Chapter 255: Collapse-style Bargaining

Xu Xiaoshou already understood; he didn't need this kind of thing. As for the cat... he wasn't interested either!

Perhaps this was some kind of magical beast encounter? Something others couldn't see, but he could?

But Xu Xiaoshou truly had no interest at all. Raising a cat meant scooping litter, and this one was so gluttonous at such a young age—who knew how fat it would get later!

Besides, wasn't it enough to have a junior sister by his side who coveted his body... *cough*, his life force? Did he really need another cat beast that also liked life force? Tsk, tsk, he wouldn't be able to sleep soundly at night!

"No, thank you."

He directly refused and turned to leave, but Mu Zixi's small hand pulled him back.

He turned his head to look and saw that the little girl and the cat beast were indeed carved from the same mold. Except for the lack of drool at her mouth, her eyes were practically sparkling.

"How much is it?"

It was rare for the little girl to like something so much. Xu Xiaoshou also realized that since becoming a senior disciple, he had only given her a ring and a jar of honey, which wasn't very generous.

As he asked, the little girl also looked on expectantly.

The receptionist's smile became even more cordial, as if it had sprouted from his face. "It's not expensive. Although it's a perception-type Grandmaster spiritual artifact, and a top-grade fifth-rank at that, it's not a spiritual weapon. We only sell it for 500,000 spirit crystals here."

Xu Xiaoshou immediately slapped the little girl's hand away and turned to leave.

Mu Zixi: "..."

For the first time, the girl surprisingly didn't curse; she just followed directly. 500,000! That wasn't just him; even if both he and his junior sister were sold, they couldn't gather that much!

The receptionist's smile instantly froze. It was the first time he had seen a customer so rude and inconsiderate of his feelings. Even if they had no money, they should at least pretend to be well-off!

However, recalling that selling this item always went this way, the receptionist couldn't help but speak again: "Are you really not going to reconsider, esteemed customer?"

Xu Xiaoshou suddenly turned around and spoke very quickly: "First, this is an active perception-type spiritual artifact. If someone wants to kill you and you already know, you won't need it. If you don't know, you won't even want to use it. This thing is just a white elephant, and it sells for 500,000? 10,000 would be too much!"

The receptionist gave an awkward smile. Indeed, it was true; otherwise, this item wouldn't have been in the miscellaneous section for so long. He wanted to agree, to give the other party room to haggle and sell the item, but Xu Xiaoshou ignored him and continued: "Second, even if this thing is Grandmaster-grade, it still has limitations. Can it detect powerhouses above the Throne level? No, right! You didn't mention these limitation ranges. And even if you did, it wouldn't be very useful. Why would I be afraid of anything below the Throne level, and why would I need to use it? A white elephant! At most, it's worth 1,000 spirit crystals!"

The receptionist: "???"

You're not afraid of anything below the Throne level? What kind of hothouse environment nurtured such an arrogant personality in a mere Yuan Palace stage rookie whose cultivation is even weaker than mine?

"Suspected, Passive Points +1."

Xu Xiaoshou sighed and said, "Finally, I won't say much more. The function of this thing is indeed useless. What I value is that tiny bit of life force. How about this? Since this thing is useless to you anyway, I'll buy it for 500 spirit crystals?"

The receptionist was utterly stunned. 500,000 spirit crystals, and you're haggling it down to 500? Do you even have any idea how many zeros are missing there?

"Cursed, Passive Points +1."

He took a deep breath, suppressed the urge to violently beat the young man in front of him, and, adhering to the principle that the customer is a saintly emperor, smiled: "You're joking, esteemed customer, 500 spirit crystals..."

"Why don't you just rob us! This is a Grandmaster spiritual artifact, fifth-rank, fifth-rank!"

His entire face abruptly turned green, and he roared with a ferocious expression, drawing the attention of other customers around.

"Frightened, Passive Points +1."

Xu Xiaoshou was startled. This outburst came so suddenly; he truly had no psychological preparation for it. "Calm down, calm down!"

Realizing that he had haggled a bit too aggressively, Xu Xiaoshou quickly reached out to hold down the man's agitated body, forcing him to calm down. "So many customers are watching! Do you still want to do business or not?"

The receptionist's breath hitched. His spiritual sense swept the surroundings, and he immediately thought, "This is bad." He re-pinched his fingers, bowed slightly, and smiled with pale lips: "My apologies, I was a bit out of line. I can offer you a 10% discount."

"A 10% discount?" Xu Xiaoshou's eyes lit up, and he began counting on his fingers, "500 spirit crystals, a 10% discount... so that's 450?"

The receptionist's fingers were practically broken by himself. He gasped incredulously, his eyes bloodshot, feeling as if his liver was splitting open! What the hell is 450?! When I said a 10% discount, I meant 10% off 500,000 spirit crystals, not 500!

"Calm down, calm down, just kidding!"

Seeing that he was about to explode again, Xu Xiaoshou quickly advised, "Okay, I don't need your discount. How about we haggle fairly? Let me start by raising the price for you: 1,000 spirit crystals?"

The receptionist was dumbfounded. He almost blurted out "400,000," but then he had a second thought... Wait a minute! I'm running a store and selling goods. What does "haggling fairly" even mean? Do you think this is an auction where the highest bidder wins?

"1,000 is impossible. At most, I can do 400,000 for you."

Seeing that he had given up struggling, Xu Xiaoshou suppressed his joy and said, "We're all reasonable people here, so let's not bother with back-and-forth haggling of tens of thousands at a time. It's a waste of time! Final offer: I'll increase it tenfold for you—10,000 spirit crystals! I'll help you take this unsellable item off your hands, alright?"

Tenfold increase... So worth it!

"Pfft!"

After thinking through the situation, the receptionist almost spat out a mouthful of blood. Your tenfold increase is based on your 1,000 spirit crystals, but the item I'm selling is clearly priced at 500,000! That's not a tenfold increase; that's a fifty-fold depreciation! But... the fact that this item can't be sold is indeed undeniable...

The receptionist calmed down, straightened his misaligned finger joints, and said with a dark expression, "100,000 spirit crystals. That's my bottom line."

"100,000?" Xu Xiaoshou's eyes widened, and he waved his hand, "No, no, no, you're a black-hearted merchant! Will you really use this thing if you have it? Is it really worth that much?"

"80,000!"

The receptionist gave up struggling. At this moment, he only wanted to quickly get rid of this plague.

"80,000 is an acceptable price, but..." Xu Xiaoshou's eyes darted around, "You just yelled at me, you know. That customer service..."

"50,000!"

The receptionist's face turned dark again, but in less than a second, he resumed his stiff smile: "My apologies for causing you unease and trouble."

Xu Xiaoshou nodded, satisfied: "Alright, yelling once subtracts 30,000. How about you do it two more times? I promise not to cover my ears."

The receptionist: "???"