Chapter 7 Trouble Comes
After encountering Scythe Yaye in the forest, Beichen didn't sleep well that night. The screams of the young man with the dagger when he fell into darkness, the dried corpse on the ground, and the head rolling on the ground kept circling in his mind.
But in order to safely survive the following "Star Disaster Night", Beichen still set off with Xiang Ying early the next morning with dark circles under his eyes.
Ten Sanmars was about a kilometer away, and with Beichen and Xiangying's current abilities, they easily reached the destination in less than an hour. Standing at the edge of the forest, Beichen gazed at the settlement, which resembled a medieval town. From this distance, he could clearly see the people coming and going on the streets.
"That's the town of Welvis, Master."
Beichen nodded, looking at his already tattered school uniform with some trepidation.
"I, I don't look scary, do I?"
"No, the master is always sharp and beautiful."
"Do you have any strange smell?"
"It has a bit of a grassy smell, but I don't think it's a bother."
"I see..."
Beichen took a deep breath as the breeze blew in his face.
"Xiang Ying, I have something to tell you."
"Yes, please, Master,"
Beichen turned to Xiangying and smiled, then said:
“──”
Wilvis is a small town with a population of about 50,000.
Located on the border of Heyang State, close to the immigration checkpoint and adjacent to a large war weapon tomb, the town has a surprisingly large flow of people despite being a small town. It has a wide variety of shops and many unions have branches here. Every morning, the main thoroughfare is filled with people coming and going.
There were people hawking weapons, selling Protoss cores, repairing advanced weapons, and urging others to team up for hunting. All kinds of humans and weapons made the streets bustling with activity.
But when Beichen and Xiangying in sword form appeared on the street, the crowd around them subtly quieted down.
"Hey, that little girl...a stranger?"
"Which slum are you from? Not only are your clothes tattered, but you're even carrying such a shameful weapon?"
"Yeah, yeah, that broken sword, couldn't it be picked up from a garbage dump?!"
It seemed that they had no intention of suppressing the volume, and the sound of the crowd's discussion went directly into Beichen's ears.
She finally understood what the "world of worshipping martial arts" meant.
With a nonchalant curl of his lips, Beichen placed his hand on Xiang Ying's hilt.
"Xiang Ying, have you been here before? Do you know how to get to the place where they sell Star Cores?"
"Yes, I've been here once. Protoss cores can be sold at a higher price to private merchants, but they're more likely to receive counterfeit currency, and it's not very safe. They might just take the goods and refuse to pay. I suggest you sell directly to the Spiritual Martial Union; they also buy Protoss cores on a long-term basis."
"Okay, then let's go to the Lingwu Division Union."
Blocking out the surprised and contemptuous voices around him, Beichen followed Xiang Ying's instructions and walked towards the Lingwu Division Union.
"Welcome to the Lingwu Division Union, Red Rabbit! Miss, how may I help you?"
As soon as the door was opened, I found that the place inside was unexpectedly large. Facing the door was a wide reception desk with small tables and chairs that seemed to be for union members on the side, and on the side was a large lounge area that looked like a bar. Many people looked at Beichen the moment she walked into the union.
Seeing Beichen, a girl who looked like a waitress standing at the front desk immediately bowed to Beichen and called him over in a sweet and formal voice.
Beichen pretended not to notice the disappointment hidden under the smiling mask, walked to the counter and nodded to the receptionist.
"Hello, I want to exchange the Protoss cores I have for cash."
"Okay, are you a member of this union?"
"No."
"Would you like to register as a member before redeeming? Guild members receive a 10% discount when redeeming Protoss cores."
Beichen was speechless: Promotional (?) methods are similar in every world.
She lowered her head and thought for a moment, then shook her head.
"I want to think about it before making a decision. Let's exchange the Protoss Cores first."
"Uh... okay."
"Towards the shadow."
"yes."
Xiang Ying returned to his human form and dumped all the star cores in his waist bag onto the counter with a bang, which scared the receptionist.
"Hey, hey, come on, with such a large pile of third-level star cores, what is that little girl thinking?"
"Is there nothing you can do? Your weapon is low-level, so hunting high-level 'Possessed Moon Envoys' is difficult."
"But isn't this a bit too much? What deep hatred does she have with those wolves?"
There was another round of undisguised chatter. Beichen remained silent, only urging the receptionist with his eyes to hurry up and exchange the coins. The receptionist, looking somewhat frustrated, hurriedly picked up the pile of Star Spirit Cores and ran to the work area in the back, dropping many of them along the way, causing laughter from the Spiritual Martial Arts staff in the lounge area.
"What a generous and poor man."
"Hey, little girl, you're selling Level 3 Star Spirit Cores that people use to give to children to play with marbles. Aren't you really ashamed?!"
Some people even yelled at Beichen. Beichen was too annoyed to ignore them, so he turned his head and gave them a dry laugh.
"Haha, regardless of whether it's embarrassing or not, at least every one of those Star Spirit Cores was obtained through my own hard work, and that's all."
This statement successfully silenced the Lingwu Division officials. Beichen, as if granted amnesty, dragged Xiangying to a small table to the side and waited. After more than ten minutes, the receptionist came out with a small bag.
"Hello, the purchase price for a Level 3 Protoss Core is 5 Riels each. You have one here, which is worth 2,900 Riels in total. Inside the bag are two gold coins worth 1,000 Riels each, one silver coin worth 500 Riels each, and four copper coins worth 100 Riels each. Please check."
Beichen opened the bag and took a look. Just as the front desk clerk said, there were a few coins inside. She finally got her first sum of money. Although she was surrounded by unpleasant gazes, she still felt a little happy.
"Okay, thank you for your hard work. Goodbye then."
Beichen smiled and greeted the receptionist, then raised her foot to leave. But Xiangying held her back and started a heart-to-heart talk.
"Master, don't you want to test your current strength?"
"? Does the Lingwu Division also have levels?"
"Yes, that pillar over there holding the crystal ball is used to measure the level of the Spiritual Martial Division."
"Okay, let's go give it a try."
He turned and walked towards the person holding a large white translucent crystal ball. For some reason, as soon as the crystal ball sensed someone approaching, it automatically lit up and a row of small words appeared in the air above it.
"Please place your hand on the probe's tactile ball."
It was not Chinese, but a very strange font, but for some reason Beichen could understand it, so she curiously put her hand on the crystal ball.
Suddenly, the crystal ball emitted a dazzling light, and several white lines shot out from the crystal ball and penetrated into the floor under Beichen's feet, then weaved into a totem similar to a magic circle.
“Ah—”
"Oh, damn, no way!"
Before Beichen could figure out what was going on, several Lingwusi who were watching the excitement nearby shouted in surprise. Some of them didn't even have time to put down their wine glasses. They ran straight to Beichen and stared at the totem as if they couldn't believe their eyes.
Beichen looked around in confusion, and finally looked to Xiang Ying for help.
"Master, look at your spiritual vein formation. There are eight rings on it, which means you are an eighth-level spiritual warrior."
"Level eight? ...Uh, is level eight awesome?"
"Of course they're amazing!! There are only three level eight Spiritual Martial Divisions in this town!"
Before Xiang Ying could answer, one of the middle-aged men watching the excitement couldn't help but yell:
"Little girl, where did you come from? How come you don't know anything? An eighth-level spiritual weapon division can already sign contracts with three weapons below the six-star level at the same time. Why are you still guarding this shabby three-pointed quantitative seed?"
As he spoke, he glanced at Xiang Ying with disdain.
"Could it be that this guy tricked you into bringing him with you because you don't understand?"
"No... I don't..."
"Or maybe you can't afford good weapons? Seeing you actually collect such low-level Protoss cores to sell, I'm right. Slightly better weapons cost tens of thousands."
Beichen was halfway through his rebuttal when the conversation was interrupted by a young man with light gray hair next to the middle-aged man.
She smiled bitterly with a bit of helplessness. This world was really pure. Once she was sure of her own strength, the attitudes of the people around her immediately changed 180 degrees. They withdrew all the contemptuous looks from her and turned them to Xiang Ying.
Xiang Ying on the side lowered his head and said nothing. Seeing him like this, Beichen felt a little sad. She took his hand and shook it vigorously as if to encourage him. Xiang Ying understood Beichen's thoughts, and her tense lips relaxed a little.
"etc."
The light-brown-haired boy who had spoken just now spoke again. Then he walked up to Beichen with an arrogant and evil smile.
"You're in need of weapons, right? I'll give you a bargain. I'll let you use me for over 2,000 riyals. How's that?"
As soon as the young man finished speaking, the surroundings immediately became noisy again.
"Wow, Ling Shuang, you're really not! A few days ago, Miss Xia Li was willing to spend more than 500,000 to buy your one-year contract rights, but you refused. Now you're selling yourself for 2,000 today?"
"Yeah, that's not right, right? You're a Four-Wheeled Yeyue Seed after all! ──Although this little girl does have good talent."
"Are you so hungry that you're going crazy and won't eat anything?"
Ling Shuang listened to the clamor around her with a satisfied smile, then raised her eyebrows and looked at Beichen with a squint, with an expression that said, "Well, you got a great deal."
The boy had smooth ice-colored short hair and amber eyes, and was as handsome as Yaye, but his smile was dazzling, as if he was certain that Beichen would accept the deal, making Xiang Ying beside her feel embarrassed.
Beichen clearly noticed that Xiangying's palm in her hand trembled slightly. Inexplicably, she felt that the boy's smile seemed familiar.
Yes, in her original world, she would always see such smiles.
It is under the banner of doing good for you, but in fact it is just charity with a sense of superiority, and a smile that predicts that you will accept the charity.
She hated that smile.
So she pulled Xiangying back a few steps and spoke.
"I'm sorry, but I only have about 2,900 riyals in my possession. If I take away 2,000, I might have to sleep in a straw hut again today. Let's just forget it. ... Let's go, Xiangying."
“You—!”
He probably never dreamed that he, a member of the Yeyue clan, would be rejected. The handsome face of the young man named Ling Shuang was distorted by shame.
"Little girl, are you crazy? You've got a great opportunity that you couldn't even find a lantern, and you refuse it?! If it were me, if Duo Rui could buy a Yeyue weapon, I would sleep in the toilet, not to mention the straw hut!"
"Yes, if you really can't bear to part with this broken sword, that's fine. You can sign three weapons instead. Don't waste such a good opportunity. You should know how many people try to please Ling Shuang every day just to sign a contract with him!"
"Master, this is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Yeyue weapons are hard to come by, not to mention they're willing to sign a contract with you at such a low price. I suggest you consider it. Please don't worry about my opinion. As your weapon, my biggest wish is for you to be safe. I'd be delighted to have a weapon stronger than mine protecting you."
Even Xiang Ying lowered his head and gave advice.
Beichen couldn't help but pinch his eyebrows: Xiang Ying is at it again.
Then she stood on tiptoe and used both hands to pull Xiang Ying's cheeks hard, pulling that pretty face into a big pancake.
"Calling someone? (Master?)"
Xiang Ying held her waist a little awkwardly and whispered incoherently.
"Listen carefully, Xiang Ying. I'm going to say this one last time. If you do this again, I won't say anything more and will just throw you away."
“…Wha-what?”
Hearing that Beichen was going to abandon him, Xiang Ying became a little nervous.
"You're a weapon, my partner, a thinking being, not a tool whose value can be assessed solely by level. Combat prowess isn't everything. Even if someone is a thousand times stronger than you, I'm happy to partner with you. Isn't that enough?"
"...calling the master..."
Xiang Ying cried out softly in emotion. The burning look in her eyes coupled with her face stretched out like a pancake looked so funny that Beichen let go of her hand and burst into laughter. Then -
"Okay, let's go. Mr. Lingshuang, please find another Lingwu Division that's worthy of you."
"Stop right there!"
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