Treasure Pavilion

After Liu Qing left, Xia Qi'an dragged Luo Bingzhong's corpse over and handed it to the Black Armored Army to deal with, as though he were discarding a useless object.

His task was complete.

Afterward, he bade everyone farewell.

Then he mounted that black steed and returned to Jinling City alone.

The steed had been specially gifted to him by the Jinling authorities, and could be considered part of his reward for this mission.

However, the merit points and the silver obtained from the other spoils of this mission would only be known after the people cleaning out the stronghold had carefully tallied everything.

After returning to Jinling, Xia Qi'an immediately went to find Yang Wei.

Not only did he repay the six hundred taels of silver he owed, he also ordered another bottle of Bone Tempering Fluid from him.

As a result,

Xia Qi'an, who had originally possessed two thousand taels in cash,

had now spent another sixteen hundred taels in one go.

He had just over four hundred taels left on him.

After bidding Yang Wei farewell,

Xia Qi'an planned to take a look around the city's Treasure Pavilion.

He wanted to see what good things the Treasure Pavilion had for sale, while also preparing to sell the martial arts manuals in his possession.

Actually, Xia Qi'an still had some valuable things on hand.

Golden Body Technique. Great Strength Vajra Fist.

But there was no way he could sell these two techniques.

As for Extreme Wind Thunder Force, that went without saying.

As for the Vital Energy Pill, Xia Qi'an did not know how much this thing was worth on the market.

He could have the people at the Treasure Pavilion appraise it.

It was not that he wanted to sell it. He simply wanted to see how much silver the thing was worth.

Of the two techniques he had obtained from Black Wind Stronghold, he copied the Iron Claw Skill and planned to take it to the Treasure Pavilion to sell.

That was because the Treasure Pavilion also did business with martial artists and accepted techniques of every grade.

The Treasure Pavilion was located in Jinling's most prosperous district.

It had branch shops in every city of You Province.

The entire world was divided into twelve provinces.

You Province was one of them.

And in You Province, there were three dynasties and kingdoms like Great Li.

They were Great Li Dynasty, Great Xia Dynasty, and Qiluo Kingdom.

There were more than forty commanderies like Jinling in Great Li Dynasty.

Across the whole of You Province, there were more than one hundred and twenty.

It was easy to imagine that, like Wei Dao Si, the Treasure Pavilion was also a massive force with formidable strength.

Upon entering the Treasure Pavilion, it was as though he had stepped into another world, and an air of luxury washed over him.

The shop was decorated in resplendent splendor. Precious wood, golden ornaments, jade and jewels, antiques, calligraphy and paintings, and countless other treasures filled the place, dazzling the eyes.

Inside the pavilion, the floor was smooth and level, covered with fine carpets. Walking across them was soft, silky, and incomparably comfortable.

The Treasure Pavilion had a vast interior divided into three floors, resembling a magnificent palace.

The first and second floors were places for ordinary transactions, while the third floor was a unique auction hall.

The hall was built in a circular shape, with a spacious grand platform in the middle, like a brilliant pearl set within it.

Yang Wei had told him that the Treasure Pavilion happened to be holding a small auction today.

Thus, he hurried over without delay.

After entering the Treasure Pavilion, Xia Qi'an first wandered around for a while.

Then he found an old treasure appraiser and asked about the current market.

When Xia Qi'an took out the two techniques, the old man immediately became much more enthusiastic.

After all, if the deal went through, he would also receive a considerable cut of the silver.

"Young master... Are you planning to sell these two techniques?"

Xia Qi'an nodded. "That's right... Please give me an estimate, old sir!"

The old appraiser then valued Iron Claw Skill at three hundred taels and Nameless Saber Technique at two hundred and fifty taels.

Xia Qi'an felt the prices were reasonable, so he nodded in agreement.

Afterward, Xia Qi'an took a Vital Energy Pill from the wooden box.

The old man saw it, and his beard nearly curled with delight.

However, Xia Qi'an immediately said, "I'm not selling this! ... Just give me an estimate. I want to see how much silver this thing is worth!"

The old appraiser's face instantly fell. "Young master! It has been a long time since a Vital Energy Pill has appeared on Jinling's market. If you put it up for auction, it could fetch at least three thousand taels of silver."

"Why don't you think it over?"

Hearing this, Xia Qi'an gently shook his head and smiled as he put the Vital Energy Pill away.

At the Treasure Pavilion, anyone with a transaction record there could participate in the auction.

The reason was that the Treasure Pavilion did not only do business with martial artists.

It also did business with ordinary people.

From precious jade and gold and silver vessels to foreign spices and sachets,

all of them could be purchased at the Treasure Pavilion.

Unfortunately, however, there was nothing particularly good at this auction.

Most of the items were rare luxuries from Qiluo Kingdom.

Xia Qi'an had no interest in them.

However, one item did catch Xia Qi'an's attention.

It was a type of soap from Qiluo Kingdom.

But this soap was extremely crude and had no scent. It possessed only the power to clean.

Unexpectedly, though, this soap was astonishingly expensive.

A palm-sized bar of Qiluo Kingdom soap cost five taels of silver.

Thus, Xia Qi'an, who had been a Blue Star Person in his previous life, had a flash of inspiration. He slapped his thigh, and countless ingenious money-making schemes surged through his mind.

For example, making Scented Soap, cement, glass, refined sugar, and salt from seawater—ideas flooded into his mind like a rising tide.

If this plan could be implemented smoothly and eventually developed into an industry, it would certainly become a major business that earned gold by the day.

At this thought, Xia Qi'an hurried home, eager to begin experimenting.

The first thing he tried to make was Scented Soap.

This world was not an ancient society like Blue Star in his previous life, and circumstances were somewhat different.

Relying on his memories from his previous life, Xia Qi'an quickly bought the raw materials for making soap—wood ash and ground pig pancreas.

With these two things, he could easily make bars of soap.

However, this kind of soap was ordinary, with no advantage whatsoever compared with the soap sold by Qiluo Kingdom.

Thus, Xia Qi'an bought several special plants as well. After boiling them in water, drying them in the sun, grinding them into powder, and carrying out several other processes, he added them while the soap was solidifying into shape.

Several days later, a bar of Scented Soap emitting a faint floral fragrance came into being.

Not only that, Xia Qi'an had even specially sought out skilled craftsmen in Jinling City to make molds for the Scented Soap.

The Scented Soap made this way was not only exceptionally attractive, its fragrance was also far superior to Qiluo Kingdom's soap.

Its quality was so high that it could even be considered a luxury item, specially supplied to high-ranking officials and nobles.

Moreover, Xia Qi'an also planned to make rough, unscented soap and put it on the market for ordinary people.

This rough soap would be cheaper than Qiluo Kingdom's.

With that, this business would surely have tremendous prospects.

Now that he had samples,

Xia Qi'an thought he should find a few people to try them out.

The first people he thought of were Si Nanyue and Yang Wei.

Thus, Xia Qi'an tucked two sandalwood boxes containing Scented Soap under his arm and went to visit Si Nan Manor.

As he rode toward the gates of Si Nan Manor,

a light rain suddenly began to fall, pattering against the green roof tiles.

"Knock..." Xia Qi'an lightly tapped the copper ring on the main gate.

Before long, a young maid poked her head through the crack in the gate and asked, "What do you want?"

Xia Qi'an dragged a wooden box with one hand and said, "I am Xia Qi'an, a Hound Guard of Wei Dao Si. I have important business today and have come especially to pay my respects to Lord Sinan!"

"Then wait here! I'll go inform Miss!" The maid said this, then slammed the main gate shut with a bang.