There were four three-inch knives inside the wooden box.

The knives were neither made of gold nor steel, and their blades were speckled with red rust stains. The sight of those rust stains would make anyone feel uncomfortable.

Yun Jiuge found the knives oddly familiar. She felt like she had seen them somewhere before.

“The Black Magic Weapon that you obtained at the Bloodthirsty Sect is a part of this set of knives,” Zi Shang whispered into Yun Jiuge's ear. “You should buy it.”

Zi Shang's words allowed Yun Jiuge to recall the small knife that she had obtained back then.

The Wicked Energy on that knife was overwhelmingly strong and it was not very powerful either. Yun Jiuge had already long forgotten about its existence.

If that small knife of hers could complete the set before her, then she would hit the jackpot!

Yun Jiuge examined the four knives keenly before she asked, “What's the price for each knife?”

“Each knife costs 200 Spiritual Stones. But, if you're keen on getting all four, I'll give you a discount and charge you 500 Spiritual Stones only,” Shopkeeper Jin said generously.

“No. I'll only pay 300 Spiritual Stones for all four knives.” Yun Jiuge lowered the price by one-third.

“Alchemist Yun, these knives are all Grade Three Black Magic Weapons, and they're able to suck on others' blood and Spiritual Energy as well. I'll be suffering a huge loss if I were to sell them to you at that price.” Shopkeeper Jin shook his head vigorously.

“This set of knives is missing its main knife, and the Vicious Aura on them is very strong as well. I'll have to spend a lot of time and energy to cleanse them, and I don't know if I'll be able to tame them after they're cleansed. I'm taking a huge risk by paying 300 Spiritual Stones as well.” Yun Jiuge was not afraid of Shopkeeper Jin refusing to sell her the knives.

The Black Magic Weapons were rather finicky, so they would only submit to an owner whom they found to be worthy of them.

A Cultivator who failed to tame a Black Magic Weapon could end up being a.s.saulted by the Vicious Aura within the weapon. Even worse, they could end up being devoured by it as well. The entire process to use a Black Magic Weapon was akin to gambling. No one knew what could happen. Every Cultivator who chose to use a Black Magic Weapon had to be very confident in their ability to tame it.

“Alchemist Yun sure is good with words. Alright then. I value our friends.h.i.+p, so I'll take 300 Spiritual Stones for all four knives.” Shopkeeper Jin had a pained look upon his face.

However, he was only pretending to be in pain. The truth was that he had only spent 100 Spiritual Stones for the four knives. The previous owner had already been devoured by the knives.

“Shopkeeper Jin! I knew that you're a sensible man. A friend like you is worth having.” Yun Jiuge was just as good as Shopkeeper Jin at flattering others.

“Ask him to show you some magical weapons that can be used to defend and to fly.” Zi Shang, who had been silent this whole time, spoke up.

The journey to the Zhong Province was an extremely long one, and it would take them forever if they were only going to rely on the Flying Runes to make their way over.

Yun Jiuge thought Zi Shang's words made a lot of sense, and she immediately asked Shopkeeper Jin, “Do you have any good and reasonably priced magical weapons that can be used to defend and to fly?”

“We don't have many Flying Devices, but we do have quite a lot of Defensive magical weapons. I'll show you a few of them!” Shopkeeper Jin took out three more boxes from within his sack.

One of the items he showed her was a palm-sized black s.h.i.+eld that had Defensive Runes engraved onto it. The runes looked like a bunch of intertwining vines that had wrapped themselves all over the s.h.i.+eld.

The other item he presented before her was a golden bracelet that was covered with countless tiny runes.

Yun Jiuge tested both items by injecting her Spiritual Power into them.

The black s.h.i.+eld was able to grow and shrink in size. Its defensive capabilities were quite strong, and it could withstand attacks from a Cultivator in the Foundation Establishment Stage for 10 times. However, its weakness was its lack of mobility. The speed in which it moved around was terribly slow. It was just like a turtle sh.e.l.l.

The golden bracelet, on the other hand, was able to cast a golden Protective Barrier around the user and s.h.i.+eld him from attacks from all sides. Sadly, it was only able to withstand the attacks of a Cultivator in the Foundation Establishment Stage for five times.

Both Defensive magical weapons had their pros and cons, and both cost 200 Spiritual Stones each.

Yun Jiuge decided to go for the black s.h.i.+eld after taking the Liu Sisters' overall abilities into consideration.

Yun Jiuge had Zi Shang with her, but the Liu Sisters had no one to help them. It would be extremely troublesome and a waste if Liu Tian'er had to summon her Nine Purgatories Body every time they ran into trouble.

As for the Flying Devices, Shopkeeper Jin showed her a pair of white wings. The wings would allow her to travel a thousand miles in a day, and it did not require a lot of her Spiritual Power as well. It was a very handy device.

Sadly, it could only allow one person to fly at a time, and it cost a whopping 500 Spiritual Stones as well. This was way above Yun Jiuge's budget.

“Do you have anything cheaper? Preferably one that is able to transport three people at the same time,” asked Yun Jiuge.

“This is already the cheapest Flying Device we have in our shop. The ones that can transport three people would cost more than 500 Spiritual Stones, and they are primarily purchased by the Sects.” Shopkeeper Jin tried to word it nicely, but Yun Jiuge knew what he was trying to imply. She was not very rich, and it would be impossible for her to buy a Flying Device that could transport three people.

“Okay. I'll take this small s.h.i.+eld then. Can you give me a discount?” Yun Jiuge pulled herself together and began haggling the price.

“This is the latest model, so I can't give you a discount on it. But, since we're friends, I can use my employee card to give you a 1% discount. I'll only charge you 198 Spiritual Stones for it.” Shopkeeper Jin said with a smile.

“Come on, give me a 10% discount. Who in the world gives a 1% discount?” Yun Jiuge was aware that they did not give discounts on new items as she had seen from the shopfront a while earlier.

However, the price that Shopkeeper Jin had given her was still marked up. She was sure she could still lower it by a bit more.

“Alright then. I'll give you a 10% discount.” Shopkeeper Jin agreed to her request right away. He then helped her to wrap the items up before he pa.s.sed a thin square Amulet to her. The Amulet was gold in color and had the words ‘Wanbao Building' carved onto it.

“This is a VIP Amulet for the Wanbao Building. You'll be able to enjoy 10% discount at all our branches with it.”

One could only receive Wanbao Building's VIP Amulet by spending more than 5,000 Spiritual Stones in a single purchase.

Shopkeeper Jin helped Yun Jiuge to apply for the Amulet because he wanted to improve his relations.h.i.+p with her.

“Thank you very much.” Yun Jiuge took the Amulet from him without hesitation before she left Wanbao Building with all her things in hand.

After Yun Jiuge left, a shop employee immediately went up to Shopkeeper Jin and told him in a soft voice, “The Young Master is back. He wants you to head over to the Tian Room to find him.”

“Understood.” Shopkeeper Jin hurried over to the Tian Room immediately.

Once inside, he saw a comely man in his early twenties drinking tea as he lounged on a chair. The person standing next to him was Alchemist Chen.

“It's an honor to meet you, Young Master,” Shopkeeper Jin said respectfully.

“I heard from Chen that you bought several good quality Yin Pills earlier?” The Young Master of the Wanbao Building, Wanli Mingxuan, asked as he lowered his tea cup back onto the table.

“Indeed. Please take a look at them, Young Master.” Shopkeeper Jin handed the pills in his hands over to Wanli Mingxuan.

Wanli Mingxuan placed one of the pills in his mouth. He then chewed on it and said, “The Yin Qi within this pill seems to have come from the Yin Corpse Sect's Yin Qi Graveyard.”

“What? Does that mean that a Dark Alchemist working for the Yin Corpse Sect is trying to make a profit for himself elsewhere?” Shopkeeper Jin furrowed his brows.

That's impossible!

“A talented Dark Alchemist would definitely be given a high status within any Sect. Why would such a person bother earning a meager 600 Spiritual Stones for himself when he would be given everything he needed by the Sect?” Shopkeeper Jin thought to himself.

“It doesn't matter why that person sold us these pills. It's the money that matters to us anyway. There's nothing wrong with trying to get on his good side,” Wanli Mingxuan said as he continued to chew on the pills.

“Young Master is right.” Shopkeeper Jin felt his heart ache when he saw how many pills his Young Master was eating. “Young Master, why don't you find a room to meditate after eating so many pills?”

“Ha! Does it pain you that I'm eating so many of these pills? Don't worry about it, I'll definitely pay for them.” The Wanbao Building adopted very strict rules. Wanli Mingxuan was not allowed to just take whatever he wanted from the shop even if he was the Young Master. He had to pay for them with his own Spiritual Stones.

“One pill costs seven Spiritual Stones, so that'd be 700 Spiritual Stones in total. Thank you very much!” Shopkeeper Jin immediately put on a smile after hearing Wanli Mingxuan's words. He would never sell his goods at cost price, even if the other party was his Young Master.

“Seven Spiritual Stones for one pill? That's a rip-off!” Wanli Mingxuan had been chewing on the pills happily all this while, but he nearly jumped to his feet when he heard the price.

“Young Master, these are all high-grade pills. Alchemist Chen personally evaluated them himself.” Shopkeeper Jin felt aggrieved. He could have easily sold each pill for 10 Spiritual Stones in the shop, but he only charged the Young Master seven Spiritual Stones! He was making a loss!