“What are you looking at?” the woman in green asked aloud.

Su Wan’er finally snapped back to reality. Realizing her slip in composure, the tips of her ears turned bright red. She hurriedly lowered her head, “S-sorry, pardon my manners.”

The woman in green did not pursue her gaffe. Instead, she looked past Su Wan’er’s shoulder, her gaze falling on the pile of goods on the counter.

“These are all useless junk; how are they worth five thousand Spirit Stones?” She turned her head, her gaze landing on the shopkeeper’s face. “Shopkeeper, don’t try to scam people here.”

The shopkeeper’s expression changed slightly, but he quickly recovered his smile. “Fellow Daoist, what are you saying? Our shop does honest business with genuine goods at fair prices, we cheat neither the old nor the young…”

The woman in green interrupted him before he could finish. Extending two slender fingers, she lightly scraped the edge of the Purple Cloud Bronze Cauldron. A fine layer of purple powder stuck to her fingertips.

She held her fingers up right in front of the shopkeeper’s eyes. “Deep-Sea Purple Copper? Mica-Refined? It is just an ordinary bronze cauldron coated with a layer of Purple Glow Powder. It melts upon heating, and the very first time it is used for Alchemy, it will dye the entire cauldron of Pills purple. This cauldron has been sitting in your shop for at least three years; the fire patterns engraved on the bottom are already more than half worn away. And you call this new stock?”

The shopkeeper’s lips trembled. Before he even had time to open his mouth, the woman in cyan picked up that crimson Earth-Fire Seed.

Her eyes narrowed slightly. “The appearance of this Spiritual Fire is quite well done, and the sealing technique shows some effort. What a pity…” She flicked it lightly with her fingertip. The red light on the seed’s surface suddenly flickered, and a microscopic crack faintly surfaced deep within the bead’s core. “The seal has already cracked once and was resealed using the most inferior Seal-Mending Technique. A defective product like this will explode after being used at most 23 more times. When that happens, let alone Alchemy, the entire alchemy room will be blown to ruins. Myriad Treasures Pavilion sells this kind of thing to novices, do you think other people’s lives are worthless?”

The shopkeeper’s face had already turned ghastly pale, a dense layer of sweat beads forming on his forehead.

The woman in cyan put down the seed and cast a glance at the remaining items on the table: “Added together, the cost of these items does not exceed 100 Spirit Stones. From the moment I entered the shop, you have been pushing these things. Presumably, they are overstocked goods gathering dust in the storehouse, unable to sell for years, just waiting to butcher an ignorant sucker. Have I wronged you with even half a word?”

Several customers nearby who were picking out goods put down what they were holding and looked over. The shopkeeper stood there, his face turning pale and green by turns; he hadn’t expected the other party to be a true expert whose every word hit the nail on the head.

Su Wan’er stood where she was, completely stunned. She looked down at the pile of glaring “trash” in her arms, wishing she could immediately stuff them all back under the counter.

5000 Spirit Stones, she had almost really thrown them away.

The woman in green turned around, gave her an indifferent glance, and walked away.

Su Wan’er came to her senses and hurriedly chased after her, bowing deeply behind her back. “Please wait a moment! Thank you for your help, Senior. This junior was almost swindled out of everything just now, I am truly ashamed. Could I ask Senior to be my guide? This junior is willing to pay you, whether calculated by the hour or by the item, Spirit Stones are not a problem.”

The woman in green paused in her steps, turned her head, and her amber eyes rested on Su Wan’er’s face for a moment.

“Since you carry so many Spirit Stones on you, you must be a disciple of some large Sect,” she paused and continued, “If so, why is there no one from your Sect guiding you in your selections?”

Su Wan’er was stunned by the question. She stammered for a long time but couldn’t utter a single word.

She actually wasn’t sure which Sect her Honored Master belonged to, and she definitely couldn’t bring up the mess regarding the Heavenly Veil Sect. She could only lower her head, twisting her skirt with her fingers as her ears turned red again.

The cyan-clad woman looked at her and did not press the issue. She turned around, resumed walking, and said lightly,

“I am Ruan Se. Keep up.”

Su Wan’er suddenly raised her head, her eyes bursting with a gleam of pleasant surprise. She quickly hurried after her, saying, “I’m Su Wan’er! Thank you, Fellow Daoist Ruan!”

The two walked past several shops, heading deep into the street. At the very end was an inconspicuous shop with a small storefront.

The moment Ruan Se pushed the door open, the old shopkeeper dozing behind the counter immediately snapped awake. He rubbed his eyes and came up to greet them with a beaming smile.

“Miss Ruan! Long time no see. What brings you here today?” The old shopkeeper’s gaze slipped past Ruan Se and landed on Su Wan’er, sizing her up.

“I brought someone to pick out a few things,” Ruan Se said simply. “Alchemical Tools, for a beginner.”

The old shopkeeper nodded repeatedly, turned around, and pushed open an inconspicuous hidden door behind the counter, leading the two of them into the inner hall.

The inner hall was more than three times larger than the storefront outside. A few customers who were selecting goods looked up at the sound and nodded at Ruan Se in greeting, obviously familiar with each other.

Ruan Se didn’t waste any words and walked directly to the wall where the Alchemy Cauldrons were displayed. She took down a dark iron-colored Alchemy Cauldron about a foot tall from the shelf, turned around, and handed it to Su Wan’er.

“This is a Black Iron Cauldron. It is mixed with ten percent Cold Iron Essence. It conducts heat slower than a bronze cauldron but excels in stability. When a novice can’t control the heat, it won’t burn the medicine. The market price is around 200 Spirit Stones.” She then picked up a dusty gray stone from a small shelf nearby. “A Fire-Starting Stone; an ordinary one will do. Don’t buy the kind dyed with Pyrophoric Oil, or the medicinal properties will be polluted. One piece can be used fifty times, which is enough. Novices don’t need a Fire-Control Talisman for now. If your Spiritual Power output is stable enough, you can control the fire barehanded.”

She paused and looked back at Su Wan’er: “These should be about enough. For things like a Medicinal Scale, Tuning Plate, and the like, just buy the most ordinary ones.”

Holding the Black Iron Cauldron, Su Wan’er nodded obediently. She quickly did the math in her head: the Black Iron Cauldron was two hundred Spirit Stones, and the Fire-Starting Stones were only a few Spirit Stones. Added together, it didn’t even amount to a fraction of what her Honored Master had given her.

She hurriedly took out her Storage Bag from her waist, wanting to give some Spirit Stones to Ruan Se as a reward. “Fellow Daoist Ruan, please, you must accept these Spirit Stones.”

Ruan Se waved her hand, her tone casual. “It was just a small effort, there’s no need.” After she finished speaking, she turned around and walked toward the shelves on the other side of the inner hall. Her cyan skirt gently swayed at the corner, and she disappeared behind the rows of wooden shelves.

Su Wan’er stood where she was, gazing in the direction Ruan Se had vanished. A wave of warmth swelled in her heart. So the Cultivation World wasn’t entirely filled with scammers; there were also people like her who were willing to lend a helping hand after a mere chance meeting.

She paid for her items, carefully put them away, and then wandered around the inner hall to familiarize herself with the quality and prices of the various auxiliary tools.

Once she had gotten a general idea of all the shelf labels, she prepared to go find Ruan Se to say goodbye. But just as she walked past a corner, a familiar voice suddenly rang out from behind her.

“Su… Wan’er?”