Chapter 183: We Need Actors
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
"Your brother Shihao here wants something but it’s not very easy to find what I want."
Miao Shihao covered his lips and chuckled in an extremely charming fashion.
The corner of Lin Feng’s mouth twitched as he said plainly, "What do you want, my friend?"
Miao Shihao raised his left hand and began to admire it; he had a slender hand that was as graceful as a woman’s one. He casually spoke, "Your brother Shihao here wants the Six Great Primordial Waters, just one will do. Do you have any?"
Lin Feng raised his eyebrows. "How coincidental. I do happen to have one."
"Oh?" Miao Shihao put down his hand and peered at Lin Feng with interest. "You really have one?"
Lin Feng nodded his head. "I have the River Styx Primordial Water. Are you satisfied?"
"The River Styx Primordial Water is indeed one of the Six Great Primordial Waters…" Miao Shihao droned. "Sadly, no!"
Lin Feng frowned slightly. "Are you patronizing me?"
Miao Shihao scrutinized Lin Feng with a look of curiosity, then giggled as he said, "Don’t be angry, don’t be angry. I have not explained properly yet."
He stuck out a slender index finger and waved it around. "I do want the Six Great Primordial Waters, but I only want the One Heavenly Primordial Water or the Grand Moon Primordial Water. I don’t want anything else."
Lin Feng looked at him quietly. "Is there anything special I’m not aware of?"
"Of course!" Miao Shihao flicked his nails and reverted to his casual expression. "The Blood River Primordial Water is too dirty. Can that even be called water?"
"The Xuanming Primordial Water is too cold – I don’t like it. I prefer warmth like the flowers during springtime."
"The Great Chaos Primordial Water is too clumsy. I prefer more agile and nimble items as I have a good mind."
He raised his head and looked at Lin Feng. "As for the River Styx Primordial Water, it’s too dry and uninteresting. I don’t like it either."
Lin Feng fell silent and thought to himself. "You bastard. So picky. Are you keeping fish?"
He contemplated for a moment and slowly said, "The Grand Moon Primordial Water is hard to say, but from what I know the spring of the One Heavenly Primordial Water is at the mountain entrance to the Great Void Sect…"
Miao Shihao raised his hand and cut Lin Feng off. His expression turned into one of disgust and contempt as he said, "Don’t speak of Great Void Sect in front of me. It disgusts me and makes me nauseous!"
"If I had the enough powers and abilities, the first thing I would have done would be to kick down the mountain entrance of the Great Void Sect." Miao Shihao pouted and said, "If you want me to find the Great Void Sect for the One Heavenly Primordial Water, you can wait for a lifetime and it’s not going to happen. It’s not even going to happen in the next."
He seemed a little distressed as he picked up a willow leaf and rubbed his temple lightly with his fingers. "The One Heavenly Primordial Water had been claimed by those trashy people who love to embroider white clouds onto their clothes, and there has been no news of the Grand Moon Primordial Water. If not for these two realities, I would not have been so anxious."
"Trashy people?" Lin Feng did not know whether to laugh or cry as he heard Miao Shihao’s description of the cultivators from the Great Void Sect.
He had seen some cultivators from the Great Void Sect before – Yan Mingyue, Pang Jie and Chen Gang – and with their personalities and heart for cultivation aside, their appearances were already impeccable.
Miao Shihao looked at Lin Feng and slammed the small table angrily. "If it wasn’t so hard to find them, I certainly would not have placed my Blessed Nine-Petalled Lotus up for sale. It’s been three years and yet I have achieved nothing!"
Lin Feng laughed coolly. "My friend, your emotions are all over the place. This is not the state of mind you should have when discussing important issues."
"Eh?" Miao Shihao shot Lin Feng a look of surprise. "What, surely you cannot possibly have the One Heavenly Primordial Water or the Grand Moon Primordial Water with you, besides the River Styx Primordial Water?"
He made clear what he so greatly desired, but Lin Feng did not seem to intend to give up. Clearly, Lin Feng was confident and this gave Miao Shihao some hope.
However, wariness surfaced upon Miao Shihao’s face. "I can’t tell how deep is your mastery. Are you from the Great Void Sect? Are the four people behind you your disciples or just from the same Sect? Their mana waves do not look like the mantra of the Great Void Sect, however."
Lin Feng did not answer his question but pulled out a small vial instead. He took out the seal of the vial with his mana and a faint and clear fragrance wafted out from within. The vial emanated a fragrance with a profound feeling of mother nature’s blessing upon all things.
Miao Shihao’s eyes sparkled. "It really is the One Heavenly Primordial Water!"
He got up from his couch as he stared at the small vial in Lin Feng’s hands with those sparkling eyes of his.
Lin Feng laughed faintly and said, "What I do not know is whether or not this is enough for you? If this is not enough, I don’t have any more for you."
Miao Shihao nodded. "This vial is enough."
He looked at Lin Feng and said, "How did you get this vial of One Heavenly Primordial Water? I don’t mean anything else, I just want to know if you’re friends or enemies with the Great Void Sect."
"I don’t mind telling you." Lin Feng laughed lightly again as he said, "There was a junior from the Great Void Sect who was being rude and unruly in front of me, so I destroyed him and took this One Heavenly Primordial Water from his body."
Miao Shihao’s eyes brightened. "Oh? Was his name Chen Gang?"
Lin Feng looked up and stared into Shihao’s eyes. "This I do not know. I don’t usually ask for my adversaries’ names before I destroy them."
"Please do not misunderstand." Miao Shihao smiled amiably. "Several months ago, the Great Void Sect lost contact with one their new disciples called Chen Gang. Even though they tried their best not to spread the news but they couldn’t fool me."
"At that time, I thought the demonic clans of the Barren Expenses, the Mount Shu Sword Sect and the Great Zhou Empire were the only ones that dared to attack and kill people from the Great Void Sect. I never thought it was you. Tsk tsk, what a great kill!"
Miao Shihao made a gesture resembling an orchid with his right hand and tapped the air lightly. Suddenly, streaks of colorful and brilliant light appeared. Within the streaks of light, a lotus pedestal appeared and the nine lotus flowers upon the pedestal exuded blinding light and a forceful spiritual energy.
"Just because you killed that trashy Chen Gang, I shall give you the Blessed Nine-Petalled Lotus."
As he said those words, the Blessed Nine-Petalled Lotus drifted in front of Lin Feng.
Lin Feng was a little surprised. He scanned the item with his mana and immediately recognized that Miao Shihao did not do anything illegitimate with it and the item in front of him was the authentic Blessed Nine-Petalled Lotus.
Lin Feng looked up and asked Miao Shihao, "What is the meaning of this? Don’t you want the One Heavenly Primordial Water anymore?"
Miao Shihao rolled his eyes and replied, "Oh you, of course, I still want the primordial water. But I will exchange it with you for something else. If you want Talisman-Dollars, please do let me know the price."
Talisman-Dollars referred to the currency set by the Pavilion of Heavenly Trade for the world of cultivation. It was widespread in the western areas of the Great Qin Dynasty as well as the Hanhai Desert Clans and was essentially treated as basic currency by all.
Talisman-Dollars were the same thing as talismans. The values of the talismans were separated by the respective levels of the cultivators who created them.
Qi Cultivation stage cultivators liked to refer to them as Qi Talismans. Only Qi Cultivation stage cultivators who have reached the twelfth level can produce talismans that could be exchanged with other talismans of equal value.
Cultivators within the three realms of the Foundation Establishment stage could produce Ocean Talismans, Alter Talismans and Crucible Talismans.
Cultivators within the three realms of the Aurous Core stage were used to differentiating talismans by their substance with reference to the Aurous Core, from the lowest to the highest value: Yellow Talismans, Green Talismans and Red talismans.
As of current, the highest level of Talisman-Dollars in use were the purple talismans. These were produced by cultivators of the Nascent Soul Stage. It was also known as the Origin Talisman.
The Qi Talisman, Ocean Talisman, Altar Talisman, Crucible Talisman, Yellow Talisman, Green Talisman, Red Talisman and the Origin Talisman comprised eight different levels of Talisman-Dollar currency, from the lowest to the highest. From one level to the next represented a value jump of a multiple of ten.
For example, one Ocean Talisman was equal to ten Qi Talismans, one Altar Talisman was equal to ten Ocean Talismans which were also equal to one hundred Qi Talismans, and so on.
The only exception was the Origin Talisman as the power was so great and the supply so little that one Origin Talisman was equivalent to one hundred Red Talismans.
Miao Shihao looked in Lin Feng’s direction and said, "I have had some savings over the years. As long as your price isn’t too outrageous I should have no problem meeting it, and I will not haggle with you. Alternatively, do you want something else?"
Lin Feng thought for a second and said, "You seem to understand a lot about the Great Void Sect. Is that right?"
It was likely to be more than just ‘understand’. Miao Shihao received insider information from within the Great Void Sect that Chen Gang had gone missing. He must have had some serious influence over the transmission of intelligence in the Great Void Sect.
Indeed, Miao Shihao pouted and said, "Ah, those trashy people. What happens inside the mountain entrance I do not dare to say, but those who are Striders-On-Earth I can say I know enough."
His eyes suddenly lit up as he looked at Lin Feng. "Unless you want to…"
Lin Feng shook his head and laughed. "It’s not like that. I do not wish to disturb the holiest ground under the Heavens as long as they don’t disturb me as well."
"My search for information is more about curiosity than anything else."
Upon hearing his words, Miao Shihao bent over like a tomato shrunken from the frost. "Forget it. I will pass on information to you and you give me the One Heavenly Primordial Water? What do you say?"
Lin Feng pushed the vial and sent it in front of Miao Shihao. Miao Shihao laughed and accepted the gift and rolled his eyes at Lin Feng. "Oh, you seem like you trust me."
Lin Feng’s lips twitched again and laughed dryly, "My friend, you are a straightforward person so I shall not be stingy."
Miao Shihao nodded with a look of satisfaction. "I am beginning to like you more and more. How about this, the Spiritual Conference of Hanhai will be inaugurating after a few days, and they will be opening an auction. If you wish to bid for anything in the auction and you lack the funds to do it, feel free to look for me and I’ll lend you. Don’t be afraid to bid."
Lin Feng automatically absorbed the former part of his sentence. His attention was focused on the latter part.
"Many cultivators slay demons and then auction off their treasures. Could it be that you’re welcoming the legendary auction?"
A new idea popped out in Lin Feng’s mind.
"Wait, auction… Maybe this is my chance?" Lin Feng was calculating ceaselessly. "I already have the props and as the director, I’m already here. I lack some actors and players."
As he completed his calculations, a warm and amicable smile habitually appeared on Lin Feng’s face.
He turned and looked at Xiao Budian and the others, and laughed as he said, "I will remain to speak to my friend Miao for a while. You all can go out for a spin and have some fun."
He paused before continuing, "If you meet anybody looking to cause trouble with you, I have a request."
Xiao Budian and company glanced at each other and thought to themselves, "Surely Master is not asking us to fight with them?"
Lin Feng spoke gradually. "If you meet anybody looking for trouble, remember: You can do anything you like, but never be on the losing side!"
"You guys can only take advantage of others and not the other way around. If you’ve been bullied, come back and complain to me."
Xiao Budian and the three others were stunned for a short while, but smiles subsequently broke out on their faces. Xiao Yan was elated. "Master, you don’t have to worry."
As he watched the silhouettes of his disciples leaving, Lin Feng’s smile became even more radiant and bright. "The script is done; the props are ready. Now I just have to wait for the other players and actors to be in position."