A rowdy group of youngsters entered Grand Sky Square almost right after Zhang Wanqing put up the sign.
There were four of them, two males and two females, all looking to be either in their late teens or early twenties. They were dressed in similar-looking robes, likely the uniform of a particular organisation.
Even though they were just playfully joking around with one another, their mere presence gave off an extraordinary air, one that easily made them stand out from the crowd.
"Cultivators from the Five Elements Valley!" many shop owners commented in excitement when they saw the youngsters arrive.
Golem City was no stranger to the cultivators from the Five Elements Valley. The moment these youngsters entered, the shop owners immediately recognised the uniform that they were wearing.
The arrival of the cultivators was definitely good news to the shop owners.
Cultivators were not only able to obtain great wealth with relative ease, but they also had little to no attachment to the currencies of the mortal world. This meant that they were more inclined to splurge on anything that they had taken a liking to.
How could any merchant not love this kind of customer?
The shop owners hurriedly tidied up their stores and rearranged their items, wanting to make their shops look as presentable as possible to attract their attention.
However, Wu Meng did nothing of the sort.
He continued sitting on a wooden stool in his bare and undecorated shop space, displaying nothing but the piece of paper as his sign. He looked completely carefree, almost as though he was here not as a merchant, but as a mere spectator.
On the contrary, Zhang Wanqing started fidgeting in her seat.
Her only encounter with cultivators thus far was with Sheng Huoyuan's group back at Green Seed Village, and it had not been the most pleasant experience, to say the least.
This had inevitably affected her impression of cultivators in general. So, now that she had come across another group of cultivators, she could not help but feel nervous and intimidated.
Wu Meng felt like laughing when he noticed her nervous expression. "Is our Qing'er feeling nervous now? What happened to the girl who wanted to fight a cultivator, and even attacked a Ravenous Dark Spitter?"
"How is that the same?" Zhang Wanqing answered in a resigned manner. "That was a precarious situation. I had no other choice!"
Not just that, but the adrenaline pumping through her veins had also been a big part of how she managed to keep going back then.
Even now, she would get shivers whenever she thought back to the terrifying events of that night!
"Don't worry. With me around, no one will be able to do anything to you," Wu Meng said with an assuring smile. "Take your time to slowly get used to this. After all, you will be facing a lot more cultivators in the future."
"Mm," Zhang Wanqing nodded, feeling slightly more reassured after hearing Wu Meng's words.
Although she had never seen Wu Meng in action, someone who could successfully escape a Ravenous Dark Spitter would surely not be weak.
Zhang Wanqing felt much better when she remembered that she had him to rely on.
The young cultivators who entered Grand Sky Square did not stick together. Instead, they split up into pairs and took their time combing through the shops, looking to see if there was anything to their liking.
Unfortunately, the excited shop owners were destined to be disappointed.
The young cultivators only took quick glances at the items on display in each shop before moving on. None of them actually stopped at any shop for long, much less purchase anything.
Then again, perhaps that was to be expected as well.
Even though cultivators had no real need for the currencies of the mortal world, they similarly did not put most mortal treasures in their eyes.
A well-forged sword that most martial artists would love to get their hands on might look no different from scrap metal to a cultivator, simply because they had seen treasures that were far more valuable.
For the wares of ordinary merchants to catch the eye of the cultivators, luck would likely have to play a big part.
Eventually, two young ladies walked up to Wu Meng's bare-looking shop space. The older of the two had her long hair tied up in a neat bun, while the younger one had her hair split into two long braids.
They were not too surprised by the absence of items on display. After all, it was not like they were the first ones here, so the goods could already be sold out.
But just when they were about to move on, the young lady in braids tugged the sleeves of the young lady with a hair bun, pointing towards the piece of paper hung in front.
When the young lady with a hair bun read the words written on it, her eyes immediately widened in astonishment.
"Are you really selling the Yin Heart Stone?" she asked over the front counter.
"I am indeed selling Yin Heart Stone," Wu Meng nodded calmly. "Would you be interested in buying it?"
"Bring it out and let me take a look!" the young lady with a hair bun crossed her arms and demanded. "I will decide if I want to buy after that."
She sounded arrogant, but she was in fact suppressing her excitement right now.
The young lady understood that if she showed too much interest from the start, the shop owner might just take advantage of the situation and charge her a higher price.
That would not be much of a problem if they were talking about some common mortal item, but the Yin Heart Stone was different. Even in the eyes of cultivators, the Yin Heart Stone would be considered quite a precious item!
In fact, even the market price for the Yin Heart Stone was not necessarily something that she could afford, so the young lady was only hoping to make sure of its authenticity right now.
Of course, if Wu Meng turned out to be oblivious of the true value of the Yin Heart Stone, the young lady definitely would not mind trying to undercut him a little!
"That is not a problem," Wu Meng said before reaching into the chest placed beside him. He took out a small wooden box and passed it over to the young lady with a hair bun. "The Yin Heart Stone is inside."
Just by holding the wooden box in her hand, the young lady with a hair bun could feel the chill aura within.
The two young ladies exchanged excited glances before opening up the wooden box.
An endless stream of white vapour was released the moment the cover of the box opened, its appearance instantly cooling the surroundings by a fair bit.
This white vapour was extremely cold to the touch, capable of freezing water in a matter of seconds. Upon escaping the confines of the box, the stream of white vapour drifted down like a waterfall, dissipating harmlessly as it reached the ground.
Even Zhang Wanqing, who was seated behind Wu Meng, could feel the change in temperature despite the distance.
Within the wooden box was what looked to be an ordinary stone at first glance, but that could not be further from the truth. There were numerous small pores on the stone, from which the white vapour originated. Just from that alone, one could guess just how cold the stone itself actually was.
Ordinary mortals would probably end up with a severe frostbite if they were to come into direct contact with the stone, even if it was only for the shortest of moments. In fact, not even cultivators with their trained physiques dared to hold it carelessly.
The two young ladies could not help but swallow their saliva after seeing this, effectively negating their earlier attempts to not let their emotions show.
But who could blame them for that?
This was indeed the Yin Heart Stone!
They had actually found a treasure here in the market!
"How much are you selling this for?" the young lady with a hair bun asked with a suppressed tone.
"I'm selling it for a mere one thousand spirit stones," Wu Meng held up a finger and answered. "For a treasure like this, it is definitely worth the price!"
"What?!" the two young ladies immediately exclaimed in shock.
"That is way above the market price!" the young lady with a hair bun retorted. "A Yin Heart Stone of this size will cost three hundred spirit stones at most, and that is only if it is of the absolute highest grade!"
"It was really difficult for me to obtain this Yin Heart Stone, so I value it at a thousand spirit stones. I can't even cover my losses of obtaining it otherwise," Wu Meng explained with a sigh. "But don't worry, there won't be any forced sale here. To buy it or not is entirely up to you."
"You...!" the young lady with a hair bun had to suppress her urge to beat up Wu Meng upon seeing his nonchalant expression. "Are you even trying to do business here?"
"Of course, I am. If you are willing to pay for it, then I am more than willing to sell it," Wu Meng answered.
"Are you mocking us?" the young lady with a hair bun narrowed her eyes at Wu Meng.
It was obvious that her patience was running thin, but the same could be said for Wu Meng.
"You asked for the price, and I stated the price. If you are willing to pay, that's good. But if you don't wish to pay for it, then please just leave me alone. I'm just trying to do business here, so I beg you to stop harassing me if you are not interested in buying anything!" Wu Meng replied irritably.
"Young brother here, they are cultivators..." Kui Hao, the adjacent shop owner who had spoken to Wu Meng earlier, reminded kindly.
He had only just warned Wu Meng about how one should not offend the cultivators who showed up here, yet not even a few minutes had passed and Wu Meng had already ended up in a conflict with cultivators.
Did his words end up falling on deaf ears?
"So what if they are cultivators? Does that mean they can wantonly slash prices and force us to sell our items at whatever price they want? If that's the case, then what's the point of us being merchants? We might as well just empty our pockets and send all our goods to them. Let them take whatever they want!" Wu Meng answered loudly without restraint, as though afraid that nobody could hear him.
As expected, this commotion quickly drew the attention of those around them, causing the two young ladies to turn red with a mixture of embarrassment and anger.
"Don't you dare accuse us of something that we did not do!" the young lady with a hair bun retorted immediately. "You are the one who is trying to jack up the prices here!"
"This is a free market, so it is up to me to decide what price I am willing to sell at, just like how it is up to you to decide what price you are willing to buy at. If you don't wish to buy my goods at my price, then so be it. Just put the Yin Heart Stone back down and leave," Wu Meng waved her off dismissively. "If Yin Heart Stones are truly worth as little as you claim, then what's stopping you from getting it elsewhere instead?"
Zhang Wanqing nervously adjusted the position of her stool, moving further back in hopes that the cultivators would not notice her presence.
The two cultivators naturally saw Zhang Wanqing behind Wu Meng, but they simply could not be bothered. In fact, they would have already walked away by now if not for the fact that they really wanted the Yin Heart Stone!
Why else would they stand here and let themselves be subjected to criticisms by a mere mortal merchant?
At this point, the other two cultivators came over as well, drawn by the commotion.
"Yin Heart Stone! What a coincidence!" a suave young man exclaimed upon seeing the box in the young ladies' hands. "Junior Martial Sister Ting Yi, Junior Martial Sister Wen Xian, you actually managed to find such a treasure here! Protector Jun Mo has been looking for it for a long time now, so he will definitely be ecstatic to hear about this!"
His name was Guo Fei, and he was also the leader of the group of young cultivators. Ting Yi was the young lady with a hair bun, while Wen Xian was the one in braids.
"Senior Martial Brother Guo Fei..." the two young ladies looked at him hesitantly before telling him what happened.
"One thousand spirit stones?!" Guo Fei exclaimed in shock before shooting an aggressive glare at Wu Meng. "This guy is obviously jacking up the prices of his wares. Let's go report him to the administrator of the Grand Sky Square. If we request for it, I am sure that they will be more than willing to deal with him!"
Guo Fei deliberately said this loudly so that Wu Meng could hear him. His intention was not really to get Wu Meng punished, but to scare him into compromising.
However, Wu Meng did not answer. In fact, he acted as though he did not hear Guo Fei's words at all, casually turning around to reach into his chest once more.
"Junior Martial Sister Wen Xian, go report this matter to the administrator. I will stay here and keep an eye on..." Guo Fei had been speaking with gusto, but his words started trailing off when he saw the item that Wu Meng had just retrieved from his chest.
It was a small plant about the height of a human's arm. It had flowers that resembled moving flames as it swayed in the wind, and a stalk that had a metallic sheen.
"The Ironflame Plant!" Guo Fei immediately recognised the plant.
"Senior Martial Brother Guo Fei has just been talking about the Ironflame Plant earlier today. Who would have thought that we would find it here as well?" Wen Xian could not help but exclaim in astonishment. "That, and the Yin Heart Stone that Protector Jun Mo needs... for us to find both items here, what a coincidence!"
"..." Zhang Wanqing was speechless when she saw this, a feeling of deja vu rising up from within her. After all, she had heard of how Wu Meng miraculously happened to have just the thing that Sheng Huoyuan needed back at Green Seed Village as well.
At this point, her apprehension towards the cultivators was quickly being replaced by a feeling of pure curiosity towards Wu Meng.
For each item that Wu Meng brought out to be something that the other party needed, could it really be written off as mere coincidence?