Chapter Thirteen: The Exchange

  Jiang Hao didn't dawdle on the way, and before he even entered the courtyard, he saw his mother hanging clothes in the yard from a distance, her thin figure casting a long shadow on the ground.

  "Mom, I'm back!" Jiang Hao shouted loudly.

  Jiang Hao's whole body shook, and he turned his head to see Jiang Hao running into the yard. With a happy smile, he said: "Hao'er, you're back! Where have you been these past few days? I was worried to death!" Jiang Mu grabbed Jiang Hao with one hand, looking left and right, as if afraid that Jiang Hao would run away again.

  "Mother, I just went out to cultivate, look at me, I'm fine, aren't I? Besides, your son is now stronger than before and has the ability to protect himself." Jiang Huan felt his mother's thick affection, and his heart was warm and fuzzy.

  "You're still a mother's son no matter how strong you are. I don't object to your cultivation, but you must pay attention to safety." Jiang Mu saw that Jiang Huan was so sensible and didn't ask any more questions.

  Jiang Hao took out a handful of gold coins and handed them to his mother: "Mother, today I want to eat braised pork."

  "Where did you get so much money?" Jiang's mother asked worriedly as she saw Jiang Hao take out so much cash.

  "Oh, that's right. I went to the Mercenary Guild and accepted a quest. This is my reward, earned through my own hard work." Jiang Huan said truthfully.

  "Alright, I'll go buy it now. Tonight, I'll cook braised pork for you." Jiang Mu hung up the clothes and hurriedly went out to buy vegetables.

  In the evening, Jiang Mu prepared a table of dishes that Jiang Huan loved to eat. Jiang Huan ate with great relish for a while, having not eaten a full meal in several days. Seeing this, Jiang Mu kept shouting "Slow down, slow down, don't choke!"

  Having eaten and drunk enough, Jiang Hao ran into his own small hut, sat on the bed, and thought about what had happened in the past few days. Jiang Hao's heart couldn't hide its fervent longing for strength.

  "Heh heh, what's wrong, thinking about that little girl again?" At this time, Yi Tian floated out again, looking at Jiang Huan with a playful gaze.

  Jiang Hao's face turned red as he thought that this master was indeed unorthodox, and said in a low voice: "Master, you're awake."

  "Hmm, you little brat, how is it? Are you envious of Zi Feng's strength? Do you want to become a strong one like him?" Yi Tian withdrew his smile and said seriously.

  "Master, that Zi Feng is very powerful, but my goal is to dominate the world." Jiang Hao's face was filled with determination.

  "What a magnificent ambition, if you say you just want to be as strong as Zi Feng, then I'd be disappointed. As my disciple, you must have goals and determination that surpass ordinary people. You already have the goal, now let's see your determination." Ji Tian couldn't help but praise him.

  "Master, unfortunately I didn't get the second-order water-elemental beast core." Jiang Hao suddenly thought of the medicinal materials.

  "Heh, no big deal, don't you have another attribute beast core? Just take it out and sell it, isn't that fine?" Shi Tian smiled calmly, pointing to the pendant on Jiang Huan's chest.

  Jiang Hao used his soul power to take a look and found that there was a small pile of second-order beast cores in the necklace, and the beast cores were still flashing with lightning power from time to time. It turned out to be a second-order thunder system beast core.

  "Master, where did so many second-order beast cores come from? I've struck it rich!" Seeing so many beast cores, Jiang Huan's eyes gleamed with golden light. This was a small fortune! On the market, even the most ordinary second-order beast core would be worth thousands of gold coins, and this thunder-type second-order beast core was even more rare, it could be said that it was priceless.

  "Look at you, a useless thing, a second-rate beast core. You're treating it like a treasure. When Zifeng destroyed that pack of Thunder Wolves, I just did it casually." said Shi Tian with disdain, "In my time, only divine beast cores could spark some interest in me."

  "Oh dear, Master, you're not unaware of how poor I am, so please don't mock me." Jiang Hao gave Di Tian a white-eyed glance and said innocently.

  "Alright, tomorrow morning you can go out and take a look. You should have an exchange here, right? You can go check it out. Also, I think your Jiang family status is still quite useful. When the time comes, just tell them directly that you're a member of the Jiang family, and those people won't dare to mess with you." Yi Tian thought for a moment, gave Jiang Huan a suggestion, and after finishing speaking, ignored Jiang Huan again and slipped back into the necklace.

  Jiang Hao touched the pendant, looking at the expressions of those who saw so many second-order beast cores, and felt a sense of satisfaction in his heart. He calmed down his excitement and slowly entered a meditative state. After several days of meditation, Jiang Hao clearly felt the existence of a bottleneck, and his fighting spirit had reached a kind of saturation, with the possibility of breaking through at any time. However, it was just that one layer of membrane that hadn't been broken through. Jiang Hao calmed down, controlling his fighting spirit to slowly circulate back and forth, making sufficient preparations for the breakthrough ahead.

  The next day, Jiang Hao withdrew from his cultivation state early in the morning and hastily ate a few mouthfuls of breakfast before leaving.

  Taiyang has many exchanges, but the most famous one is in Chengxi. Although Jiang Hao knew about it, he had never been there before, so he asked along the way. It wasn't until almost noon that he saw a tall building ahead with the words "Jubao Pavilion" written on it. The majestic three characters gave Jiang Hao a deep shock. People passing by looked at the pavilion with a deep frenzy in their eyes, as if there was something inside that attracted them. This must be the first exchange of Taiyang that people talked about.

  Jiang Hao tidied up his clothes and stepped inside. Before him was a vast and spacious hall, with many stalls inside the hall, in front of which people were crowded and calling out to sell their wares without end. At the very front of the hall was a huge light screen, on which rows of transaction information were constantly being displayed, making Jiang Hao's eyes dazzle.

  "Hey, little brother, take a look. We have Huanxue Dan, Fugui Wan, and various beast cores of different levels. There are many other medicinal materials as well. Do you need any?" A tall and thin man with piercing eyes approached him.

  Jiang Hao didn't react in time and was pulled by that person, dragging him straight to the stall on the side. "No need, I want to go somewhere else to take a look." Jiang Hao released the aura of a five-star warrior, shocking the man away, and said calmly.

  That man was stunned, and then he was shocked open by Jiang Huan. He didn't react until he saw Jiang Huan walk far away. He thought it was a rich family's spoiled son, but unexpectedly, at such a young age, his strength was not weak. He shook his head and continued to greet others.

  Jiang Hao walked and looked all the way, the existence of elixirs, beast cores, battle techniques, and even spiritual medicines broadened his horizons.

  At a bend, Jiang Hao suddenly saw a stall with a bright red herb, and upon closer inspection, there was a faint flame-like aura surrounding it. It turned out to be the "Blazing Grass" that Jiang Hao had been searching for all along. The stall owner was an old man with a frail appearance, his eyes slightly closed, with an air of indifference about him. From the sparse crowd in front of his stall, one could tell that this old man was not someone to be trifled with.

  "Senior, how many gold coins is this Flamegrass?" Jiang Huan asked with a suppressed nervous heart.

  "A thousand gold coins, or any second-order beast core." The old man raised his eyes and said casually, seeing that it was just a little kid.

  "A thousand gold coins? This Flamegrass may be precious, but it's just an ordinary medicinal herb. Five hundred gold coins, and I'll pay for it." Jiang Huan had inquired with Tie Shan and knew a bit about the market price, so he felt quite helpless towards this old man's outrageous opening offer.

  "No haggling!" The old man said in a low voice.

  "Jiang Hao, that iron piece in the corner must be bought." Suddenly, Tian's voice reached Jiang Hao's ears.

  "Huh?" Jiang Huan's gaze swept to a black iron block in the corner, and he felt very strange. However, he seemed to have an inexplicable trust in this master, so he didn't ask any more questions.

  Jiang Hao pulled out a second-order Lei Beast Core and tossed it to the old man, then grabbed the Flame Grass and casually felt around on the stall for a few moments, as if unintentionally picking up the iron block, saying: "This one is so expensive, I'll just take this one, you won't be at a loss."

  The old man glanced at the iron piece in Jiang Hao's hand and said, "Deal." Then he closed his eyes again and stopped talking.

  Jiang Hao turned around again, and there were indeed many second-level beast cores, but surprisingly, not a single water-type core was found. This made Jiang Hao feel quite depressed, it seemed that Tie Shan's words were true, the water-type beast core could only be obtained in the coastal city.

  "Hey, young man, didn't you find what you needed? You can go upstairs to the second floor and above, there are really good things there." An old man asked casually, seeing Jiang Huan's discontented expression.

  "Second floor, is there one upstairs too?" Jiang Hao looked at the old man with a puzzled expression.

  "Haha, you don't think this is what they mean by a transaction, do you? If the Gathering Pavilion were just like that, it wouldn't be worthy of being called the number one exchange in Sun City. The staircase is over there, you can go try, but not everyone can go up. I see you're not from an ordinary family either."

  "Thanks for the advice." Jiang Hao didn't linger and walked towards the corner.