Profiting Beyond Belief, Frost Condensation Cold Stone

Tuoba Yan nodded happily.

Spirit Eagle Douluo was a Title Douluo and an elder of the Elder Hall.

There was no need to dwell on Spirit Eagle Douluo's combat strength.

Even the most ordinary Title Douluo held one vote in Spirit Hall's Elder Hall whenever major decisions were made.

Tuoba Yan had already planned the path he would take in the future.

Spirit Hall was filled with experts and possessed more than ten Title Douluos.

Under the leadership of the madwoman Bibi Dong, Spirit Hall had always operated by the principle that those who obeyed prospered, while those who defied perished.

Whether it was rebellion or leaving Spirit Hall, neither was particularly realistic.

It might even become the reason for the Tuoba Clan's destruction.

The continent stood in a three-way balance.

Chaotic times were about to descend. For Tuoba Yan, the best solution among all possible options was to go with the tide.

The weak needed to rely on the strong, borrowing their momentum to climb higher steps and perhaps even realize the grand ambition of unifying the world.

The life stories of Zhu Yuanzhang, Shen Wansan, and others were living examples.

Tuoba Yan had thought it through. In the future, he would become the Pontiff and seize Spirit Hall's power for himself. Only by taking power from the madwoman Bibi Dong could he hope to prevent his grandfather's tragic death and break Spirit Hall's curse of destruction.

The Pontiff Hall was the Elder Hall's puppet.

Pontiff Bibi Dong was not a puppet.

Tuoba Yan had analyzed why Bibi Dong had escaped her puppet status.

First, Bibi Dong was a Title Douluo. She was a member of the Elder Hall and possessed a certain degree of influence there.

Second, Bibi Dong had gained the support of the Elder Hall's Second Worship, Third Worship, and many other elders.

Third, setting aside the cause of former Pontiff Qian Xin Ji's death, Bibi Dong was publicly Qian Dao Liu's daughter-in-law. The Qian Clan members who did not know the truth were all willing to support Bibi Dong.

Tuoba Yan had also analyzed his own advantages.

His grandfather was Tuoba Xi, the man in charge of Spirit Hall's extremely important Soul Hunting Squad.

His mother was a direct disciple of Spirit Hall and Qian Dao Liu's biological niece. If he became Pontiff, it would align with the interests of the Qian Clan.

If he were to "compete" with Bibi Dong for the position of Pontiff and employ a few methods, he was confident that he could make the Qian Clan's members support him.

Then only the Elder Hall remained.

Spirit Eagle Douluo was, after all, a Title Douluo. Building a good relationship with her in advance could only benefit his future path.

Standing so close to Spirit Eagle Douluo, a faint maidenly fragrance drifted into Tuoba Yan's nostrils and stimulated his olfactory nerves.

What was more, Spirit Eagle Douluo was a beautiful woman who still possessed her virginity.

"What are the peculiarities of the other two items?"

A voice as pleasant as tinkling bells sounded beside Tuoba Yan.

That gray, filthy-looking crystal possessed such miraculous properties. Spirit Eagle Douluo was curious about what was special about the other two items Tuoba Yan had bought.

Tuoba Yan did not say much. He activated his third soul skill and threw a punch at the blue stone.

The tables and chairs shook as if they were about to collapse, yet the stone remained completely unscathed.

An excited voice emerged from Tuoba Yan's throat.

"If I'm not mistaken, this is a ten-thousand-year Frost Condensation Cold Stone."

"Its growth is extremely difficult."

"It exists amid ice and snow, born deep within the earth. It undergoes countless rounds of tempering, fusion, compression, and shaping by the power of the earth."

"It takes a thousand years to take form and ten thousand years to develop its nature."

"When it fully matures, its color becomes deep blue. Even fierce flames struggle to melt it."

As Tuoba Yan spoke, he suddenly stopped.

Spirit Eagle Douluo asked curiously, "And then? What is it used for?"

Tuoba Yan reached out and lifted the Frost Condensation Cold Stone from the table with both hands. It was the size of a basketball and weighed five hundred jin. He answered excitedly, "Naturally, it is used for forging!"

Spirit Eagle Douluo said disdainfully, "Forging? Mere trickery!"

As a noble soul master, Spirit Eagle Douluo looked down on the unorthodox ways of the blacksmith association.

Tuoba Yan shook his head slightly and did not argue with Spirit Eagle Douluo.

Compared with the Bancrystal that had intercepted Tang San's opportunity, Tuoba Yan was far more interested in the Frost Condensation Cold Stone in his hands.

The reason was simple: among the Saint Martial Spirit's twelve talismans was the Rat Talisman, something even more terrifying than a puppeteer.

Spirit Eagle Douluo picked up the dagger from the table and held it some distance from her nose. Because of Spirit Hall, she still caught a faint scent of horse urine.

"What is special about this dagger?"

As she spoke, Spirit Eagle Douluo handed the dagger to Tuoba Yan.

Tuoba Yan took the dagger and smiled. "This is a counterfeit."

"And then?"

"The dagger could cut iron as though it were mud. The person who made the counterfeit lacked the relevant knowledge and mistakenly passed off something valuable as a fake."

"They turned a real treasure into a fake?"

Spirit Eagle Douluo stared in astonishment.

As a Title Douluo, Spirit Eagle Douluo also kept some antiques at home.

She had heard that the antique trade was deep and treacherous. Counterfeits appeared often, and worthless objects could be sold for high prices through certain techniques.

Turning a genuine item into a counterfeit was the first time Spirit Eagle Douluo had heard of something so strange.

Tuoba Yan corrected himself. "Aunt Ling Yuan, what you said isn't entirely correct. I simply didn't explain it clearly. The materials used to make bronze artifacts include red copper."

"The counterfeiter knew one part but not the other."

"Red copper also came in different grades."

"Among the highest-grade red copper, Celestial Bronze was the rarest."

"Celestial Bronze looked exactly the same as ordinary red copper. In terms of weight, it was only slightly heavier than ordinary red copper. Without experience, one could not distinguish them by weight. The simplest way to tell them apart was to refine them in fierce flames."

"During refining, if it turned purple, that meant it was Celestial Bronze. If it remained normal red, dark red, or rose red, then it was ordinary bronze!"

Tuoba Yan scraped away the patina on the dagger's surface with a sharp tool. Then he flipped his empty hand, and a cluster of red flames appeared in his palm.

When the deliberately forged dagger was thrown into the flames, it turned purplish-red under the intense heat.

Legend had it that Celestial Bronze contained the power of the stars.

Of course, no one could extract the power of the stars from it. That was an ability only gods should possess.

The reason Tuoba Yan was so excited was that once he reached level forty, he intended to hunt a rat-type soul beast. He wanted to obtain the Rat Talisman.

In his estimation, once he awakened a statue of a god, a divine statue forged from high-quality ore could increase its combat strength.

Perhaps divine statues cast from certain special ores might even possess some unexpected miraculous effects.

"Mm, I've made a profit!"

For the first time, Spirit Eagle Douluo looked at Tuoba Yan with appreciation.

Tuoba Yan had not merely profited. He had struck it rich beyond belief.

The Bancrystal alone was worth more than two million Gold Soul Coins. Adding the Frost Condensation Cold Stone and the dagger forged from Celestial Bronze, the items were worth far more than the two thousand Gold Soul Coins he had spent.

The next day, Tuoba Yan and Spirit Eagle Douluo left the Rose Hotel. When they passed through the plaza, they encountered Flender.