Mysterious Long Saber, Basic Movement Technique, Leaving the City Again!

Li Ziyu took the quote from Tang Xuan, glanced at it, and nodded.

It was a few tens of thousands more than he had imagined—two hundred thousand in total.

The Shadow Cat's price made up the bulk of it.

One hundred and ten thousand.

He figured the Precious Martial Pavilion was selling him a favor.

Tsk, he'd earned two hundred thousand in just two days.

If this were before, he probably couldn't have saved that much in ten years.

Martial artists really were a fast-money profession.

He chatted idly with Tang Xuan for a while.

It was clear Tang Xuan wanted to get on good terms early, given his age.

But Li Ziyu also picked up quite a bit of basic information about martial artists from Tang Xuan.

"Boss Tang, does your shop take Level 2 Fierce Beast corpses?"

Li Ziyu asked tentatively.

Though he didn't know his own blood qi level yet.

With the system on his side, hunting Level 2 Fierce Beasts probably wasn't far off.

He had a good impression of Tang Xuan, so asking about prices early also meant testing the waters for future cooperation.

When Tang Xuan heard Li Ziyu's words, a sharp glint flashed in his eyes.

On the surface, he remained calm, but inside, waves of shock were already rising.

He asked cautiously:

"Young friend, are you planning to go hunt Level 2 Fierce Beasts?"

"Not now, maybe in a few days."

"After all, I don't have a decent weapon or martial skill yet. I'll go after I get those."

Li Ziyu took a sip of tea and stood up from the sofa.

He pushed open the door and walked toward the hall counter.

"Boss Tang, I'm planning to use all two hundred thousand on weapons and martial skills. I'll take a look at the counter."

"Oh, oh, sure! I'll take you there!"

Tang Xuan snapped out of his thoughts, gave a slight start, and quickly said to Li Ziyu.

He naturally followed Li Ziyu out of the hall.

Watching Li Ziyu's back, a trace of shock flickered in Tang Xuan's eyes.

From the tone of Li Ziyu's words just now, he couldn't tell for a moment whether it was bragging or stating a fact.

But could someone under seventeen really hunt Level 2 Fierce Beasts?

A Level 2 Fierce Beast could tear apart armored vehicles and tanks.

Tang Xuan thought it impossible.

At least in a small place like Xujiang City, there was no such genius.

Tang Xuan shook his head and stopped thinking about it.

He just figured Li Ziyu's words were a young man's casual boasting.

When you have money, you spend it—especially a huge sum like two hundred thousand.

Li Ziyu had no idea what Tang Xuan was thinking. Right now, he felt nothing but exhilaration.

Simple.

With money, it was easy to get carried away.

Like someone earning only three thousand a month, pinching every penny.

Suddenly finding their salary jumped to a hundred thousand a month.

All they wanted to do was buy, buy, buy.

A moment later...

"Hiss! A single Grade 1 alloy battle blade costs five hundred thousand Great Xia Coins?"

"And a Gale Blade combat skill costs a million Great Xia Coins?"

"Damn, Boss Tang, are you sure this isn't a scam shop!?"

Seeing the prices marked on the weapons and techniques behind the counter, Li Ziyu's eyes went wide, and he stared incredulously at Tang Xuan beside him.

Tang Xuan, caught under Li Ziyu's glare, shrugged helplessly and said:

"Brother Li, this is just the current market rate."

"This first-grade combat blade is made from first-grade Asma Alloy. One jin of first-grade Asma Alloy costs nearly fifty thousand Great Xia Coins, and I used four jin here."

"Add in the forging fees and such, selling it for five hundred thousand—this price is already considered cheap throughout Xujiang City."

"Being a martial artist is inherently a money-burning profession. For high-level weapons, selling for hundreds of millions or even billions is normal."

Li Ziyu's expression soured.

He truly didn't have a good grasp of the market for martial artist weapons and techniques.

After all, his original self wasn't even a formal martial artist and had no access to such pricing information.

So there was nothing in his memory.

But he did have a vague impression of the Asma Alloy Tang Xuan mentioned.

He knew it was a new alloy developed by humanity after the beast descended.

Its hardness was several times that of steel.

It was a popular weapon material among martial artists, graded from one to nine.

Ah, but still.

He had thought that with two hundred thousand in hand, he could at least trade up for a decent weapon and maybe some techniques.

Yet it wasn't even enough for an ordinary first-grade alloy combat blade?

Tang Xuan noticed Li Ziyu's predicament.

He said a few words and agreed to sell that alloy combat blade, priced at five hundred thousand, to him for two hundred thousand.

But Li Ziyu didn't agree immediately.

Three hundred thousand wasn't hard for him to earn.

Owing a favor for that amount of money was truly unnecessary.

Li Ziyu wandered around the counter a bit more.

He thought that if it really didn't work out, he could look elsewhere or just not replace his weapon for now, making do with the steel combat blade in his hand.

Just then.

At the corner of the counter.

A long, narrow combat blade covered in rust caught Li Ziyu's attention.

Though its shape resembled a blade, it also bore some similarity to a sword.

Its length was longer than an ordinary blade, reaching an astonishing one point five meters.

It was somewhat reminiscent of the pudao used in ancient times in his past life.

Although the blade's surface was mottled, Li Ziyu's gaze was immediately drawn to it.

Pointing at the rust-stained long blade, he asked Tang Xuan:

"Brother Tang, how much is this weapon?"

"Why is it sitting here gathering dust? Is there something special about it?"

"Oh, this long blade was pawned here a few months ago by a scruffy-bearded man."

"He said it was passed down from his ancestors."

"I didn't want to accept it at first, but that scruffy-bearded man claimed his ancestor was a second-grade peak martial artist."

"So I figured since he wasn't asking for much, I took it in, hoping I might get lucky and find a bargain."

"But after studying it for months, I confirmed it's just an ordinary blade—not even first-grade."

"Tsk, I misjudged it. Brother Li, if you want it, just give me the cost price—one hundred thousand."

Li Ziyu left the Precious Martial Pavilion with the rust-stained long blade slung over his back.

His instincts told him this blade was no ordinary thing.

He couldn't pinpoint where the feeling came from, but he just sensed it was unusual.

Besides, Li Ziyu had already tested it.

The blade's hardness was far greater than his original one by an unknown margin.

Since he couldn't afford a weapon made from Asma Alloy, Li Ziyu simply bought this rusted iron blade outright.

Before leaving.

Tang Xuan still felt apologetic, thinking Li Ziyu had gotten the short end of the deal with him.

So he threw in a Basic Movement Technique manual.

"Basic Movement Technique isn't really a true martial skill, but if you bought it, it'd still cost fifty thousand."

Techniques like Basic Sword Technique, Basic Movement Technique, and Basic Blade Technique are called foundational martial skills.

They can't really be counted as martial skills; strictly speaking, they're just introductions to force application techniques.

Basically, anyone planning to become a martial artist would master one or two of these, more or less.

The price wasn't steep either—fifty thousand Great Xia Coins per manual outside.

But only the beginner level was available. If you wanted to move on to intermediate or even advanced, you had to comprehend and break through on your own.

Aside from these basic martial skills, there were also things called battle skills, and those were prohibitively expensive.

Sometimes, they weren't even available on the market.

Just now, Li Ziyu had seen one at the Precious Martial Pavilion.

The cheapest first-level saber-type battle skill, the Gale Blade, cost a million Great Xia Coins.

And on top of that, the user had to have mastered intermediate saber techniques as a prerequisite before they could learn it.

"This is just insane. A first-level battle skill is already this expensive. If it were second-level or third-level, wouldn't that be a sky-high price?!"

"Martial artists really do burn through money, damn it!"

Li Ziyu sighed as he walked toward the city wall.

But not everything was bad news.

Tang Xuan had just told him something uplifting.

This was information Li Ziyu was hearing for the first time.

If he passed the Level 1 Martial Artist assessment, the Martial Arts Association would gift him a first-level Body Tempering Battle Skill!

After cultivating it, he could make his own qi and blood much more condensed!

"It looks like Great Xia has put a lot of thought into nurturing martial artists—not only providing allowances but also giving away techniques."

"It seems I need to head to the Martial Arts Association and get certified as a Level 1 Martial Artist!"

But the Martial Arts Association was already closed for the day. If he wanted to go, he'd have to wait until tomorrow morning.

With the system at his side, Li Ziyu planned to head outside the city and hunt a few Shadow Cats to sell for money.

After all, his saber technique had now been upgraded to intermediate level. When he ran into Shadow Cats, he wouldn't be afraid.

That Gale Blade technique—he was really coveting it.

If you can't find the book title, try searching by the author. Maybe it just changed its name!