After bidding Moonlight Pavilion farewell, Yang Fan breathed in the fresh breeze of Heaven Dou City, only managing to suppress the restlessness in his heart.
What lingered in his mind were Tang Yuehua's eyes, rippling like autumn waters.
"This is starting to feel like trouble. I'm clearly doing this for my career..."
He muttered a self-deprecating remark, shook his head, and forcibly banished those amorous thoughts from his mind.
Helping Tang Yuehua break through her bottleneck and resolve the knot in her heart that had burdened her for years was also a decision he had made after careful consideration.
Tang Yuehua was one of the few talented people in the original story whose flaws and regrets had been mentioned, yet she was exceptionally capable.
Her character was a lot like Ya Fei's in Battle Through the Heavens: she had excellent people skills and business acumen, but a lack of talent.
Helping her become a Soul Master was an excellent way to open her heart. Otherwise, how could Yang Fan feel safe forming an alliance with a powerful woman backed by the Clear Sky Sect?
Yang Fan believed that only by intertwining their interests deeply enough and building up a debt of gratitude could their partnership become truly unbreakable.
As for Sinking Silver, or Jade Silver, Yang Fan had also considered it from the perspective of their mutual interests.
Soul Spirit technology was too radical for this era. Yang Fan feared that moving too fast would attract attention he didn't want.
After that terrifying attack, Yang Fan no longer dared to take chances. A gradual approach might be better.
Soul Spirits were hard to get, but forging shouldn't be a problem.
Lou Gao would eventually push forging to even greater heights. Rather than let him die for his cause, I might as well get ahead of him and use forging as a stepping stone to improve my bargaining position with Qian Renxue.
Since she had tried to recruit me as Xue Qinghe, I should show her even more of what I can do.
The path of treasure appraisal alone was too narrow.
I couldn't keep relying on that one discovery, Whale Rubber, and acting as if I were untouchable, could I?
There was nothing wrong with treasure appraisal, but forging opened up a whole new world!
Yang Fan hadn't yet realized one thing: this was the Romance Continent, after all. He thought he was binding people to him with mutual interests, but under the rules of the Douluo World... all of that would turn into affection. The tighter the bond, the more pleased Brother Cheng would be.
After crossing several bustling streets, Yang Fan returned to Yang's Treasure Appraisal Pavilion, knowing the way by heart.
He had been busy for so long that it was already mid-afternoon. The pavilion was crowded at this hour, and business seemed especially brisk today.
Yang Fan pushed open the door and saw Ye Rou seated at the rosewood table, leafing through a thick ledger.
She wore a close-fitting, dark purple dress that outlined her mature, alluring figure. A few strands of hair fell beside her fair neck, adding a touch of languid charm.
"Little Pavilion Master, so you do remember to come back?" Ye Rou asked gently when she saw Yang Fan return, pouring him a cup of hot tea as she spoke. "Just look at how busy A Wu and the servants are!"
"I was taking care of serious business, too. I've already reached an agreement with the master of Moonlight Pavilion. With her connections, our Treasure Appraisal Pavilion can finally expand further."
Looking at the busy scene inside the pavilion, Yang Fan awkwardly rubbed his nose.
He really had been taking care of serious business today.
He had secured the base metals for Jade Silver, and had basically reached a shared understanding with Moonlight Pavilion. Once he advanced to become a fifth-level blacksmith, he could enter the market for processed metals and low-grade Soul Tools.
Of course, everything hinged on his becoming a fifth-level blacksmith.
It was no small hurdle. Generally speaking, only blacksmiths with five rings would even consider it.
If only a Soul Master with a Gold Element Control Soul Skill would appear in front of me so I could copy it. Then my chances would be much better.
Yang Fan had considered using the travel opportunity Mo Lan had given him to visit The Unrivaled Tang Sect and see if he could copy the skill, but after thinking it through, he gave up on the idea.
Evil Soul Masters ran rampant in The Unrivaled Tang Sect, and God King Tang San would be interfering there, too. It was better to play it safe for now and wait until he had completed the Heart of Eros in this era before making plans.
Seeing how busy the Treasure Appraisal Pavilion was, Yang Fan, as its master, felt a little embarrassed and hurried over to help.
Why were there so many people today...
Accompanied by a burst of laughter as clear as silver bells, a petite figure appeared in the doorway.
"Yang Fan! Come on, tell me—how did my advertising campaign go?"
Ning Rongrong bounced in, as light and graceful as a butterfly.
She held up a string of glistening candied hawthorns, their bright red fruit coated in translucent sugar. The two maids from the day they had first met followed close behind her.
They kept their auras restrained. Their Soul Power fluctuations weren't low, but Yang Fan could now tell at a glance that they still fell short of the two Soul Douluo experts from that night.
Looking at the young girl before him, Yang Fan's lips curled into an amused smile. He casually tossed out a joke no one in this era could understand: "So it was you, kid, bringing all the customers over here."
At the same time, a ripple stirred in Yang Fan's heart. Perhaps he was the only person in this world who understood the joke.
That brief pang of wistfulness soon passed.
"What do you mean, 'you, kid'?!"
Ning Rongrong looked like a kitten whose tail had been stepped on. Her bright smile instantly puffed up into a pout.
She glared at him with her large, sparkling eyes and complained, "Just because you've seen me at my most vulnerable doesn't mean you can talk to me so disrespectfully!"
As she spoke, she took a bite of the candied hawthorn in her hand, then continued her indignant protest around the mouthful, "I brought you all these customers, and you can't even say thank you? You're infuriating!"
Seeing Ning Rongrong's spoiled, willful yet vivid and lively manner, the amusement in Yang Fan's eyes deepened.
This unfiltered little temper at least proved that the little princess of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect definitely wasn't a transmigrator.
"Alright, alright, I was wrong. Here, have some of these candies."
Seeing how much Ning Rongrong liked candied hawthorns, Yang Fan thought that candies from the Legend of the Dragon King era might please her, too.
Back in the Legend of the Dragon King era, he had loved teasing Na'er. Whenever she got angry, she was as adorable as a puffed-up pufferfish, but if he soothed her with a piece of candy, she would start calling him "Gege" again.
Ning Rongrong spotted the unusual candies in Yang Fan's hand, blinked, and took one to try.
The sweetness of fruit mingled with a milky fragrance, along with a hint of herbs.
They were called candies, but they could count as pills, too. After all, products from the Spirit Pagoda were guaranteed to be high quality.
Ning Rongrong had never tasted such strange candy before. After eating it, she felt as though her Soul Power had subtly begun to flow faster.
"How is it? Not bad, right?"
Ning Rongrong saw the smile in Yang Fan's eyes and turned her head away, saying one thing while meaning another. "It's just so-so..."
"Then so-so it is. But, Young Lady, my Treasure Appraisal Pavilion doesn't have many hands. We're usually fine, but with all the customers you've sent our way, we can barely keep up."
Yang Fan replied with a troubled look.
"What's the big deal? Sister Mei, Sister Lan, come help Pavilion Master Yang."
Ning Rongrong turned to the two maids behind her.
Ning Mei and Ning Lan were both considered elite members of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. They had reached Soul King at a young age. It was hard to say whether they would become Soul Sages in the future, but they had a good chance of reaching Spirit Emperor. They were also exceptionally talented in business.
"Then I'll have to thank you both."
Yang Fan hurriedly cupped his hands. He was planning to find a forge to grind up his secondary profession level, so he really wasn't suited to helping out here.
"No need to thank us."
Ning Mei smiled warmly and replied softly. Ning Lan, beside her, remained cool and aloof. She merely nodded before heading straight to the counter to help.
Yang Fan looked at Ning Rongrong. A sudden flash of inspiration struck him, and he asked, "Rongrong, does the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect own any forges? The better equipped, the better."
At Yang Fan's question, Ning Rongrong blinked and looked him up and down, her eyes full of suspicion. "A forge? What do you want one of those for?"
She leaned a little closer, her tone tinged with teasing. "What, business at your Treasure Appraisal Pavilion isn't going well, so you're planning to switch to blacksmithing? Or are you actually a blacksmith?"
Ning Mei and Ning Lan stopped in their tracks as well, a flash of surprise in their eyes.
Blacksmiths didn't have much status on the Douluo Continent, and they were usually rough-hewn men. For a young man like Yang Fan, with his refined bearing, to take up a hammer and forge metal was indeed a little incongruous.