Marketplace

While the old man helped Li Qing pack the jade, Li Qing's gaze suddenly fell upon one of the jade slips.

"Old sir, what is this?" Li Qing pointed to the jade slip, about the size of two fingers pressed together, and asked.

The old man glanced up and shook his head, saying, "It's something left by my ancestors. It should be a protective jade talisman or something similar."

He wasn't entirely sure himself, as these items had been passed down for too long, many generations removed from him.

If it weren't for the lack of food, he would never have taken it out to sell for Black Rye Mushrooms.

Li Qing took the jade slip into his hand, narrowing his eyes to examine it closely. Faint patterns seemed to be etched upon it.

The jade slip was smooth and felt warm to the touch, undoubtedly a piece of exquisite jade no matter what world it was in.

As the old man hastily finished packing the jade stones, Li Qing took out over three catties of Black Rye Mushrooms from his cloth basket and gave them to the elderly stall owner.

The transaction complete, Li Qing continued to wander through the marketplace.

In the Eternal Night World, he recognized most things. Only a few local specialties were unfamiliar to him.

For example, there were mushrooms that looked remarkably like pieces of meat. Their mycelia were intertwined, appearing white and fatty like rich meat!

The name was fitting: White Meat Mushroom. Its value was significantly higher than Black Rye Mushrooms, with three catties of Black Rye Mushrooms only able to exchange for one catty of White Meat Mushroom.

Of course, Li Qing had no interest in these mushroom-like foods.

His purpose in visiting the marketplace in Obsidian City this time was to exchange his Black Rye Mushrooms for some refined iron and to see if there were any other special ores.

Ever since he had begun practicing the Ancient Profound Hammer Technique, he had felt an urgent need for a suitable hammer.

The hammer he currently used for blacksmithing was one he had used when he was an apprentice, specifically designed for forging.

If he were to use it for combat, a forging hammer would be inadequate; he needed to forge a new one.

With this thought, Li Qing touched a cool piece of metal, as smooth as ink jade, hidden deep within his robes.

It was the Ink Gold that Officer Li Gui had given him, asking him to smelt it into the Mountain-Splitting Axe!

Due to the sudden bandit attack, Li Qing, who was in the military tent at the time, was unable to complete the forging of the Mountain-Splitting Axe.

However, to his astonishment, the Ink Gold he had placed in the furnace had not melted.

He knew that area of the furnace reached the highest temperatures, the surroundings glowing fiery red. Even the hardest metal should have melted.

Yet, this piece of Ink Gold remained completely intact.

So, before fleeing to the granary, he hadn't forgotten to bring this piece of Ink Gold with him.

Upon taking it in hand, he discovered that after such prolonged exposure to high temperatures, not only was there no sign of melting, but the surface temperature had only risen slightly. It had gone from cool and smooth to just warm to the touch.

'The bandit attack on the military camp inadvertently benefited me with Officer Li's Ink Gold. But given that we share the same surname, Officer Li probably won't mind too much.'

Thinking this, Li Qing's mood couldn't help but brighten.

He planned to buy some good quality refined iron to take back and then continue trying to smelt this Ink Gold. If he could, he intended to use this Ink Gold as the hammerhead to forge a high-quality war hammer.

After browsing the marketplace for a couple of rounds, Li Qing quickly found a blacksmith shop.

There was no clang of hammering, and the surrounding temperature wasn't as scorching as he'd imagined, unlike a normally operating blacksmith shop.

As Li Qing walked in, a young man, looking like an apprentice, sat by the gray anvil and weakly said, "Customer, what would you like forged? Weapons or farm tools?"

Hearing this, Li Qing's mind stirred.

This was a good opportunity to inquire about the current blacksmithing market prices in Obsidian City. He asked, "I want to have a few Reaper Blades forged. How much would that cost?"

At his words, the apprentice's eyes lit up. He forced himself to stand and said, "If you provide the iron ingots, two Reaper Blades will cost half a catty of Black Rye Mushrooms!"

"If I provide the materials, one Reaper Blade is half a catty of Black Rye Mushrooms. If you're buying in bulk, we can discuss further!"

As expected.

The Yan Family had indeed negotiated a low price when they asked him to forge Reaper Blades before. He had only received half a catty of Black Rye Mushrooms for three blades!

However, this blacksmith shop was located in the marketplace, so a slightly higher price was understandable.

"Ahem, I'm here to buy some refined iron. How much is your refined iron?" Li Qing asked, clearing his throat.

"Twenty catties of iron ingots for one catty of Black Rye Mushrooms. How much do you need?" The blacksmith's apprentice suddenly lost interest.

However, Li Qing's next sentence made his eyes widen.

"Then give me three hundred catties!" Li Qing said in a deep voice.

"What? Th-three hundred catties?"

"Yes, is there a problem?" Li Qing observed the man's expression closely and smiled.

"No, of course not! I'll go get it for you!" The man's steps immediately became brisk.

Buying three hundred catties of iron ingots at once was a business worth fifteen catties of Black Rye Mushrooms. That was no small sum.

For his blacksmith shop, which hadn't had a customer in a long time and was on the verge of starvation, this was incredibly important!

There were actually many mine pits around Obsidian City. One could go outside the city to mine iron ore and then smelt it into iron ingots.

The few blacksmith shops in the city all operated this way. Under the current laws, no one would interfere; whatever you dug up was yours.

This was unlike the Feng Kingdom, where the control over salt and iron was extremely strict. Private salt sales and the outflow of ironware were not permitted, leading to persistently high iron prices.

After a long while, the blacksmith's apprentice finally emerged from the back storage room, looking dusty and disheveled.

"Customer, I've finished counting. I have about over three hundred jin of iron ingots left. I'll take fifteen jin of Black Rye Mushrooms for all of it!" He rubbed his hands together, his gaze fixed on Li Qing, as if afraid he was just there to mess with him.

Bang!

Li Qing dropped the basket from his back. It contained about fifteen to sixteen jin of Black Rye Mushrooms, all of it.

The blacksmith's apprentice's eyes widened. He swallowed and said, "I'll go pack them for you right away!"

Soon, the three hundred jin of iron ingots were all packed into a sturdier, larger basket. The blacksmith's apprentice struggled to push the basket into the shop.

"Phew! Customer, do you want me to help you carry them back?"

However, Li Qing shook his head, refusing his kind offer.

"No need, I can carry it myself."

With that, Li Qing crouched down and directly hoisted the basket, weighing over three hundred jin, onto his back. He looked remarkably steady.

After a slight assessment of the weight and his own limits, Li Qing let out a small sigh of relief.

It's fine. I can barely handle it without much strain. I'll just consider it a bonus workout for my physique.

Li Qing was quite satisfied with his current physical strength. Being able to carry over three hundred jin of iron ingots and walk steadily was something he wouldn't have even dared to imagine before.

Under the blacksmith's apprentice's astonished and horrified gaze, Li Qing walked out of the blacksmith shop just like that, preparing to leave the Marketplace.