Wu Meng smiled in satisfaction after double-checking the piece of paper in his hands.
As a merchant, he often had to set up shop amidst countless competitors. In order to stand out from the crowd, he had spent countless years perfecting his calligraphy skills, making sure that his signboards would be exquisite-looking enough to draw the attention of potential customers.
Satisfied that the writing was up to standard, Wu Meng carefully put up the piece of paper as his new signboard. He then took out a simple grass mat from the heavy chest behind him and rolled it out in front of him. On the grass mat, he laid out a few small stacks of grass.
The thin line of silver that stretched across each blade of grass made it look rather special, clearly unlike any ordinary grass.
"Silverline Grass? What is that?" one of the other villagers asked after seeing his new sign.
"Silverline Grass is a precious herb with great medicinal properties! If you are sick, it will cure you. Even if you are well, it will still serve to strengthen your body. On top of that, the effects show themselves in a matter of days!" Wu Meng explained enthusiastically. "How about it? Are you interested in buying some?"
"Hahaha, it is not good to boast this much, young lad. How can there be something that good?" the villager laughed while waving him off. "In any case, I am as strong as an ox, and have no need for such medicine. I will pass, I will pass..."
"That's fine as well," Wu Meng replied with a smile. "Just don't regret it later when you realise just how far others would go just to get their hands on it."
The villager merely shook his head in response. Wu Meng looked to be only in his early-twenties, so the villager never expected a young lad like him to be this shameless when promoting his wares.
At this moment, four men stepped into the relatively quiet market, and the villagers recognised them immediately.
"Village Chief Qing! What brings you here with Young Sir Sheng?"
"Are you looking for something in particular?"
"Greetings, everyone," Village Chief Qing Weihu greeted them perfunctorily. "Pardon me, but I am in a rush, so I won't be able to chat with everyone today."
Seeing that he was in such a hurry, nobody bothered him any further. However, they still could not help but feel surprised by Village Chief Qing Weihu's response.
For what reason could the village chief be in such a hurry?
Could it be that his daughter's condition had deteriorated?
Qing Ting's current condition was no secret to the villagers. After all, Village Chief Qing Weihu had previously gone around the village, asking everyone to help take a look at what was wrong with her.
"Here," Old Lu led the other three to the lot where Wu Meng was sitting. "This is the young merchant whom I was talking about."
The moment Village Chief Qing Weihu arrived, the words on the signboard immediately caught his attention.
"Silverline Grass! Are you really selling Silverline Grass?" Village Chief Qing Weihu shouted out in astonishment.
"What a coincidence!" Sheng Huoyuan blurted out in marvel. Even he could not believe their luck.
They were looking for Silverline Grass and Silverline Grass alone. Who would have thought that this young merchant actually happened to be selling only Silverline Grass as well?
It was almost like the young merchant was a gift from the heavens!
"I am indeed selling Silverline Grass," Wu Meng nodded calmly while gesturing to the grass laid out before him. "Feel free to take a look if you are interested."
Bei Feng did not need to be told twice, immediately bending down in front of the grass mat to examine the stacks of grass on display. He was extremely meticulous during this process, carefully feeling the texture of the grass, smelling its scent, then closely scrutinising it with his eyes.
As a physician, Bei Feng was very strict about using the right medicinal ingredients. After all, buying the wrong medicinal ingredients could result in disastrous results for his patients. That would be a huge stain on his reputation!
Bei Feng continued to examine the Silverline Grass for a while, but Wu Meng did not mind one bit. He simply sat there silently and watched on with a confident smile on his face.
"Young friend, how are you selling this grass?" Bei Feng asked solemnly after he finally ascertained the authenticity of the Silverline Grass.
"I am only selling them altogether, not separately. Ten spirit stones for all of them," Wu Meng quoted nonchalantly.
He said it in a rather calm manner, but everyone who heard his words could barely stop themselves from cursing out loud.
"Spirit stones!" Village Chief Qing Weihu exclaimed in disbelief.
He finally understood why Bei Feng had said that there was no way his Green Seed Village would be able to afford the antidote.
Spirit stones were unlike copper, bronze, silver, gold, or even precious stones, which were the common currency among ordinary people like them.
They were naturally forming stones that contained spiritual energy within them. This spiritual energy could be used by cultivators for various functions, such as aiding their cultivation progress or powering their mystical arrays.
Of course, someone on the level of Village Chief Qing Weihu did not know exactly how spirit stones could be used, and could only speculate based on the stories that he had heard in the past.
But even with his limited knowledge, he still knew that spirit stones were the main currency used among cultivators. The value of spirit stone was countless times that of gold!
For Green Seed Village, which was incapable of bringing in even a single gold coin's worth of income each year, ten spirit stones was an amount that they could not even dream of possessing!
That said, Village Chief Qing Weihu was not the only one shocked by the quoted price. Even cultivators like Sheng Huoyuan and Bei Feng were taken aback.
"Ten spirit stones?! That's daylight robbery!" Bei Feng was clearly outraged by the price. "Going by the market rate, this amount of Silverline Grass should cost no more than three spirit stones!"
Sheng Huoyuan might not know the exact price of the Silverline Grass, but he had a rough idea. After hearing what Bei Feng said, he immediately put things together in his head and understood that the other party was trying to rip them off.
He said with a bitter smile, "Young friend, isn't your price a little too high?"
"It was really difficult for me to obtain this Silverline Grass, so I value it at ten spirit stones. If the two gentlemen here find it too expensive, you can always choose not to buy it," Wu Meng answered with a casual shrug.
Sheng Huoyuan turned towards Bei Feng, who shook his head in response.
It was one thing if they were unaware of the actual price, but how could they buy it despite knowing that they were being ripped off?
Sheng Huoyuan let out a helpless sigh before turning back to Wu Meng. "Let me introduce myself. I am Sheng Huoyuan from the Sheng Clan. Since we are able to meet here at Green Seed Village, we can be considered to share some fate between us as well. How about you consider this as selling me a favour? If you are willing to sell it to us at three spirit stones, the Sheng Clan will definitely treat you as a friend in the future."
His Sheng Clan might not be counted among the strongest factions of the Hongye Kingdom, but it was still considered to be rather influential. In fact, they even had close ties with certain members of the imperial family.
By revealing his background, Sheng Huoyuan was hoping that Wu Meng would at least give him some face.
However...
"Not interested," Wu Meng said without hesitation.
His curt response caused Sheng Huoyuan's face to instantly turn red from embarrassment.
"Young friend, we are already being very polite here. If anything, you are the one who is jacking up the price. By doing this, are you not afraid of the consequences?" Sheng Huoyuan's eyes flashed with a cold light.
As he said, they were already being very patient with Wu Meng. As the young master of the influential Sheng Clan, even those in the cities would usually treat him with great respect.
Being shown such an attitude, and in such a rural village to boot, was really starting to get on his nerves.
If it was not because he wanted to bring Qing Ting away on a good note, he would have already made a move to teach the other party a lesson!
However, it was as though Wu Meng did not even notice the underlying threat within Sheng Huoyuan's tone.
"Ten spirit stones. Take it or leave it," Wu Meng insisted.
At this point, the other villagers were starting to worry for Wu Meng.
Was he unaware that he was dealing with cultivators?
"Young sir, the reason why we are trying to buy your Silverline Grass is to save someone's life. Please take that into consideration and lower the price a little," Village Chief Qing Weihu pleaded.
"That's strange. It is not as though your companions cannot afford to pay, so why are you pleading with me? Shouldn't you be pleading with them instead?" Wu Meng asked in confusion. "If they are really sincere about helping you, what's stopping them from forking out this bit of money?"
Village Chief Qing Weihu could only smile bitterly while stealing a glance at Sheng Huoyuan.
The cultivators were already going out of their way to save his daughter's life, so how could he have the face to continue asking them for more?
On the other hand, Sheng Huoyuan felt the corner of his lips twitch. He could feel the other villagers in the market turning their attention towards him as well, and this made him extremely uncomfortable.
The last thing he wanted was to be looked down upon by these lowly villagers of all people, regarded as a miser who even had to bargain for the medicinal ingredients to save his own fiancee's life!
"Give him the spirit stones!" Sheng Huoyuan forced out through gritted teeth.
"But Young Master!" Bei Feng retorted. "This is more than double the market price! Rather than buying from him, surely we can–"
"We can what?" Sheng Huoyuan quickly cut him off. "You've said it yourself just now. The young miss will not survive past the end of the month. Do you think you will be able to go buy some Silverline Grass and make it back in time? Or do you want to risk going into the wilderness to face the Ravenous Dark Spitter?"
"This..." Bei Feng was stumped.
Sheng Huoyuan was right. There was indeed no other way.
Yes, they might be cultivators, but the Ravenous Dark Spitter was nothing to be scoffed at either. Even if they faced the Ravenous Dark Spitter as a group, they might not be able to get out unscathed.
As opposed to putting their precious lives on the line just for a chance to save the life of an ordinary mortal, paying a few more spirit stones to buy the Silverline Grass was indeed a much more sensible decision.
"What are you waiting for? Give him the spirit stones!" Sheng Huoyuan snapped before stomping off.
"Thank you, Young Sir Sheng! Thank you, Sir Bei!" Village Chief Qing Weihu did not let go of this opportunity, and started to thank them repeatedly.
He could clearly tell that the atmosphere was not ideal, and wanted to seal the deal before the cultivators changed their minds.
"Fine!" Bei Feng was frustrated, but he still took out ten spirit stones and tossed them over to Wu Meng. "You got lucky this time, kid. But you'd better get out of here as soon as you can. Don't let me see you again!"
"Thank you for the patronage, dear customer. I hope to see you again!" Wu Meng acted as though he did not even hear Bei Feng's threats, picking up the spirit stones with a carefree smile.
"Tch!" Bei Feng was irritated, but could not be deigned to tangle with him further. He swept up the Silverline Grass and left without turning back.
At the same time, he had already started thinking about how he should explain this matter to the elders. He definitely could not let the elders learn that they had purchased the Silverline Grass for ten spirit stones. Otherwise, they would surely hit the roof and mete down punishments on all of them!
That was especially the case for him, considering that he was supposed to be the experienced physician in the group!
Village Chief Qing Weihu hurriedly followed the cultivators out, continuously thanking them along the way.
On the other hand, Old Lu let out a helpless sigh before turning to Wu Meng. "Young friend, I think it might be best for you to leave the village as soon as possible."
"Oh? Am I suddenly not welcomed here?" Wu Meng replied with a smile.
"I'm just saying this for your own good," Old Lu said. "I understand that, as a merchant, you just want to maximise your profits. But even if you want to rip off someone, you should try to see who the other party is. Those two are cultivators from the prestigious Sheng Clan. If they bear a grudge and decide to teach you a lesson because of this, I'm afraid that it would be difficult for you to leave here in one piece!"
"Haha, that does sound rather dangerous!" Wu Meng chuckled as though he was not the one they were talking about. "Then I guess my best option right now is indeed to heed your advice and get out of here as soon as possible!"