“But Father—”
“Will agree with me,” Uncle Tung stated flatly.
“I can’t just leave…”
“Three days,” Uncle Tung said, glancing at Wu Ying. “A fleet of boats is leaving in that time. I will arrange for passage for you both.” Uncle Tung’s eyes raked over Wu Ying, taking in his peasant clothing and his bag. “I will send Ah Kong with you to find accommodations, and he will pass word of which boat later.”
“Yes, honored elder,” Wu Ying said agreeably.
Since Zhong Shei would be looking after the other jar, it was of no concern to Wu Ying. Though the trip might be somewhat uncomfortable, especially with the way the other man was glaring at him. At the dismissive wave of Uncle Tung’s hand, Wu Ying scurried out of the room and met with the aforementioned servant.
Wu Ying and the servant left while Uncle Tung’s slowly rising voice grew behind them as he scolded his nephew, who continued to attempt to wheedle his way out of the trip. As he left, Wu Ying could not help but consider that perhaps it was for the best that his family was small.
Ah Kong, the servant, was taciturn and quiet but knowledgeable of the city. Wu Ying’s attempts at dispelling the distance between them could not make the other open up to casual conversation, but at the end of their short trip to a clean, well-priced, and convenient travelers’ inn, Wu Ying had garnered the information he required. After paying the fee for a private room for a few days, Wu Ying made his way back out to look for the recommended merchant.
While it might have been convenient for there to be a single location to sell his beast stones, real life did not work that way. As such, finding an honest and trustworthy merchant was important. Luckily, Ah Kong knew of a few, one of whom had a shop close to the inn. While he was a little concerned that Ah Kong might be receiving a kickback for his recommendations, it was unlikely to be an issue. A servant of such a powerful and famous merchant easily made more money doing his job than any little kickback someone like Wu Ying could create—even if the merchant completely scammed him.
And thankfully, Wu Ying was not a complete greenhorn in the sale of beast cores. While there were numerous things he did not know, the occasional appearance of those creatures in the vicinity of the village was a fact of life. As such, most children grew up watching and learning the basic pricing for such items.
In general, demonic beast cores held significantly lower value than normal spirit beast cores. Due to the corruption in these cores, alchemists and doctors needed to purify the cores before they could be used. Most demon cores were, at best, a fifth of the price of a spirit core of the same type and size.
Along with type, the originating animal, size, element, and cultivation level all mattered. Animals from predators were generally more expensive, due to their overall rarity. Those kinds of cores were used by cultivators and were best sold to merchants who dealt with cultivators since they had the higher demand. Alchemists and doctors were more likely to buy herbivorous or prey spirit beast cores since their gentler natures made for better pills and medicine.
All of which explained why Wu Ying was visiting a merchant rather than a doctor with the demon beast cores he held. After all, the vast majority of the cores he had came from predators who’d felt that Wu Ying would make a decent snack.
“Good day. How are you doing? How may we help you today?” the merchant called to Wu Ying the moment he entered, his eyes raking over Wu Ying’s poorly dressed form without judgment. His smile did not even waver. Definitely a man who was successful at this business.
“I would like to sell some demon and spirit cores,” Wu Ying said as he approached the counter.
Wu Ying surveyed the contents of the store. It was very much as Ah Kong had described—a medium-sized store whose primary stock was geared toward cultivators. On this floor alone, Wu Ying saw scrolls filled with cultivation manuals, martial art styles, and battle techniques, swords and other weapons of varying quality, an assortment of pills and herbs which Wu Ying mostly could not recognize, and of course, the ubiquitous labeled and prepared spirit stones. Each of those stones had been carefully prepped to allow cultivators to draw in the stored chi, with its attendant element, and—if a cultivator was lucky—the creature’s enlightenment. Of course, unprepped stones could be absorbed raw, but cultivators would find the process more difficult and less efficient.
“Of course. One moment,” the merchant said, walking to the side a bit and reaching beneath his counter.
He came up with a simple wooden tray with a white cloth placed upon it before he gestured for Wu Ying to showcase the stones. After they’d tumbled into the tray, the merchant picked up a nearby stick and pushed them around, separating the stones by color and size with quick flicks. The merchant held a hand over each location, humming softly to himself.
“Eight cores. Five demon cores of small size from various predator animals. Three spirit beast cores of intermediate size, one of which comes from the rare green spirit snake,” the merchant said with a smile. “I can offer… hmmm… five taels for the demon cores. The spirit beast cores are worth five and a half tael each, but the snake’s rare. I can sell that one immediately after processing. Call it seven tael for that one. The offer is only if you sell all of them here though.”
Wu Ying did the math in his head quickly. Twenty-three tael for all his cores—much better than he had expected to receive. Selling prices in the city were higher than when the traders came to his village, which, come to think of it, made sense. After all, those traders had to transport the cores to the cities or sects, running the risk of being robbed.
Keeping his features smooth, Wu Ying considered the matter before sweeping his gaze over the shop. “If we traded for some items, I assume there’d be a better rate?”
“Of course.” The merchant nodded. “If you wish to look around, I will cover the stones and place them back here. When you are done, inform me and we can complete the deal.”
“Good,” Wu Ying said with a smile.
The merchant quickly did as he suggested, placing the beast cores and tray behind the counter while Wu Ying seriously perused the goods. As he walked around slowly, he considered what he needed.
Most importantly, a sword. The one he currently wielded was broken, and even if he managed to sell it or have it fixed, it would still be fatally flawed. Better to sell the metal and buy a new, untarnished sword. Cultivation manuals and styles were probably too expensive for him. In addition, he had so much still to learn that adding more styles would be foolish. Still, Wu Ying knew he was fast closing in on the Energy Gathering portion of his cultivation, so a quick perusal of those manuals might make sense. As for cultivation resources, those were important. Wu Ying was tempted to look into another Meridian Cleansing pill, though a snide portion of his mind pointed out that perhaps some healing pills or concoctions might be better.
Mind made up, Wu Ying moved more determinedly through the store. The weapons were stacked in three distinct locations—those that were piled in a barrel on the floor, those that were carefully displayed but still in easy reach of the shoppers, and those placed behind the counters, carefully displayed and out of reach without aid. A quick glance at the pricing of the jian within reach showed that Wu Ying could forget about the better weapons. Each of the displayed jian cost forty to fifty tael each—or put another way, the full price of a single good harvest. Even if they could harvest three times a year, that money had to go into buying the sundry requirements of the farm, from additional feed for the horse, farming equipment, clothing, firewood, and more.