"Liquor worm…" Fang Yuan lightly muttered, walking to the side of the center reception desk.
He only needed this Liquor worm, along with the sweet, spicy, sour, bitter—four types of wine, to refine the Four Flavours Liquor worm. Of course, such a fusion also entailed a chance of failure.
But if Fang Yuan did not have a second Liquor worm, he does not even have a chance to try.
This is life after all, hard work does not mean results, nor success. But if one does not work hard, they are destined to fail.
The Demonic path was the same, the demonic cultivators are good at clearing obstacles in their way, bravely advancing in their paths. To most people in the world, they were seen as extremists and adventurous.
"I was still worried earlier as to where to find a second Liquor worm. To think that fate sent this Liquor worm right to my doorstep. The chance is in front of me, how can I give up? I must get this Liquor worm!" Fang Yuan's eyes shone with determination.
"If my cultivation reaches Rank four or five, with a strong fighting capability, I would snatch it away without a thought, killing gods and slaying buddhas in my way! If I was Rank three or four, with my ample experience, I can steal it without anyone finding out. Sadly I am just a Rank two now, in fact I'm just initial stage…"
Fang Yuan sighed in his heart, "I can only purchase it fair and square like this."
He looked at the price on the counter.
"Liquor worm—Five hundred primeval stones."
The Liquor worm's normal price is five hundred and eighty primeval stones. The price here was actually eighty pieces cheaper than the market.
But if Fang Yuan really thinks he can spend five hundred primeval stones to buy this Liquor worm, then his five hundred years of living would have been in vain.
The low price was just to attract customers and trigger people's mentality and greed into buying it.
This treehouse was obviously Jia Fu's asset.
"Grandma, this Liquor worm is only five hundred primeval stones!" A young girl walked in, screaming in shock.
The young girl's eyes were glowing, shaking her grandmother's hand, "Grandma, tomorrow is the awakening ceremony. Didn't you promise to give me a present? Why don't you give this Liquor worm to me."
The young girl's grandma had a white waist belt, and the belt had a square silver piece with the number "3" on it.
Once a Gu Master reaches Rank three cultivation, they automatically ascend to clan elder position.
Only that among clan elders, there were differences. There were elders in power who held great political power. While others were not, they would only be controlling the departments with little profits.
But this Rank three elder was not those weak clan elders.
"Gu Yue Yao Ji…" Fang Yuan recognised her immediately, this was the medicine hall's clan elder. The medicine hall is the clan's support faction, it can be said to be the most lucrative department. Gu Yue Yao Ji had very great influence due to her seniority, even towards the clan leader, she could do away with paying respects and reply while sitting.
She was the number one healing Gu Master in the clan and had saved many lives of the clan elders, thus having very strong network in the clan.
"Alright, alright. If my obedient granddaughter wants it, grandma will buy for you." The old woman's face was full of wrinkles. She was a hunchback and had a walking cane in one hand, helplessly sighing and saying with a benevolent face.
"Grandma is the best, I knew grandma dotes on me the most," The young girl happily grabbed Gu Yue Yao Ji, joyfully planting her lips on her grandma's cheek.
"Then grandma, let's call the shop assistant and buy this Liquor worm immediately!"
Gu Yue Yao Ji shook her head, "My lovely granddaughter, the Gu worm here isn't bought like that. Let granny teach you, you see that stack of paper and pen over at the counter?"
The young girl nodded, "I see it."
Gu Yue Yao Ji said, "Go get a piece of paper and use the pen to write down the price of the Liquor worm. After that, stuff it into the hole. If among all the bidders, your price is the highest, this Liquor worm will belong to you."
"So that's it, very interesting." The young girl took a bamboo paper and held the pen, but hesitated when writing down.
Her lovely eyebrows frowned as she thought hard for a moment, then finally pouting her lips, she said, "Grandma, what price would be appropriate? If I set it too low, other people will get the Liquor worm, but if I set it too high, I would be making a loss."
Gu Yue Yao Ji laughed, teasing her, "How can it be so easy to buy the Liquor worm? Let's see your luck…"
"Grandma!" The young girl said coquettishly, hogging Gu yue Yao Ji's limp and shaking arm.
"Alright, alright, stop swinging, my body is going to collapse." The old woman sighed, "Grandma will fill it for you."
The young girl quickly jumped, saying, "I knew grandma is the best!"
Gu Yue Yao Ji wrote a price before putting her own name as the young girl watched in anticipation.
After she had finished, she folded the paper and signalled to the girl, "Go, put the paper in."
The young girl obediently took the paper and found the hole in the counter and stuffed the paper in.
She returned beside Gu Yue Yao Ji, feeling uncertain, "Grandma, will this do?"
The old woman nodded, "That's about it. But life is hard to predict, someone might put a higher price. But that price would be too high. If they really bidded so much, the person who bought this Liquor worm is a fool. Don't worry, the Liquor worm is in the bag."
"Oh." The young girl nodded with a cute expression.
"Let's go. Come accompany grandma upstairs and look around."
"Okay, grandma."
Seeing them leave, Fang Yuan's eyes shone with severity.
This Gu Yue Yao Ji, to him, was a tough competitor, not to be underestimated.
But this situation, Fang Yuan had prepared and anticipated it.
The Liquor worm was precious. Although it was only usable for Rank one Gu Masters, the Liquor worm could refine primeval essence and that was very useful. Refining primeval essence and raising it by one small stage—this meant that the primeval essence storage increased and this had a great driving force towards Gu Master cultivation.
The only flaw is that the Liquor worm did not have a good prospect in the future.
According to the popular recipes, Liquor worm was only used as a fusion ingredient, and the new Gu worm created does not have the primeval essence refining ability.
This was too much of a waste. In fact, it was not worth it.
Thus, most clans have the Liquor worm and did not use it to undergo fusion, but is used by the academy to allow students to take turns using it.
If Fang Yuan exposed his advancement recipe, the Liquor worm's market value would rise drastically.
"Sigh, it is not easy to get this Liquor worm. This grandma and granddaughter is just one competitor. I wonder how many others are there who have placed the paper into this hole?"
Liquor worm was a good thing, and people naturally want good things.
Just that among these competitors, some were sincere about buying it, while others were just trying their luck. Some are affluent, like Gu Yue Yao Ji, while some were poor, like Fang Yuan.
"Luckily, I got back the family assets, and these few days I've sold some Rank one vitality leaves, plus the wine tavern and bamboo buildings are all rented out. Thus I could accumulate some savings. If not, I would not even be able to compete."
But he had too little time to save up. On the one hand he had a lot of Gu worms to feed, and in terms of fortune he could not compete with an old woman like Gu Yue Yao Ji.
"Sigh, let's go. Lord Yao Ji just tossed in a paper."
"I saw it too, it seems I'm not fated to have this Liquor worm."
The Gu Masters surrounding this counter all left dejected.
Only Fang Yuan still stood there.
His eyes were like the abyss river, shining with cold light.
The Gu Masters who left were all scared off by Gu Yue Yao Ji's aura and backed out of their own accord. But how could Fang Yuan be scared away?
"Some chances are just in front of you, only that people choose to give it up. I still have a chance!" Fang Yuan's brain worked intensely as he fell into deep thought.
To compete with fortune, Fang Yuan was not her match.
Even then...
That did not mean that Gu Yue Yao Ji's bidding amount was definitely higher than Fang Yuan!
Even though the Liquor worm was precious, it was still a Rank one Gu worm. The price of any commodity would fluctuate, but it would definitely not rise or fall beyond a certain limit. Thus, all price deviations have a range.
The crucial point now is, what price did Gu Yue Yao Ji give!?
She did not lack money, and for the granddaughter she doted, how much was she willing to pay?
As long as Fang Yuan's price, if even a single point, is higher, he wins.
This is a different kind of battle! The strong might not necessarily win, the weak might not necessarily lose. Guessing and gambling made the fight much more exciting.
"If it were others, they might not be able to guess it. Gu Yue Yao Ji, you purposely said some things earlier to scare away competitors? But in front of me, you are still too tender!" Fang Yuan's lips curled into an angle as he smiled confidently.
In this world, transactions were very interesting.
If it was on Earth, the seller would definitely adopt an auction style when selling rare Gu worms like the Liquor worm.
But in this world, auction did not work well.
An important reason was that kinship is the greatest value here, it is the clan's cohesiveness.
If an auction was held, the clan's members would have a subconscious animosity towards outsiders like Jia Fu.
Once the auction items are priced too highly, they would step out of the competition and even try to appease the seller, making some leeways to exchange and compensate.
This world's people had one viewpoint—Losing to the family is okay, but for an outsider to earn from it, that is an insult to the entire clan!
Unless, a few clans joined in an auction together. In that case, there is competition, and it would be full of rivalry.
But these auctions were hard to conduct.
Because transportation was inconvenient.
Transport is the basis of trade, and if the transport system is not developed, the business and trade would dwindle. Because in trade, it was the movement of commodities that matter.
Each village occupied a mountain and stayed far from each other. The roads that connected them are hard to travel, constantly having wild beasts, cliffs, coupled with dangerous terrain and weather, and even dangerous wild Gu worms—it was truly full of difficulties.
Such an inconvenient transport system made it difficult for different clans to come together for an auction.
Even at Qing Mao Mountain with its three clans, Jia Fu did not dare to organise an auction.
Firstly, where would it be held? It isn't safe in the wilds, and if it is held in the Gu Yue Village, the other two clans would not feel safe.
He was only Rank four, and the head of the other three villages were also Rank four. He could not suppress the situation. Compared to Earth, trade here was not developed and had its own rules.
Using his knowledge of business and enterprise from Earth, Fang Yuan managed to earn and also lose money. After some painful experiences, he finally learnt from experience.
Combining the complete business knowledge from Earth, along with his personal experience, without bragging, Fang Yuan had the top tier knowledge in the business industry in this entire world.
Just an old woman who had lived in the Qing Mao Mountain's village her whole life, she dares to obstruct me in getting the Liquor worm?
Old woman, you're far too tender!