Chapter 127: One-armed Old Man
This street stall was under a large locust tree. There was a crumpled piece of black cloth with dozens of different items presented on top. There were cauldrons, small stones, strangely-shaped iron items, dried medicinal herbs… etc… They were truly only common items, no different from any of the other stalls.
The person running the stall was a one-armed old man that only had his left hand; the inside of his right sleeve was empty.
He was initially half-dozing off on a boulder, but after seeing the group of Feng Feiyun approach, his lethargic expression immediately disappeared completely. He opened his eyes and shouted: “Little Brother, what do you want to buy? I have everything here. Do you see this stone cauldron? It was dug from the depths of the earth. After many professional appraisals, it was determined that it is a treasure from more than 10,000 years ago; it is able to suppress the huge rivers and stabilize the ocean.”
“Also, there is this ancient weapon.” The one-armed man picked up a bronze hook from the stall and waved it in front of Feng Feiyun’s eyes while speaking: “You shouldn’t look at how it is plain without any decorations or spirit awareness. In fact, it has a really big origin. This is a divine weapon of a Giant in Huangsha who was previously renowned throughout the world. Once stained by blood, it will unleash its divine power and destroy all of heaven and earth.”
The one-armed old man vividly described the origins of these divine treasures to Feng Feiyun as his spit flew everywhere. Clearly, he had repeated these words countless times and thus, it was very flowing.
His explanations were indeed effective. As a result, many people came by and wanted to see the strange legendary treasures here. All of them were cultivators with spirit energy in their bodies, and there were even a few Immortal Foundation experts. They pointed back and forth at these treasures while clamoring in excitement.
“This stone cauldron doesn’t seem ordinary. Look at the beast engraving on top of it. It looks like a Vermilion Bird, but it also has four long wings with bizarre runic lines — truly special indeed. This could be a divine cauldron in the legends.”
“Perhaps it is the real thing!” A person was caught up in the situation and exclaimed. Soon after, a young guy wearing a blue daoist robe began to ask for the price: “Boss, how much for this stone cauldron?”
The eyes of the one-armed old man became excited as he saw everyone’s fiery gazes, so he quickly raised the price. He revealed three fingers and said: “Such a godly treasure like this, the price is naturally high. 300,000 bronze coins, not one coin less.”
After this price was announced, there was an immediate uproar!
This place naturally sold all types of items. Their prices only ranged between a few bronze coins to a few hundred. Now, the one-armed old man dared to directly raise the price to 300,000 bronze coins.
This was a straight up robbery ah!
300,000 bronze coins were equivalent to 30 gold coins. 30 gold coins were not high of a price to disciples of top clans such as the Feng Clan, but to disciples of small immortal sects and families, 30 gold coins was a sky-high price.
There was a huge disparity between the rich and the poor in this world. People of higher status could waste money as if it was trash, but lower status people had to risk their lives just for a single coin.
The daoist-robed young man lightly furrowed his brows and clearly began to hesitate.
“300,000 bronze coins, I’ll buy!” One person accepted the price.
Standing at the side, Feng Feiyun gently stroked his chin with his sight not on the stone cauldron, but on the one-armed old man instead. This old guy — from start to finish — was filled with happiness while looking at the daoist-robed young man.
The daoist-robed young man finally decided to gamble and took out everything he had as he threw it at the old man, then he said: “I’ll give 400,000 bronze coins, this stone cauldron belongs to me.”
40 gold coins had been paid!
“The higher bidder is the most deserving, it should be like this, should be like this!” The one-armed old man laughed to the point where his eyes became squinted. He put away the 40 gold coins and then pushed the stone cauldron towards the daoist-robed young man as if he was afraid that the boy would change his mind.
“My small store only does small deals and no returns once we’ve made a deal!” The one-armed old man said.
“Why speak such nonsensical words! If I dare to buy it, then naturally I will not change my mind.”
The daoist-robed young man had an excited ray of light in his eyes. He ecstatically raised the stone cauldron in his hands with shining eyes and meticulously looked at it as if he was looking at a priceless treasure.
Wang Meng’s lips then curled into a wicked smile as his thick arm secretly bumped into the daoist-robed young man and directly messed with his center of gravity, causing the stone cauldron in his hands to fall straight down to the ground.
“Pow!”
The stone cauldron fell to the ground and shattered into pieces, and it even splashed out a ton of quicklime.
Everyone then burst out in laughter!
“Haha! It fell down really well, one fall was enough to show that it was fake!”
“Spending 40 gold coins just to buy a fake, this little brother is really forthright!”
***
This group of people were afraid that the world wouldn’t burn, and they laughed till the point where the daoist-robed young man became lividly pale, revealing his murderous intent. His two palms turned into fists as he ferociously stepped towards the one-armed old man. This old man was too much of a fraud; 400,000 bronze coins was his entire savings.
The one-armed old man quickly held onto his storage bag while speaking: “I have already said that my small store only does small deals and no returns once we’ve made a deal. Little Brother, you have already agreed to this.”
Even though the young man was furious, but in front of so many people, it was not convenient for him to make a move. He simply glared harshly at the old man and thought about waiting until everyone left, then he would take care of him.
While everyone was still laughing loudly, Feng Feiyun squatted down to check out the items displayed on the ground.
“Daniu, it is clear that this old man is a fraud. It is better not to look at these items.” Liu Qinsheng spoke to remind Feng Feiyun.
Initially, the onlookers all intended to leave, but after seeing Feng Feiyun carefully selecting the items on the ground, these people immediately stayed behind.
They didn’t expect that someone else would dare to buy items from this one-armed old man. It seemed like this youngster was also a naive person and will be fooled badly. The daoist-robed young man was a clear example of losing money.
“Check it out! Another one caught, hee hee.”
“This boy is dressed in rags, I’m sure he won’t have anything at all.”
*** ***
The one-armed old man naturally saw that Feng Feiyun was a poor-as-dirt man as well, but after all, he was still a customer. Might as well scam him for as much as possible.
The daoist-robed young man also stayed behind, standing next to Feng Feiyun, with a gloating glint in his eyes. He only wished that it would be best if Feng Feiyun was swindled even worse than him.
Feng Feiyun naturally didn’t care about the clamoring of those around him. He took one turn looking at everything on the ground before finally shaking his head and sighed, then he stood up, wanting to leave.
The one-armed old man immediately became anxious, so he quickly cried out: “Little Brother, don’t go ah! If you like any treasure, then just tell me straight. We can then negotiate the price!”
Feng Feiyun suddenly stopped and squatted back down again. He picked up a stone as big as a human head and said: “There is an endless spirit energy growing inside this stone, it is absolutely a heaven and earth’s great treasure.”
Feng Feiyun raised it up with both hands, then he smelled it and — once again — nodded his head to say: “The aura of a god is so thick, could this be a divine stone from the Immortal World that fell down!”
This stone was completely ordinary and mediocre with a tawny shade along with a loose, grainy, and coarse texture. There was green moss growing on it, and it was picked up by the one-armed old man earlier along the street to press down on the piece of cloth of his vendor’s stand.
However, Feng Feiyun was praising it as if it was extremely magical like a natural treasure born from the heaven and earth.
Everyone had a curious gaze on their face. The ones with extraordinary vision unleashed a ray of light from their eyes, wanting to see through the profoundness of the stone, but they all shook their heads in disappointment in the end.
It was truly ordinary!
This was just a common piece of yellowstone.
Even the one-armed old man was slightly taken back. He especially looked at the stone again but couldn’t find anything special about it.
It seemed like this kid was a dumbass!
This piece of yellowstone was not even worth one bronze coin, yet someone was considering it as a treasure. The old man was naturally delighted and smiled: “Little Brother is truly a discerning connoisseur… The origin of this stone is really frightening. Legends has it that a paragon sat on it to become enlightened in the dao, and he ascended to the heavens. If Little Brother really wants to buy it wholeheartedly, then I will sell it to you for twenty bronze coins.”
The old man didn’t dare to name too high of a price since he was afraid that Feng Feiyun would be scared straight and run away.
All of the cultivators nearby began to snigger; this old fart was beginning to trick people again. Wanting to sell this useless stone for twenty bronze coins — truly a robbery.