Chapter 703: Price Difference

"Have you taken a liking to something here, sir?" a scar-faced burly man of the Yin Tiger clan asked Han Li in a rumbling voice.

"I'm not here to buy. Do you accept items for purchase?" Han Li countered.

The three burly men exchanged glances, showing slight surprise.

"If it's something good, we naturally accept it," the scar-faced man said, looking Han Li up and down.

Han Li smiled faintly, flipped his hand, and produced a black jade box the size of a palm, handing it over.

The scar-faced man took the jade box, opened it a crack, and his expression immediately changed. He quickly closed the lid.

"Sir, please follow me," the scar-faced man said, making a welcoming gesture and leading Han Li into a dark room behind the stall.

From his observations, Han Li noticed that behind almost every clan's stall there was such a dark room, used for private transactions.

The room's furnishings were extremely simple, with only a table and two chairs. The walls were inscribed with various runes, the nature of which prohibitions he did not know.

The two sat down face to face. The scar-faced man took a deep breath and opened the jade box again, revealing a fist-sized dark gray crystal covered in countless tiny holes, resembling a honeycomb.

From time to time, wisps of gray mist emerged from various parts of the honeycomb crystal, giving it a somewhat mysterious appearance.

"This Nightmare Honeycomb Crystal of yours is of excellent quality, truly top-grade. We'll take it. Do you want three hundred gray crystals, or would you prefer to barter?" the scar-faced man said, looking at the dark gray crystal in the box with a fervent gaze.

"You are an honest man. It seems I made a wise choice in coming to you Yin Tiger clan. Since that's the case, let's be straightforward. I want three hundred gray crystals," Han Li said with a slight smile.

"This... three hundred is a bit steep. We'll take it for one hundred sixty," the scar-faced man said, showing a troubled expression and holding up three fingers.

"Two hundred seventy!" Han Li said firmly.

"One hundred eighty at most!" the scar-faced man shook his head.

After some back-and-forth bargaining, they settled on two hundred gray crystals.

The scar-faced man waved his hand and produced a storage bone ring, handing it over.

Han Li took the storage bone ring and swept his divine sense inside.

Inside was a small pile of gray crystals, each half a fist in size, with faint traces of gray gas flowing within.

This substance, called gray crystals, served as currency among Gray Realm cultivators, similar to the immortal spirit stones of the Immortal Realm, but containing extremely pure baleful origin power.

As for the Nightmare Honeycomb Crystal, it was a Gray Realm material obtained from the storage pouch of that Gray Immortal corpse.

Gathering intelligence required some expenses, so Han Li decided to sell this honeycomb crystal first to acquire some gray crystals.

He flipped his hand and put away the storage bone ring, feeling secretly pleased.

This honeycomb crystal was just an inconspicuous item among the many precious materials in the Gray Immortal's storage pouch, yet it could sell for two hundred gray crystals—not bad at all.

The value of the other materials was even more unknown; the storage pouch's worth seemed far beyond his expectations.

"Fellow Daoist, do you have any more Nightmare Honeycomb Crystals or other rare materials? Instead of going to the trouble of finding other buyers, why not sell them all to our Yin Tiger clan? Don't worry about the price; the Yin Tiger clan has an excellent reputation and will not disappoint you," the scar-faced man said, putting away the Nightmare Honeycomb Crystal and looking at Han Li expectantly.

"I only happened to find this one. I have no more," Han Li shook his head.

The scar-faced man's eyes showed a hint of disappointment.

"I have nothing else to sell you, but I would like to buy something from your Yin Tiger clan," Han Li said with a slight smile.

"Oh? What would you like to buy?" the scar-faced man's face lit up again.

"I would like to purchase some texts from your Yin Tiger clan," Han Li said.

"Texts? What kind of texts?" the scar-faced man was taken aback, then a look of caution appeared in his eyes.

"Rest assured, I am not after your clan's cultivation techniques or secret arts. I want texts on humanities, geography, material catalogs, and the like—preferably those from beyond the June Grasslands, or even outside the Black Tooth Domain. The Yin Tiger clan is a major clan in the June Grasslands; you should have quite a few such reference texts," Han Li said with a smile.

Just now, as he walked along, he saw only various materials at the stalls, not a single book or scroll.

That was hardly surprising; the Tamuda Conference mainly dealt in trading various goods. Who would bother collecting texts?

If Han Li wanted to gather information, he had to resort to this method.

"So you want these texts. I can sell them to you, but they were painstakingly collected by our clan, so the price won't be cheap," the scar-faced man said, his expression relaxing, then he gave Han Li a meaningful look.

"As long as the texts are valuable, the more the merrier," Han Li said, tapping the table with his finger.

"Very well. Please wait here a moment," the scar-faced man stood up and walked out.

Half an hour later, Han Li left the Yin Tiger clan's stall, a faint smile on his lips.

From the Yin Tiger clan, he had obtained quite a few texts.

He had briefly flipped through them; many were from beyond the June Grasslands, and some were materials from outside the Black Tooth Domain, of considerable value.

Han Li did not stop but continued forward.

In the blink of an eye, more than half a day had passed.

The sky had already darkened, and huge cages were hung in various parts of the trading area, each filled with white fireflies that emitted bright white light, illuminating the trading area brilliantly.

As the night deepened, the trading area became even more lively.

Han Li walked past the stalls one by one, feeling fairly pleased.

During this half day, he had visited two more tribes, sold some materials, and bought several books about the Gray Realm.

The three tribes Han Li had chosen were all large ones, and the materials he bought were plentiful, far surpassing the books and materials from the Gray Lizard Tribe.

He calculated in his mind and decided to temporarily stop buying books.

First, the materials he had bought were already sufficient; moreover, the information among the tribes of the June Plains was isolated, and the books and materials stored in each tribe were mostly similar, with much repetition.

Furthermore, at the Tamuda Assembly, buying books everywhere was a rather strange thing to do, and doing it too much might attract the attention of those with ulterior motives.

Han Li set aside his thoughts and looked at the goods on the stalls on both sides.

Along the way here, he had studied various texts of the Gray Lizard Tribe and had developed some ability to appraise items from the Gray Realm. Coupled with his immensely powerful divine sense, he quickly discovered many good things.

"Eh, this is!" He suddenly stopped in front of a stall, a hint of excitement in his eyes beneath his cloak.

This stall was not very large, mostly containing spiritual herbs, with few ore materials. Behind the stall stood two alien beings with horns on their heads and fish scales on their faces, looking very much like fish-men.

"Friend, have you taken a liking to something?" one of the fish-men enthusiastically greeted.

Han Li's gaze fell on a box in a corner of the stall, which contained dozens of translucent plants. Their leaves were thin and transparent like ice crystals, with clear veins distributed inside.

He was very familiar with this herb—it was the main ingredient for refining the Su Sha Dan: Ku Luo Hua.

These materials, extremely precious in the Immortal Realm, were now casually piled up there.

"How much are these spiritual herbs?" Han Li pointed at the Ku Luo Hua.

"Oh, you want these Ice Crystal Herbs? Three gray crystals each," the fish-man said casually, as if most of his enthusiasm had faded.

"Three gray crystals..." Han Li was speechless inside.

Ku Luo Hua was a top-grade spiritual herb in the Immortal Realm, worth a fortune, and often not available even with immortal jade. In the Gray Realm, it was so cheap.

"Ice Crystal Herb... I seem to have heard that name before..." He thought for a moment, recalling a book from the Gray Lizard Tribe he had read a few days ago that seemed to mention this herb.

He thought back briefly, and some vague memories in his mind quickly became clear.

According to that book, this herb grew in cold, dark places. Deep in the June Plains, there was a bottomless swamp where large quantities of Ice Crystal Herbs grew.

However, this Ice Crystal Herb was useless to Gray Realm creatures, so the book only briefly mentioned it without illustrations; otherwise, he would have recognized it as Ku Luo Hua long ago.

The effect of Ku Luo Hua was to dispel baleful qi. This substance was harmful to Gray Realm creatures, so no wonder it was so cheap.

"Is this all there is?" Han Li, having thought this through, felt enlightened and asked.

The two fish-men looked surprised upon hearing this.

These Ice Crystal Herbs were only used in refining a few types of poison, and they were not rare. Anyone could go to the bottomless swamp and pick a large amount. Yet someone wanted to buy in bulk.

"I'm sorry, this item has limited uses, so we only picked these," said the slightly older fish-man, shaking his head.

"Alright, I'll take them all," Han Li said calmly without further inquiry.

He had already obtained a map of the June Plains from the Gray Lizard Tribe and knew that these Ku Luo Hua came from the bottomless swamp. He could go and pick a batch anytime.

Moreover, these dozens in front of him were enough for him to refine pills.

The two fish-men quickly wrapped up the Ku Luo Hua and handed them over.

They exchanged money for goods, and the transaction was completed swiftly.

"Friend, would you like any other spiritual herbs? Our Mu Yu Tribe specializes in cultivating various spiritual herbs. Take a look at these Ze Lan Hua, all over ten thousand years old, and these Ku Ling Cao, freshly picked with no loss of potency," the older fish-man enthusiastically introduced other herbs.

Han Li had seen records of Ze Lan Hua and Ku Ling Cao in the Gray Lizard Tribe's texts; they were rich in baleful qi and considered valuable spiritual herbs in the Gray Realm.

However, these things were of no use to him, so he naturally wouldn't buy them.

Thus, Han Li shook his head at the other party, quickly left the stall, and walked ahead, his eyes gleaming with light.

This experience of buying Ku Luo Hua gave him a reminder.

The Gray Realm and the True Immortal Realm belonged to two different realms with no exchange of goods. What was worthless in the Gray Realm might be priceless in the True Immortal Realm.

Now that he was in the Gray Realm, he might as well collect more things like Ku Luo Hua. When he returned to the True Immortal Realm, he could make a huge profit immediately.

Speaking of which, although he currently had no shortage of immortal jade, one could never have too much of it. Who knew when he might need a large amount? Waiting until he needed it would put him in a passive position.

However, the names for these materials differed between the two realms, so he couldn't search by description. He could only rely on luck to slowly find them.

He recalled the yin-attribute spiritual herbs or ores in the Immortal Realm, and at the same time, with a thought, he slightly released his divine sense, carefully probing the surrounding stalls.