Chapter Seventy-Seven: Transactions
It was unintentional, but what he saw and heard in the "field of vision" at this moment made Zhou Ang pay all his attention at once - what is going on?
Zhou Ang had no doubt about the ability of the mirror, so he was sure that what was given in the current "vision" must be the current situation of Lu Tao, the eldest lady of the Lu family.
However, the black rumbling was so loud that he couldn't see anything clearly.
And being in the field of vision of the mirror, Zhou Ang found that his "night vision" was not needed at all.
Except for the sound of wheels and horses' hooves, nothing else can be heard.
Almost subconsciously, Zhou Ang first thought, why did this eldest lady of the Lu family go out at night? Then he suddenly felt excited, and suddenly thought: It can't be Li Ming coming back, right?
Lu Tao, the eldest lady of the Lu family, was restrained by him?
If you think about it, it doesn't seem like it's impossible.
As soon as his mind moved, the vision of the mirror quickly rose from the original inside the carriage, so Zhou Ang immediately saw that the carriage was running on the streets of the city at this moment.
The moonlight is still bright, although it is not very clear, but it can still be barely recognized, and the person sitting in the driver's position seems to be a middle-aged man who is a little older, no matter the size or vague appearance, it is obviously not Li Ming.
But Zhou Ang did not give up his suspicions.
It's just that when his "vision" follows the carriage and looks around, he can't tell which road the carriage is running on.
The architectural style of Lingzhou City, just like Chang'an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty, is the most disciplined, and what is required is the kind of strict atmosphere after the style is unified, and the result is that, except for a few extremely important locations, the normal streets and alleys are almost completely identical at a rough look, and it is impossible to distinguish them at all.
But soon, when the speed of the car gradually slowed down, Zhou Ang finally saw a familiar scene - the carriage had already arrived at the gate of the workshop where he lived.
This is evil!
Are they coming to Guidehouse?
Zhou Ang was surprised in his heart, and naturally continued to follow the carriage in his field of vision, only to see that they easily passed through the investigation and entered the fangmen, and then the carriage did not run again, but the speed was still not slow, and it can be seen that the path is very familiar - after turning twice, they entered a deep alley.
Following the route of the carriage, Zhou Ang roughly judged that this alley should be north of the alley where his house was located - at this time, Zhou Ang was still thinking nonsense, and not long after the carriage entered the alley, it stopped.
The rider jumped out of the carriage, flashed to the side, lifted the curtain of the carriage with one hand, and said, "Miss, it's here!"
A faint "um" came from the woman in the carriage, and then a shallow hand also reached over, slightly touched the door curtain, and then a slender figure wearing a hood and head wrapped in a veil came out of the carriage, and then jumped out of the carriage lightly.
The middle-aged driver let go of his hand, turned to the side of the carriage, and said, "Miss, when you go in later, I will drive the carriage to the alley next to you and wait for you." ”
The woman who was obviously Lu Tao nodded lightly and said, "Good." ”
So the driver said nothing more, walked to the door of the house where the carriage stopped, and slapped the knocker three times in succession, and after a while, the door opened a crack, and a young man came out, and said, "My master has already slept, and if you have something to visit, please hand me the post again tomorrow." ”
When he said this, the rider had already taken the initiative to take two steps back and get out of the way, while Lu Tao, who was wearing a hood, walked to the door and stretched out his hand to hand something over.
At the door of this family, there was not even a lantern hanging, and there was not even moonlight in the doorway, it was pitch black, and Zhou Ang couldn't see what it was.
But when the young man who opened the door saw this, he went straight to his things, said, "Wait", and then retracted his head and closed the door.
After about half a minute, the door was officially opened.
Zhou Ang clearly saw that the young man bowed slightly, and respectfully handed a thing back to Lu Tao's hand, and Lu Tao grabbed it and put it away.
Lu Tao entered, the driver turned back, and the door was quickly closed again.
It's darker in the doorway.
The young man said in a low voice while guiding from the side: "My master has a saying, today's transaction is going on as usual, and it has reached the seventh place now, and you are the eighth...... Please come with me, there are fire candles in this room, you can change the easy makeup and disguise things you brought, there are also some simple masks, face shields and the like for you to choose from, at the end of the transaction, before you come back to change your clothes, we can make sure that no one will enter this room, in Lingzhou City, no one dares to openly disrespect my master, so you can be absolutely assured. ”
Lu Tao nodded lightly and said, "Okay." ”
Then the young man reached out and pushed the door open, and left with his head bowed.
Lu Tao went in by herself, turned around and closed the door, but she didn't light the lamp, in the black light, she still accurately found a few simple masks placed on a table, after taking off the hat on her head, she picked one up casually and brought it, took off the red and black cloak on the hanger next to her and put it on, and then turned around and went out.
As soon as she turned around and closed the door, the young man who was in charge of guiding her just now suddenly came out of the darkness again, stretched out his hand, and said, "Please come with me!"
At this moment, he returned to the moonlight, and had already taken off the cover of his hat, and Zhou Ang finally saw that Lu Tao was actually combing the man's hair today. At this moment, she had put on a mask and a cloak around her body, as if it was difficult to distinguish between male and female.
And then, after changing makeup, Lu Tao was taken by the young man, and soon turned into a small courtyard next to him - the west wing of the courtyard was lit up, but the lights were dim, and there were guards standing at the door.
So, after following the road blindly, Zhou Ang's eyes finally saw the light.
The lights in this room weren't very bright, but at least they were enough to see the most basic things so that they wouldn't continue to be blacked out.
At this moment, there were already seven people sitting in the room.
In the middle of the house was a very large bookcase, covered with a layer of silk cloth, which was empty and did not put anything, and along the bookcase, there were as many as sixteen chairs.
The seven people who had arrived before Lu Tao had already sat scattered by the bookcase, but strangely did not have any conversation. And after Lu Tao entered, he just found a chair to sit down at random, but he didn't speak.
Everyone was silent, some people were still a little curious, as if they were silently looking at the other people around them, but more people just lowered their heads - everyone was wearing masks and cloaks, and they couldn't see everyone's expressions at all, so they naturally couldn't peek into their inner thoughts at the moment.
Everyone seems to be waiting for a certain moment to come.
Zhou Ang, who had been following Lu Tao's gaze, saw that at this time, he already had some vague conjectures in his heart, but he was still not sure, so he decided to continue watching to see what was going on with this strange gathering, or "transaction".
Soon after Lu Tao sat down, people soon came one after another.
Roughly counting, after about ten minutes, thirteen people had gathered in this room.
Then, at a certain moment, someone suddenly said, "Mr. Big has arrived!"
As a man of medium height, broad shoulders and long arms walked in, the thirteen people sitting in a circle of books, including Lu Tao, all stood up one after another.
The "Mr. Big," who was also wearing a mask and a cloak, walked over to a chair in the middle of the bookcase and said, "Hello everyone!" and everyone responded in a chaotic manner, "Hello Mr. Big!"
The "Mr. Big" nodded his head one by one, but he couldn't see his expression clearly through the mask. After a while, he said, "The time has come, although it is only thirteen, let's not wait, let's start!"
With that, he sat down first.
Then there was a whirring of chairs, and everyone was soon seated.
After everyone sat down, the "big gentleman" said: "Or I'll come first, this time, I have an opening pill for sale here, produced by an authentic official cultivator, the asking price is six hundred taels of silver, the highest price gets, and there is a spirit rune, which can instantly destroy the environmental demon methods of the eight-grade and nine-grade monsters, such as the primary obstacle, illusion, etc., in addition, for similar spells cast by the practitioners, there is also a certain destructive effect, the asking price is four hundred taels of silver, and the highest price gets." ”
Around the bookcase, everyone was silent for a moment, and then a voice sounded, "I want the Enlightenment Pill." I will give six hundred taels of silver. ”
After saying these words for a while, Zhou Ang reacted that it was Lu Tao who spoke.
The problem is that when she speaks at this time, she actually has the tone of a middle-aged man!
At this moment, Zhou Ang, who was sitting in his chair and watching this scene through the "vision" of the mirror, couldn't help but show a look of surprise on his face, and then instantly thought in his heart: It seems that in their underground transaction, no one can trust anyone!
Then Zhou Ang quickly thought again: What is she going to do with the Enlightenment Pill?
Of course, the answer to this question is not too difficult to guess: the Enlightenment Pill, especially the Enlightenment Pill produced by the official cultivators, is the best choice for ordinary people to open the door to cultivation, and I have the impression that I have heard this saying from Guo Yuan, Fang Jun, Wei Ci, Du Yi and others, saying that the Enlightenment Pill is the hard currency in the world of cultivators!
Therefore, whether the Lu family wants to support newcomers to become cultivators, or has other considerations, it is not difficult to understand that buying the Enlightenment Pill produced by official cultivators.
But at this time, Zhou Ang was still thinking about this problem, and soon after Lu Tao's words fell, someone had already spoken: "I also want to open the trick pill, according to the rules, I will increase the price by fifty taels." ”
After a moment of silence, seeing that no one else continued to open his bidding, Lu Tao said slowly: "Seven hundred taels." ”
The man was silent for a moment and said, "I have a nine-rank demon corpse, no demon yuan, you can join this transaction, please ask Mr. Big to give an estimate." ”
As soon as these words came out, there was a slight commotion in the audience.
The "big man" who sat at the top nodded slowly and asked, "What kind of monster is it?"
The man said, "A wolf demon, female." It was just hunted yesterday. ”
The "big gentleman" thought for a moment and said, "You are all my regular customers here, you know our rules very well, and demon corpses have always been my favorite goods." Although it is only a nine-rank wolf demon, I am willing to give an estimate of four hundred taels of silver!"
After a pause, his body leaned back slightly, as if with some pride, and said, "You must also know that on the official cultivator's side, the reward for hunting a nine-rank monster is generally between fifty taels of silver and one hundred taels of silver, and the black market transactions outside are usually only two or three hundred taels of silver. So, my price should be more reasonable!"
The man nodded and said, "Of course." I accept this estimate. ”
Lu Tao was silent for a moment and said, "I give up." ”
The "big gentleman" nodded when he heard this, and said: "Then according to the calculation of six hundred taels of silver, the corpse of a nine-rank wolf demon, plus two hundred taels of silver, buy my enlightenment pill, and I will give you the way to trade later." ”
"Good!"
Because this "big gentleman" spirit rune seems to be unattended, with the official agreement on the transaction of the Enlightenment Pill, this single transaction is settled, and then, someone raised his hand and said: "I also have a Enlightenment Pill here, although it is not produced by an official cultivator, but you don't have to worry about its quality at all, the probability of successfully opening the Enlightenment after taking it is as high as more than sixty percent, which is not inferior to the production of official cultivators at all." I...... The price was four hundred taels of silver. ”
Regardless of what he said earlier, it can be seen from this bid that as long as it is not produced by an official cultivator, the market price will be immediately reduced by a large margin.
And at this time, everyone really didn't seem to be interested in this Enlightenment Pill, and Lu Tao, who had just participated in the bidding for the official cultivator's Enlightenment Pill, did not make any moves.
However, after the scene was quiet for a moment, someone still laughed dryly and said, "If no one wants it, I want it." Although it is certainly not as stable as the official cultivator's production, there are people out there who are interested in becoming a cultivator, and maybe I can sell it for a good price!"
"Good!"
The other party immediately agreed.
Even, Zhou Ang was surprised to find that the man actually took out the silver from his arms on the spot, fifty taels of big silver ingots, he took out two ingots and two ingots, and in a moment, there were eight silver ingots on the bookcase.
At the same time, the other party also took out a small porcelain bottle from his arms, opened the cork, poured out a small pill, and showed it in the direction where the "big man" was sitting.
"It seems that they have a conventional way of trading, and any small item can be traded on the spot?"
Zhou Ang thought so in his heart, and saw that the "big gentleman" stretched out his hand, and when there was a small man in a green coat, but also a servant with a mask, came over, held the tray, and waited for the man to put the silver ingots on it, he took it to the "big gentleman" and let him look at it, and when he saw him nodding, he sent it to the side of the person on the other side of the bookcase.
The man put the little vase up, took the silver, and put it into one of the pockets he had brought.
When the servant delivered the small porcelain vase to the buyer on a tray, the deal was completed.
So, soon someone said: "I didn't bring anything this time, but I'm still like that, I want to buy the demon corpse of the fox demon, I only need the demon corpse of the fox demon, the ninth grade, the eighth grade is the best, and if someone can get the seventh grade, I can also put it away." But next time I trade, I might bring two Enlightenment Pills and something else. ”
The others didn't react when they heard this, probably because this was at most a forenotice, but Zhou Ang clearly saw that the "big man" sitting at the top still nodded at the person, and then paused, and when he saw that no one spoke, he said: "The fox demon corpse you want, I will also pay attention to the collection for you." ”
So the man replied, "Thank you, Mr. Great." ”
"Mr. Big" nodded, and suddenly said, "Who still has a demon corpse to shoot?" I won't talk about the open purchase here, most of you here are also interested in this thing, don't worry about selling!"
His voice fell, and no one answered.
At this time, a young man's voice suddenly spoke: "I'm a newcomer, I just want to ask, why does everyone value demon corpses so much?"
Low laughter rang out from the scene.
At this time, "Mr. Big" looked tireless and explained to him: "Everyone wants to ask for the purchase of demon corpses, each with its own reasons, some people want to eat it, some people want to use it to refine the aura in the demon corpse, and some of them involve the formulas of various medicines, each with its own wonderful use." ”
"But in the final analysis, it is nothing more than one point, that is, the demon corpse contains abundant aura, and because of the nature of the monster, it can naturally absorb the aura of heaven and earth by itself, so since the demon has become a demon, its body has been changed by the aura of heaven and earth, and its corpse naturally has all kinds of wonderful uses. For example, alchemy, refining, talismans, etc., all kinds of types and levels of demon corpses are very useful. ”
"Otherwise, how could the official cultivators care so much about killing youkai and therefore make so much of a tilt in terms of internal rewards and rewards?"
Speaking of this, he smiled and said: "As for this old man, I don't know why he just wants to buy the demon corpse of the fox demon, maybe he wants to collect its fur to make leather clothes!"
As soon as these words came out, they immediately drew a low laugh from everyone again.
However, the person who asked to buy the fox demon corpse just now did not make any rebuttal, perhaps because he didn't care about the understanding of others, or maybe he simply acquiesced.
After some explanation from "Mr. Big", the trade resumed, and at this time, another man spoke: "I have brought a sword this time, made of coral iron, which is extremely sharp, and sharpens iron like clay. ”
Hearing this, Zhou Ang suddenly came to his senses.
He was now struggling to find a good weapon.
At this time, the man paused and said, "This sword is not easy to come by, although it has no other ability, and it is not a magic weapon, it is just hard and sharp enough, but I still need seven hundred taels of silver to sell it!"
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