4: Chapter 4 Refined Steel

The gray fog churned, and the silence of death remained as it was yesterday.

Gu Shen's figure appeared out of thin air in the exact spot where he had vanished last night.

Even though he had been here once before, the air, a mixture of rust and rot, still made his chest feel stifled.

Without a moment's hesitation, he crouched down the instant he landed and darted into the shadow of a collapsed wall corner.

This time, he did not go looking for those wandering monsters.

Killing monsters could increase his cultivation, but it couldn't pay the rent.

Gu Shen's gaze locked onto a spot not far ahead—it was a broken elevated bridge pier, with massive chunks of concrete scattered across the ground, revealing the menacing, twisted "ribs" inside.

They were steel rebar.

In this world, this was waste material used to support buildings; but in Gu Shen's eyes, this was naked Spirit Stone.

He scanned his surroundings vigilantly, and after confirming that the monster he had killed had not attracted any of its kind, he swiftly made his way over.

"Ding."

The mining pick in his hand struck the layer of dark red rust, producing a crisp echo.

Gu Shen pried hard, causing large chunks of concrete debris to peel away, revealing the silver-gray metallic luster within.

"So hard."

Gu Shen was secretly shocked.

Although this thing was severely corroded, its internal texture was exceptionally dense, and its hardness far exceeded that of the ordinary iron he had seen in the market, even being a bit tougher than the ghost-head blades used by the thugs of the Black Tiger Gang.

In the Great Yu Cultivation World, to obtain iron of this quality, ordinary blacksmiths had to forge pig iron a hundred times to remove the Impurities before it could be called "Hundred-Refined Iron."

Yet here, this kind of "Hundred-Refined Iron" was like weeds, casually cast into mud and stone, scattered everywhere.

"A waste of heavenly treasures, truly a waste of heavenly treasures."

As Gu Shen sighed inwardly, he did not stop his work.

He mobilized the spiritual energy that had just increased within his body, infused it into his arms, and brought the mining pick down hard.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The dull sounds of impact were deliberately controlled in force, trying not to let them carry too far.

The steel rebar in the Wasteland world was extremely tough, and it took all of Gu Shen's effort to barely cut through three arm-thick steel bars.

Each one was about three feet long, feeling heavy and substantial in his hands.

"That's about fifty jin."

Gu Shen weighed them in his hand and stuffed the steel bars into a sack.

Fifty jin of refined iron could easily be exchanged for three or five Spirit Stones at the blacksmith shop in the market.

The rent was covered, but Gu Shen felt it still wasn't safe enough.

Wealth should not be flaunted.

As an Alchemy apprentice, suddenly producing so much raw refined iron material would inevitably arouse suspicion.

It would be best to have a finished product that was small in size but high in value.

He slung the sack onto his back and let his gaze wander through the surrounding ruins.

Suddenly, his gaze rested on a half-collapsed shop by the roadside.

It appeared to be an ordinary grocery store.

Although most of the shelves had rotted and collapsed, a glass counter in the corner that hadn't been completely shattered caught his attention.

Gu Shen carefully stepped over the broken glass and trash on the ground and walked to the counter.

Through the glass covered in a thick layer of dust, he vaguely saw several long boxes.

Even after the erosion of time, these boxes remained well-preserved.

Gu Shen used his mining pick to gently break the glass and reached in to take out a box.

The box was made of some unknown hard paper material, featuring an exquisite pattern—a sharp kitchen knife slicing through a bright red tomato.

"This is..."

Gu Shen tore open the packaging, and his pupils constricted sharply.

A knife.

A knife that was completely silver-white and polished to a mirror finish.

The blade was thin and light with smooth lines, without a single trace of rust; instead, it exuded a cold, chilling gleam.

Gu Shen extended a finger and lightly scraped it against the edge.

Hiss.

A bloodstain instantly appeared on his fingertip.

"What a sharp edge! What pure material!"

Gu Shen gasped.

Within this blade, there was not even a trace of Impurities!

In the Great Yu Cultivation World, unless a Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivator used true fire to temper it for three days and three nights, it would be absolutely impossible to purify ordinary iron to this extent.

This material was known as Cold Iron and was an excellent embryo for refining Low Grade Magical Artifacts!

And in this box, there was an entire set of such knives.

One large, one small, plus a pair of scissors.

"I've struck it rich."

Gu Shen's heart pounded wildly.

Just this set of knives, if handled properly, would likely be worth even more than those fifty jin of refined iron.

Just as he was about to tuck the set of knives into his bosom, a tooth-aching scraping sound suddenly came from above.

Sss... Sss...

It sounded like something sharp was scraping against the wall.

Gu Shen looked up abruptly.

He saw that on the half-collapsed ceiling above, a huge, black, gecko-like creature was perched, though he didn't know when it had arrived.

It was pitch black with two heads, and its four eyes, flashing with a scarlet, murderous light, were staring fixedly at Gu Shen below.

That scraping sound was exactly the noise of its sharp claws tearing through the concrete.

A mutated beast?!

Gu Shen's scalp went numb; without the slightest hesitation, his mind raced wildly.

"Return!"

Whoosh—

The moment the black gecko lunged down with a foul wind, Gu Shen's figure twisted and vanished from the spot.

Its sharp claws grasped at empty air, plowing three bottomless furrows into the ground.

...

Qingyun Market, Bitter Water Alley.

Bang.

Gu Shen, along with the sack, fell heavily onto the floor of his dilapidated house.

He couldn't care about the pain; he rolled over and sat up, gasping for air, his heart still pounding wildly in his chest.

"That was too dangerous."

The two-headed gecko from just now had given him a sense of oppression far exceeding the zombies of last night.

It was definitely an existence comparable to a Yao Beast in the middle or Late Stage of Qi Refining.

If he had left half a breath later, he would already be a dead man now.

"Wealth is sought in danger; the ancients did not deceive me."

Gu Shen wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and, after calming down for a long while, finally recovered from the shock of having narrowly escaped death.

He lit an oil lamp and began to count his gains.

Three rusty steel rebar, and a beautifully packaged set of "Cold Iron" knives.

Gu Shen first took the three steel rebar to the kitchen, threw them into the stove, ignited a few discarded talisman papers, and channeled his spiritual energy to fan the flames.

Although ordinary fire could not smelt the refined iron, it was no problem to burn off the rust and concrete residue on the surface.

Half an hour later.

Three pitch-black iron rods, gleaming with a cold metallic luster, appeared before Gu Shen.

Although their appearance was rough, that solid, authentic texture could not deceive anyone.

Next was the set of knives.

Gu Shen picked up the largest kitchen knife and examined it closely under the lamp light.

The blade was like a mirror, clearly reflecting his slightly pale face.

"This craftsmanship is simply masterful."

Gu Shen couldn't stop praising it.

This kind of mirror-like polishing technique could only be achieved in the Cultivation World by the Hundred-Crafts Pavilion, which specialized in creating accessories for female Cultivators, and it came at a high price.

"This thing is too eye-catching; I can't sell it directly."

Gu Shen pondered for a moment and found a rough whetstone.

At this moment, he made a move that would break the heart of any modern person who saw it.

He took that mirror-bright stainless steel kitchen knife and began to grind it frantically against the whetstone.

Ch-ch-ch...

Sparks flew everywhere.

Not long after, the blade that had originally been polished to a mirror finish became dull and gray, covered in scratches, looking like an old, worn-out butcher knife that had been used for decades.

Although its appearance was ruined, that glaring "Cold Iron" luster was also covered up, leaving only the edge still gleaming coldly.

"That's better."

Gu Shen nodded with satisfaction.

A precious knife that looked impossibly brand new would invite a fatal disaster; but an unremarkable yet exceptionally sharp "ancestral old knife" would only make people think this kid was lucky to have found a relic left by his predecessors.

After finishing all this, the sky was already nearly bright.

Gu Shen wrapped the three pieces of refined iron in a rag, slung them on his back, and tucked the aged kitchen knife behind his waist, covering it with his lapel.

He rummaged under his bed and pulled out a black hooded cloak—this was the standard equipment for Loose Cultivators in the market when going out on business, as it could conceal their figure.

Although simple and unable to guard against Divine Sense probing, in a place like the Outer City where all sorts of people were mixed together, everyone tacitly followed the rule of "don't ask about the origin," and that was enough.

"Going to the West Market."

Gu Shen made up his mind.

That was the place where Artifact Refiners gathered, and also the best place to offload this "scrap metal."

Pushing open the door, the wind and snow were even heavier.

Gu Shen lowered the brim of his hood, and his figure soon disappeared into the sky full of wind and snow.