Chapter 13 – Third Rank of the Martial Path
Half a day later, Zhao Feng carried three massive bags on him as he entered Sun Feather City.
At a shop in Sun Feather City that sold beast skins.
“Black-spotted Wild Pig, teeth, paws….. Worth a total of three hundred and fifty nine silver.”
“Gold-spotted Snake…… Worth four hundred and twenty silver.”
“Five Poison Centipede….. Worth two hundred and ten silver.”
The shopkeeper expressionlessly said as he calculated the prices.
“Metal Pecker Eagle…. Yi!”
Speaking up to here, the face of the shopkeeper changed. The Metal Pecker Eagle was a beast that had almost entered the ranks of deadly beasts. It defense was strong and it was hard to catch. Even some cultivators of the fourth rank could not catch them.
Due to this, the price of Metal Pecker Eagles exceeded that of other beasts of the same rank.
“Metal Pecker Eagle….. Three of them….. Worth one thousand one hundred silver.” The shopkeeper said after pausing for a second.
One thousand one hundred silver? Zhao Feng was a little shocked as the eagle was worth more than he thought. Soon, apart from Zhao Feng’s Green Headed Tiger King, the rest was totaled up.
“A total of five thousand eight hundred and fifty silver!” The shopkeeper said.
Five thousand eight hundred and fifty silver! Zhao Feng’s heart sped up. His monthly allowance was only twenty silver! He never had a time when he carried more than one hundred silver on him.
Even then, the most expensive materials, that of the Green Headed Tiger King, had yet to be added in.
“How about this, I will give you a total of five thousand nine hundred silver.” The shopkeeper had a cunning face.
“Sure.” Zhao Feng couldn’t be bothered to talk so he agreed.
Soon Zhao Feng received his money, all in silver notes.
“Oh yea, do you guys take parts from deadly beasts?” Zhao Feng didn’t leave immediately after exchanging.
“Could it be that you have deadly beast parts?” The shopkeeper’s eyes floated towards the last bag in Zhao Feng’s hands.
“Yep.” Zhao Feng slowly opened his bag, showing the parts of the Green Headed Tiger King.
Immediately a powerful aura came from the bag.
“Green Headed Tiger King!” The shopkeeper exclaimed as he looked disbelievingly at Zhao Feng.
He couldn’t imagine how a measly second ranker was able to kill a deadly beast. It was known that a deadly beast could fight against true martial artists. There were even rumours of deadly beasts destroying whole villages.
“We had a total of seven people. It took us a while to kill it and even then we lost someone.”
Zhao Feng’s words seemed to comfort the shocked shopkeeper.
Facing the materials, the shopkeeper’s eyesight looked at the “Zhao” symbol on Zhao Feng’s clothes and finally gave a price, “Sixteen thousand silver!”
As he gave the price, the workers in the shop took a cold breath. It was their first time hearing such a high price.
The shopkeeper did not dare to trick Zhao Feng as he came from the Zhao sect.
The Zhao, Xin, and Qiu families were the three biggest powers in Sun Feather City. No shop could open up without their permission.
“Deal!” Zhao Feng smiled. He seemed calm but was laughing inside.
Soon Zhao Feng took his twenty thousand silver and left the shop.
“I can now go buy some resources to help me break through to the third rank.” Zhao Feng headed towards the weapons shop that he went to a few days ago.
“Kid, you’re here again?” A few days ago Zhao Feng was low on money and technically half borrowed and half paid for the heavy metal bow.
Pah!
Zhao Feng put his hand on the table: “Here’s one hundred silver. Thank you for your help that day.”
One hundred silver? The shopkeeper was surprised as he never thought that Zhao Feng would be so honest. Zhao Feng had said he would pay back double, but this was over ten times the amount!
The shopkeeper smiled as he took the silver. Although he was the shopkeeper, he did not own the shop. One hundred silver was half his year’s income.
After paying back the money Zhao Feng didn’t leave but looked around more.
“My heavy metal bow’s strength is too low.” Zhao Feng wanted a new bow. He used his left eye to inspect the weapons on the wall. Soon his eyes stopped on a silver longbow.
The silver long bow gave off a cold aura while also giving off a deep calm feeling.
“How much is it for this bow?” Zhao Feng asked.
“You have good eyes! This bow is called “Mysterious Silver Bow” and is one of the shops most powerful weapons. Only true martial artists that are proficient in archery can use it to its fullest potential…… Its price is one thousand and eighty silver.” He did not think that Zhao Feng could afford it but still acted politely.
“One thousand and eighty silver? That’s not very expensive. I will buy it.” Zhao Feng said.
The Mysterious Silver bow was made out of great materials and was better than his heavy metal bow by at least a few times. It also needed martial artists of the fourth rank or higher to use it to its fullest potential.
“Are you sure you want it……..? Not borrow it?”
Pah!
Zhao Feng stacked up a heap of silver and pushed it towards the shopkeeper, “Quick, I do not have much time.”
What?
The shopkeeper never thought that Zhao Feng was so “rich”…. A few days ago he had only bought a bow worth fifteen silver…..
“Sure, sure!” The shopkeeper nodded as he took down the bow down and put it in a beautifully carved box. Zhao Feng also bought one hundred arrows that were worth three silver each.
After exiting the weapons shop, Zhao Feng went to the City’s biggest medicine shop.
“The medicine pavilion is this City’s largest medicine shop. The owner is very mysterious and it has chain stores in the thirteen countries around here. Even the three big families of Sun Feather City are afraid of its strength.”
As soon as he came to the store he heard a familiar guy’s voice.
Yi!
Zhao Feng found a male and female not far away. The one speaking was a youth clothed in purple who gave off a frightening aura.
“It’s them…….” Zhao Feng sighed.
The male and female duo was Zhao Yijian and Zhao Xue.
“Brother Feng.”
Zhao Xue said surprisingly as she saw Zhao Feng .
Zhao Feng nodded his head as a response and then walked into the Medicine Pavilion.
“Hmph, just him? He has the right to enter the medicine pavilion? Any item from the medicine pavilion is worth a few years of his income.” Zhao Yijian said disdainfully as he looked at Zhao Feng.
Although Zhao Xue did not speak, she knew that with Zhao Feng’s background it would be very hard to take out a few hundred silver.
Compared to Zhao Yijian, whose father and grandfather were both cultivators higher than the fourth rank held middle-high positions in the sect, their wealths were not comparable.
Ignoring the two, Zhao Feng walked into the Medicine Pavilion and started to search for resources that would help his cultivation increase.
“Third rank of the Martial Path……… is when the body becomes stronger. In this direction, the blood plant use is incredibly good. It can consolidate one’s foundation and even help some cultivators understand Inner strength…..”
Zhao Feng thought about it and then confirmed his needs.
Out of all the plants, the blood plant was of the biggest use for martial learners.
Blood plants were split into many categories. The ones that were older had better use, but were also more expensive.
“One hundred year old blood plant, five hundred silver. Two hundred year old blood plant, one thousand two hundred silver. Three hundred year old blood plant…. Three thousand silver….. Five hundred year old blood plant…… ten thousand silver.”
Zhao Feng’s eyes scanned through the price list.
Obviously, the older it was the better it was. Of course, the limits of martial learners were blood plants that were five hundred years old.
“Brother Yijian, if I had a two hundred year old blood plant, I might be able to reach the peak of the second rank in half a year.” Zhao Xue’s voice came wandering through.
“That is not possible. At most I can only buy you a one hundred year old one. I have been trying to learn Inner Strength and need expensive materials to help me.” Zhao Yijian said. Although he was rich, he could not spend his money recklessly.
“A one hundred year old one is ok as well.” Zhao Xue smiled faintly.
Just at this moment, a voice expressionlessly said, “Shopkeeper, give me two two-hundred year old blood plants and a three hundred year old one.”
This voice gained the attention of many people.
It’s him!
Zhao Xue saw Zhao Feng who was not far away and her heart leapt.
“A three hundred year old blood plant? He is probably boasting.” Zhao Yijian gave a cold laugh. He would not believe that a normal branch disciple could afford a three hundred year old blood plant.
“Two two-hundred year old blood plant and a three-hundred year old blood plant. A total of five thousand four hundred silver.” The shopkeeper gave his price.
Soon, in front of their eyes, Zhao Feng took out his silver and successfully exchanged it with the shopkeeper.
This scene made Zhao Yijian’s smile freeze.
“How…. how is this possible?” Zhao Xue had an disbelieving, dazed look.
“Shopkeeper, can I also get three bottles of high level healing pills as well as three bottles of high level blood recovery pills?”
Zhao Feng bought some other medicine which were all high level and spent another thousand silver.
After the exchange, Zhao Feng waved at Zhao Xue and left in a cool manner. When replying, Zhao Xue had a forced smile and did not look Zhao Feng in the eye….
After leaving the Medicine Pavilion, Zhao Feng didn’t return to the Zhao sect. Instead he went to an inn.
He first calculated the silver he had left, it was a total of twelve thousand silver.
“I will leave this silver for later use.” Zhao Feng understood that a cultivators path needed a huge amount of resources.
That night, he closed his eyes and slowly used the Air Pushing Breathing Technique.
Inside of his left eye, the faint green glow had increased from two feet to two feet-five.
Zhao Feng confirmed that he had reached the peak of the second rank and just needed half a step more to reach the third rank.
“I wonder how strong this medicine will be.”
Zhao Feng was full of expectations as he ate a blood plant that was two hundred years old.
Soon, Zhao Feng felt an enormous amount of strength appear in his body that was chaotic.
“What a strong herb!”
Zhao Feng fully used the Air Pushing Breathing Technique and absorbed the medicine.
Maybe it was because Zhao Feng had never used such precious herbs before that he thought that it was extremely strong.
In the morning of the second day.
“Could this be….” Zhao Feng felt himself burst with energy. All of his muscles and bones were full of power.
Peh!
He casually waved his fist and hit out with a force of seven hundred kilograms! Breaking through to the third rank was easier than Zhao Feng thought……