Purchasing Steel

Yang Ning walked up to the Bei Family's stall. The person tending the stall was a young man holding a book, looking rather troubled. He seemed to be no older than twenty.

"Hello, are you looking to buy ore?" the young man asked. "My name is Bei Qiu Ming, you can just call me Xiao Bei!"

"Uh, I'm twelve, calling you Xiao Bei doesn't seem appropriate!" Yang Ning said.

"Oh, are you one of the Immortal Seedlings from this batch?" Since he was doing business at the entrance of Ascension Academy, Bei Qiu Ming naturally knew what was going on inside. "You should be a first-year, why are you out buying materials already?"

"Oh, we're going into Demon Subduing Valley in two months, and I need to buy some materials to forge equipment!" Yang Ning said with a smile.

"First-year, Demon Subduing Valley?" Bei Qiu Ming was stunned. "How can that be? Isn't that sending you to your death?"

I think so too, but I can't say that.

"They say we'll only be active on the outskirts, and there will be teachers watching over us, so it'll be fine!" Yang Ning said with a smile.

"Alright!" Bei Qiu Ming nodded, still a little hesitant. "Then you've come to the right place. You're only a first-year, and time is limited. You probably won't have time to learn ore refining. My family sells finished steel, so if you don't mind, you can just buy ready-made materials and process them yourself!"

"According to you, everyone else is selling raw ore?" Yang Ning asked.

"Yes!" Bei Qiu Ming nodded. "They say that as an Artifact Forging Master, one must have a deep understanding of every step of artifact forging, so naturally, you have to start with ore refining!"

Yang Ning was speechless. Isn't that crazy? Do you see any scientists having to breed their own lab rats for experiments? They all buy them, don't they?

But the mainstream ideology in this world seems to be like this.

"You don't agree?" Yang Ning asked.

"It's not a matter of agreement or disagreement!" Bei Qiu Ming smiled. "It's just that I heard the artifact forging methods of the Yiyuan Pill Cauldron Sect are different. They assign specific people to refine ore, specific people to research steel, and specific people to cast steel!"

"Artifact forging like this won't cultivate any masters!" someone selling ore nearby interjected casually.

"But you have to admit, doing so allows for the rapid, large-scale forging of weapons with similar quality!" Bei Qiu Ming laughed. "Our Tai Heng isn't doing well in this regard. There's little communication between artifact forging masters, leading to many newcomers spending decades researching things that predecessors might have already done. Moreover, different artifact forging masters have different ideas and skill levels, resulting in varied weapon designs and inconsistent quality. I remember the Haiyun Army has protested many times, right?"

"Hmph, I think you've just been influenced by the heretical theories of the Yiyuan Pill Cauldron Sect!" The man, unable to refute, could only retort stubbornly, "If they're so amazing, why haven't they forged any Dao Artifacts or Immortal Artifacts?"

Bei Qiu Ming opened his mouth, wanting to say that Dao Artifacts and Immortal Artifacts take tens of thousands of years to create. The Yiyuan Pill Cauldron Sect was only established less than twenty thousand years ago, how could they forge them?

And how do you know they aren't already forging them!

"Never mind!" Bei Qiu Ming shook his head and looked back at Yang Ning. "Take a look at our steel, we have quite a variety!"

Yang Ning pointed to a piece of gray-silver steel and asked, "What kind of steel is this?"

He recognized it. His magic sword was made of this material!

"Oh, this is Snow Bright Crystal Iron," Bei Qiu Ming said. "This type of iron ore can only be refined from Snow Bright Crystal Iron ore produced in the southeastern territory of the Man Family. Its output is extremely scarce, so the price is correspondingly high!"

The Man Family, isn't that the family of Lin Jingyun's adoptive mother!

"Snow Bright Crystal Iron ore," Yang Ning understood why he couldn't create metal with the same effect using the same elemental ratio in the Spiritual Realm. It turned out to be naturally occurring.

Often, the performance of an alloy depends not only on the composition ratio but also on the growth of the atomic crystal over a long period, which affects the final result.

"What about this one?" It was a dark gray, dull steel ingot, called high-carbon steel on Earth.

"This is called Ink Gold, suitable for cultivators who practice lightning-element martial arts," Bei Qiu Ming introduced.

"Did you invent this?" Yang Ning asked.

"Yes!" Bei Qiu Ming nodded.

"Then why isn't the ore for refining Ink Gold next door increasing in price?" Yang Ning asked.

"So you already knew!" Bei Qiu Ming was taken aback and quickly said, "Unlike Crimson Flame Steel, Ink Gold is a low-end steel. It's a steel that can be forged as long as you have iron. However, Crimson Flame Steel requires Cherry Red Iron. Although the Eight Great Families are powerful, they can't control the entire circulation of iron ore. They can only restrict our development through Cherry Red Iron!"

Yang Ning nodded and asked, "I see, so what are your plans? Can you break through this restriction?"

Bei Qiu Ming nodded seriously. "Of course. No matter how strong the Eight Great Mine Merchants are, they can't completely control everything!"

He didn't actually have much confidence, just putting on a brave front, but Yang Ning could see through it.

Yang Ning didn't ask any more questions, simply picking up a piece of the so-called Crimson Flame Steel.

This thing was called Crimson Flame Steel, but in reality, it was neither red nor fiery. Looking at it in the sunlight, it had a faint blue hue.

He looked at the description. It turned out that Crimson Flame Steel was not only tough, wear-resistant, and impact-resistant but could also withstand temperatures close to 3000°C. Its bonus effect for fire-element techniques was extremely significant.

And among martial arts techniques, fire-element techniques were the most common.

Firstly, they were the simplest; increasing temperature could be achieved by superimposing force fields.

Secondly, they were next to the sea, and to fight sea monsters and beasts, fire-element techniques were very effective.

Because of this, Crimson Flame Steel had a huge market. The Bei Family, which invented Crimson Flame Steel, was even more so. It was like digging up a gold mine!

Unfortunately, the Bei Family didn't have any Cherry Red Iron ore themselves and could only be suppressed by the Eight Great Mine Merchants.

Tank barrels, gears, all could be forged with Crimson Flame Steel, as well as future gun barrels, engine casings, and turbofan engine blades! Nightmare Energy could also be used for protection, but his mental power wasn't infinite, so it was best to save it where possible.

Moreover, the better the inherent performance of the material, the less mental power it would consume.

"The Bei Family is a family, and they are still being suppressed by the Eight Great Mine Merchants to the point of near bankruptcy. I am alone. If I were to create more materials, it would be even more difficult to deal with the suppression. It's better to take control of the Crimson Flame Steel ore source, and even the Bei Family itself."

This way, I'd have a front man. Secondly, I'd have a channel to secretly purchase materials. Thirdly, the Eight Great Mine Merchants' business practices are a bit unsightly, ripping people off severely, and I don't want to cooperate with them. Fourthly, the Bei Family is one of the few families in Tai Heng with R&D capabilities. It's hard to guarantee they won't develop other materials, which could save me a lot of time!

Yang Ning's thoughts churned, but he didn't bring it up on the spot. To outsiders, he was just a Body Refinement Realm second-level cultivator. How could he have the qualifications to take over such a large family?

Besides, Yang Ning didn't know the disposition of this Bei Family yet. He had only heard one side of the story regarding the conflict between the two parties. What if both were lying!

It's not impossible that the Eight Great Mine Merchants and the Bei Family are actually one and the same!

It's like a vendor selling Liangpi noodles on both sides of the road, one for ten yuan and the other for fifteen. Customers who buy the ten-yuan one think they're getting a bargain, but in reality, the boss is the one making all the profit.

After studying the list for a long time at the stall, Yang Ning handed it over. "I want these things."

Just as the boss from the Nangong Family had said, the Bei Family's goods were indeed cheaper. The finished steel was only slightly more expensive than the raw ore next door.

Even though Yang Ning would have to process them further, it still saved him a lot of trouble.

"We deliver! But, this much, are you sure?" Bei Qiu Ming looked at the list of supplies. Four people couldn't even use this much, let alone forty. Could he have a small group?

"I still need to experiment," Yang Ning said with a smile. "I've prepared something special for this trip to Demon Subduing Valley, and it will definitely surprise everyone!"

"Oh, really? I'll have to see it then!" Bei Qiu Ming smiled.

"You can see it?" Yang Ning was surprised. "Are you participating too?"

I thought this was a school event?

"Demon Subduing Valley is a secret realm completely controlled by Ascension Academy. Not only is the environment inside and out arranged by the academy, but the demonic beasts inside are even captured by people sent by the school to complete missions!" Bei Qiu Ming nodded. "So, every time there's a trial in the Demon Subduing Valley secret realm, Ascension Academy also opens it to the public using the Round Light Technique and Water Mirror Technique!"

"There's a livestream?!" Yang Ning immediately became excited. "Fame and fortune await on that day! By the way, if my results are very good then, and I happen to give you guys some advertising, can these ores get a discount?"

"If you can truly become the center of attention then, and if our Bei Family is still around, I'll give you back half of what you spent today!" Bei Qiu Ming replied seriously.

"Do you have that authority?"

"You might not know, but I'm the young master of the Bei Family!"

"That's good. Then, you'll see my performance. By the way, do these things come with delivery?" Yang Ning had bought quite a lot.

"Yes, delivered to your room!"

"Then deliver it to Kangjinlong Courtyard, Room 1275, for Yang Ning to receive!" Yang Ning took out his ID card again. "Can I pay with this?"

"Yes, you can!" Bei Qiu Ming quickly nodded.

"Great!" Yang Ning took out his money and swiped his card. He didn't buy many types of items, but the quantity was large. He spent 250,000 in one transaction!

But that wasn't all. Besides metal materials, he still needed to buy lumber, biological materials, and fuel.