Chapter 21 – Shopping in the Sect

"Aunty, I want those two items."

"Child, this knife is fourth grade, and someone who didn't finish to strengthen his body wouldn't be able to utilize its strengths. If you just want something nice to play with, why not take this knife? It looks much better!"

The seller pointed at a fancy first-grade knife on the shelf. She believed he was just interested in the knife as a toy, but it'd be a waste if he bought something so strong. Besides, she didn't think his parents would allow such an expensive whim.

"Don't worry about it, how much is it?"

"It's 1000 lower Qi Stones or one intermediate stone."

Qi stones were the currency of cultivators, and Ken knew of three types – lower, intermediate, and higher. Each one had more condensed Qi and could be used for many different purposes. As the son of the Pill Division Elder, Ken didn't lack lower Qi Stones and even had some intermediate ones.

"Pay her."

Sol waved with her hand and 1000 stones appeared on the counter in front of the seller. She only had a few fourth-grade items, and every sale of those garnered a huge profit. She was even willing to reduce the price to 800 if Ken haggled, but he didn't care about it.

Since Ken didn't want to reveal his ability to manipulate Qi, he let Sol carry the space ring his mom gave him with his money and belongings. Space rings were inscribed rings made of a special material that had space for the storage of inanimate things inside them, and one could access this space by using his Qi.

"Thank you for your patronage, Young Master."

The seller quickly understood the boy in front of her couldn't be a random kid and changed the way she addressed him. The other two sellers looked at her enviously and could only regret their poor attitude earlier. They also didn't know if their behavior was enough to offend this kid's parents.

"Haha, Young Master, you have a really good eye for knives! Since you've opened my eyes today, let me gift you this short bow! You will be able to pull its string in a few years with your talent."

The seller who sent him away quickly ran to Ken and shouted after him. It was better to incur a small loss of Qi stones than to offend the wrong person.

Ken looked at the first-grade short bow in front of him and shook his head.

"Sol, pull the bow's string to the maximum and check if the seller is sincere. If it breaks, I will pay for it."

The seller started to sweat bullets when he heard his words. He didn't know Sol's strength, but it was normal to be somewhere in the Meridian Awakening Stage at her age. If she channeled enough Qi to her core and arms, she'd be able to break a first-grade item that he picked as a toy for a young kid.

"Haha, Young Master, I only brought this bow as an example. You can choose another bow, actually, let me recommend something better right now!"

The seller quickly found a solution and returned to his stall with Ken and Sol following behind him. He took out one of his sturdiest second-grade bows and offered it to Ken. By his calculations, the girl couldn't be strong enough to break it; one would need to be in the Soul Strengthening Stage for that.

Ken took the bow from the seller and gave it to Sol, indicating for her to pull it as hard as she could. Sol had no idea how to use a bow, but she could at least hold it and pull the string, and that's what she did.

As the string was pulled as far as possible, Sol's face turned slightly red as she felt a strong resistance from the bow.

'She is stronger than I thought, but she still can't break the bow. I chose it specifically for its better durability and elasticity formations. Although I'd lose around 100 Qi Stones for gifting it, it's worth mending my relationship with this kid.'

The seller let out a sigh of relief when something made him take a sharp breath again.

*Crack*

Sol couldn't break the bow, but she managed to crack it as she pulled it as wide as her hands could reach.

"I'm sorry for the damage we've caused. Tell me the price and I will pay for it."

Ken apologized to the stall owner and Sol stepped forward and took out 100 Qi Stones. Although she didn't know the exact price, she could estimate the price of a second-grade item.

"Young Master, this is my fault for bringing something of low quality to you. My eyes can see yet I'm worse than a blind man! Take back your stones, let me gift you this bow instead, it's of great quality."

The man gritted his teeth and gave Ken a third-grade bow with a forced smile. The seller saw Sol's demonstration of power and wasn't worried that she could break a third-grade item. Ken smiled at the man and nodded.

"Then it'd be rude of me to decline your kindness. Thank you for your gift, I will take my leave now."

He didn't bother asking Sol to test this bow since he knew she couldn't break it, so he turned around and left for the sword stall.

"Haha, Young Master, you were amazing! You made him suffer a loss of at least 300 or 400 Qi stones!"

Sol laughed happily as the duo left the bows area under the gazes of the three sellers. One was happy, one was relieved, and the last was pained.

The other people in the weapon section also saw what transpired in the bow section, so they got a good service now from the sword seller.

"Young Master, what grade would you like to purchase?"

The seller asked Ken directly what he was looking for instead of starting from the bottom.

"A fourth-grade flexible sword. But let me look through the swords here."

"Sure, I have two you can choose from."

Ken looked at the swords around him but found nothing that caught his eye, so he went to the counter and looked at the two swords the seller suggested. They were the same give or take except for the design, so he just took the one that he liked better. It had a silver-colored blade and a black hilt and could fit around a muscular man's waist.

'I guess good flexible swords do exist in the cultivation world. I just asked without knowing if he had them.' Flexible swords were exactly what they sounded like. They were not as powerful, but they could be used for complex attacks using their flexibility.

"Sol, you can pick one third-grade weapon you like from the shop; I will pay for it."

He decided to give Sol a present for being loyal to him those past few years. He only bought a fourth-grade weapon for himself because he could afford it, not because he needed it.

"Thank you, Young Master."

Sol said excitedly and hurriedly picked up a saber from the shelf that already caught her eye earlier and placed it on the counter.

"That'd be 10 intermediate Qi Stones for the sword, Young Master. To form a good relationship with you, let me gift you the saber as long as you buy the sword."

Ken found it reasonable that a flexible sword would cost 10 times more than a hunting knife and nodded to Sol. He understood the seller's intentions to make him come to his shop again in the future, so he also accepted the saber as a gift.

"One last thing, do you have a rusty sword or a sword sitting around for decades that nobody wants?"

"Uhm, no, Young Master, all my swords are of the finest quality."

The seller answered with an awkward expression and Ken sighed in disappointment and left the shop.

'I guess god-grade swords don't really lay everywhere and wait for a fated person to grab them.'

He wanted to start practicing some sword techniques, and now he had the first requirement to begin; a sword. They also looked around at minerals and herbs but didn't buy anything since he could easily get them from his mom.

"Let's visit the battle arena, there should be some duels ongoing. Can you gamble on matches?"

"Gambling is illegal in the sect, but there are some students who run gambling businesses behind the scenes. Since they don't make it too big, the sect turns a blind eye to their activities since it wants to encourage the disciples to find ways to get more resources."

'Huh, then finding a treasure in a jade gambling den here will be impossible as well.'

"How many disciples are there in the sect?"

Ken noticed they had walked a long distance and didn't even get close to the borders of the inner sect.

"There are around 10,000 disciples in the inner sect and ten times that in the outer sect. around other 30,000 people live in the inner sect to give services, sell their merchandise, serve as troops for the sect, or serve other purposes. Most of them are former inner disciples who turned older."

Sol explained to Ken the structure of the inner sect as they walked toward the battle arena.

"Show us your inner disciple token."