Destiny in Cinders

The mirror was sure to be worth above a thousand liang of silver. Normally, the shopkeeper wouldn't be able to make the final call regarding such a huge transaction. He would need to check with the owner to be sure. However, Fullyield's management gave him quite a bit of autonomy when it came to special cases. Coupled with Manager Li's hints, he decided to make it easier for An Jing. "Even then, a sum of three hundred liang of silver would be too heavy. Would you be willing to accept a bill issued by Grand Chen for that amount?"

"What about gold?" An Jing asked, feigning discontent.

The shopkeeper shook his head with a pained smile. "Sigh, Master Xuan, you must be relatively new here, so you're not aware of the situation we are in. Gold is worth far more than their weight alone!"

Typically, Dustdawners didn't accept bills and only traded in gold or silver. However, many ceremonies in Grand Chen required offerings, and not just offerings of food or drink. Instead, state ceremonies were conducted with gold of various properties as offerings for the nine spirits and five golden ones, eight lands and nine skies

Among them, true gold, spirit gold, cloud gold and sun gold were used as offerings for one of the five golden ones, leader of the nine spirits, foundation of eight lands and ruler of nine skies. Even if they weren't used for offerings, precious gold or metals would be used as material for martial pills and as strategic resources rather than as currency. That was why most trade in Grand Chen was conducted in minted silver. Gold was only used for official ceremonies or illicit business, which would get one reported!

"Silver works fine too. I don't really mind the interest. I won't take bills, however. I just need you to pay off my food bill and give me the remaining silver. I wish to buy more things." An Jing played the role of a privileged young scion well. He didn't want bills nor officially minted silver either.

Seeing their troubled looks, he smiled. "Do not worry. I will not trouble you with my purchases. You won't have to worry about me not being able to get enough money to redeem the mirror either. I have some valuable talismans with me apart from the mirror. The reason I came to Keensight is to buy spirit items to make a cultivation breakthrough so that I can surprise my people back home.

"Only, I went a bit too far and bought too many random things. I ran out of money before I bought any cultivation resources. Those crooked merchants truly have silver tongues. A few words from them and I'm already emptying my silver into their wallets.

"I came here to get some silver with this mirror as collateral, but I also wanted to ask you where I could get my hands on spirit items in Keensight. It's such a huge city, so surely there's one store that actually sells some!"

"Ah! That, we can work with." The shopkeeper was initially troubled that An Jing wouldn't accept bills, but he breathed a sigh of relief when he said he wanted spirit items. "What kind do you need? Our shop also allows barter transactions. As for talismans, we have to evaluate their types and effects and whether they're durable enough. Forgive me for being frank, but talismans with bad craftsmanship aren't worth a lot."

Great! Mission accomplished! An Jing was overjoyed that he finally found a channel to buy spirit items. "You can rest assured about talismans from my tribe. I'm not asking for much either, only some feral-beast flesh or spirit items that nourish the metal aspect."

He had to take quite a few detours to get to where he really wanted to go, but he had managed it in almost no time at all, making himself a familiar face and blending in rather well. The detours he took ended up being a shortcut to his destination.

The shopkeeper went to check the inventory based on An Jing's request and prepared a list of items. Spirit items weren't that expensive at the end of the day. Feral-beast flesh was the most common type at all sorts of price points. For instance, snow-rabbit flesh was worth ten liang of silver per jin, costing a hundred or two hundred times more than normal livestock flesh. However, that was still cheaper than properly cooked delicacies.

The effects of snow-rabbit flesh justified the cost, naturally. It strengthened one's legs and honed one's ears. They were only relatively cheaper compared to other feral beasts because they were caught burrows at a time.

An Jing didn't just want normal feral-beast flesh to boost his vigor, however. Yvelbane recommended feral beasts that were filled with vigor and also contained metal lethal qi to enhance his blood and metal lethal qi. Doing so would speed up his rate of absorption and allow him to speed up his growth with Evenstar Ivory Divine Seal after he broke through to form the second seal.

I hope there's some with suitable aspects. If not, aspectless spirit items are fine too. At worst, my body can absorb spirit items of unsuitable aspects to use them as fodder to build my foundation.

The shopkeeper came back as An Jing pondered on. "Take a look."

An Jing took the list and saw some rather pricey items. They weren't just snow-rabbit flesh or common cheap herbs. There was a herb called the rootless flower, a water-aspect spirit item that relied on water-aspect spirit qi to absorb nutrients, relinquishing the need for roots, allowing it to float mid air. Consuming it allowed one to breathe in water for days at a time. It could also be used to heal burns to some degree.

There was also a moonbow stone, a stone of the water and yin aspects that formed through the essence of the night, rain and moonbow. It should be worth quite a bit as yin-aspect items were rather rare, but it was impure and mixed with the water aspect, making the yin aspect hard to extract and decreasing its value. Even so, it was still quite pricey compared to other water-aspect items. An Jing wondered if there were perhaps better ways to extract or purify such items in Skysource, which would be another avenue for profit.

Dazzling quinoa was a rather rare spirit item of the wood and fire aspects. They typically grew on the sides of mountains that had open access to the sun and sky. Their diamond-shaped leaves sparkled in the sun and starlight, hence their name. Wild beasts in the mountains loved to consume them to strengthen their bones and wit, making them rather rare finds.

There was also froststream dew on the list. It was a spirit dew of the yin aspect that condensed in streams that hadn't seen the light of day for centuries. Apart from pill refinement, they were also helpful for cultivating ocular techniques. An Jing made a mental note of this since he had obtained an ocular technique from Nian Quan. He just so happened to need a catalyst to get himself initiated into the art. While the dew was of the yin aspect, it was also partly of the water aspect and could be used for that purpose all the same.

The rest of the spirit items were nothing remarkable that he could use, so he merely scanned them. Near the end, however, he saw something that fit his requirements perfectly: a goldfur bear paw.

"You actually have a goldfur bear paw?!" An Jing looked up at the shopkeeper, surprised. "No, no way... To think that the hunter of the goldfur bear was willing to allow you to resell this for them!"

"Friend, this is where Fullyield's reputation shines!" the shopkeeper said, puffing out his chest in pride. "It's not just goldfur bear paws. We're able to get our hands on higher-grade spirit items!"

An Jing could tell that the pawn shop was merely a subsidiary of a larger company. Perhaps it was one of the few powerful trading guilds in the area.

The goldfur bear was a type of spirit beast, not a feral beast. Put in simpler terms, normal humans were akin to normal beasts while martialists of the Aura and Clearing Realms were akin to feral beasts. Average martialists usually weren't able to take on feral beasts unless they were fully armed and ready, considering how some of them had powerful ancestral bloodlines. Spirit beasts, on the other hand, were those that had absorbed profound essence from the environment and awakened abilities. In other words, spirit beasts were beasts that had awakened lifearcs. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

If a spirit beast used to be a feral beast, it would be called a feral wraith. If the spirit beast used to be an auspicious beast friendly to humans, they would be known as sprites. If they were sapient, it didn't matter what kind of beast they used to be, they would be referred to as feys. Most of them were able to use abilities and other special powers. Some would have impermeable hides or fur or even breathe frost or fire. Others could have immense strength or be able to travel vast distances within a single night.

The goldfur bear was a feral beast that had evolved into a feral wraith. The shortest among them stood above three meters in height. It could send shockwaves across the river with a single paw strike to bounce all the fish within a wide range onto shore. Some people reported seeing these creatures lean against thick pine trees and snap them as they tried to sit down. Their strength was one thing, but they were even impermeable to most blades and spears! Their fur was also water and fireproof.

Before the snow calamity, there was an armor inner piece made from the skin of a goldfur bear at An Jing's old home. It could resist cuts and stabs and even crossbow bolts. When damaged, applying some metal-aspect putty was enough to restore it. It was a familial heirloom that his father used to wear, which saved him time and again. It was partly thanks to this piece of equipment that An Jing's father survived the Hanhai Fiend Calamity.

The paw of a goldfur bear was even more precious, being able to be made into medicines that restored vigor and strengthened the body down to the bone. It was worth at least six hundred liang of silver or more. Paws from older goldfur bears went for over a thousand. It truly was a rare treasure.