Hearing Li Mu’s words, the stout merchant rejoiced instead of getting angry.
What had worried him was not that Li Mu might charge an exorbitant service fee but that he refused to provide him the service at all.
“Fine, we have a deal,” the stout merchant answered in a booming voice as if he feared that Li Mu would then go back to his words.
Interstellar merchants—especially those who had no bottom line and principles. In order to pursue profit, there was basically nothing they could not do. The stout merchant was one of them. Just moments ago, he threatened Li Mu and the two were on the verge of breaking out a fight. But now, he seemed to be totally cooperative.
Li Mu casually picked up a piece of Primordial Stone the size of a small puppy. The black-cloaked vendor declared that it was priced at 10 silver-colored fairy crystals.
Seeing that Li Mu picked that stone so unceremoniously, the stout merchant could not help but doubt his attitude. Then, he remarked, “Dude, this is business. The most important thing in doing business is integrity. Let’s put our previous disputes aside. I believe you won’t pick a waste stone to get back at me, will you?”
Li Mu snapped, “Buy it or leave it.”
He seemed very lofty.
“Fine. I’ll just trust you for once.” The stout merchant gritted his teeth and gave Li Mu 30 silver-colored fairy crystals, and then asked the black-cloaked vendor to crack the stone.
When that Primordial Stone was cut open, bright silver brilliance streamed out from it like a waterfall of flowing light. It was indeed the top-grade silver-colored fairy crystal. After weighing it, it was worth 80 standard silver-colored fairy crystals.
The profit was huge!
The stout merchant smiled and said, “Well, you are indeed a Primordial Stone master who holds onto your integrity. My previous worries turned out to be totally unnecessary.”
Onlookers around the stall were amazed when they saw that.
So far, Li Mu’s success rate in selecting stones was still 100%. He had made no mistakes in his choices. Such a high success rate was astonishingly unbelievable.
Some people also started to look at this from another angle. They couldn’t help but wonder if all the Primordial Stones in this stall contained fairy crystals, and that was why Li Mu had always picked the right one with the fairy crystals.
So, some people began to try it themselves.
Half a dozen people selected stones by themselves in succession. But the stones they chose all turned out to be waste stones. Having suffered such a loss, their faces were twisted by regret.
The stout merchant also tried it once himself. He spent 60 silver-colored fairy crystals on a bucket-sized Primordial Stone. However, it turned out to be stuffed with waste materials, and there was not even a trace of fairy crystal in it.
Those people all felt like weeping but had no tears.
It was not until this moment that the onlookers realized how shockingly accurate Li Mu’s stone selection method was. He could effortlessly pick out the one with gold in it. It was definitely not because of his good luck but his knowledge and experience.
“Little fella, could you help me choose a few more Primordial Stones? I’m willing to pay a higher fee,” the stout merchant surrounded by his bodyguards squeezed his way to the front and asked again with a somewhat ingratiating smile.
Li Mu said, “Did you not doubt my ability just now? Hmph.”
The stout merchant narrowed eyes. A trace of deeply hidden indignation and the intention to kill flashed across his face, which he quickly concealed. Then, he again and again apologized. “My bad that I measured the stature of a great man by the yardstick of a petty man. You are an incredible master of Primordial Stones. I hope you won’t mind my reckless remarks before. Please mercy me and help me pick a few more stones.”
A look of hesitation climbed onto Li Mu’s face.
Ding Yi, who was next to me, advised, “Why help this kind of person? Just ignore him.”
Li Mu heaved with a long sigh and said, “We’re still a bit short…” He turned to look at the stout merchant and said, “Just three more stones and we’re done.”
The stout merchant was overjoyed. He exclaimed, “Sure, sure, no problem.”
So, Li Mu started selecting stones again.
The first one he picked was a Primordial Stone the size of an adult’s fist.
The black-cloaked vendor offered five silver-colored fairy crystals, and the stout merchant tripled the price. A gold fairy crystal worth more than 300 standard silver spars was found in that one. Seeing that his money had multiplied in an instant, the merchant could not stop smiling from ear to ear.
Li Mu then made his second choice, which was a Primordial Stone the size of a three-year-old child.
The black-cloaked vendor directly asked for 50 silver-colored fairy crystals for it. The stout merchant paid Li Mu 150. As it turned out, this one contained a shining silver fairy crystal. It was also the best kind and the size is huge. When it was finally taken out from the crust, they found that it was worth more than 400 standard silver-colored fairy crystals, and the stout merchant still doubled his money again.
The onlookers around were all stunned by Li Mu’s amazing means of stone selection.
“He really never fails.”
“He hasn’t chosen a wrong one yet.”
“With such a success rate, I would buy it even if he claimed to be a celestial master of Primordial Stones. And he is still so young. Well, seems that the younger generation will surpass the older one.”
“Celestial master of Primordial Stones? Nonsense! He has no backbone at all. He had openly turned hostile against this businessman before, but now he’s decided to work for him just for more money. Well, he does know his stuff but he doesn’t have principles or moral courage. He is still a far cry from a celestial master of Primordial Stones.”
“What do you know about him anyway? I knew at first glance that this young man has just made a breakthrough in the Void-breaking Realm and entered the Worm Realm. He has come out of the lower realm and has no one to lean on in this galaxy. Naturally, he wants to rely on his own ability and seize the rare opportunities. Fairy crystals are conducive to cultivation. Compared with fairy crystals, principles don’t matter anymore, do they? Heroes may not be defeated by strength but by the lack of money. If you want to live in this galaxy, unless you’re one of the disciples of big sects, you have to eat humble pie and cultivate on your own, don’t you?”
Some people who sympathized with Li Mu began to defend him.
At this time, a wretched old Taoist holding a banner saying shockingly ambitious words pushed his way to the front of the crowd when no one was looking.
Having heard what the others said, the Taoist wagged his head and refuted, “Amitayus… What do you know about the Primordial Stone masters? For them, only two things matter. The first is their skill. The second is their credibility. The latter is particularly important. If you deliberately select the wrong stone for a client for personal grievances. You may vent your anger, but your credibility will be ruined. No matter how good your stone selection skills are, others will not dare to hire you anymore. Therefore, Primordial Stone Masters will never do such a thing to harm their career.”
Hearing what the old Taoist said, others pondered for moments and realized that he did have a point.
“Fella, there is one last chance left, can you…” The stout merchant had made huge profits in the first two deals. Seeing that there was only one chance left, he got a little worried. After all, man’s greed and desire would never subside but expand.
Li Mu directly turned him down. “No, I said I would pick three more stones for you and that’s it. You can’t have more.”
The stout merchant was a little annoyed. He then said, “Since this is my last chance, can you try to help me choose a Primordial Stone containing a large gold-colored fairy crystal? I will offer you four times the price.”
Based on the results of the first two deals, the stout merchant had completely believed in Li Mu’s skills.
Li Mu sneered, “This kind of thing depends on sheer luck. Even I can’t conjure a big gold-colored fairy crystal out of thin air.”
Despite that, Li Mu still began to pick among the large pile of Primordial Stones.
At this moment, everyone around was holding their breath.
They all had a hunch that the Primordial Stone selected by Li Mu this time was definitely an amazing one. It was very likely that the news would make a sensation in the entire Brilliance Immortal Star Region. Anyway, what happened before would be shockingly enough to bandy about the Brilliance Immortal Star Region.
Even the wretched old Taoist holding the banner stared at Li Mu unblinkingly with a hint of curiosity in his eyes. The fingers of his left hand were moving constantly, as though he was doing some calculations.
Standing in the crowd, Young Master Shi Siming and Master Shi had stopped talking and fixed their eyes on Li Mu.
Only the black-cloaked vendor stayed extremely composed from the beginning to the end. The eyes under the mask were perfectly calm like the surface of a waveless ancient well.
Li Mu examined all the stones with care.
Finally, Li Mu pointed at the largest Primordial Stone in the whole stall and asked, “Boss, this Primordial Stone, how much is it?”
Everyone’s eyes followed his finger and landed on that large stone. Then, they all couldn’t help but exclaim.
It was big!
Too big!
This Primordial Stone was 1.45 meters high. It was cylindrical, with a diameter of more than one meter. The shape was regular, and the crust was smooth. The star patterns on it were clear. And there was some gleaming spiritual energy around it. It seemed to be an extraordinary stone.
“This one is the Primordial Stone King!”
“It’s extraordinary at first glance.”
“This one is guaranteed to contain fairy crystals. Why didn’t anyone buy this Primordial Stone King before?”
“You are wrong about that. In fact, someone asked about its price before, but the stall owner charged 50 gold-colored fairy crystals, which is an absolute sky-high price. It is just appalling, so no one has decided to buy it yet!”
“That’s true. The risk is too high. Even if it is the Primordial Stone King that contains fairy crystal, as long as it is a fairy crystal below the top-grade silver-colored fairy crystal, one will lose money.”
“But now that the young celestial master of Primordial Stones has chosen this one, I bet that this Primordial Stone king absolutely contains a gold-colored fair crystal. It can’t be wrong!”
“From where I’m standing, this stall owner is a bit suspicious. The stones he sells may actually be from the forbidden mining area. The probability of finding a Primordial Stone King in the forbidden mining area is relatively high,” said the old Taoist with a mysterious air.
He pretended to do a few calculations and announced, “Amitayus Buddha… something big will happen today.”
Looking at the Primordial Stone Li Mu pointed at, the corner of the mouth under the black-cloaked vendor’s mask curled into a weird arc. He then said blandly, “100 gold-colored fairy crystals.”
What a sky-high price!
An absolutely sky-high price!
The stout merchant who had heard what the other man said before instantly flew into a rage. Hopping furiously, he demanded, “Before, you charged only 50 gold-colored fairy crystals. But now you want 100? How could you raise the price like that?”
The black-cloaked vendor pointed at Li Mu and said calmly, “Because he’s chosen it.”
It could be regarded as a compliment for Li Mu’s sharp vision in disguise.
Li Mu was slightly startled.
“Now it’s interesting.
“This vendor… is sort of a scamp.”
Li Mu turned around and said to the stout merchant, “What’s the matter? Didn’t you say that you want a big one this time? There is only one chance left. If you don’t want it, I’ll buy this Primordial Stone King myself.”
“Hmm…” the stout merchant got worried. He gritted his teeth and said, “Fine, I’ll buy it.”
One hundred gold-colored fairy crystals was not a small amount of money. And this stout merchant had to pay four times the price. Even though he was rich, it was still a huge sum of money, and he had no way to get his hands on so many crystals on such short notice.
After thinking about it, he finally ground his teeth and said, “My friend, I have a top-grade Taoist Treasure which has been notarized at the Fair-deal Shop. It is worth 200 gold-colored fairy crystals. How about I give it to you as part of the payment?”
Then, the stout merchant presented Li Mu a broadsword with a slim blade shaped like a wild goose feather.
