Probably a Handy Tool

Half an hour later, in the east of the city. Yu Xian and Nora stood beneath an arched bridge, both observing the people around them. Beneath this arched bridge lay a moderately sized platform. Many anglers were fishing along the river embankment, alongside many traders disguised as fishermen. Naturally, there were legal transactions as well as illicit ones; in short, it was a mixed bag of dragons and snakes. Yu Xian had actually already locked onto their trading target through Super Smell. The other party stood not far away along the embankment, quietly observing him and Nora. "Yu Xian, do you think he flaked on us?" Nora asked in a low voice. There were quite a few people here, and more than a few glances stealthily lingered on her as if appraising merchandise, making her feel rather uncomfortable. When feeling uneasy, people subconsciously draw closer to wherever feels safe. Without realizing it, the distance between them had narrowed significantly. "Follow me." Using countless ultra-tiny bubbles invisible to the naked eye to separate them from the surrounding crowd, Yu Xian took Nora by the hand and walked toward their target. By the embankment, a youth was fishing. When his peripheral vision caught Yu Xian and Nora walking over, the hand gripping the fishing rod trembled slightly. Yu Xian took two chairs from his storage ring, sat down, and said to the boy, "Alright, let's start the trade." "Who are you?" The boy looked warily at Yu Xian and asked under his breath. Yu Xian didn't care for prying into others' privacy; spatial bubbles continuously fed odorless air devoid of scent molecules into his nostrils. Earlier, however, to identify the trader, he had still used Super Smell, so he understood the boy before him thoroughly. He glanced at the youth and said sternly, "Luo Bo, if you don't want to take a trip to the Public Security Bureau with me, you'd better carry out the trade properly. I can turn a blind eye to what you people do, just like Brother Zhang. But if you want to pull a swindle, every single one of you will be spending the night at the Public Security Bureau. Do you understand what I mean?" Behind this boy was an organization called Raven, numbering around fifty people. Their leader was Gao Zhenshan, a druid capable of transforming into a raven. They specialized in various shady dealings, but since their transcendent materials came from overseas, the Public Security Bureau took an ambiguous stance toward them. After all, being able to bring transcendent materials back from abroad, whether legal or not, benefited domestic Transcendents. However, this organization was far from honest; they occasionally cheated, passed off shoddy goods as premium, or even pulled scams out of thin air, so their reputation among Transcendents wasn't great. This time, they had actually intended to fleece Nora of some money, but since Yu Xian had come along, he naturally wouldn't let them succeed. Hearing Yu Xian's words, Luo Bo felt a jolt of surprise and realized he had run into someone from the authorities. Reeling in his line, he stood up and said, "You two, this isn't the place to make a deal. Please follow me." In fact, his storage ring contained a large amount of repaired, seemingly brand-new but damaged gear. If Yu Xian hadn't accompanied her, he would have swindled Nora with those items. Now, that clearly wasn't going to happen. The two stood up, put away their chairs, and immediately followed behind Luo Bo away from the arched bridge. They wound through the dense residential quarter in the east of the city, eventually arriving at a house on its outskirts. Luo Bo stepped forward and knocked. After exchanging secret signals, the door was opened by two brats around ten years old. "Please come in, you two!" Luo Bo stepped aside and said to Yu Xian and Nora. Nora looked at the dim interior and glanced at Yu Xian with some worry. Yu Xian smiled at her faintly, then held her hand as they walked inside together. The room held a wide array of swords and sabers, as well as firearms, armor, and shields. A long-haired young man sat behind a counter. Seeing Yu Xian and Nora, he smiled and said, "Welcome. What might the two of you be looking for?" Yu Xian looked at Nora. Encouraged by his look, Nora spoke up, "Hello, I'm the one who posted online looking to buy defensive gear earlier. Do you really have high-grade transcendent armor here?" "Ah, hello, Miss Rex." The young man looked at Nora, standing up with a smile. He then came out from behind the counter, walked to a shelf nearby, took down a box, and returned to the counter. Placing the box down, he opened it to reveal a silver ring. He introduced, "This is upper Wolf-rank defensive gear, the Ring of Thorny Iron Wall. Wearing it grants you physical defense equivalent to an Eagle-rank body refiner. At the same time, it comes with a special ability: Thorns Reflection. Once activated, any energy attack that does not exceed upper Wolf rank will reflect ten percent back to the opponent." "How much is it?" Nora was immediately tempted upon hearing this and asked right away. The young man glanced at Yu Xian and smiled. "Ten million will do." "So cheap," Nora said in surprise. She wasn't stupid, however. Realizing the truth right away, she looked back at Yu Xian. She knew the shopkeeper was selling her the ring so cheaply entirely because of Yu Xian. In fact, on the way here, Luo Bo had covertly used hand signals to communicate with lookouts by the street, so by the time they arrived, the young man had already looked up Yu Xian's affiliated identity with the Public Security Bureau. "Go ahead and buy it," Yu Xian said with a faint smile, seeing Nora looking at him. Nora leaned close to Yu Xian and whispered, "Is this really okay? Won't it cause trouble for you?" "Don't worry. I'll be buying some transcendent materials from him in a moment; that ring of yours will be a bonus gift at best," Yu Xian comforted her with a chuckle. Seeing that Yu Xian wasn't just putting on a brave face, Nora stepped forward to complete the transaction. "Auntie, are you sure you know how to craft transcendent equipment?" Once Nora stepped away, Yu Xian continued speaking to Zhenwo Changjing. He had originally wanted to buy defensive gear, but after coming in, he had noticed plenty of transcendent materials sitting on the shelves. A thought had immediately struck him: since Zhenwo Changjing possessed all of Zhenwo Wuchang's memories, did that mean she knew how to craft equipment? The answer was undoubtedly yes. After all, Zhenwo Wuchang belonged to that beyond-standard caliber of genius who could learn anything at a glance and master whatever was studied. Especially alchemy: because it was required when condensing the Dao Fruit while cultivating the Yin-Yang Non-Dual Calamity Sea Sutra, Zhenwo Wuchang was also the top alchemist across the myriad heavens and realms. The most important aspect of alchemy was knowledge. And as it happened, Zhenwo Changjing possessed that very knowledge, so she genuinely had the ability to craft transcendent equipment. "Crafting equipment isn't difficult; what is truly hard is gathering enough materials. The materials here are generally of low grade, so even if used to make equipment, at most they can only yield Dragon-rank gear," Zhenwo Changjing said with certainty, looking at Yu Xian. She said "Dragon-rank" mainly to make it easy for Yu Xian to understand. In reality, so-called Dragon-rank equipment was merely basic Heaven Rank gear in other worlds. "Then could I trouble you to craft some defensive gear for me?" Yu Xian asked at once. Zhenwo Changjing agreed, "If it's only defensive gear, yes." "Weapons won't do?" Catching her implication immediately, Yu Xian couldn't help asking. Zhenwo Changjing replied, "Anything meant for killing, I will not create. Furthermore, the defensive gear I make can only be used for defense; it will never be able to harm anyone." "Alright, then I'll trouble you, Auntie," Yu Xian nodded helplessly. Although it was a pity she couldn't craft weapons, being able to create Dragon-rank transcendent defensive gear was already great. This way, he could have several pieces of defensive gear made for Su Zhuo, so he wouldn't have to worry even when he wasn't by her side. Additionally, if there were enough materials, he also wanted to craft defensive gear for Nora. After all, Dragon-rank armor was virtually impossible to find on the market no matter how much money one had, with hardly any purchasing channels and a high risk of being scammed. Once Nora finished her purchase, Yu Xian stepped forward to buy transcendent materials from the young man. Originally, the young man had planned to give Yu Xian a discount to get on his good side, but as Yu Xian kept taking down various transcendent materials and depositing them into a spatial bubble, the young man went silent. He began to worry that Yu Xian was the sort of corrupt cop from movies and television, staging a raid and having no intention of paying. According to the intel he'd obtained, Yu Xian had a very close relationship with Zhang Kai and had frequently operated alongside him recently. While Zhang Kai might not seem like a big shot to Yu Xian, he possessed immense deterring power among Silver City's Transcendents. Raven itself wasn't clean and couldn't afford to provoke the Public Security Bureau; after all, behind the bureau lay the true colossus. After ten minutes, Yu Xian put the last material into the bubble and asked, "How much for everything? Do you accept gold?" "Gold? Yes, we take it!" The young man had practically given up hope, but hearing Yu Xian's question, he nodded repeatedly in an instant. Gold was hard currency, far more valuable than paper money. Especially in international deals, gold had far greater purchasing power than banknotes. Besides, Raven had alchemists of its own who also consumed gold, so they could never have too much of it. Yu Xian took out three teapot-sized gold nuggets and asked, "Is this enough?" "Enough, absolutely enough!" Having bought plenty of gold before, the young man could tell at a glance that this was far more than enough, and he nodded with delight. He knew full well that this extra gold was Yu Xian making up the difference for Nora's ring. Yu Xian had never intended to accept his "discount." And compared to the total value of materials Yu Xian was buying, Nora's ring really was nothing more than a free gift. With the trade completed, Yu Xian and Nora took their leave amidst the young man's deferential send-off. After stepping outside, the two walked slowly toward Yu Xian's home. Although the trade had gone smoothly, to Nora, it had still been a thrilling adventure. Not wanting to part so soon, she glanced conflictedly at Yu Xian, who happened to feel reluctant to go home right away as well. The two exchanged a look and, in perfect sync, said in unison, "Want to get dinner together?" Then both burst into laughter.