Chapter 00172: The Second Spirit Tool
# The Second Spirit Tool
Chapter 172
Novel: After the Immortals Disappeared
Chapter 172: The Second Spirit Tool
He Lingchuan casually took the broken knife and performed the exact same action, moving two feet further away from the wooden plank.
With a crisp sound, the wooden plank snapped cleanly in two.
Before the blade arrived, the blade's qi had already surged forth.
Li Fubo couldn't help but be moved: "Good knife! Although the blade is broken, the heart and eye remain, and they are still awake!"
Mao Tao interjected: "Is there a difference between the heart of the knife being awake or asleep?"
"Of course there is. After a magic tool breaks, even if the heart and eye can be preserved, they will mostly fall into a deep sleep. This knife of Young Master He is interesting, hmm, very interesting!"
He Lingchuan was only concerned: "Can it be repaired? The knife eye must be preserved."
"This knife has already reached the level of a spirit tool, and its nature is tenacious. Even though it is broken, it still exists. It would indeed be a pity to remelt it."
He Lingchuan was slightly taken aback.
The broken knife was already a spirit tool? Before leaving Heishui City, the craftsmen hadn't said so.
Had it really upgraded in just over a month?
Strange.
Li Fubo gently stroked the spine of the knife, reluctant to part with it.
"If we want to preserve the knife eye and completely repair it, we can't use conventional methods. Hmm, we can try the method of planting a knife."
Mao Tao couldn't help but interject: "You can plant a knife?"
Having heard of planting vegetables and trees, she had never heard of planting a knife.
"Generally speaking, when a knife or sword is broken, it is just broken and can only be thrown into the furnace for remelting. But if it has developed spirituality, then we must take a different approach. After all, the emergence of spirituality from metal and stone is truly a rare occurrence."
Li Fubo stroked his beard and said, "A gecko can regrow its tail; a knife blade can also be reborn, but the conditions are quite harsh."
As long as it can be repaired, that’s good.
The Songyang Prefecture would probably demand a high price.
He Lingchuan secretly exhaled: "Master Li, name your price."
The broken knife that Zhong Shengguang had gifted him was already a defective product with many peculiarities; he wanted to know what would happen if this knife were completely repaired.
"This price is not for me to decide! At most, I will charge a labor fee."
Li Fubo waved his hands repeatedly.
"The method of 'planting a knife' is extremely obscure; it requires Chujin."
Sure enough, in the end, it came down to Chujin.
He Lingchuan laughed heartily: "Your shop is one of the best in the capital; surely you are not lacking in this material?"
Manager Zhao couldn't help but say: "Young Master He, the quantity of Chujin in existence is even less than that of fallen iron from the sky. We only have two pieces in our shop. The entire Shihuan City hasn't received any new Chujin in nearly three years."
Li Fubo added: "Even in the original production area of Chushan, Chujin is not something you can just pick up. It doesn't even have a vein; it transforms from the essence of gold after gaining spirituality. This stuff runs all over the mountains, hiding from people; capturing it basically relies on luck."
"And what is the price of this luck?" He Lingchuan certainly understood the principle of rare goods being valuable, and he felt a bit anxious inside.
His money could go a long way in Heishui City, but in the affluent Shihuan, it was probably...
"Last year, the neighboring Hengshui Guild sold a piece of Chujin, which was only half the size of our collection, for fifteen pieces of upper third-grade Xuanjing, totaling six pounds."
When He Lingchuan and the others heard the words "upper third-grade Xuanjing," they were both startled.
After the arrival of the Imperial Flowing Juice on the ground, a small portion would burrow underground to become Xuanjing, which had greatly changed in effect and nature, but it was the best source for cultivators to replenish their true power.
Its grade is divided into three tiers: upper, middle, and lower, with each tier further divided into three grades.
Upper third-grade Xuanjing was already out of reach for ordinary cultivators.
He Lingchuan was well aware of the price of Xuanjing; he had a piece of middle-tier lower-grade Xuanjing in his possession, just one piece.
This thing was absurdly priced by the pound!
Manager Zhao continued: "You also know that Xuanjing of this level is generally not priced in gold or silver. If it must be converted, the market price is about twenty thousand taels per pound."
One hundred twenty thousand taels! The price of a piece of Chujin actually started at one hundred twenty thousand taels! Mao Tao managed to keep her expression unchanged, but her nostrils flared, and her breathing became heavy.
How large a pile would one hundred twenty thousand taels of silver be?
He had been robbing on Hongya Road for many years, collecting tolls from the sand bandits, and after deducting various expenses, his actual earnings over the past fifteen years were at most a quarter of this amount.
He Lingchuan stroked his chin, exceptionally calm: "Really..."
So damn expensive! Even if he was a "wealthy young master," his monthly allowance was only two to three hundred taels of silver.
Where would he find the twelve hundred thousand taels? "Not cheap."
The amount of money that could allow one to act with authority in the countryside could only buy a piece of metal for repairing knives under the emperor's feet.
It seemed that if he wanted to walk smoothly on the path of cultivation, he would have to think of other ways to earn money.
Manager Zhao nodded in agreement: "Yes, maintaining a spirit tool is truly not cheap. However, although this knife is good, it is still broken, which brings many inconveniences in combat. Young Master He might as well look for a more suitable weapon; our shop has many options."
He Lingchuan found it both amusing and exasperating.
Should he scold him for looking down on people or thank him for being considerate? He rolled his eyes: "Are you so sure that this young master can't afford Chujin?"
He had seen many second-generation rich kids acting pretentiously.
Manager Zhao put on a smiling face and waved his hands: "This thing is indeed too expensive. In business, I hope to save some costs for the young master."
If you have money, just take it out; why waste words?
He Lingchuan tapped his fingers on the table twice as if in thought, then asked Master Li Fubo: "How much Chujin will be needed to repair my broken knife?"
Li Fubo buried his head in mental calculations, and after a while, he said: "A little smaller than the piece sold by Hengshui Guild will be enough."
That would still be over ninety thousand or a hundred thousand, right? Even selling He Lingchuan several times wouldn't be enough to gather it.
But he wasn't anxious; he turned to Manager Zhao and asked: "Do you also accept spirit tools here?"
Manager Zhao was taken aback: "Do you have spirit tools?"
Below divine artifacts are spirit tools.
In this world, divine artifacts simply do not exist, so spirit tools have become the top tier.
Even if the quality is slightly lower, all major selling houses would fight to get them.
In the entire Daguo, including the selling houses in Shihuan City, only one new spirit tool had appeared in the past year.
But this little nouveau riche claimed he not only had one but two?
Were they complete?
Could they be used?
Of course, the well-trained Manager Zhao wouldn't voice these thoughts openly; he just smiled broadly: "May I take a look?"
He Lingchuan took out the Purple Gold Pestle from his storage ring and placed it on the table with a thud: "Master Li, take a look."
This treasure pestle was colored purple gold, covered in runes, with a strange beast carved at the top, wide nose, big mouth, bulging eyes, and whiskers, with four pull rings at the bottom, while the end of the pestle was sharpened like a club.
Master Li exclaimed, holding it up with both hands to examine it closely, his nose nearly touching the pestle, unable to help but exclaim again: "Young Master He, where did you obtain this treasure?"
He Lingchuan leaned back: "You first tell me if it counts as a spirit tool and how much it is worth."
The Purple Gold Pestle had been gathering dust in his storage ring for several months, and it was finally time to put it to some use.
Manager Zhao also stared at the pestle, his eyes widening more and more, stuttering: "This, this can't be... I didn't see it wrong, right!"
They were all under the sect of the Tool Sect, and being so close to the capital, how could they not know such a famous treasure?
He didn't care about losing his composure and eagerly said to Li Fubo: "Master Li, please verify it, verify it!" Then he turned to He Lingchuan and said, "Young Master, please forgive us; we need to authenticate it."
"Go ahead, feel free to verify."
True gold fears no fire.
Next, Li Fubo took out an unknown potion and dripped it onto the pestle.
The runes on it immediately detached from the pestle and flew out, slowly revolving around the treasure pestle.
Li Fubo watched without blinking, and after a long while, he said: "It is the Xiaoshan Subduing Demon Spell, no doubt about it."
Then he quickly walked to the inner hall and retrieved a piece of metal the size of a finger, bringing it close to the beast's head of the pestle.
The beast's head, which had originally been motionless with its eyes closed, suddenly opened its eyes and swallowed the piece of metal in one gulp.
"Why go through such trouble? You're wasting a piece of fine gold."
He Lingchuan extended the broken knife and knocked three times on the beast's head: "Hey, wake up, sing a couple of lines for us."
The beast had already looked at him unfavorably; now it was even angrier, roaring at him three times, its voice booming like a bull, shaking the dust from the beams above.
Manager Zhao and Li Fubo couldn't help but laugh heartily: "Indeed, it is the Chaofeng Beast! It truly is Master Sun's Purple Gold Pestle!"
"This is the Chaofeng?" It couldn't be blamed that He Lingchuan couldn't recognize it; the dragon has nine sons, and aside from the one that carries the stele, the others all look similar.
"It is said that when this Purple Gold Pestle was forged, a strand of the Chaofeng's divine soul was added."
Li Fubo marveled, "Even if we wanted to forge such a treasure again today, we wouldn't be able to find such a precious beast soul."
Manager Zhao couldn't help but ask again: "May I ask, Young Master He, where does this treasure come from?"
The more valuable the treasure, the more its origin must be scrutinized.
Songyang Prefecture is a prestigious sect of the Tool Sect and cannot openly accept stolen goods.
"This is the spoils of war of our young master!" Mao Tao interjected at the right moment, beaming with pride, "That old thief Sun Fuping was defeated by our Lord He and Young Master He!"
The three people across from them were all moved.
Manager Zhao exclaimed: "So it turns out that Lord He is the one from Qiansong County, from Qiansong County..."
The matter of the former national master Sun Fuping failing in the Panlong Desert had already spread throughout the capital months ago, and as one of the secondary capitals, Shihuan City certainly wouldn't miss this news.
"The former governor of Qiansong County; now Lord He is the governor of Xia Prefecture."
Manager Zhao's attitude towards He Lingchuan immediately changed.
Not only was his smile more sincere, but he also bent lower: "Such a treasure, I cannot make the decision; I need to report to my superiors. Young Master He, could you please wait a moment?"
He Lingchuan waved his hand: "Hurry up."
It seemed promising.
Manager Zhao immediately took Li Fubo and walked to the back, while a young servant came forward to serve the two distinguished guests each a steaming cup of tea.
...
Manager Zhao and the others walked straight through the back hall, exiting through a small door behind Songyang Prefecture, crossing two small alleys, and entering a large residence.
The area of the residence was equivalent to half of Songyang Prefecture, but unlike the bustling crowd over there, this large residence had only about ten servants, all walking on tiptoes.
The wintersweet was blooming perfectly, and the snow on the path was swept clean.
The branches, stripped of leaves, hung with golden plates filled with millet and pine nuts for the winter birds and squirrels to feed on.
As Manager Zhao passed by a glazed warm room, he saw the exotic flowers and plants inside competing for beauty, seemingly unaffected by the weather.
(End of Chapter)