Van did not have any obvious reaction as he walked into the store, making it hard for the woman to guess his reactions. Seeing that he wore the robes of a disciple of a famous sect, she had taken a gamble and lead him here.

How embarra.s.sing would it be if he couldn't pay!

Van walked quietly along the weapon racks. None of the weapons really caught his eye. Swords, sabres, bows, spears, fans – you name it, they were there. So, he kept walking further in.

The shopkeeper had an awkward smile on her face. She wanted to stop him from walking in further and embarra.s.sing himself, but the right moment never came.

Van walked in further. The materials on the shelves began to change, looking more exotic and precious. They also started to emit their own distinct aura.

Van's expression grew warmer as he looked around.

He saw a polearm with a long blade at the end. A buzzing noise entered Van's ears as he approached it. He inspected it closely and noted that if gave off a faint aura of the metal element.

"What type of weapon is this?"

The shopkeeper smiled politely, "That is a guandao, also known as a naginata or a glaive."

"And how much is it?"

"One thousand silver," she said. She saw him calmly put the glaive back onto the rack. Van put his hands behind his back and continued forwards deeper into the shop.

The shopkeeper's face twitched. Didn't he just put down the glaive because he couldn't afford it? Why was he going in further? She almost wanted to cry out in frustration, he was wasting her time!

Actually, Van thought that it was too cheap.

He currently had seventeen-thousand and two-hundred silver taels on him, after all. If it was something as important as a weapon, Van was prepared to pay. He needed something that would last a long time and be useful even when he levelled up.

So he kept walking in.

"What's are these?"

"Venomous Fangs. They are a pair of fanged throwing knives that absorb weak poisons and strengthen themselves based on the type of poison you give them. Two thousand silver taels"

"What is this?"

"Little Lightning Tail. A halberd forged from the tail bone of an Electric Alligator. Good attack, good speed. A little on the heavy side. Two thousand silver taels."

Van picked the halberd up and tested it curiously in his palms. Vertical, it was taller than him. Mounted on the end of the pole was a metal head that had a small axe-like edge and a long pointy bit at the top. Compared to the glaive, he thought it felt a lot more natural in his hands.

But it still wasn't the one.

"What's this?"

The shopkeeper was exhausted but kept going. Even if he didn't buy anything, she was hesitant to offend a sect disciple.

"Yellow Moon Beam, a bow made of the tendon of a young Moon Calf. Possesses a very powerful range and accurate to within 2 kilometres. Not as powerful as some of the other bows on display. Three thousand taels."

"What about this one?"

"Sun-stealing Whip…"

"This one?"

"Sword Feather Fan…"

"This?"

"Platinum Hammer…"

In this fas.h.i.+on, the duo arrived at the very back of the store.

Van stopped abruptly.

The shopkeeper nearly stumbled into him.

She faced him and was about to tell him to turn back when she saw his s.h.i.+ning dark eyes. He looked obsessively at something in front of him. She chuckled and put her hands on her hips.

"So that caught your eye, ey?"

"You have keen eyes young man. That weapon very rare and one of the strongest we have in this shop! Few cultivators can wield it to its fullest potential."

In front of Van was a ma.s.sive, pitch-black battle axe. it was double-sided, and the two keen edges glittered brightly in the lamplight. One of the blades was slightly longer than the other. Van imagined that it allowed the user to hook it onto an enemy's armour or flesh and then tear it open.

He leaned forwards and touched it. An intense and focused aura emanated from it. His blood boiled.

"How much is this battle axe?" He asked, supressing his excitement.

The shop keeper smiled queerly.

"The Mysterious Obsidian Battle Axe is worth ten thousand silver taels."

Van raised a brow, "Ten thousand silvers only? I will take it."

The shop keeper didn't know how to react. Was this kid joking? Ten thousand taels didn't grow on trees!

However, even if the kid had the means…

"Young man, I will not stop you from buying it. However, there is a reason why I haven't been able to sell the Mysterious Obsidian Axe for so many years. It is simply too heavy for Qi Distillation cultivators to handle! It weighs approximately five hundred kilograms. Not many in Dragon City are capable of wielding this axe, let alone interested enough to buy it."

Van walked forward.

He casually lifted the giant axe with one hand.

The shop keeper's jaw fell to the ground.

She quickly picked her jaw up and gave him an excited look. She might finally be getting rid of that unsellable axe!

Van walked over to an empty s.p.a.ce in the room and spun it one-handedly. His muscles bulged with the effort and his skin turned red. However, the axe was extremely domineering!

A sharp and heavy aura exuded from the black axe and made one instinctively afraid. It's blades seemed impossibly sharp, and its immense weight meant that any blow was incredibly hard-hitting!

The tyrannical axe seemed to be declaring its strength to Van!

The young man grinned.

"I'll take this axe!"

The round woman started to treat Van is if he were her elder. At the counter, she waited patiently for him to present the money.

Ten thousand taels of silver spilt out on the counter. The shop keeper's face was wreathed with bright smiles. She forcefully held in her desire to laugh like a madman.

"Ah. Before I forget. I will give you this for free since you are buying such a big item."

Van looked curiously down at the thing she put on the counter.

"This is a harness that you wear across your shoulders. The battle axe will sit nicely between your shoulder blades and can be easily drawn out when you need to fight. However, it is recommended that you have the axe in your hand when you think you will be fighting."

Van stayed still as she strapped it onto him.

"Ah, one more thing you might be interested in."

The shop keeper pa.s.sed him a small box.

"This case contains two Silver Dart Harpoons. They are only small but are very sharp and can hook deeply into prey's flesh. They are attached to two extremely thin silver chains that can extend several tens of metres. These two originally came with the Mysterious Obsidian Axe and I feel that they should be sold together. The price is around three thousand silver taels for one, but I will give both to you for two thousand silver taels. That is a two thousand tael discount."

She demonstrated how to use it. Van's eyes were bright. Those two harpoons would be very useful when hunting demon beasts and could even be used in many ways as well - Climbing cliffs, picking fruit off trees, etc…

He picked them up and tried wielding them. They were light and felt comfortable in his hands.

"I will take them!"

The shop keeper was still surprised by how decisively Van spoke. She never thought when he walked in that he would be such a wealthy customer!

"Good!" She put the two harpoons back into the wooden case and helped Van put the Mysterious Obsidian Axe into the hoop in his harness.

After exiting the weapon's shop, Van went back to the sect to consolidate his cultivation. He wanted to solidify his gains from the forest as soon as possible!

_______

[Inside his room]

"The effect of these ant cores is quite low," Van commented. He swallowed three at once. In his lap, there were over a hundred ant beast cores remaining. Their cores were small and round, like pebbles at the bottom of a stream.

Van guessed that the worker Brown King Ant's low intelligence and preference for physical strength over spiritual power meant that the amount of qi in their cores was quite low. Their flesh, however, was good for boosting bodily cultivation. Blackie's physical body had clearly levelled up, while Van was on the verge of breaking through to the 5th rank. Once he reached the 6th rank, he would upgrade his Copper Buddha into an Iron Buddha!

Van consumed the next hundred ant cores and felt that he was approximately one-third of the way to the 4th level of Qi Distillation. Over the next three days, he slowly consumed the beast cores of the Black-Spotted Pigs, Gatling Swallows and Fanged White Rabbits. When all the power had been sucked into his spiritual river, Van concluded that he was two-thirds of the way to the 4th level of Qi Distillation.

The requirement for training 'Scattering Smoke Steps' was to be in the 4th level of Qi Distillation! Remembering the skill manual that he really wanted to train in, Van grew determined once more.

He pulled out the ant queen's giant crystal core and placed it in his hands. Strong energy with demonic traces within it leaked into the air.