Chapter 96: Jade-Cleaving Steel
“It completely meets the requirements—actually, it has far exceeded them.”
The Sword Spirit spoke in mild surprise, “Has Artifact Refining in this world truly reached such heights? Even an ordinary storefront carries products on par with those once produced by a grand refining lineage in old times.”
“If nothing unexpected is happening,” An Jing said, gncing at the price, “then it might not be an exaggeration to consider the entire Tianyuan Realm one enormous Artifact Refining sect.”
The price of mystic iron was two hundred seventy merit points per thousand jin, and twenty-five hundred merit points per ten thousand jin—slightly higher than what Iron Hand had mentioned, but not by much.
By comparison, pure silver cost one merit point for five liang, while pure gold was pricier at twenty merit points per liang.
Both pure silver and pure gold cost more than mystic iron.
An Jing did not know the going rate for mystic iron in the Huaixu Realm, but he felt sure that, over there, no matter how common refined mystic iron might be, it would never be traded by the thousands or even tens of thousands of jin in such vast quantities.
Moreover, even if mystic iron was inferior to gold, it ought to at least match silver of the same weight. It clearly was not something an ordinary shop could sell so casually.
An Jing did not rush into a purchase. He pnned to browse other ores and stones first—broadening his horizons would be beneficial.
“Dawn Stone.”
An Jing examined a piece of gray-bronze ore. At first gnce, it seemed ordinary, yet its surface dispyed countless fine, gleaming flecks of red. Those crimson specks were the actual Qiming Stone—crystals of sun essence imbued with the qi of the rising dawn.
When used as an auxiliary material for forging artifacts, this stone could impart the sun’s vibrant energy and suppress numerous shadowy evils. It was priced at one hundred fifty merit points per liang.
“Azure-Shadow Lead.”
An Jing next focused on a greenish-bck lead ingot that radiated cold air. Found only in wastends and ruins where bloody battles had occurred, it naturally contained Yin Sha and Xin* Metal Qi. It could not be worked by fire, only melted by water, and the blood refining method was ideal for it.
This metal served as a raw material for numerous curse techniques and cursed weapons, and it could also be used in certain soul-nourishing pills. Its price was seven hundred fifty merit points per jin.
There were many other items as well.
Cloud-Sweeping Dust. Emerald Garden Cy. Blue Fme Jade. Pure Gold. Jadewood. Tidewave Stone.
An Jing inspected them one by one. The Subduing Evil Sword Spirit softly expined each mineral’s properties, a faint note of nostalgia in His voice, as though He had not encountered these familiar materials for a very long time.
Yet He was a bit perplexed. “Basic ores in this world are refined at a very low cost and traded by the thousands of jin,” He said. “But anything even slightly more precious—those requiring the sun and moon’s essence—are sold by the jin or even the liang. The price gap is enormous. It’s fundamentally abnormal.”
That puzzlement vanished the moment An Jing noticed a pure silvery ore.
The ore was entirely silvery, encircled by a pale white halo on all four sides. At a gnce, he could sense this halo’s razor-sharp energy—a true Divine Marvel.
“Jade-Cleaving Steel?”
The Sword Spirit, usually calm and nearly emotionless, raised His voice slightly. “How could such a rare ore appear here?”
An Jing focused on it as well. He sensed the Taibai Restriction Seed within his body begin to revolve, stirred by the presence of this precious material.
Jade-cleaving steel, also known as immacute iron, could not form naturally. Cultivators had to modify a feng shui grand formation, directing metal veins into the Earth Lung and allowing them to settle for more than a century before catalyzation was possible.
According to Daoist principles, the lungs governed the essence of metal and qi. The Earth Lung was the location where the earth veins’ qi circuted. By using the Earth Lung Fire Sha as a furnace to temper hundreds of units of metal, one could eventually condense an innately refined, many-times-forged “metal essence.” With a mere spark of activation, it could cleave jade and cut gold, hence the names jade-cleaving steel or immacute iron. It was regarded as one of the finest materials for forging flying swords.
This extraordinary metal was essentially Geng Metal Qi manifesting inside pure metal. When used to cultivate the Radiant White Spirit Divine Restriction, it could yield ten times the result for half the effort. Even so, as the Sword Spirit had said, why would it appear in such a small shop? Perhaps the shop had formidable backing—or maybe, in this different world, its rarity was simply different from what he knew.
An Jing took a deep breath. This was the bck market—where one could purchase extraordinary metals that, in theory, should never be sold openly. Suppressing his longing, he looked at the listed price and froze in shock.
One thousand merit points per liang.
It was not expensive—it was shockingly cheap.
“This isn’t normal.”
The Sword Spirit spoke gravely: “Jade-cleaving steel is a third-rank spiritual material. Thousand-year or ten-thousand-year jade-cleaving steel is so rare that even Purple Mansion Golden Core True Monarchs covet it. Compared to mystic iron, how could it possibly be this cheap?”
An Jing replied in his mind, “I’ve noticed that any metals tied to the earth veins are incredibly cheap, while anything nourished by the sun and moon is extremely costly. Since the Tianyuan Realm has been under cloud cover for so long, maybe that’s the cause.”
“As for metals… perhaps they’ve discovered vast underground deposits. That could expin why mystic iron and the like are so inexpensive.”
It was one possible line of specution.
From An Jing’s perspective, the cheaper jade-cleaving steel was, the better—no matter what y behind it.
The only downside was that, even then, it remained quite costly.
“One liang of hundred-year-old jade-cleaving steel is better than ten thousand jin of refined mystic iron,” the Sword Spirit went on. “Refining it would further strengthen the body and save a lot of time. It’s just that this price…”
After subtracting the fifty merit points used to bribe the inspector, An Jing had six hundred thirty merit points left—enough for barely half a liang of jade-cleaving steel. That amount wasn’t entirely pointless, but it was hardly ideal. Moreover, Little Ochre Mountain probably wouldn’t sell it in such a small portion.
And An Jing couldn’t afford to use up all his merit points here; he still needed a weapon to battle sinborn demons.
“Let’s keep looking.”
An Jing walked past the jade-cleaving steel without a second gnce, as though it held no appeal for him. Yet none of the materials he looked at afterward fit his needs nearly as well.
After all, pure Geng Metal had limited applications, and most of the remaining items were composite jade materials: equally valuable but of no use to An Jing right now.
Only when An Jing was about to purchase refined mystic iron and depart did he suddenly spot another material he recognized.
“Empty Spirit Stone.”
At the sight of a translucent white-based jade, An Jing hesitated for a moment. The Sword Spirit offered no immediate expnation. An Jing surreptitiously took out a nearly identical piece of transparent jade from his pocket. “This is…”
“Isn’t this just used-up spirit jade?” the Sword Spirit asked, puzzled. “Does that really count as an ore?”
Indeed, as the Sword Spirit noted, the Empty Spirit Stone—carefully showcased in a transparent crystal case—was essentially spirit jade that had already been spent.
An Jing had obtained two pieces from a Demonic Sect elder. He had already used one to awaken his spirit and embark on his Immortal Cultivation path, leaving him with one piece remaining.
“What is this? And why is there no price listed?” he asked.
An Jing addressed the shop assistant, who promptly stood up and examined the Empty Spirit Stone before expining, “Sir, this is an empty spirit stone. It dispels evil and wards off Baleful Qi, as well as suppresses Demonic Qi and Camity Qi.”
“It’s produced from spiritual veins and is initially filled with completely pure spiritual energy.”
“After its spiritual energy is depleted, it can be recharged with machinery or converted into the core of a spiritual energy furnace.”
“However, since the ambient spiritual energy is tainted by Demonic Qi, recharged stones cannot attain full purity. After several reuses, the spirit stone will turn into worthless scrap, and the spiritual energy furnace will also cease functioning.”
“An empty spirit stone is thus a bnk stone that has never been recharged. Besides functioning as the core of various Magical Artifacts, it can block Camity Qi and Demonic Qi from entering your body. If you’re wounded in the wild and risk deformity, you can powder an empty spirit stone and mix it with medicine to prevent Demonic Qi from infiltrating. Then, once you’re back in the city, you can recover. It’s essentially a second life.”
“As for the cost… scarcity drives the price. Spirit stones have a limited annual output and are regarded as strategic resources. Even empty spirit stones are rare. The exact price depends on the stone’s size, but the standard rate is around one hundred fifty merit points per thousand.”
The shop assistant spoke methodically and offered a thorough expnation, yet her words made An Jing inwardly pause.
Fifteen hundred merit points per liang—this was more expensive than jade-cleaving steel?
Hearing that price, even An Jing—who was not deeply versed in cultivation—found it rather astonishing. The Sword Spirit was briefly taken aback as well. “Used-up spirit jade… isn’t it only fit to stabilize formation bases?”
(End of Chapter)
*辛 (Xīn) is the eighth of the Ten Heavenly Stems (天干). Each Stem corresponds to an aspect of Yin-Yang (阴阳) and one of the Five Elements (五行). In that framework:
辛 = “Yin Metal” (the more refined, flexible, and inward-focused side of the Metal element)
