Both the Golden Armor Talismans and the Sword Qi Talismans were listed by the same seller, priced at just ten spirit coins each—a genuine bargain.
On the official campus portal of the Taiqing Vocational and Technical College of Talisman Crafting, both kinds of talismans went for fifty spirit coins. Yet here on the second-hand market, they were going for a mere ten spirit coins apiece, with a note even specifying that prices were negotiable.
"This cheap? They won't end up working one minute and fizzling out the next when it counts, will they?"
Cupping his chin, Chen Zhuo sank into the profound suspicion known as "cheap goods are never good."
It couldn't be helped; Chen Zhuo was just a conflicted, ordinary person.
If something was expensive, he would think: *Damn, this is ridiculously overpriced. They're robbing people blind.*
If it was cheap, he would suspect that cheap goods were bound to be junk.
Especially in a case like this, where the original price was fifty, now listed at ten, and still open to haggling.
*They couldn't actually be used talismans, could they?*
*Aren't talismans all single-use consumables? How could there even be second-hand goods?*
*Did someone burn half of it, stop midway, and leave the remaining half?*
Still, Chen Zhuo decided to ask first. The price was simply too tempting.
Chen Zhuo tapped open the seller's contact info right away and sent a message over his spiritual communication jade slip: "Hello, fellow student. I saw that you're selling Golden Armor Talismans and Sword Qi Talismans on the second-hand market. May I ask if there's any issue with these talismans? Why are they so cheap?"
Play it straight—ask directly!
Dropping from an original price of fifty coins to ten—if there wasn't a catch, that would be a miracle.
Not long after the message went out, the other party replied.
The seller's handle read "Urging Someone to Craft Talismans Deserves a Lightning Strike," paired with an avatar of a cartoon figure drawing a talisman.
[Urging Someone to Craft Talismans Deserves a Lightning Strike]: Good afternoon, dear! I drew all these talismans myself. I assure you there are absolutely no issues with them!
[Urging Someone to Craft Talismans Deserves a Lightning Strike]: It's just that there's a tiny little quality issue. They're discarded drafts from my in-class monthly exam assignment that the college flagged as substandard products. But honestly, the quality is decent enough to use. The college's standards are pretty arbitrary—what the hell do they know anyway?
Chen Zhuo: ?
*So they're defective exam papers?*
*Whatever. Defective classwork it is.*
*As long as they work.*
*After all, they're cheap.*
Chen Zhuo immediately asked, "Could you be a bit more specific? How are they different from the genuine ones?"
[Urging Someone to Craft Talismans Deserves a Lightning Strike]: Uhhh, the Sword Qi Talismans lack firepower, packing only about fifty percent of the original's punch. The Golden Armor Talismans have even weaker defensive power, only around a quarter of the original.
[Urging Someone to Craft Talismans Deserves a Lightning Strike]: But I swear they definitely work! The effects are just somewhat diminished.
Reading this, Chen Zhuo saw the light.
*So they really are just failed exam assignments.*
No wonder they were so cheap.
On second thought, however, Chen Zhuo felt this was actually quite an opportunity.
He was only at the second layer of Qi Refining right now, and his opponent was merely a demon leopard equivalent to the first layer of Qi Refining.
Even if the talismans possessed only fifty percent or a quarter of the standard potency, that should still be enough.
Most importantly: they were cheap!
A genuine talisman cost fifty spirit coins apiece. Chen Zhuo's entire net worth at the moment was only 48.83 spirit coins—he couldn't even afford a single one.
Whereas these defectives cost only ten spirit coins each, and he could even bargain.
Calculating in his mind, Chen Zhuo's fingers flew across the jade slip.
"Fellow student, since these are substandard products, is there any room to negotiate on the price? Given how much weaker they are, ten spirit coins apiece is still a bit steep."
Chen Zhuo typed: "I'm buying in bulk. Give me a twenty percent discount so we can be friends. I'm from the Alchemy College—if I have defective pills down the road, I can let you have them on the cheap."
The other party evidently fell into a lengthy silence, seemingly mulling it over.
Nobody was actually buying these things.
[Urging Someone to Craft Talismans Deserves a Lightning Strike]: Eight coins each.
Eight spirit coins...
Chen Zhuo pondered for a moment. Although he sorely wanted to push for a fifty percent discount down to five coins each, that was clearly unrealistic.
After all, the raw materials alone cost more than that when added up.
The guy was selling these substandard, defective talismans purely to recoup material costs.
If Chen Zhuo actually countered with five spirit coins, the seller would probably close the chat and keep them for personal use rather than sell at a loss.
Having made up his mind, Chen Zhuo promptly responded: "Three Golden Armor Talismans and two Sword Qi Talismans!"
The other side didn't reply for quite a while.
The seller was probably pondering whether five talismans even counted as "bulk."
Yet this was a major investment for Chen Zhuo.
Five times eight was forty!
After a short pause, a message arrived from the seller.
[Urging Someone to Craft Talismans Deserves a Lightning Strike]: I'm in my college dorm. Fellow Daoist, you can place the order directly through the Lingxun platform. I'll dispatch it from here, and intra-city express delivery should arrive within half an hour.
Wasting no further time, Chen Zhuo found the seller's storefront on the Lingxun platform and placed an order for three Golden Armor Talismans and two Sword Qi Talismans.
When he authorized payment and watched his balance drop from 48.83 spirit coins to 8.83 spirit coins, a wave of heartache washed over him.
This was his entire immortal path potential!
Yet on second thought, as long as he eliminated that demon leopard in the Spirit Bead World, he could cultivate there in peace and even open up a new stream of income. It wasn't a loss.
With the abundant spiritual energy of the Spirit Bead World, his cultivation speed would rise dramatically. Once that happened, would he ever need to worry about earning spirit coins?
With that thought, Chen Zhuo's mood brightened again.
Closing his spiritual communication jade slip, Chen Zhuo seized the time to cultivate while waiting for the delivery.
Every single minute and second was a resource that could not be squandered!
Between his cultivation cycles, Chen Zhuo also ran the numbers in his head.
With these talismans in hand, dealing with that leopard shouldn't be much of a problem.
Sword Qi Talismans for offense, Golden Armor Talismans for defense.
Even though their potency was diminished, deploying two Sword Qi Talismans together should make up for the shortfall in attack power.
As for the Golden Armor Talismans, even if they only offered a third of the original's defensive power, fending off attacks from a demon beast at the first layer of Qi Refining ought to be more than sufficient.
After all, the leopard was merely a low-tier demon beast, roughly equivalent to a cultivator at the first layer of Qi Refining.
He was already at the second layer of Qi Refining, and with the aid of the talismans, his odds of victory were very high!
The reason Chen Zhuo had bought three Golden Armor Talismans was precisely so he could activate one upon arrival to test its effects firsthand.
"As long as I kill that leopard and neutralize the threat, I can cultivate properly. Then, by taking things 'slow and steady' and injecting more serums, breaking through to the third layer of Qi Refining won't be difficult at all."
The more Chen Zhuo thought about it, the brighter his future seemed.
Though he was currently up to his neck in debt, as long as he had the cheat known as the Spirit Bead World, paying off his debts was only a matter of time!
Perhaps he might even save up enough spirit coins to swap in a better spiritual root!
A defective low-grade single spiritual root cultivated far too slowly.
If he could replace it with a mid-grade or even high-grade spiritual root, his cultivation speed...
Chen Zhuo was still dreaming when the spiritual communication jade slip suddenly vibrated.
He looked down; it was a delivery notification.
[Lingtong Express: Your package has arrived. Please sign for it promptly!]
Rejuvenated, Chen Zhuo instantly stood up and walked to the entrance of his cave abode.
A paper crane hovered outside, dropped a parcel box, and waited for Chen Zhuo to sign.
This was the courier of the Immortal Mansion. Strictly speaking, it was a Dharma artifact, though apart from autonomous pathfinding, it possessed no other functions.
Chen Zhuo reached out, took the parcel box, and signed his name, whereupon the paper crane immediately flew back.
"This senior from the talisman crafting college is genuinely a good person. He didn't even make it cash on delivery!"
Chen Zhuo was rather surprised. He had assumed that in this godforsaken world everyone would jump at the chance to take advantage of someone else. Yet this senior hadn't tried to squeeze him for shipping, which genuinely caught Chen Zhuo off guard.
There really was warmth in this world, true love among mankind!
Shutting the door, Chen Zhuo eagerly ripped open the parcel box.
Unpacking the wrapper, five talismans appeared before him.
Though the talismans were utterly hideous—downright atrocious, to be exact—one had to admit that they were at least fully drawn; their structural completeness was not in doubt.
"Nice! Overflowing with dominance! If even talismans are this impressive, just how powerful must the chips that replaced them be?"
Chen Zhuo sighed inwardly with feeling, then picked up a Sword Qi Talisman to examine it closely.
The texture of the talisman paper was utterly mundane, likely the spirit bamboo paper sold in the mall for two spirit coins a sheet.
Chen Zhuo wasn't in this field, so he couldn't spot any specific flaws.
However, the spiritual energy content was indeed noticeably lower.
"Defective goods after all..."
Chen Zhuo shook his head, but when he considered the price, his misgivings vanished.
At eight spirit coins apiece, what more could he ask for? A bicycle?
Time to test them out!
Chapter 9