Hide in the world of gods and demons

Chapter 32 Robes
The biggest takeaway for Chen Li from that night's display of strength was that his network of connections expanded several times over.

Neighborhood relations have become much more harmonious.

Before that night, Chen Li would often ignore people when he greeted them, and his attitude would be perfunctory. But after that night, everyone became smiling and enthusiastic, and even greetings became passive.

Everyone on this street knows him, or at least has heard of him.

With such a large quantity of goods that are valuable but not readily available, Chen Li naturally wouldn't consider setting up a stall in the market or going door-to-door to sell them. The former would easily attract the attention of people with ill intentions, while the latter would be time-consuming, laborious, and troublesome.

The next morning, Chen Li visited Qiao Guanyuan.

"What, Fellow Daoist Chen, you want to transfer a batch of Lightness Talismans and Protective Talismans?" Qiao Guanyuan's face lit up with joy upon hearing this. As his territory's power gradually stabilized, he was preparing to expand into the surrounding areas and had a great need for these kinds of talismans.

“That’s right, they are all top-quality goods from the merchant, but there’s a bit too much of it. I wonder if Fellow Daoist Qiao can finish it all,” Chen Li said.

"I'll take as many as you have, and I certainly won't shortchange you on the price. The current market price for a Lightness Talisman and a Protective Talisman is seven and eleven low-grade spirit stones respectively, and I'll add one spirit stone to the price of all of them..."

Just one day later, the price of the talisman went up again.

"Fellow Daoist Qiao, you are indeed magnanimous." Chen Li smiled.

Qiao Guanyuan was indeed wealthy and powerful; he remained completely unfazed when faced with the more than 120 talismans that Chen Li presented.

Both parties carefully checked the items.

Total price: 12 mid-grade spirit stones and 36 low-grade spirit stones.

After the transaction was completed, the two relaxed and chatted for a while.

Chen Li once again politely declined Qiao Guanyuan's attempts to win him over.

He knew perfectly well that the other party was just putting on a show.

If the other party had no ulterior motives, they should have invited him to join the night patrol team when they first visited a week ago, instead of waiting a few days until his influence had fully taken hold and he could no longer be ignored before trying to win him over.

As the saying goes, there can't be two tigers in one mountain.

How could the other party possibly really want to recruit him into the night patrol team?
Holding the huge sum of money, Chen Li walked out of Qiao Guanyuan's mansion and glanced back.

The main gate was bustling with people coming and going.

"Power is blinding!" He shook his head and walked briskly home.

As soon as he got home, Chen Li closed the door and scattered the spirit stones from his money bag onto the table.

"This is a huge profit!"

After deducting costs and odds and ends, this buying and selling operation netted a total of 8 mid-grade spirit stones.

Two hundred percent profit.

While excited, Chen Li also regretted being too conservative back then. If he had used the three mid-grade spirit stones he had saved to buy talismans, he could have earned as many as 14 mid-grade spirit stones this time.

"What a pity, what a pity. Alas, he was never destined to make a fortune!"

……

That same day, Chen Li went straight to the market.

"You cultivator, you look around and come and go, asking about prices without ever haggling. Are you going to buy or not? Or are you just here to amuse me?"

When the shopkeeper of the robe shop in the market saw Chen Li enter hesitantly again, he became somewhat angry and said irritably.

"Of course I want to buy, but the things here are too expensive!" Chen Li said with a smile.

"The price of this robe has always been the same. Other shops have raised their prices recently, but we haven't." The shopkeeper's expression immediately improved as he said. "If you raise the price, even fewer people will buy it. You're talking about a low-grade first-tier robe that only has the functions of dust repelling and concentration, yet it costs six mid-grade spirit stones. That price could buy a decent mid-grade first-tier magic weapon." Chen Li reasoned with him.

"Sigh, you rogue cultivators, all you think about is fighting and taking risks all day long. The material of the robe is mostly spirit silkworm silk, and the output is small. From silk reeling, spinning, weaving, printing and dyeing, to embroidering the array, every step is a delicate and time-consuming task."

"Those crude ritual implements can't compare to a robe. Wearing a robe is both elegant and shows status, isn't that enough? What other functions do you need?" the shopkeeper said helplessly.

"But it's not practical. Look at the current situation. No outside cultivators are coming anymore. Only the rogue cultivators who are still here are left. Who would buy it?"

The shopkeeper, having his secret thoughts exposed, sighed and fell silent.

This robe shop has always had a bad business in Green River Lane, and now it's even worse. Since the artifact sect withdrew, he hasn't made a single sale in three days.

"Never mind, never mind, which one do you like? I'll give you a discount."

Chen Li pointed to a dull, unremarkable gray robe: "This one, eight mid-grade spirit stones, I'll take it!"

"What? Impossible! This is a mid-grade first-tier magic robe..."

……

Ten minutes later.

Chen Li wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and walked out of the robe shop.

He was already wearing a gray robe.

After much haggling, he finally bought a robe that originally cost thirteen mid-grade spirit stones for ten mid-grade spirit stones.

"Sigh, I only have five mid-grade spirit stones left. No matter how much money I have, it won't last long."

Chen Li felt his wealth plummet and sighed inwardly. Then he happily stroked the robe he was wearing. The robe was as smooth as silk and felt as light as a feather. The wearing experience was completely different from his previous Taoist robe.

As a mid-grade first-tier magic robe, its basic function is to be impervious to water and fire. It is also embroidered with three major magic arrays: dust repellency, spirit gathering, and wind transformation. Its only drawback is that it has little defensive power.

However, don't expect any defensive capabilities from a mid-grade first-tier robe.

Chen Li values ​​the robe's ability to gather spiritual energy and transform into wind most.

Gathering Spirit: Gathering the surrounding spiritual energy to form a small-scale gathering place.

Transform the wind: Turn a strong wind into a gentle breeze.

The former is used for meditation and breath control, while the latter reduces wind resistance when running.

He's running faster and faster now, and the wind resistance is having an increasingly significant impact on him. With this robe, he'll probably be able to escape even faster.

"Gray seems a bit old-fashioned. I don't know if wearing it will make me look older?"

It wasn't that he didn't want to buy other colors, but they would all cost one or two mid-grade spirit stones more.

Perhaps due to the scarcity of dyes, the more vibrant and richer the colors of the same Taoist robe, the more expensive it is, with gray and black being the cheapest.

He couldn't bear to waste spirit stones, and he didn't like wearing black, so he could only choose gray.

However, he wasn't one to care about such things and quickly put the minor flaw in the robe behind him.

After leaving the robe shop, Chen Li continued to stroll around.

The market is more popular than before, and there are some stalls set up, but business doesn't seem to be very good. Chen Li looked around but couldn't find any monster meat for sale. He bought a bunch of ordinary food and then turned back.

(End of this chapter)