Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Shi Xuejin suddenly calmed down. As long as Lu Shu was willing to state his conditions, he would no longer have to worry. At least he knew what Lu Shu wanted.
He was scared that Lu Shu would, on the contrary, not want anything, other than to oppose Nie Ting to the end. To smart people like Shi Xuejin, how could he not know why Lu Shu wanted to do so? This was not just greed. Luo City had become the hottest gathering spot for secret practitioners.
But Shi Xuejin knew one thing. Lu Shu was calm and rational. Lu Shu would know what Shi Xuejin was doing.
Shi Xuejin said, “What tool did you lose?”
Lu Shu was hopeful. “A sword? I can’t remember…”
Shi Xuejin was silent. How could you not remember? Couldn’t you just say what you wanted? Do we have to do the thinking for you?!
“From Shi Xuejin’s distress, +999!”
Shi Xuejin suddenly thought of something and his eyes lit up. But he kept his steady tone. “I can’t do this by myself. Wait till I contact you again. But do prepare yourself mentally for the rest.”
Shi Xuejin hung up. Lu Shu smacked his lips. He suspected that his bank account would be suspended…
On the other hand, the families in the upper classes could transfer large amounts in a single transaction. But he could not. He could only transfer 500 thousand per day to Lu Xiaoyu’s bank account. How long would he take? His balance was just too large…
However, according to his understanding of Shi Xuejin and Nie Ting, he was excited to see what mythical objects he could get his hands on with this money. He would not accept it if he could not get any mythical objects! Although mythical objects carried great value, there was no market for it. One could not buy them even if they wanted to. There would definitely be odd conditions to exchange mythical objects at the Darkness Kingdom. In the Darkness Kingdom, magical stones could not be exchanged for much, but mythical objects were an exception.
Take for example Anthony’s Deep Sea White Sand. It could only be exchanged with the life of a Heavenly King. How much was a Heavenly King’s worth? There was no way of finding out.
This was one of the reasons why magical stones had not become accepted as currency. Another reason was that the quality of magical stones differed according to its origin. Some magical stones had a higher concentration of Spirit Qi, while some had a lower concentration. To experts like Nie Ting and Howard, magical stones were not as important. Thus, they did not pay much attention to them.
It was not like in an ordinary Xianxia 1 novel, where all the magical stones across the world were the same. A low level magical stone was a 1, a mid tier magical stone was a 10 and a high level magical stone was a 100. It was not so simple in the real world…
Magical stones were like ores. You could say that they were worth a lot, but as for exactly how much they were worth would depend on their actual condition. Magical stones were not like gold. You could still refine gold to increase its purity.
The magical stones in the Heavenly Network were more or less of the same quality. However, the same could not be said of magical stones from overseas.
Some secret practitioners deliberately bought substandard magical stones and brought them into the country to deceive fools. Most people could not sense the concentration of magical stones. Substandard magical stones were also slightly cheaper overseas.
Lu Shu had kept the magical stones for two reasons. One, he could easily transport them overseas to engage in deals overseas. Two, if he stored the magical stones in the Seal of Lands, Nie Ting could not freeze his assets.
Would Nie Ting make him surrender his magical stones? Ha ha, that was impossible. Money could be used to exchange for mythical objects, but magical stones could not. If it really happened, he would pack his things and leave…
Lu Shu waited for a whole day. Sitting in the office of the black market, he suddenly beamed with joy. “From Nie Ting’s distress, +1000!”
Finally!
Ten minutes ago, a black line suddenly flew through the sky. The friction between Nie Ting’s protective gear and the air produced a loud roar, as if an airplane had flown past.
Upon reaching the Liuhai Lane airspace, the black line suddenly descended. Shi Xuejin was sitting on his deck chair and reading. He looked up and saw Nie Ting. “What happened at the Changbai mountains?”
Nie Ting shook his head, not wanting to speak more. He asked, “Did anything happen these few days?”
Shi Xuejin’s expression became sluggish. “What happened over at the Changbai mountains?”
Nie Ting looked at Shi Xuejin in amusement. “If something happened, it happened. Don’t try to change the subject.”
Shi Xuejin sighed. “Earlier on, Lu Shu and Li Yixiao wanted to sell magical stones, right?”
“Yes,” Nie Ting nodded his head. “What happened? Which family did they sell the stones to? Who is in control of the black market now?”
“Don’t panic…” Shi Xuejin gulped. “The situation is not so simple…”
Nie Ting suddenly had an unpleasant premonition. Shi Xuejin said, “Lu Shu had more than just a few thousand magical stones. He called over six families and sold ten thousand stones to each family…”
“From Nie Ting’s distress, +1000!”
Ten thousand stones per family. Six families meant that 60 thousand stones had been sold. But Shi Xuejin added on, “Not just that. After he sold the 60 thousand stones, he still had many stones on his hands. A safe estimate would be around 20 thousand stones.”
Nie Ting was silent. “Do you mean that now, the families have 60 thousand stones on hand?”
“From Nie Ting’s distress, +1000!”
He had taken great pains to prevent the leak of resources. The magical stones were not so important. But he did not want the families to rapidly rise in prominence.
One could not rely on just resources to advance from Class C to Class B. Furthermore, beyond Class B, one had to rely on their own self-knowledge rather than magical stones. But if they allowed the families to produce many Class C’s, and these Class C’s demanded to hold important positions in the Heavenly Network, it would be a huge headache for the Heavenly Network.
Now, each family had 10 thousand magical stones. This was enough to produce at least a Class C.
According to the Yinyang Kinship of the Three, Class F’s needed 81 small cycles. Advancing from Class F to Class E, Class E to Class D, and Class D to Class C all needed nine big cycles each. Thus, if the families wanted to force out a Class C using just resources, they would need over six thousand magical stones.
After reaching Class C, Yinyang Kinship of the Three required that Class C’s retake the course to make up for what they had missed. If one wanted to use resources to forcibly advance to the peak of Class C, they would need 110 thousand magical stones.
This was why magical stones were in high demand among secret practitioners, while experts often did not care about them. Experts were not willing to exchange their mythical objects for magical stones, as the stones did not mean much to them.
At first, Nie Ting had suggested that Shi Xuejin use magical stones to increase his power. But after he had advanced to the peak of Class C, there was only the possibility of advancing to Class B. Advancing to Class B would require the strength of the entire country. Shi Xuejin thus gave up.
Nie Ting paid attention to the magical stones as he had to consider the overall situation.
“No. Lu Shu bought back some of the magical stones at a lower price. We don’t know the exact amount of stones that he bought back,” said Shi Xuejin. “Each family most likely has an average of three thousand stones left.”
