Mercenaries in Two Worlds

After re-inspecting the doors and windows, Zhang Qian took out a book, a sword, and a jade slip.

The book was titled "Xiaoshan Sword Techniques," describing Heavenly Rank martial arts techniques. The sword, like a ring, was completely unadorned, with only the words "Qingfeng" (Gentle Breeze) inscribed on its base. It was two feet long and no more than two and a half inches wide, its blade as white as autumn frost, radiating a serene glow in the candlelight.

Zhang Qian tried to pick it up, and it was quite heavy. Even though he was already in the early stage of body refinement, he could only barely lift it with one hand. He held it with both hands and swung it into the air, and a clear sword sound rang out.

"What a fine sword." Zhang Qian didn't actually know the sword's grade; he just exclaimed in admiration.

After twirling the Qingfeng Sword a few times, Zhang Qian reluctantly put it back in his ring.

"And this jade slip?" Zhang Qian also used his consciousness to explore it.

After a while, he sighed softly and put the jade slip down.

It turns out that the owner of this ring was Hao Qingfeng, a master who failed to break through to the Transcendent Realm. His name is elegant, but he is also incredibly persistent, having made a name for himself in the martial world with his exceptional swordsmanship. Obsessed with swordsmanship, he created the "Xiaoshan Swordplay" after a month of practicing swordsmanship on Mount Xiao, making him a swordsmanship genius rarely seen in a century. However, he is extremely jealous of wealth and unwilling to join any major sect, thus he has always cultivated alone.

Whether it is admirable or lamentable, he cultivated to the Yuan Dan realm in twenty years with a Xuan-rank technique, thinking that he could overcome the Heavenly Tribulation with his understanding of swordsmanship. However, fate played a trick on him. In the end, he died because the level of his technique was too low and he lacked treasures. He only had a low-grade Xuan-rank Qingfeng Sword.

Before his death, he wrote this jade slip, hoping that someone destined would find it and pass on his "Xiaoshan Sword Technique." By sheer coincidence, it was picked up by a playful little purple moon lion, a cruel twist of fate that brought Zhang Qian such good fortune.

"Rest assured, I will definitely pass on your 'Xiaoshan Sword Technique'." Zhang Qian also felt a sense of respect for this tragic genius and made a promise to the jade slip. The jade slip seemed to hear Zhang Qian's words. The pure blue light it originally emitted gradually dimmed, turning into an ordinary jade slip. It was as if the last bit of obsession of the Qingfeng Daoist had dissipated into the world along with Zhang Qian's promise.

Zhang Qian used the same method to open the ring given by 1024. As expected, there was nothing inside, but the space was large enough, a full 100 square meters, square and easy to measure.

Setting aside distractions, Zhang Qian began the most exciting part: counting the spirit stones.

A...

Two…

After losing more than three times, Zhang Qian finally determined that he needed 300 low-grade spirit stones and 95 mid-grade spirit stones.

For someone at the peak of the Yuan Dan realm, this amount of wealth is truly meager, but for Zhang Qian, who has just begun the Qi Refining stage and has only seen spirit stones once or twice, it is a great fortune.

A large sum of unexpected wealth

Early in the morning, another noisy commotion broke out in the courtyard.

"Zhang Qian, what kind of footwork is that? Hey, why are your eyes so dark? Did you think about that girl all night?"

"Baozi, my baozi."

"What do you mean it's called Wangcai? How could you name it that when you're so clueless?"

"Stop arguing, I want to eat my steamed buns in peace and quiet."

"You little bastard, stop right there! You're just like your master, daring to steal my steamed buns..."

...

After the commotion subsided, the six of them finally settled down and sat around the table, discussing serious matters while eating steamed buns.

"Sigh," said Wang Er, the head of the family, as he pulled out ten taels of silver and a low-grade spirit stone from his pocket. "This is all the wealth our Wang family mercenary group has. We're getting poorer and poorer, and there's no end in sight!"

Zhao Yi, the most listless of the six, glanced at Zhang Qian and snorted, "How can you possibly raise such a good-for-nothing? And you even have a little good-for-nothing to take care of." As he spoke, he kicked Wangcai, who was lying on the ground, hard.

"Tsk~~" Wangcai was, after all, a descendant of a second-tier demon beast. After being kicked, it glared at Zhao Yi with bared teeth.

"Zhao Yi, what do you mean?" Zhang Qian picked up Wangcai, checked it over and found no injuries, and breathed a sigh of relief.

Zhao Yi picked up a steamed bun, gave a contemptuous smile, and said, "What do you mean? Don't you know? You good-for-nothing."

Ye Mei couldn't stand it anymore. "Alright, alright, let's just take on more missions. Zhang Qian understands animal language, which will be a great help in the future."

"Hmph, helping, more like dragging him down." Ye Mei's words only made Zhao Yi angrier. He stopped eating his steamed bun and glared at Zhang Qian, mocking him.

Even a clay figure has some spirit. As a newcomer, Zhang Qian was originally prepared to keep a low profile, but Zhao Yi kept harassing him. He took out a mid-grade spirit stone that he had originally planned to hand over for food and slammed it on the table with a "bang". "Can't I pay for my own food?"

When Wang Er, the financial steward, saw the mid-grade spirit stone, his eyes lit up, and he reached out his claws to grab it, but Ye Mei slapped his claws away.

Ye Mei picked up the spirit stone and put it back into Zhang Qian's hand, saying softly, "This is yours. Our Wang Family Mercenary Group doesn't have a rule about handing over personal money."

Zhang Qian had inherited a huge fortune and originally wanted to give more to help the Wang family mercenary group improve their living conditions, but he was afraid of being asked about the source of the spirit stones. Seeing Ye Mei protecting him like this, he was a little touched and quickly waved his hand to refuse, "Sister Ye, take it! I have a big appetite, it's only right."

Wang Er looked at Ye Mei pitifully like a puppy, muttering to himself, "We're almost out of money for food."

Ye Mei and Zhang Qian declined for a while, but seeing that the other party insisted, she had no choice but to put it away for the time being, but promised to repay the debt when the Wang Family Mercenary Group had money in the future.

Seeing that this was Ye Mei's last line, Zhang Qian could only smile bitterly and agree.

Watching Ye Mei and Zhang Qian push and shove each other like siblings on a blind date, Zhao Yi became even more jealous.

Originally, Zhao Yi had an excuse to say that Zhang Qian was eating and drinking for free, but now that Zhang Qian had brought out a considerable amount of mid-grade spirit stones, he could no longer make excuses. He couldn't help but feel depressed. He also thought about his own mediocre talent and his poverty, and felt inferior. With these two conflicting feelings, Zhao Yi became angry and embarrassed. He slammed his hand on the table and said, "I'm not eating anymore." He then slammed the courtyard door and left.

Zhang Qian had never understood why Zhao Yi was targeting him so much. Seeing Zhao Yi like this, he awkwardly scratched his head, unsure of what to say. Wang Er, having taken Zhang Qian's money, began to defend him, saying, "Zhao Yi's temper is indeed getting stranger and stranger for some reason." As he spoke, he glanced at Ye Mei as if he understood something.

Of the three Wang brothers, Wang Yizhi, Wang Sanhan, and only Wang Er was clever; otherwise, they wouldn't have put him in charge of the finances. Ye Mei was also very troubled. She knew Zhao Yi had ulterior motives when he wanted to join her mercenary group, but she couldn't resist the three Wang brothers' persuasion that there weren't enough people, so she reluctantly agreed. Now, she had brought trouble upon herself and become the catalyst for internal division, which was very frustrating.

Seeing that everyone was silent and the atmosphere was a bit awkward, Zhang Qian asked, "Hey, how much silver do you need to exchange for a spirit stone?"

Wang Er was in a good mood and didn't care that Zhang Qian asked a question that any normal person would know the answer to, "Ten taels of silver for one low-grade spirit stone, one hundred low-grade spirit stones for one mid-grade spirit stone..."

Zhang Qian did some quick calculations and exclaimed in surprise, "That top-grade spirit stone is worth ten million taels of silver! Good heavens!"

I thought I had made a fortune, but I didn't expect that I was still so far from completing the mission, which was devastating.

Wang Er fiddled with the mid-grade spirit stone and chuckled softly, "Who told you to calculate it like that? Normally, one high-grade spirit stone can be exchanged for two hundred mid-grade spirit stones, and one top-grade spirit stone can be exchanged for four hundred high-grade spirit stones. However, the higher the grade of the spirit stone, the purer its spiritual energy, and there is usually a premium. Besides, high-grade spirit stones are rare and hard to come by. Who would offer one for exchange? As for top-grade spirit stones... hehe, I guess there aren't any in the entire Yu Luo City."

"Hey, Zhang Qian, what's wrong?" Wang Er said, seeing Zhang Qian clutching his chest and slumped over the table.

Zhang Qian groaned in pain, "It's heartbreaking..."