Chapter 274: Demonic Remnant and Unyielding Bamboos
Translator: TYZ Editor: CakeHermit
Ai Hui was slightly disappointed that the group of people on Old Li’s bamboo cart did not approach him to buy the artifact remnants. He had no idea that they had not yet recovered from the shock of seeing his performance just now.
On the contrary, the businessmen waiting on the hillside were used to seeing such a performance. They crowded around Old Gao’s bamboo cart before it even landed.
For a large city like Silver City, there were many more artifact remnants in the market. The pavilion closest to the water enjoyed the moonlight first. Ever since people discovered the value of artifact remnants, the contest over artifact remnants had become increasingly intense.
The Silver Mist Sea was under the tight control of the Elders Guild and various aristocratic families could not get a share of it. As such, whenever the sea lock was opened and the sea discharge was released, various families would come forth and plunder the river. The most lucrative part of the vast Silver Mist River’s upper reaches had been divided among the various aristocratic families. If one was to look down from the sky, he or she would realize that this part of the river was marked with various aristocratic families’ labels, forbidding outsiders from angling for artifact remnants.
Similarly, the middle reaches of the Silver Mist River could not avoid facing the same fate. The most lucrative parts of the middle reaches were being occupied by various local tyrants.
The Silver Mist River was like a mouth-watering cake. The aristocratic families took the larger portions of the cake while the tyrants took the smaller portions.
Even the Elders Guild had their hands bound and could do nothing about this situation. After all, they had the entire cake in the Silver Mist Sea.
It was very difficult for even adept anglers to base their livelihood on artifact remnant angling if they did not join the aristocratic families or the local tyrants.
There were also some new citizens uniting together to take part in this contest. They might be able to put up a fight against the local tyrants, but against the powerful aristocratic families, they simply stood no chance at all.
For the past three years, countless bills to ban aristocratic families and tyrants from hegemonizing the river had been submitted to the higher-ups, but none of them had passed.
The new citizens were very unhappy, but could not do nothing about it.
Peace City, the city located at the lowest part of the river’s lower reaches, had even fewer artifact remnants available to them. Most of the artifact remnants sold on the market were acquired from the cities at the upper reaches. Naturally, their prices were exorbitant.
Every time, the artifact remnants that Ai Hui hauled up would fetch pretty good prices.
Eventually, he sold the bronze-colored artifact remnant for 120,000 points. As for the black artifact remnant, he kept it as he could sense a cold aura of killer intent coming from it.
That was a demonic remnant!
A demonic remnant was an artifact remnant that possessed a vicious aura of killer intent. Demonic remnants were the remnants of ancient sanguinary weapons and the murderous aura they possessed was highly concentrated.
Demonic remnants were highly favoured by god elementalists. If a god elementalist was to possess a demonic remnant, he or she would save effort and produce better results in nurturing blood demons. There were also some god elementalists who increased their blood demons’ strength by feeding them demonic remnants.
The rising Blood of God was rich and powerful. They had numerous nouveau riche and could directly increase the price of demonic remnants, making them extremely expensive.
Demonic remnants were also equally very useful and important to elementalists, especially in the aspect of weapon forging. Currently, the most popular weapon forging technique was to fuse artifact remnants and blood crystals.
"Brother, can I take a look at the artifact remnant in your hand?"
An unfamiliar voice suddenly rang through the air, raising the eyebrows of the surrounding artifact remnant businessmen. Excitement flashed across some of their faces. They knew Ai Hui’s temperament very well; he would only sell things that he did not need.
Ai Hui cast a glance in the direction of the voice and to his surprise, it came from that group of people that were following him just now. They had returned to the hillside while he was trying to sell his bronze-colored artifact remnant.
The voice belonged to a seemingly earnest man.
"I’m sorry, this is not for sale."
Ai Hui shook his head at the man.
"Is that a demonic remnant? I need a piece of demonic remnant urgently. If Brother can part with it and sell it to me, I will be extremely grateful to you. You can quote me a price, be it elemental energy points, blood crystals, or materials." The man did not give up on Ai Hui’s demonic remnant.
Demonic remnant!
Upon hearing these two words, the surrounding businessmen broke into a commotion. Everyone’s eyes lit up. A demonic remnant was actually hauled up in Peace City! They knew about the value of demonic remnants very clearly.
Ai Hui was slightly vexed. He did not expect the other party to be so persistent and even recognize it as a demonic remnant.
The burning gazes from the surrounding businessmen gathered on Ai Hui. He calmed down and replied, "Yes, this is indeed a demonic remnant."
The surrounding businessmen exploded into a frenzy.
"Brother Wang! You have to sell it to me! I want this piece of demonic remnant! Give me a price!"
"What do you mean by you want it? Brother Wang, how long have we known each other? Today, you do as you see fit. Regardless of how much money you quote, I want this piece of demonic remnant! Give me a price!"
"300,000 points!"
...
The scene descended into chaos.
"Everyone shut up!"
An arrogant roar exploded like a thunderclap in everyone’s ears. Everyone was overwhelmed with shock. This roar was surging with elemental energy. Whoever let out this roar was extremely powerful.
A teenager who was around 15 years old pushed the crowd aside and spoke in an arrogant and unhappy tone. "How dare you all vie with us? Are you all tired of living!?"
Even though he was very young, he was adept in his mastery over his elemental energy. His background was definitely not simple. Everyone who did business here was a shrewd individual and could tell that the group of people was not to be provoked.
The teenager walked toward Ai Hui and snorted. "I want this piece of demonic remnant!"
Ai Hui unhurriedly kept the demonic remnant into his clothes.
Upon seeing this, the teenager’s face flushed with anger. Just as he was about to open his mouth and say something, an older boy beside him stopped him and pulled him behind his back. With an apologetic look on his face, the older boy told Ai Hui, "I’m really sorry, I have failed to discipline this kid. This demonic remnant is really important to me and my younger brother is just being anxious for me. Sir, please forgive him if he has offended you. I am willing to pay 500,000 elemental energy points for this piece of demonic remnant. Sir, are you willing to part with it and sell it to me?"
The surrounding businessmen did not say anything. 500,000 points for a piece of demonic remnant was a reasonable price.
Rich and powerful!
Everyone was glad that they had not offended this group of people just now.
Ai Hui’s face relaxed slightly. This older boy did not seem too irksome, and 500,000 points was indeed a pretty good price.
Ai Hui thought for a while and replied, "Forget about the elemental energy points. If you want this piece of demonic remnant, exchange it for 12 unyielding bamboos."
Unyielding bamboo was an extremely rare and high-grade material. Its biggest strength was its sturdiness and durability. It could withstand a terrifying amount of force without bending at all. The bamboo got its name from its unyielding nature.
One unyielding bamboo was usually priced at around 40,000 points. 12 unyielding bamboos would amount to 480,000 points. It might appear that Ai Hui was suffering a loss—in actual fact he was making a gain. Occasionally, one could find two or three unyielding bamboos on the market, however, it was nearly impossible for one to buy 12 unyielding bamboos in one go.
Unyielding bamboos needed to be grown in an extremely harsh natural habitat and the success rate of the ordinary elemental externalized wood elementalists who produced them was very low. They could only be produced by wood elementalists that were well-experienced and adept in the mastery of elemental energy.
Upon hearing Ai Hui’s request, the surrounding businessmen did not say a word. They could afford to pay 500,000 points, but 12 unyielding bamboos were not something they could fork out in such a short period of time.
The older boy was slightly startled by Ai Hui’s request. but he nodded his head without any hesitation. "No problem. However, I don’t have the unyielding bamboos with me now. I’ll have to trouble you to come along with me to the Evergold Enterprise."
To other people, getting 12 unyielding bamboos might be a problem. To him, however, it was a piece of cake.
At this moment, realization dawned upon the surrounding businessmen. Evergold Enterprise was the number one enterprise in Peace City. It had strong, robust financial resources and an enigmatic backer. Reportedly, the enterprise was tightly linked to some influential figure in Silver City.
Everyone broke into a discussion. Could these people be the young masters of Evergold Enterprise?
Ai Hui did not expect them to be from Evergold Enterprise. He had stayed in Peace City for nearly three years, and he definitely knew about Evergold Enterprise. Evergold Enterprise had a rather good reputation, and he did not really hear many scandals about them.
"Okay." Ai Hui nodded.
Along the way, the older boy kept making insinuations, but Ai Hui remained unmoved. Ai Hui, however, managed to learn something. The older boy’s name was Fu Renxuan and the seemingly arrogant teenager’s name was Fu Yongwu. According to Ai Hui’s observation, the decision-maker of the group was the girl who had not spoken a single word the whole time.
He caught Fu Renxuan shifting his gaze to the girl a few times.
This group of people should be from Silver City.
There were a few times where Fu Renxuan hinted at hiring Ai Hui, but when he saw that Ai Hui remained unmoved, he shut his mouth and did not talk about it anymore.
When they reached Evergold Enterprise, Ai Hui received the 12 unyielding bamboos, bid them farewell, and left the place.
When Fu Yongwu saw Ai Hui walk out of the main entrance, he asked puzzledly, "Big Sister, I thought we wanted to hire this fellow?"
The girl laughed bitterly and replied, "All the while, he didn’t show any sign of interest and did not lower his guard. There’s no way we can persuade him. Furthermore, it might not be a good thing if we do manage to hire him."
Fu Yongwu was even more puzzled and asked again, "Why? Given his artifact remnant angling skills, I think he’s even better than that old fogey!"
The girl sighed softly and replied, "Precisely, he is too good. How much money would we have to give him until he finds it appropriate? If he hauls something every time in Peace City, then the number of artifact remnants he would haul up in our part of the river would definitely be a lot. If we don’t give him enough money, he will not be happy. If we give him too much money, our family will not agree to it. We can never pay an angler too much money. What about other anglers? Once the status quo is broken, the other anglers will definitely complain about it. Don’t tell me we have to solely depend on him in the future? What if he leaves us? We have such a big family and we are like a huge boat that needs stability to last a long time. Breaking the customs for a short-term gain is like suddenly breaking the oars of a boat after having travelled thousands of miles. We would be mixing up our priorities."
Fu Yongwu was speechless. Even though he was an impulsive individual, he was not stupid. He was clever enough to understand what the girl was trying to say in an instant.
"This person is very smart. He knows that his capabilities will bring him troubles in Silver City. No one will dare to hire him or let him fall into the hands of others. That’s why he came to a place like Peace City. Every month, he will not make a huge profit or attract attention to himself. His age is around the same as mine. He is an experienced and cool-headed individual. We can’t underestimate him."
"How is he experienced and cool-headed? I can tell with a single glance that he is a boring person. He never talks at all," Fu Yongwu mumbled.
"Even if we can’t hire this capable individual, we can still befriend him." The girl smiled.
"I will pass down the instruction." Fu Renxuan nodded.
After leaving Evergold Enterprise, excitement was written all over Ai Hui’s face. Today was a lucky day. He had not expected to obtain the troublesome unyielding bamboos so smoothly.
Just the thought of the Star-sinking Ink Cloud and unyielding bamboos made him felt exuberant.
When Ai Hui reached the training hall, Qingye had already gone home.
"Lou Lan, let us get ready to work!"
"Ai Hui, have you gotten all the materials?"
"I have gotten the Star-sinking Ink Cloud and the unyielding bamboos."
"Lou Lan is coming!"