Chapter 527: Borrowing the Time It Takes to Burn One Incense Stick
The white-haired elder’s murky eyes narrowed slightly. He glanced at the young man’s longsword at his waist, then at Su Ming standing nearby.
“This young swordsman from the Sword Sect.” The elder spoke in a measured tone, his gaunt fingers tapping Su Ming, “This young man asked the price first. In all things, there must be order—first come, then serve.”
The young man’s brows furrowed. He finally turned his head, his eyes devoid of warmth sweeping over Su Ming.
“Three thousand mid-grade spirit stones.” The youth said flatly, his tone carrying an aloof superiority, “Can you afford it?”
The atmosphere in front of the stone platform froze instantly.
Qingfeng clenched his fists so hard veins bulged on his forehead. Mingyue bit her lower lip in anger.
Ying fidgeted restlessly on Su Ming’s shoulder, gold irises flickering with faint black flames.
“Don’t be impulsive.” Lin Yu’s sharp command thundered through Su Ming’s Consciousness Sea, “This brat is at the peak of Foundation Establishment, his sword intent has already brushed the edge of momentum. If he truly strikes, your seven hundred and fifty formation runes might not withstand a single law-breaking slash. Do not make needless mortal enemies here.”
Su Ming raised his left hand and gently pressed Ying’s head, calming the little one’s frenzy.
“I can’t pay that.” Su Ming looked at the white-haired elder and bowed slightly, “Please, go ahead.”
The white-haired elder nodded and fell silent.
The youth casually tossed a storage pouch onto the jade-and-stone platform, then slipped the formation plate into his sleeve.
Having done that, he glanced at Su Ming, his gaze lingering for a moment on the plain gray robe.
“You’re from the Northern Frontier?” the youth asked idly, then turned to leave.
“Brother, please wait.”
Su Ming’s steady voice rang out behind the youth.
The youth’s steps paused. He turned around, his hand already habitually resting on his sword hilt, his expression growing extremely dangerous.
“Something to discuss?”
Su Ming ignored the suffocating pressure of sword intent.
He took out one hundred mid-grade spirit stones from his storage pouch and neatly arranged them on the empty stone table beside them.
“You bought this formation plate because you appreciated its ingenuity.” Su Ming looked directly into the youth’s eyes, his tone neither humble nor arrogant, “I’ve studied array craft a bit. May I borrow one incense stick’s worth of time to look it over? I’ll offer one hundred mid-grade spirit stones. I will only look with my eyes and will not use any divine sense to copy it onto a jade slip.”
The cultivators watching around gave suppressed murmurs.
One hundred mid-grade spirit stones just to look at a rotted-wood-looking formation plate for an incense stick’s time? Is this Northern Frontier brat insane?
The youth was stunned.
His hand on the hilt loosened slightly. He looked at the one hundred spirit stones, then at Su Ming.
“Just looking and no copying, for an incense stick?” The youth seemed to find the idea somewhat amusing.
He took the formation plate back out of his sleeve and tossed it over casually.
“One incense stick. Let’s see what flower you can sniff out.”
Su Ming caught the formation plate steadily.
The moment it touched the plate, Su Ming sat cross-legged.
Lin Yu’s Soul Body in the Xuantian ring jolted violently. An intense dark-blue light flared as a hidden divine-sense barrier instantly wrapped Su Ming’s Consciousness Sea, isolating it from all possible external probing.
Su Ming closed his eyes.
The Like Water Art whirred wildly within him. He did not use any copying jade slip; instead, he directly activated the Observation of the Minute technique.
His divine sense spread like an invisible net, not scanning mechanically but flowing like water, seeping into and tracing every engraved line, every spiritual energy node on the plate, especially the variant set of the “lead” characters, bit by bit, copying them.
It was an operation that squeezed his mental power to the extreme.
After only half an incense stick’s time, a fine sheen of cold sweat appeared on Su Ming’s forehead. His face turned somewhat pale and his body trembled slightly.
The onlookers were all there to gawk; only the Sword Sect youth’s expression gradually grew grave.
He could sense that the gray-robed cultivator before him, who looked like a Foundation Establishment beginner, was conducting an extremely terrifying deduction.
Drip.
A bead of sweat slid from Su Ming’s chin and fell onto the Greenstone slab.
The incense in the burner finished burning just then.
Su Ming snapped his eyes open, bloodshot, yet a frenzied satisfaction gleamed deep within them.
He stood and handed the formation plate back to the youth with both hands.
“Thank you for indulging me, Brother.”
The youth took the plate, looked at Su Ming deeply, then pocketed the one hundred spirit stones and the plate together into his sleeve.
“Remember, my name is Zhou Jin.”
The youth turned and left, his voice echoing through the air.
“If you ever want to come back to this place, come find me at the Green Nether Sword Sect.”
Su Ming took a deep breath, forcing down the pounding pain in his Consciousness Sea caused by the overexertion, a faint curve forming at the corner of his mouth, “I’ve already memorized the essence of those patterns completely. One hundred spirit stones for the core of a high-level defensive formation — we made a great deal.”
Lin Yu clicked his tongue inside the ring, “Zhou Jin? Peak Foundation Establishment, sword intent concentrated yet diffuse. Swordsmen like that only care about their sword. Such personalities are arrogantly born; they usually disdain stabbing others in the back.”
“Let’s go.” Su Ming turned and walked toward the other stalls, “Buy some materials for making formation plates.”
Over the next half hour, Su Ming, dragging his exhausted divine sense, picked through several scattered stalls and traded for a few rare formation materials that were impossible to find up in the Northern Frontier, all at very low prices.
Qingfeng and Mingyue each spent a few spirit stones on some interesting trinkets.
As noon approached, the Myriad Treasures Pavilion grew ever more crowded.
“All set. Let’s go back to the inn.”
Su Ming put the last ink-patterned gold piece into his storage pouch and, with the two of them, headed for the main gate of the Myriad Treasures Pavilion.
Just as they stepped out through that heavy wooden door, their feet landing on the jade-and-stone steps,
several black silhouettes slid out like specters from the shadows on either side, blocking their path.
Leading them was a burly middle-aged cultivator in a black brocade robe. His countenance was grim and sinister, his presence radiating the domineering spiritual pressure of a peak Foundation Establishment.
Most conspicuous was the dark-gold token hanging at his waist.
On the token’s front, a striking “Wan” character was inscribed in cinnabar.
Behind him trailed four henchmen in black robes, mid-stage Foundation Establishment in strength. The five of them formed a semi-surrounding formation, completely hemming Su Ming and the others in on the steps.
“You’re the kid who spent half a day upstairs staring at someone else’s formation plate, aren’t you?”
The black-robed cultivator looked down at Su Ming, a malicious cold smile twisting his lips.
Qingfeng reacted quickly. He stepped forward and put his hand on his sword hilt, standing in front of Su Ming, “What do you think you’re doing? Fighting is forbidden in front of the Myriad Treasures Pavilion!”
Mingyue’s face went pale. She gripped Qingfeng’s sleeve tightly, eyes panicked as she looked at these menacing figures.
Su Ming reached out and put his hand on Qingfeng’s shoulder, gently pulling him behind him.
His gaze lingered for a moment on the token at the other’s waist, then he calmly met the black-robed cultivator’s stare.
“I was merely observing during normal transactions inside the pavilion.” Su Ming’s voice was calm and even, “May I ask, Brother, to what do you object by blocking our way?”