Chapter 95: Ashen Death Mask
Cang Xu didn’t believe in the Luck Goddess, and as a magician, he always planned before moving, therefore despite this being a lucky stroke, he acted as he usually did.
He believed that every time Two Eyes Island sank and rose, the local ecology would be overturned and cause many underwater creatures to fight each other. It was only after the turmoil had long past did a new ecosystem establish itself.
The corpses of the turmoil’s dead would accumulate, and their souls would tangle together, likely forming into necromancy materials.
Therefore, Cang Xu had come with Fei She, firstly so that he could identify the materials and prevent the ordinary Fei She from being swindled, and because Cang Xu was searching for necromancy materials.
Sure enough, he ran into one.
“These are the bones of an ice blade fish. Look at its top fin, it is just like a knife, and its ice element is very dense. The problem is that the fish bones have a death aura winding around them and must be processed further.” The salesclerk presented.
The winding death aura was a characteristic of necromancy materials, and if processed, it would instead be destroyed.
As far as Cang Xu was concerned, that would cause its value to plummet.
Normally, these fish bones would have been sold as ice path alchemy materials.
“How much?” Cang Xu asked.
The salesclerk stated the price.
Cang Xu didn’t reply, instead he looked at Fei She.
The necromancer didn’t know the market price and wasn’t good at haggling.
Fei She opened his stammering mouth and began to bargain.
The salesclerk quickly began to sweat from the ensuing word duel.
At first because of Fei She’s stutter, he was somewhat frivolous, but he soon began to feel how shrewd Fei She was.
Although Fei She was an ordinary person, he was a Wisteria Merchant Alliance elder!
His business ability trounced the salesclerk by miles.
To him, haggling with the salesclerk was like using an ox knife to kill a chicken.
After a few minutes, the visibly pale salesclerk and Fei She had come to an agreement, the fish would cost 62 silver coins.
But just as it was about to be passed over, another salesclerk brought a new buyer in.
This purchaser was dressed from head to toe in a black gown and they wore a black mask that emitted a gold luster.
When the buyer saw the fish bones, they expressed their interest at once.
“This is ours, we already purchased it.” Fei She replied with displeasure.
The salesclerk that received them vigilantly agreed, “Correct.”
When the other salesclerk realized competition was afoot, they immediately said, “You haven’t received payment for the goods yet,, it doesn’t count as a finished transaction. How much are you selling it for?”
The first salesclerk was distressed but was forced to say it.
Just as he stated the price, the black gowned buyer laughed, “I offer 80 silver coins!”
The salesclerk who received Fei She and Cang Xu grew unsightly, then he glanced at Cang Xu, showing their faint anticipation.
Fei She got the cue, “85 silver, silver coins.”
The black gowned buyer immediately replied, “90 silver.”
This price exceeded the market price, causing Fei She to look at Cang Xu.
The old magician was the decider.
Cang Xu muttered, “95 silver.”
The black gowned buyer sneered, “1 gold.”
Cang Xu watched the black gowned figure with interest as he increased the price by 10 silver coins.
The black gowned buyer raised his voice and shouted, “1 gold, 50 silver!”
As he spoke, an iron level aura emitted from him.
Shockingly, they were also a magician!
Cang Xu took a step back and held out a hand, “It’s yours.”
He conceded.
Soon after the black gowned buyer provided payment and put the fish bones into their storage bag.
He didn’t stay any further and left the shop.
Cang Xu told Fei She, “Continue to browse for products, I’ll be back.”
He left the store and quietly caught up with the black gowned buyer.
The two winded around vendor booths and passed through a narrow path.
The people around them gradually thinned out.
Suddenly, the black gowned buyer turned a street corner and disappeared into a dusky alley.
Cang Xu narrowed his eyes and stopped walking; he was at the port.
His cautious nature caused him to hesitate.
“It is unsuitable to act on Two Eyes Island.”
“Although I can use magic scrolls, using them will be unprofitable.”
“I don’t know anything about that person.”
“I don’t have any equipment on hand!”
Magicians needed time. If one had qualified magician equipment, they could cast faster and more easily handle suddenly occurring situations.
The more Cang Xu pondered, the less his impulses were.
Finally, he sighed and turned around to leave.
Not long after he left, the figure of the black gowned buyer emerged from the alley.
As the black gowned buyer watched Cang Xu leave, they coldly snorted, their ice-cold and hoarse voice echoing from their mask, “Smart guy.”
Cang Xu returned to the market and continued to buy needed supplies.
After spending half the day, he and Fei She returned to the ships with lots of materials.
Upon seeing Zi Di, Fei She spiritedly expressed that the discount sale was a great chance to stock up on materials.
Zi Di inventoried the materials and looked at the purchase prices, she too admired Hun Tong’s business strategy.
Cang Xu spoke, “I noticed that the most purchased material is green hair turtle shells. How much Green Hat Healing Potion do you plan to refine?”
Cang Xu was somewhat worried.
“I have faith.” Zi Di smiled, “The marketplace will have a favorable reaction.”
Fei She also comforted Cang Xu’s shoulder, “No, no mistake!”
The two were both brimming with self-confidence.
This kind of confidence occurred together with their continually deepening understanding of the market here.
Knowing who the two were, Cang Xu nodded and chose to trust them.
After inventorying the supplies, Cang Xu whispered to Zi Di, “I found something.”
He spoke of the black gowned buyer as well as his brief episode with them.
“I feel he is a necromancer!” Declared Cang Xu.
Zi Di was flabbergasted, “Based on what?”
She knew Cang Xu, he wouldn’t speak such things thoughtlessly.
Cang Xu changed the topic, “Did you know the Great Pain Temple’s battle qi cultivation has four aspects? Rou Zang had cultivated the flesh aspect; therefore, his physical nature was particularly developed. Gu Qiao was a monk of the bone aspect. Apart from those, there are also the blood aspect and the rarest, the heart aspect.”
“I only heard about that after the Snake Rat naval battle.” Zi Di did not understand why Cang Xu was bringing this up.
Cang Xu continued, “The Great Pain Temple is like that, and our necromancy school is the same, there are now three aspects that have been developed. They are the bone aspect, the corpse aspect, and the soul aspect. We are of the soul aspect, experts at making, storing, and controlling ghosts. The bone aspect gets their strength from undead skeletons.”
“That black gowned person’s mask seemed to be made of metal, but it shouldn’t be. I heard that it is a bone aspect necromancy equipment, called the ashen death mask. That mask can conceal one’s aura and can let a magician pretend to be an ordinary person. Furthermore, it also has a texture similar to metal.”
Zi Di sank into deep thought, and she muttered, “As Two Eyes Island grew to the present day, the sale and the auction have had a real impact on the people. Every time it happens, not only are people on Two Eyes Island interested but also those of nearby islands and surrounding seas. It isn’t strange a necromancy snuck in with them.”
Cang Xu replied, “I cannot be certain. It is just one possibility.”
“Even if it is just a possibility…” Zi Di’s eyes gradually shined, “We must grab hold of this thread, we cannot abandon it so easily!”
“The black gowned buyer purchased the ice blade fish bones at a premium, it is possible that they considered its worth as necromancy material. If they really are a necromancer, if we could capture him…”
Zi Di couldn’t help but be excited.
She lacked necromancy resources.
Cang Xu was fine, for he had already reached the limits of his gifts and unearthed all his potential.
While Zi Di hadn’t opened her magic power pool for long, and was still only a bronze level magician, she desperately wished that she could be promoted to the iron level.
But she lacked the resources.
Due to that shortfall of necromancy materials, they couldn’t build a suitable meditation environment.
The Deep Sea Monster Fish’s meditation room was high-level, but Zi Di couldn’t utilize it.
Meditating by herself was not very efficient.
Especially because her workload was heavy and her time scarce, thus Zi Di desperately needed necromancy path resources.
She and Cang Xu conversed, and the two decided that they would follow this trail and do a deep investigation,
Cang Xu was happy he and Zi Di could reach a consensus.
“But the problem is we don’t have time.” Cang Xu threw up his hands, “I plan to continue my deep research into the Bloodline Purification Formation as well as the memory modification device.”
Zi Di also shook her head.
Cang Xu was not good at refining medicine, thus while managing the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps’ financial affairs, she also had to refine medicine, causing her to be very industrious for the last several days.
When Zi Di thought of that, she sighed and expressed her awkwardness.
“Investigation is not our field of expertise.”
“We had better entrust this to another.”
“Unfortunately, our group doesn’t have a person talented at that.”
“The Deep Sea Monster Fish and the scouting puppets are not appropriate to gather this kind of information.
“Speaking of which, we have recently lost several scouts we deployed into Two Eyes Island.”
Cang Xu muttered, “With the auction approaching, there are all kinds of people on the island, the situation has become complex, and the undercurrent is turbulent. I suggest we withdraw the scouts so as to avoid provoking unnecessary trouble.”
Zi Di thought about it and agreed.
Although the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps could hold off a gold level enemy, they were currently waiting for a reply and fighting to redeem themselves, thus, the less complications now, the better.
“Even though Two Eyes Island has a Thief Guild branch, since the matter concerns a necromancer, we cannot entrust it to others.”
“Then we better have Xu Ma do it.”
After thinking it through, they realized they had no one else.
Xu Ma was the most suitable person.
Even though he had just been stabbed.
After discussing that matter thoroughly, that afternoon, Zi Di and Cang Xu once again came to the Wisteria store.
When Yan Yi saw them, he excitedly gave them a thumbs-up and excessively fawned, “Lord Elders, your potions area quite outstanding.”
“The Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps bought almost all of them.”
“Later on, there were many customers who wanted to buy them too.”
“But we don’t have any to sell.”
“It has genuinely made me anxious!”
Zi Di waved her wands to and fro, and took out a pile of medicine, “Take it and sell it. But don’t just sell it to a single party. At the same time, the price will also be adjusted as follows.”
After carefully giving instructions, she and Cang Xu left.