Chapter 81: Buying Iron Essence

  After celebrating for a long time, the warmth of joy gradually dissipated. Fang Ziyuan led Li Ruo to bid farewell to everyone and returned to the Thirteen Peaks through the transmission array in the distant mountains.

  Fang Ziyuan still had a joyful expression on his face as he walked out of the transmission tunnel from Hanshi Peak, looking at the several mountain roads extending in different directions in front of him. Fang Ziyuan asked: "Ran Jian, where are you going?"

  Li Ruo said: "Senior brother, I want to go take a look at Cang Zhen Pavilion."

  Fang Ziyuan nodded: "Right, Li Rengdao, there are still five days before the disciples leave the mountain. Some new disciples who have just entered the mountain gate want to take the opportunity to return home and visit their families. Are you going back then?" Li Rengdao quickly nodded: "I'd like to go back once, I want to go to Linfeng City..."

  Fang Ziyuan's eyes lit up, and he exclaimed with delight: "That's great! We're heading in the same direction. The lord of Linfeng City is a friend of mine, and I have some business to attend to there too. I was thinking of leaving on that day as well. Let's travel together!"

  Li Ran's eyes sparkled with excitement as he nodded his head in delight. He bid farewell to his senior fellow apprentice and headed straight for the mountain path leading to Cang Zhen Pavilion.

  The mountain road was winding and long, Li Ran's knife followed the stone steps of the mountain road upwards. Looking back at the scene in Jinjian Pavilion just now, his heart was burning with passion. The new apprentice had used up two chances to enter the Huanling Cave within half a year, and he had made a brilliant move to break into the Golden Sword List, now one step closer to his plan.

  "It's still five days before leaving the mountain, can my plan be furthered in these five days?"

  Li Ruo thought of this and unconsciously quickened his pace, seeing from afar the Treasure Pavilion nestled between the mountains. He rushed in, entering the main hall to find that it was the same grey-robed female disciple on duty as last time.

  The female disciple looked up and saw Li Ran's knife, couldn't help but let out a sound of surprise and smiled: "This junior brother, is it you again?"

  Li Ran Dao smiled and nodded.

  The female disciple closed the account book in her hand, looked at Li Fenger who was approaching and teased: "Junior brother, how much money did you borrow this time to exchange for spiritual treasures? Or is it buying spiritual medicine?"

  Li Ran took out a jade bottle from his bosom and handed it over: "Sister, I have two marrow-washing pills here. Can you help me see how many points they can be exchanged for?"

  Li Ranno extracted five pellets of marrow-washing dan, refined one pellet and kept two pellets. These two pellets were prepared to be sold at the Cang Zhen Pavilion. Li Ranno's hands were too tight, so he planned to exchange these two spiritual pellets for some things he needed.

  The female disciple's eyes lit up and she smiled: "Hand it over and let me take a look."

  She took the jade bottle, opened it, and a fragrance wafted in, carrying to her nostrils. The female disciple's face changed, and she nodded slowly: "Good pure Washing Marrow Dan, the quality is quite good. Disciple brother, I need to find an appraiser in the pavilion to do an appraisal before I can give you a price, please wait."

  The female disciple hastily went to the inner room and returned with a small bottle after a while, her face serious as she nodded at Li Fenger: "The appraiser has made an appraisal, both elixirs are low-grade dan medicine, not even enough for one grade. Although the quality is good, the appraiser said that the price won't be too high, Brother...

  Li Ran Dao felt a chill in his heart and anxiously asked: "How many points can be exchanged after all?"

  The female disciple sighed: "The appraiser said that one dan is worth 800 points, and two dans can be exchanged for a total of 1,600 points. Younger brother, have you decided to exchange them?"

  Li Ran Dao let out a long sigh and a smile slowly spread across his face as he nodded slightly: "Swap."

  In the Washing Marrow Pill, Bitter Hemp Grass is just an ordinary spiritual medicine. The one used by Li Ruo Dao has a slightly stronger medicinal effect. For example, Rhinoceros Horn and the main root of the Wisteria Tree are worth only 45 points even with nine common medicines added. The only thing worthy of praise is that drop of Heavy Water, but Li Ruo Dao also obtained it cleverly, spending only 40 points of cost.

  The hair-washing cream made from these things was sold for 800 points per piece, and Li Ran was very satisfied.

  The price that the appraiser had mentioned was not too high, it was this kind of price. It seems that the prices of spiritual pills on the market are all a bit distorted, and eight hundred points for one pill is considered a low price by others.

  The female disciple nodded, put away the jade bottle, took out sixteen purple knives from behind the desk and handed them over. Li Ran's knife was not collected, and he continued to say: "Sister, trouble you again, I want to buy an iron ingot."

  "What's iron?"

  The female disciple thought for a moment and nodded: "Alright, although the amount of spiritual iron in our Hidden Treasure Pavilion is not much, there are still some iron essences left. You wait here first, I'll go call someone to help you retrieve it. One iron essence costs 1,400 points, and you have 200 points remaining, so take them."

  The female disciple's fingers lightly plucked up and put away fourteen purple knives, pushing the remaining two in front of Li Ran.

  Li Ran Dao hastily said: "Sister, no, I can get an 80% discount when buying things."

  The female disciple smiled, her eyes gleaming with amusement as she gazed at Li Rou who was searching for something on his body. "Junior brother," she said, "the rules in our sect's Treasure Pavilion are very strict, and only one type of person can get an 80% discount when buying things here... you..."

  The words had not been spoken yet, when Li Ran drew a small golden sword from his bosom and carefully placed it on his chest, smiling awkwardly: "I just got it, there were too many people at the time, I forgot to bring it up. Master sister, I am a Golden Sword disciple."

  "What..."

  The grey-robed female disciple suddenly stood up from her seat, her apricot-like eyes wide with incredulity, and her hands trembling as she stretched them out: "Master, junior brother, this joke is not to be taken lightly. I want to take a look at your Golden Sword."

  Li Ruo took down the golden sword from his chest, handed it to the female disciple, and she injected her vital energy into the sword. With a humming sound, thirty-three different colored lights burst out of the small sword in an instant.

  It was indeed the golden sword personally awarded by the thirty-three Longmen Qingyi.

  The female disciple was stunned for a moment, then her face turned red and she quickly walked out from behind the desk, respectfully handing the golden sword back to Li Ruo Dao. She bowed deeply to him: "Xie Wen Mei has seen Senior Brother Jin Jian."

  Even the blue-clothed ones would have to show respect when they saw the Golden Sword disciples, let alone this little grey-clothed one. In front of the Golden Sword disciples, any grey-clothed ones had to automatically lower themselves by half a grade.

  Li Ran Dao smiled and nodded: "No need for formalities."

  Xie Wanmei raised her head, but the astonishment on her face couldn't be concealed. Li Ruo was clearly a new disciple of this generation, so how did he suddenly enter the Golden Sword List? However, with her identity, she didn't dare to ask questions.

  Li Rando smiled and said, "1,400 points of iron essence, after a 20% discount, oh, it should be 1,120 points. You should return 480 points to me." Xie Wenyu dared not make any more jokes, nodded vigorously, and respectfully handed over four purple knives and eight yellow knives to Li Rando.

  "Please wait a moment, brother, I'll have someone fetch the Iron Essence from Cang Zhen Peak right away."

  "Alright, I'll go take a look around the pavilion first."

  As he stepped into the Treasure Pavilion, Li Ran's mood was extremely pleasant. He had long wanted to get his hands on that piece of Iron Essence, and hadn't sold the Spirit Dan for it earlier precisely because he was waiting for this day when he would obtain the Golden Sword identity. This way, he saved nearly 300 points, which could be used to buy even more good stuff.

  As soon as the iron essence is in hand, the small sword that has been inseparable from Li Ruo's waist for a moment will have another evolution. At that time, his understanding of the sword intent will also be further deepened. Thinking of this, Li Ruo looked out at the distant mountains through the window of Cang Zhen Pavilion, feeling the green hills and blue waters, the distant peaks stretching far and wide, with an infinitely broad and open mind.

  A moment later, female disciple Xie Wenyu took the initiative to enter the treasure storage room and presented the iron ingot with both hands.

  Li Ran took the knife, and as soon as he did, his hand sank down, his wrist pressed down by a weight that was far heavier than an ordinary iron knife. The entire blade was a dark, glossy black that emitted a faint, dark blue glow.

  Li Ruo's sword was joyful, thanked Xie Yuemei, put away the iron essence, and rushed out of the pavilion. He wanted to seize the time to hurry back to the Xuanhuo Cave for closed-door cultivation.

  The mountain scenery was breathtaking, with a sea of flowers in the distance shrouded in mist. The fragrance wafted through the air, filling the entire mountain. Li Fenger didn't have time to take it all in as he rushed past the blooming trees. The mountain path twisted and turned along the slope, and ahead, two figures were sitting on a stone bench amidst the flowers, whispering to each other. Hearing footsteps, they both jumped up hastily and looked over at Li Fenger.

  Li Rendao was taken aback, and he couldn't help but laugh when he saw that it was Qin Fengchuan and Wang Wenyu standing there hand in hand. Li Rendao also felt a bit awkward, not knowing what was wrong with himself, why he always seemed to stumble upon the secret trysts of this young couple.

  Qin Fengchuan's face suddenly turned red: "Ran Jian, is it you..."

  Wang Wanyue's neck was flushed with shame, and she turned to the other side of the flower tree, not daring to look over here.

  Li Ran Jian was stunned for a moment, then suddenly reacted and hurriedly laughed: "Oh, I just passed by, didn't expect to be here... uh, you guys continue, I'll head back to Xuanhuo Cave."

  Wang Wanyuan was even more embarrassed and didn't dare lift her head up.

  Qin Fengchuan was also greatly embarrassed, seeing Li Ruo's knife about to move, he shouted: "Ruo Dao, help us keep it a secret, don't tell others."

  Li Ruo Dao burst out laughing and said, "Even a fool can see it now. Everyone knows already, do we still need to keep it a secret? Alright, I won't say anything. You have five more days together, cherish them."

  Wang Wanyue heard this and felt a pang in her heart. She pursed her lips, lifted her head and said: "Ran Jian, you must also take care of yourself in the mountains from now on."

  Suddenly, Wang Wanyue's gaze froze on Li Ruo's chest, and just now the two were in a great embarrassment. In the thin fog, she didn't notice it at all, but now she discovered that on Li Ruo's gray robe, the hilt of the faintly gleaming golden sword was so eye-catching. Could it be...

  Wang Wanyue's face changed suddenly, and she couldn't help but call out: "Ran Jian, the golden sword on your chest is..."

  Qin Fengchuan also noticed that, and was suddenly stunned, paused for a moment, rushed two steps forward to Li Ruo's side, looked closely, wasn't it the emblem of the Golden Sword Sect?

  "Ran Jian, you've actually made it onto the Golden Sword Rankings?"

  Qin Fengchuan asked this sentence, his voice was shaking, the situation in front of him was really too frightening, making people dare not believe it.

  Li Ranfeng smiled faintly: "Feng Chuan, I originally wanted to talk to you about it, but after seeing the scene just now, I felt that it would be better not to spoil the fun. However, you still found out. Feng Chuan, regarding the bet between Lieyang and us three, I have won again. It seems that you cannot take away the title of top disciple."

  Qin Feng's eyes were filled with incredulity: "Ran Jian, when did you get on the list?"

  Li Ran Dao smiled faintly: "Just now, I killed eighty-one spiritual beasts in the fourth layer of the Lingyuan Cave and surpassed Shanzhi Shixiong."

  Qin Feng's face was filled with confusion and he stood there, his proud genius aura being heavily crushed once again. In front of Li Ran's knife, he suddenly felt that his so-called proud talent was laughable.

  Wang Wanxuan took two quick steps forward, looking at the golden sword on Li Ruo's chest. When they first entered Xuanji Mountain, this golden sword was a legend in their hearts, a goal that required hard work and dedication for someone with exceptional talent. Who would have thought that within less than a month, this golden sword would be worn on Li Ruo's chest? This psychological contrast left Wang Wanxuan unsure of her emotions, but she felt that the friend before her eyes was becoming increasingly mysterious, no longer the Li Ruo she used to know.

  Wang Wanxuan bit her lip tightly: "Ran Jian, I didn't expect you to be such a genius."

  This time she admitted it, in front of Li Nian's knife, her lover was actually incomparable.

  Li Ruo smiled: "I won't disturb you anymore, there are still five days left, cherish them, and don't forget to call me on the day of departure."

  One person drifted away, Qin Fengchuan and Wang Wenyu looked at Li Rengdiao's back, and for a long time they couldn't say a word.