Chapter 695: Selling Fire from a Stall

Su Che had thought that Zhuo Feng would establish some kind of agreement with him—such as meeting at a certain place every few years, or asking for his fixed address to visit him periodically and check on the growth of the Tree of Life.
He never expected that Zhuo Feng would be willing to follow such a person to the side of an immortal just for a piece of wood…
This was far too unusual, and Su Che couldn’t help but wonder if it might be some kind of conspiracy planned in advance.
After all, he had intricate and inseparable ties with the Witch Clan, and some people in the immortal realm already knew his name, “Tian Yu.” It was hard to say they wouldn’t devise some scheme to use him to deal with the Witch Clan…
Due to these connections, Su Che had considered changing his name and living quietly in the immortal realm under a different identity. But then he rationally realized that with his limited abilities, no matter how he hid, he couldn’t escape the notice of certain powerful figures. Changing his identity was nothing but an illusion to deceive himself.
So at this moment, Su Che wasn’t as excited or optimistic as Lao He; instead, doubt filled his heart.
Noticing Su Che’s unnatural expression, Zhuo Feng immediately asked, “It seems, young Tian Yu, you don’t like to be disturbed, right?”
“Not exactly,” Su Che replied, shaking his head slightly. “I just find that Senior Zhuo Feng’s decision came too suddenly. It’s hard for me to accept it right away.”
Zhuo Feng said in a deep voice, “That’s because this sacred wood is extremely important. It gives me the motivation to keep living. Otherwise…” He shook his head and sighed. “Without this hope, continuing to live in this world would be an unbearable torment for me.”
Su Che guessed, “Could it be that Senior hopes to use the Tree of Life to recreate a species that has already gone extinct?”
“That’s right,” Zhuo Feng nodded in agreement, unimpressed by Su Che’s deduction. As an immortal, having such wisdom was not surprising.
He continued, “I must revive a species to atone for my deceased wife and my unfortunate, early-deceased children… All of this was caused by my own mistakes. I must do my utmost to make amends before I can deserve to die in atonement…”
He stopped speaking there. Undoubtedly, this was a heart-wrenching past he couldn’t bear to recall, and the one bearing the guilt was none other than himself.

Noticing the indescribable, boundless pain in his eyes, Su Che began to believe a little. Su Che had never been one for hesitation; after a brief moment of thought, he said, “In a few months, I will open a shop at Haoyuan Market. If Senior Zhuo Feng could stay at the shop, it would save me a considerable amount of protection money.” “It’s no big deal,” Zhuo Feng nodded in agreement. “Then thank you, senior,” Su Che bowed in gratitude. Without mentioning whether he would follow or not, simply saying he was a master hired by ‘Tianxuan Treasure Shop’ wasn’t too demeaning for a noble Golden Immortal. Originally, Su Che had also thought that to run a shop and engage in large-scale business, it was utterly unrealistic to have no masters on hand. Even if he couldn’t hire a Golden Immortal-level protector, he still had to pay substantial protection fees regularly to some local faction in Haoyuan Market. Otherwise, relying solely on his three Immortal-level subordinates, he wouldn’t be able to control the situation, and it wouldn’t be long before he was forced out by some dominant merchant alliance or organization in the market. Business competition was brutal—this was a common reality, with no one showing sympathy for the weak. In this regard, whether it was the Immortal Realm or the mortal world, it seemed the same. As for Zhuo Feng’s matter, it was settled for now. Anyway, even without him, Su Che would find ways to hire other masters. Once hired, they could still not be fully trusted. At this moment, using the empty table before him, Su Che planned to show off the treasures he had. Whoosh! First, Su Che sent a mental command to transform the table into milky white jade. Such a simple color would better highlight the colorful mutated spiritual flames and the multicolored spiritual fruits that emitted radiant light. The table also took on a rectangular shape. More than a dozen different-colored Immortal-grade mutated spiritual flames appeared in the left half of the table, each being a small flame the size of a fist; the right half was occupied by over a dozen multicolored spiritual fruits. The appearance of these items immediately caught Zhuo Feng’s attention. Having traveled through the Immortal Realm for tens of millions of years, his knowledge and experience were undoubtedly profound. With just one glance, he could determine that he had never seen such spiritual fruits and flames before. “These fruits…”

Compared to the spiritual flames, the multicolored spiritual fruits caught his attention even more. Zhuo Feng mused, “This is truly rare. It seems as though various high-level energies have perfectly merged to nurture them… Regardless of their effectiveness, such forms of life almost certainly shouldn’t exist in this world at all…”

At that point, he looked up at Su Che with a serious expression and said, “This makes my confidence in you even greater.”

Su Che smiled and nodded. There was no need for him to boast—facts were already clear.

“Huh?”

A few soft exclamations came from all around, and soon people started walking over. In the blink of an eye, the table was surrounded by a dozen or so people.

All present were true immortals from the Immortal Realm, so their keen senses were needless to mention. Anything interesting or novel would be immediately detected by them.

A Xuanxian dressed in a purplish-red flame robe was clearly a fire cultivator. He was extremely sensitive to the appearance of these mutated spiritual flames and was the first to approach. He asked right away, “What kind of spiritual flames are these?”

“Mutated spiritual flames.”

Su Che told the truth in front of the true immortals. “These were all cultivated by a master of the fire path. I assure you, they’ve never existed before in this world.”

“I knew it…”

The fire Xuanxian nodded in agreement. “Indeed, they’re mutated flames cultivated artificially. No wonder I didn’t recognize any of them.”

After observing them for a while, his excitement grew. He nodded repeatedly and commented, “Although these mutated spiritual flames aren’t of high rank, their existence forms are extremely stable. There’s not the slightest trace of human intervention—they seem to have formed naturally. Truly ingenious!”

Hearing such praise, Su Che couldn’t help but smile inwardly: Of course! Though they were mutated spiritual flames, they were nurtured by the natural forces of the Immortal Prison. It wasn’t just “seemingly natural”—they were truly “naturally formed”!

The other true immortals who were interested in these flames also gave them high praise, offering great admiration for the “master of the fire path” Su Che mentioned.

“Are these the only eighteen kinds of spiritual flames?” the fire Xuanxian asked further.

“There are many more,” Su Che replied with a smile. “The table is too small to hold them all.”

“Very good, very good!” The fire Xuanxian was highly satisfied and immediately asked, “Young man, are you willing to sell these fire seeds?”

“Yes,” Su Che nodded. “I brought them out precisely to find their rightful owners. For these spiritual flames to truly demonstrate their value, they should burn continuously throughout the world.”

At that moment, Zhuo Feng’s message reached Su Che’s ears—the reference price he had suggested, to prevent Su Che from selling the items too cheaply due to his lack of experience. Zhuo Feng, with nearly 20 million years of life experience and having traveled far and wide, surely wouldn’t give wrong advice.

“Rarity makes things valuable. Although these fire seeds aren’t of the highest grade, they are all unique and rare spiritual flames that can’t be found anywhere else in the world, except here.”

Su Che said loudly, “Just now, this senior also mentioned that their stability is extremely high, no different from natural spiritual flames. This means they have great versatility and can be applied in any field one can imagine.”

“I know, I know,” replied the Fire Sect Xuanxian, clearly impatient. He urged, “Just tell me—what’s the price for these spiritual flames?”

“The average price!” Su Che raised five fingers. “Each fire seed is worth 500 immortal crystals.”

This was exactly the reference price Zhuo Feng had suggested, and Su Che quoted it directly without overcharging. After all, today’s action was merely a test to see if these mutated spiritual flames would be recognized by the immortals. After all, in his future store, mutated spiritual flames would also be one of the main products.

Currently, there were already over 60,000 varieties of immortal-grade mutated spiritual flames in the Third Fire Realm, capable of continuously splitting into more seeds, ensuring no shortages. If a small fire seed could fetch 500 immortal crystals, the income from just this would be immense, beyond calculation.

Moreover, from now on, he could continue acquiring large amounts of natural spiritual flames and send them to the Third Fire Realm to cultivate even more mutated spiritual flames—millions, tens of millions, even hundreds of millions—without any problem.

Depending on the grade of the spiritual flames, some top-tier or supreme-grade seeds could even fetch astonishingly high prices. A fist-sized mutated fire seed might sell for 20,000 to 30,000 immortal crystals.

“500 immortal crystals…” The Fire Sect Xuanxian glanced at the onlookers around him and immediately realized he wasn’t the only one interested. If he didn’t act quickly, hesitation would mean someone else would buy them first.

Regardless of whether these mutated spiritual flames were truly unique, he had never seen any others like them before—this was definitely the first time.

At that moment, someone beside him said, “500 immortal crystals isn’t too expensive. But it would be even better if the grade of the spiritual flames were higher.”

The Fire Mystic Immortal immediately turned to him and said, “Those of higher grade will surely not be at this price.”
“That makes sense,” Su Che nodded with a smile.
The Fire Mystic Immortal promptly declared, “I want all of these on the table. Bring out more to take a look; if they’re of at least the same grade and quality, I’ll buy them too.”
As someone in the path of fire, his demand for spiritual flames was endless, especially rare ones he had never possessed before.
As soon as he said this, someone nearby objected, “That won’t do. Everyone who sees them has a chance—how can you buy them all alone?”
“I spoke first, so I buy first!” the Fire Mystic Immortal retorted immediately. “Does the principle of first come, first served need explaining?”
“That’s not how it works. Seeing them means fate has brought you here; you can’t monopolize them…” Another person quickly presented his reasoning.
Su Che was secretly pleased. It seemed his mutated spiritual flame was quite popular. Although the unit price wasn’t high, the large quantity made up for it! The vast seas of fire within the three layers of the Fire Realm could all be exchanged for shiny Immortal Crystals…
So, he said to them, “Fellow cultivators, don’t rush. I have hundreds of fire seeds of the same quality here, and everyone present can buy some. Here, I’ll give these on the table to this fellow first, after all, he was the first to express interest and approve of these spiritual flames…”
“That’s exactly right,” the Fire Mystic Immortal nodded in satisfaction.