I have a composite mirror

Chapter 42 The Mandrill's Hair

"How much do you want for this wood?"

Someone asked about the price.

"The Ten Oceans".

The boy spoke, but his confidence was less than before.

"The Ten Oceans?"

The person who asked the question frowned: "This price... is acceptable."

As he spoke, he hesitated for a moment, as if weighing whether it was worth it.

Ten dollars could last an ordinary city dweller for several months.

Even these scions of prominent families dared not squander their wealth recklessly.

Finally, the man shook his head and turned to leave.

The remaining onlookers also dispersed.

The boy looked rather unpleasant and sheepishly put the wood away.

Immediately afterwards, someone else stepped forward.

This time it was a slender young man, about nineteen years old.

He took out a small bronze box from his pocket.

The box is about the size of a palm and looks quite old.

The young man opened the box, and a dozen or so black hairs lay quietly on the silk.

The hair was as thick as iron wire, each hair was about half a foot long, and there was blood at the root, as if it had been forcibly pulled out.

"This is the hair of a mandrill."

The young man explained:

Last month, my father went to Nanling with a caravan on business and passed through a desolate mountain.

"We were attacked by mandrills while setting up camp at night."

"That beast was half a person tall, covered in black fur, and incredibly strong; it could shatter rocks with a single palm strike."

He spoke of this with lingering fear:

"The caravan's guards fought him fiercely, engaging in a prolonged battle for half an hour before finally defeating the beast."

"The martial artist was also injured, with three bloody gashes on his ribs that almost damaged his internal organs."

"It took several months to fully recover, and we used more than a dozen bottles of wound medicine alone."

"These hairs were plucked from the mandrill by that martial artist."

He held up the box:

"The hair of the mandrill is most suitable for making protective amulets."

"If this substance is ground into powder and mixed into cinnabar when drawing talismans, the protective talisman will be more than 30% more effective."

As soon as these words were spoken, several people's eyes lit up.

Gu Shenyan also became interested.

He was just about to learn how to draw talismans, and this mountain demon's hair would come in handy.

"Senior, what do you think of this?"

"It's genuine, though."

Bai Cailing's voice came through:

"Look, there's blood at the base of the hair, and the blood hasn't completely dried yet, so it's obviously fresh."

"There are still faint traces of malevolent energy left on the hair, which are traces of a martial artist's strength, indicating that his experience was true."

"This item is indeed usable, but it's probably quite expensive."

Sure enough, the young man spoke:

"This item was hard to come by; my father even paid that martial arts master ten silver dollars in damages."

"Adding the loss of goods, the cost alone amounted to fifteen silver dollars."

He looked around at the crowd and said, "If any of you are interested, pay twenty silver dollars."

"Too expensive!" someone frowned. "Twenty silver dollars could buy a decent bottle of elixir."

"The elixir will be gone once it's taken," the young man said calmly.

"But the hair from this mandrill can allow you to draw dozens of talismans."

The group looked at each other, and for a moment no one responded.

"Eighteen silver dollars".

A voice suddenly spoke up from the crowd.

Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw Zhou Mingyu.

He walked to the table and looked at the box of mandrill hair:

"I'll offer eighteen silver dollars. If this gentleman is willing, then we'll have a deal."

The young man hesitated for a moment, looked around to see if anyone else was bidding, and finally nodded:

"make a deal."

Zhou Mingyu paid the money and carefully put away the box of mandrill hair.

Gu Shenyan felt somewhat disappointed as he watched this scene.

But then he thought about it again and realized that he hadn't even mastered the basics of talisman making yet, so buying such materials was indeed too early.

Just then, Bai Cailing smiled reassuringly at him:

"Wait a moment."

"Although Zhou Mingyu bought the whole box, he may not use it all."

"After the show ends, you can go talk to him and ask him to spare some money."

"Given your relationship with his brother, I imagine he won't refuse."

Gu Shenyan nodded upon hearing this, agreeing.

The exchange will continue.

People took out various items one after another in front of the table.

Someone took out a section of vine, saying it was a "ghost vine" picked from western Hunan.

The vine was as thick as a thumb, entirely emerald green, yet it exuded a faint, chilling aura.

The boy holding the vine said that his elders had asked a guide from Miao territory to search for it for three days deep into the miasma-filled forest.

Someone else took out a small bottle of murky liquid, saying it was "corpse oil".

He said that this substance was extracted from a century-old corpse that his steward had dug up from a mass grave outside the city.

The old corpse had been buried underground for a hundred years without decaying. Its body was as stiff as iron, its fingernails were half a foot long, and it exuded a strong corpse aura.

She later fell seriously ill and was bedridden for half a month before recovering.

All sorts of strange and bizarre things appeared one after another, making Gu Shenyan somewhat dazzled.

The resources of the cultivation world are truly hard-won.

Even these low-grade materials are not easily obtained.

Just as I was watching, I suddenly heard a gasp.

But Qiu Yu had somehow appeared in front of the table.

She took a brocade box from her sleeve and gently placed it on the table.

As the lid was lifted, a refreshing aroma wafted out.

Inside the box, three crystal-clear beads lay quietly.

"This is……"

Someone exclaimed in surprise.

"Dewdrops of Qingqiu," Qiu Yu said softly.

"It is formed from the morning dew of Qingqiu Mountain, nurtured by the spiritual energy of the mountain."

"Although this item is small, it contains pure wood elemental energy."

"A practitioner of magic can save several days of arduous training by taking one pill."

"Martial arts practitioners can also strengthen their bodies by consuming it."

She spoke casually, but everyone present was deeply moved.

"Miss Autumn Rain, these dewdrops... could you please part with them?"

Someone couldn't help but speak up, their voice filled with longing.

"nature."

Qiu Yu nodded, her tone extremely calm:

"But this item is so precious that I can't put a price tag on it."

"If any of you are interested, you may exchange goods for other goods."

"I'm currently lacking some refining materials. If you have any suitable ones, we can exchange them."

As soon as he finished speaking, someone stepped forward.

"Miss Qiuyu, how about this piece of 'red copper'? It weighs two ounces and is of excellent quality."

Qiu Yu glanced at it and shook her head slightly: "This is not enough; we need to add some other things."

"Then... add this bottle of 'Purple Bamboo Liquid'? It weighs half a pound, and it was collected from Sichuan by someone asked by an elder in my family."

Qiu Yu looked at it again, and after a moment of contemplation, said, "It's still a bit lacking."

Several people took turns stepping forward, bringing out various materials.

Some people took out "cold iron", some took out "mica chip", and some took out "spirit tree heart".

But Qiu Yu kept shaking her head, clearly those things didn't meet her standards.

Just as they were at an impasse, Xiao Yichen walked over.

"Autumn Rain Girl".

He took out a jade box from his bosom:

"This is the essence of cold iron, weighing three ounces, and of superior quality."

"This item was obtained by an elder in the family who searched for it in the northern frontier, after overcoming countless difficulties and dangers."

"Could I have a dewdrop in return?"

Qiu Yu opened the lid, examined it for a moment, and finally nodded.

"Can."

The two exchanged places on the spot.

Xiao Yichen collected the dewdrop and carefully put it away.

The others were envious, but there was nothing they could do.

Gu Shenyan watched from the side, secretly clicking his tongue in amazement.

The sect's foundation is truly terrifying.

Even a tiny bit of it peeking out from under a fingernail is enough to make these scions of noble families drool.

The exchange will continue.

Seeing that the time was right, Gu Shenyan walked to the table.

He was looking for materials for talismans.

Yellow paper, cinnabar, and wolf-hair brushes are not particularly rare, but their production process is extremely complicated.

These items have already been laid out on the table.

A boy wearing a gray long gown had several stacks of yellow paper in front of him.