Gu Yue noticed Yuan Ming's movements and also looked over, saying, "Brother Yuan, are you looking to purchase a Magic Artifact? This Magic Artifact Shop is indeed quite famous in the East Market."

"Oh, how famous?" Yuan Ming asked.

"The quality of the artifacts in this shop is quite good. Although they are all Low Grade Magical Artifacts, many low-level cultivators come here by reputation. If Fellow Daoist wants a Mid-grade or better artifact, this place won't be able to satisfy you," Gu Yue said.

"There is an Artifact Refiner in this Magic Artifact Shop who is rather peculiar. The artifacts he refines are all excellent, and he even accepts customers' pre-orders. However, he has one rule: he only refines Low Grade Magical Artifacts." Seeing Yuan Ming with a somewhat puzzled expression, Gu Yue continued to explain.

"Oh, there's actually such an Artifact Refiner," Yuan Ming was still somewhat puzzled.

With his understanding of Artifact Refining, a Foundation Establishment Cultivator's Soul Power and Mana are both sufficient for enriching the runes of a Mid-grade Magical Artifact, yet this person doesn't try to refine Mid-grade ones.

You must know, the price of Low Grade Magical Artifacts mostly ranges around forty to sixty Spirit Stones, while Mid-grade Artifacts can fetch as high as five to six hundred Spirit Stones, nearly a tenfold increase. Even if the quality of the Mid-grade Artifacts he refines are slightly inferior, selling one for three to four hundred Spirit Stones would not be a problem. Does this person not want to earn money?

"Hehe, I heard that this Artifact Refiner is extremely obsessed with rune inscription, studying it day and night, which has delayed his mastery of other steps in Artifact Refining, so he simply only refines Low Grade Artifacts," Gu Yue said.

Yuan Ming slowly nodded. Artifact Refining is a meticulous craft; any slight mistake in any of the four steps could lead to the failure of the refining process, and the difficulty of refining Mid-grade Artifacts is indeed not comparable to that of Low Grade ones.

"Then how are the runes bought and sold?" he asked.

Yuan Ming obtained the inscription methods for forty-something runes from the Black Wood Handbook, but unfortunately, due to the limits of his cultivation, he was unable to enrich them, so those runes were temporarily of no use to him.

Since this Magic Artifact Shop was purchasing runes, if the price they offered was not low, he would not mind selling them. Letting the shop copy the runes, he could also enrich the contents of his Storage Bag.

What he currently wanted was not just Frost Spiritual Material. There were still several materials needed for the Thousand Mechanism Mask, and if he wanted to participate in the White Deer Hill covenant half a year later, he would need to prepare not just Magic Artifacts, but elixirs were also essential. All these required Spirit Stones, and only after coming here and opening his eyes did he realize that the prices for cultivation items truly had no ceiling.

"I am not too familiar with that, but all I know is that runes are the lifeline of Artifact Refiners and talismanic masters; they are not willing to part with rare runes. A few days ago, I heard someone traded a rune for a hundred Spirit Stones," Gu Yue said after thinking it over.

"A hundred Spirit Stones!" Yuan Ming was secretly delighted in his heart.

He knew the value of runes was not low, but he did not expect them to be worth so many Spirit Stones. He had scrimped and saved for so long, day and night, and had only accumulated a fortune of seventy Spirit Stones.

And there were forty-five runes recorded in the Black Wood Handbook!

Yuan Ming immediately asked Gu Yue to wait outside and entered the Magic Artifact Shop alone.

There were no customers inside the shop, only a bald man sitting behind the counter, engrossed in a thick book, occasionally letting out a silly laugh or two.

The man had a body like a tiger's back and a bear's waist, covered in muscles. If someone said he was a fierce bandit who robbed passersby, no one would doubt it. This fierce-looking man was actually engrossed in reading a book, which was quite odd.

Yuan Ming had an odd expression on his face; could this person be that Artifact Refiner? He was indeed quite strange.

"Would the customer like a Magic Artifact? Our store only sells Low Grade Magical Artifacts, please forgive us," the bald man hastily put down the book in his hand and got up to greet him as a customer entered.

Yuan Ming did not mention selling runes and walked over to a shelf nearby.

All the items on the shelf were knives, swords, whips, spears, and other common types of Magic Artifacts with a quite rough appearance—broad in front and narrow behind, off-kilter angle at the bottom, looking as if they were made by a clumsy blacksmith.

However, there was a trace of cold light flowing through these ugly artifacts that commanded respect.

"Can I try casting with it?" Yuan Ming picked up a fiery red sword and asked.

"Of course you can," the bald man said generously.

Yuan Ming activated his Mana and poured it into the sword. The red sword let out a clear ringing sound and a foot-long red Sword Light, flickering and stretching out in front of it.

He performed the Exorcism Technique, and the red sword flew out of his hand, circulating slowly around him, gaining speed.

"Go!"

With a flick of his finger, he directed the red sword towards a greenish-gray boulder in the corner of the shop, which was covered with holes and cutting marks—obviously set up for customers to test their weapons.

With a muted "pfft" sound, the red sword easily penetrated the boulder, sinking in up to the hilt.

Yuan Ming pulled out the sword, its blade as shiny as before without a single scratch.

"What a good sword!" he praised silently.

Ugly as these weapons were, both the materials they were made of and the runes inscribed inside them were quite remarkable; it was no wonder Gu Yue said that all the Low Grade Magical Artifacts in this store were of fine quality.

Since saving Hagon's wife and daughter last time, Yuan Ming had made a rule for himself in cultivation: do not attract attention without sufficient strength.

Now, he had to add another rule to this list of cultivation: do not judge a Magic Artifact by its appearance.

"Fellow Daoist has a discerning eye. This Fire Cone Sword was a favorite creation of my master last month. It contains a piece of Fire Copper Essence and the inscribed rune is 'Armor Breaking.' It possesses powerful offensive capability and is available for only sixty Spirit Stones," the bald man introduced.

"You're only making five Spirit Stones on it." Seeing Yuan Ming silent, the bald man thought he was finding it expensive and added more information.

Fire Copper Essence was a Mid-grade spiritual material, and a piece the size of an egg was worth fifty Spirit Stones. With the additional materials, wouldn't that lead to a loss?

Yuan Ming did not expose the bald man's lie, and after putting the sword back on the shelf, he said, "We'll talk about buying the sword later. I saw outside that your shop is purchasing runes?"

"Correct, does the esteemed guest have any?" replied the bald man, somewhat surprised.

"Naturally. What type of runes do you need, and what are the prices like?" Yuan Ming asked unperturbed.

"As long as the rune isn't available in our store, we'll take it. As for the price, we won't disappoint our customers," the bald man said with a smile.

Upon hearing this, Yuan Ming smiled faintly.

There were forty-five runes in the Black Wood Handbook, and he knew that most of them were likely quite common. But since Hei Mu was known as a genius Artifact Refining Master, there must be some rare runes in his life's collection that this store wouldn't possibly have all of them.

"It seems that Brother is quite confident. Please show me," the bald man chuckled, not taking it seriously inside.

He had been collecting runes for many years and had most of the common ones, even many of the rare ones. The vast majority of people who wanted to make a quick profit from them ended up leaving disappointed.

Yuan Ming took out a piece of paper and a pen and wrote down the names of four runes.

Runes have been passed down from ancient times and each has a corresponding name, which for Artifact Refiners is basic knowledge, but the initiation, transition, and final stroke of the rune itself is key.

The bald man glanced at the paper and shook his head. "I've got all these already."

Yuan Ming wrote down another four rune names, and the bald man still shook his head.

Yuan Ming's initially eager heart cooled down by half. Instead of revealing them one by one, he decided to write down all of the remaining runes.

The bald man's face showed surprise. Previously, people who came to sell runes brought at most seven to eight, but Yuan Ming unexpectedly brought out dozens of runes all at once. This person must be an unworthy descendant from some Artifact Refining Family who had stolen the family's secret rune book to sell for money.

"So, you've collected all these runes?" Seeing the bald man's strange expression, Yuan Ming asked, his heart sinking.

"That's not the case. Please wait a moment," said the bald man as he carefully examined the rune names on the paper.

His eyes lit up quickly, "Wind Listening, Illusion — these two runes our shop doesn't have, we can take them."

Yuan Ming breathed a sigh of relief. Although only selling two runes was a bit disappointing, all forty-five runes had come to him by chance; selling even one was pure profit.

"As for the price of the runes, my master will decide. Please give me a moment; I'll ask him to come out," the bald man said before briskly walking towards the back of the Magic Artifact Shop.

A moment later, the curtain inside was lifted, and a short and skinny old man quickly emerged, sporting the appearance of a Central Plains person.

"You have Wind Listening and Illusion runes?" the skinny old man asked eagerly.

"Yes, I do," Yuan Ming answered calmly.

"Good, so good! In my youth, I saw a Magic Artifact with the Wind Listening rune, and its effect was miraculously exceptional. The Illusion rune has also been an item I've sought for many years, and to think I'd find them both today!" The old man's sallow cheeks flushed with excitement.

"I will take these two runes, two hundred Spirit Stones each. What do you think, young friend?" the skinny old man quickly regained his composure and said.

Yuan Ming was momentarily stunned at hearing this.

Not long ago, Gu Yue had mentioned a rune selling for one hundred Spirit Stones, and he had been daydreaming grandly. Now, for himself, two runes could sell for a total of four hundred Spirit Stones?

But seeing the old man's demeanor, who seemed to highly value these two runes, it didn't seem like a deception.

"Do you think it's too little? These two runes are indeed rare. You must have made a great decision to part with them. How about this, five hundred Spirit Stones in total for the two runes?" Seeing Yuan Ming remain silent, the skinny old man proposed again.

Yuan Ming came back to his senses, just as he was about to say something, he heard the old man grit his teeth and say impatiently,

"Six hundred Spirit Stones, I can't go any higher!"

"Not enough," Yuan Ming blurted out.

When the bald man had rejected the runes one by one earlier, even if he could get a hundred Spirit Stones each, he might have been willing to sell them.

But seeing the skinny old man's delighted expression, it was almost as if the words "I must have it!" were written on his face.

If not to raise the price now, then when?

"Add one more condition, craft a Magic Artifact for me for free in the future!" Yuan Ming ventured.

"It's a deal! What are you waiting for, quickly now!" the skinny old man glared at the bald man.

The bald man, already agape at the price, snapped back to his senses after the scolding, and in his hasty fluster, he pulled out six Spirit Stones the size of walnuts from his Storage Bag, three yellow, three green, all emanating stronger spiritual power fluctuations than ordinary stones. He also took out two black Jade Plates slightly larger than the palm.

"Mid-grade Spirit Stones!" Yuan Ming was ecstatic inside, but his face remained as calm as still water, revealing no hint of his inner joy.

Like spiritual materials, Spirit Stones are graded. The Spirit Stones that normally circulate in the market are Low Grade, but these six were Mid Grade.

Mid-grade Spirit Stones contain ten times the spiritual power of Low Grade ones, and are purer and more versatile. Just for restoring Mana alone, Mid-grade is much faster than Low Grade, and using them for cultivation improves mastery faster as well.

The pure and substantial spiritual power contained within Mid-grade Spirit Stones exceeds the scope of the Qi Refinement Realm, and if a Qi Refining Stage Cultivator absorbs this power during a breakthrough, it can even increase the chances of success.

With so many advantages, the value of Mid-grade Spirit Stones far exceeds that of Low Grade. It takes one hundred Low Grade Spirit Stones to exchange for one Mid-grade, and it's often a case of having the money but no market availability.

Yuan Ming had been wanting to get his hands on one or two Mid-grade Wood Attribute Spirit Stones for crucial moments of survival, but had been too strapped for cash. Now, he unexpectedly obtained six of them all at once.

Above Mid-grade, there are High-grade Spirit Stones, also with an exchange rate of one hundred to one.

Above High-grade, it is said there is a top-grade class, but almost no one has ever seen it with their own eyes. Many believe that top-grade Spirit Stones are just a myth.

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