During the process of the old man helping Li Qing pack the jade stones, Li Qing's gaze suddenly landed on a jade slip among them.
"Old sir, what is this?" Li Qing asked, pointing at the jade slip, which was about the size of two fingers pressed together.
The old man merely glanced up and shook his head, saying, "Something left by my ancestors, probably a protective jade talisman or something similar."
He wasn't very clear either, as these items had been passed down for too long, separated from him by countless generations.
If it weren't for the lack of food, he wouldn't have taken it out to sell for Black Rye Mushrooms.
Li Qing took the jade slip into his hand, squinting as he examined it closely. There seemed to be faint patterns on it.
The jade slip was smooth in texture and felt warm to the touch, truly a top-quality jade that could be considered exquisite in any world.
As the old man hastily finished packing the jade stones, Li Qing took out over three pounds of Black Rye Mushrooms from his cloth basket to give to the elderly vendor.
With the transaction complete, Li Qing continued to wander around the marketplace.
In the Eternal Night World, he recognized quite a few items, but there were still some local specialties that he couldn't identify.
For instance, there were fungi that looked very much like chunks of meat, with mycelium intertwined, appearing as white and fatty as rich meat!
The name was quite fitting, called White Meat Mushroom, which was valued much higher than Black Rye Mushroom; three pounds of Black Rye Mushroom could only be exchanged for one pound of White Meat Mushroom.
Of course, Li Qing had no interest in these fungal foods.
He had come to the Obsidian City marketplace intending to exchange the Black Rye Mushrooms in his possession for some fine iron and to see if there were any other special ores available.
Ever since he had begun practicing the Ancient Hammer Technique, he had developed an urgent need for a suitable hammer.
The hammer he was currently using for blacksmithing was the one he had used as an apprentice, specifically for forging iron.
If it were to be used for combat, then a blacksmithing hammer would definitely not suffice; it needed to be reforged.
Thinking of this, Li Qing touched a piece of cold metal hidden deep in his bosom, which was as smooth as ink jade.
It was the Mo Jin that the officer Li Gui had given to him, meant to be melted into the Mountain Opening Axe!
Due to the sudden attack by the bandits, Li Qing, who was in the tent at the time, had been unable to complete the forging of the Mountain Opening Axe.
However, he was astonished to find that the piece of Mo Jin he had thrown into the forge had not melted at all.
It was known that this was the area with the highest temperature, surrounded by fiery red colors; even the hardest metals should have melted.
Yet this piece of Mo Jin remained intact.
So before escaping to the granary, he made sure to bring this piece of Mo Jin with him.
Upon holding it, he discovered that after such a long time of high-temperature smelting, this piece of Mo Jin showed no signs of melting; even the surface temperature had only slightly increased, changing from its previous coolness to a mildly warm touch.
'The bandit attack on the military camp has turned out to be a windfall for me with this piece of Mo Jin. However, considering that we all share the surname Li, Officer Li Gui shouldn't mind too much.'
With this thought, Li Qing's mood inevitably brightened.
He planned to buy some quality fine iron to take back and then continue to see if he could melt down this piece of Mo Jin. If successful, he intended to use it as the hammerhead to create a high-quality war hammer.
After wandering around the marketplace for a couple of rounds, Li Qing quickly found a blacksmith shop.
Inside, there were no sounds of clanging metal, and the surrounding temperature was not as scorching as he had imagined, completely unlike a normally operating blacksmith shop.
When Li Qing walked in, a young apprentice sitting next to a gray anvil weakly spoke up, "Guest, what would you like to forge? Weapons or farming tools?"
Upon hearing this, Li Qing's mind stirred.
This was a perfect opportunity to inquire about the current blacksmithing prices in Obsidian City. He asked, "I want to forge a few sickles; how much would that cost?" As soon as he spoke, the apprentice's eyes lit up. He struggled to stand and said, "If you provide the iron ingots, two sickles would cost half a pound of Black Rye Mushrooms!"
"If I provide the materials, then one sickle would cost half a pound of Black Rye Mushrooms. If you want more, we can negotiate!"
Indeed, when the Yan family had sought him to forge sickles, they had pressed the price down. Previously, when he helped them forge sickles, he had only received half a pound of Black Rye Mushrooms for three sickles!
However, this blacksmith shop was located in the marketplace, so a slightly higher price was to be expected.
"Ahem, I came here to buy some fine iron; how much do you sell it for?" Li Qing coughed and asked.
"One pound of Black Rye Mushrooms for twenty pounds of iron ingots; how much do you want?" The apprentice suddenly lost interest.
However, Li Qing's next words made his eyes widen in shock.
"Then give me three hundred pounds!" Li Qing said in a deep voice.
"What? Three... three hundred pounds?"
"Yes, is there a problem?" Li Qing carefully observed the man's expression and smiled.
"Of course not! I'll go find it for you!" The apprentice's steps became quick and nimble.
Buying three hundred pounds of iron ingots was a deal worth fifteen pounds of Black Rye Mushrooms, which was no small amount.
For a blacksmith shop that had been closed for a long time and was on the verge of starving, this was incredibly important!
There were actually many mines around Obsidian City; one could go outside the city to mine iron ore and then smelt it into iron ingots.
The few blacksmith shops in the city operated this way, and according to current regulations, no one would come to regulate these activities; whatever was mined belonged to the miner.
Unlike in the Maple Kingdom, where salt and iron were strictly controlled, private salt sales and ironware exports were not permitted, leading to consistently high iron prices.
After a long while, the blacksmith apprentice finally walked out from the back warehouse, looking dusty and disheveled.
"Guest, I've counted it up; I have about three hundred pounds of iron ingots left. That'll be fifteen pounds of Black Rye Mushrooms!" He rubbed his hands together, his gaze fixed on Li Qing, fearing he was just here to make fun of him.
Bang!
Li Qing dropped his basket, which still contained about fifteen or sixteen pounds of Black Rye Mushrooms.
The apprentice's eyes widened as he swallowed hard and said, "I'll pack it up for you right away!"
Soon, over three hundred pounds of iron ingots were packed into a sturdier and larger basket, and the apprentice struggled to push the basket into the shop.
"Ha! Guest, do you want me to help you carry it back?"
However, Li Qing shook his head, refusing his kind offer.
"No need, I can carry it myself."
After saying that, Li Qing crouched down and directly shouldered the basket containing over three hundred pounds of iron ingots, looking quite steady.
After feeling the weight and his own limits, Li Qing let out a slight sigh of relief.
Not bad, he could barely manage it without much strain; it would serve as a way to strengthen his physique along the way.
Li Qing was very satisfied with his current physical strength; being able to walk steadily while carrying over three hundred pounds of iron ingots was something he wouldn't have dared to imagine before.
Under the astonished and horrified gaze of the blacksmith apprentice, Li Qing walked out of the blacksmith shop, preparing to leave the marketplace.
(End of Chapter)