William Grant listed out in one breath the nine types of materials he needed.

These materials were all ones he intended to use for inscribing runes.

Runes were extremely rare things on the Cloudsky Continent nowadays, usually inscribed on personal belongings and weapons.

Anything inscribed with runes would carry a strange kind of ‘power.’

These powers were all sorts of oddities, with no specific classification. Once the power was released, the rune would be completely consumed.

It was just like a bomb in his previous life—once it exploded, it was gone.

From the memories of the Reincarnation Martial Emperor, William Grant learned that the peak era of rune arts on the Cloudsky Continent happened to be during the Martial Emperor’s second lifetime of cultivation.

In that era, the Reincarnation Martial Emperor had almost greedily mastered all practical rune arts!

The Reincarnation Martial Emperor’s “Three Lives Reincarnation Technique” required the soul to slumber for ten thousand years before each reincarnation.

Only after ten thousand years would he begin searching for a new body.

Now, ten thousand years had passed, and for certain reasons, rune arts had gradually declined.

Rune masters on the Cloudsky Continent had become highly sought-after, their status clearly above that of alchemists and weapon forgers.

The nine ordinary materials William Grant wanted to buy were intended for inscribing a low-level rune.

“Customer, here are the materials you requested. That’ll be seven taels of silver in total.”

The staff from the The Brooks Family weapon shop quickly prepared all the materials for William Grant.

After respectfully seeing William Grant off, he also left the weapon shop and headed toward the The Brooks Family residence.

News of a possible weapon forger appearing in Qingfeng Town had to be reported to the family head immediately, lest the other two families beat them to it.

“Money really doesn’t last long. The twenty taels of silver my mother gave me—half of it is already gone in no time.”

William Grant shook his head and took a shortcut toward the The Thompson Family residence.

Passing by the intersection of the three main marketplaces in Qingfeng Town, he noticed a crowd gathered by the roadside, pointing and whispering.

Curious, William Grant squeezed into the crowd.

He saw a young woman in mourning clothes kneeling by the roadside, her long hair covering her face.

Judging by her figure, she looked to be about fifteen years old.

In front of her was a sheet of paper with several large, bright red characters written on it:

Selling myself to bury my mother!

William Grant hadn’t expected to encounter a scene he’d only ever seen on TV in his previous life.

As a former king among soldiers, his keen instincts allowed him to clearly sense the sorrow that the girl unconsciously exuded.

“Tsk tsk... Little girl, you’ve got a nice figure. Lift your head and let me have a look. If you’re pretty enough, I’ll buy you as my personal maid.”

A fat man in luxurious clothes, with a big belly and the air of a nouveau riche, leered at the kneeling girl.

“Yeah, if you won’t even lift your head, who would dare buy you?”

Someone chimed in.

“If a benefactor is willing to help me bury my mother, then I’ll lift my head.”

The girl spoke, still not raising her head. Her oriole-like voice was pleasant to the ear, yet full of stubbornness.

“Your voice is nice, but since you won’t lift your head, you must have an ugly face. I—”

The fat man in luxurious clothes hadn’t finished his sentence before William Grant, unable to stand it any longer, interrupted him with a cold snort.

“I’ll give you ten taels of silver. Give your mother a proper burial.”

William Grant walked up to the girl and spoke softly.

“Thank you, young master.”

The girl’s body trembled slightly. She slowly raised her head and reached out with delicate hands to brush the long hair from her face.

A clean, fair face, still a bit youthful, without any makeup, radiated a natural beauty.

Beneath her curved willow-leaf brows, a pair of beautiful autumn eyes shone with resilience amid their grievance, stirring pity in others.

Her nose was delicate and upturned, her lips full and inviting.

She made people want to lean in and kiss her right then and there.

William Grant had thought the same as the fat man in luxurious clothes—that the girl’s reluctance to lift her head meant she must be unattractive.

But who would have thought she was actually a budding beauty?

With her graceful figure, she stood tall and elegant.

It was easy to imagine that, as she grew up, she would become a stunning beauty capable of toppling cities.

For a moment, all the men around swallowed hard, their eyes filled with greed.

“He’s only offering ten taels of silver. I’ll give twenty! From now on, you’ll follow me.”

The fat man in luxurious clothes, seeing the girl’s true face, was drooling as he hurriedly raised his bid.

“I’ll offer thirty taels!”

Someone else followed suit.

“I’ll give fifty taels!”

“I’ll give sixty taels!”

...

Watching these people compete with their bids, William Grant simply observed coldly.

If the girl really chose to go with the highest bidder in the end, he would leave immediately. Such a person was not worth helping.

Chapter 7: Taking Action with Authority

The bidding war among the crowd kept escalating, making many of the onlookers shake their heads.

Before the girl had lifted her head, no one cared.

Only one kind-hearted young man was willing to offer ten taels of silver to help her bury her mother.

Now that the girl had revealed her stunning face, some of the men who previously refused to pay had gone completely mad.

“I’ll give one hundred taels of silver!”