He Lingchuan actually managed to pick out several items in the shop, starting with a set of flying cables. While not as exquisite as Master Li Fubo's custom-crafted creations, it was far superior to the battered line he was currently using. The upgraded pointed hook had claws plated with refined gold and slip-resistant soft rubber fitted to the rear, making it less likely to lose its grip and much easier to reel back in.
Best of all, it could be paired with his sleeve-arrow bracers. The tip could even be collapsed and loaded directly into the arrow housing, making it compatible with various models.
He also purchased several Inspiration Maps.
These were Yunling Island's original creations. At first glance, they looked like ordinary sheepskin parchment, but unrolling one revealed a detailed map of the Panlong Wasteland and its surrounding areas. All one had to do was mark the starting point and name a destination, and a dotted line would appear across the map to guide the way.
Amusingly, as one traveled in reality, the distance on the map scaled down proportionally.
A single map could be used seven times, with one use deducted each time a destination was reached, and the price was quite reasonable. Still, this was Yunling Island's best-selling item; after all, every shop needed a flagship product to draw in traffic.
After reading the explanation, He Lingchuan clapped his hands and declared, "Give me ten of them!"
*Isn't this... isn't this...*
Bai Guo wrapped them up neatly and offered eagerly, "Allow me to show you how to use it."
"No need." He Lingchuan chuckled. "I'm well acquainted with these. You don't need to teach me."
He had used them plenty in another world.
The shop carried an extensive inventory. He Lingchuan even replenished several expendable supplies and placed an advance order with the shopkeeper for ghost shadow cicada sloughs. It was only after handing over the entirety of the rent he had just collected—plus a sizable sum out of his own pocket—that he remembered he had forgotten to ask Sun Fuling what she wanted to buy.
Shouldn't he be the one paying for her shopping?
She merely smiled and said, "There's no need. What I like isn't here."
Bai Guo bristled from the side. "There is nothing I can't obtain! Just name what you want, and I will find it."
"A book."
Sun Fuling said, "I want a particular set of memoirs from the northern demon kingdom."
"Memoirs?" Bai Guo froze for a moment. "What kind?"
"I heard that Wu Chen, a monarch of the northern demon kingdom, wrote down his lifelong insights into a set of memoirs known as *Records of Reverence for the Gods*, which were then widely copied and collected by the high nobility of Beijia Kingdom. I would very much like to read them."
Bai Guo asked in bewilderment, "The current monarch of the northern demon kingdom isn't named Wu Chen, though."
"Indeed. That was more than three hundred years ago."
"In that case..." Bai Guo conceded defeat. "You win, Miss. I can't get that."
Once they stepped out of the shop and boarded the donkey cart, He Lingchuan asked Sun Fuling, "The shopkeeper thought you were deliberately making things difficult for him."
"He wasn't wrong." Sun Fuling gave a soft huff. "His prices are absurdly steep. I dislike such slick merchants."
It was rare to see Miss Sun show irritation. He Lingchuan cast a backward glance at the shop, suddenly reminded of the old woman he had encountered the day he came to clear out the premises.
He had already forgotten her surname, recalling only that she was skin and bones, yet had a slightly swollen belly.
She had carried a jar out of that very shop.
He also remembered the neighboring shopkeeper joking that she looked several months pregnant.
"What is it?" Sun Fuling asked, noticing him spacing out.
"Nothing." The thought that crossed his mind was somewhat unhinged, hardly fit to voice aloud.
The donkey cart navigated several more turns, passing by the Military Merit Division.
"Hey." Sun Fuling gave He Lingchuan's sleeve a tug. "Didn't you suspect that patrol guard you ran into earlier? Why not drop by the Pengcheng Office to see if your newly earned military merit has been recorded?"
"Good point. But what about the God Descent Platform...?"
"The Heavenly Sacrifice won't start so soon."
"All right." He Lingchuan hopped off the cart, paid the driver, and walked into the Pengcheng Office alongside Sun Fuling.
He was beginning to feel that this Miss Sun was a bit assertive—or perhaps she was just rather nonchalant about Heavenly Sacrifice Day.
The official on duty at the Pengcheng Office happened to be an acquaintance of He Lingchuan's: Merit Officer Liu.
Seeing Sun Fuling, Merit Officer Liu actually greeted her first. "Well, well, Miss Sun!"
Sun Fuling nodded to him. "Long time no see."
"Ah..." Merit Officer Liu paused briefly. "Indeed."
"Four hours ago, I captured a man-eating monster inside the city and asked a patrol guard named Liu Xinyi to bring it in on my behalf." After greeting Merit Officer Liu, He Lingchuan went straight to his inquiry. "Could you check on that for me?"
"Four hours ago?" Merit Officer Liu set down his brush and began flipping through the dossiers on the side of his desk.
A moment later, he said, "Mm, here it is! One ferry ghost whelp captured."
"A ferry ghost whelp?" He Lingchuan was startled. "It has an official designation now?"
What surprised him even more was that the military merit had actually been credited to his name!
So there hadn't been anything amiss with that patrol guard after all? He had reported back on schedule to turn it in. Had He Lingchuan misjudged the man?
"They've already investigated it. The creature is an offspring spawned by a ferry mother. A ferry mother can use another's womb to bear its young, which is why these ghost whelps possess physical flesh and aren't afraid to move about in daylight. They are no ordinary spirits."
"Using another's womb?" He Lingchuan muttered. "You mean it uses a living human as its host mother?"
"The ghost whelp you turned in today was still coated in amniotic fluid, so the city has already begun a thorough check of all pregnant women." Merit Officer Liu turned the ledger toward him. "This is the military merit you've earned from capturing two ghost whelps. What would you like to exchange it for?"
He Lingchuan looked at the rewards. They were substantial, likely because he had unwittingly completed an open bounty. Crucially, his nearly depleted merit points shot back up by a healthy margin.
"I'll exchange it for a manual." He considered for a moment. "A divine ability this time." He would hold off on martial techniques for now; he had yet to fully master the Wave Slash saber style and the Returning Swallow movement technique, and biting off more than he could chew would only lead to indigestion.
Divine abilities, on the other hand, had a wider range of applications and could serve as brilliant tactical surprises when used in combat.
Merit Officer Liu immediately pulled out a catalog for him to choose from.
"This Mirror Image Art isn't bad." The divine ability caught He Lingchuan's eye at once. It allowed the practitioner to conjure mirror duplicates of oneself, each possessing twenty percent of the original body's combat power and lasting for four breaths. A mirror image dissipated upon taking severe damage or straying more than two hundred feet from the user.
Naturally, the number of mirror images, their offensive capability, and their duration would increase as one's mastery deepened. At the pinnacle of the art, one could summon up to four mirror images simultaneously.
Using this skill would be akin to having a crew of lackeys brandishing weapons right behind him, ready to strike whoever he pointed at.
Of course, its sole use was combat.
At the very least, it could compensate for his lack of crowd-clearing skills.
He looked at two other divine abilities and found them tempting as well. Unfortunately, his merit points were limited, and he couldn't take them all at once.
Seeing him hesitate in thought, Sun Fuling asked, "Where lies your shortest plank in battle?"
"My shortest plank?" He Lingchuan had actually been mulling over the same question. "You're right. It's better to address my shortcomings first." No matter how great other divine abilities were, they were merely icing on the cake. Patching up his vulnerabilities was the true way to stay alive.
With that, he pointed at an entry in the catalog. "I want this one."
Merit Officer Liu looked at it and gave a well-meaning warning. "This one costs a fortune."
"I know." Money was a bastard thing; if it could buy his life, he wouldn't hesitate for a second.
Merit Officer Liu went into the vault, brought out the scroll of secret arts, and slapped it onto the desk. "Congratulations on acquiring the Bankrupting Gold-Armored Automaton. Fewer than five people in all of Panlong City practice this art."
Sun Fuling let out an exclamation as well. "You'll need to work hard to save money now."
Rather than a divine ability, the secret scroll He Lingchuan had exchanged for was more like an artisan's blueprint, for the cover bore the words:
*Gold-Armored Bronze Automaton.*
This was the secret technique for refining gold-armored bronze automatons.
He had seen Dong Rui command ghost apes and werewolves, throwing government troops into disarray, and he had seen Zhao Pan's subordinates summon blue-turban constructs with straw-effigy talismans. He knew firsthand just how useful such helpers were. Not only could they deal damage during battle, but they were also invaluable for hauling supplies and scouting ahead during perilous expeditions.
The bronze hide of a gold-armored automaton was bound to be far thicker than that of a blue-turban construct, and it could certainly block fatal strikes for its master in moments of crisis. It was a superb asset that combined both offense and defense.
Wu Shaoyi possessed a gold-armored bronze automaton as well. He didn't know how to craft one himself; the treasure had been bestowed upon him by Hong Xiangqian, and it had played a massive role during the battle of Xianling Village.
However, the quality of that particular specimen had been relatively mediocre.
After several battles, He Lingchuan keenly felt that his greatest vulnerability was his lack of defense. While various defensive magic artifacts could slightly mitigate the problem, he needed a way to turn defense into offense, and a gold-armored bronze automaton was ideal.
If danger arose, it would take the brunt; if arrows rained down, it would swallow them first. If an obstacle blocked the path, it could charge headlong into the fray and overpower the enemy.
This construct was refined beforehand and stored away. In combat, one simply threw it out and muttered a summoning incantation, and it would expand from a palm-sized figurine into a ten-foot-tall armored warrior.
Controlling it was no easy task, however. It required the master's divided concentration throughout the entire process; without active mental guidance, it couldn't take a single step.
This was unlike the Mirror Image Art, where a summoned duplicate could act autonomously upon receiving an order.
The more bronze automatons one summoned, the more the difficulty of control multiplied exponentially. Given the rapid, chaotic shifts on a battlefield, it was all too easy for the master to become flustered.
It was said that a grandmaster could summon up to six bronze automatons at once, which bordered on the absolute limit.
Furthermore, the gold-armored bronze automatons could be upgraded. A bronze automaton could be elevated to a guard, and a guard could be promoted to a bronze general, with each rank granting a massive boost. The complete set of these secret arts had long been lost within the borders of Yu; even if Hong Xiangqian could craft a gold-armored automaton, subsequent upgrades were out of the question.
Merit Officer Liu did not deny the automaton's merits; he merely noted that very few people in Panlong City ever refined one. The reason was exceedingly simple: it burned money.
Among the twenty-one materials required to forge a gold-armored bronze automaton, seven were exceptionally precious. Leaving aside the others, wujin was an old acquaintance that had certainly left a deep impression on He Lingchuan.
To nurture the Fusheng saber, he had nearly bankrupted himself. He had Sun Fuping's leftover possessions to thank for that; otherwise, where could he have conjured hundreds of thousands of silver taels?
Crafting a gold-armored bronze automaton required wujin as well. Although the quantity needed for each figure was small—nowhere near the bottomless pit that was the Fusheng saber—in a place like Panlong City, wujin was virtually impossible to come by, unavailable even if one had the coin to spend.
Not to mention that each subsequent upgrade saw the financial cost jump by several orders of magnitude, making it a veritable bottomless abyss.
To make matters worse, its military merit redemption cost was notoriously high, offering virtually no value for the price. Who in their right mind would trade for such a thing?
Oh, and it was worth mentioning that the power source for a gold-armored bronze automaton was profound crystal.
Still, none of the above should be a problem for He Lingchuan... probably.
Chapter 281