Chapter 7: The Glorious Ring and the Phantom Stars (Part 1)

Everyone was a bit stunned—how could she ask for a trade at this moment? Space rifts kept appearing here, and one could easily get hurt; it was certainly not a suitable place for trading. Moreover, no one wanted to trade with her. They had already exchanged many things with Xing Yunzi, and they didn’t have much left.

Guo Shier said, “Okay, we can trade, but this place isn’t very suitable.”
Lan Landai replied calmly, “This place is perfect!” With that, she threw out a small bowl-shaped object. As soon as it was released, it turned into a ball of light that enveloped everyone, expanding rapidly into a light shield about a hundred meters in diameter, shielding them from the dangers outside.

Guo Shier and the others quickly used soul vibrations to investigate. They found that it was a pure defensive shield, lacking the ability to attack or trap, which relieved them.

Li Ran knew that Guo Shier still had many items and could offer plenty for trade, while the others didn’t have many needs. Since Guo Shier agreed to trade, he could go ahead and do so. In fact, he also realized that Guo Shier agreed to trade mainly to disrupt Lan Landai’s thoughts, preventing her from overthinking and continuing to dwell on the issue of the spiritual spring.

Lan Landai said, “Then we can trade. Who will go?”
Guo Shier said, “I’ll go.” He also noticed that no one really wanted to trade. He had collected the most Void Worms, and after trading with Xing Yunzi, he still had a large number of sealed Void Worms, which were excellent for trading. He just needed to keep some to make weapons.

Sure enough, Lan Landai was very surprised to see the sealed Void Worms. She had seen Void Worms before, but she knew well how difficult it was to catch them, mainly due to the lack of suitable sealing methods. After observing them carefully for a while, she had to admit that the other party had methods she didn’t understand—quite miraculous.

She asked, “How many do you have?”
Guo Shier smiled and said, “It depends on what you offer in exchange.”

Lan Landai clearly had more items than Xing Yunzi. After pondering for a moment, she took out a few items and said, “These are finished products. Well, pick some from these.”

Guo Shier glanced at them and said, “I’m not very interested in finished products. Because your items… it’s hard for us to use. I want to trade in materials.”

Lan Landai had always preferred to exchange finished products for materials, and she didn’t expect Guo Shier to do the same. She was a bit stuck and, after thinking for a moment, waved her hand to gather the items floating in front of her. She took out a box, retrieved a piece of spiritual jade, and asked, “How about trading with spiritual jade?”
Guo Shier couldn’t help but laugh. He had already realized that spiritual jade was the hard currency among them, but he didn’t need that many. For the clan of spells, although spiritual jade was an excellent medium for spells, he already had plenty, so having more wouldn’t mean much. He said, “I can exchange ten sealed Void Worms. You decide how much spiritual jade to use!” He wanted to end the transaction quickly, so he offered her an attractive deal.
Lan Landai didn’t know that Guo Shier had tens of thousands of sealed Void Worms. Of course, she was satisfied with such a deal—it was obvious he was giving in to her. It would be foolish not to take advantage of such a good deal. She quickly said, “Five to one, is that okay?”
Guo Shier nodded. “No problem. As you said… five to one. I have no objections.”
Everyone secretly laughed, watching the two of them. They appeared expressionless on the surface, but inside they were delighted. Even when trading with Xing Yunzi, they hadn’t gotten such a good deal.
Ten sealed Void Worms were exchanged for fifty pieces of spiritual jade, and the transaction was completed swiftly. Lan Landai, still unsatisfied, asked, “Are there any other good items? I still have plenty of spiritual jade. Hehe, show them to me.” She was in high spirits.
Guo Shier shook his head. “I don’t need more spiritual jade. If you have any other materials…”
Lan Landai thought for a moment and reluctantly took out an item.
Guo Shier couldn’t help but laugh. “Void metal? I already have that.”
Lan Landai became furious. She had originally planned to use this Void metal to exchange for more sealed Void Worms. Then she realized what had happened and asked, “Have you traded Void Worms with Xing Yunzi?”
Guo Shier nodded. “Yes.”
Lan Landai couldn’t help but curse, “That bastard! So… what about this metal?” She flipped her hand and took out another piece of metal. It was a light golden-colored metal, somewhat similar to gold, but when Guo Shier took it and examined it, he realized it wasn’t gold but some unknown metal. He asked, “What kind of metal is this?”
Lan Landai said, “I told you what kind of metal it is, but you still don’t know. Test it yourself to see if it’s useful. If it is, use it for trading.”

Guo Shier nodded and said, “Good!” He immediately placed the metal into the altar, and the old man started testing it right away. It was actually a test to see how well the metal matched the spells. If it could complement the power of the spells well, then it was a good metal; if not, or if the compatibility was low, it was just scrap metal, no matter how valuable or rare it might be.

After a while, Guo Shier nodded and said, “It works. Make your offer.”

Lan Landai hesitated for a moment. The Void Worms held great appeal to her, and she didn’t want to scare Guo Shier away right away. She said, “Sixty in exchange for one… sixty sealed Void Worms for such a piece of metal, how about that?”

Guo Shier had expected her to demand a high price, so he was surprised by her offer and agreed readily. Then, Lan Landai took out ten pieces of the same metal and smiled at Guo Shier, saying, “Including the previous one, that’s eleven in total. Just give me six hundred sealed Void Worms.”

Six hundred Void Worms wasn’t a burden at all for Guo Shier, but he showed a hint of hesitation. After pondering for a while, he said, “Alright, alright, I agree.”

Lan Landai immediately felt she had gotten a great deal. Both of them were satisfied, and the transaction was completed smoothly.

Lan Landai wasn’t done yet. After all, opportunities to find such a gullible person were rare. She said, “Is there more? Do you have anything else good? Show it to me—let’s exchange ideas, haha.” There was no trace of her former domineering queenly attitude anymore; instead, she acted like a petty woman.

Li Ran and the others watched in astonishment. How could these people be like this? Once trading started, it was as if they became different people.

People like Lan Landai only traded with experts they recognized. Once recognized, they wouldn’t adopt an hostile or indifferent attitude but would conduct transactions fairly according to the rules. Even if an agreement couldn’t be reached, as long as someone could offer something substantial, they would treat them politely.

Guo Shier shook his head and said, “That’s all. I don’t have much else.”

Lan Landai rolled her eyes and said, “No, no, you must have something good. I know Xing Yunzi has a high standard. Since you can trade with him, you must have something valuable. Show it to me. Don’t worry, I won’t force you to trade!”

Guo Shier thought for a long time. Gritting his teeth, he realized he had no choice but to bring out his ultimate weapon—a palm-sized Soul Nourishing Wood. Now that he understood how precious it was, he would never make the same foolish mistake as when trading with Xing Yunzi by handing over a large piece at once; that would be too alarming. A palm-sized piece was more than enough.

Lan Landai stared at Guo Shier eagerly. It was only then that she realized he possessed something truly valuable—something extraordinary—and that he must have what she needed as well. When she saw he had brought out Soul Nourishing Wood, she was completely stunned. Stammering, she said, “I… can I… take a look? This… this… it seems to be… like…” Her face turned red with excitement. She didn’t know how long she had been searching for Soul Nourishing Wood; she had only seen it once before, in the hands of an elder.

Guo Shier handed it to her solemnly and said, “This is a divine wood. It’s a pity there’s only one piece like this.” He was lying—actually, he had plenty of Soul Nourishing Wood. It wouldn’t be a problem for him to hand over even an entire living tree.

“A divine wood! It really is a divine wood!”

Lan Landai was utterly shocked. She snatched it away and, before even examining it closely, felt an extremely gentle force slowly nourishing her. The comfort was so intense that it almost made her moan. Her soul had been damaged before; although it was fine after treatment, some lingering issues remained, which could only be slowly healed with divine wood. Clutching the Soul Nourishing Wood tightly, she said, “Tell me what you want… as long as I have it!”

The reason she had asked Xing Yunzi for that spiritual spring was also because it had therapeutic effects, but it was extremely rare. She had no choice but to pester him relentlessly. With her powerful background, although Xing Yunzi was slightly stronger than her, he didn’t dare hurt her, as the consequences would be severe. So, taking advantage of the chaos, Xing Yunzi quietly fled.

Guo Shier smiled and said, “I have no idea what valuable things you might have. How about you take them out one by one for me to choose from?”

Lan Landai nodded. “Okay. I’ll put this divine wood away for now. Hehe, I’m sure… I have enough to satisfy you!” With that, the Soul Nourishing Wood in her hand disappeared. Her manner of obtaining it was a bit crude, but Guo Shier didn’t mind. In fact, if she hadn’t come to cause trouble, it wouldn’t matter even if he gave it to her—it wasn’t that important to him.

As she spoke, Lan Landai took out a pile of items, but after thinking for a moment, she put them away and said, “These won’t do; we need something more precious to exchange with.” The Divine Tree was too valuable, and she was afraid Guo Shier would refuse the trade.

Guo Shier secretly smiled. He realized that neither Xing Yunzi nor Lan Landai had any resistance to the Soul-Nurturing Tree, which showed just how precious it was. He had no intention of extorting Lan Landai; he just wanted to complete the trade quickly and get rid of this troublemaker, as they really couldn’t afford to anger her. If this woman deliberately caused trouble, they might not be able to enter the Greater World at all, which gave them great concern.

Lan Landai was also very troubled because the Divine Tree was too precious, and she couldn’t find anything comparable to it. But at this point, she was determined to find an item to exchange, even if it meant going to extreme lengths. She took out several precious materials one after another.