Yang's Grocery Store

Yang Fan and A Yin had spent this entire period exploring Heaven Dou City.

The auctions of the Seven Treasures Glazed Sect, the towering and magnificent outer walls of the imperial palace, the blood-pumping Heaven Dou Soul Fighting Arena... the novelties of Heaven Dou City left Yang Fan feeling overwhelmed.

However, living in Heaven Dou City was no easy feat.

Relying solely on the Spirit Hall subsidy was insufficient in a city where every inch of land was worth an ounce of gold, and the money he had saved previously had been left behind for the village that had raised him for eleven years.

So, what could he do?

Robbing the rich to help the poor was not a viable path in Heaven Dou City. Although those nobles were dissolute and incompetent, they were almost all backed by the imperial family and various sects. He did not want to provoke people he shouldn't while he was still in his growth phase.

Yang Fan sat in a teahouse with his brows tightly furrowed. A Yin, nestled in his embrace, secretly stretched a leaf toward his face.

Don't be anxious, there will always be a way. If it really comes to it, I can take you to dig for medicinal herbs to earn money.

Listening to the mental message A Yin sent, her gentle voice smoothed out his thoughts and provided him with some inspiration.

If one wants to make money, one must absolutely avoid the lowest-tier industries.

Digging for herbs is inferior to collecting them, and collecting herbs is inferior to refining medicine and alchemy.

In this era, alchemy and medicine refining were not yet famous; the Xuanming Sect had only a rudimentary form, and it would take several thousand years for a complete system to emerge. He was not a disciple of the Daoist sect in his past life and knew nothing of these things, but he had A Yin, a theoretical master, and a martial soul that enhanced his analytical capabilities.

Could being an appraiser be a lucrative path?

The wealthiest sect on the Douluo Continent, the Seven Treasures Glazed Sect, had built its fortune on this very foundation. Unfortunately, the original work did not describe it much, focusing instead on their support effects.

"A Yin, you're so smart." Once Yang Fan had an idea, he felt much more relaxed and had the leisure to tease the Blue Silver Grass.

Thus, an inconspicuous shop quietly opened its doors.

The morning in Heaven Dou City always awakened to the sound of noisy peddling. In the West District's slum alleys, the air was permeated with the scent of cheap porridge and the dampness of the sewers.

Yang Fan struggled to push open the rickety wooden door of "Yang's Grocery Store," the hinges emitting a teeth-gritting creak.

It was a small shop of only twenty square meters. The wall plaster was peeling, and the shelves were empty, displaying only a few dusty old soul tool parts and a pile of junk scavenged from who knows where.

"Cough, cough..." Yang Fan rubbed his slightly sore eyes and sat down behind the counter. His frame was thin, but his eyes held a calmness that transcended his age.

He extended his right hand, his thoughts shifting slightly.

Hum.

The air seemed to stagnate for a moment.

A crystal-clear monocle, appearing as if polished from the purest amethyst, manifested out of thin air before his right eye, then slowly descended, precisely settling between the bridge of his nose and his ear.

In that instant, the world changed.

The once gray and dilapidated shop was instantly covered in his vision by countless crisscrossing lines. Some of the unremarkable scrap metal on the shelves emitted a faint white light, while others were nothing but a mass of dead, gray energy.

"Still the same as before; most of it is trash." Yang Fan sighed and retracted his martial soul.

Inspired by the idea of being an appraiser, he had first gone to apply at an auction house under the Seven Treasures Glazed Sect.

But the people at the auction house saw that he was dressed plainly and was just a little kid, so they kicked him out without even a trial period.

Realizing the lack of trust caused by his age, he had no choice but to start from scratch and open his own shop.

With little money on him, it was difficult to open a shop in prime locations like the Soul Fighting Arena or the city gates. Forced by reality, Yang Fan had to open his shop in the West District.

Fortunately, the previous owner didn't know what he had, leaving behind a fist-sized lump of black metal that allowed him to pick up a bargain.

The surface of the metal lump was pitted and covered in dark red rust, looking exactly like a piece of worthless scrap iron.

Yet, through his martial soul, the black lump instantly "came to life."

Beneath the lifeless rust, there was actually a faint, yet incredibly pure, pale golden flow of light hidden within!

The light pulsed like a heartbeat. Although sealed by thick impurities, Yang Fan could feel the terrifying soul power fluctuations contained within.

This time, he carefully injected his soul power into the lens.

A deep purple light flashed across the monocle, and the pale golden light in his field of vision was instantly magnified.

Yang Fan clearly saw that in the very center of this Geocentric Fire Copper, a drop of silver, liquid-like substance was slowly rotating.

"That is... Liquid Soul Silver?" Yang Fan gasped.

On the Douluo Continent, Soul Silver was an indispensable rare metal for crafting high-level soul tools. The value of this single drop of Liquid Soul Silver was worth at least a hundred times this dilapidated shop!

With this drop of Liquid Soul Silver, Yang Fan immediately realized that this appraisal ability was truly worthy of being the most classic "golden finger" of early novels.

This ability to leverage small gains into large ones and compound profits far exceeded other golden fingers.

Yang Fan also discovered that after successfully picking up a bargain, his martial soul provided him with a considerable amount of mental energy in return.

He estimated that according to the mental energy standards of the Dragon King Era, it had increased by at least ten points.

Do not underestimate this amount; in the original work, wanting to improve such mental energy required either enduring torture between life and death or possessing great luck to obtain an opportunity.

Yet, he had achieved it with a simple act of picking up a bargain.

Yang Fan was not sure if this was an inherent characteristic of his martial soul or an effect enabled only after the Blue Silver Emperor leg bone had replenished his origin.

It was likely the latter; before his evolution, he hadn't received this feedback when he picked up the Whale Glue.

He couldn't help but feel a sense of relief.

Fortunately, he did not go to Nuoding Academy to waste his life.

Time is cultivation; this is an absolute truth on Douluo Continent.

If he truly waited until Tang San and Xiao Wu went to Shrek before making a move, even with A Yin's spirit bone, it would be difficult to defy the heavens and change fate. By then, he would have no choice but to risk being poisoned to trade with the Poison Douluo.

Do not be fooled by fan fiction where the Poison Douluo is easily deceived; in reality, the man is sharp.

He clung tightly to the Heaven Dou Imperial Family and even arranged for his granddaughter to marry a genius from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect, the current number one sect. Is that something a senile old man could come up with?

Having studied pharmacology for years to solve the problems with his own martial spirit, does the Poison Douluo really lack anything compared to Tang San's Immortal Herb Catalog?

It was nothing more than wanting to curry favor with the Clear Sky Sect. To think that he, a "disgrace among Title Douluos," could abduct the son of the legendary Clear Sky Douluo right in front of him would be vastly overestimating himself.

Even if he went to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, he would definitely sneak in quietly, just like he did when he stole A Yin back then.

He had no desire to gamble on the character of a powerhouse.

Ordinary spirit masters already view commoners with a sense of superiority; the gap between a Title Douluo and an ordinary spirit master is far greater than that.

Now that he had the treasure appraisal feedback for his spiritual power—a method that both earned money and aided cultivation—he was even less in a hurry.

Only after sending people to keep an eye on Dugu Yan and following the trail to discover Dugu Bo's habits for leaving home would he make his move.

He would only consider trading for this treasure land with Dugu Bo once he had replenished the Heart of Eros and gone to other eras to acquire items capable of dimensional strikes.

After receiving a few guests in succession, the sky grew dark, and he felt a bit drowsy.

When there were no treasures, the feedback his martial spirit provided was very weak. The difference between the two was like a drop of water versus a ladle of water; it could only be described as better than nothing.

Closing the shop door from the inside, Yang Fan arranged two long benches, placed the stone slab from the corner on top of them, spread out his quilt, watered A Yin in the corner, and sat down to begin meditating.

He had no money now, so it was not yet time to enjoy himself. He planned to sell that drop of Liquid Soul Silver to the imperial auction house to acquire other treasures and let his wealth snowball.

Under A Yin's guidance, the cultivation technique he practiced was now top-tier on the continent. In terms of meridians, few people understood them better than a spirit beast that had personally experienced transformation.

The Mysterious Heaven Skill was good, but one had to be alive to take it. If he tried to take it during the Douluo or Peerless eras, it would inevitably attract Tang San's attention. If he became a god a step slower than Tang San, wouldn't he be finished? Only the Dragon King Era, when the God Realm went to the black hole to play MOBA, was his best era.

To perform a dimensional strike, he had to go to the most futuristic era, which the currently unrepaired Heart of Eros could not reach during the Ultimate Douluo period.

This was within Yang Fan's expectations; the Douluo of that time had already upgraded, and its status was only higher, not lower, than his incomplete version of the Heart of Eros.