Chapter 28: Three Million Gold Soul Coins!

Back in Holy Soul Village

After returning to Holy Soul Village, Zhou Qing noticed that Old Jack had already worked with the village's carpenters and masons to set up a small shed near his house and had begun planning the construction of the forge.

"Grandpa Jack, uncles, I have an idea," Zhou Qing said.

He didn't want to be involved in the interior design of the forge, but he did have a suggestion about the forge's exterior: it should be connected to his own house.

Why?

Naturally, it was to make use of the heat generated by the forge's furnace. He suggested using pipes to transfer the heat to his home. During winter, instead of lighting a stove in his room, they could simply use the furnace's coal to keep the house warm—this would be safer, and the smoke from the stove would no longer be a problem.

"This method is good!" Old Jack said in admiration.

"No wonder you're the cleverest person in Holy Soul Village!" the others added.

Looking at the pipes connecting the forge to Zhou Qing's house, Old Jack and the others praised the idea, agreeing that they too could build a similar stove next to their homes in the future to channel the heat into their rooms during winter.

A Month Later

Time passed quickly. A month later, the forge was completed, and Tang San officially began his career as a blacksmith. Under the astonished gazes of Old Jack and the others, Tang San took up a blacksmithing hammer taller than he was, struck the glowing iron, and soon shaped a hoe blade.

Although his craftsmanship wasn't as refined as Tang Hao's, the villagers of Holy Soul Village couldn't tell the difference. They were just relieved that they wouldn't have to ask Old Jack to go find Tang Hao anymore.

Old Jack himself wasn't keen on meeting Tang Hao either. Now that Tang San could handle all the blacksmithing tasks, it suited him just fine.

Soon, the village's kitchenware and farming tools that needed repairs were sent to the forge, and Zhou Qing helped organize them to prevent any mix-ups and to avoid villagers taking tools that didn't belong to them.

Tang San managed to repair all the farming and kitchen tools in just four days, earning nearly 100 copper soul coins.

During this time, many villagers brought Tang San gifts, such as peaches from Uncle Wang's family.

One Day

Tang San found Zhou Qing and told him that he had awakened his "soul power."

"Soul power... Soul power?" Zhou Qing, who was flipping through books, casually nodded, but then suddenly paused and looked up, surprised. "Soul power! Your martial soul has awakened on its own?"

"No, but I really have it," Tang San explained, recounting how, when he was bowing at the Soul Saint's grave, some new knowledge suddenly appeared in his mind, including a technique called Xuantian Gong, which allowed one to cultivate soul power without having a martial soul.

Zhou Qing was taken aback.

"What's that look on your face?" Tang San asked, feeling like his explanation was a bit far-fetched, but that was the truth about his Xuantian Gong. He couldn't think of any other explanation, and besides, his skills would eventually be exposed to the outside world, so it seemed better to just tell Zhou Qing now.

Also, Zhou Qing was already one of his people.

"It's nothing, I just feel like you're like the main character in those comic books," Zhou Qing replied bluntly. He didn't mention the fact that, apart from Tang San's inherited techniques, there was also a Soul Saint's treasure hidden in the mountains around Holy Soul Village.

"Truly the child of destiny!" Zhou Qing thought to himself.

"Stop joking around," Tang San said. He walked over to Zhou Qing, placed his hand on his back, and injected his inner power into him.

In an instant, Zhou Qing felt a warm current flow through his body, making him feel incredibly relaxed, like soaking in a hot spring, and his spirit also calmed.

"Do you believe it now?" Tang San asked, taking his hand off and panting lightly.

[Although he had reached the first level of Xuantian Gong, without awakening his martial soul, his cultivation couldn't progress any further. Controlling his inner power and circulating it through Zhou Qing's body consumed a lot of energy.]

"I believe it," Zhou Qing replied without hesitation. He opened the drawer under his desk and pulled out a cloth bag. "Try and see if you can open this."

"Watch me," Tang San replied, taking the cloth bag and channeling his inner power into it. He felt the bag's opening loosen, and then—

Whoosh!

A pile of gold soul coins poured out, burying Zhou Qing, Tang San, and the desk in a small mountain of coins.

"We're rich!" Zhou Qing exclaimed, crawling out from the sea of gold coins. Looking around the room, nearly filled to the brim with gold soul coins, he estimated, "There must be at least three million gold soul coins here!"

The exchange rates for soul coins were: 1 gold soul coin = 10 silver soul coins = 100 copper soul coins.

At least three million gold soul coins!

Wasn't this a fortune?

Tang San, seeing so much money for the first time, was momentarily stunned, not knowing what to do.

The first to react was Zhou Qing, who urged Tang San to figure out how to store the coins back. Meanwhile, he began searching through the mountain of gold soul coins.

Soon, he found two silver boxes among the coins.

Opening them…

One contained a white egg the size of a thumb, and when placed under the sunlight, he could see something wriggling inside.

It was undoubtedly the egg of the Goddess of Light Butterfly.

The other box contained a crystal-clear blue orb, about the size of a fist. Upon closer inspection, it wasn't a sphere, but an irregular polyhedron with at least a thousand facets, making it appear round.

"Is this the soul guide crystal?" Tang San asked as he placed the gold soul coins back into the bag, placing it on the desk and inspecting the blue soul guide crystal.

"Try injecting soul power into it?" Zhou Qing suggested, handing the crystal to Tang San.

Tang San did as suggested.

In an instant, the soul guide crystal lit up, with a burst of golden light emerging from the center and spreading 360 degrees, covering all the facets of the crystal.

Zhou Qing, whose eyesight wasn't as sharp as Tang San's, had to take out a magnifying glass to see the details. The magnifying glass was made from thick glass that Zhou Qing had gotten from a villager who brought it from the city. The glass had cost him two copper soul coins.

On the thousands of facets of the crystal, lines of intricate patterns lit up, each unique. Zhou Qing guessed that each facet's pattern was part of a core array for the soul guide.

If the Soul Saint's diary was accurate, the soul guide for space transmission probably required several types of soul guide arrays, each serving a specific function.

With his Purple Extreme Demon Eyes, Tang San also noticed the core arrays on each facet of the crystal, deeply intrigued, eager to study the function of each array.

"We have plenty of time to study this later. No need to rush," Zhou Qing said. "Let's first divide the gold soul coins."

"Agreed," Tang San nodded, then thought of something and told Zhou Qing, "Keep the storage soul guide here for now. You can also keep my share. You know I don't want my dad to keep spiraling down."

"That makes sense. If Uncle Tang Hao got his hands on such a large sum of money, he'd probably buy even more alcohol or even go to Notting City to buy…" Zhou Qing paused and didn't continue, only saying, "Uncle Tang Hao really does need to get back on his feet."