Chapter 46: Differences in the Map

When Lu Ye emerged from the mountain again, he appeared much calmer. He familiar went to Qingyun Market at the foot of the mountain, then just as familiar went to the Heavenly Mystery Merchant Alliance.

Without waiting for the greeter at the door to ask, Lu Ye uttered one word: "Sell!"

Sitting in the private room, he drank the spiritual tea from the Heavenly Mystery Merchant Alliance as usual. Unfortunately, this time, he had barely finished one pot when someone walked in.

"My apologies for the wait, fellow Daoist!" With the voice, a middle-aged man entered the private room and bowed to Lu Ye. "I am Liu Quan. Pleased to meet you, fellow Daoist."

Lu Ye nodded. Liu Quan took a seat and went straight to the point: "May I ask what you wish to sell, fellow Daoist?"

Lu Ye took out the mineral ores he had prepared. Of course, the prime magnetic ore was the main item; most of the spiritual stones he earned last time came from its value. The prime magnetic ore pieces he took out this time were slightly larger, so they might fetch a higher price.

Liu Quan inspected each piece, then quoted a price for each. Lu Ye remained silent throughout, simply drinking his tea.

Finally, he put down the prime magnetic ore and said, "This item is rare in the outer regions. It can be valued at thirty-eight spiritual stones. The total price for everything would then be fifty-one spiritual stones. If you find that acceptable, fellow Daoist, we can proceed with the transaction."

"Can't you go any higher?" Lu Ye looked at him.

Liu Quan shook his head with a wry smile. "We can't go any higher. Once these items are acquired, specialists are needed to refine and extract them before they become truly useful. Any higher, and the alliance would have no profit margin."

*This guy is harder to deal with than Liu Ruyin!* Lu Ye grumbled inwardly. Last time, when he haggled with Liu Ruyin, she immediately added four spiritual stones. Despite being a woman, she was far more straightforward than this Liu Quan.

What he didn't know was that Liu Ruyin's willingness to raise the price for him was due to an unwritten rule, and she also intended to conduct another business deal with him, which made her so generous. As a result, Lu Ye, completely unaware of this rule, didn't even tip her, leaving Liu Ruyin a little displeased.

Liu Quan, being a man, wasn't expecting to do any other business with Lu Ye, so he naturally adopted a purely business-like attitude.

Lu Ye pondered for a moment, then, too lazy to waste more words, took out four storage bags. "You have a way to open these, right?" These were what Yiyi had given him earlier, mentioning that someone in Qingyun Market could unlock the seals on storage bags. Lu Ye had simply forgotten about it last time.

Liu Quan calmly accepted the storage bags, evidently accustomed to such requests. After a brief inspection, he said, "If you wish for our assistance in opening them, fellow Daoist, we can certainly do so, but there will be a fee."

"How much?"

Liu Quan quoted a figure.

Lu Ye's face darkened. The asking price was a bit steep.

Liu Quan smiled faintly. "Of course, fellow Daoist, you could also sell these items to our alliance, with each storage bag valued at this amount." He gestured with his hand.

Lu Ye chuckled. "This amount is even lower than what you just quoted!" In other words, the spiritual stones required to have the alliance open the storage bags were more than what you'd get by selling the bags directly to them, which seemed a bit unreasonable.

Liu Quan smiled. "I understand what you're thinking, fellow Daoist, but that truly is the price. You must understand that storage bags from outer region cultivators aren't particularly valuable; they might even be empty. The alliance bears some risk in acquiring them, so the price won't be high. Of course, if you wish to take a gamble and see if these storage bags contain any priceless treasures, you only need to pay the unlocking fee. It's entirely up to you."

Lu Ye recalled the three cultivators who had been robbed by Yiyi and Dahhu; their storage bags indeed contained nothing valuable.

He immediately had an idea. After another round of haggling with Liu Quan, the four storage bags were ultimately sold to the alliance for a total of twenty spiritual stones. Including the previous transaction, that amounted to seventy-one spiritual stones!

With the deal settled, Liu Quan was visibly pleased and asked, "How would you like the payment, fellow Daoist? Spiritual stones or spiritual pills?"

"Do you have a map of the Spirit Creek Battlefield?" Lu Ye asked. He asked this because he remembered the wealthy local he met when he first entered the market telling him that maps were sold at the merchant alliance. If he wanted to go to the Blood Sect's outpost, he needed to know its exact location, and having a map would naturally be more convenient.

Liu Quan immediately became enthusiastic. "Of course we do! Which type of map are you looking for, fellow Daoist?"

"How many types do you have?"

"We have three types: the three-part map, the seven-part map, and the ten-part map."

"What's the difference?" Lu Ye couldn't help but frown. Why all this complexity just for selling a map?

"It's like this..." Liu Quan began to explain. As he listened, Lu Ye gradually understood the differences between the three map types.

The Spirit Creek Battlefield contained countless outposts of various sizes, as all the sects and powers from the Nine Provinces had their own outposts within the battlefield. Their territories intertwined, and outposts frequently changed hands, making map creation a troublesome task. However, the Heavenly Mystery Merchant Alliance possessed this capability. With numerous branch alliances spread across the entire battlefield, they could easily compile information from different regions to create a complete map of the entire battlefield – a capability no other single power possessed.

The complete map included information on all outposts in the Spirit Creek Battlefield, detailing their respective factions and the ranks of the sects. Furthermore, various topographical features of the battlefield were also marked. This was the ten-part map.

The seven-part map was a truncated version of the ten-part map, covering only approximately 70% of the outposts' general information.

The three-part map was even more limited, showing only about 30% of the outposts' information, and it completely omitted any existing topographical features of the battlefield.

For Lu Ye, if he were to buy a map, it would definitely be the ten-part one. The Blood Sect was merely a ninth-grade sect, and it might not be marked on the three-part or seven-part maps. If he bought one and couldn't find the Blood Sect, it would be a huge loss.

Furthermore, buying the ten-part map offered another advantage: he could visit the Heavenly Mystery Merchant Alliance to update it at any time. Due to constant warfare in the Spirit Creek Battlefield, outposts frequently changed hands. An outpost belonging to the Vast Sky Alliance today might be controlled by the Myriad Devil Ridge tomorrow. If one were to charge in without checking, the outcome would surely be dire. Having a real-time updated map could invisibly avert many risks.

However, after Lu Ye inquired about the price, he abandoned that idea.

A single ten-part map cost six hundred spiritual stones, and that was even with a discount.

As for the three-part map that Liu Quan strongly recommended, it also cost tens of spiritual stones. But what use would Lu Ye have for a three-part map?

Ultimately, he had to conclude the transaction. He kept one spiritual stone out of the seventy-one, and used the remaining seventy to buy seven bottles containing sixty-three Spirit Nurturing Pills. With so many Spirit Nurturing Pills, his advancement to the second layer of the Spirit Creek Realm was just around the corner.

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