The Shock of His Fair-Weather Friends

A crowd had gathered in front of the Arcane Necklace's seller. Plenty of them were tempted by the level 3 item.

Unfortunately, the seller's asking price was too high.

"Souls are valuable, transcendent-level items. The only way to get them is to hunt evil spirits and beasts on the level of the Rotten Crow Leader, Ghost-Faced Spider, or Filth Cricket."

"Anyone capable of that would be considered a skilled fighter anywhere in Liangmin County."

"He's asking two souls for it. That's certainly not cheap."

Cao Fengqi knew he wasn't good at haggling, so he didn't rush to make a move.

Plenty of old hands around him were trying to drive the price down. If the seller was willing to lower it, he could step in then.

"Hey, Cao Fengqi, what have you been up to? You haven't come to see us these past few days."

As he was thinking, a hand suddenly landed on his shoulder.

Cao Fengqi turned around in surprise.

There were five young people, three men and two women. One of the men, a scrawny fellow, smiled and continued, "I'm giving you a friendly warning. You haven't gone to see Wu Qianqian these past few days, but that old bastard Wang Dahai has been visiting her and trying to win her over every day. Don't let someone steal your future wife."

"Gao Chen?"

A name flashed through Cao Fengqi's mind, and he looked at the others.

They were a few of the original owner's fair-weather friends.

"Wu Qianqian isn't my future wife. Whoever wants to steal her can have her. I don't care."

Cao Fengqi spoke indifferently.

"Huh?"

The young people beside him looked at him in surprise. "What's going on? Did you and Wu Qianqian have a fight?"

"..."

Cao Fengqi was somewhat speechless and couldn't be bothered to explain.

He didn't have much of a favorable impression of these people, either.

In the past, they had often said that the Cao family was wealthy and that his brother had left him some assets, urging him to bring them out and share them with his brothers.

The original owner had cared about saving face. Although he hadn't stolen from his family, he had brought out some items he'd obtained in the Lost Land and, pretending to be generous, claimed he had taken them from home.

To put it bluntly, these people had treated him like a sucker.

"Two souls, take it or leave it! If you're not buying, get the hell out of here and stop bothering me while I'm doing business!"

The stall owner's impatient shout rang out from up ahead.

Gao Chen looked at the necklace on the stall ahead, his face full of envy. He patted Cao Fengqi on the shoulder. "That Arcane Necklace really is good stuff, but it's too expensive. Brother, stop looking. It's not something we can afford."

"Scrape together a little more than two souls, and you could afford to marry Wu Qianqian. Hehe."

One of the girls beside him also chimed in with a laugh.

Cao Fengqi ignored them, shrugged off Gao Chen's arm, and walked straight up to the stall.

"I'll take it."

He took out two souls and tossed them directly to the seller, then bent down and picked up the crude Arcane Necklace.

The middle-aged seller's eyes lit up. He reached out and caught them, a broad smile spreading across his face. "Good, good! You know quality when you see it, young man."

Cao Fengqi smiled and examined the necklace carefully.

There was a button in the center of the necklace. Pressing it activated an arcane shield, and pressing it again turned the shield off. After five minutes of use, it needed twenty-four hours to recharge.

With this Arcane Necklace, I can not only get revenge on that pack of Calamity Rats, but I also won't have to worry about being ambushed by Calamity Rats suddenly appearing underfoot while I'm in Desolate Town.

Cao Fengqi was very satisfied with the Arcane Necklace.

"Wait, what? This... Brother, you..."

Off to the side, Gao Chen and the other four watched Cao Fengqi pull out two souls and buy the Arcane Necklace on the spot. Their faces were full of shock and disbelief.

"Stay away from me. Don't bother me again."

Cao Fengqi glanced at them and walked straight ahead.

"Huh?"

"Fuck, what do you mean by that?"

His words left them even more stunned, but Cao Fengqi paid them no attention whatsoever.

"Damn it, what's wrong with him? He gets some money and forgets his brothers?"

"Fuck, that ungrateful bastard! He even told us to stay away from him. Who does he think he is?"

"Did he and Qianqian have a complete falling-out? Is he in a bad mood?"

"He's in a bad mood, so he gets to take it out on me?"

"How did Cao Fengqi get two souls? Those are souls!"

The five watched him leave, their expressions shifting. Some cursed with dark faces, while others speculated, but more than anything, they were shocked.

Two souls were worth a great deal.

Their appearance did nothing to spoil his good mood. After he finished looking around the central trading area, Cao Jiancheng arrived as well.

"Did you see anything useful to you?" Cao Jiancheng asked him.

Cao Fengqi pointed at the Arcane Necklace around his neck.

"Good, good."

Cao Jiancheng's eyes lit up when he saw it. After learning the exact price, he nodded. "It wasn't cheap, but it's acceptable. Shall we go take a look at the spirit forger's shop? Now that you have this Arcane Necklace, you could try buying a level 3 shield."

"Let's take a look."

Cao Fengqi agreed. His father's advice was always very sound.

The Arcane Necklace was good, but it also had significant shortcomings. A level 3 shield offered stronger frontal defense than the Arcane Necklace.

The spirit forger's shop was not far away.

As soon as Cao Fengqi entered the spirit forger's shop, he felt waves of sharpness.

His gaze swept across the shop, and a flash of shock appeared in his eyes.

[Evil-Breaking Blade: Level 4 quality.][Heavenly Silver Armor: Level 4 quality.][Sharp Gold Longsword: Level 4 quality.]

[Armor-Piercing Saber: Level 3 quality.][Heartguard Armor: Level 3 quality.][Black Shield: Level 3 quality][Beast Trap: Level 3 quality][Sawtooth: Level 3 quality]

This was a Transcendent Sequence practitioner's shop. It had three level 4 quality items on display, each worthy of being a family's prized treasure.

Spirit Forger Wang's shop has even more treasures than the Worldweaver Clothing Store, though that Blue-Patterned Robe in the clothing store is clearly more powerful.

Cao Fengqi glanced at the prices of the level 4 quality equipment and weapons, then promptly dismissed them.

To put it simply, a single level 4 Evil-Breaking Blade had an asking price of 1,000 jin of level 4 metal materials or ten level 4 quality souls.

There was no way he could afford it.

Cao Fengqi looked around and settled on two items: the Black Shield and the Beast Trap.

[Black Shield: Level 3 quality]

[Effect: Possesses considerable defense and resistance to impact.]

[Price: 1 soul/400 jin of level 3 metal materials, etc. Other items negotiable.]

[Beast Trap: Level 3 quality]

[Effect: A weak evil beast that steps on it will have its legs snapped by the trap and be unable to move.]

[Price: 10 Moon Spirit Stones/1 Moon Spirit Marrow/200 jin of level 3 metal materials, etc. Other items negotiable.]

These prices... They really are much higher than in the central trading area. That Black Shield actually costs one soul or 400 jin of level 3 metal.

Cao Fengqi was somewhat speechless. Shields were expensive among weapons, but this was far too expensive.

A fifty-jin shield would slow me down somewhat. Desolate Town is dangerous, and I might need to run at any moment. Carrying it would be a bit troublesome. Better forget it.

That Beast Trap, on the other hand, is good stuff. If I put it in Desolate Town, it should be able to catch Calamity Rats.

After some thought, he ultimately gave up on the shield. He looked at the Beast Trap and shook his head as well.

The Beast Trap was good, but buying just one wouldn't be very useful.

The Cao family wasn't short on meat for the time being. After looking around, Cao Fengqi said to his father, "Dad, let's go home."

"You're not getting a level 3 shield?"

Cao Jiancheng looked at him, puzzled.

"It's too heavy."

Cao Fengqi shook his head.

"Do you still want to visit the Zhang Family Pill Shop and the Worldweaver's Clothing Store?" Cao Jiancheng continued, looking at him.

"No."

Cao Fengqi shook his head. He had been to the Worldweaver's Clothing Store before. Aside from the Blue-Patterned Robe, which he couldn't afford but would be very useful to him, the other things weren't very useful.

He had just talked with his father about the Zhang Family Pill Shop, and he wasn't planning to visit it either.

The owner of the Zhang Family Pill Shop was not a transcendent. It was said that the eldest of the Zhang family had found a book on medicine-making in the Lost Land and used its contents to refine medicines.

Compared with the quality of the goods in the Spirit Forger's shop and the Worldweaver Clothing Store, the medicines in their shop were all levels 1 to 3. There were no level 4 medicines, and most of them were healing medicines.

There were no pills that increased mental power or constitution.

They weren't very useful to him either.

First, I'll go back and wipe out that pack of Calamity Rats...