Chapter 10: Advanced (Part 1)

Young Master Qian was stunned. He hadn’t expected a child to buy so much material for crafting talismans. He said, “Who is your family head? How about you resell two sets of materials to me?”
“I am a disciple of the great talisman master Qian Ziwang. My name is Young Master Qian.”
Guo Shieru found it amusing and said, “Oh, you’re looking for my family head? Well, my family head is the great talisman sorcerer Luo Jie. Go discuss it with him.” He thought to himself, “Damn, this guy’s name is so annoying. His family head is utterly unreasonable. Young Master Qian? Who names their children like that?”
Young Master Qian immediately dropped his arrogant attitude. The other party’s status was no worse than his own. He said, “What if I buy them at a high price?”
Guo Shieru, annoyed by his name, replied, “Sure, twenty thousand per set. How about that?” He instantly doubled the price.
Young Master Qian was shocked. That was a huge sum—enough money to buy ten sets of materials, yet the other party was only offering two. It was too unfair. But he didn’t know what to say either, as he had been the one to insist on a high price.
Guo Shieru secretly laughed and provoked him further, “Oh, never mind. The price is too high… I can’t afford it. I’m leaving then!” He stepped back to leave.
Young Master Qian’s face turned red and then pale. In a fit of anger, he shouted, “Stop!”
Guo Shieru smiled and said, “Young master, is there something?”
Young Master Qian’s face turned bright red. After a while, he grumbled, “I… I’ll take them!”
Guo Shieru pretended to be innocent and praised, “Wow, young master is really rich! But… please don’t be impulsive!”
Young Master Qian said, “This amount of money isn’t a problem for me. Stop talking nonsense and give them to me!”
Guo Shieru was straightforward too. “Where’s the money?”
Young Master Qian indeed was rich. He casually tossed over a talisman bag and said, “There are forty thousand in the bag. Well, it’s a little short… I’ll give you the bag along with it.”
Guo Shieru muttered, “I’m just a child. Children are easy to trick. Let me check the amount first.” Though his voice was soft, Young Master Qian and Wan Daitou heard it clearly. Young Master Qian was both amused and annoyed. He felt a bit guilty because there wasn’t just a little less money in the bag—there were actually three thousand less. And such a talisman bag was only worth a few hundred at most.

Guo Shier opened the talisman bag and sensed it with a bit of talismanic power, immediately realizing the amount of money wasn’t enough. But he didn’t point it out and simply said, “Alright, it’s a bit short, but it’s fine. Da Tou, have the worker… divide the materials I bought into two parts—one for the young master, and the rest to be taken home for me.” He was overjoyed inside—there was even such a young master. He had to seize this wealthy client tightly.

Wan Da Tou secretly admired him—this kid had managed to get eight sets of precious talisman materials for free without anyone noticing. He quickly replied, “Yes, I’ll arrange for the worker to deliver them right away.”

Although Young Master Qian had obtained the materials, he felt troubled and uneasy. No matter how rich one was, buying something five times its normal price would still make one feel sad. He knew he had been taken advantage of by this kid, but it was he who had handed it over to Guo Shier—like a fool sticking out his head at a madman and saying, “Cut me! Go ahead and cut!” If the madman cut him, who could he blame?

Guo Shier smiled and said, “Young Master Qian, you’re advancing so young? Being able to create talismans is truly remarkable.” With this flattery, he made Young Master Qian calm down a bit, preventing him from becoming angry out of embarrassment. Guo Shier wasn’t afraid; he understood the horrors of human nature and didn’t want this guy to hate him.

Seeing that Guo Shier hadn’t exposed his lack of money, Young Master Qian felt a little better. Another round of flattery followed, easing his troubled mood and reducing his dislike for this kid. Listlessly, he said, “I’m just trying to create talismans. To reach proficiency, if two out of ten talismans succeed, I can advance.”

Guo Shier had never really cared much about advancing. He believed that mastering real skills was what truly mattered. As for advancement, once he had strength, what did it matter if he advanced or not? Curiously, he asked, “Besides creating talismans, what other criteria are there to measure the level of advancement for apprentices?”

“For apprentice spellcasters, if they can cast twenty spells in a row without stopping, they can advance to spellcasters. If they create one life talisman, they can advance to spellmasters. If they create twenty life talismans and compile them into a book, they can advance to grand spellmasters…”

“For apprentice talisman makers, if they can create one-time attack talismans with four successes out of ten, or create talismans with two successes out of ten, they can advance to talisman makers. The rest is similar to spellcasters. As for you, apprentice talisman casters…”

Young Master Qian suddenly showed a gloating expression and said, “Hehe, apprentices of spellcasters are quite troublesome… Without taking breaks, you have to cast fifteen spells in a row—meaning fifteen consecutive attack spells—and then there’s spellcrafting. You need four successes out of ten attempts for ordinary spells and two successes out of ten for precious spells to advance to a spellcaster. Of course, if you focus on one type, it’s the same as advancing to a spellcrafting master, but then you can’t truly be called a spellcaster.”

Guo Shier realized his own abnormality. He knew he had already surpassed this number when creating attack spells. He could fire twenty-five such spells in a row, which also exceeded the requirements for advancement. As for creating precious spells, he hadn’t tried it yet. In other words, he was not far from advancing.

“It’s that difficult?”

Guo Shier looked troubled, which made Young Master Qian laugh heartily. Secretly pleased, Young Master Qian said, “Apprentices of spellcasters are the hardest to advance. Hehe, to reach the stage where I am now, preparing to advance, you… would have to be at least thirty years old! By the way, how old are you?”

Guo Shier pretended to have a wry smile and said, “Nine years old.” He was enjoying the advantages of his age—no matter what outrageous thing he did, being nine years old meant no one could say anything to him.

Young Master Qian was stunned. Although Guo Shier looked young, he definitely didn’t resemble a nine-year-old child. He looked like a teenager in his teens.

“Well, so young… But then why did you buy so much material for making precious spells? Don’t tell me it’s for Master Luo the Great Spellcaster—he definitely wouldn’t care about such basic precious spells.” He wasn’t stupid; he knew it wasn’t material Luo Jie would use.

Guo Shier smiled and said, “Alas, my family is poor. I only joined the inner sect last winter. Who knew things here would be so expensive? I had no choice but to come out and earn money to support my family. Unlike Young Master Qian… it’s obvious you’re born rich.” He inwardly despised himself a bit—his skill at flattery had declined recently. Flattering so openly, he wondered if that guy would notice.

Wan Datou was drinking water when he accidentally spat it out. This kid was actually pretending to be poor? He had just spent forty or fifty thousand large spell coins without even blinking—his wealth was terrifying.

Guo Shier looked up at Young Master Qian, who seemed delighted. Of course, as a rich person, hearing others praise his wealth must feel wonderful. He pretended to be humble and said, “I don’t have that much money… My usual allowance is just a few tens of thousands. Hehe, not much…”

Guo Shier was stunned. Could there really be such top-quality stuff? He said with a smile, “By the way, Young Master Qian, I have some flour here. Do you want to buy it? I’ll sell it to you at a lower price!”

That hit the nail on the head. Besides needing materials to make talismans, Young Master Qian also wanted to buy some flour. Unfortunately, flour was now in short supply and unobtainable with money—only exchangeable for valuable items. So he became excited upon hearing this and asked, “You have flour?”

Guo Shier complained, “Yes, I still have a bit. I’ve been reluctant to use it. I want to exchange it for some money. Life is hard for the poor. I still have to support a big family.”

Wan Datou was almost going crazy. As a merchant, how could he not understand Guo Shier’s tactics? This kid had ulterior motives. But Young Master Qian naively stepped forward, thinking it would be unfair not to suffer some loss.

Young Master Qian was born and raised inside the inner courtyard and had never left, so he had no idea about the dangers outside. Fortunately, Guo Shier was just trying to make some money and had no other intentions; otherwise, he might have even sold himself and counted the money smilingly.

Young Master Qian said, “Sell it all to me!”

Guo Shier rolled his eyes. This guy was too arrogant. If he sold everything to him, what would he have left? He said with a smile, “Young Master Qian, you should know the market price outside, right?”

Young Master Qian waved his hand dismissively. “Of course. I’ve asked many people. It’s about five to six big talisman coins per jin.”

Guo Shier asked, “That’s a good price, but… Young Master, can you actually buy flour at that price? If you can, I’ll buy it at that rate—whatever amount I need.”

Young Master Qian was stunned. He certainly knew money wouldn’t work now; otherwise, he wouldn’t have been so excited. He asked, “How much do you say?”

Guo Shier replied, “Just now, I saw someone spend 250 big talisman coins to buy ten jin of flour. And that was because the seller was being generous to him…” With that single sentence, the price had doubled.

No matter how rich Young Master Qian was, he was shocked. He said, “25? Per jin? Don’t joke!”

Guo Shier smiled. “I’m not joking. You can go ask. It’s at the market outside.” It wasn’t a lie—some people did pay high prices for flour, but only in small amounts. Some people had to spend hundreds of big talisman coins to get a little flour to satisfy their craving for pasta-like foods.

Young Master Qian finally looked troubled. He had thought he had gotten a good deal, only to realize it was a trap. Buying it at this price, his master would surely scold him. He said, “This price… um, this price… it’s a bit too much.” Too embarrassed to say it was too expensive, he simply claimed it wasn’t worth it. After all, he had been so arrogant from the start.

Guo Shier also had no intention of selling it at that price—it was far too exorbitant. He said, “Then give me a price of your own. If it suits me, I’ll sell it to you.”

Wan Datou sighed inwardly. This kid was too clever. He first set a high price and then pretended to be flexible, asking the other party to bid. An experienced merchant would never fall for such tactics, but Young Master Qian was completely clueless. Sure enough, after thinking for a while, Young Master Qian asked tentatively, “So… what if it’s twenty big talisman coins per jin? How about I buy more?”