Chapter 558: Draconix Wood

Jian Chen and the others no longer felt in the mood to eat after such an event. Throwing down a purple coin, they left the inn.

The woman stood still without a word as she stared at the retreating figures with a light that betrayed nothing of her thoughts.

After Jian Chen’s group left the inn, they began to stroll around Fengyang City. This was the very first time Tie Ta had ever been in such a luxurious-looking city. As they walked, his head swiveled back and forth. He took in all the sights while curiosity filled him. Not a single sound could be heard from his mouth, and in that moment, he was the epitome of a villager visiting the city for the first time ever.

Plenty of people on the streets found themselves turning their heads to look at You Yue because of her stunning beauty. Plenty of surprised whispers could be heard, and many mercenaries made less-than-discreet eyes at her. There had been several young masters, who thought themselves to be quite handsome, that tried to come up and court You Yue. Each and every one of them had been kicked back by Ming Dong. In the end, Tie Ta couldn’t handle it anymore and took it upon himself to protect the princess as well.

You Yue had long since been immune to the gaze of the common populace, but with so many of them being so annoying, she gave up and bought a cloak from a nearby shop. It covered her face so that there would be fewer problems.

Unbeknown to them, four hours had passed since the start of their saunter. They had attempted to buy heavenly resources from any store that would sell them. However, none of the rare ingredients sold by the stores they visited were over a hundred years old. The very sparse few that were were still not old enough to be of any assistance to the tiger cub. Their price tags had been overwhelming as well, so Jian Chen continued on empty-handed after visiting several stores.

“Let us go to the free market then.” Jian Chen made a proposal before heading in a certain direction with the tiger cub and the others.

Casting an eye behind them, Ming Dong’s eyebrows furrowed together with an impatient look, “Jian Chen, shouldn’t we get rid of those annoying gnats behind us?”

“Forget about them. If they want to follow us, we’ll let them.” Jian Chen replied without even looking back.

At that moment, a drumming sound could be heard from the front as a group of red-robed men came striding through the city with a huge clamor. The scene looked like a wedding concession with the festive celebration, but the contents of their words caused everyone on the streets to feel stunned.

“Good news everyone! Our Heavenly Phoenix Auction House will be auctioning off two Class 5 Monster Cores seven days from now…” The man leading the group was speaking through a giant, gold horn with a blast of sound that could be heard in all directions.

“What? The Heavenly Phoenix Auction House has Class 5 Monster Cores to sell, is that true?”

“Heavens, more have appeared? And there’s two of them at the same time, did I hear that right…?”

“If the auction is going to be selling one of those, we must go and inform the lord…”

The news shocked everyone. A Class 5 Monster Core was a very rare thing to come across anywhere other than a First Class city. With the Second Class Fengyang City coming across two of them at once to sell, it was far too much to take in. One core was one thing, but two cores were another.

Everyone had begun to react in varying manners to this bombshell of information. Some of the mercenaries and merchants began to buzz with words while the men with powerful backgrounds retreated to their respective families. They reported the matter to the head of their family.

Jian Chen smiled when he heard the news. “The Heavenly Phoenix Auction House works quite fast. In such a short amount of time, they already created a huge uproar. Though, two Class 5 Monster Cores appearing out of nowhere should create such an attraction.”

The fact that there were two Class 5 Monster Cores being auctioned off by the Heavenly Phoenix Auction House bore no influence on Jian Chen’s group; hence, they continued to travel on their way to the free market.

The free market of Fengyang City was exceedingly large. All sorts of peddlers selling all sorts of things could be found here. There were plenty of buildings constructed all over the overflowing streets, making it hard to walk from one place to another.

Jian Chen and the rest continued to visit each and every store that sold heavenly ingredients and heavenly resources in order to find any heavenly resources that were at least a thousand years old. After two hours of walking, they were still empty-handed. A heavenly resource over the age of three hundred wasn’t even found, let alone one a thousand years old. Only a few stalks of hundred year old ginseng were uncovered, but they had exorbitantly high prices. The more important thing was that a ginseng of that age would no longer serve any purpose to the Class 4 Magical Beast tiger cub, and would be the same as being fed some bok choy.

“Master! I’ve discovered some Draconix Wood, that is one of the materials that can be used to forge the hilt of the Azulet Sword. Hurry and buy it!” Suddenly, Ziying’s voice could be heard in Jian Chen’s mind.

Jian Chen faltered for a moment as a smile overcame his face. Hurriedly he asked Ziying, “Where is it?” As soon as he asked, a strange sensation flooded his mind. At this moment, there was a strange connection between his spirit and a peculiar but mysterious object that brought his eyes to a nearby building.

Without hesitation, Jian Chen walked into the building at a brisk pace.

“Hey, Jian Chen! Where are you going? Wait for us.” Ming Dong called out from behind before the other three ran after him.

This was a store that specialized in selling wooden sculptures. Inside were plenty of precious wood carvings and other wooden arrangements of considerable value. Some of the more powerful families would sometimes come and buy some for their own homes.

When they entered the store, a young shopkeeper was immediately visible with a welcoming smile on his face, “My lords, welcome to the most exquisite wood carvings within Fengyang City. All of the items here are carved by the master sculptor Mu Chexuan, whose skill is among the best in the city! I guarantee my lord’s satisfaction here with whatever the item.”

Ignoring the shopkeeper, Jian Chen’s feet carried him straight to the second floor.

However, just before Jian Chen could enter it, the shopkeeper hurried to stop him with an apologetic but courteous smile. “My lord, this one is truly sorry, but the second floor is only accessible to those guests with a purple card. If my lord wishes to view our wares there, then please show me a purple card!”

With a twist of his hand, a purple card appeared in Jian Chen’s right hand, “Do I have the right to go up now?”

Seeing the purple card, the smile on the man’s face rekindled. Hurriedly nodding, he said, “Welcome my lord. Welcome. If I offended you with my actions earlier, please forgive me. Allow me to welcome you to the second floor.”

On the second floor, Jian Chen ignored all else and simply stared straight at a giant log seated in the very center of the room.

The entire thing was a dark-red with golden light running throughout it. With a diameter of a third of a meter and a height of one meter, the block of wood looked as if it once used to be the trunk of a tree. With the tree trunk twisted and distorted in a strange pattern of grains, the sight of a “dragon” and “phoenix” could just barely be seen carved into it in a lifelike manner.

Looking at the dragon and phoenix pattern on the wood, Jian Chen’s eyes flashed with light. He could distinctly tell that the pattern contained the essence of the world that was particular hard to fathom and extremely profound in nature. It was almost identical to a Saint Tier Battle Skill, and seemed to just contain every part of the world within its secrets.

“My lords, might I welcome you to our Thousand Hand Workshop where we display the finest of sculptures and carvings. Is there something my lords find of interest?” An elderly man approached them with a smile as he spoke in a friendly manner.

Surveying the area with confusion, Ming Dong could only ask Jian Chen, “Jian Chen, what are you doing in a place like this? The sculptures here might be nice to look at, but you don’t have any interest in stuff like this, do you!?”

Completely disregarding Ming Dong’s question, Jian Chen slowly walked to the dark-red log of wood, and stared at the dragon and phoenix carving. “Shopkeeper, where did you get this block of wood?”

The old man laughed, “What an eye my lord has. This magical piece of wood is the treasure of our Thousand Hand Workshop. It’s rumored that it was taken from one of the wild zones of the Tian Yuan Continent — the Sea of Yangfire. It is there that this piece of wood was baptized by the strongest of flames and became as hard as steel. Flames cannot burn it, and steel cannot break it. This is truly a treasure among treasures.”

“Just how much are you exaggerating? An item brought back from one of the wild zones of the continent would indeed be an item in great demand, but would one really end up in a Second Class city? Do you take us to be three year old children that are easy to bully?” Ming Dong snorted.

“Haha, this rotten old man knows that my lords will not believe me. Even if you believe me or not, this piece of magical wood is truly worth what it is as a treasure. That cannot be changed.” The elder laughed without being insulted.

Jian Chen’s eyes slowly moved away from the block of wood as he tried to restrain the surging emotions he felt within him. With a calm voice, he asked, “How much for this wood? Name your price.”

Seeing that Jian Chen was interested, the shopkeeper’s eyes lit up. Hurriedly, he said, “What an eye my lord has, this old man greatly admires such an eye. Since this wood is quite unnatural as well as being the treasured jewel of this store, the price will be quite high.” The shopkeeper didn’t say a price and instead held up three fingers.

With wide eyes, Ming Dong said, “Don’t tell me you’re selling it for three hundred purple coins. That’s a huge price for a single block of wood.”

The shopkeeper shook his head. “My lords, if you take a look at this piece of wood, the naturally formed pattern on it is beyond what man can do. With that alone, a price of three hundred purple coins is not enough to buy it.”

“Then are you selling it for three thousand purple coins?” Tie Ta spoke with a look of disbelief on his face.

The shopkeeper shook his head, “Incorrect, thirty thousand purple coins!”

“What! Thirty thousand purple coins?!” Ming Dong cried out. A price like that made him leap up into the air in shock. Swearing out loud, he spat, “You might as well rob me of my money! A single block of wood costing thirty thousand purple coins? Three hundred purple coins was already beyond what I was willing to spend. But this price? Who’d ever buy it?”

A smile appeared on Jian Chen’s face, ‘If this piece of wood is indeed that price, then shopkeeper, I would like to purchase it.” From the mouth of Ziying, Jian Chen had learned that this Draconix Wood was one of the materials used to forge the Azulet Swords. Materials like these were extremely rare in nature and priceless beyond all else. For something like this to be for thirty thousand purple coins, Jian Chen only saw it as a delectable deal.

Whether it was thirty thousand, three hundred thousand, or three million purple coins, Jian Chen would purchase this without hesitation. The moment he knew an item was one of the materials for the Azulet Sword, he would buy it.

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