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As the leader of the Red Wind Mercenary Group, the second-ranked mercenary group on the Raila Continent, Red Beard had no intention of breaking that rule either.

Ye Chuqi paid it no mind. Once she followed Red Beard into the modest adventurers' camp, there was more to see than her eyes could take in. San San was even more excited, clamoring nonstop in her ear. If San San had hands, it would probably have started shaking her wildly.

"Qiqi, Qiqi, I want them all! So many low-grade beast cores! I can already feel the vast, violent energy inside them!"

"And herbs! So many herbs I don't recognize! I want them all! Buy them, buy them!"

Ye Chuqi: "..." She had no money!

"San San, if you absorb that much violent energy, won't you lose control?" The greatest obstacle preventing people in this world from drawing energy from beast cores was that violent energy. Losing control would be getting off lightly; at worst, they would explode on the spot.

"Of course not!" San San wished it could grab Ye Chuqi by the ears to make its point. "All energy under heaven belongs to one family. Even demonic energy and spiritual energy are merely used in different ways, and the magic elements in this world work the same way. Besides, the Spirit Spring can purify them. It's only a matter of time."

"All right, all right, I get it." San San's voice echoed inside her head, so covering her ears would do no good. "I'll buy them, I promise. Let me figure out how."

The problem was simple: she had no money. She doubted the currency from the world of cultivation would work here. Besides, she had long since used up the spirit stones in her storage pouch, and she had nothing else in her space.

The only valuable things she had were probably the Red Sun Fruits, the high-grade beast core she had completely purified, and the large piece of Black Ghost Stone she had yet to break down. But she knew bringing out anything too valuable here would only invite trouble. The weeds she had left were worth next to nothing.

She hadn't seen any other Magic Beasts along the way, either. Otherwise, she could have gathered something to use as capital.

"Want to buy something?" Seeing Ye Chuqi staring at the little roadside stalls as though she could hardly tear herself away, Red Beard looked amused. "A lot of people stock up here before heading deep into the Ashen Wasteland, and some trade the resources they find around its edges. More adventurers have come to the Ashen Wasteland in recent years, but resources here are still scarce."

In other words, there was nothing here worth buying.

But Ye Chuqi had her eye on the very things that held little value to these people yet could become valuable in her hands.

She pointed to the small, pitch-black stones laid out on a ragged hide. "What are those?"

"Beast cores. Low-grade ones. Both high-grade and low-grade beast cores are black before they're purified. Only afterward do their original colors show." The violent energy had dyed every beast core the same black.

Ye Chuqi knew that, of course. After the Horned Python's beast core was purified, it had turned a clear, crystalline green, worlds apart from its original appearance.

Ye Chuqi looked at Red Beard with stars in her eyes. "I want them!"

Red Beard couldn't refuse.

He knew Ye Chuqi had no money. Of course, he had none either, and he already owed Jun Ruofeng a hefty sum. Once the Red Sun Fruits were brought back and sold, there should still be plenty left over. So Red Beard turned to Jun Ruofeng and said with perfect confidence, "Ruofeng, advance me some money."

Just as he had shamelessly asked Ye Chuqi for help earlier, he figured he already owed so much that a little more wouldn't matter.

Jun Ruofeng glanced lazily at Ye Chuqi, then took out a coin pouch and tossed it straight to her. "I'll make sure to calculate exactly how much Red Beard's life is worth." So it was only right that the money go to Ye Chuqi.

Red Beard didn't get so much as a copper coin, but he didn't mind. "It's fine. We'll take our time looking. Buy whatever you like. I'll help you judge the prices so no one cheats you."

"You?" Jun Ruofeng sounded thoroughly disdainful. "You're the one who gets cheated most often in the group. Coke, go with her."

Coke handled the group's supplies and knew prices better than anyone. He was also a deft hand at haggling and making deals.

Ye Chuqi recognized him as the man who had given her the Starhorn Horse that day and waved to him cheerfully.

"What do you want to buy, Yezi? I'll help you choose!" Coke strode over, patting his chest. "Leave it to me. I won't let anyone take advantage of you." Red Beard's glare didn't faze him in the slightest.

"These." Ye Chuqi pointed at the black beast cores on the stall. "I want them." All of them!

"These aren't worth much, and they're not much use. What do you want them for?" Coke glanced over them. They were all low-grade beast cores, wrapped in violent energy and as useless as a chicken rib. When hunting, adventurers usually couldn't even be bothered to dig the cores out of low-grade Magic Beasts.

The stallholder spotted the badge on Coke's chest at once. His eyes flickered, and he said gruffly, "One gold coin. You can take everything on the stall."

One gold coin for everything.

There were roughly a hundred black beast cores piled on the stall, plus two withered herbs. That was all the stallholder had. One gold coin could be exchanged for a hundred silver coins, so the average price of each item was no more than one silver coin.

Ye Chuqi still had no sense of what gold and silver coins could actually buy. She only knew that the drab little pouch Jun Ruofeng had tossed her looked unremarkable, yet held a hundred gold coins. He had been remarkably generous, but the pouch itself wasn't the least bit ornate, which didn't suit his style at all.

Before Coke could bargain for her, Ye Chuqi bought everything on the stall for one gold coin. The stallholder was just as brisk: he took the coin, gave her even the beast hide spread on the ground, then turned and ran.

He looked as though he was afraid Ye Chuqi might change her mind and the deal would fall through.

Coke smiled too and patiently explained, "Low-grade beast cores do sell for about that price, but hardly anyone buys so many in one go. Even beast pets are liable to turn up their noses at them."