Xiao Yan was stunned for a moment. "Xiao Xue, what are you talking about?"
"It's all because of you. Sister Xiao Yi is going to have a baby." Xiao Xue patted Xiao Yan on the shoulder, her expression more serious than ever. "You have to take responsibility as a father!"
Xiao Yi's face flushed crimson at Xiao Xue's sudden outburst.
Xiao Yan quickly understood what Xiao Xue meant and took Xiao Yi's delicate hand in his. "I didn't expect I'd be a father. Looks like I need to start saving up some money."
Xiao Yi blinked at Xiao Yan in confusion. When did this happen? How did she not know?
Flender was somewhat bewildered by what he heard. Were young people these days really this impressive?
However, when he thought of the three students from his own academy: one doing three matches a day, one needing to go to the brothel, and another who'd been in love five or six times at the age of thirteen...
Young people truly had a lot of energy!
Flender opened his eyes, then quickly closed them again.
After careful consideration, Xiao Yan only kept three items. "How much for these, boss?"
"Two hundred Gold Soul Coins!" Flender said.
Xiao Yan asked with a smile, "Can you make it a little cheaper? One hundred and fifty Gold Soul Coins?"
"Two hundred Gold Soul Coins is already a bargain. Either buy it or leave," Flender replied without backing down.
Xiao Yan hesitated for a moment before taking two money pouches from his Storage Jade Belt and placing them on a nearby table. "Two hundred Gold Soul Coins."
Flender glanced casually at the money pouches and nodded slightly.
Picking up the crystal and the other two items, Xiao Yan, Xiao Xue, and Xiao Yi left the shop and returned directly to the house they had rented.
Back home, Xiao Xue couldn't help but complain, "Brother Xiao Yan, you're being too cautious about buying things."
"Cautious?" Xiao Yan chuckled. "That shop owner is a Soul Saint, over seventy ranks, and the shop has the Hall of Martial Souls' emblem. It's not ordinary; being cautious is always a good idea."
"Xiao Yan gege, what treasure did you find? Show us quickly."
Xiao Yan reached for his waist and immediately produced the dark yellow crystal.
"I bought several things earlier, not only to conceal my real purpose but also to test if the shop owner knew his merchandise. When he quoted three hundred Gold Soul Coins, I understood..."
"Understood that he's a swindler, right?" Xiao Xue put down the crystal, looking at Xiao Yan.
Xiao Yan nodded slightly: "Not entirely. Besides revealing he's a swindler, I also realized he doesn't know the value of the item. Knowing these two things, I originally planned to haggle and buy it."
Hearing this, Xiao Xue couldn't help but laugh.
Xiao Yi, her cheeks flushed, gently pushed Xiao Xue. It was all this little girl's fault; she was so embarrassed today.
Xiao Yan touched his nose, startled when Xiao Xue mentioned Xiao Yi's pregnancy.
Taking the crystal from Xiao Xue, Xiao Yan said, "Let's talk about this thing. At a normal price, if someone knowledgeable saw it, it could sell for at least ten thousand Gold Soul Coins."
Xiao Xue's fox-like smile appeared. "I wonder if that merchant would die of anger knowing he sold something worth tens of thousands of Gold Soul Coins for a few hundred?"
"I wouldn't know."
Xiao Yan weighed the crystal in his hand, then raised his hand, channeling his power, and slammed it down.
Boom!
The entire crystal immediately cracked, and with a crisp sound, it shattered into several pieces.
Golden granules rolled out, clattering to the ground along with the crystal shards.
With a thought, Xiao Yan used his Blue Silver Emperor to create a sieve and a basket from the ground.
The sieve had tiny gaps, letting the broken crystals fall through while filtering out the smaller golden particles, which landed in the basket below.
Xiao Xue squatted down and picked up a particle.
These golden particles were like grains of rice, uniform in size, perfectly round, and shimmering with a faint golden light.
She gave it a gentle squeeze. It didn't feel like metal; it was very soft and elastic.
"Is this stuff really that valuable? It seems pretty ordinary," Xiao Xue stuck her tongue out.
Xiao Yan said, "Its name is Hair Gold. If you channel inner energy into it, it can transform into needle-thin strands. But without inner energy, it reverts back to its curled-up state. It's a natural hidden weapon.
Hidden weapons are weapons used for surprise attacks, often allowing the weak to defeat the strong. If you don't have absolute strength and you get hit by this thing, and you don't know how to remove it, you'll have to cut out the entire piece of flesh."
Following Xiao Yan's instructions, Xiao Xue channeled some inner energy into the Hair Gold in her hand. With the added power, the golden particle she held quickly transformed into a strand as thin as a hair.
If it wasn't for its golden color, it would be hard to notice even when held in hand unless you looked closely.
Having seen how Hair Gold could be used, Xiao Xue nodded slightly. "This Hair Gold does have some interesting properties."
"However, I have the Invincible Golden Body and Instant Transmission. This thing can't possibly hit me," Xiao Xue chuckled, retracting her inner energy and allowing the Hair Gold to revert to its granular state.
Xiao Yan gathered all the Hair Gold and sat down on a nearby chair.
"Although hidden weapons can allow the weak to defeat the strong, true strength is determined by one's own power. If you get hit by this hidden weapon, it just means your strength isn't strong enough!"
Saying this, Xiao Yan raised a finger and pressed it against the Hair Gold, which was being powered by inner energy.
As Xiao Yan's finger pressed down, the slender, sharp Hair Gold visibly flattened. With a light pinch between his fingers, the Hair Gold turned into golden powder.
Having cultivated the Dragon Elephant Mysterious Armor Technique, his physical attributes and strength had reached a level unimaginable to ordinary people.
The tiny hidden weapons couldn't harm him at all.
Xiao Xue couldn't help but ask, "Then isn't this Hair Gold useless to us if we buy it?"
Xiao Yan shook his head. "We didn't buy this specifically for ourselves. If we establish a sect in the future, we can equip some hidden weapons for them to defend themselves, and these Hair Gold Dragon Whisker Needles are one of them."
"Sect? Xiao Yan-gege, what will our sect be called?" Xiao Xue sat beside Xiao Yan and asked with interest.
Xiao Yan raised his hand and touched his nose. "We'll decide that when we meet the right talents. There are only three of us, which is a bit too few."
The idea of establishing a sect had been in his mind since he learned about the friction between Hall of Martial Souls and the two great empires.
He just hadn't found the right people. Leaving Notting City this time, he also wanted to find some soul masters and forge a completely new path of cultivation.
The next morning, Xiao Yan, Xiao Xue, and Xiao Yi went to the location of Shrek Academy.
Having left Soto City, the three of them journeyed south. After walking for a while, they spotted a small village.
Xiao Xue pointed towards the distant crowd, "There are a lot of people gathered there. Could Shrek Academy be there?"