Chapter 82: Grand Purchase

  “That won’t be necessary. Just tell me where the bck market is, and that’s enough.”

  An Jing would soourn to the Huaixu Realm, so he had no iion of letting Iron Hand escort him into the city in person.

  Iron Hand did not mind at all. “Suit yourself,” he said, iing the bck?jade demonie in his hand with evident satisfa.

  “I also need some Purified Five Metals,” An Jing tinued. “The higher the quality, the better.”

  “I have Purified Five Metals, and this junkyard is full of them.” Iron Hand grasped his meaning right away, then shook his head a bit regretfully. “But as for the grade… I’m afraid they won’t meet your requirements for farming tools and ons. I don’t dare sell them to you.”

  “Don’t dare?” An Jing looked up in mild fusion. “What’s there to fear?”

  Seeing An Jing’s puzzlement, Iron Hand shook his head and poi the recyg hut’s roof. “See that? It’s brand new.”

  An Jing gnced upward and firmed it was indeed new. He recalled that it had seemed odd from the outside, and sure enough, it had been rebuilt.

  “Two weeks ago, your barbarian folks blew it up,” Iron Hand said ftly. “I sold them a biomass verter that malfuned, and they didn’t even know what ‘after?sales service’ was. As soon as it broke, they came over and tossed bombs.”

  —So the unscrupulous mert who tried to pocket maintenance fees had been taught a lesson by the straightforward barbarians.

  An Jing uht away, but outwardly he only spoke in a low voice, “Wasn’t that your fault? You could have expi to them.”

  “There’s no reasoning with you barbarians if you ’t evehe maintenance manual.”

  Iron Hand was still a the barbarians, but wheiced An Jing’s silence, he sighed. “I don’t mean you personally, kid. Still, I doubt your retives and fellow tribesmen would be so easy to talk to.”

  “I’m sick of w that barbarians might sneak in at night and blow my pce up again, so I’ll just steer you to the right pce.”

  “In the bck market, several proper panies have outlets selling industrial?grade mystic iron. It’s good enough for anything, from farm implements to axle bearings.”

  With such high?quality metal avaible, An Jing had no desire to refihe junkyard scraps for his Radiant White Spirit Diviri.

  It wasn’t about disliking the filth; the real issue was that the junkyard’s Demonic Qi was excessively strong, and its metal was of low quality. Using that for Foundatioablishment would just leave him with a useless “scrap-iron” foundation.

  While he could use it for healing in an emergency, relying on it for true cultivation was hopeless.

  At that point, Boss Iron Hand also settled the merit points from An Jing’s ret transas.

  Reselling used equipmeed An Ji hundred fifty merit points, while selling the bck?jade demonie and tusked pig tusks gained him awo thousand one hundred fifty merit points.

  Afterward, ary permit to the city cost ohousand five hundred merit points, and a bck?market entry-exit permit cost two hundred. An Jing the four hundred sixty?five points on a Type?B Frostfall Firearm with its apanying gear, as well as the best spiritual energy furhis shop had.

  Iron Hand did not charge him for crag the ing Sword Case. For refurbishing and repairing the case—bullets included—he gave An Jing a friendly rate of one hundred merit points.

  An Jing also purchased ten local portable pressed ed goods for te points, plus five “defehunder pearls” for forty?five.

  By then, An Jing fully realized how powerful merit points were. Each portable was only about the size of a fist but weighed nearly two jin. Inside was extremely tough jerky that, when soaked in a little water, expao around two palm-widths in area and about a fist’s thiess of pale brow, exuding a whiff of industrial seasonings.

  Using the spoon he carried, An Jing scooped out a pied ate it, chewing as he went. It was quite tough, seemingly taining bits of tendon, and was likely beef. It tasted det enough, though probably better heated—something he couldn’t do at the moment.

  A bloeat that rge, especially in pressed form, surely wouldn’t e cheap—yet it was only o point. Because of this, An Jing asked Boss Iron Hand if Xuay had another currency system.

  “There is. O point be exged for one hundred credit points. Everyday items iy are bought with credit points, while only cultivation and bat resources require merit points.”

  “As for you barbarians, haven’t you always used barter? Besides, you have no chips, so of course you ’t use credit points.”

  At this point, Boss Iron Hand also handed An Jing the remaining six hundred eighty merit?point vouchers.

  They were posed of six red chips a light?blue chips, each elegantly designed, resembling talismans. The red chips were worth one hundred merit points each, while the blue ones were worth ten.

  These semi?transpare chips had shimmering lines of light pulsing across them—likely a talismaniti?terfeiting seal.

  “With over six hundred merit points, you could buy nearly three thousand jin of industrial?grade mystic iron. Violet tin and crimson copper ore, so you’d get less of those.”

  “If you go beyond that, you won’t have enough points. It’s up to you. Three thousand jin should st your tribe a good while. Of course, if you don’t bring helpers, you won’t be able to carry that muyway.”

  Iron Hand had no idea about An Jing’s true background. He genuinely believed An Jing was just a barbarian who wanted ons to hunt Three?Legged Fire Crows, as well as metals te tools and armaments for his tribe—and had simply ended up saving Huo Qing’s life in the process.

  After that, Boss Iron Hahusiastically expihe bck market’s ins and rules. He withheld nothing, worried that if An Jing were ignorant of local practices, he might cause a serious ihat would either implicate Iron Hand or lead him back here in anger.

  “Don’t worry about the Day?Tiger Gang. Just stay in my hut. If they e around, I’ll hahem.”

  With that, he flung a pair of gloves at An Jing. “Put these on. If people see your hands, kid, they’ll figure out ye right away.”

  Whoosh!

  Whether due to his meical prosthetic arm or as a deliberate test, he hurled them at high speed with practiced finesse.

  Yet An Jing casually raised a hand, catg the gloves between two fingers in a smooth, trolled motion. “Thanks.”

  Then, ign everything else, he went straight to the recyg hut’s ba.

  Iron Hand narrowed his eyes, the meical one on his left fshing, as he watched An Jing disappear.

  “So young, yet his Vital Essence is already Like Rivers, nearly Like Tides. His hand skills aren’t weak, either. He evehat sdrel Daqiang in a single move… Which great tribe’s genius is he from? Did he sneak out on his own, or is there moing on…”

  He withdrew his gaze and shook his head. “This city’s getting more chaotic every day. Luofu Group and Shouyang Group are fighting tooth and nail, and us ordinary folk suffer most. Now the barbarians are sending in their elites, too. Heaven knows how bad things will get.”

  “Not sure what’s happening with my big brother… Fet it, that’s not my .”

  After a moment of thought, he simply closed the recyg hut’s front door. “Better to stay shut for a while.”

  Ba.

  Uhe spacious storefront, the ba was cramped and packed with clutter. Various appliances and heaps of empty bottles, s, and other refuse y scattered around, while a table iled high with dots and goods.

  It tained everything from specialized teical manuals to firearm pos, from chemical reagents to pill-making materials. One could only wonder how Iron Hand funed day to day.

  Right then, Huo Qing was seated by the table, dressing his own wounds. When An Jing walked in, Huo Qing brightened and stood up. “Brother An, how did it go? You…”

  “I’ve taken care of everything,” An Jing interrupted, gesturing for him to sit. Speaking briefly, he said, “We’ll wait here for a day, then head out.”

  “As long as I didn’t slow you down, that’s good.”

  Huo Qing exhaled a deep sigh.

  In An Jing’s eyes, Huo Qing had probably grown up g affe, which led to his people?pleasing temperament—alutting others first.

  Although An Jing didn’t dislike people like that, as a friend, he still hoped Huo Qing would beore self?respeg and self?reliant. One must care for oo keep a healthier mi.

  But this was no time to dwell on that. Huo Qing tiending to his injuries, while An Jing, now that he had a safe pce, settled onto a sofa to rest and cultivate.

  “Speaking of cultivation…”

  An Jing opened another , took a bite of the meat, and reflected inwardly, “Sword Spirit, although I’ve begun cultivating, my knowledge of the Martial Path and Qi Refining is limited.”

  “You’re a senior in this domain. Could you crify things for me in more detail?”

  (End of Chapter)