Su Yueli nodded. Since the receptionist didn't have the authority to appraise the item, she followed her up to a VIP room on the second floor.
The room's decor was highly elegant, and the faint scent of sandalwood drifted through the air.
Sitting on a soft daybed was a white-haired old man dressed in a grey robe and sporting a goatee. This man was none other than the chief appraiser of the Wanbao Merchant House.
Su Yueli stepped forward and placed the stalk of Sky Blue Silver Spot Grass onto the mahogany table.
The old man picked it up nonchalantly to examine it. But with just a single glance, his cloudy eyes suddenly went wide. He yanked at the goatee on his chin and cried out in shock, “A five-hundred-year-old Sky Blue Silver Spot Grass? The medicinal potency is preserved so perfectly—not a single trace of it has leaked out!”
He looked up at Su Yueli, the trace of dismissiveness in his eyes vanishing without a trace, replaced by a highly solemn expression. “Young lady, this is indeed a rare treasure. If you put it up for the auction the day after next, this old man can set the starting bid at three hundred mid-grade spirit stones per stalk. What do you think?”
Three hundred mid-grade spirit stones?
And that was just the starting bid?
Su Yueli's lips twitched. She really wanted to slap her thigh and curse, “Damn it!”
She had really suffered from her lack of common sense and been scammed by Lie Yangfeng! When that guy offered three hundred mid-grade spirit stones two days ago, she actually thought it was quite a lot.
Looking at it now, that guy had made a massive profit!
But she truly didn't recognize these things. Having grown up in a small mountain village, the information barrier was like a massive mountain, leaving her with absolutely no way to access this kind of knowledge.
Left with no choice, she reached into her storage bag again. With a rustling sound, another two identical deep-blue dried herbs landed on the table.
“Three stalks in total. I'm selling them all.”
The old man gasped, growing somewhat excited.
Three stalks of five-hundred-year-old spiritual herbs—this was a massive fortune.
Looking at the spiritual herbs on the table, Su Yueli's mind whirled.
She still had plenty of miscellaneous herbs cluttering her storage bag anyway. Keeping them in there was just wasting space, so she might as well seize this opportunity to clear them out.
With that thought, she opened her storage bag and poured out half of the herbs inside.
Instantly, more than half of the mahogany table was piled high with all sorts of bizarrely shaped herbs emitting strange fragrances.
Some of these were just weeds she had casually plucked while in the Cangyun Ancient Kingdom ruins.
The old man could no longer sit still. He sprang to his feet, his hands trembling as he rummaged through the pile of herbs.
“This is a three-hundred-year-old Blood Lingzhi... these are seeds of the Earth Core Fire Lotus... and could this be... the Purple Cloud Life-Extending Vine?! This is a sacred object capable of extending the lifespan and healing the injuries of powerful experts in the Eighth Realm of the immortal path!”
The old man looked up at Su Yueli, cold sweat drenching his forehead.
It wouldn't be surprising if a grand elder or a sect master of some major faction had brought these.
But he couldn't fathom how this secular martial artist in front of him, who possessed not a single shred of spiritual energy fluctuation, had managed to obtain so many top-tier spiritual herbs.
However, as the chief appraiser of the Wanbao Merchant House, he knew the rules well.
There were countless extraordinary people in this world. This young woman before him undoubtedly had some reclusive old monster with heaven-defying cultivation backing her.
What shouldn't be asked, shouldn't be asked.
The old man took a deep breath, forcing down the shock in his heart, and spoke respectfully, “Please rest assured, young lady. Our Wanbao Merchant House operates on the principle of pure business; we will never pry into the origins of your items. This old man will personally appraise and set the starting bids for each of these spiritual herbs for you right now.”
Half an hour later, all the accounts were finalized, and the prices were outrageously high.
Looking at the staggering sum of spirit stones on the bill, Su Yueli rubbed her chin and spoke calmly, “Sir, having so many spirit stones isn't of much use to me. I wonder if your merchant house accepts bartering?”
The old man froze for a moment, then came to a sudden realization. “You are a martial artist, young lady, so you naturally require items that nourish the physical body and blood qi. To be honest, at the auction the day after next, we happen to have a few unpublicized, top-secret treasures.”
“For instance, Ten-Thousand-Year Earth Marrow Liquid, the Divine Vitality Blood-Generating Pill refined from the essence blood of a Fifth Realm wild demon beast, and an ancient martial arts remnant scroll rumored to be able to break through mortal shackles, as well as...”
Hearing this, Su Yueli's heart trembled violently.
Only now did she realize that the cultivation world actually preserved so many advanced martial arts items that the secular world had never even heard of.
“That works. When the time comes, use the proceeds from the auction of these spiritual herbs to prioritize exchanging them for these martial artist resources for me,” Su Yueli decided on the spot.
The old man agreed repeatedly and quickly fished out a black token from his robes, handing it over.
“Everything is settled. When the auction begins in two days, you only need to bring this token, and someone will lead you to VIP Room Number Eight on the second floor.”
“At that time, once your spiritual herbs are sold, the spirit stones will automatically be credited to the token.”
Su Yueli took the token, nodded slightly, and turned to leave the Wanbao Merchant House.
Stepping out of the main entrance, she wandered around the city before finding a secluded and quiet inn to settle down in.
Inside her room, Su Yueli sat cross-legged on the bed. Sending her divine sense into her storage bag, she looked at the remaining half of her herbs.
These herbs looked even more bizarre; some even had patterns resembling human faces on them.
She knit her delicate brows, feeling a bit of a headache coming on.
Because she knew nothing about the immortal path, she had no idea what these things were called, let alone their specific effects.
“It seems I'll have to find a way to learn about the herbs and plants of cultivators in the future. If I end up feeding a peerless immortal herb to a rabbit as common weed, that would be a massive joke.”
Su Yueli massaged her temples, and scenes of her deep inside the Cangyun Ancient Kingdom ruins all those years ago naturally floated to the surface of her mind.
Back then, the entire valley was covered with these shimmering spiritual herbs and exotic flowers.
At that time, her mind was entirely set on practicing martial arts, so she had no idea of the true value of these things. She simply thought they looked pretty, so she had casually plucked some and stuffed them into her storage bag.
She had only thought of seeing if she could sell them for a bit of money...
Recalling the frantic reactions of Lie Yangfeng and the old appraiser now...
“That was a whole valley of top-tier spiritual herbs...”
Su Yueli clutched her chest and collapsed onto the bed, feeling a deep, agonizing ache of regret.
What a massive loss! She had truly missed out on billions!
If she had scraped that valley clean back then, the resources in her hands now would probably be enough to buy out an entire mountain peak of the Blue Moon Sect.
Su Yueli gritted her teeth, a trace of determination flashing in her eyes.
No, she had to find a reliable way.
Once she investigated Shen Huai'an's matter thoroughly and broke through in strength, she would definitely return to the Cangyun Kingdom's restricted area to reclaim her past losses with interest!
Rate on N.U.
