Chapter 13: Scamming Gu Immortals

"Shi Li finally took the bait."

Fang Yuan's will saw a large stone monkey avatar approach him with an exaggerated amount of confidence and superiority. In comparison, Fang Yuan's chosen avatar for the new shop in Treasure Yellow Heaven was much more inconspicuous. It resembled a wizard, with a pointy star printed hat, a long waxed beard that curled into two spirals, a dark purple robe that was covered in some colorful dust, and most importantly of all an enchanted staff.

Once Shi Li came up to him, Fang Yuan got into his act immediately.

"Is the grand monkey king interested in any of this lowly one's products?" He lowered his head, sweeping his body to bow down to the large stone monkey. "I have many Gu recipes collected over the years. Might I suggest a transformation path Gu recipe?"

The large avatar frowned. Shi Li's famous monkey king will had been tampered with and adjusted over the years to recognize the identity of certain customers and that had taken many years of trial and experimentation. For this random avatar to have the same level of prowess meant that the person behind the will/avatar was either a rank 7 Gu immortal like him, or someone even more difficult, a wisdom path expert.

Wills were a speciality of wisdom path. Unlike thoughts or emotions, wills had their own conscious and could be "programmed" like A.I. Due to the rarity and suppression of wisdom path methods it was very difficult to obtain a specific type of will that could identify and negotiate deals with actual people. Different types of wills were suited to different tasks. Very few could be used to achieve the sort of effect as Shi Li's monkey king will, but the will in front of him did.

"Are you a wisdom path Gu immortal? No, you have far too many Gu recipes for sale to not be a refinement path immortal. You, I haven't heard of a dual refinement and wisdom path Gu immortal in Central Continent. Tell me which sect you're from."

Fang Yuan had considered the problem of identity a long time ago. He knew that eventually his identity as the person who caused the destruction of True Immortal Yang Building would be revealed. Since that was guaranteed to happen he needed another identity that he could could go by that was separate from Fang Yuan. This was where he came up with the idea of a triple refinement path, star path, and wisdom path expert. A being as old as the rank 8 Gu immortals that slumbered in closed cultivation.

"This lowly one's name is Wisdom Star Chen Dao. Perhaps you have misunderstood something. I am merely a lone cultivator of Northern Plains. I have no affiliation nor animosity towards you or any other Central Sect Gu immortal. My apologies if I have offended you." Fang Yuan's will replied as sincerely as possible. Making himself sound like a genuinely kind and gracious old man.

"Apologizing for offending me?" The giant stone monkey smiled. "You're asking for 100,000 tufts of Stone Monkey fur as one of the four materials listed. I charge one immortal essence stone for every 100 tufts of fur. The amount of fur you're asking for is equivalent to 1,000 immortal essence stones. Only the producer of the fur could afford the cost. Do you think I'm an idiot?"

"Please understand my situation dear sir. I have recently experienced many troubles. Only by selling these immortal Gu recipes for an increased price will I be able to save myself. I need to sell my products at high rates or I will suffer."

Shi Li sneered. What did this old man's situation have do with him? This was an obvious attempt to rip him off. He wouldn't accept such a ridiculous price just for a single immortal Gu recipe. If it wasn't for the fact that this particular immortal Gu was perfect for him than Shi Li wouldn't have bothered approaching this old man.

"So? What does that have to do with me? If you don't lower the price of this recipe no one will ever buy it. Only I produce Stone Monkey fur. If you want this material only I can provide it. Lower it to 1,000 tufts of Stone Monkey fur and I'll trade."

Wisdom Star Chen Dao shook his head. "I'm afraid that isn't possible. Even if I cannot sell this Gu recipe for 100,000 tufts of Stone Monkey fur I refuse to lose out. This Gu recipe will remain for sale at the same price, regardless of whether or not it can be sold. If you'd like, you can purchase any of the other Gu recipes here. I'm sure a rank 7 Gu immortal of your status could find some use out of them."

The will suddenly disappeared in bright blue stars, leaving Shi Li by himself in front of the immortal Gu recipe stand.

"What the hell! Is this old bastard really pushing for this? Does he really think I can't find out who he is? If he doesn't lower the price for me I'll show up at his doorstep."

Shi Li left in a fit of rage but very soon he would feel another surge of anger.

=====

"Oh! Another person other than Shi Li managed to create a recipe for Stone Monkey fur. I never thought that someone else would figure it out so quickly. He must be furious right now."

A small group of avatars had already surrounded the stand in Treasure Yellow Heaven. Although some of them were asking Wisdom Star Chen Dao about the Stone Monkey fur, others were asking and negotiating for the many immortal Gu recipes for sale. None of them were there for the same product. Among the immortal Gu recipes listed many of them were from completely different paths. Water path, fire path, lightning path, earth path, dark path, light path...

The sheer amount of immortal Gu recipes was impressive but what made the collection truly incredible was the variety. No immortal Gu recipe was similar yet all of them were useful to someone among the crowd. This was one of the rare occasions where no one was competing yet there was a product everyone wanted.

"Iron Defense Gu? Ah, such a good metal path defense Gu. I must have this Gu. It'll be annoying to collect strength path materials but the investment will surely be worth it."

The metal path Gu immortal immediately went to go and collect strength path materials, and she wasn't the only one. A large wave of Gu immortals suddenly went around bartering and gathering strength path materials to trade for the immortal Gu recipes they wanted.