Sage had been busy lately, and had only frequented Thousand Treasures. While they had many powerful and expensive items, they were as close to a ‘chain’ store that could be found in this world. They stocked the same things at every location, so seeing one he’d seen all of them for the most part. Seeing that there was a Blacksmith, or a Tool Refiner as they liked to call them in this Kingdom, present Sage was excited to browse. Even if he didn’t end up buying anything it was still always a thrill to see new and interesting things.

As their group of three walked in, Sage felt like he’d walked into an antiques shop. He was quite used to seeing racks of weapons, armor, and supporting medicines at cultivator stores. They were the most popular items among cultivators and so that was what a place like Thousand Treasures focused on. The atmosphere in this store, aptly named ‘Hidden Gems’, was much more ancient and mystical. The various little small trinkets on the shelves all felt like they had their own storied pasts or interesting origins. What was most surprising was that Sage didn’t feel they had all been created by the same Smith. In the Thousand Treasures, most of their wares were purchased from a few dozen reliable sources. While the other half of their goods were things that had been traded in, it still meant there was a sort of standardized feel to their wares.

Contrary to other high class stores, no attendant came up to them or called out to greet them. The only workers were a pair of old men with matching outfits. One of them was laying on a divan waving a fan while the other was walking from shelf to shelf, dusting. The other surprising thing was it was far less lively here than the other shops. There were many people walking up and down the street shopping from all the Plum Lantern shops, while this store Hidden Gems had only a few inside. After a few moments of shopping, they realized why. A few wild and rambunctious people walked in, but before they took more than a few steps a powerful aura came from the old man on the divan. It pressured the new arrivals and the lounging man called out to them, “Out, far too noisy!”

A gentle wave of force wafted towards them, pushing them out of the shop. Sage was impressed by the man’s exquisite control and strength. Not a single speck of dust was harmed in the shop while the rowdy people were kicked out. Outside, the people that were just kicked out looked angry, but when they were about to rush back in they felt an even greater power than before around them. They felt the danger and shut their mouth, turning around and walking away rapidly.

That’s certainly one way to do it.

With such an example, it made sure that everyone else in the shop continued to stay calm and respectful, carefully browsing the items. Much more interestingly, none of the items on the shelves had any names or descriptions on them, all they had was a little card with a price listed. Even that was probably only because they didn’t want to spend all their time answering questions. Their group of three slowly spread out through the store, going to examine the things they thought were interesting. Tujiu walked over towards a few paintings and reliefs of large battlefields. Xiezi moved towards shelves loaded with bits of jewelry. Sage on the other hand wasn’t drawn to anything in particular, moving quickly through the shelves and examining the craftsmanship of the items.

As a Blacksmith himself, he focused more on the skill used to create the items than what they actually did. For some reason he preferred to use his own tricks, rather than those created by others. While he had many Spirit Stones and he could conceivably purchase a pile of emergency weapons and tools, he always used his own cheap and unusual devices. So, at this time he was merely admiring the skill of the makers. At least until he suddenly felt something drawing him. In fact it wasn’t him specifically, but the pull came from his Soul Clone. All this time, his Twin Soul had been focusing on learning new Spirit Power techniques. After reaching the Nascent Soul level, his Twin Soul had a mind of its own enough that it became a true clone. With such greater capability he thought it deserved a new name.

At this moment, the Soul Clone was disturbed from its concentration. One of the magical tools was resonating with it and Sage immediately moved towards it as soon as he realized what was going on. Moving closer, he saw the item in question. It looked like an ancient bronze lamp in the shape of a pagoda, mounted on the end of a scepter.

A magic scepter?

A thought flashed through his mind and he immediately looked around for a group of talking turtles. Then he put that thought aside and looked closer. Inside the lantern portion of the scepter, there was a large pearl nearly two inches in diameter. It was the pearl that the Soul Clone was reacting to and so that meant it, and not the device, was important. Of course, there was no way he could purchase a piece of something so he was going to have to buy the whole thing. Glancing down, he saw the price tag and drew in a sharp breath.

800,000 Spirit Stones? Ouch.

While he had no desire to spend so much, it was also not like the Soul Clone had ever responded like that to something. He had no idea what it would do, so he grit his teeth and called for the attendant who was dusting. Even if he had to spend more than half of his Spirit Stones, it was a gamble worth taking. Anytime he’d felt a reaction from an item, it usually benefited him, and there had never been such a strong reaction in the past.

“I’d like to purchase this scepter.”

The duster disappeared from the old man’s hands and he smiled, “Oh, so you like the Evil Dispelling Ruyi? Quite a wondrous item, it is said to be only a hair short of being a true artifact. It originally was intended to harness the power of a Demonic Core from a miraculous beast. Only, it was a failure and it didn’t awaken an artifact spirit. The core shattered. Instead, this pearl was used and the Evil Dispelling Ruyi took form. It is a powerful weapon against dark spirits and souls.”

Sage nodded, “It is quite impressive.”

Before Sage could say more, the man smiled, “It is indeed. How would you like to pay? Do you have Iron Mountain bank notes, or will you return for it later?”

At that moment, Sage realized that he’d been spoiled in the past. The few large transactions he’d done in the past were with auction houses and they thought nothing of him having an absurdly large storage treasure. Thinking about it, since they were about as big as a marble the standard Storage Bag could only hold about 20,000 Spirit Stones, and the standard Storage Ring was only four times larger. For a purchase like this he’d have to be carrying 10 rings full of Spirit Stones. It was no wonder that one of the Four Major Businesses of the Kingdom was a bank. Even with storage treasures, the rich folks couldn’t carry around all of their wealth with them. It was also a good deterrent to bandits and thieves if every person weren’t walking around carrying their full net worth with them.

Of course, those same rich people would also be able to afford much larger Storage Rings, but it was still a good idea to use a bank to deter thieves. Sage shook his head, “I have Spirit Stones.”

The man’s eyes lit up. Being able to carry so many meant this was truly a big customer and he carefully swept the Evil Dispelling Ruyi into a Storage Ring and then brought Sage into a back room to conduct the transfer of such a large number of Spirit Stones. When Sage went back into the store, Xiezi and Tujiu were looking at him, “I thought you weren’t planning on buying anything?”

Xiezi cut right to the point, while Tujiu just looked sad, “I only have a few thousand Spirit Stones. Why don’t you give me a bigger allowance?”