Eternal Life: Talent Grows with Age-Chapter 221 - 153: Five Wood Immortal Technique

Zhu Er’s expression changed slightly, "How much does Fellow Daoist Lu want to borrow?"

"Five hundred lower-grade spirit stones."

To crack a one-way sound transmission shell, you’d need at least ten thousand lower-grade spirit stones, which is the equivalent of almost a thousand evil cultivators. Lu Chang’sheng obviously didn’t think the other guy would lend him that much.

Maybe, if Nangua came in person, it might be possible.

"No problem, no problem."

Zhu Er smiled.

Five hundred lower-grade spirit stones wasn’t much, he could scrounge it up himself if needed. Of course, he didn’t do that—instead, he first mentioned the Zhu family’s own difficulties.

His general store hadn’t been doing well lately, and he talked about cash flow issues before finally handing the spirit stones over to Lu Chang’sheng.

Making the favor seem bigger was one thing, but he was also trying to shut down any future requests Lu Chang’sheng might make for money.

"Never thought even Zhu Family’s shops were struggling this much."

Lu Chang’sheng looked at the bag in his hand, stuffed with spirit stones.

The number was so large, the bag looked bulky and awkward.

"Yeah, making money’s getting harder and harder."

Lu Chang’sheng nodded and said, "I’ve thought about it. Better forget it—these spirit stones won’t help me crack the transmission shell anyway."

Zhu Er smiled and said, "Glad you understand, Fellow Daoist. If you ask me, best to wait for news from my Zhu Family. When the time comes, you can just join the merchant caravan to Fuyun Mountain, so you won’t even have to waste this batch of spirit stones."

With that, he swept the spirit stones from the table into the Treasure Vault Immortal Insect.

"In the end, it’s just that I’m a nobody, barely worth a mention."

Leaving the shop, Lu Chang’sheng sighed inwardly.

He didn’t resent the guy; after all, for Zhu Er and the Zhu Family, the matter with Li Nangua was only something he said.

The only piece of evidence was the transmission shell, but since no message had come, it made sense Zhu Er was starting to get suspicious.

"Looks like I’ll have to think of something else."

Not owing anyone a favor isn’t a bad thing either.

By the time he got back to the housing block, it was already evening.

Lu Chang’sheng grabbed a bite, and as soon as he stepped out, he saw a few guys wearing square hats and long robes heading his way.

Leading them was Zhu Bei, beaming warmly—a far cry from how he’d acted with Lu Chang’sheng before.

"And this is—?"

A cultivator noticed Lu Chang’sheng and asked Zhu Bei beside him.

Zhu Bei shook his head and said, "Ignore him. He’s just a loose cultivator who somehow got tangled up with my Zhu Family and is crashing here temporarily."

The others heard this and immediately dropped their friendly expressions, following Zhu Bei upstairs to the third floor.

That night, Lu Chang’sheng heard movement outside the building. He pushed open the door just as the training room’s door shut tight.

Clearly, the first-floor training room was being used by Zhu Bei to curry favor with someone.

"Zhu Bei up on the third floor—is probably higher ranked in the Zhu Family than Niu Xi, but only by a bit. Otherwise, Niu Xi wouldn’t dare brush him off."

Lu Chang’sheng mused.

He glanced at the sound insulation array plate nearby—without spirit stones in it, the plate was useless.

"Damn, I’m broke everywhere I go."

Lu Chang’sheng mulled things over all night. The next morning, he headed for a shop in the marketplace specializing in magical artifacts.

After circling half the market, he got a rough idea of artifact prices, and then switched shops.

"Fellow Daoist, you buying or selling artifacts today?"

"Absolutely." The shop was tiny, way smaller than the Zhu Family’s place.

Real estate in Platinum Immortal City was worth its weight in gold—even a hole like this cost a fortune in rent every month.

When Lu Chang’sheng asked, the shopkeeper’s eyes lit up instantly.

But his excitement quickly faded to disappointment.

The stuff Lu Chang’sheng brought out was honestly nothing special.

"This defensive magical artifact barely counts as Grade One, and it’s damaged. I can only give you ten lower-grade spirit stones max."

"The pendant’s a bit better, but same grade as the other—also pretty beat up. Best offer is twelve lower-grade spirit stones. Twenty-two total. Deal?"

Lu Chang’sheng shook his head, fixing the guy with a half-smile.

"I’ve got no problem with your price on the armor, but the pendant—are you sure about that number? It’s a trigger-type, and the damage is barely superficial."

The shopkeeper laughed—totally unbothered by being called out. If you couldn’t handle a little heat in this business, you wouldn’t last a week.

"Fellow Daoist, guess you’re not a rookie. Ah well, no point hiding it. Armor, I’ll give you twelve. Pendant, I’ll do fifty. Sound good?"

Lu Chang’sheng was honestly surprised.

He’d braced himself for a fight—or some trickery. If that happened, he’d have split without selling a thing.

Didn’t expect the guy to give him a price that was actually a little better than he’d hoped for.

"Price is a bit generous. Thing is, I’m hoping to build some rapport, Fellow Daoist. So if you’ve got more deals like this, come find me anytime."

Lu Chang’sheng didn’t hesitate, handing over the magical artifacts he’d gotten off evil cultivators.

Then, he sold off some strange items as well.

Strange items could be cheap or pricey—it all depended on their grade.

There’s a technique that lets you check a strange item’s rank, but most shops that deal in them have a way to test that too.

"Ten oddities total—nine are Grade 1 Low, one is Grade 1 Mid. The first batch is five lower-grade spirit stones apiece, the mid-tier is twenty. Seventy lower-grade spirit stones altogether."

"Sounds good!"

After wrapping up the trade, Lu Chang’sheng had seventy more spirit stones, bringing his stash back up over two hundred.

Selling weird items required a bit of caution, so he spent three days clearing out his entire stock—pulling in over eleven hundred lower-grade spirit stones in total.