Book 3: Clear River in Turmoil - 124: Cloud-Piercing Shuttle 1
It was no surprise that this Flying Moon Workshop was one of the stores within Long Sang Country with the most reknown. They even had so many Cloud-Piercing Shuttles, which were incredibly expensive treasures.
Su Chen’s 780 million Origin Stones might not even be enough to buy all of the Cloud-Piercing Shuttles stored on the fourth floor.
When faced with this realization, Su Chen suddenly felt that the sum of money he possessed was far from being a lot.
People who really had money were probably those who considered high-grade Origin Stones to be the base unit of currency. He was still far from reaching that status yet.
“Please, look. This is the Purple Lightning Shuttle. This Shuttle’s biggest advantage is that it’s extremely fast, one of the fastest Cloud-Piercing Shuttles ever created. It can travel thirty paces in a single breath.”
The woman had already begun to describe the various Cloud-Piercing Shuttles without stopping.
A pace was a unit of distance used by Origin Qi Scholars. It had been established nearly thirty thousand years ago when the human race was establishing the Seven Kingdoms and was the distance that a regular Light Shaking Realm cultivator could travel with a single leap. The fact that it could travel thirty paces in a breath meant that it could travel a distance equivalent to thirty leaps by the average Light Shaking Realm cultivator in just a single breath’s worth of time.
This was quite a frightening number.
Normal Cloud-Piercing Shuttles were already considered fast if they could travel ten paces in a single breath, but this shuttle could do thirty. That kind of speed was almost perverse.
Even so, Su Chen glanced at it momentarily before shaking his head and saying, “The space inside is too small and its defenses are too weak.”
The Purple Lightning Shuttle was a small-scale shuttle and could only fit two people.
That would have been fine, but the problem was that most of the energy distribution had been directed to maximize speed, but it was quite lacking in terms of defensive ability.
Cloud-Piercing Shuttles weren’t just flying tools; they also needed to have a certain level of defensive capabilities. Otherwise, if it could be destroyed by a single blow from another person, millions of Origin Stones could be lost in an instant.
Even though the Purple Lightning Shuttle was fast, it couldn’t be faster than an Origin Skill, so Su Chen didn’t look favorably at it.
When he heard this, Gu Jintang began to say to himself, “Look, look, it really was the case! I knew he was going to start looking for excuses to cop out.”
The woman led the three of them to the next Cloud-Piercing Shuttle when she heard Su Chen’s words. “How about this one? This is the Golden Cliff Shuttle. It’s constructed out of gold essence and has incredibly powerful defensive Origin Skills with a protective rating of 150.”
Unlike Origin Tools, the restrictions between the tiers of Cloud-Piercing Shuttles were usually much more lax, and they were often only split into high-tier, mid-tier, and low-tier. Yang Opening Realm Origin Qi Scholars and below could only use low-tier Cloud-Piercing Shuttles.
Anything with a protective rating of 150 bears could withstand the all-out attack of a single Yang Opening Realm cultivator. It was already exceptional amongst all the low-tier Cloud-Piercing Shuttles. Cloud-Piercing Shuttles expended Origin Stones to power the barriers; the stronger the defensive rating, the less Origin Stones would need to be consumed.
“The speed is too low though. It probably isn’t faster than even the most average Light Shaking Realm cultivator. This Cloud-Piercing Shuttle and the Purple Lightning Shuttle are on two extremes,” Su Chen said bluntly. “Are there any better ones?”
Gu Jintang harrumphed in his heart, “You won’t be able to afford the better ones. Stop trying to put on airs.”
The woman smiled slightly. “If this esteemed guest wants better ones, this workshop does have some. Come look at this one – this Flaming Goose Shuttle is formed from Blackwater Gold refined by Fire Essence. Its defensive rating is fifty and its speed is ten paces per breath. It glows like it’s on fire when you’re flying, making it extremely dazzling and eye-catching.”
“It’s flashy, but if I’m trying to escape, that flashiness is only going to attract the attention of my pursuers,” Su Chen harrumphed.
It wasn’t that the maker had purposefully made it this way. The raw materials it was constructed from carried this kind of luster on its own, and concealing it would require an additional cost. It was more worth it just to leave it there for people who wanted to show off.
However, Su Chen prioritized practicality above all else. He had no feelings about using a Cloud-Piercing Shuttle to show off.
“Then what about this one?” the woman continued to introduce other models without growing angry. The Cloud-Piercing Shuttles she introduced were more and more high-quality. She was really just trying to feel out Su Chen’s bottom line that he was willing to accept.
Of course, the way she saw it, Su Chen’s pickiness was very reasonable. It seemed to indicate that he had quite a bit of spending power.
On the other hand, to Gu Jintang, Su Chen was just putting on more and more airs. Sooner or later, it was going to collapse in his face.
He was already beginning to back up to increase the distance between them.
The woman was already beginning to showcase a few much higher quality goods and had already begun to introduce the luxury models.
“The Flying Swan Shuttle has a defensive rating of sixty and a speed of twenty paces, and lightning cannons are installed at the aft of the shuttle. They can be used to attack pursuers as you are flying, but they can only fire backwards.”
However, Su Chen continued to shake his head.
This item was going to be the biggest item he was going to rely on to preserve his life. If he was going to get one, he was going to get the best one for his money.
After all, he had quite a bit of money now.
As such, he asked directly, “Do you have any shuttles that have a speed higher than twenty five, a defensive rating higher than a hundred-twenty, that can seat around three to seven people, and are still relatively portable?”
Upon hearing this request, the woman’s expression became a bit ugly.
Su Chen’s requests weren’t low, especially considering the fact that he had asked for it to be portable. That was the same as asking that the best Cloud-Piercing Shuttle also come with a Void-Type Origin Formation that could shrink it down in size.
“Cloud-Piercing Shuttles with those specifications are not easy to find, and they will come with quite a price tag,” the woman said.
“Just tell me if you have one or not,” Su Chen said directly.
Gu Jintang thought disdainfully to himself, “If you don’t have one, it’s your fault, and if you do, he will just push the price to a level you just cannot accept.”
“Please, wait for just a moment.” The woman retreated.
Su Chen knew that she was going to ask the higher ups.
Top-tier Cloud-Piercing Shuttles like the ones Su Chen had requested were already rare in the first place, and even if they did have one, they could only be sold by the important individuals within the workshop.
Very quickly, a woman dressed in elaborate clothing appeared on the fourth floor, followed by the woman who had been guiding them earlier.
This woman was extremely beautiful and carried a charming aura with her. Upon seeing Su Chen and the others, she smiled without saying anything and drew near before bowing in greeting. “The Flying Moon Workshop’s Cui Miaoling greets this Prince. May I know your esteemed name?”
“Su Chen.”
“Oh, so it’s Prince Su.” This Cui Miaoling led Su Chen and the others to sit down and motioned for the other woman to pour some tea before saying, “The Cloud-Piercing Shuttle that Prince is looking for are top-tier qualities. There isn’t actually anything in this little store that fits Prince’s specifications.”
Cui Miaoling’s opening sentences caused Su Chen to frown.
Thankfully, Cui Miaoling wasn’t much for suspense. She immediately continued, “But if Prince is willing, this workshop can procure one for Prince. It will probably take some time, but we also need to decide on a price.”
Su Chen knew that the other party wanted to negotiate prices first.
“What’s the price?”
“A hundred million low-grade Origin Stones,” Cui Miaoling replied.
This number shocked Cloud Leopard and Iron Cliff.
Even if Cloud-Piercing Shuttles were that expensive, they couldn’t be expensive to that point, could they?
Only Su Chen’s expression remained calm. He had already done some looking into of Cloud-Piercing Shuttles before coming. He knew that even though the price that Cui
Even though you could say that, Su Chen still said, “It’s too expensive.”
Gu Jintang began to laugh maniacally in his heart. The next step was going to be to push the price down to the lowest possible level, then purposely pretend that the negotiations couldn’t succeed and leave.
Everything had gone according to his expectations!