Claymore Enhancement

"Mercenary Tao, this Void Core is no ordinary item. The Sage’s ability was indeed remarkable, but it was only slightly more valuable than this Void Core. It isn’t worth adding another miraculous piece of Silver Plot Equipment~"

Glaze Crack’s purple robe had a deeply open collar, and both her expression and tone were exceptionally seductive. But Bai Cangshu was not tempted. He merely took out the Sage’s Scarlet Drop Card from his stall and lightly tossed it in the air as he played with it.

"If it’s that precious, then perhaps you should wait and trade with someone else."

This woman possessed some kind of Causality System ability, and for the Sage’s Cognitive Devil, she had prepared two valuable items long in advance.

Moreover, she had deliberately chosen abilities from the soul-oriented domain that she had not revealed to anyone else.

Even Black Butler would only search among martial arts-oriented abilities and items, giving her an enormous advantage in bidding.

Conversely, after going to such lengths to make this trade happen, how could she possibly give it up?

With a smile on his lips, Bai Cangshu saw through every bit of greed in the woman’s heart.

Glaze Crack drew her collar together. She had realized how difficult Mercenary Tao was to deal with. Seeing the women from the West District gathered around the Information Broker, Black Butler, continuously discussing different offers and actively seeking a trade, she grew even more wary.

She knew how powerful that Song Gathering was. They had paid a tremendous price to cross districts for this trade. Although their purpose was the Ajin Bloodline Item, once they understood the value of Mercenary Tao’s other items, it was hard to say whether they would join the bidding.

Her thoughts moved swiftly, and she made her decision just as decisively. Before Red Dust could speak up to trade, she smiled and made a concession.

"Mr. Mercenary Tao, you really can’t take a joke. I specifically sought out these two items for you. How could I waste this opportunity to trade?"

"Mr. Mercenary Tao, in addition to this Drop Card, give me one B-rank Anomaly Point. I think that would be a suitable price…"

"In return, I can tell you some information—information on how to maximize the use of this Void Core. How about it?"

Bai Cangshu pondered for a moment before agreeing to the trade.

These people did not know that before the Sage was killed, he had already lost the Dreamer Sequence’s extraordinary power due to the Altar of Gods. Now, only the Cognitive Devil power remained, reducing the Drop Card’s value somewhat.

Likewise, Shishigawara’s Knuckle Duster was naturally not as worthless as Bai Cangshu had deliberately made it sound. That supposed side effect of consuming soul energy was almost no cost at all to Bai Cangshu.

There were not many souls in his Consciousness Sea that possessed formidable combat power, but there were hundreds of thousands of spirit bodies that could be used as batteries!

As for the other Void Core, it gave Bai Cangshu even greater possibilities.

Bai Cangshu was the sort of person willing to accept any price for power. He had no bloodline prejudice, nor did he believe that power could be divided into good and evil.

To become stronger, even if he truly underwent Kamui, he would accept it—as long as he believed he could overcome that corruption…

Bai Cangshu raised his hand toward Glaze Crack.

You lost B-rank Anomaly Point*1

You lost Scarlet Drop Card*1

You obtained item · Shishigawara's Knuckle Duster

You obtained item · Void Core

AV17555631 (Glaze Crack) sent a message: Someone in the Throne of Illusion and Reality has access to Fullbring and Kamui channels. You can try your luck at stall A-04

The woman held the Sage’s Scarlet Drop Card. After conveying the information to Bai Cangshu through spatial communication, she still smiled with narrowed eyes and waved as she left.

The Phase Hound silently followed behind her. Ever since this woman had appeared, his gaze had never once fallen upon Bai Cangshu.

Having completed the transaction, Bai Cangshu examined his two newly acquired items while waiting for Red Dust to speak.

"Mercenary Tao, do you want these two secret manuals or not?"

Red Dust was getting a little anxious now. Mercenary Tao had already swiftly completed trades with two parties.

He did not want the Ajin Bloodline Item, nor did he think he could outbid those women who had come from another district.

They had surely brought vast resources with them.

Bai Cangshu looked at the Cloud Dispelling Palm and Three Parts Divine Finger manuals in Red Dust’s hands without showing much eagerness.

To be honest, he had mainly learned those martial arts for the Three Parts Divine Finger’s ability to control energy. But after Limit Break Spiral awakened and was enhanced to the second tier, his need for that had diminished considerably.

He did not lack the Three Parts Return to Origin Qi cultivation method anymore.

Red Dust also understood what Mercenary Tao meant. He had thought that since Luoxi had previously given Mercenary Tao the Wind God Leg and Sky Frost Fist, the remaining two manuals should have been sold at a premium. He had not expected Mercenary Tao to have already lost interest.

If he made an offer now, the price would definitely be driven down considerably.

He calmed down and stopped making offers. Instead, he searched Bai Cangshu’s stall for something useful to himself.

"This Dust Release…"

"Not for trade."

Bai Cangshu refused outright. The Dust Release Training Scroll had greater marketability than the Cloud Dispelling Palm and Three Parts Return to Origin Qi.

Abilities from these High-Martial worlds either lacked destructive power or had excessively high entry requirements. Newcomers found them difficult to obtain, and among current users of the dimensional space, there were far fewer than Chakra users.

"Then this Bloodline Item · Mad Beastman (Modified · Tier 2)…"

Bai Cangshu frowned slightly. Bloodline Items were quite valuable, and this item had come from that Black Knight’s Drop Card. The bloodline had been modified and enhanced, and judging from its performance in battle, it could activate a second berserk transformation.

Its explosive power in direct combat was exceptionally impressive.

"Not enough."

Among items of the same rank, Bloodline Items were always more expensive than other items because the enhancements granted by Bloodline Items took effect immediately.

Once a bloodline was successfully enhanced, it would instantly provide a substantial boost in attributes, along with certain special abilities and traits.

Red Dust knew that as well. After hesitating for a moment, he took out another item.

Bodhi Leaf*1

Quality: Extremely Rare

Description: Legend said that this was a Bodhi Leaf that grew where Bodhidharma attained nirvana. It could bring enlightenment into worldly principles and mastery of martial arts.

Effect 1: Hold it in the mouth. While training, the improvement speed of Martial Arts Specialization and abilities increased by 100%.

Effect 2: After being fully digested, it would directly raise one cultivated ability or specialization by one level.

Bai Cangshu’s eyes lit up.

"You actually have something this good."

In Bai Cangshu’s view, this item was far more valuable than the Cloud Dispelling Palm and Three Parts Return to Origin Qi.

A copy of the Emperor’s Ultimate World-Shaking Art had been sitting in Bai Cangshu’s Backpack all this time, yet he had never been able to comprehend any ability from it.

Furthermore, after his Martial Arts Mastery reached the advanced Lv7 stage, it had become extremely difficult to improve. Li Qingzi’s Swordsmanship Specialization, for example, had practically reached level 9 only by burning through enormous amounts of Dimensional Points and Singularity Points in training grounds.

With this item, Martial Arts Mastery could improve twice as fast.

"If you have something like this, we can make some other trades as well. If you want this Dust Release…"

Red Dust hurriedly waved his hands. If he had not wanted to rebuild a team of his own, he would not have taken out even a single Bodhi Leaf.

The Chaos Sage had already been destroyed, and the key capable of reliably entering the Wind and Cloud World had been lost. It would be extraordinarily difficult to find such an item in the future.

He had only kept two leaves in total. Giving up one in exchange for a Bloodline Item with powerful survival and combat abilities was already his limit.

Fortunately, with this Bloodline Item, it would not be difficult to cultivate another Black Knight.

And he was confident that the person he chose would definitely not be as useless as the previous Black Knight.

The two quickly completed the trade.

Seeing that Echo and Black Butler were still calculating, Bai Cangshu knew that they could not turn that S-rank Singularity into items or abilities valuable enough to match the Ajin Bloodline Item in such a short time.

He was not in a hurry. The Ajin Bloodline Item belonged to the very top tier of attractive items. As long as it sat at his stall for a day, there would be an endless stream of Information Brokers and teams making offers to him.

Bai Cangshu patted Li Qingzi on the head, then teasingly brought his face to her ear and softly said,

"I wasn’t killed. Are you perhaps a little… disappointed?"

Li Qingzi said nothing. She was naturally disappointed, but at the same time, she also felt a relief that she could not bring herself to admit.

A madman like Bai Cangshu was terrifying as an enemy, but when he was on the same side, he gave off an indescribable sense of security.

No matter how dangerous Xu Zhiyu of the Yi Xin Society was, she felt much more at ease because she had brought Bai Cangshu back to Korea.

Bai Cangshu lifted the woman’s fair chin and rubbed it twice, watching with satisfaction as tiny bumps began to rise on her delicate skin.

"Heh, your reaction is still so interesting…"

Li Qingzi clenched her teeth, and her desire for power ignited once again.

Like a devil who could see into people’s hearts, Bai Cangshu spoke at precisely that moment.

"Go on. I’ll allow you to spend… hmm, one B-rank Anomaly Point. How about it?"

Li Qingzi knew that the Singularity Points and Dimensional Points she had forced those people in B711 to surrender before their deaths had all been seen by him without exception. A slave had no possibility of keeping her own resources.

But this time, she did not remain silent or resist. Instead, she obediently nodded.

"Yes. One B-rank Anomaly Point is enough…"

Even before her last world, she had set her sights on an enhancement that was just as dangerous!

After the failure of B711 and the Heart Demon’s joint assassination of Tang Sanzang, coupled with Bai Cangshu’s reminder of her lowly status as a slave, her craving for power now surpassed the pride of being the eldest daughter of the March Group.

"Very good. You’re becoming more and more to my liking, ha~"

Bai Cangshu looked at Li Qingzi with satisfaction, as though he were looking at a red apple gradually ripening under his care.

He released her and chuckled into her ear.

"Become a little stronger, woman."

"The weak are abandoned…"

Li Qingzi did not answer. After Bai Cangshu left, she swiftly found stall B-33.

The stall owner was a woman carrying a silver-white Claymore on her back. Her long black hair hung down in curls, and she recognized this reincarnator wearing half a mask.

"It’s you. It seems you’re already confident that you can control Demonic Power."

"I hope you won’t fall into becoming an Awakened One in the real world. That would cause quite a bit of trouble."