Chapter 187 - 186: Enviable Superpower
"Of course... Eighty Gold Coins will get you sixteen Spirit Stones."
The Shopkeeper wasn’t the least bit surprised to hear Lin Li wanted to trade Gold Coins for Spirit Stones. After all, the man was a Cultivator. It was only natural for him to want Spirit Stones for his training.
’Sixteen Spirit Stones... that means one Spirit Stone is worth five Gold Coins. The exchange rate is decent.’ Lin Li nodded. Then, with a thought, a Spiritual Short Saber materialized in his hand.
"Shopkeeper, could you take a look at this for me? If I sell this Spiritual Short Saber outright, how many Spirit Stones can I get for it?"
"Er..." The Shopkeeper glanced at Lin Li in surprise as he produced another Spiritual Artifact. Customers who came in to sell two Spiritual Artifacts at once were quite rare.
After taking the Spiritual Short Saber from Lin Li and inspecting it, the Shopkeeper said, "This Spiritual Artifact can be sold for ninety-five Gold Coins. Converted to Spirit Stones, that would be nineteen."
"Alright." Lin Li nodded, finalizing the sale of both the Spiritual Artifact Dagger and the Spiritual Short Saber.
"Sir, here are thirty-five Spirit Stones in total. Please count them and make sure the amount is correct."
The Shopkeeper, having accepted the two Spiritual Artifacts from Lin Li, handed him a small burlap sack filled with Spirit Stones.
Lin Li took the small burlap sack from the Shopkeeper, opened it, and poured the Spirit Stones out.
"Five, ten, fifteen... The count is correct," Lin Li said to the Shopkeeper after tallying the Spirit Stones.
He then returned the Spirit Stones to the small burlap sack. With a mere thought, he stored the sack of Spirit Stones away on the Mysterious Small Island.
Watching the small burlap sack vanish from Lin Li’s hand, the Shopkeeper’s face immediately filled with envy.
"Well, I’ll be going now. If I have more things to sell in the future, I’ll be back," Lin Li said to the Shopkeeper before turning to leave.
...
’Finally sold those two Spiritual Artifacts. With the twenty Spirit Stones I had before, I now have fifty-five in total. As for cash, I only have a little over seventy thousand dollars left...’
’Huh, that’s not a lot of cash! But it’s fine. Once I take this batch of pearls back to Blue Star and sell them, I’ll make a ton of money.’
As he left the pawn shop, Lin Li took stock of his current assets while heading toward the restaurant where he was buying the pearls.
He checked the time. It had been over half an hour since he’d left the restaurant.
He was now strolling back. By the time he arrived, it would be just about the time he’d agreed to meet Wang Gui for their deal.
...
"Easy now, handle them with care! Don’t let the pearls get bumped or scratched..." Wang Gui called out from the side to the employees who were moving large bamboo baskets full of pearls.
The employees set the large bamboo baskets on the ground. Looking at the perfectly round, pure white, and flawless pearls inside, they all had the same thought.
’Has the Shopkeeper gone mad? Why did he suddenly have us dig through the trash to collect all these useless pearls?’
TAP TAP TAP...
The sound of hurried footsteps approached.
"Shopkeeper, that Mr. Lin is here." The waitress who had fetched Wang Gui earlier hurried into the restaurant’s rear courtyard, speaking to him as he was inspecting the baskets of pearls.
When Wang Gui heard that Lin Li had arrived, he promptly dropped the handful of pearls he was holding back into the basket.
He first said to the employees handling the pearls, "There’s nothing more for you here. Go on and get back to your other tasks!" Then, he and the waitress left the courtyard and headed for the restaurant’s main hall.
...
In the restaurant’s main hall, Lin Li, his face concealed by a bamboo hat, saw the waitress return, leading Wang Gui quickly in his direction.
Before he could say a word, Wang Gui greeted him first. "Mr. Lin, you truly are a punctual man!"
"Shopkeeper Wang, are the pearls I requested ready?"
"They’re ready. Follow me."
The three of them left the main hall and headed for the restaurant’s rear courtyard.
In the hundred-square-meter courtyard, ten large bamboo baskets, each over a meter tall, were neatly arranged.
The large bamboo baskets were filled with mounds of perfectly round, flawless white pearls.
"Mr. Lin, there are 20,300 pearls here. Consider the extra ones a gift from me," Wang Gui said, gesturing to the ten large bamboo baskets in the courtyard.
"Alright. In that case, thank you, Boss Wang." Lin Li took a stack of cash from his pocket and paid Wang Gui the remaining balance.
"Mr. Lin, would you like to count the pearls? If so, I can call a few people over to help you."
After receiving the final payment, a brilliant smile spread across Wang Gui’s face as he spoke enthusiastically to Lin Li.
It was no wonder Wang Gui was so eager to have his employees help Lin Li count. After all, in his eyes, these pearls were nothing more than a pile of useless trash.
Now that he had made a fortune off this "useless trash," he was more than happy to have his staff help count them for Lin Li.
’If I really count these one by one, it’ll be dark by the time I’m done,’ Lin Li thought. He shook his head. "That won’t be necessary. I trust you, Shopkeeper Wang."
"Alright. In that case, I’ll arrange for some men to help deliver these to your home," Wang Gui said.
Just as he was about to call his employees over to load the large baskets onto a carriage, he heard Lin Li decline his kind offer once again.
"Thank you, but that’s not necessary. I can handle them myself."
Before Wang Gui could respond, Lin Li walked over to one of the large baskets, which was filled to the brim with flawless white pearls, and placed a hand on it.
"Huh?!!!"
Wang Gui’s eyes widened in astonishment as he saw the large bamboo basket vanish into thin air the moment Lin Li touched it.
"Ah! Shopkeeper, where did the basket go?!" Seeing this, the waitress beside them rubbed her eyes. Once she confirmed she wasn’t hallucinating, she shrieked in alarm.
As the owner of several restaurants, Wang Gui was worldly and knowledgeable. He quickly understood what had happened to the disappearing basket.
It only took him a few seconds to go from wide-eyed shock to calm composure. He then explained to the shrieking waitress beside him.
"It must be a Storage Space Superpower. I never would have guessed that someone as young as Mr. Lin is a Cultivator, and one who’s awakened the extremely rare Storage Space Superpower, no less."
...