Wen Jinnuo felt a chill all over his body when he heard Tao Ran's words. The other Wen Clan members were feeling extremely terrible as well. Offending a high-level elder of the Cloud Margin Pavilion was almost a guarantee that life would be hard for them in the future. As for Gong Lianda, he heaved a sigh of relief and felt completely relaxed. Inwardly, he was overjoyed, Finally, it's time to reap the harvest of my bet!

This time, he had brought a group of people to fight the Wen Clan. If it did not achieve his desired effect, his position in the clan would henceforth suffer suppression. At the same time, he would also be a target of Wen Clan's revenge. Thus, it was obvious how pressured he had been.

Now, everything was fine, as he had placed his bet correctly. In fact, this feat was so significant that his chance at being the next in line to inherit the patriarch position had grown even larger. He kept looking at his daughter lovingly, not forgetting that his daughter was the main reason for this feat.

Tao Ran did not do anything else to the Wen Clan. Those words he uttered alone was punishment enough. Instead, he left with Xiang Shaoyun to take a look at the top-quality goldsteel stone. As for Gong Lianda and Gong Qinyin, they naturally followed.

The people from the city hall did not dare to stop the Gong Clan people. Instead, they went to mess with the Wen Clan, demanding compensation for the damages they had caused during the fight. The Wen Clan did not dare to voice any objections and immediately headed back so they could start thinking of a way to deal with the Cloud Margin Forging Pavilion.

Xiang Shaoyun returned to the restaurant with Tao Ran and took out a 150-catty-heavy goldsteel stone before showing it to Tao Ran. Tao Ran was a tier-4 blacksmith who had the potential to become a tier-5 blacksmith in the future. Thus, he was a person who longed greatly for all sorts of emperor-grade materials.

Now that a top-quality goldsteel stone was before him, he was flooded with joy, feeling like he had gained a precious treasure.

Tao Ran lightly knocked the goldsteel stone and exclaimed in excitement, "It really is a top-quality goldsteel stone! This quality...is truly excellent!"

A top-quality goldsteel stone this size was enough for him to forge a few emperor weapons. Thus, this purchase was extremely important for him. He was glad that he had decided to make the trip himself. If this stone had been snatched by the Wen Clan, he would most certainly feel extremely distressed.

"Lord, let us trade according to the market price instead. Without you, I might have lost my life there," Xiang Shaoyun offered tactfully.

Everything he had done up until now, such as gifting Gong Lianda a small piece of top-quality goldsteel stone and the discount he was currently giving Tao Ran, was for the sake of buying Tao Ran's favor at a cheap price. Although that little discount he gave was nothing for Tao Ran, the display of gratefulness had still won Xiang Shaoyun a favorable impression in Tao Ran's heart.

"I already promised to pay you 10 percent above the market price. I will not go back on my words," Tao Ran insisted. In truth, he had promised 20 percent above the market price. Now that the 20 percent had become 10 percent, one could say that he was already getting a discount.

But Xiang Shaoyun was also right. If Tao Ran had not arrived when he had, Xiang Shaoyun would have ended up dead in the Wen Clan's hands. Thus, Tao Ran considered them even. Of course, he was completely unaware that his actions were all completely under Xiang Shaoyun's manipulation.

Xiang Shaoyun did not care about the 10 percent. He only cared about dealing with his problem. Selling this piece of 150-catty, top-quality goldsteel stone at the price of 100 low-grade spirit crystals per catty, he would earn a total of 165,000 low-grade spirit crystals. After converting them all to 16,500 mid-grade spirit crystals, he kept them all away.

This was a massive income, one that anyone would be envious of. After all, a lot of people had no chance of earning such a large income. Only a King Realm blacksmith like Tao Ran would be able to afford such a sum easily.

From this incident, Xiang Shaoyun had profited in terms of wealth. On the other hand, Gong Lianda had gotten an opportunity to officially form a connection with Tao Ran. As for how well he could preserve the connection, that would have to rely on himself.

That no longer had anything to do with Xiang Shaoyun.

Toward the end, everyone except Gong Qinyin left. She had a whole new respect for Xiang Shaoyun. A young man who was a year younger than her was already capable of scheming against those big shots undetected. He was truly too smart.

She would have never dared to even dream of doing something like that. Apart from his smart mind, Xiang Shaoyun also possessed astonishing combat prowess. If the Cloud Margin Pavilion knew the extent of his talent, a large number of elders would immediately start fighting to take him as a disciple.

She was also finally convinced that Elder Zhen Peng was sincere in becoming Xiang Shaoyun's follower. In fact, even she was starting to have the urge to become Xiang Shaoyun's follower.

"What are you thinking about?" Xiang Shaoyun walked over and interrupted her thoughts.

"Nothing. Since everything is solved, shouldn't we leave for the earthcore fire?" Gong Qinyin asked.

"No, we can't rush. We must make all the necessary preparations before leaving. Otherwise, we will only be wasting our time," Xiang Shaoyun said.

"What preparations do we need to make?" Gong Qinyin asked in confusion.

"Things to subdue the earthcore fire," Xiang Shaoyun said seriously. He then added, "Also, we need to increase your strength."

"Increase my strength?" Gong Qinyin blanked out.

Xiang Shaoyun did not waste his breath and took out a tiny bottle of earth star spring liquid and gave it to her, "Senior sister, you are not weak, but we will definitely encounter Cloud Margin Pavilion disciples during the trip. Your current strength is insufficient to deal with them. Consider this earth star spring liquid my repayment to you."

Gong Qinyin did not argue and accepted the bottle. "What a surprise. Turns out you are quite rich, huh? I won't be holding back, then."

Xiang Shaoyun rubbed his nose and said, "Don't worry about it. We are friends, right?" He paused for a bit and added, "Try to grow stronger while I make some preparations. When you come out of your seclusion, we will start our search for the earthcore fire."

Gong Qinyin nodded and left. After she left, Xiang Shaoyun brought Mo Mo away from the restaurant and headed toward the business district. Now, he no longer needed to worry that the Wen Clan would come looking for him.

He needed to first purchase some healing materials and fire protection materials. However, they were not his topmost priority. What he required most was an item of utmost cold. Only then would he be able to even approach the earthcore fire.

He entered the city's largest herb store and asked the shopkeeper, "Shopkeeper, do you have any millennium icecold jade or something with similar properties here?"

"You are probably going to look for the earthcore fire as well, right? Too bad it's already sold out," said the shopkeeper with a helpless smile.

Xiang Shaoyun was disappointed to hear that. Without an item of utmost cold, how was he supposed to subdue the earthcore fire?

Just as he was about to leave, the shopkeeper said, "Maybe you can try your luck at the auction hall. You might be surprised at what you find there."