Condemning the Heavens

Seeing the frown, the man just smiled. "I am the manager of this store. Long ago, when we were informed that Xiao Lei had a nephew, we were all given a portrait of you to recognize you, should you one day appear in the capital."

"It was only after this that we were informed of the unfortunate situation that you were incapable of cultivating. Fortunately, it seems that you have gained a blessing in disguise and now have a special physique."

"To be honest, I had forgotten all about the old picture, yet when I heard about your illustrious arrival in the capital’s Inner City, it was impossible for me not to find it and examine it once more."

"Hence, when I saw you, I could instantly recognize who you were." The manager chuckled.

"To think that our store would be honored by your presence this soon, I had not expected this," he continued, and Xue Wei finally felt more comfortable. The explanation was reasonable; the fact that the Golden Chambers had done some research was also reasonable. Xiao Lei was after all the most prominent figure in the Heping Kingdom after the King and, in some way, he was seen as more of a hero than even said king himself.

"I’ve already heard the gist of the situation from miss Tie," the manager said as he changed the subject to that of business. Although he kept his friendly smile on his face, his eyes were now sharp and calculating.

"I was told you have more than five hundred beast cores. Although all of them are of varying strength and none exceeds that of a beast equivalent to a ninth layer Ordinary Warrior, this is still a large transaction."

"Fortunately, beast cores of Ordinary Warrior–equivalent beasts are what we sell the most!" the manager continued with a snicker.

"These beast cores are used to fuel many of our things. For instance, the lamps that lit up the palace are all fueled by this kind of beast core. They are needed to keep the fire alive in the smithies when they create cultivators weapons; even though they are not ranked treasures, if one wants to make a weapon that a cultivator can use, then the flame must be infused with the energy of a beast core."

"These beast cores are also used by certain restaurants, where the energy is fused with the fire when roasting meat to infuse even more energy into the meal."

"They are ground up and used in alchemy; they are used when making armors. Even the needle used to sew the clothes for cultivators are created from this kind of beast core. As such, we never have enough beast cores of the lower grade, and thus we would be more than willing to buy all the cores you have with you."

The manager had not needed to come with such a thorough explanation as to what exactly the beast cores were needed for, but because he respected Xue Wei, or more importantly respected his talent and his uncle, he had decided to be straightforward with him.

"I cannot give you the full sales price for these items," he continued and shook his head apologetically. "Our shop needs to make a profit, or we will be punished. Usually, we will buy at around thirty percent, but because of your talent and the sheer amount you are bringing, I can offer thirty-five percent of the sales price. It is truly the highest price I can offer."

"We are humbled that you are willing to go to such lengths for us," Xue Wei was the one who answered. Although five percent more might not sound like much, but when it came to around five hundred beast cores, the five percent suddenly became quite noticeable.

"Okay, the big question is – how many beast cores do you have, and what layer are they?" the manager asked, and then Xue Wei picked up his bag and spilled its content all over the table.

"We are going to be here for a long time," Luo Zhirou could not help but say with a slight chuckle as she looked at beast cores rolling all over.

"This is indeed around five hundred," the manager was equally shocked. Just how could one single person hunt down so many beasts at equal rank for their cores? Was he truly as prodigious as the rumors around him suggested?

"We encountered a beast horde on the way over," Xue Wei explained. He knew there was no reason to be quiet about it as the news would spread from the soldiers anyway, and the Golden Chambers would be some of the first to know about it.

"A beast horde?!" The manager was shocked. One has to know that although the beast hordes appeared on a weekly basis, it was where the armies were located. A Primordial Beast controlled each of the beast hordes, and for a Primordial Beast to find interest in their group, it was truly a lucky chance that they had survived.

"What happened with the beast leading them?" the manager asked while almost holding his breath, but neither Xue Wei nor the two others could answer him.

"We never saw the Primordial Beast," Xue Wei finally sighed. "One of the members of our group had colluded with the beast to have me killed, but he failed and paid the ultimate price instead."

"A human colluded with a Primordial Beast? This is getting more and more outrageous!" the manager could not help but shout when he heard this, but Xue Wei just faintly smiled.

"I see, so because of this Primordial Beast and human working together, you were attacked. I assume it was a weak Primordial Beast since it did not just do the deed itself. Makes sense for it to hide from your group, too." The manager nodded his head repeatedly as if he had just figured it all out.

"Well, in that case, let us see how many beast cores you managed to harvest," the manager said as he glanced at the cores that were stacked on the table, and a few had rolled off to the ground.

"You have four hundred and ninety-three beast cores. Of those, one hundred and eighty-seven are equivalent to a ninth layer Ordinary Warrior; two hundred and one equivalent to eight layer Ordinary Warriors; and the remaining one hundred and five is a mixture of random layers all beneath the eight-layer."

"As a sign of our consideration, we will set the price of all of those as seventh layer Ordinary Warrior rank cores."

After calculating how much this totaled, the manager mumbled to himself and waved his hand, after which everything vanished into thin air. Another wave of his hand caused gold to appear on the table. "This is your payment," he said with a smile.

"What was that?!" Luo Zhirou was the first to exclaim. All of them had seen something that reminded them of magic, but they could not completely understand how he had done it.

Seeing their three shocked expressions, the manager burst into laughter. "This is a storage ring. You can get storage treasures of all kinds, but they are incredibly rare and also very costly. Even if you had all the gold in the world, you would not be able to purchase one."

"That expensive?" Luo Zhirou was shocked, and her petite hand covered her lips as she cried out.

"Even the smallest of them are considered ranked treasures and not even most Heavenly Warriors can afford one. In fact, only a minority of them can."

"If they cannot be bought with gold, then do you need blood stones?" Xue Wei suddenly asked. He had read many books and knew a lot of things, but he had never before seen a bloodstone.

These bloodstones were different from ordinary stones. They were considered the blood of the continent, imbued with a strange energy that one could extract and use to strengthen their cultivation base.

These bloodstones were similar to beast cores, but where beast cores were violent in nature and hard to process, the bloodstones were gentle in nature. It was easy to draw out every single ounce of energy.

The manager raised an eyebrow when he heard what Xue Wei had asked, while Shen Mu and Luo Zhirou looked puzzled. "Bloodstones?" they asked.

"You will indeed need bloodstones to purchase a storage treasure. Any ranked treasure has to be purchased with bloodstones unless it is half a step away being a treasured weapon."

"Bloodstones are hard to get your hands on in the Kingdom of Heping. You can barely get your hands on a handful, as we have no bloodstone deposits, and all bloodstones are brought in from the rest of the continent."

"It is also because of this that we do not have any cultivator cities in Heping Kingdom, nor do we have anyone who has managed to break through past the Heavenly Warrior rank, though someone speculates that your uncle might have done so. Otherwise, he might not have been able to kill as many Primordial Beasts as he has."

Xue Wei knew about the bloodstones, but he had never before heard about storage treasures. He could not help but feel an urge to get one deep within, but he also understood that right now he did not have the qualifications to own one – just as he were likely to be killed for owning too precious an item.

"Well then, let us calculate your friends’ beast cores," the manager said with a smile and began to sort out their beast cores into ranks and strength. After making a final count, he also paid them thirty-five percent of their sales price, and then he smiled at the three.

"Thank you for doing business with us. Can we perhaps help you with something else?"

This was what Xue Wei had been waiting for, and he cleared his throat. "I am looking for a wood jade carving. I am not looking for anything too outrageous, just a simple figure."

"A wood jade figure?" The manager was surprised, but then he laughed. "Sure," he said, "I can get you a wood jade figure. If you want a simple one, I can give it to you as a symbol of gratitude for having brought your large batch of beast cores to us."

Although wood jade carvings were expensive for commoners, they were truly nothing compared to the vast amount of beast cores that Xue Wei and his friends had brought.

"Miss Tie, bring me three of the horse figurines made from high-grade green wood jade," he ordered, and the female attendant instantly bowed in acknowledgment before she hurried out of the room.

Moments after, she returned with three fist-sized figurines, all shaped like horses in various poses. These horses were all made from high-grade green wood jade.

All the different kinds of wood jade were categorized into low, medium, high and superior and profound. A shop like the Golden Chambers did not even carry low or medium grade wood jade; they only carried high and superior quality.

The profound kind was simply so rare and hard to get one’s hands on that when they did emerge, they would have to be auctioned off. And most of the time, the price would be paid in bloodstones.

"Take these," the manager accepted the three horse carvings and gave one to each of the youngsters. "If you have more to sell in the future, or to buy, then please come to our establishment again."

Having said that, the three youngsters all stood up and bowed deeply to the manager with cupped fists.

"Thank you for your hospitality," they said in unison before they all left the room, feeling excited beyond belief. Although they were not poor before, they were now relatively rich, and they had even acquired for themselves wood jade carvings, which made them incredibly happy.

"Onwards to find clothes and a present for now!" Luo Zhirou exclaimed as she grabbed Xue Wei and Shen Mu around their arms and dragged them with her out of the shop.