Seph hadn’t left the shop; he had noticed something the entire time he spent there; that he wanted to comment on, but the opportunity never came. On the counter in front of him was an outline of a square carved into the wood, and a small square right in the middle of it.

  He couldn’t help himself finally, and pressed the small square, and out came a glass cube, with a single spirit stone inside. It differed from any spirit stone he had ever seen, though; it was as big as his palm, and its color was red, and Seph could sense great energy from it.

  Even Lilith’s eyes went wide upon seeing that spirit stone, proving she didn’t know what it was as well.

  Seph used the Eye of the Appraiser on the stone before Silver Chan could talk.

  Appraising…

  Name: High-grade spirit stone

  Type: Currency

  Quality: Epic

  Description: The highest concentration of spirit stones found in Jianghu. They are so rare most cultivators think they are a myth, but most cultivators are golden core stage and below, so of course they don’t know it exists. One of these is worth 10000 of the common spirit stones.

  Seph checked his Eye of the Appraiser quest and found that his secret places counter increased by one; he pumped his fist in the air excitedly.

  Quest

  Eye of the Appraise level 3

  *Sell items worth 10000 spirit stones. *Find 10 secret places

  Progress: 10000/10000        Progress: 3/10

  Silver Chan said, “I saw you use your identification skill before you got all excited there. I assume you have one of those annoying find secret places quests?”

  Seph didn’t know what to say, but since the man found out on his own anyway, he answered, “Yes, I have one of them. Do you have any tips for me?”

  Silver Chan smirked as he said, “Better than that, I have a room designed specifically to help you finish that quest, but I have to warn you before you get excited, that it’s costly.”

  Seph winced as he asked, “How costly are we talking?”

  “250 spirit stones per secret. I am sure you don’t know since you have been stuck in that legacy trial, but in the outside world, cultivators have tested these skills extensively so that now if you had the connections, you would easily know their requirements. The quest requires you to find at least an item that’s worth 200 spirit stones, so actually my fee is only 50 spirit stones per secret, and it’s a service to the sect members, not a lucrative business, as those skills are rare. The second condition is that you have to find these locations on your own; I can’t give you any hints, you can’t take your friend with you, but you can take your monkey friend with you.” Silver Chan said as he threw a glance the way of Sun, to see if saying monkey friend annoyed him, when he found no reaction, he breathed a sigh of relief and continued, “If you find a secret location that has no expensive item, you won’t get credit, it has to either have an item, or lead you to one of these items. The surest way for it to count is for you to claim that item for yourself. But sometimes it counts, like now, because you found something so rare that it doesn’t matter if you cannot claim it, like my precious high-grade spirit stone. I specifically put it here as bait for cultivators like you; if they find it, I tell them about the secret room service. Would you like me to organize this service for you?”

  Seph barely needed any time at all to think and agreed, as this was the best opportunity to finish this quest and finally gain additional advantages for the Eye of the Appraiser skill.

  “Good then, it will take me one day to prepare the room for you, so be sure to return tomorrow and we will finish this quest for you. Happy to work with you, Seph, and please come back at any time. You didn’t even scratch the surface of what this shop could offer on this visit.” With that, Silver Chan winked.

  Seph bowed slightly with a smile on his face, and then whispered to Lilith as they left, “I am clueless why he keeps winking!”

  Lilith rolled her eyes and said, “Because he is a creep. This guy is shady as fuck.”

  Once they were outside of the shop, they looked around to check for Kafka, and he hadn’t returned yet, so they pivoted straight into the armorer shop next door.

  They noticed the forge immediately as they were heading in; its fire was lit with bright red and yellow colors.

  They saw the anvil as well; it looked to be of a higher quality than the blacksmith in Seph’s village.

  There were many hammers and tongs hanging around everywhere in the shop.

  Right next to the door, there was this huge loom that had some kind of animal fur hanging on it, and there was a young girl who looked to be sixteen years old working on the fur, cutting and sewing and cleaning.

  The girl had dark orange hair that was short and made into a pixie-bob haircut, and her skin was tanned; she wore a vest that had no sleeves, and pants that reached just under her knee.

  She was hard at work and focused on what she was doing; she didn’t notice them.

  Suddenly, they heard a booming, gruff male voice say, “Welcome to our humble shop, new cultivators; if it’s weapons or armor you need, you have come to the right place.”

  Seph and Lilith — who were more focused on the unusual sight of a girl working at a blacksmith shop — flinched as they heard the man’s voice.

  Their attention turned to him, and they saw a large man of 6 feet and 4 inches, he was bald but had very sick unibrows and had a thick handlebar mustache that extended a little beyond his shoulders; it had an upward curve to it and was groomed into stiff, pointed ends.

  Seph didn’t know whether to laugh at the man’s mustache or to nod in respect for its meticulous shape and thickness; he thought his mustache was groomed to perfection.

  Lilith couldn’t help but ask a question: “How do you avoid getting your mustache burned while working on making new weapons and armor?”

  The man’s face immediately looked annoyed as he said, “Just like that? No greetings for an old senior like me? No bow of respect?”

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  Seph and Lilith were taken aback, and she looked guiltily at him not sure what to say, she was about to utter the word sorry, before the man laughed loudly and said, “HAHAHA, relax, I am kidding, you are not the first juniors who comment on my mustache before making their order, or introducing themselves. These men are my pride and joy.” He said as he held both ends of his mustache and twirled them upward with a proud look on his face.

  He then said, “Well, to answer your question, I always keep them hydrated, and I am a Master blacksmith for my realm; I know how to protect my precious while working and never touch the fire with them, anyway.”

  Lilith made an O with her mouth in understanding, meanwhile, Seph bowed down to the blacksmith to introduce himself respectfully, “My name is Seph, I am a new inner sect disciple, senior blacksmith, and this beside me is Lilith a new inner sect disciple herself and my friend.”

  Lilith bowed down as well, the blacksmith looked at them in approval before he said, “My name is Gong Jiang, I am a Master Blacksmith of the death establishment stage, and that means I have a greater chance than any to be a Master level when I reach core formation stage. This one here is my apprentice.” He said as he pointed at the young girl, “But she is also a Master Armorer in her own right; she just broke into Death Establishment a few months back.”

  The armorer stopped what she was doing and said, “Pleased to make your acquaintance; my name is Tian Lin. If you need any armorer done, I am your girl.”

  She had the sweetest smile on her face; the duo was confused by the contrast between her rough job and her cheerful disposition.

  Seph smiled back and said, “Actually, we are here for you, Master Tian Lin; I have the fur of a boss monster that I would like to be made into an armored robe for me.”

  Her eyes glittered with excitement as she said, “Show me!”

  Seph leaned his head back a little from her over-excitement but got out the moon wolf king skin from his spatial ring. It dropped on the ground since he couldn’t hold it up for long, and it covered most of the shop as it was large.

  Tian Lin looked like she had stars twinkling in her eyes as she said, “It’s so big and so pretty.” She then dropped to the ground on top of the fur and hugged it and waved her hands and legs up and down; she looked like she was swimming in the fur to the standing onlookers.

  Seph and Lilith looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders at the same time.

  Master Gong interjected, “She is always like this when she gets to work with new material, just you wait until she talks to you about ideas of the designs she has in mind for your material.”

  Tian Lin remained that way for a couple of minutes, then she got up and coughed as if she was embarrassed and said, “Excuse me, I got a little carried away.”

  Seph thought, A little?

  She continued, “Before we talk about designs, I would like to know what kind of cultivator you are, what’s your weapon of choice, are you ranged or melee?”

  Seph said, “Well, I have both options; I can be ranged, and I can be melee, but my melee martial art usually wins me the fights. I have a palm martial art.”

  She made an O with her mouth. “Those are nice; I like palm martial arts, and finger martial arts, and fist martial arts. They are unique styles, but I am probably biased since I mostly work with my hands.” She said as she raised her hands in front of Seph’s eyes and opened and closed them a few times, Seph could see the multiple injuries on her hands, and how they had patches of rough skin from being overworked, she didn’t stop talking as she said, “And I like martial artists who fight using only their hands too.”

  Lilith liked her excitement, so she was just smiling and nodding to her, not to make her feel awkward.

  Tian Lin thought for a second before she asked Seph, “What do you think of my attire?”

  Lilith raised an eyebrow at that question, and Seph didn’t know what to do, but he gave her a look over again, and said, “I like it; it looks practical for your line of work.”

  Tian Lin got a big smile on her face as she said, “Exactly! Keyword is practical, as a martial artist yourself, practicality is key, I am sure you are used to fight in your robes already but imagine fighting without having to worry about the placement or length of your robe or stepping on its tail or front side.”

  Seph didn’t understand where she was going, but she was looking at him with a big grin, nodding her head excitedly, waiting for him to understand, but he didn’t.

  “What I mean is, what if I make you protective gear with a similar design to mine, but with protective gauntlets that you could block hits with, and protective shoulder guards, and so on? Please accept it will be epic!” She had a pleading look in her eyes and clutched her palms like she was begging him.

  Seph stretched his head back to give himself some distance from her cute, pleading eyes before he said, “I mean I don’t mind, but I don’t want gloves; I like my palms to be free, because of my skills.”

  Stars twinkled in her eyes again as she said, “Really?! Amazing! Don’t worry about the gauntlets. We’ll just make you bracer armor for your forearm, instead. I promise you won’t regret this decision. I’ll even do it for free!”

  Master Gong interjected and said, “Wow, wait now, let’s not be hasty. Come here, Tian Lin.”

  She went to him, her shoulders slumped down, and stood in front of him like a bad student waiting to be scolded, as he asked her, “What did we say about free labor now?”

  She answered in a sad voice, “That it’s bad.”

  He followed with another question: “And why is that?”

  She answered in an even sadder voice, like she was going to breakdown crying, “Because we use materials in our work, and we use our valuable time, and need to buy cultivation pills instead of cultivating in our cultivation tombs like everyone else.”

  He smiled. “The short answer is, we have to put food on the table.”

  She said, “Yes.”

  Seph intervened and said, “You don’t have to worry; I want to pay. How much will this gear cost?”

  Her voice boomed again as she said, “500 spirit stones!”

  Seph was about to accept when the blacksmith intervened. “Come on, Tian Lin, this is no way to do business. I told you many times not to make cost estimates of the service yourself; you don’t even want to take any fee from the customers.”

  Her shoulders fell in defeat again, and she just slumped to the ground on top of the wolf fur.

  Master Gong smiled sheepishly at the duo and said, “I am sorry; she is always like this. Anyway, with how many pieces she is creating, a chest piece, a leg piece, bracers and shoulder guards, the total would be 5000 spirit stones, since is this very high quality material, and it will take a lot of work to finish it, and precision to not waste the material, so we are insuring the material for you against damage as well.”

  Seph looked to Lilith, and she gave him a nod as she didn’t think the price was exuberant, and Seph worried if she didn’t think that only because she was filthy rich, he didn’t know how much she had, but with the way she carried herself, she must be loaded.

  He thought for a second and then took out the discount ticket that he got from the Treasure Pavilion and handed it to the blacksmith.

  “I see the lousy shopkeeper gave you a discount ticket; he must have really liked you.” The blacksmith said as he checked the ticket.

  He pursed his lips before saying, “Anyway, we honor all discount tickets; the cost after this discount will be 2500 spirit stones. Silver Chan will make it up to us in materials in the future.”

  Seph clasped his hands in gratitude as he bowed slightly, and went to a table, and dropped 2500 spirit stones on top of it for the payment.

  Master Gong went over to the table and touched the spirit stones with the hand that had his spatial ring, and they all disappeared inside his ring, he nodded that the number is right and said “Happy to do business with you Seph, and you Lilith. Come back in one week and we will inform you of our progress.”

  Seph said, “Thanks so much; I’ll be looking forward to the results, as you can see my robes are all dirty and cut in many spots.”

  Master Gong looked like he remembered something and said, “Oh, I almost forgot, since you are new inner sect disciples, I am supposed to give you two, your inner sect blue robes.”

  He went to a storage unit in the corner and got out two identical blue robes and handed one to each cultivator.

  Seph and Lilith bowed down before Seph said, “Thank you, I can’t wait to change out of my old robes.”

  They both got out of the shop and found Kafka waiting for them outside, and he asked them, “Where to now?”

  Seph answered, “Let’s go to my cultivation tomb; I will change into my new robes, and we can continue the tour right after.”

  Kafka answered, “Fine by me, just project your yin energy into the jade slip and it will lead you to your cultivation tomb from here.” He then gestured to Seph and said, “After you.”