Chapter 67: 67. Money-Ability

Several days later.

Hanping Prefecture, Shuimo Dashi's forge.

Blazing fire surged, the temperature far higher than elsewhere. The thick cloth curtain flapped in the wind; peering inside, one could see wind swirling through flames, the entire room glowing red. The youth leaned on his Fine Blade, a round shield on his back, waiting patiently outside.

Today was the day he was to collect his shield, so he had arrived early.

Ling'er was the one who had come with him.

Because everyone else was busy and Ling'er had nothing to do, she had obediently followed Song Cheng.

At a glance, Ling'er was a girl with the refined air of a family background, carrying the scent of books and the unique gaze of a haughty maid from a prominent household. She had a bit of guile but not much, was shameless but only to a limited extent, and kept her own little secrets while remaining under her master's control at all times. Even her past dalliances with Shi Yi had been treated by the Young Miss as a "latent danger barometer"—otherwise, how could she have been forgiven so quickly? The Young Miss was a good judge of character and knew Ling'er was "useless" and posed no danger. Such a girl following by Song Cheng's side served as a "little housekeeper," a "human-shaped wallet," and an "assistive tool," among other things. After all, the family had rules; if you wanted to withdraw money from the treasury, you had to follow the procedure.

Song Cheng couldn't very well handle the procedures himself, could he? Thus, these matters all became Ling'er's responsibility.

Besides this, Ling'er could also help Song Xiazi avoid many unnecessary troubles; after all, one look and others knew she had backing, so they wouldn't easily come to provoke them.

The West Market was crowded with people, carriages and horses flowing by, occasionally sweeping past the two from behind, accompanied by all sorts of mixed noises.

Most of these sounds were the clamor of trade, but occasionally, something else would pop up. Song Cheng suddenly frowned; he faintly heard an extremely faint sound flash by and vanish.

"... have you heard? They are going to seal..."

The voice was very, very small. Even though Song Xiazi had extremely keen hearing, he only caught a headless and tailless fragment.

He pondered for a moment and filled in the blanks: "Have you heard? They are going to seal the city."

"Oh my, why is it taking so long?" Ling'er clearly hadn't heard it, muttering, "Young Master, I'll go urge them. It's such a big sun, and they're just leaving us out here."

Song Cheng smiled and said, "Wait a while."

The crowd flowed like a tide; he stood like a reef, unmoving.

Wind rose at the street corner, carrying the chaos suppressed beneath the calm. But the signs had already begun.

If he were a newcomer, the youth would likely be incredibly panicked.

Just like back in Tanghe Village, when he had no strength and was filled with unease;

Just like when he first fled to Shanghe County, flustered and lost, like a stray dog; even when he first encountered the human-skin Ghost in Shanghe County, he still felt a degree of alarm in his heart.

People coming from the bottom always get mud on their shoes; no matter what they do, they look like clowns, and no matter what they do, they are blamed. A poor couple faces sorrow in all things; a fallen hero crawls between legs.

But now, after several turns of events, he had gained a measure of composure.

There were not many people coming and going at Shuimo Dashi's mechanism shop, far fewer than at the blacksmith's, but as far as Song Cheng understood, this shop was quite profitable.

For weapons of the same level, as long as the word "mechanism" was added, the price would more than triple.

Moreover, Mechanism Weapons were things that only "Form Realm Martial Artists" could truly utilize.

Only some large families might equip their top-tier martial artists with them, driven by the idea that "even if they can't unleash the true power, it's still better than ordinary blades and weapons."

Or perhaps young masters would have one crafted for themselves to save face and show off.

But those were mostly "mechanism swords," "mechanism blades," and the like, commonly known as "weapon pellets."

"Weapon pellets," as the name suggests, were the size of a pellet, and upon triggering the mechanism, they would transform into a weapon.

However... forging a "Mechanism Shield" was a first.

The shield was large and used more material, so it was naturally expensive.

An ordinary "mechanism sword" was roughly eight or nine hundred taels of silver, while this "Mechanism Shield" required one thousand four hundred taels!

It was simply... it was only because he was the Young Miss's husband of the Ruyi Chamber of Commerce that he could afford it.

Before long, the thick cloth curtain was lifted, and a strong man poked his head out and said, "The Mechanism Shield is ready."

Having said that, he saw the blind man outside the door and was somewhat uncertain, then looked at the little tea-girl beside the blind man. Ling'er smiled and called out, "Master Tie, is it done?"

Master Tie ignored her, only feeling even more uncertain in his heart, so he added, "Who is using it?"

Song Cheng said, "I am."

Master Tie was stunned for a long while and said, "Blind man, you're using a shield?"

The tone at the end was even laced with laughter.

This matter could become a strange anecdote for his mechanism shop, something to be talked about for a long time.

A blind man using a shield—how rare! Song Cheng said, "I am."

Master Tie couldn't help but laugh out loud, then said, "Then I'll bring it out to you, to save you from bumping into things if you walk in; it wouldn't be good if you got hurt."

Song Cheng didn't mind. He waited a while until a wooden box was handed out. He took it and retrieved a metal pellet the size of a pigeon's egg from the box.

Master Tie taught him the method of operation, and Song Cheng followed the instructions.

He pricked his fingertip and dripped blood into the weapon pellet. The blood fell onto the surface of the pellet, like water falling onto cotton, and was quickly absorbed.

"Put it to your brow, press it tight against your skin," Master Tie urged.

Song Cheng did as told.

A strange sensation of "Soul leaving the body" emerged.

But the Soul did not leave the body; instead, it naturally extended a thread, reaching the weapon pellet that had been soaked in blood.

It was as if the weapon pellet had become an extension of his body.

Master Tie said, "Our mechanism is activated by thought; you try it."

Song Cheng took off his original shield, then with a thought, the weapon pellet suddenly broke open, and a cyan square shield half a person tall appeared before him.

And the straps on the shield body naturally wrapped around his left arm.

The youth's right hand moved, gripping the blade-staff.

Jiaoshan.

The shield was the mountain, the blade like the dragon.

Qi spread along with it, instantly filling both weapons; this feeling was far superior to the ordinary shield he had been carrying on his back.

Song Cheng scanned his data again.

His strength had changed from the original "103~206" to "119~236".

This shield provided him with a 19-point bonus. It was truly the "power of money."

"Many thanks."

Song Cheng said, then with a thought he put away the Mechanism Shield and continued strolling through the streets with Ling'er.

Honestly, the feeling this Mechanism Shield gave him was quite shocking.

At first, he thought it was the type where "you press a certain mechanism, and then the weapon sphere goes click-clack and transforms," but he truly never expected it to be this kind of weapon sphere that "activates with a drop of blood and connects via Soul."

Moreover, feeling its weight, it was just a small steel ball.

This likely involved "space" as well.

Song Cheng asked casually: "Ling'er, do you know about these mechanism weapon spheres?"

"This should be some kind of magical metal material, right?" Ling'er responded with nonsense; how would she know?

Today, the two went out, naturally having planned their route.

Shuimo Dashi's mechanism casting room was the first stop, and the second stop was Qianzhen Ge in the northeast corner of the West Market.

Regarding Qianzhen Ge, Ling'er said a lot, mainly talking about how expensive the things there were; An Family Martial Artists, including Shi Yi before, would only stand outside and look, not even having the courage to walk inside.

When mentioning Shi Yi, Ling'er's face paled, and she hurriedly covered her mouth.

Song Cheng was also speechless.

He only felt that with Ling'er's level, she still wanted to betray Young Miss?

It was simply a Dream, and having heard Ling'er say so much, he himself also had an understanding of Qianzhen Ge.

This was a "high-end mall" for Martial Artists; walking into it, one would likely have that sense of shock of "strolling through a mall before transmigrating, entering any shop, and discovering that the clothes sold inside cost a month of your salary."

Not only that, to walk into this Qianzhen Ge, one also needed to pay an entrance fee of 30 taels of silver.

Even if you didn't buy anything, this money had to be paid.

However, An Chenyu had great spirit; she directly took out 5,000 taels of silver in banknotes and let Song Cheng go to Qianzhen Ge to take a look and buy some things he needed.

Song Cheng had given her great help, and she had not forgotten what she ought to do.

In a moment, the two stood before that pavilion.

The pavilion had three floors, but the entrance had nine steps, such that the entrance was a zhang high, having quite a bit of a feeling of looking down upon the surroundings.

Ling'er paid 60 taels of silver and walked inside; no one in the building took the initiative to attend to them. Slowly, Ling'er's nervous mood eased somewhat, and she turned to start reading the shops one by one to Song Cheng.

"Son-in-law, this shop sells Pill, and it can actually directly increase Martial Arts cultivation; the sign over there says 'let you go from having no strength to truss a chicken to stepping into Force Realm Completion in two months'."

Ling'er was startled and surprised.

"Son-in-law, here, here there is actually a Gambling Weapon Shop; some weapons in the shop are rusted, some look normal, and others are packed in boxes only indicating the type of weapon... who would buy this? Isn't that a fool?"

Ling'er was very disdainful.

Song Cheng said: "Let's go to this shop and take a look first."

Ling'er:??? (End of this chapter)