The first floor deals in regular pills, the second floor in weapons, the third floor sells cultivation techniques, the fourth floor offers miscellaneous items from all races, and the fifth floor is for large-scale transactions.

……

Ethan Sutton left home and headed straight for the fourth floor of the Xia Family Trading Company.

He had been here before with Logan Sutton. After all, Logan Sutton was a ninth-level Qianjun cultivator. In Nanyuan, where the vitality was insufficient, it was impossible to continue cultivating without external resources.

The fourth floor was divided into several areas: "Unknown Techniques Area," "Demonic Beast Blood and Flesh Area," "Damaged Magical Treasures Area," "Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures Area"...

Of course, since this was only the Nanyuan branch, most of the items were at the Qianjun level, with almost nothing at the Wanshi level.

Demonic Beast Blood and Flesh Area.

A well-trained, pretty young lady greeted him enthusiastically with a professional smile, "Sir, what are you looking for?"

"Ironwing Bird blood!"

"Ironwing Bird..."

The female employee thought for a moment, then quickly asked, "Essence blood or regular blood?"

An Ironwing Bird was enormous, with a huge amount of blood in its body.

Aside from a few drops of essence blood, the rest was regular blood, which wasn't very useful. Essence blood, on the other hand, had many uses.

Ethan Sutton wasn't sure what exactly he needed, so after hesitating, he said, "Let me see both."

"Certainly!"

The female employee didn't ask further. Ironwing Birds weren't a rare species; they were a standard aerial force on the Battlefield of the Heavens. If it were a more powerful flying species, Nanyuan might not have any in stock.

Soon, another male employee took out two transparent glass bottles from the display counter.

"This is regular blood, and this is essence blood. Both are from Qianjun-level Ironwing Birds."

Seeing Ethan Sutton staring at the bottles, the female employee smiled and explained, "If you need Wanshi-level Ironwing Bird blood, the Nanyuan branch doesn't have any. You'd have to go to Daxia Prefecture to buy it."

"Qianjun-level is fine!"

Wanshi-level—Ethan Sutton didn't need it, and even if he did, he probably wouldn't be willing to buy it.

"How much are they?"

"The regular blood is cheap, 5,000 coins per bottle. Essence blood is much more valuable—a single adult Ironwing Bird yields less than ten drops of essence blood, and each drop sells for 50,000."

Ethan Sutton frowned slightly. That expensive?

"Qianjun-levels are cannon fodder on the Battlefield of the Heavens. They die in droves. Is a single drop of essence blood really worth that much?"

The female employee's expression didn't change as she continued to smile, "You're right, sir, but transporting it back from the Battlefield of the Heavens to Daxia Prefecture is extremely costly! Extraction, preservation, sales... multiple steps, including taxes... so 50,000 isn't expensive."

She continued, "If you were on the Battlefield of the Heavens, Qianjun-level Ironwing Birds would be worthless, and you could pick them up if you were lucky. But this... isn't the Battlefield of the Heavens."

Ethan Sutton was silent.

Indeed, Qianjun-level beings from all races were worthless on the Battlefield of the Heavens. The key was, when a great battle broke out, who had time to pick them up? Even if you did, could you transport them back?

Only trading companies like Daxia Trading Company, backed by powerful forces, could handle the transportation.

As a result, the price naturally soared in the rear.

"I'll take a bottle of regular blood... and one drop of essence blood!"

Ethan Sutton felt a bit of pain. His old man wasn't around, or else if he knew that he had just left and Ethan Sutton spent over 50,000 on this stuff, he'd probably beat him to death.

"Certainly, sir. Card or cash?"

"Card!"

Ethan Sutton's face remained calm, but his heart was bleeding—55,000!

His father's years of savings, and he had just spent a sixth of it in one go.

"I'm just guessing here. If this turns out to be useless... I'll have lost big."

Thinking of this, Ethan Sutton hurriedly asked, "By the way, do you buy back Ironwing Bird blood?"

The female employee was slightly taken aback, then quickly smiled, "We do. 1,000 per bottle for regular blood, 10,000 per drop for essence blood."

"I..."

Ethan Sutton wanted to curse!

What a rip-off!

Even though Daxia Trading Company belonged to the William Foster Xia family, he still had to call it a rip-off.

A buyback price of one-fifth—what a scam.

Forget it, no point arguing with them. These employees were just following the rules; they couldn't make decisions. Complaining to them was pointless.

He swiped his card and received a box, inside which were two glass bottles.

One bottle contained only a single drop of golden blood, which seemed to be rolling inside. If you looked closely, you could vaguely see a tiny Ironwing Bird spreading its wings and flying.

This was essence blood!

Essence blood from these beast-like races could somewhat aid in cultivation.

Consuming Ironwing Bird essence blood could help Qianjun-level martial artists increase their physical strength.

After the Kaiyuan stage, humans officially embarked on the path of cultivation. Qianjun and Wanshi levels focused on strengthening the body.

It was useful for Qianjun-levels, but not for Kaiyuan-levels. In fact, consuming such beast essence blood at the Kaiyuan stage could be harmful. Otherwise, there wouldn't be cases of people exploding from bathing in the blood of gods and demons.

With the nine orifices of the Kaiyuan stage unopened, vitality couldn't circulate. Accumulating it in the body was a deadly poison.

Heavenly materials and earthly treasures like the Tianyuan Fruit produced pure Tianyuan energy, which was relatively gentle—very different from the overbearing vitality.

As Ethan Sutton was thinking, the sales clerk reminded him, "Sir, if you haven't reached the Qianjun level, you must not consume Ironwing Bird essence blood, or it will be very dangerous!"

"I know, thank you!"