18: Chapter 18 My Magic Core is a Mountain

In the morning, the old street in the west of the city was very quiet.

Li Zhengyang pushed open the door of Wanbao Pavilion.

Behind the counter, Su Jin was wearing a plain-colored cheongsam, rolling a string of shiny bodhi beads in her hand.

She was chatting with a young man standing in front of the counter.

The young man was dressed in a high-end custom suit, his hair slicked with gel, and the gold watch on his wrist was exceptionally eye-catching.

Su Jin looked up and saw Li Zhengyang's appearance. She raised her hand to cover her nose with a handkerchief and teased, "Did you just come back from a slaughterhouse?"

Li Zhengyang stepped forward and wiped his mud-stained shoes on the carpet twice. "I raided a few beast nests and dirtied your place; please forgive me."

The man in the suit beside him took a large step to the left, fanning the air with his hand in disgust.

He was twirling a grayish-black stone in his right hand; it was a Tier 3 beast core from an Iron-Armored Bear.

"Boss Su, I only got this Bear King core after hiring a professional squad." The man in the suit tapped his knuckles against the granite countertop, eyeing Li Zhengyang askance, though he spoke to Su Jin. "You're running a business here; why do you let any beggar in? Hurry up and settle my account first."

Li Zhengyang didn't even lift his eyelids.

He walked straight over, stood against the counter, flipped his right wrist, and his space ring flashed.

Clatter.

A pile of things poured down from mid-air, crashing onto the countertop.

More than thirty Tier 3 beast cores, still stained with blood, mixed with hundreds of thick leg shells from Red-Armored Spiders, barbed tails from Rock-Spine Beasts, and several rare herbs covered in wet soil, piled up into a half-meter-high mound right on the counter.

The beast cores rolled down the slope of the material pile, making crisp clinking sounds.

The entire room fell so silent you couldn't even hear breathing.

Clatter.

The Iron-Armored Bear beast core that the man in the suit was so proud of dropped to the floor.

He didn't even bend down; he just stared straight at the mound.

Su Jin's pupils contracted rapidly.

The freshness of these materials couldn't be faked; the blood hadn't even dried yet. This meant that the young man in front of her had single-handedly raided one, or perhaps even several, beast colonies in the North Mountain last night.

This was no longer something a normal martial artist could do.

Without a word, Su Jin pressed the button under the drawer. The secret door in the back room pushed open, and two burly security guards strode out.

"Escort this gentleman out, pull down the rolling door, and we are closed to visitors for the morning." Su Jin pointed at the man in the suit.

The man in the suit didn't close his mouth until he was hauled out of the shop by the two burly men; he didn't manage to utter a single word.

The rolling door slammed shut with a clang.

Su Jin pulled a pair of white gloves from the drawer, put them on, picked up a pair of tweezers, and began to classify and count the items.

She examined them very carefully, especially the beast limbs; the cuts were all smooth, indicating a single fatal strike. This meant the battle had involved no stalemate, just pure, one-sided crushing.

Half an hour later.

She took off her gloves, grabbed a calculator, punched in a string of numbers, and pushed it in front of Li Zhengyang.

"The quality of the materials is impeccable. The beast cores plus these miscellaneous items total 1.2 million great xia currency."

After speaking, she fished out a pure black metal card from the safe and pushed it over.

The card had no extra patterns, only a gold-stamped line running along the edge.

Li Zhengyang looked at the number and was very satisfied, but he didn't recognize this card.

"I'll transfer the money right now." Su Jin picked up her tea and took a sip to moisten her throat. "As for this, it's a high-level pass for the underground black market. In this world, you can't buy good alloy weapons, practical killing techniques, or top-grade spiritual materials through regular market channels. With this, you can avoid the hassle of inspections when you go to the black market."

"I believe you will find it useful in the future."

Li Zhengyang's eyes lit up.

He stuffed the black card into his pocket and took out his phone to show his payment QR code.

"Boss Su is straightforward; a proper businessperson."

The voice broadcast announced that 1.2 million had been received.

He turned, opened a small gap in the rolling door, and slipped out.

On the other side, at the Speed Loan Treasure financial company in the east of the city.

Manager Sun sat in his office chair, blowing away the goji berries on the surface of his water.

Slap.

A resignation letter was slapped onto the desk.

Feng Tiezhu, wearing his old military uniform, stood before the desk, expressionless. "Manager Sun, settle my account; I'm leaving today."

Manager Sun slammed his thermos onto the desk. "What the hell are you blowing a fuse about?"

"I'm quitting. Pay my wages."

Manager Sun pointed at his nose and cursed, "I paid a high salary to keep a retired instructor like you, and I sent you to collect a debt of 110,000. You didn't get the money back, and now you want to run? You coward, did a vocational student scare the guts out of you?!"

Feng Tiezhu lowered his eyelids, not refuting a single word.

He knew exactly what kind of person Manager Sun was; wasting even half a word on someone like this was a waste of breath.

He couldn't get his wages back, but he couldn't be bothered to fight, so he turned and walked out of the office.

As the door closed, Feng Tiezhu replied in his heart.

You can't save someone who's hell-bent on dying.

These idiots who lend money at high interest have no idea what kind of living Yama they sent their debt collectors to face.

That kind of killing god who can nail a Tier 1 Great Martial Master to a rock with a single spear—whoever has a long life to spare can go provoke him.

Inside the office, Manager Sun was so angry he kicked over the trash can.

He couldn't swallow this resentment; 110,000 plus his reputation, all lost to this student.

He took out another dedicated mobile phone, searched for a number, and dialed it.

The environment on the other end of the line was very noisy, accompanied by the sound of chopping meat on a cutting board.

"Third Master Diao, I have a job for you." Manager Sun gritted his teeth. "A troublemaker owes me 110,000; it's a bad debt, I'm transferring it to your hall. This kid is a bit slippery; he beat up my men. I'm adding a condition: I want his life. We'll split the money recovered 50/50."

The sound of chopping meat on the other side stopped, and a hoarse voice came through: "I'll take the job. Send the photo and address to my phone. I'll have results within three days."

Hanging up the phone, Manager Sun snorted coldly.

Diao San was a bona fide Tier 5 Great Martial Master, specializing in dealing with all kinds of deadbeats in the underworld.

Dealing with a student with no background would just take one slash.

After returning home, Li Zhengyang sat shirtless on his wooden bed.

The phone screen was lit, showing a bank card balance of 1,200,037 yuan.

A full 1.2 million yuan!

A week ago, as a college student, 1.2 million would have been enough to lie flat.

But now, this was just the beginning.

For the Great Martial Master realm, every grade climbed requires a full 2,000 points of blood energy.

He was currently a Tier 1 Great Martial Master with a blood energy base of 10,628.

He didn't think much, directly brought up the system interface, and entered 1,200,000 in the top-up column.

Click, confirm.

The seven-digit number on his card was instantly wiped to zero, returning to just over thirty yuan.

[Top-up successful!]

[Obtained blood energy value: +12,000]

[Current blood energy value: 22,628]

[Blood energy breakthrough threshold detected]

[Realm breakthrough: Tier 1 Great Martial Master → Tier 7 Great Martial Master!]

Crossing six grades in a row.

The massive energy didn't bring stinging pain like before; instead, it turned directly into heavy pressure, rushing up along his spine.

His muscle density increased exponentially in a very short time, his blood vessels widened, and his internal organs were completely enveloped by liquefied blood energy.

The Tier 7 Great Martial Master's aura completely lost control, breaking free from the constraints of his body surface and erupting indiscriminately in all directions.

The room was squeezed by this violent aura.

Don't know how much time passed.

Li Zhengyang opened his eyes, raised his right hand, and slowly clenched his five fingers into his palm.

Pop.

The air in the center of his palm was forced to produce a piercing bang.

This money was well spent, saving years of hard work that others had to endure, gaining cultivation directly by paying to win.

Just as Li Zhengyang was immersed in the joy of his improvement, his phone rang.

...