Chapter 360: Selecting Treasures
The moment Li Luo’s foot touched the waters of The Reservoir, the white light blinded him, forcing his eyes shut. When he cautiously opened them a few moments later, the scenery before him was completely different.
He seemed to have been transported to the bottom of the lake, although he found himself within a bubble. Thanks to its protection, he could walk around safely underwater.
“This is the inside of The Reservoir?”
Li Luo looked around in wonder. He saw shimmering shoals of fish swim freely by. He was still admiring their shiny fins when suddenly one swam particularly close, and he realized with a start that the fish was translucent and he could see a mini shortsword within it.
The weapon was pulsing with enormous energy, and there was a small white slit on its hilt – like a white eye.
“That’s a treasured artifact?!” “So all of these fishes are made out of treasured artifacts?!” Li Luo was hyped. Suddenly the schools of fish all around him looked like money. He had never been happier to go fishing.
Golden Dragon Bank was truly insane.
Li Luo stood there shaking from the shock of his revelation for a few moments before he roused himself with a sigh. This level of power was incomparable. Not even Astral Sage College could hope to match them, let alone a paltry house like Luolan.
He could not possibly imagine just what sort of power the central headquarters of Golden Dragon Bank wielded.
But Li Luo shook it off soon enough. How deep the Golden Dragon Bank’s pockets ran had nothing to do with his current situation. First he had to find himself a suitable treasured artifact.
Thinking thus, Li Luo started forwards, watching the passing fish more closely. But he was not in a hurry to close in on one.
After a period of observation, Li Luo realized that the white light on the fishes differed in strength. If his guess was right, the fish with a stronger light probably held upper white-eye treasured artifacts, while the weaker lights were lower white-eyes.
As for fishes with golden light… not a single one was to be seen.
That too was to be expected. Gold-eye treasured artifacts were probably rare.
Li Luo reached out a hand experimentally to catch a fish that was swimming past. As his hand closed easily around its white nimbus, the fish did not struggle, lying quietly in his hand. There was a miniature green longsword within it.
The faint light from the fish soon formed itself into words before Li Luo’s eyes.
“Nine-Essence Sword, lower white-eye. Made from nine-essence wood, strengthens wood resonant power. Price: 380 dao-gold.”
Li Luo scanned it briefly, then let the fish go. He was not good with longswords, having grown used to his dual shortswords and bow. They offered him both close and long range offensive options.
A moment later he caught another fish.
“Black Palagonite Armor, upper white-eye. Forged from a hundred layers of black palagonite hardened ninety-nine times in fire. Hardy against metals but weak against water resonant power. Price: 600 dao-gold.”
Li Luo’s eyes lit up. An upper white-eye defensive treasured artifact this time. With this armor, his defenses would be much stronger, but what he needed right now was not something defensive, nor did he have enough dao-gold on hand to get more than one item. He had to leave some for cultivation after all.
Regretfully, he let this one go as well.
Li Luo browsed a few more white-eye treasured artifacts, but none of them caught his eye, and he let them all go as well.
10 minutes of searching later.
Li Luo finally found something he was excited about.
“Mantis Blades (Dual-hilted), lower white-eye. Made from golden mantis thorns, keen enough to cut stone. The deadly power of a mantis’ arms. Price: 510 dao-gold.”
Li Luo was immediately sold on it. Dual swords was exactly what he needed, although it was far more expensive than other lower white-eye weapons. Probably because it was two for the price of one.
He stared at this fish for the longest time, then finally gathered his grit and prepared to make the exchange.
But just as he was about to do the deed, another fish swam by with a light so bright that it was unmistakably an upper white-eye grade.
Li Luo reached for it curiously.
However, he was disappointed to see that it was not a treasured artifact weapon. Instead, a milky-white pearl floated inside the fish, pulsing with a peaceful, warm light.
It reached him in soothing waves through the belly of the fish.
“Seraph’s Pearl, upper white-eye. Holy light trapped within this pearl can be released as a barrier that protects the spirit and repels corruption. Consumable object. Price: 630 dao-gold.
“Protects the spirit and repels corruption…”
Li Luo’s mouth watered. Was this not the perfect answer to the three-tailed heavenly wolf’s corrupting will?
Was that not his biggest problem right now?
Even though Lu Qing’er had Crystal Heart, but it was unable to completely purge the wolf’s will from him. What if Li Luo lost control in the next few days?
This Seraph’s Pearl was an insurance policy.
A very expensive insurance policy. And if he bought Seraph’s Pearl, he would not have enough left over for the Mantis Blades.
And he badly needed a weapon…
Agony! Li Luo wanted to howl his frustration to the skies. Isn’t it just some dao-gold?! Can’t I take a loan?!
Well, he couldn’t. This was the Golden Dragon Dao Fields, not the Golden Dragon Bank where he could work something out with Yu Hongxi…
Li Luo was torn, wrestling with himself for the longest time. Finally, he made a decision.
His eyes closed, as did his fist around Seraph’s Pearl. He thrust the Mantis Blades away from him, and left The Reservoir in an impulsive fit.
The blades weren’t meant to be! He would just get someone else to forge him another treasured artifact when he got back!