Chapter 96: Enemies Are Always Hard to Avoid
The time had come and the Pill Pavilion opened.
Nie Tian and Liu Yan were the first to enter the door. The first thing they saw were three Spiritual Treasure sect disciples standing and waiting inside respectfully.
The moment Liu Yan and Dowager Weng entered, the three disciples recognized them, and immediately smiled and greeted them.
“Greetings, Mr. Liu! Greetings, Senior Weng!”
Liu Yan nodded and asked, “Which floor is the Spiritfount Pill on?”
“The third floor,” one of them answered.
Liu Yan didn’t say another word and took Nie Tian up the stairs.
There were five counters set up on the third floor, inside every one of which could be seen a few pills stored in delicate cases.
As soon as Nie Tian arrived on the third floor, and before he could even glance around, a deep voice rang out. “It’s you?!”
“Fei Li…” Nie Tian’s face went grim.
He never expected that Fei Li, who he had met in An Shiyi’s courtyard last night, was overseeing the third floor of the Pill Pavilion.
Fei Li and another female disciple of the Spiritual Treasure sect were the only ones serving as salesclerks on the third floor.
Liu Yan cut the pleasantries, stepped forward and said, “Fei Li, take out the Spiritfount Pill. My little senior martial uncle wants to buy it.”
After returning last night, Nie Tian hadn’t spoken to Liu Yan, but rather simply found a room and rested.
Hence, Liu Yan had no idea that Nie Tian and Fei Li had already started a feud last night.
“The Spiritfount Pill is no longer for sale,” Fei Li said coldly.
“What?” Zhang Qin, the female equipment forger on the third floor, looked at Fei Li.
Confused, she said, “Senior Martial Brother Fei, didn’t your master leave that Spiritfount Pill here for sale?”
“Correct, but we’re not selling it now.” Fei Li snorted.
Zhang Qin looked at Fei Li and then towards Liu Yan. She seemed to have sensed something was going on. Thus, she didn’t say another word.
“Fei Li, what are you doing?” Liu Yan said, sounding irritated.
“Not selling means not selling!” Fei Li’s tone wasn’t pleasant at all.
Nie Tian’s expression also turned very grim.
That Spiritfount Pill could help his grandfather rebuild his spiritual sea and also help solve the problem that had been plaguing his grandfather for many years.
The moment he learned about the Spiritfount Pill, he had decided to get it at all cost.
However, he never expected that the Spiritfount Pill… was Gan Kang’s. As the owner, Gan Kang indeed had the right to stop selling it.
If the owner didn’t wish to sell, Nie Tian could do nothing about it, not even with Wu Ji’s command medallion.
“Fei Li, do you have a problem with me?” Liu Yan furrowed his brows.
Fei Li didn’t say anything. Instead, he looked over towards Nie Tian.
Liu Yan was puzzled. He turned around and asked Nie Tian, “When did you have a conflict with him?”
“Last night,” Nie Tian answered.
Liu Yan thought for a moment and understood what was going on. “Because of that An Ying girl?”
He was a well-informed man. Before coming to the Spiritual Treasure sect, he had heard that Fei Li’s master, Gan Kang, had set his mind on An Shiyi.
An Ying’s anxious expression when she hurried over last night, coupled with Fei Li’s abnormal behaviors today, had already made the truth obvious to him.
Nie Tian went ahead and explained, “An Shiyi is my sworn sister.”
Upon hearing Nie Tian’s words, Zhang Qin suddenly realized what was going on.
Liu Yan smiled bitterly as he searched laboriously in his head for a solution.
If not for last night’s incident, he believed that Nie Tian could have easily obtained the Spiritfount Pill with Wu Ji’s command medallion.
However, now…
The pill belonged to Gan Kang. They clearly couldn’t force him to sell it.
When Liu Yan was reaching the end of his wits, Fei Li took out the case containing the Spiritfount Pill from the counter. He gently stroked the delicately engraved cover of the case as he slowly said, “My master acquired it from a cultivator from one of the other eight realms at the cost of a sixth level Medium grade spiritual tool.
“The Spiritfount Pill can’t be considered as a rare item in other realms. However, it’s rather hard to get in the Realm of Flame Heaven.
“Actually, this pill isn’t necessarily unsellable… You just need to stop meddling with others’ business.”
With these words, he looked coldly at Nie Tian, as if he was waiting for Nie Tian to cave and promise to stay out of it.
“Let’s go,” said Nie Tian.
Liu Yan sighed and told Fei Li, “I know who your master is. However, you’d better think it through; is it worth it to offend my martial granduncle over a trifling Spiritfount Pill?”
“The pill is ours,” Fei Li said indifferently, “We don’t want to sell it. Is he going to come to the Spiritual Treasure sect and take it by force?”
“Fine.” Liu Yan nodded. No longer in the mood to try to persuade him, he went downstairs with Nie Tian.
Dowager Weng caught sight of them when they came down, and asked, “Yee? Are you leaving now? Did you get that Spiritfount Pill?”
Liu Yan smiled bitterly. “No, they’re not willing to sell it.”
Dowager Weng was taken aback. “That’s impossible! Who’s the seller? I can’t believe someone refused to give face to Eccentric Wu!”
Liu Yan shrugged. He didn’t explain and walked out of the Pill Pavilion with Nie Tian.
Standing outside of the Pill Pavilion, Liu Yan thought for a moment and then said, “Don’t worry. I’ll see if I can ask for some friends to buy it for you.”
“Thank you, Uncle Liu.” Then, Nie Tian explained everything that had happened the day before. “I benefited a great deal because of An Shiyi. If not for the chance that she gave me to enter the Green Illusion dimension, I wouldn’t be who I am today.”
“Hmm, there’s nothing wrong with repaying kindness.” Liu Yan nodded. “Although Spiritfount Pills are hard to find in the Realm of Flame Heaven, they aren’t that rare in the other realms. Even if we can’t get one this time, there’ll be chances in the future. After all, you’re the disciple of martial granduncle.
“Let’s drop it for now and go take a look around in other places.”
Nie Tian replied, “I guess I have to.”
Shortly after, he temporarily suppressed the urge to purchase the Spiritfount Pill and followed Liu Yan as he roamed through the many Spiritual Tool Pavilions in the Spiritual Treasure sect.
Liu Yan knew that Nie Tian had only reached the Qi Refining stage, therefore didn’t bring him to places that sold high grade spiritual tools. Instead, he brought him to sections where they exclusively sold low grade spiritual tools.
After covering several pavilions, Liu Yan noticed that Nie Tian hadn’t bought anything, and thought he was probably dazzled by the abundant items. Finally, he couldn’t help but ask, “Nie Tian, do you have something in your mind that you want to buy? Also, years ago I failed to detect your cultivation attribute. Your master should have been able to. Did he say anything?”
Nie Tian rubbed his head and said, “No, master has never brought up the issue of my cultivation attribute. He only told me to choose three playthings, anything I want. He didn’t give me any specific requirement.”
His words gave Liu Yan a headache. “Without a category, or requirements… how am I supposed to help you chose?”
Liu Yan had already showed Nie Tian around three pavilions that only sold low grade spiritual tools. Some of the shops sold armor, some sold sabers and swords, and some others sold all kinds of bizarre items for personal adornment.
Nie Tian showed intense interest towards every single one of the items. However, he didn’t buy any of them.
Liu Yan originally thought that Nie Tian hadn’t come across an item that he wanted. However, after hearing what Nie Tian said, he realized that Nie Tian actually didn’t have any clue about how to make his choice.
“Uncle Liu,” Nie Tian said, “you can go shop for yourself. I’ll look around by myself. If I see anything I like, I’ll just buy it.”
Liu Yan nodded. “Okay, then.”
Actually he had his business at this convention. Not only did he have to choose spiritual tools for the subordinate clans, he also had to choose suitable spiritual tools for Jiang Lingzhu, Ye Gumo, and other juniors.
“With your status, I doubt that you’ll run into much trouble here. In case you get into conflict with someone, just show martial granduncle’s command medallion, and there shouldn’t be any problems.” After giving Nie Tian some advice, Liu Yan temporarily parted with him to take care of his own business.
After he left, Nie Tian quietly took out the dragon bone. He muttered to himself while stroking the bone, “If I want anything, I want something like this.”
Ever since he had found out that his dragon bone had also come from one of the Treasure Conventions, he hoped to obtain an item like it at this Treasure Convention, because only items like it would be able to bring him unworldly opportunities that could cause heaven-shaking and earth-toppling changes to his life.
FIZZ! FIZZ!
Just as he was thinking to himself and stroking the animal bone, tiny sparks of flames floated inside of the dragon bone.
His expression flickered. He gathered his awareness and examined it. He discovered that the drop of blood within the dragon bone seemed to be gently squirming!