excuse to get Ye Zichen to offer up celeste and treasures.
“We’ll accept any type of treasure. Pills, artifacts, and talismans are all acceptable. But Little Brother, you have to understand: this is different from in the Lower Lands. Something that was valuable down below isn’t necessarily worth much up here.”
“I know that.” Ye Zichen obediently nodded, then pulled out a set of demigod-grade battle armor from the Yao-Sealing Pagoda. Ye Zichen had obtained it after opening the pagoda’s second floor.
“I found this by chance while exploring mysterious territory. Big Bro, do you think….”
A demigod artifact.
The instant it appeared, the bald man’s eyes practically popped out of his head. It was a full set of armor!
Battle armor was always worth far more than weapons of the same grade since they used far more material. An ordinary set of demigod battle armor was worth at least a million aureus.
“Did I just run into a stupid rich kid?” The way the baldy looked at Ye Zichen had changed, but he didn’t let the profit he’d get from the battle armor go to his head. On the contrary, he was more alert than ever.
Anyone who owned demigod artifacts in the Lower Lands was like a dragon among men; they couldn’t possibly be fooled so easily. This defied common sense.
But from the looks of this kid, he really was awfully dim.
Were there really such rich fools out there?
Regardless of whether this kid was just playing dumb or whether he was really just a dumb rich
“Demigod artifacts are rare treasures down below, but up here, they’re not that special. There are full divine artifacts all over up here; even the hoes farmers use to till their fields are divine artifacts. Little Brother, this set of divine armor…..” He shook his head, looking a bit troubled. “I can give you five hundred aureus for it.”
“It’s that cheap?” said Ye Zichen bitterly, a hint of suspicion in his gaze. However, when the bald man glanced at him coldly, he immediately shrunk back as if in terror and dejectedly took out another treasure.
The bald man sitting across from him looked increasingly shocked….
This was absolutely a big fish.
Although that’s what he thought to himself, even in the face of treasures valued highly even on the Divine Mountains, he offered a price so low, anyone who heard it would want to beat him up.
“A supreme pill. Not bad; I’ll give you three hundred aureus a bottle.”
“Black jade. This is an ordinary material. I’ll give you fifty aureus per kilo.”
“Ten-year divine wood. This is relatively rare, so I’ll give you a thousand aureus per piece.”
Before long, Ye Zichen’s treasures formed a pile on the dining table. The bald man’s subordinates stared at them, their throats dry and their eyes wide. Even the bald man couldn’t help but gulp. He even considered killing Ye Zichen to rob him of all he was worth.
Fortunately, he had a bit of a conscience; he didn’t want to hurt Ye Zichen.
“Little brother, these materials and pills are worth around twenty-seven thousand aureus. Just a little more and you’ll hit thirty thousand.”
He viciously lowered the prices of every item, but the total had still reached twenty-seven thousand.
It was easy to imagine how much these treasures would be worth if he took them to an orthodox trade association.
To tell the truth, the bald man had considered stopping. These treasures were already enough for him and his companions to live a stress-free life for a hundred years, or even a thousand. But he still wanted more.
If Ye Zichen really couldn’t bring out anymore, that was fine; Ye Zichen would just owe him a favor instead.
“This baldy is really greedy!”
Although Ye Zichen wasn’t familiar with how much things cost up here, was certain his treasures were worth way more than thirty thousand aureus.
This baldy still wasn’t satisfied! He still wanted more!
Greedy!
At least he hadn’t attacked Ye Zichen or tried to kill him for his treasures. He at least had a bit of a conscience.
“But I don’t have anything else,” said Ye Zichen dejectedly. He shrugged helplessly.
When he saw Ye Zichen’s behavior, the bald bandit felt bad for him. But just as he was considering sparing this pitiful little supreme….
“I’m out of pills and talismans, but I still have spiritual beasts. Do you accept those?”
“Spiritual Beasts?”
What was the most valuable in the Divine Mountains?
Pills?
Artifacts?
Talismans?
Materials?
None of the above!
The most valuable and rarest treasures were spiritual beasts.
Spiritual beasts were taken alive as slaves. Owning them was a status symbol. Regardless of what level of divine beast they were, they were worth cities on the black market
This kid even had spiritual beasts! What a pleasant surprise!
“Yes, yes, yes, of course we accept them!”
He’d originally considered letting Ye Zichen go, but when he heard that Ye Zichen had spiritual beasts, he changed his mind.
This baldy was just too greedy! Ye Zichen wasn’t in the mood to play with him any longer, so directly connected with the Yao-Sealing Pagoda.
“Alright, I’ll bring them out. Take a look and tell me whether they’re worth three thousand aureus or not.”
