The Dawn of the New World Chapter 1621

A few minutes later Hao Xuan walked out of the shop richer than most, but at a steep cost.

Poli's puppet stood at the entrance with a somewhat ugly expression drawn on.

"I think it's best you not come here anymore young man. My business won't last long if you keep this up."

She slid the doors closed, more disappointed than angry at what had transpired.

"That's understandable. Thank you for the help, Poli!"

Hao Xuan waved goodbye. He had burned a bridge but managed to get a fair bit out of it.

The total Cursed Gold in his possession was now at 3 million and 668 thousand while normal gold was at 150,000 even.

"This is a VERY good start..." he muttered to himself.

[Now what?]

"Now let's buy a couple of things," Hao Xuan eyed the rows of shops on both sides.

He chose one at random and then another and then another, but his elation quickly dwindled as the truth of the matter sunk in.

"These are all specialty shops, they sell items that can only be found here and those are mostly useless to me. How does not a single one of them even carry any potions or healing ointments? And who the fuck buys insect dung??" he cursed as the intense smell dug into his senses.

Hao Xuan had gone through nearly half of the shops in the Night Market when he finally found someone willing to sell some low-tier weak healing potions.

"Great! How much!" he asked the ant-faced shopkeeper.

*Click*Click*

The shopkeeper clicked his mandibles as if thinking it over, "Hmm...150 CG each, 400 if you buy all!!" he gestured at the table with only two potions.

"400 for all? That's even more expensive than buying them separately! And-" Hao Xuan picked up the bottles to examine the murky red liquid inside, "This goes for 10 or 15 cursed gold AT MOST!"

The shopkeeper snatched the bottles out of his hand while screaming, "THEN YOU GO BUY FROM SOMEONE ELSE!" and kicked him out before he could 'negotiate'.

*Sigh*

[15 or 150, what does it matter when you have millions?]

Ryuk couldn't understand his reasoning because it made no sense to his otherwise "mostly" logic-based brain.

"It's the principle, not the money," Hao Xuan tried to explain while dusting his robe, "You don't piss on a man and call it rain."

[He pissed on you?! What a terrible service!]

"No it- forget it," Hao Xuan waved his hand while surveying the rest of the buildings, "Looks like a healing potion is simultaneously too common and too rare to found here, and I'd rather not pay ten times its actual price when I don't even know if it will work."

[Hmm, who are these potions made for?]

"For people that get into scrapes as a hobby or a job. These weak potions can only heal small wounds at best so there is not much demand for them here and for good reason."

[Wouldn't you have more luck in the city? Most creatures there live in terrible conditions so-]

Hao Xuan cut him off, "Yeah I know that but in their eyes I'm a slave. If I go about buying expensive stuff like that then people will start asking questions and we don't want that-"

But he found an alternative while explaining why it was a bad idea in the first place.

"-Unless I'm not the one buying..."

[???]

"I can have someone buy it for me, dumbass."

[Ohh...who?]

"Our good friend Luz would be the best option. Since he works for the Song clan people will think the request is coming from one of them."

[Let's go find him!]

"No no, not right now. It's already late and I heard they had that party going on. I'll try to get in touch with him tomorrow."

[So...]

Hao Xuan thought about it for a second, "I need to visit the other side and see how things are going. Cerberus was in bad shape the last time I checked and I'm a little concerned. Plus I want to visit those Djinns from earlier."

With nothing else planned Hao Xuan returned to the hideout within the abandoned Beast Market. He checked on the pup and it wasn't doing any better.

The chances of him even surviving the night were low but he wanted to do everything he could so Hao Xuan got some water and cleaned him up, then placed it in his lap so it could stay warm while he peeked behind the curtain.

Hao Xuan sat cross-legged with eyes closed and focused on his connection to Cerberus. It didn't take long for his soul to pass over to the other side, appearing somewhere new.

The light of his soul illuminated the otherwise darkened forest for miles. He rose into the air to survey the land. The terrain had seen some significant changes already.