The night passed in training, as always.
Early the next morning, he sat leisurely behind the counter, studying books on Artifact Refining and minding the shop—though there were hardly any customers.
The shop had barely opened when Yao Ying, the number one flirt of the Five States, walked in. Her beautiful eyes lit up with a peculiar glint the moment she saw Feng Hao. She sauntered over with a coquettish laugh. "Junior Brother Feng Hao, long time no see."
"Who’s your Junior Brother? I still haven’t settled the score with you for tricking my big brother!" Feng Hao shot back, an eyebrow raised.
Yao Ying covered her mouth with a delicate hand, her giggle exceptionally alluring. "Oh, my apologies. That Fiery Sun Stone has already been forged into a weapon. How about this Senior Sister repays the debt with her body?"
"..." Lines of frustration appeared on Feng Hao’s forehead. His face filled with disgust. "Fine. Consider that Fiery Sun Stone a freebie. Now get the hell out. You’re not welcome here."
"Why are you just as bad as Xiong Tianfang? Isn’t this Senior Sister pretty?" Yao Ying asked, her expression turning pitiful.
Feng Hao sneered contemptuously. "What damn good is being pretty? I wouldn’t hesitate to kick even Bai Yin, so who the hell do you think you are? Scram while you still can, or don’t blame me for getting rough."
"Must you be so heartless, Junior Brother?" Yao Ying feigned, her eyes welling with tears as she adopted a heart-wrenchingly pitiable look.
Anyone else might have been deceived by Yao Ying’s performance. Unfortunately for her, Feng Hao had binged countless movies and TV shows, giving him an innate resistance to bad acting. ’Is she ever going to quit?’ he thought. "Alright, I’m counting to three. If you don’t scram, I’m getting physical! Three... two..."
"You’ll hurt my feelings if you talk like that," Yao Ying cooed, showing no intention of leaving.
"One!"
The word was barely out of his mouth before Feng Hao dropped all pretenses of politeness. He vaulted over the counter, launched a flying kick, and planted it squarely on that face of theatrical melodrama. "TAKE THIS—!"
THWACK!
Yao Ying was just a Dancing Magic Master with pathetically low combat power. She didn’t even have time to react before she was sent flying backward, landing hard on the street outside and instantly attracting a crowd of onlookers.
"Bastard, I’ll kill you!" Yao Ying scrambled up in a sorry state. A perfect footprint was now stamped on her gorgeous face, and blood was streaming from her nose.
The next moment, Yao Ying had become a complete shrew, shrieking as she began to cast her Dancing Magic and charged at Feng Hao.
"Oh-ho, one kick wasn’t enough? You’re asking for a second, is that it?"
Feng Hao’s eyes filled with disdain as he watched her charge. Not even bothering to draw a weapon, he used a Shadow-Escape-plus-Shadow-Strike combo to close the distance, aiming another kick straight at her contorted face.
THWACK!
Yao Ying was halfway through her spell when Feng Hao’s foot sent her flying again. The two footprints now formed a perfect ’X’ on her face, completely obscuring her stunning beauty. The sight was beyond comical.
"You bastard, I’m not through with you—!" Yao Ying shrieked hoarsely, clutching her face in agony.
"What? You want a third one?" Feng Hao stood in the doorway, smirking down at her.
Seeing that the crowd of onlookers was growing and that she was no match for Feng Hao, Yao Ying let out a desperate shriek, covered her face, and fled the scene.
Inside the Treasure Pavilion next door, several female attendants heard the commotion and came out to join the gawking crowd. Among them was the same young woman who had sold Feng Hao the Crystal Eye. Seeing him beat a beautiful woman so ruthlessly, she was deeply unimpressed.
"You hit a woman! Do you even call yourself a man?" the young woman declared, full of righteous indignation.
Feng Hao instinctively turned his head, a flash of surprise in his eyes. ’Huh? Isn’t that the pretty girl who sold me the Crystal Eye?’ "What, you got a problem with what I did?"
"Pervert." The young woman’s face twisted in disgust. The memory of Feng Hao buying cosmetic-style Crystal Eyes only solidified her conviction that he was a total creep.
"Heh," Feng Hao chuckled, a small smile playing on his lips. "It’s wrong to hit a woman, but hitting a bitch is a public service."
"Pervert! Total pervert!" the young woman kept muttering.
Feng Hao let out a laugh born of sheer exasperation. "Are you ever going to stop?" he asked, annoyed.
"Of course I’m not! You’re a pervert, and I’m going to expose your—mmph!" Just as the young woman was about to reveal Feng Hao’s purchase of cosmetic Crystal Eyes, he instantly clamped a hand over her mouth.
"Is this how the Treasure Pavilion treats its patrons? The customer is always right, you know that?" Feng Hao said menacingly.
To Feng Hao’s surprise, the young woman was actually a fairly skilled Mage. She quickly broke free of his grasp and unleashed a torrent of curses, "You bastard, you pervert, you’re shameless, you’re disgusting..."
Feng Hao didn’t know whether to be angry or amused. Then, an idea struck him. He swaggered into the Treasure Pavilion with a mischievous grin. "I’m here to buy something. Attendant, get over here and assist me. If your service attitude is poor, I’ll file a complaint. What are you glaring at? Yes, I’m talking to you!"
The young woman trembled with rage, but she had no choice but to bow to the tyrannical authority of a "customer." Biting her lip in frustration, she asked, "What do you want to buy?"
"That’s more like it. We’re both business owners, and neighbors at that. It’s not good to ruin the friendly atmosphere," Feng Hao said, nodding in satisfaction. He started to browse as he continued his lecture. "Do you have any Artifact Refining equipment or mechanical workbenches? I’m looking for the high-end stuff."
"For Artifact Refining equipment, go to the Artifact Refining Shop next door. We only have mechanical workbenches. And I doubt you can afford them," the young woman said, gritting her teeth.
Feng Hao was instantly annoyed. ’What does she mean, "doubt you can afford them"?’ he fumed internally. He was a young tycoon with a net worth in the tens of billions.
"Show them to me. Money is no object for me," Feng Hao declared, putting on the airs of a wealthy tycoon.
The young woman snorted, then turned and led the way to the mechanical equipment display area. Pointing a slender finger at several workbenches, she began her introduction. "These workbenches were personally crafted by a Mechanical Master from our Holy Hall. They come in low, medium, and high grades. The low-grade is two billion, medium is four billion, and high-grade is eight billion. Seeing as you’re so loaded, you’ll definitely be buying the high-grade one, right?"
"..." Feng Hao was left speechless. The wealthy-tycoon persona he had carefully constructed instantly evaporated. "Well, uh... I’ve only just started learning about mechanics. I’ll just take a low-grade one to practice with for now."
"Tch. Just say it if you can’t afford it," the young woman said with a look of utter contempt.
That was the last straw for Feng Hao. He gritted his teeth, puffed out his chest, and with a grand wave of his hand, declared, "You know what? You’re on! Get the low and medium-grade ones out of my sight. I’ll take the high-grade one!"
"Are you sure?" The young woman looked completely stunned. To be honest, she’d kept tabs on the new medicine shop next door. It basically never had any customers and was frequently closed. Logically, there was no way he could be earning much money.
"Cut the crap and hurry up!" Feng Hao waved his hand again, and a huge pile of Level 4 Magic Crystals clattered onto the counter.
The instant she saw the Magic Crystals, the young woman was rendered speechless. In a complete daze, she handed Feng Hao a Space Bracelet containing the high-grade mechanical workbench.
Feng Hao accepted the bracelet with a smirk and swaggered out of the Treasure Pavilion. ’Oh well,’ he thought, ’if you’re going to put on an act, you have to see it through to the bitter end.’
Only after forcing himself to maintain the act all the way back to his own shop did Feng Hao finally let his facade crumble, his face twisting into an expression of pure, tearless regret.
’Damn it all. A multi-billionaire bankrupted in an instant. If I’d known this would happen, I never would’ve bothered with Magic Energy Mechanisms,’ Feng Hao lamented. He stared at the new bracelet, his face a mask of pained regret, and shook his head with a bitter smile. ’Looks like I need to find a way to make money again. Otherwise, I won’t even have enough Magic Crystals for my own training.’
Normally, he wouldn’t be short on Magic Crystals thanks to his dividends from the Wind Clothing Store. But in a moment of hot-headedness, he had told Qian Sanduo to convert all his payouts into points.
This had led to the current awkward situation where he was sitting on a mountain of points, but Magic Crystals had suddenly become a scarce resource.
Of course, plenty of people in the trade were willing to buy points for cash, but the exchange rate was a total rip-off. And Feng Hao would never willingly make a losing deal.