Pursuit of the Truth

”I bought this Crimson Stone many years ago at a treasure gambling event, but even after digging out all those holes to explore the stone, I didn’t manage to find anything. Breaking it would be a waste, so I wrote a method and turned it into a decoration to generate these dancing butterflies.” The white-robed man smiled faintly. He lowered his head and looked at the bottle in his hand, and faint sentiment appeared on his face.

”As for this medicinal fragrance, not only have I smelled it before, I have even seen the treasure. Judging by the medicinal fragrance remaining in this bottle, there should have been many Scattering Dusts contained inside before, and it has been less than three days since they were taken out.” The white-robed man lifted his head and looked towards Su Ming.

”Sir, how many Scattering Dusts do you have? We of Nine Shaman Pavilion want all of them!”

”How much will you offer?” Su Ming’s expression was calm when he asked languidly.

”It doesn’t matter whether you want Enchanted Vessels, Shaman Crystals, information, medicinal herbs, or anything else. Choose one of them, and I will give you a satisfactory answer,” the white-robed man said firmly.

”Shaman Crystals,” Su Ming said calmly.

”I will give you twenty thousand superior Shaman Crystals for one Scattering Dust. The more you have, the more I will offer you.” The white-robed man smiled faintly.

If Su Ming had mentioned anything else, he might not have been able to offer such a deal. However, since he asked for Shaman Crystals and since Nine Shaman Pavilion had prepared a large amount of Shaman Crystals for the treasure gambling event, offering this amount was not a loss for them in his eyes.

”I don’t quite understand. Why is this Scattering Dust so valuable?” Su Ming asked.

”Haha! Sir, why do you ask even though you already know the answer? These Scattering Dusts can help us obtain the protection of the Spirits of Nine Yin, and since they are rare, it would be an incredibly fortuitous event for us if we were able to find any. So it is only natural that the price for them is high.”

The white-robed man smiled, then said with a shake of his head, ”If you have three, I can give you thirty thousand Shaman Crystals for each. If you have nine, I can give you fifty thousand Shaman Crystals for each. If you have more than nine, then I will add five thousand Shaman Crystals to each additional Scattering Dust!

”Sir, how many do you have?”

A light crease appeared between Su Ming’s brows, though it was hidden by the straw hat. The price this man offered was filled with temptation, and based on his reaction, he was certain that these Scattering Dusts were not just for him to obtain those Spirits of Nine Yin. There was a high possibility that he had another use for these medicinal pills.

Su Ming mulled over it for a moment, but since he needed a large quantity of Shaman Crystals at the moment, he decided to simply force down his doubts. He said slowly, ”The price of one for thirty thousand isn’t high. That’s not enough for us to split among ourselves.”

”Oh? Sir, so you know the value of these Scattering Dusts as well? We of Nine Shaman Pavilion…”

The white-robed man’s face was calm, but a thought had bloomed in his head. The ‘we’ in Su Ming’s words had caught his attention. Clearly, this person was not acting alone but was a member of a group… When this thought appeared in his head, the white-robed man shook his head with a smile, and as he spoke, his words were cut off by Su Ming, who interrupted with a low voice.

”There were only three Scattering Dusts in the bottle,” he stated flatly.

The moment these words came out, the white-robed man’s pupils shrank and his expression immediately changed. He brought up the small bottle and took a sniff once more before he closed his eyes.

After a long while, he opened them and looked towards Su Ming.

”From what I deduced, there should have been at least seven to eight of these pills in this bottle. But since you’re certain that there were only three, then it’s clear that their quality is much higher than of those I’ve met before.

The white-robed man remained silent for a moment before he said, ”If that’s the case, and if your Scattering Dusts are indeed of high quality, then I will buy each of them for fifty thousand Shaman Crystals! However, I must take a look before I can make my final decision.”

Su Ming lifted his right hand, and as he flipped it over, he flicked his hand towards the white-robed man. Immediately, a ray of green light containing a medicinal pill within shone and charged to the man.

The instant the man lifted his hand to grab it, the pill suddenly sped up, causing the man to grab at air, and during that moment, the medicinal pill closed in on the center of his brows. As the man’s expression changed, the pill came to a halt three inches away from the center of his brows and stayed there, remaining still while floating in the air.

The man’s pupils shrank. He hesitated for a moment, then lifted his hand slowly and grabbed that Scattering Dust. A hint of wariness appeared in his gaze when he looked towards Su Ming.

To him, if the stranger could throw that Scattering Dust to him so confidently, then it simply went to show just how confident this person was in his heart. Unless, of course, he was a moron. If he was not, then if this person could do such a thing without any hesitation, then it meant that he was very confident and was completely not bothered by the possibility of the white-robed man doing anything that could bring harm to him.

But if that was all Su Ming did, the white-robed man would have still continued making assumptions, but when that Scattering Dust flew towards him, the sudden change of speed actually gave him no chance to dodge. The blatant intimidation forced the white-robed man to believe in his own assumptions.

He brought that Scattering Dust to his eye and looked at it carefully, then sniffed it. His expression changed constantly. He was first stunned, then surprised, and his face gradually settled on disbelief. Eventually, he sighed. He tapped his bosom with his left hand, and when he lifted his hand, there was a green medicinal pill on his palm.

It did not matter whether it was the size or the color, the medicinal pill he had was incredibly similar to Su Ming’s Scattering Dust, but the feeling these two pills gave to others was this - One was dull, and the other was overflowing with life.

The difference of quality between the two was instantly determined!

Once the white-robed man finished comparing both pills, he put away his Scattering Dust, then brought out another item from his bosom with his left hand. It was a brocade box. Once he placed that box on the purple wooden desk by the side, he opened it cautiously right before Su Ming.

Su Ming looked over at the box, and his eyes immediately shrank. There was a three-leafed herb inside.

Two of the three leaves seemed to have withered, and the one that was not withered was sharp like a poisonous snake’s head. However, while it might not have withered, it looked rather listless, as if it no longer had much life left inside.

The white-robed man cautiously brought Su Ming’s Scattering Dust towards the living leaf with two of his fingers pinching that pill, but right the instant he brought that Scattering Dust close to the leaf, the leaf that looked like a poisonous snake’s head suddenly lifted itself and even hissed while sticking out a tiny forked tongue with hints of green in it, just like a real poisonous snake. It charged straight towards that Scattering Dust.

The white-robed man swiftly pulled his right hand back and brought his left hand to the lid of the box, slamming it shut with a bang. His lips curled up into a smile.

”There’s no wrong about this. If it can make the Dragon Leaf Grass so excited, then it’s definitely Scattering Dust. You actually have Scattering Dusts that have perfect quality? We of Nine Shaman Pavilion will buy all three of your pills for seventy thousand Shaman Crystals each. If you have more, I can add to the price!” The white-robed man looked towards Su Ming, waiting for his answer.

”I only have three. I’m fine with seventy thousand for each, but I want that stone!” Su Ming stated calmly, pointing towards the Crimson Stone at the center of the incense burners.

The white-robed man hesitated for a moment. ”About that… While that stone is a useless stone, but when I bought it, I spent a lot of Shaman Crystals to get it… If you can sell one more Scattering Dust to us, then we might be able to make a deal for it.”

”I only have three.” When Su Ming saw that the man still couldn’t make his decision, he turned around and walked towards the Relocation Rune.

”Brother, wait. All right, I’ll just treat this as a gift for a friend. I’ll give the stone to you!” the white-robed man immediately said.