"Mr. Joe, of course I wouldn't just take your things for free." Feeling the powerful killing intent radiating from Joe Di, Eddie was startled. He was certain his own killing intent couldn't compare to Joe Di's.
"Oh, so Mr. Eddie intends to pay me then?" Joe Di withdrew his killing intent and his tone softened. He hadn't planned to fight; gathering his killing intent was just to give himself more bargaining power.
Eddie gave an awkward smile and said, "I really can't come up with hundreds of billions right now..."
His cultivation talent was decent, but hundreds of billions in Alliance Credits wasn't something he could just produce on a whim.
Joe Di raised his hand to interrupt Eddie, "Mr. Eddie, that's not quite right. I bought these for hundreds of billions at the auction, but now these three jade slips are worth several trillions. Whether or not Mr. Eddie can produce hundreds of billions, that's not the true value of these three jade slips."
Eddie took a breath, secretly cursing Di Jiu for being shameless. Something bought for hundreds of billions had turned into trillions in just a few days.
"I truly don't know the value of the three jade slips, but they were mistakenly bid on by the Earth Federation. I hope to exchange them for something else." After speaking, Eddie worried Di Jiu wouldn't accept and quickly added, "Everything I have here was found on Celestia. As you know, the auction items are the leftovers from my selection, so you don't need to worry about their value."
Joe Di never planned to ask for money; to him, money was the least useful thing. He only pretended to hesitate to raise his bargaining chips, furrowing his brow as if exchanging for an item was a loss.
"Mr. Di, I can let you choose any item from the treasure vault..." Eddie was a genius in cultivation, but his negotiation skills were a complete disaster.
In fact, he hadn't planned to negotiate with Joe Di at all. He intended to simply take the items by force, but Joe Di's strength far exceeded his expectations. A peak innate expert like Joe Di was someone the Earth Federation wanted to recruit, even on Celestia.
Joe Di's expression darkened as he said, "Mr. Eddie, do you only want one jade slip?"
"Of course not..."
"Since you don't want just one jade slip, let's exchange one jade slip for one item. To be honest, I really don't want to give up these three jade slips. I also want to contribute to the Earth Federation, and if these jade slips are truly useful to the Federation, then I will have done my part." After speaking, Joe Di calmly looked at Eddie.
Thinking of the items in the warehouse, Eddie hesitated before saying, "Alright, three for three. The selection time must be within ten minutes."
"Alright, it's a deal. I have one small additional request, and I hope Mr. Eddie can help me with it." Joe Di changed his expression to a smile, his tone becoming especially sincere.
"What request?" Eddie sensed that Joe Di wasn't easy to deal with, and answered with a hint of caution.
Joe Di chuckled, "Here's the thing, as you know, I'm currently stuck at the peak of the Innate Realm. I want to go to Celestia to seek a breakthrough..."
Eddie wasn't stupid. Before Joe Di finished, he already understood what Joe Di wanted and quickly waved his hand, "No, no. Even if I want to go to Celestia, I need the Earth Federation's approval. There's no way they'd let you go alone."
Seeing Joe Di's displeased expression, Eddie added, "Recently, the Celestia Martial Academy often sends students to the planet for trials. If you don't mind, you can go to the Academy first, and next time there's a trial, you can enter with the students."
"Alright, let's do that." Joe Di agreed without hesitation.
Eddie was even a bit stunned—how did Joe Di become so agreeable? The Celestia trial had strict boundaries; participants weren't allowed to wander far. Of course, he wouldn't tell Joe Di any of this.
Joe Di actually felt rather helpless. He knew that if he tried to force his way in, he probably wouldn't even make it past Celestia Square. Even if he did, he'd end up in open conflict with the Earth Federation and the major powers.
Celestia was full of dangers—who knew if he'd ever return to Celestia Square? It was best not to burn bridges with anyone.
"Then, Mr. Joe, shall we go to the warehouse now?" Eddie asked, his tone inquiring. He was sure that if he didn't take Joe Di to the warehouse first, there was no way Joe Di would hand over the three jade slips.
"Of course, let's go, Brother Eddie." Joe Di, acting overly familiar, gave Eddie a friendly pat on the shoulder.
Eddie instinctively prepared to react. He hadn't expected Joe Di to approach so casually and even pat him. If this had been a sneak attack, wouldn't he have fallen for it? Because of this slap, he became even more wary of Joe Di.
Joe Di understood killing intent and murderous aura better than Eddie. He knew the only reason he could pat Eddie was that he hadn't shown the slightest killing intent. With Eddie's skill, even a hint of murderous intent and he would have noticed immediately.
......
After following Eddie into the warehouse, Joe Di saw all kinds of weapons inside. Weapons from Celestia could very well be magical treasures. Unfortunately, he didn't see any long blades or flying swords.
After scanning the room, Joe Di walked over to a weapon that looked like a kitchen knife. From its appearance, it really was a kitchen knife, except it was twice as long as a normal one—about seventy centimeters (roughly twenty-eight inches). The handle was pitch black, made from some unknown wood.
No matter what, it was still a blade.
Joe Di placed his hand on the kitchen knife, trying to communicate with it using his spiritual sense. Instantly, he felt a response—the knife could be refined. After receiving this information, Joe Di withdrew his spiritual sense.
If it could be refined, that meant the kitchen knife was a magical artifact. As long as it was an artifact, it could be used for flight in place of a flying sword. Eddie didn't understand this, but Joe Di knew it completely.
Seeing the joy in Joe Di's eyes, Eddie was full of disdain. This was only a secondary warehouse. The Earth Federation's real treasures were in the main vault; only lesser items were kept here. The worst of the lot ended up on Earth for auction. In his eyes, Joe Di clearly had never seen real treasures. If Joe Di ever saw the main vault, his eyes would probably pop out. But getting into the main vault wasn't so easy—even Eddie had to go through various checks and be accompanied by special personnel.
"Congratulations on obtaining a treasured blade, Mr. Di. Since this knife appeared on Celestia, it must be extraordinary." Eddie offered a clumsy compliment.
Joe Di shot Eddie a look of disdain as well, thinking, 'Do you even know what a magical artifact is?' He immediately realized Eddie probably didn't know how to refine artifacts. Luckily, he'd already dealt with the jade slip for learning before coming here.
Aside from the kitchen knife, Joe Di searched around and found that while there were many items, few were truly valuable. He began to doubt whether this was really the Earth Federation's best warehouse.
"Mr. Di, you need to hurry. Five minutes have already passed." Eddie, who was following Di Jiu, urged him.
"Mr. Joe, you need to hurry. Five minutes have already passed." Eddie, who was following Joe Di, urged him.
Joe Di acted as if he hadn't heard Eddie's urging and continued to select items at his own pace. He had already decided that if he could only find one blade, he would just hand over one jade slip. He couldn't be bothered with items he didn't like.
Joe Di touched each shelf one by one. When his hand landed on a fragment of a magical artifact, he clearly felt a faint fluctuation within it.
A fragment of a magical artifact still had a fluctuation? Joe Di picked up the palm-sized fragment, which was covered in rust and had nothing special about it.
Just as Joe Di was wondering about this, he felt another faint fluctuation. As a master of medicine, after cultivating the Five Yin Six Yang Hand, he was even more sensitive to vitality. He was certain he sensed a fluctuation of life force. For a fragment of an artifact to have a life force fluctuation was truly astonishing.
No matter what, he'd take it back and study it later.
Seeing Joe Di pick a second fragment, Eddie no longer looked down on him. This warehouse was full of second-rate goods anyway; if he couldn't find a treasure, taking a fragment to study was better than leaving empty-handed.
"Mr. Di, there's nothing I can do. Everything is here..."
Eddie was about to say something when Joe Di interrupted him, "Brother Eddie, I'll give you the jade slip now. Write me an IOU, and I'll come back to look for more next time, how about that?"
Originally, Joe Di planned to give two jade slips, but then he remembered he still needed Eddie's help to get into the Celestia Martial Academy. In that case, there was no need to offend Eddie over a useless jade slip.
"Alright, we'll do as Mr. Joe says." Eddie didn't mind Joe Di calling him brother, even though Joe Di was much younger—as long as he got the jade slip.
......
After finishing his transaction with Eddie, Joe Di finally had a chance to step out onto Celestia Square. As soon as he exited, he felt the rich spiritual energy in the air. He was quite satisfied; even without spirit stones, his cultivation would progress quickly here.
Celestia Square was less a square and more a vast region.
At the most prominent spot in the square, an area was cordoned off, and in the center lay a fallen statue of a celestial maiden. Not only had the statue toppled, but it was also missing an arm. From its appearance, it was clear the Earth Federation hadn't touched it.
Around the square were rows of houses, followed by various shops, with even more shops still under construction.
It seemed Celestia was truly about to open to Earth—this wasn't just talk.
Joe Di hadn't had a chance to look for his own shop yet when Eddie's people found him. They told him that arrangements to enter the Celestia Martial Academy had already been made; he could join the elite class at any time, with no paperwork required.
It seemed Eddie really did have some authority on Celestia, arranging everything so quickly.
Since everything was set, he might as well head to the Celestia Martial Academy first—after all, his shop wasn't open yet.
The guide Eddie sent was a Chinese man who didn't know Joe Di's identity. Since Eddie himself had made the arrangements, he assumed Joe Di and Eddie were close. As he led the way, he carefully reminded Joe Di, "All the students in the elite class at Celestia Martial Academy are experts, and they're quite proud. As long as you don't provoke them, they usually won't cause trouble."
He was reminding Di Jiu to keep a low profile and not anger the elites.
(That's all for today's update. Good night, friends!)