Chapter 4073 — The Living-Form Mushroom
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
At this, Kang Jingming grew more sullen still. From the look of things, the old bastard Si Haitao seemed to value Zhong Yongliang more and more, while he himself was pushed into the background—and as for Murong Zhen, there was no comparison at all anymore!
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Escorting Ning Xuefei and Shangguan Lan'er about on their sightseeing, Wei Zhao, the island flower's personal guard, was in far better spirits than Kang Jingming—though even amid the pleasure, he did not entirely forget his proper business.
He brought the two women once more to the Hong Merchants' Association. This time, with no Si Haitao to block his way, Wei Zhao smoothly bought most of the supplementary materials on the Ragged King's list—and even one of the two rare materials the Ragged King had said would require a stroke of luck. Only the last remaining one was nowhere to be found.
The living-form mushroom: a spirit herb that closely resembled lingzhi in appearance, and at the same time a rare material for forging artifacts. According to the Ragged King, the laws of the five elements in forging differ from the ordinary five elements—the process by which a weapon takes shape follows the inverse five elements. And so whether the materials' properties could be perfectly harmonized came down to this living-form mushroom.
The trouble was that the living-form mushroom was no less rare than the heart-devouring玲珑 grass; more to the point, once picked, it survived only a very short time and would easily wither and become useless. Unless specially ordered in advance, therefore, even a great house like the Hong Merchants' Association could hardly keep it in stock—and the same was true of the other associations.
Fortunately, Wei Zhao was in no hurry. After placing an order with the Hong Merchants' Association, he went out of his way to call on Chen Heihu and ask him to help with the purchase as well.
Only now did Ning Xuefei finally catch on, belatedly. "Wei Zhao, so you weren't a clerk at the Hong Merchants' Association after all?"
"Of course not. Newcomers to the Welcome Pavilion aren't allowed to take outside jobs. As for why I went to the Far North Island with Hong Zhong last time—that was simply because I'm on good terms with him. I never once said I was a clerk of the Hong Merchants' Association." Wei Zhao shrugged.
"Then why did you have me go to Hong Zhong for pills last time? I thought you were one of the Hong Merchants' Association people!" Ning Xuefei pouted.
Wei Zhao smiled. "Actually, all those top-grade pills—I refined them with my own hands."
Though to call him one of the Hong Merchants' Association's people—well, that was true enough!
"What? Really? All those top-grade pills, you refined them?" Ning Xuefei's eyes went wide at once.
"Heh, the Hong Merchants' Association was being squeezed out by several other associations at the time and had nothing decent to put up for auction, so I did Hong Zhong a favor—and that's where those top-grade pills came from." Wei Zhao explained it as lightly as could be.
Ning Xuefei, though, listened with clicks of wonder. She had been right there at the auction then; even the Central Island Pill Hall had brought out only ten top-grade pills, while the Hong Merchants' Association had produced more than a hundred at a stroke. The shock of it was something no one who hadn't been present could possibly feel. (To be continued) R655