Chapter 32 — Eight Hundred for Expensive Metal

CHAPTER 32

Eight Hundred for Expensive Metal

“Close the door,” Pei Rong said. “And don't let Bu Tie lean against it!”

A porter grumbled outside. The door shut, and Shi Feng put the long bundle on the warehouse table.

The room stood at the back of Jade Scale Trading House's western-bank store. Afternoon light entered through a high window. A chest of ordinary blades occupied one wall, and someone left a half-eaten pear beside the inkstone.

Pei Rong pushed the pear away and untied the wrapping.

His smile grew.

“Now this is better than farm tools,” Pei Rong said.

He lifted Wei Renshan's flying sword and turned it beneath the window. A little crystal lens appeared from his sleeve. He examined the edge, the pale lines near the guard, and the maker's stamp.

Pei Rong’s smile disappeared for a moment. He brought the blade close to the light and carefully wiped a smear from the maker’s stamp.

“See how the line joins beneath the guard?” Pei Rong asked. “No wasted stroke. Good work.”

“You can admire it after buying it,” Shi Feng said.

“Naturally, naturally,” Pei Rong replied, still looking through the lens.

This time he wasn’t fishing for a lower price. He liked the sword.

Shi Feng leaned against the table.

He knew how to handle an ordinary sword. He didn't know how to refine one, and he wasn't going to pretend that beating the owner made him an expert in its value.

Watching Pei Rong was easier. The merchant looked much too pleased for this to be worthless metal.

“Where'd you find it?” Pei Rong asked.

“Yunze Town,” Shi Feng said.

“After the beast tide?” Pei Rong asked.

“I'm selling a sword,” Shi Feng replied. “Are you buying a story?”

Pei Rong laughed and lowered the lens.

“Naturally, naturally. A merchant asks questions,” Pei Rong said.

“So does everyone who wants a lower price,” Shi Feng replied.

The merchant's fingers paused against the hilt.

“Four hundred,” Pei Rong said. “Cash. No delay.”

Shi Feng took the wrapping from the table.

Pei Rong watched him cover the blade.

“You haven't named your price!” Pei Rong protested.

“I can wait until the capital,” Shi Feng said.

“The capital has plenty of swords,” Pei Rong said.

“And a Sky Pavilion tower,” Shi Feng replied.

Pei Rong stopped smiling for a moment.

Everyone with valuable goods knew what that meant. Sky Pavilion appraised refined artifacts and traded them through its towers. Its reputation was older than most of Great Liang's merchant houses. Shi Feng didn't need to accept Pei Rong's estimate if he could afford to wait for a trusted one.

“The appraisal won't be free,” Pei Rong said.

“Neither is losing half the value,” Shi Feng replied.

The merchant rubbed both jade rings. He liked buying from people in a hurry. This wounded youth clearly wasn't in enough of one.

“Six hundred,” Pei Rong said.

Shi Feng tied the first cord.

Pei Rong looked at the knot, then at the chest of blades. The third cart would carry this sword all the way to the capital whether he bought it or not. If another merchant bought it there, he'd spend the trip watching his own lost profit.

He couldn't bear that.

“Eight hundred!” Pei Rong said. “I can't give you more!”

Shi Feng stopped tying.

“That's acceptable,” Shi Feng said. “Show me the stones.”

Pei Rong looked as if he wanted to take the offer back. Instead, he opened a cash box.

Eight hundred spirit stones changed hands. Shi Feng checked the amount, and the merchant wrote a short sale note. No long list of promises followed. Jade Scale Trading House owned the used refined artifact, and Shi Feng owned the payment.

He put his copy away.

The flying sword was valuable, but Bone Refinement couldn't activate it. Letting it sit in his pack wouldn't help his wrist or give him a longer reach in a fight.

Shi Feng thought: eight hundred stones can buy something useful. An expensive sword I can't command just makes the pack longer. Pei Rong locked the refined artifact in a narrow wooden case.

Then he turned toward the larger chest.

“A young man still needs a blade,” Pei Rong said. “Naturally, I've got a good one.”

“You just bought my sword. Now you want the money back?” Shi Feng asked.

“Only a little of it!” Pei Rong replied.

He took out a plain steel sword with a leather grip. No fine lines, no glowing edge. It was an ordinary forged weapon.

“Thirty-eight stones,” Pei Rong said.

“From an ancient sword mountain!” Pei Rong added.

“Which mountain?” Shi Feng asked.

“A very old one. Far away,” Pei Rong said.

Shi Feng ignored that part and looked at the steel.

Shi Feng drew it and checked the join beneath the guard. The grip didn't shift when he turned the hilt. He pressed the point against the floor and let the blade bend a little, then released it.

The steel returned straight.

“Thirty,” Shi Feng said.

Pei Rong sighed loudly.

“Young friend, you're cutting into my rice money,” Pei Rong said.

“You bought a sword for eight hundred,” Shi Feng replied. “You aren't eating rice.”

Pei Rong took the thirty stones.

Shi Feng buckled the ordinary sword at his waist. Wei Kuo's knife remained on the other side. This new blade couldn't fly, but it could cut without making him look like a man carrying a valuable refined artifact he couldn't use.

He liked it already.

Shi Feng tested a short thrust toward an empty corner. The point stayed steady when he stopped. He tried again with the grip shifted a little lower, then lifted the blade for a shallow cut.

His right wrist pulled against the splint. He lowered the sword at once. There was no need to prove a new weapon was sound by damaging the arm carrying it.

Pei Rong watched from the cash box.

“You still remember your lessons,” Pei Rong said.

“I didn't forget how to hold a sword,” Shi Feng replied.

“Naturally, naturally!” Pei Rong said quickly. “I meant it's a fine match.”

Shi Feng sheathed it. He wasn't going to argue over whether a cripple was allowed to remember swordsmanship. The sword was paid for, the sale money was in his bag, and the merchant no longer owned either. That was enough for one afternoon.

“Don't strike rocks with it,” Pei Rong said.

“Then don't sell me something that needs that warning,” Shi Feng replied.

Pei Rong suddenly found his lens worth cleaning.

Outside, Bu Tie was trying to lift a barrel onto the second cart. The porter pushed while another man pulled from above. The barrel reached the edge, rolled sideways, and trapped Bu Tie's sleeve beneath it.

“Stop pulling!” Bu Tie shouted. “That's my arm!”

Shi Feng set a shoulder against the barrel and shifted it just enough to free the cloth. Bu Tie pulled his arm back and sat down, breathing hard.

“Thank you, young master,” Bu Tie said.

“Move your sleeve first next time,” Shi Feng replied.

Bu Tie nodded. He was an ordinary porter, and he'd been lifting things since dawn. He didn't need a lesson about effort.

Shi Feng filled his flask at the pump and found a place beside the third cart. The convoy would leave in the morning. Until then, he could rest, change the shoulder dressing, and use the new sword somewhere clear of the workers.

He practiced in an empty corner behind the stable.

Three cuts. A shorter turn. A thrust without lifting the wounded shoulder too high.

The blade stopped where he wanted it to. He repeated the turn and changed the position of his rear foot. Better. The shortened movement left less time for another weapon to catch him.

It was still common clan swordsmanship. He just wasn't going to keep the mistakes because an old teacher liked how they looked.

When he returned, a broad man stood beside Bu Tie. A saber hung at his waist, and he kept one hand on its hilt while the porter talked.

Bone Refinement.

The man's gaze went to Shi Feng's new sword, then to the little bag at his belt.

“How much?” Xue Kun asked Bu Tie.

The porter pointed toward the warehouse.

Shi Feng walked past them and sat by his pack. He didn't care whether a guard counted his money in his head. Hands and blades were another matter.

Across the yard, Xue Kun smiled and stroked his saber's guard.

He clearly thought the money would be easier to handle than the sword.