Chapter 187 - One Billion

The bearded middle-aged man was startled.

This team had killed quite a number of beasts and most of them had been at the seventh or eighth rank.

Some ripples could be felt from some of the materials. The bearded man checked in astonishment. Those materials were from ninth rank beasts. Some scales appeared to be familiar.

“Those scales are from a beast at the intermediate rank of the ninth rank, the Scale Bone.” A middle-aged titled battle pet warrior moved closer. He, too, was surprised to see those scales.

The Scale Bones were regarded as powerful among all the ninth rank beasts. Given the size of the scale, this Scale Bone was clearly an adult and at the prime of its strength. Could this team have really killed a beast at the intermediate position of the ninth rank?

The other titled battle pet warriors were intrigued by those materials and energy crystals. They stepped over in surprise.

The bearded man was stunned by the titled battle pet warrior’s words. The former knew that it would be difficult for him to defeat a beast of such tier by himself. Clearly the deceased captain and the two masters of the team had been powerful warriors.

Another titled battle pet warrior said to Su Ping with a smile, “Could we please check your bag as well?” The man had sensed some rich energy contained in Su Ping’s bag. That energy was different from anything else, which he found interesting.

Su Ping laid down his bag and poured out the contents.

Apart from the food and other sundries, there were energy crystals, materials from the beasts, the Astral Spirit Fruit and the Soul Lantern.

The titled battle pet warriors took a look. They didn’t care about the energy crystals and the materials. Those items were valuable but they had seen enough of them. But that Astral Spirit Fruit and the Soul Lantern had caught their attention.

A titled battle pet warrior with a scratch mark on his face said, “Where have I… seen this fruit before?”

A lady with a well-developed and curvy body thought of something. She looked away from the fruit and asked Su Ping, “This fruit seems to be tasty. Can you sell it to me?”

Su Ping raised his eyebrows. He answered with a question, “What are you going to pay me with?”

“What do you want? Money? Or treasures?” The lady believed Su Ping intended to sell the fruit, which made her even happier. Su Ping smiled, “How much are you willing to pay?”

“How about one million?” the lady replied calmly.

Su Ping grinned. “I can think about it if you add three more zeroes.”

“Three zeroes?” The lady’s smile vanished. A trace of coldness went past her face. “Listen, this is just a measly fruit. I just want to have a taste. One million is a high enough number, don’t let such a good chance slip away.”

The others sneered at Su Ping, thinking that he was dying to make money. They didn’t know what fruit this was. But even a rare kind of fruit would be sold for 100 million, at most.

Su Ping wondered whether the lady was playing dumb, but he wasn’t in the mood to find out. Later on, when he placed the fruit in the scanning machine, it would compare against all the references in the database. The machine could tell what fruit it was anyways. Su Ping replied at once, “This is an Astral Spirit Fruit. I don’t know if you’ve heard about it. Anyone below the ninth rank can raise by one position after consuming the fruit!

“The fruit works best for people at the upper position of the ninth rank. They can reach the peak directly. Now, tell me… Do you think one billion is too much for this fruit?”

“An Astral Spirit Fruit?!”

“Are you serious?!”

When Su Ping mentioned the name “Astral Spirit Fruit,” the titled battle pet warriors were stunned stiff.

Trying to improve their strength was on their minds at all times. They were naturally aware of this fruit’s existence, which was in fact quite famous. But this fruit was hard to find; they couldn’t even find it in some unknown areas of the space fractures.

However, this fruit right in front of them was indeed that mysterious and rare Astral Spirit Fruit!

The lady’s expression changed. She seemed to be enraged; she didn’t know that Su Ping could recognize this fruit.

“The Astral Spirit Fruit, well, well…”

The titled battle pet warriors could not keep their eyes off the fruit. This was something that could help them improve by one position directly. For a similar attainment, they would have to spend years in cultivation while using rare treasures that contained rich energy.

“Feng, so you had already recognized this thing. No wonder you were willing to pay one million for it.” A man with short hair made fun of her. She wanted to buy the Astral Spirit Fruit with just one million. Su Ping would have made a terrible deal if he had not known this.

That curvy lady named Feng snorted. “I would have offered 100 million straight away if I had recognized it.”

The others sneered at her in secret. That was a very poor lie. They just regarded her reply as a joke. Nobody took her explanation seriously.

“I want this,” a learned and refined man who had remained silent until then interposed, “One billion, just like you said.”

The others looked at this man. They weren’t surprised by his move.

“Brother Shuhai, how generous you are. I might have thought twice about the one million if it were for me.”

“I don’t have any problems with Brother Shuhai buying this fruit. You’ll reach the upper position once you consume it. After some years of cultivation, you may be able to catch up to Venerable the Blade.”

“Don’t make fun of me,” the refined man said.

Then he turned to Su Ping and continued, “I’m Qin Shuhai. I believe you are from Longjiang Base City, right? Quite the coincidence, I’m from Longjiang Base City as well.”

“Qin Shuhai…”

Luo Guxue and Ye Chenshan were taken aback by the name.

Ye Chenshan whispered, “Are you the warrior titled ‘Poet-a-holic’ from the Qin family?”

“Yes, I am.” Qin Shuhai smiled.

He admitted it. Luo Guxue and Ye Chenshan looked at each other speechlessly. Luo Guxue had a friendly feeling about this man. “Mr. Qin, I work at the same academy as Qin Yuanfeng. I’ve heard so much about you from Mr. Qin Yuanfeng. He said that you are the man he respects the most.”

Qin Shuhai looked at her in surprise. Then he put on a soft smile. “I’m glad we have some connections. Yuanfeng is also from my generation. It’s a pity that he lacks some talent but he does work hard. I believe he’s about to become a titled battle pet warrior, isn’t he?”

Luo Guxue felt embarrassed. At the academy, Qin Yuanfeng was a man of both noble character and high prestige. He was admired by many students. However, going by Qin Shuhai’s standards, he found Qin Yuanfeng lacking. The students would have been left dumbstruck if they had heard this.

“Mr. Qin Yuanfeng should be there soon. He’s in the Mysterious Realm. Didn’t you see him?” Luo Guxue asked.

Qin Shuhai shook his head. “I have to stay and guard the security check here. But since he’s here, I’ll see him when he comes out.”

“Of course.” Luo Guxue nodded.

She was inferior to Qin Shuhai, both in age and strength.

The other titled battle pet warriors saw that Qin Shuhai was catching up with Su Ping and the others. They knew that they could no longer have the fruit even if they wanted to by this point.

Qin Shuhai went on, “Who’s in charge here? Since the fruit has been revealed, I suggest you sell it. This fruit is quite rare; even I would have to consume it right after I buy it. Otherwise, some people may cast their greedy eyes on it.”

Luo Guxue understood this. Greedy people were worse than thieves.

“Mr. Su made the biggest contribution when we obtained the fruit. He will make the call.”

Luo Guxue turned to Su Ping. In her eyes, there was some admiration. She revered Qin Shuhai. But apart from reverence, she had some admiration for Su Ping. After all, Su Ping had become quite powerful at his young age. In the future, he could have an even more promising future.

Qin Shuhai was surprised by her words and the look in her eyes. He realized that Mr. Su was the youngest member on the team, Su Ping.

Why was it the weakest and youngest person on the team calling the shots?