pertwk Chapter 85 Wuzhu Movement
Chapter 85 Wuzhu Movement
Cai Xuan walked over, picked up a straight spear, and tested it. It was quite heavy and felt excellent in his hand. He slammed it down on the ground with a "thud," and the spearhead sank three inches into the ground without chipping. It was many times better than the spears he had made himself.
"What do you want?" The shopkeeper put down his hammer and came over to ask when he saw a customer arrive.
"How much is this spear?" Cai Xuan asked.
"Should we trade for something or buy it?"
"Change."
"Just two sword-spined crocodile skins," the shopkeeper said, glancing at the baskets on their backs.
Cai Xuan nodded in satisfaction. Compared to the storage pouch and rune-inscribed bone he had just received, this price was reasonable. He then asked, "Can I try it?"
"Please go ahead."
Cai Xuan gripped the spear in his hand and thrust it forcefully into a discarded anvil beside him. With a "clang," only a small white dot remained on the anvil, the spear tip completely undamaged. He then had Xi'er chop the spear shaft with an axe; the axe blade struck the shaft, leaving only a shallow mark.
Who could imagine that in a blacksmith shop in such a wild and primitive world, the materials used to forge spears were better than modern refined steel? How can this be explained?
"Can we customize it?" Cai Xuan asked, putting down his spear.
"What do you want?" the shopkeeper asked, looking at him.
Cai Xuan squatted down, picked up a piece of charcoal from the side, and drew a diagram of a horse-slaying sword on the ground. "Can this be used to fight?"
The shopkeeper glanced at the pattern on the ground and said, "Sure, but I'll need three sword-backed crocodile skins."
Cai Xuan thought the price was acceptable, then turned to Xi'er and the others, asking if they wanted weapons made. Xi'er was the first to raise her hand: "Brother, I want a better axe, one that's heavier than mine."
Yun'er and the others shook their heads, saying they didn't need anything.
That's true. They haven't seen many weapons, so naturally they don't know what they should want. They should wait until they've seen more before they can make their own.
However, he still replaced all the spears they were currently using with those made in the shop. The new spears were a bit heavier and longer than the old ones, and extremely sharp. They were made entirely of black iron, not just a spearhead.
This one item alone used up all the sword crocodile skins they brought, and also cost them thirty catties of smoked and dried sword crocodile meat.
Fortunately, they brought a lot of things and left quite a few behind, otherwise they wouldn't have needed to set up a stall.
"Let's go, let's continue exploring."
Cai Xuan distributed the newly replaced spears to Yun'er and the others. Each one was heavy, with a cold glint in its blade. Yun'er took a new spear, flicked it casually, and the spearhead drew a cold light in the air. She nodded in satisfaction. Shu'er, Xin'er, Xuan'er, Ling'er, and Yue'er also took one, held it in their hands, and tried to use it. They all felt that it was better than the old one.
As for Xi'er, she had already picked up her newly bought battle axe.
The axe was a whole size larger than her old one, with a blade as wide as a fan, and was made entirely of black iron, gleaming with a cold luster in the sunlight.
The Xuanhuang tribe people love to use axes, so there are many axes in the shop.
Xi'er found the most suitable one and carried it on her shoulder. She walked proudly at the front, her little chest puffed out and her chin slightly raised, like a little general who had won a battle, extremely proud of herself.
Cai Xuan had no idea what she had to be so proud of and couldn't understand it at all.
Old weapons should not be discarded either.
Cai Xuan put them one by one into his storage pouch, intending to take them back and melt them down to see if he could make something else from them, or perhaps turn them into farm tools.
The further you walk into the market, the more people there are, and the more bizarre the goods become. Some stalls display unknown animal bones, some are adorned with brightly colored feathers, and others have piles of stones of various colors, whether they are minerals or something else, it's hard to tell.
Just as Cai Xuan was looking around, Yan'er suddenly stepped forward and tugged at his sleeve, pointing to something on a stall in front of him, and whispered, "Brother, those are treasures, buy them."
Cai Xuan looked in the direction she was pointing and saw a thin old man sitting cross-legged on the ground with several dark objects in front of him.
Those things were about the size of a fist, resembling both raw iron ore and charcoal, so black and dull that no one would give them a second glance if they were left on the roadside.
Cai Xuan was secretly amazed. This was a treasure too? But the little guy wouldn't be making things up without reason. He didn't rush forward, but slowed his pace, pretending to walk over casually, squatted down, picked up a piece, weighed it in his hand, and then casually asked, "How much is this?"
The old man raised his head, revealing a wrinkled face, but his eyes darted around, looking quite cunning.
He looked Cai Xuan up and down, then glanced at the group of little girls behind him, and grinned, saying, "Ten catties of beast meat."
"Too expensive." Cai Xuan shook his head. "Five jin."
"it is good."
The old man pushed the few dark, gritty things on the ground forward and readily agreed.
Cai Xuan frowned, feeling as if he had been tricked again. But since he had already spoken, he couldn't go back on his word, so he took out five catties of smoked dried meat from his basket and handed it over.
The old man took the meat, quickly stuffed it into the basket on his back, stood up and left.
He walked quickly, without looking back, and disappeared into the crowd in the blink of an eye.
Cai Xuan watched his slippery back, clicked his tongue, and felt increasingly deceived.
Oh well, it's just five catties of beast meat. Even if we're fooled, it's not a big deal. Cai Xuan stopped thinking about it, put the few dark-colored things into his storage pouch, and continued strolling through the market with Xi'er and the others.
After walking for a while, Cai Xuan was suddenly drawn to something on a stall.
The stall owner was an old man with a weathered face, wearing a patched animal skin coat, sitting there with his shoulders hunched, looking extremely poor.
On the ground in front of him lay a piece of black wood. But the wood was strangely shaped, about the length of an arm and the thickness of a thigh, entirely black, unlike the dry and rough wood of ordinary wood. Instead, it had a slightly oily sheen, reflecting the sunlight faintly. At first glance, it looked like a piece of dead wood that had been burned and soaked in oil.
After wandering around, Cai Xuan found that the market sold all sorts of random things.
Little did he know that most of the people in the Xuanhuang tribe were not very knowledgeable. They would take anything unusual home and exchange it for other things at the market.
They traded salt, meat, and hides; if they could get anything in return, they considered it a profit, since everything was picked up from the ground.
Cai Xuan walked over and took a look. He reached out and touched it; it was icy cold and had a peculiar metallic texture, completely unlike the feel of wood. Just as he was about to withdraw his hand, the black bead that had been dormant in his dantian for a long time suddenly stirred. A devouring force surged from his dantian, continuously drawing something from the wood and absorbing it into the black bead.
Sensing the change in his dantian, Cai Xuan was startled, but his expression remained unchanged, and he didn't even twitch his eyebrows.
He simply withdrew his hand without showing any emotion and asked the stall owner, "How much for this?"
The old man looked up at him, then at the string of little followers behind him, and said, "Just change the food."
Cai Xuan hadn't expected the old man to be so modest. After thinking for a moment, he and Xi'er pooled together some dry rations. Xi'er and her sisters had been hunting all along, eating fresh meat daily, rarely touching their dry rations. Now they were finally able to put them to good use.
"Is this enough?" Cai Xuan placed the dry rations in front of the old man.
The old man looked at the food in front of him, his cloudy eyes brightened slightly, and he nodded repeatedly, saying, "That's enough, that's enough."
Cai Xuan gave him the dry rations, took the black wood, and quietly put it into his storage pouch before continuing on his way.
"Brother, what is that?" Xi'er asked curiously as she leaned closer.
"I don't know, I'll look into it when I get back." Cai Xuan shook his head.