"Head?"

The middle-aged shopkeeper looked at the massive body of the Stoneback Boar Zhiran pointed at, its head completely missing.

"Cough… fellow Daoist… the most important part of a Stoneback Boar is its hide. Its head isn't useful at all. There's no need to fuss over this, is there?"

He assumed Zhiran was trying to haggle the price of the Peak Qi Condensation Boar corpse by pointing out the obvious.

So he immediately gestured to the thick hide, which was completely intact. In fact, hunters might have smashed through the head precisely to preserve it.

To be honest, if it weren't for the scarcity of blacksmiths in Azure Flame City, the shopkeeper would never sell the body like this at all.

"Sigh… this won't do. Do you have any corpse of a beast with its head intact? It's fine if the body is damaged somewhere."

Unfortunately, Zhiran's interest wasn't the beast or its hide at all. He only wanted to see if he could extract the brain of a beast with his system.

"Intact head?"

The shopkeeper looked confused at Zhiran's request but assumed he was someone with a peculiar test. He said,

"There is no beast at this rank with its head intact at the moment. I have a few at the Seventh Level of Qi Condensation. Do you want to see them?"

Zhiran shook his head. He already tried extracting the brains of several rank beasts in another shop, but the system didn't respond.

Whether their rank was too low or beast brains couldn't be extracted, he wasn't sure.

That was why he wanted to test it on a higher-realm beast, to be certain. Unfortunately, luck didn't seem to be on his side today.

"Sigh… forget it. Let's search elsewhere. Thank you, Fellow Daoist."

Zhiran turned to leave and continue searching the market, but the shopkeeper stopped him suddenly.

"Wait a minute, young man. I have something you might want. Just… I don't know if it's what you're looking for."

Seeing a paying customer about to leave, the shopkeeper hurried to stop Zhiran and spoke quietly, a little awkwardly.

"Hmm? What is it?"

Zhiran looked surprised and asked,

"Umm… so first, can you confirm if what the fellow Daoist wants is a beast with its head intact?"

The shopkeeper glanced at the azure pattern on Zhiran's robe. From his attire, he could tell he was an inner sect disciple.

That was why he wanted to make a deal, hoping Zhiran would return to the shop again.

"Yeah, but it has to be freshly killed, otherwise it won't work."

Zhiran nodded lightly, seeing no need to hide anything. After all, there were all kinds of methods in this cultivation world, and his desire for a peculiar type of beast was hardly suspicious.

"What about… only the head? Will that do? Don't worry, it's fresh."

The middle-aged man glanced around first, then leaned in a little closer to ask Zhiran. His expression was slightly awkward.

After all, if anyone overheard him, it would almost sound like a scam. Who in their right mind would buy just the head of a beast?

Still, he wanted to test the waters. That head was both precious and worthless—valuable in the right hands, but otherwise a burden. If he could sell it off for a bit of money, all the better.

"Only the head?"

Zhiran was stunned by his words and fell into thought.

'Will only the head… work?'

Honestly, he had no idea. But remembering how he had extracted the brain from Elder Shuren, whose head he'd severed himself, he figured it was worth a try.

"Alright, show me first. If it's what I need, I'll buy it."

Zhiran looked at the middle-aged man as he spoke.

"Oh? Good, good… then follow me, young man. Don't worry, I've kept it fresh in storage at the back."

The shopkeeper was overjoyed and immediately left the shop, signaling for Zhiran to follow. After passing through several winding alleys and descending a flight of underground stairs, he finally led him to a large warehouse.

As soon as Zhiran stepped inside, a thick stench of blood and raw meat filled the air.

The surroundings reeked of slaughter. Several people were busy dissecting beasts of various ranks, their tools clinking and scraping against bone and flesh.

"I also sell beast meat. If the young man wants, I can offer a discount."

Seeing Zhiran looking around, the middle-aged man said lightly.

"My Thousand Fangs Hall has some connections in Bloodridge City, you see. If the young master has any orders, I might be able to have them ready in a few days. But it might cost you extra."

The middle-aged man was a proper shopkeeper and immediately offered a suggestion in case the head wasn't to his liking.

"Oh? Bloodridge City? Then can you also get me a Foundation Establishment corpse?"

Bloodridge City was a famous hunter city bordering the Spiritfang Mountains. In fact, Zhiran already had a plan to go to that city, but only after he was strong enough.

After all, that place also bordered the demonic forces and was quite chaotic. He might lose his life if he wasn't careful. He had to make plans.

"Foundation Establishment corpse?"

Unfortunately for him, the middle-aged man acted completely surprised at Zhiran's query and shook his head immediately.

"Young man, how could I possibly order those? If you want higher-level corpses, you'll need to go to the Spirit Beast Pavilion or the Mystic Exchange Alliance. Otherwise, unless you go to Bloodridge City yourself, there's no other way."

The shopkeeper assumed Zhiran was merely curious and explained the matter lightly.

'Figured. Sigh… unfortunately, those places won't let me, a Qi Condensation realm cultivator, near those goods. Should I ask Yan Xi for help or… what?'

Zhiran had, of course, already tried those places, but was turned away. Well, not outright rejected, he simply didn't have the realm, wealth, or connections needed to access such items yet.

"Okay, this is what I was talking about. Young man, do you think this works for you?"

Just as Zhiran was weighing his options, the middle-aged shopkeeper opened a massive barrel and lifted out a huge beast head, a thin mist of icy air rising from it, frost glinting along its edges.

As he said, the head was stored very carefully and looked as if it had been severed only moments ago. Its expression remained strangely happy as if it were frozen in the midst of enjoyment.

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.