Chapter 123: Trade, The Bizarre Demon-Swallowing Box

Chapter 123: Trade, The Bizarre Demon-Swallowing Box

Turns out this woman named Marita was a Tier 4 powerhouse, no wonder Yovan was so afraid of her.

Marita exuded a powerful aura. She looked at the group of guards and rebuked, "All of you, get back here."

Those guards felt immensely relieved; they quickly put away their weapons and returned to the side of the carriage.

Yovan was kneeling on the ground at this moment, still continuously begging for mercy.

Madam Marita didn't even glance at him, walking straight toward Cao Xing and the others.

Assam explained from the side, "Lord, behind the Luna Chamber of Commerce, it seems to be supported by the royal family of the Orchid Kingdom."

"This woman should be a member of the Orchid Kingdom's royal family, and she might even hold a fairly high position within the Luna Chamber of Commerce."

Cao Xing nodded, finally understanding the relationship between them.

Put that way, this Marita could be considered Yovan's superior, meaning she was a high-ranking executive of the Luna Chamber of Commerce.

Marita gracefully stepped forward, her long skirt trailing on the ice surface, and came to Cao Xing's side to bow slightly.

"I am truly sorry, young Lord."

"There are indeed some internal issues within our Luna Chamber of Commerce, and we have recently begun rectifying them."

"I am Marita Vargas, expressing my sincere apologies to you."

Cao Xing was somewhat surprised, not expecting that this woman with Tier 4 strength would be quite easy to talk to.

She actually apologized to a lord like him who only had Tier 2 strength.

"Miss Marita, I accept your apology. Your inner self is just as beautiful as your appearance."

Cao Xing smoothed things over with flattering words; after all, there was no need to make an enemy of such a powerful native.

Hearing Cao Xing's address, Marita was stunned for a moment, and asked in confusion, "You… What did you call me?"

"Miss Marita, is there a problem?"

Hearing this, Marita said with some embarrassment:

"Wh… What miss… I'm already in my thirties this year."

Cao Xing chuckled, "Is that so?"

"But in my eyes, you are still as beautiful and young as a girl in her early twenties."

"Moreover, you possess a temperament that those young girls lack, like a snow lotus on a high mountain, blooming in solitary beauty."

The noblewoman before her was praised by Cao Xing to the point of feeling somewhat embarrassed,

But she was also quite experienced; after all, with her age right there, she quickly restored her composure.

Her red lips parted slightly with a charming smile, "You really know how to talk, young Lord~"

"I heard that you have a Moon-Glaze Pearl there, is that true?"

Cao Xing nodded, "That's right, but it's not one, it's two."

Hearing this, Madam Marita opposite him parted her lips slightly, looking quite surprised.

She seemed not to expect that Cao Xing would have two such precious pearls.

But given Marita's status, although Moon-Glaze Pearls were extremely rare, she had seen them before.

She chuckled again, "This young Lord not only has a sweet mouth, but is also so capable."

"How about selling both pearls in your hands to our Luna Chamber of Commerce?"

"Of course, I will give you a reasonable price."

Cao Xing readily agreed, "No problem."

His Moon-Glaze Pearls were originally meant to be sold. If this woman could offer a satisfactory price, Cao Xing was willing to sell them.

Hearing Cao Xing be so straightforward, the look of admiration in Marita's beautiful eyes grew even stronger.

"However, Moon-Glaze Pearls are divided into lower, middle, and upper grades based on size and quality. The help that each quality of Moon-Glaze Pearl provides to mages is also different."

"As for the specific price, I still need to see the physical item before deciding. What do you think?"

Cao Xing nodded, "That's only natural."

With that, he directly took out both Moon-Glaze Pearls.

Anyway, the three Moon-Glaze Pearls in his inventory had the exact same attributes.

Seeing Cao Xing holding a pearl in each hand that emitted a faint shimmer and was as big as a baby's fist, Marita's eyes flashed with brilliant colors.

At this moment, she also understood why Yovan wanted to force a buy and sell.

The quality and size of the Moon-Glaze Pearl before her were both of the upper grade.

She shot a fierce look at Yovan, wishing she could slap him straight into the ice layer.

To her, money wasn't the most important thing; it was just that Moon-Glaze Pearls of this quality were relatively hard to find.

However, from Cao Xing's perspective, her reproachful gaze seemed to carry a unique charm.

Marita slightly bowed and said, "To be honest, young Lord, Princess Fulan of our Orchid Kingdom is going to be promoted to an Archmage recently, and I was just worrying about having no suitable gift to give her."

"I will personally buy these two Moon-Glaze Pearls for 1,000,000 crowns. How does that sound to you?"

Cao Xing's heart stirred; this price had already exceeded his expectations.

He had originally thought that selling three Moon-Glaze Pearls for the price of one black diamond would be about right.

Now it seemed that two Moon-Glaze Pearls were already worth a black diamond.

Therefore, Cao Xing nodded and said, "Alright, deal."

A faint smile also appeared on Marita's face, and then she winked at the guards behind her.

Several guards understood and walked over carrying two large chests.

Marita softly said, "Each of these chests contains 500,000 crowns. The young Lord can count them."

Cao Xing shook his head and said, "No need, let's trade directly."

He had the system and didn't need to count them himself at all.

Marita gracefully moved her steps, came to Cao Xing's side, and took the pearls from his hands.

As for Cao Xing, he took the two large chests and directly stored them into his inventory.

A system prompt appeared.

[Transaction successful: Obtained coins * 1,000,000, you lost Moon-Glaze Pearl * 2]

With 1,000,000 in hand, Cao Xing instantly felt that his family fortune had grown substantial once again.

"Not bad, not bad. This money can buy a large amount of food, which is enough for those territory residents to eat for a very long time."

Cao Xing nodded in satisfaction. He still had one Moon-Glaze Pearl on hand, but he wasn't planning to continue selling it.

As for the other miscellaneous items, they could be sold off.

Seeing that she was so easy to talk to, Cao Xing asked, "Beautiful Lady Marita, besides the pearls, I have a batch of miscellaneous items here. I wonder if your esteemed chamber of commerce is willing to buy them?"

Marita's lips twitched slightly; Cao Xing's praise seemed to work quite well on her.

"Of course, our Luna Chamber of Commerce does all kinds of business. Let me see what you want to sell?"

Cao Xing nodded, and then routinely took out items like [Viscous Liquid], [Gilded Candlestick], and [Amber Pebble] once again.

Besides these, Cao Xing also placed [Snow Blizzbear Paws] together.

He remembered from the system notes that this pair of bear paws would also be bought by some nobles for collection purposes.

Seeing these miscellaneous goods, Marita didn't show the slightest impatience in her brows; instead, she carefully studied them one by one.

Then very quickly, she gave the prices.

Wondering if it was because Cao Xing's sweet mouth had taken effect, the acquisition price given by Marita was even slightly higher than Hilton's price.

Among them, the Viscous Liquid was acquired at a price of 60 crowns.

The price of the Gilded Candlestick was 2,000 crowns.

The price of the Amber Pebble was 3,000 crowns.

As for the Snow Blizzbear Paws, they actually sold for a high price of 8,000 crowns.

"Young Lord, are you satisfied with this price?"

Cao Xing immediately smiled, "Satisfied, extremely satisfied!"

"I was wrong, Miss Marita. You are not a snow lotus on a high mountain, but a goddess on a snow-capped mountain, so beautiful and kind."

This bout of praise directly made Marita bloom with joy, and she began to cover her face and chuckle softly.

Then, they completed another wave of transactions.

[Transaction successful: You lost Viscous Liquid * 673, you obtained 40,380 crowns]

[Transaction successful: You lost Gilded Candlestick * 34, you obtained 68,000 crowns]

[Transaction successful: You lost Amber Pebble * 17, you obtained 51,000 crowns]

[Transaction successful: You lost Snow Blizzbear Paw * 2, you obtained 16,000 crowns]

…

Adding these things together, Cao Xing harvested nearly 180,000 crowns in total, plus the 1,000,000 from the Moon-Glaze Pearls.

The money on him broke through the million mark once again.

Madam Marita chuckled and said, "Young Lord, you've earned quite a lot of crowns in this transaction. May I ask your esteemed name?"

Cao Xing replied, "Lord Cao Xing, greetings to Miss Marita."

Marita nodded, a thoughtful look flashing in her eyes as if she had memorized this name.

"Lord Cao Xing, would you like to take a look at the goods of our Luna Chamber of Commerce?"

Cao Xing nodded and said, "I was just about to."

He originally wanted to see what kind of goods these wandering merchants had on hand.

The next moment, a system prompt appeared.

[Luna Chamber of Commerce: Marita is opening the product list to you, do you accept?]

Cao Xing directly clicked 'Yes'.

At the same time, a dazzling array of commodities appeared before him.

[Secret Life Potion (Small)]: Price 500 crowns

[Specialized Pet Ration (Green)]: Price 1,000 crowns

[Ancient Brass Ring (Green)]: Price 5,000 crowns

[Specialized Pet Ration (Blue)]: Price 10,000 crowns

[Noble Dagger (Blue)]: Price 40,000 crowns

[Primary Mechanical Factory Construction Blueprint]: Price 50,000 crowns

[Ancient Weapon: Frost Eruptor]: Price: 100,000 crowns

[Python Skin of the Ale Heavenly Pool Giant Python (Purple)]: Price 80,000 crowns

[Ice Crystal Square Hammer (Purple)]: Price 200,000 crowns

[Intermediate Ancient Weapon: Moon-Crown Ice Cannon]: Price 500,000 crowns

[Demon-Swallowing Box (Special Item)]: Price 600,000 crowns.

[Staff of Day (Gold)]: Price 2,000,000 crowns.

[War Greataxe…]

…

Dazzling goods, hundreds of messages flashed past Cao Xing.

Seeing this, he couldn't help but swallow hard.

Damn it! There are way too many good things here!

It's even more outrageous than Hilton's merchandise list.

Moreover, the specialized pet rations and the mechanical factory construction blueprint were both things he desperately wanted right now.

There was even more than one piece of gold-grade equipment, not to mention intermediate ancient weapons he had never even heard of.

If it weren't for the fact that he couldn't beat this woman…

Cao Xing would have wanted to just go all in and rob this caravan directly!

After waiting for a moment, Madam Marita asked, "Lord Cao Xing, how does it look?"

Cao Xing nodded. "Miss Marita, I have to say, the strength of the Luna Chamber of Commerce is truly formidable. You can even sell such precious items."

Marita gave a slight bow. "Thank you for the compliment. However, this is only a small fraction of the goods the Luna Chamber of Commerce has."

"If Lord Cao Xing ever travels to the Orchid Kingdom, I can have someone take you to see our headquarters. That is the place where the greatest variety of precious resources circulate."

"Even epic-grade weapons are sold there, oh~"

Speaking of this, Marita chuckled softly. "Of course, if you want me to personally guide you through the headquarters of the Luna Chamber of Commerce, it's not out of the question—provided that I am free that day."

She cast a seductive glance at Cao Xing, her eyes brimming with endless allure.

Cao Xing smiled and agreed, "If there is a chance in the future, I will go take a look around the Orchid Kingdom. By then, I'll have to trouble Miss Marita."

"However, could you let me see the Life Elixir and the blue-quality pet rations first?"

Because he couldn't see their attributes, Cao Xing wanted to use the system's functions first to check the effects of these two items.

After all, they were going to challenge a very high-difficulty area next.

If the effect of this Life Elixir was decent, Cao Xing wanted to buy some as a backup.

As for the blue-quality pet rations, he planned to use them for fishing.

That Champion Fighter said last time that catching golden salmon required more advanced bait, so Cao Xing had kept this matter in mind.

Marita nodded, then instructed a guard to bring over two boxes.

The boxes were opened; one was packed full with thirty bottles of red potion, while the other contained thirty exquisitely packaged small pills.

He glanced at the attributes.

[Life Elixir (Small): After consumption, immediately restores 300 health points. Cooldown: 30 seconds]

…

It only restored 300 health points and had a 30-second cooldown.

You must know that Cao Xing's current Ice Healing Art could restore 75 health points per second.

However, the recovery from the Life Elixir did not conflict with the Ice Healing Art, so they could be used stacked together.

Then, Cao Xing glanced at the attributes of the other pet rations.

[Specialized Pet Ration (Blue): A ration made by adding a large amount of animal offal, eyeballs, as well as Hake frog saliva and mucus. Deeply loved by various pets. After feeding, it increases loyalty by 5 points. The maximum feeding limit for a single pet is 3 times.]

(Note: Exclusive secret recipe of the Hake frog clan, do not leak it easily~)

…

Looking at the remarks above, the corners of Cao Xing's mouth twitched.

The ingredients for this thing were way too hardcore.

But whatever, it wasn't him who had to eat it.

After pondering for a moment, Cao Xing replied, "How about this, give me all 30 bottles of the Life Elixir, 50 green-quality pet rations, 20 blue-quality pet rations, and I also want the mechanical factory construction blueprint."

As Cao Xing stated his demands, Marita quickly calculated the price in her mind.

"Very well, that comes to a total of 305,000 crowns."

So expensive…

Cao Xing complained inwardly.

The most expensive item among them was those 20 blue-quality pet rations, costing him a full 200,000 crowns!

However, if he could catch the legendary golden salmon, even if he only caught one, it wouldn't be a loss!

Cao Xing nodded and quickly completed the first wave of transactions.

[Transaction Successful: You obtained Life Elixir (Small) * 30, Specialized Pet Ration (Green) * 50, Specialized Pet Ration (Blue) * 20, Mechanical Factory Construction Blueprint * 1. You lost Coins * 315,000…]

Marita chuckled again. "Lord Cao Xing, is there anything else you need?"

Cao Xing did not answer, but instead continued browsing the goods.

His gaze landed on the [Staff of Day].

This was a gold-grade staff, and naturally, the price was ridiculously high.

Even if he sold his other Moonlit Orb, he still couldn't afford it.

Cao Xing had no desire to buy any of the other items.

At this moment, he noticed one special item among them, the [Demon-Swallowing Box].

Next, he was going to find Ji Xinyue to explore the [Ascalon Crypt], and according to her, there was a demon devouring the undead inside.

And this thing actually had the characters "Demon-Swallowing" in its name—could it devour demons?

Cao Xing decided to ask directly: "Beautiful Madam Marita, what is this Demon-Swallowing Box? Would it be convenient for you to explain it to me?"

Marita nodded, then slowly said, "This Demon-Swallowing Box is related to the demons of legend."

"It is said that demons are an extremely powerful and unkillable creature. Even if you destroy their physical bodies, they will soon return once more."

"Unkillable?"

Cao Xing was immediately astonished. This was the first time he had ever heard of such a thing.

"Indeed."

Marita continued, "Only by destroying their souls can they be completely killed."

"However, without the methods of the Holy See, even legendary Tier 6 powerhouses are unable to destroy their souls."

"Later on, however, through the research of those powerhouses, it was discovered that although demons are hard to kill, their souls can be sealed away and placed into certain specific containers."

Cao Xing was stunned. "You mean this Demon-Swallowing Box…"

Marita nodded. "Yes, this is an ominous item."

"A terrifying demon is sealed inside."

Marita continued, "However, there's no need to worry. This Demon-Swallowing Box has been blessed with the sealing magic of a Tier 5 Archmage, so the demon inside cannot come out."

A look of sudden realization appeared in Cao Xing's eyes. "Then what is the use of this Demon-Swallowing Box?"

Hearing this question, Marita pondered for a moment.

"Its use… isn't all that great."

"Its only purpose is that if you encounter other demons and destroy their physical bodies, you can drive the sealed demon inside to swallow the other party's soul and completely kill them."

"Of course, if the demon you encounter is too powerful and exceeds the strength of the demon inside the Demon-Swallowing Box, it won't be able to devour it."

Hearing this, Cao Xing nodded in sudden understanding.

He was going to find Ji Xinyue next to complete that quest.

If he hadn't heard it from Marita, he really wouldn't have known that demons were an unkillable creature.

Then this [Demon-Swallowing Box] would be very important to him.

After pondering for a moment, Cao Xing decided to buy this item.

"Madam Marita, I want this box."

Hearing these words, Marita glanced at Cao Xing.

Of course, her professionalism kept her from asking too much. Instead, she nodded and instructed the guard beside her to carefully carry over a chest.

Before it even got close, Cao Xing could feel waves of evil aura.

When the chest was opened, Cao Xing seemed to faintly see a mass of black qi drifting out, and whispering murmurs echoed by his ears.

"Give me… fresh flesh…"

"I want to eat… internal organs… breasts… **…"