Chapter 1460: Just Around The Corner

Usually, an outer court disciple who had just entered the sect would not have that many Merit Points.

However, as the saying went, “don’t look down on tiny things”. The shrewd inner court disciple still pumped himself up with energy and entertained Duan Ling Tian, this customer of his with a serious face. “Don’t worry, Junior Brother, everything right here at my place is absolutely sold with honesty!”

Picking up a dried branch from the stall, Duan Ling Tian muttered, “This dried branch seems to be quite special. It should be quite pleasing if I buy it back to make a fire.”

This dried branch was one of the materials that Elder Huo wanted.

Of course, this item was very far from being comparable to the Nuwa Stone.

However, the fact that there were two items that could be used to repair the Seven Treasures Exquisite Pagoda in an inner court disciple’s stall was enough to elicit shock from Duan Ling Tian.

“Buy it back to make a fire?” Upon hearing Duan Ling Tian’s words, the inner court disciple was so pissed that he almost threw blood up. With a solemn face, he warned, “Junior Brother, you can’t look down on this. It’s not that simple.”

“Not that simple? Hmm, it doesn’t seem like it.” Duan Ling Tian curled his lip with disbelief written on his face. “I don’t want it if it’s too expensive. I’ll just go take a look at the other stalls then.”

The moment he concluded, he proceeded to turn and leave.

“Junior Brother, I didn’t lie to you!” When the inner court disciple saw that Duan Ling Tian was about to leave, he became anxious right away. He had not made any sale the entire day today and now that a victim had finally come, of course, he would not just let him go just like that.

“Then, tell me, which part of it isn’t simple?” Duan Ling Tian asked nonchalantly.

“Although this looks just like a dried branch, it’s not something that can be burned easily with any fire. There are many One-Star Saint Refinement Masters in the inner court who couldn’t even light it up even if they used flames that are refined by weapons and pills,” shared the inner court disciple with a solemn face.

“Really?” Duan Ling Tian pretended to be surprised.

“Of course!” The inner court disciple quickly replied, “If you’re not willing, Junior Brother, you can invite a One-Star Refinement Master to come. You don’t have to search far. I’m sure there must be a One-Star Refinement Master here at the first level of the Merit Pavilion. You only have to pay him some Merit Points and I believe that he won’t reject your request for a test.”

Duan Ling Tian frowned as though he was troubled by this notion.

After a long time, he finally eased his frown under the anticipating gaze of the inner court disciple. “Alright, I believe you! I don’t have that many Merit Points to invite a One-Star Refinement Master to test it out but, Senior Brother, I don’t have many Merit Points on hand either. I won’t be able to buy it if it’s too expensive,” Duan Ling Tian frowned again as he said.

Although he actually had millions of Merit Points, he did not have the intention to spend recklessly at all. Perhaps there might be some other things that he wanted to exchange for in the Merit Pavilion, so he did not want to waste too many Merit Points here on the first level of the Merit Pavilion.

“It’s not expensive! It’s definitely not expensive!” The inner court disciple shook his head vehemently.

“It’s not? How many Merit Points is it then?” Duan Ling Tian asked.

“5,000 Merit Points.” The moment the inner court disciple’s words left his mouth, he stared at Duan Ling Tian with utmost concentration as though he wanted to discern whether he could afford it or not.

After knowing that this purple-clad young man was an outer court disciple who had just entered the sect not long ago, his first thought was that this person must not have many Saint Stones on him. However, as his pondered about it, he was hit by a pang of realization. He realized that many of the outer court disciples came from the City Governor’s Estate of the 18 cities under the Moon Illumination Sect’s command.

Furthermore, these outer court disciples were usually the disciples of the various City Governors.

It was normal for these outer court disciples to have 10,000 to 20,000 Merit Points on hand.

“5,000 Merit Points?” Upon hearing the inner court disciple’s words, Duan Ling Tian put on a dismayed expression. Right away, without saying anything, he turned around and proceeded to walk away.

At that moment when he turned around, his eyes were gleaming with shock and disbelief as though it had never crossed his mind that this dried branch would actually be this pricey.

“Junior Brother, I was just joking! 1,000 Merit Points! You can have it with 1,000 Merit Points!” From the beginning till the end, the inner court disciple never missed Duan Ling Tian’s expression at all. After seeing the change in his expression and how he turned around after hearing the news that he asked for, he realized that this purple-clad young man must not have that many Merit Points.

Had he known that this purple-clad young man was Duan Ling Tian, the outer court disciple who had given rise to many discussions, he would have been so pissed that he would throw up blood!

He was a millionaire who had more than a million Merit Points, yet he had actually turned around without saying anything the moment he heard the asking price of 5,000 Merit Points! Was he even worthy of the millions of Merit Points that he had?

When Duan Ling Tian heard the inner court disciple’s words, a scheming smile crept up upon the corner of his mouth right away. However, he did not slow down but proceeded to go to the other stall.

“500! 500 Merit Points! Junior Brother, this really is the lowest that I can go!” Noticing how Duan Ling Tian had no intention to stop at all, the inner court disciple smiled wryly right away.

“Alright, 500 Merit Points… But you have to give me a free gift.” Duan Ling Tian also knew that 500 Merit Points was the lowest price that the inner court disciple could offer, so he did not continue to walk forward. Instead, he turned around and returned to the stall.

“Gift?” The inner court disciple frowned right away as he looked at Duan Ling Tian with doubt.

However, the moment he saw how Duan Ling Tian kept looking at the dried branch with a pained expression, his frown disappeared as he cursed in his heart, “How unlucky for me to actually come across a poor fellow!”

If this inner court disciple’s inner thought spread out to the outer court district, he would have most likely drowned in the saliva of the group of the outer court disciples.

Was he calling Duan Ling Tian, who had millions of Merit Points, a poor fellow?

Even an inner court elder would not have dared to say such words!

“Junior Brother, 500 Merit Points is really the lowest I can go… As for a gift, I really can’t give you any.” The inner court disciple shook his head and did not agree to Duan Ling Tian’s words.

“Then, it’s fine. I don’t want it anymore,” Duan Ling Tian responded impatiently and proceeded to leave again.

“Wait a minute! Wait a minute!” The inner court disciple did not expect Duan Ling Tian to be so brazen. He became anxious right away. “Junior Brother, I can give you a gift, but you can only choose from the pile that I allow you to.”

“No problem as long as I have a gift,” Duan Ling Tian said with an unconcerned look as though he was not concerned what the gift would be.

The inner court disciple cursed again in his heart before reaching out a hand to point at the corner of his stall. “Just pick any item that you want from that pile.”

Duan Ling Tian studied the corner of the stall. That corner was exactly where the Nuwa Stone fragment was.

“What? All these trash?” Duan Ling Tian frowned. “Senior Brother, you actually dare to take these trash out to exchange for Merit Points? D-Don’t you think you’re being too shameless?”

“Junior Brother, you don’t recognize them, so don’t say that they’re trash please,” pleaded the inner court disciple with a solemn face. “Besides, you said yourself that you’re okay with whatever item without any requirements at all. Don’t tell me that you regret it now?”

“Yeah, I kinda do now. Although I know that you must be stingy, I can’t believe that you’re actually this stingy.” Duan Ling Tian smiled wryly.

“Junior Brother, the sale is already final. You can’t turn back on your decision now,” warned the inner court disciple vigilantly.

Duan Ling Tian sighed before crouching down as he started to fumble around the corner of the stall. He picked up each of the items and then tossed it aside again.

When he picked up the Nuwa Stone and then threw it aside again, his heartbeat raced a few notches faster.

“There seems to be no good item here, huh?” After Duan Ling Tian checked everything out till the end, he frowned.

The inner court disciple sneered to himself. If there was a good item, would he be willing to just give it out as a gift?

“Fine then, I’ll just randomly pick one.” Duan Ling Tian casually picked up the Nuwa Stone’s fragment and told the inner court disciple, “Senior Brother, I’ll take this stone fragment then. You’ve got no problem with that, have you?”

When the inner court disciple saw him picking up the stone fragment — the stone fragment that could not be invaded by both water and fire of which he happened to come across outside — he nodded and said, “No problem, but Junior Brother, now that you’ve taken your pick, you’re not allowed to go back on your decision any more.”

“No, no, I won’t.” Duan Ling Tian shook his head before taking out his Crystal Card to transfer 500 Merit Points to the inner court disciple.

Unless the owner activated it using True Energy, the balance of the Merit Points in the Crystal Card would not be displayed. Therefore, the inner court disciple had no idea that the Crystal Card in Duan Ling Tian’s hand actually had a total of more than 1.7 million Merit Points.

Otherwise, he would definitely have been so pissed!

“I’ve gotten the two materials.” After storing the two items, Duan Ling Tian was consumed with a wave of inexplicable excitement.

“Junior Brother, take a look and see if there’s anything else that you want.” Now that he had made his first sale after coming to the Merit Pavillion for such a long day, the inner court disciple’s face was filled with a smile.

“Senior Brother, your items are just too expensive. I can’t afford them at all with the Merit Points that I have left. It’s better for me to go have a look at the other stalls.” Duan Ling Tian smiled wryly. At the same time, he proceeded to buy the other materials he needed for the third level of the Seven Treasures Exquisite Pagoda to be repaired.

When it came to the few other materials, Duan Ling Tian played the same old trick and he managed to get all of them by only spending another 1,000 Merit Points. He had performed the art of bargaining most incisively, almost to the acme of perfection.

“Elder Huo, with these materials now, how much of the third level of the Seven Treasures Exquisite Pagoda can be repaired?” Duan Ling Tian asked.

“It won’t be able to be repaired much if there’s no Nuwa Stone fragment… But now that we have the Nuwa Stone, we’ll be able to repair 70% of the third level of the Seven Treasures Exquisite Pagoda,” Elder Huo replied.

70%?

Upon hearing Elder Huo’s words, Duan Ling Tian’s eyes lit up right away as his face was filled with astonishment.

It had never crossed his mind that the materials that he had bought on the first level of the Merit Pavilion would actually lend such a huge aid to the repairing of the Seven Treasures Exquisite Pagoda. It could actually repair the third level to 70%!

In fact, before this, the third level of the Seven Treasures Exquisite Pagoda had only been repaired by 10%.

In other words, his harvest today could repair the third level of the Seven Treasures Exquisite Pagoda by another 60%.

“Elder Huo, at this speed, it must be just around the corner before the third level of the Seven Treasures Exquisite Pagoda is activated!” Duan Ling Tian told Elder Huo.

He was looking forward to the third level of the Seven Treasures Exquisite Pagoda and to a better cultivation environment combined with the slower passing of time.

Five days inside the pagoda was equivalent to one day outside.