As the old man helped Li Qing sort and pack the jade pieces, Li Qing's gaze suddenly settled on one of the jade slips.
"Sir, what is this?" Li Qing asked, pointing at the jade slip, which was about the size of two fingers held together.
The old man merely glanced at it and shook his head. "Something left behind by my ancestors. It should be some kind of Protective Jade Talisman, perhaps."
He was not too sure either. These things had been passed down for far too many years, separated from him by I don't know how many generations.
If not for the lack of food, he would never have taken them out to sell in exchange for Black Rye Mushrooms.
Li Qing picked up the jade slip and narrowed his eyes as he examined it closely. Faint, threadlike patterns seemed to run across its surface.
The jade slip was smooth in color and warm to the touch. No matter which world it was placed in, it would undoubtedly count as a piece of peerless fine jade.
Once the old man had hastily finished packing the jade pieces, Li Qing took more than three jin of Black Rye Mushrooms from his wicker basket and handed them to the elderly stall owner.
With the trade complete, Li Qing continued wandering through the market.
In the Eternal Night World, he recognized quite a few things. Only a small number of local specialties left him unable to tell what they were.
For example, there were fungi that looked like chunks of meat, their hyphae kneaded together into a white mass that resembled greasy fat.
The name was fitting too—White Meat Mushroom. It was worth considerably more than Black Rye Mushroom; three jin of Black Rye Mushrooms could only be exchanged for one jin of White Meat Mushroom.
Of course, Li Qing had no interest in these fungal foods.
This time, he had come to the market in Obsidian City to trade the Black Rye Mushrooms in his possession for some refined iron, and to see whether there were any other special ores available.
Ever since he had gained entry into the Ancient Profound Hammer Technique, he had felt an urgent need for a hammer that suited his hand.
The hammer he currently used for smithing was one from back when he had still been a blacksmith's apprentice, made specifically for forging iron.
If he wanted to use a hammer for battle and slaughter, then a smithing hammer definitely would not do. He had to forge another one.
At that thought, Li Qing touched a cool piece of metal hidden deep in his robes, its texture like black jade.
It was the Ink Gold that Officer Li Gui had previously given Li Qing, telling him to melt it into the Mountain-Splitting Axe.
Because the bandits had suddenly attacked, Li Qing, who had been inside the camp tent at the time, naturally had no way to finish forging the Mountain-Splitting Axe.
Yet he had discovered, to his immense astonishment, that the Ink Gold he had tossed into the forge had not melted.
That had been the hottest part of the furnace, its surroundings glowing fiery red. Even the toughest metal should have melted there.
Yet this piece of Ink Gold had remained completely intact.
So before fleeing to the granary, he had not forgotten to take the Ink Gold with him.
After getting his hands on it, he discovered that despite being refined at such high temperatures for so long, the Ink Gold showed no signs of melting. Even its surface temperature had only risen a little, changing from its previous cool warmth to a faintly scalding heat.
The bandits attacked the military camp, and Officer Li's Ink Gold has ended up benefiting me. Still, for the sake of our shared surname, Officer Li probably won't mind too much.
At that thought, Li Qing could not help feeling delighted.
He planned to buy some good-quality refined iron, then continue trying to see whether he could melt this piece of Ink Gold. If he could, he would use the Ink Gold as the hammerhead and make a battle hammer of exceptional quality.
After circling the market twice, Li Qing quickly found a blacksmith shop.
There was no clanging of iron within, and the temperature around it was nowhere near as scorching as expected. It did not look like a normally operating blacksmith shop at all.
When Li Qing walked in, a young man who looked like an apprentice sat beside a gray anvil and listlessly asked, "Customer, what would you like forged? Weapons or farm tools?"
Upon Hearing this, Li Qing's thoughts stirred.
This was the perfect chance to find out the current smithing rates in Obsidian City. He asked, "I want several sickles forged. How much would that cost?"
These Words had barely left his mouth when the apprentice's eyes lit up. He forced himself to stand and said, "If you provide the iron ingots, two sickles cost half a jin of Black Rye Mushrooms!"
"If I provide the materials, one sickle costs half a jin of Black Rye Mushrooms. If you want a large quantity, we can discuss the price!"
Sure enough.
The Yan family really had forced down the price when they hired him to forge sickles. Previously, they had only given him half a jin of Black Rye Mushrooms for three sickles!
Still, this blacksmith shop was located in the market, so it was normal for its prices to be a little higher.
"Ahem, I came here to buy some refined iron. How much are you selling it for?" Li Qing asked with a cough.
"One jin of Black Rye Mushrooms for twenty jin of iron ingots. How much do you want?" The blacksmith apprentice immediately lost most of his interest.
However, Li Qing's next words made his eyes widen.
"Then give me three hundred jin."
"What? Th-three hundred jin?"
"Yes. Is there a problem?" Li Qing asked with a smile, carefully observing the man's expression.
"No, of course not. I'll go find it for you!" The man's movements immediately became swift and nimble.
Buying three hundred jin of iron ingots in one go meant a deal worth fifteen jin of Black Rye Mushrooms. That was no small sum.
For a blacksmith shop that had not opened for business for a long time and was nearly starving to death, it was far too important!
There were actually many mines around Obsidian City. Anyone who wanted iron ore could go outside the city to mine it themselves, then smelt it into iron ingots.
The few blacksmith shops in the city all did this. Under the current laws, no one bothered controlling such things. Whatever you dug up was yours.
It was unlike the Feng Kingdom, where salt and iron were tightly controlled. Private salt sales and the circulation of iron tools were not permitted at all, keeping iron prices sky-high.
After a long while, the blacksmith apprentice finally emerged from the storeroom at the back, looking dusty and disheveled.
"Customer, I've counted it all. I have a little over three hundred jin of iron ingots left. Fifteen jin of Black Rye Mushrooms in total!" He rubbed his hands together, staring fixedly at Li Qing, afraid that Li Qing had merely come to toy with him.
bang!
Li Qing tossed down his basket. There were still roughly fifteen or sixteen jin of Black Rye Mushrooms inside, all of them piled within.
The blacksmith apprentice's eyes went straight. He swallowed and said, "I'll pack them up for you right away!"
Very quickly, the more than three hundred jin of iron ingots were all packed into a larger, sturdier basket. The blacksmith apprentice laboriously pushed the basket into the shop.
"Whew! Customer, do you need me to help carry it back with you?"
Li Qing shook his head, refusing the man's kindness.
"No need. I can carry it myself."
With that, Li Qing crouched down and directly hoisted the basket containing more than three hundred jin of iron ingots onto his back, looking utterly steady.
After briefly gauging the weight and the limits of what he could bear, Li Qing let out a small breath.
Not bad. He could barely handle it without too much strain. He could treat it as tempering his body along the way.
Li Qing was extremely satisfied with his current physical strength. He could carry more than three hundred jin of iron ingots and still walk steadily down the road—something his former self would never even have dared imagine.
Under the blacksmith apprentice's shocked and horrified gaze, Li Qing walked out of the blacksmith shop just like that, preparing to leave the market.