Chen Fan slowly walked over to the stall, glanced first to appraise the goods displayed on it, and then casually picked up a pile of low-grade spirit plants laid out there.
"Your spirit herbs are so low-grade, yet you don't even bother to properly care for them—they're practically dying. Their effectiveness is vastly diminished, and yet you still bring them out to trick people."
Chen Fan put the spirit herbs back onto the stall and spoke.
Once spirit herbs are harvested, they either need to be preserved using special methods or kept in dedicated storage boxes.
However, looking at this stall owner, he didn't seem like someone who possessed such craftsmanship. Most importantly, these were common spirit herbs found everywhere, so it wasn't worth putting a massive amount of effort into preserving them.
Hearing Chen Fan's words, the stall owner looked up and said, "My good customer, you also know these are just common spirit herbs found everywhere, sold specifically to those who don't want to spend their own time gathering herbs in the mountains. If I were to spend a fortune preserving them, wouldn't I be taking a massive loss? I can see you're genuinely interested—how about this, take this whole pile for just two spirit stones and you can have them all!"
The stall owner talked a mile a minute, shamelessly starting to bargain.
"Do you take me for a fool? Fresh ones aren't even worth that much! These spirit herbs of yours are practically withered to death, and yet you actually dare to ask me for two spirit stones?"
Chen Fan pointed at the pile of herbs he had just put back and shouted loudly.
"To tell you the truth, if I weren't an Alchemist apprentice who hasn't had time to gather herbs myself these past few days, yet still needs them, do you think I'd buy yours at all?"
"This pile of herbs of yours is nearly withered. The medicinal bath brewed from them won't have any real effect to speak of."
"I'm only buying this batch of herbs to practice my skills and see if I can make a breakthrough in refining spirit liquid."
The stall owner was momentarily stunned, not expecting his asking price to be refuted right back at him. Although people bargained with him all the time, no one had ever explained things to him like this. After all, what was there to argue about with a bunch of junk? You name a price, I name a price, and if we're satisfied, someone takes the pile of goods and leaves.
"I'm done arguing with you. I'll give you one price, see if it works: one spirit stone plus that cleaning Formation formation disk beside you, and I'll buy this pile right now."
Chen Fan said to the owner.
"My customer, if you're just buying this pile of spirit herbs by itself, I'd sell it to you for one spirit stone without a second word. But if you also want this formation disk, you'll have to pay a proper price."
"Cut the crap. Are you selling it for one spirit stone or not?"
"Fine, fine, I'm about to pack up my stall anyway, so I'll take a bit of a loss. One and a half low-grade spirit stones, and I'll throw this whole pile in for you."
The stall owner said with a face full of heartache.
Upon hearing this, Chen Fan didn't say another word and feigned the motion of turning around to leave.
"Hey, hey! I'll sell it, I'll sell it!" Inside, the stall owner was suffering. If he didn't sell this pile of spirit herbs he had gathered today, by tomorrow they would completely lose their effectiveness, and all his effort would go to waste.
The stall owner hurriedly said to Chen Fan.
"Shouldn't you have just sold it earlier? You're just lucky today to run into an apprentice like me who's been busy these past few days, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered letting you throw away the spirit herbs you worked so hard to gather."
"If I didn't feel like I was about to successfully refine spirit liquid these past few days, I wouldn't be buying them at all."
Chen Fan put on another act right there, portraying a novice alchemist apprentice with a smattering of skills who felt a breakthrough coming on, doing so with vivid realism.
There were levels among Alchemist apprentices: the lowest tier could only handle odd jobs, slightly better ones could formulate medicinal baths, and the best ones—just like Chen Fan from a few days ago—could formulate spirit liquid. This last type had basically touched the threshold of a true Alchemist, which was why his wife's clansmen had been willing to marry her to him.
After another round of complaining and haggling from the owner, Chen Fan handed the stall owner one spirit stone, picked up the pile of goods, and walked away.
Placing them into the pack he wore on his back, Chen Fan forcefully suppressed the surge of excitement in his heart and strode away quickly from the spot.
The value of this pile of herbs wasn't just one low-grade spirit stone—even fifty low-grade spirit stones wouldn't come close to it.
If Chen Fan hadn't broken through to junior Alchemist a few days ago, and because the system made his foundations exceptionally solid, it would have been impossible for him to recognize that there were several Spirit Gathering Grass plants hidden within this batch of herbs.
Don't underestimate them. Once Chen Fan used points to break through to become a spirit planter later on, he could implement his plan.
At that time, he could choose a spot, dig a well, plant these Spirit Gathering Grass specimens, and cultivate them properly to eventually form a Spirit Spring.
Just as Chen Fan was walking briskly away from the venue, a sneaky-looking young man waited until the surroundings were clear and stepped up beside him.
Chen Fan initially thought the other person was about waylay and kill him, scaring him into halting his steps instantly. At the same time, he prepared to channel a spell to strike first and gain the upper hand.
Then the person opposite him spoke.
"My lord, I noticed you've been buying formation disks all this time. I have some special items here, would you like to buy them?"
The young man blocking the path looked to be around twenty years old. His seemingly simple and honest face occasionally revealed traces of shrewdness.
Although he looked quite handsome, clean, and energetic, displaying the unique vitality of a youth, the sudden move to block his path still startled Chen Fan and made him somewhat dislike this young man.
"What kind of special items?" Chen Fan thought for a moment before speaking up.
The young man looked around to make sure no one was paying attention to this spot, and then led Chen Fan to a secluded corner not far away.
Then he said, "I have a family-inherited Formation Master legacy here. I noticed the customer really likes formations, so would you like to buy it?"
With that, he watched Chen Fan's expression.
"Oh? But of what use is it for me to buy it? Anyone can activate a formation disk, but not everyone has the talent to cultivate a Formation legacy. Buying it wouldn't benefit me at all, would it?"
Chen Fan said, feigning disdain.
Of course it wasn't that Chen Fan didn't want to buy it, but cultivation techniques and legacies of this sort were exceptionally precious.
You couldn't just have someone ask and immediately say with a carefree grin that you wanted to buy it; if you did that, who wouldn't fleece you? Speaking this way made it much easier to negotiate the price later.
Hearing Chen Fan's words, the youthful fellow who had just seemed slightly defensive panicked a little. After all, by saying this, he had already exposed the fact that he possessed a Formation legacy. Although he didn't know whether Chen Fan would go around spreading the word, he didn't dare gamble on it.
This was the person he had selected after observing the market for many days.
So, after thinking for a moment, the youth spoke again: "Would the customer really not consider taking another look? The price is negotiable."
Hearing this, Chen Fan's face appropriately revealed an expression of interest.
Then Chen Fan said, "And how am I supposed to know whether this legacy of yours is real or fake?"
Naturally, Chen Fan had to inspect the goods; otherwise, how could there be such a coincidence in this world where he bought a pile of formation disks in one place and immediately found a Formation legacy right after?
Hearing Chen Fan's words, the youth produced a piece of paper on which half of the legacy's key instructions were written.
As for why it was paper—naturally because he couldn't afford jade slips. They were all low-tier cultivators; where would they find so much money?