Chapter 82: Black Gold

Chapter 82: Black Gold

Wu Town was considered a middle-tier town within the Cloud Margin City's territory. Despite being a middle-tier town, it had a large population. The market was always crowded with all sorts of people. Ordinary citizens, traveling merchants, cultivators, and many other types of people filled the market with hustle and bustle.
"Boss, I thought you were a cultivation addict. Why do you have the time to bring me out?" Xia Liuhui asked.
"Cultivating is something that needs to be done a step at a time. It is pointless to spend all the time cultivating. Occasional breaks might very well help you grow instead," Xiang Shaoyun said.
"Is that so?" Xia Liuhui couldn't really get what Xiang Shaoyun was saying.
On the other hand, Elder Zhen Peng behind them seemed to have realized something. "Perhaps I have been spending too much time in seclusion. I should have taken the time to experience the emotions of the mundane world. That way, I will be able to further improve my mental state."
Xiang Shaoyun strolled around aimlessly as he was really out here only to take a breather with no specific goal in mind. But they hadn't even been in town for long before Elder Zhen Peng spoke using voice transmission, "Young master, I think someone is tailing us."
Xiang Shaoyun frowned, Is the Wu Clan still not giving up?
At this thought, he slowed down before whispering to Elder Zhen Peng, "Just pretend we haven’t realized yet. Let's see what they want first. We'll take care of them later."
"Yes, young master." Elder Zhen Peng nodded.
After strolling through the market, they arrived at a distribution center. When Xiang Shaoyun saw that there were a lot of cultivators here, he squeezed into the crowd.
Here, a large number of stalls could be found. Even Astral Realm and Transformation Realm cultivators could be seen selling items. A large variety of items were being sold, such as medicines, herbs, precious ores, and rare treasures.
"Wow, there are so many things here!" Xia Liuhui cried out in surprise.
"Let's go. If you see anything you want, just let me know. Your boss will buy it for you!" Xiang Shaoyun offered generously.
"Hehe, thank you in advance, boss, "Xia Liuhui said as he rubbed his hands gleefully.
Xiang Shaoyun also started browsing through the stalls.
Although there really weren't many nice things being sold in a small town like this, it was still a nice place to stroll around while trying to figure out the goal of the people following them.
With Elder Zhen Peng present, he really wasn't worried that the Wu Clan would be able to do anything to him. Thus, Xiang Shaoyun browsed the stalls and strolled around in a completely relaxed mood.
There were many goods being sold, but very few of them were actually things Xiang Shaoyun really needed. After all, he was backed by the Martial Hall Palace now, and he could directly take what he needed from them. What this market had was incomparable to what the Martial Hall Palace had to offer.
"Huh? It's an agave! Too bad it's only half a stalk, so the medical efficacy is about 70 or 80 percent reduced," Xiang Shaoyun muttered as he crouched down before a stall and looked at a dragon-shaped vine.
Agave was a high-grade spirit medicine capable of greatly strengthening one's physical flesh. There was only half an agave here, and from how it looked, someone had probably gnawed off the other half. Thus, its medical efficacy had dropped greatly.
"How much for this?" Xiang Shaoyun asked the stall owner.
The stall owner answered nonchalantly, "Twenty low-grade spirit crystals."
"But normal low-grade spirit medicines are only worth about five spirit crystals. Your agave only has the medical efficacy comparable to a low-grade spirit medicine. I don't think anyone will buy it at 20 spirit crystals," Xiang Shaoyun said as he shook his head. He wasn't some spendthrift fool.
Xiang Shaoyun was about to leave when his gaze landed on a piece of pitch-black stone. At the sight of that stone, a trace of astonishment surfaced in his eyes.
"Fifteen spirit crystals. Take it or leave it," said the stall owner.
"I can agree with the price if this stone is included as well," Xiang Shaoyun said as he weighed the pitch-black stone in his hand.
The stall owner hesitated slightly but eventually relented. "Deal."
Xiang Shaoyun quickly paid the stall owner and kept the agave and black stone away.
I did not expect to see black gold here. Haha, I got lucky! Xiang Shaoyun thought gleefully.
Ordinary people would have no idea what this black stone was. But Xiang Shaoyun was a knowledgeable person who only needed a single glance to know that this was in fact a piece of black gold.
The black gold was a top-tier refining material. It was incomparably hard, and a tiny bit of it was enough to increase the quality of even a king weapon. It was a top quality material in the eyes of many blacksmiths. A black gold of this size was in fact worth at least 500 high-grade spirit crystals. Xiang Shaoyun had only spent 15 low-grade spirit crystals for it. It was as good as getting it for free.
Xiang Shaoyun had no plans of selling this black gold, however. He planned to use it to cultivate his own fate weapon. Although the black gold was not really the perfect material he had in mind, in his current situation, he would have to settle for it. He would first use it to create an early form of his weapon. In the future when he obtained better materials, he could then further improve his weapon.
Generally speaking, to cultivate one's own fate weapon, one needed to first reach an extremely high cultivation level and have an astral cosmos sea. Xiang Shaoyun had already formed an astral cosmos sea when he was only an Astral Realm cultivator. Since he had met the main requirement to form a fate weapon, he could start cultivating it much earlier than most people could.
After buying the agave and the black gold, Xiang Shaoyun directly kept them into his astral cosmos sea. With that, it would be hard for others to even know he had something like that in his possession. He continued strolling around when Little White suddenly meowed anxiously. After meowing, he ran toward a certain stall before Xiang Shaoyun could react.
"Little White, stand right there!" Xiang Shaoyun commanded. But he was still too slow. Little White was already at the stall and had a certain object in his mouth. The owner of the stall was obviously not an ordinary person. He sent his energy out his body, and with a wave of his palm, he sent Little White flying away.
"Where did this animal come from? You're trying to steal from me?" The stall owner was actually a Transformation Realm cultivator. His ability to send his energy outside his body made him look quite impressive.
"Little White!" Xiang Shaoyun cried out before dashing toward Little White.
Fortunately, Little White wasn't injured. After shaking his head, he stood back up and was about to pounce the stall again, but Xiang Shaoyun grabbed him and lifted him up.
"Stop messing around. Just tell me if you want anything," Xiang Shaoyun scolded.
After being scolded, Little White showed a wronged expression and pointed at the stall with his paw.
"Kid, take your pet away. If you keep messing around with me, I won't let you off so lightly anymore," the stall owner threatened.
"Is that so?" said Elder Zhen Peng as he appeared behind Xiang Shaoyun. Just as he was about to suppress the stall owner with his presence, Xiang Shaoyun waved his hand and said, "Little White was the one at fault. We don't have to be offended by this." He then clasped his hand and saluted the stall owner and said, "My apologies. Seems like my pet has taken a liking to something you're selling. May I have a look at what it is?"