Seeing Su Yu hesitate, the shop assistant's eyes darted around. He hurried over and said, "If you buy all ten Beast Cores, you'll only have to pay four hundred Low-grade Spirit Stones. That's a price we've never offered before!"
He rubbed his hands together, his face wreathed in an ingratiating smile.
Su Yu's gaze casually swept over the Black Iron Fragment. At once, the Ancient Sword within his soul sent another urgent tremor.
He pointed at the fragment as if on a whim. "Four hundred Low-grade Spirit Stones is fine, but you'll have to throw this in."
Following Su Yu's finger, the shop assistant saw the fragment the shopkeeper had picked up on a whim. A flicker of surprise crossed his eyes.
The fragment had gathered dust on the counter for ages. The shopkeeper had bought it for just one Low-grade Spirit Stone, intending to slap a price of ten Low-grade Spirit Stones on it and sell it off.
"Well..."
The shop assistant's eyes rolled, and he immediately put on a mysterious expression.
"You have a sharp eye, young master! This fragment is no ordinary thing. They say it came from an ancient secret realm. Though no one has yet unraveled its secrets, it must be hiding something big. It's worth at least twenty Low-grade Spirit Stones!"
Su Yu chuckled inwardly, but kept his expression calm. "Four hundred and ten Low-grade Spirit Stones for everything. If you agree, we have a deal. If not, forget it."
With that, he turned as if to leave, his robes stirring a light breeze.
"Please wait, young master!"
The shop assistant hurried to stop him, his face brimming with a fawning smile.
"Since you're set on buying it, four hundred and ten Low-grade Spirit Stones it is!"
He swiftly packed up the ten Beast Cores and the fragment, afraid Su Yu might change his mind.
Just as Su Yu was about to pay, the corner of his eye caught a blood-red exotic flower in the corner of the display case.
Its petals were as bewitching as congealed blood, and a faint golden glow shimmered at its center. It stood out among the many spiritual materials.
"You have a sharp eye, young master!"
The shop assistant quickly brought out the flower. "This is a fifty-year-old Blood-colored Flower, excellent for replenishing depleted vital energy and blood. If a martial artist loses essence blood from using a secret technique, this flower can restore it immediately. It's worth three hundred Low-grade Spirit Stones."
Su Yu's heart stirred. He had obtained the Blood Burning Technique from the Lin Family but had never dared to cultivate it, precisely because he feared the period of weakness that followed a loss of vital energy and blood. If he could get this flower...
"Do you have one that's older?" Su Yu asked.
The shop assistant gave a wry smile. "You jest, young master. Blood-colored Flowers only grow deep in the Blood-colored Swamp, where poisonous miasma fills the air. Even Essence Transformation Realm experts who go there never return. This one is already a rare find..."
"I'll take it," Su Yu said decisively.
Just as he finished paying and was about to leave, a feminine voice came from the doorway. "Shopkeeper Qian, I need ten second-level low-grade Beast Cores urgently."
A young man in fine embroidered robes sauntered inside.
His face was pale and clean-shaven, his narrow eyes glinting sharply. He idly rolled two black jade beads in his hand.
The shopkeeper hurried forward to greet him. "Young Master Cui, what an honor to have you here. How could we let you trouble yourself by coming in person..."
The shop assistant whispered a few words in his ear. The shopkeeper's expression changed abruptly. "Young Master Cui, the Beast Cores were just bought by this young hero."
Cui Ming—the legitimate son of the Cui Family of Qingyang City—narrowed his eyes as he sized up the unfamiliar youth before him.
He was only at the second level of the Spirit Condensation Realm, yet carried himself with uncommon poise. He was probably a disciple of some sect.
"Greetings, young hero." Cui Ming clasped his hands with a smile, rolling the jade beads rapidly in his palm. "I'm willing to offer double the price. Would you consider parting with them?"
Su Yu's expression remained calm. "I'm sorry. I need them too."
The guards behind Cui Ming were about to make a move, but he stopped them with a raised hand. "In that case, I won't make things difficult for you."
He stepped aside to clear the way, a sinister glint flashing in his eyes.
After Su Yu disappeared from sight, Cui Ming leisurely toyed with the black jade beads and ordered, "Send the Shadow Guard after him. Once that brat leaves the city, find a suitable place and take care of him. Remember—"
His fingers paused. The jade beads clicked together with a crisp sound. "Make it look like he was attacked by a demonic beast."
"Young master, why bother with a brat at the second level? The guards were puzzled.
Cui Ming's beads stilled in his hand. He sneered. "Better safe than sorry."
He gazed in the direction Su Yu had gone, as though looking at a dead man.
The shopkeeper and the shop assistant exchanged a glance and sighed inwardly.
They knew Young Master Cui's methods all too well. No one he set his sights on ever met a good end.
Back in his inn room, Su Yu carefully took out the Black Iron Fragment.
It gleamed with a dark sheen, faint, fine lines visible across its surface. It was bone-chillingly cold to the touch.
"What exactly is this..." Su Yu murmured, gently rubbing the fragment with his fingertip.
Suddenly, something strange happened!
Without warning, the Black Iron Fragment transformed into a streak of dark light and darted into Su Yu's brow like a fish.
He felt a stab of pain deep in his soul. The Ancient Sword trembled violently, letting out a clear, ringing cry unlike any it had made before.
"Brother Sword?!"
Su Yu hurriedly looked within his Sea of Consciousness. The Ancient Sword was greedily devouring the streak of dark light.
The previously blurred markings on the blade began to sharpen. A few ancient runes could be faintly seen flowing along its spine.
Yet once the fusion was complete, the sword fell into a strange silence.
No matter how Su Yu called to it with his spiritual sense, the Ancient Sword showed no response.
He took out one of the newly purchased second-level Beast Cores and placed it in his palm. But the sword, usually ravenous, remained still.
Could absorbing the fragment have sent it into some kind of metamorphosis?
Su Yu tried every method he could think of to no avail, and had to leave it for the time being.
It seemed he could only investigate further after the auction.
Before you continue