Volume 1: Spring in Wulong Town Chapter 18: Carving a formation, sealing the soul with warm jade
The jade pendant was put back on the counter.
The old man in Tang Zheng's eyes looked like the kind of master craftsman who sat in a watch shop a few centuries ago, wearing reading glasses and repairing various small parts.
There is only one thing that is different, that is, the eyes!
From time to time, a gleam of brilliance would leak out from the old man's cloudy eyes of Jubao Pavilion, intentionally or unintentionally.
So Tang Zheng just stared at his eyes...
"Is there something dirty on my face?" The old man's dignity was instantly lowered by him, "Why are you staring at me?"
"I want to take a closer look to see if you are a bad person."
"Well, can you tell that?"
"Of course." Tang Zheng used all his experience in identifying NPC camps in games in his previous life. After looking for a long time, he answered the old man's question, "The jade pendant is a token given to me by a friend of mine."
"..." The old man touched his face, "It seems that I am not a bad person?"
"But he's not a good person either." Tang Zheng added.
“Hahaha…” The old man laughed, “You little kid are so interesting!”
Having said that, the old man did not return the jade pendant to him, but instead pulled out an old stone table from under the counter. It looked a bit like the turntable used to make cakes in the cake shops that Tang Zheng had seen in his previous life.
The old man placed the jade pendant carefully on the stone platform, put his hands on the edge of the platform, and with a "whoosh", a star image of an exquisite hammer rose behind him!
And on the small hammer with intricate patterns, three bright stars rose up one after another!
As the star power was injected, the engraved patterns on the jade pendant floated up from the stone platform as if magnified by a magnifying glass...
"The structure of this formation..." The old man frowned again.
Tang Zheng stood aside, saying nothing.
"You, turn it on." The old man pushed the stone platform towards Tang Zheng, then lowered his head and started searching again.
Tang Zheng placed his hands on the stone platform, and felt a chill running through his bones. The stone platform was like a monster, rapidly devouring his star power...
At this time, the old man had already taken out the pen, ink, paper and inkstone from under the counter. Without even looking at Tang Zheng, he began to copy the repetitive formation diagram floating in the air stroke by stroke.
Tang Zheng's forehead was covered with cold sweat...
Today was enough for him. He overdrew his energy once just by gathering fifty strands of star power, and once again by cutting out the purple gold. And he should do it again to operate the stone platform.
Is there ever such a hassle?
Rustle...
In the entire Jubao Pavilion, the only sounds left were the sound of the old man writing and Tang Zheng's increasingly heavy breathing.
"Okay!" After an unknown amount of time, the old man finally finished copying.
"Huh..." Tang Zheng almost fell under the counter.
"Huh? You little kid, you haven't even lit up a single star?" The old man then noticed Tang Zheng.
"You just saw it!"
"Then how can you operate the 'Star Instrument Performance Platform'? This is simply nonsense! You are courting death!"
"Fuck! Why didn't you tell me earlier that it couldn't be used? It's obviously you who is committing murder..." Even Tang Zheng was impressed by the old man's shamelessness.
"You...you are looking for death." The old man's eyes flickered.
"You murder!" Tang Zheng said firmly.
"Stop talking. Don't you understand respecting the old and loving the young?"
"You don't love the young ones first!"
"Fuck, you're young?"
"Brother is very young!!"
"..." The old man lost the argument, shook his head, casually took out a small box from his pocket, and threw it to Tang Zheng, "Come on, take it back and fix it."
Tang Zheng opened it and took a look. Inside was a huge pill, the kind that would definitely choke a person to death if swallowed.
Tang Zheng didn't know what it was, but he didn't hesitate and just put the box into his pocket.
After throwing the pill, the old man ignored Tang Zheng and looked carefully at the paper on which he had copied the formation.
"The carvings are like silk, the depths are orderly, and the five elements counteract each other... Such a wonderful formation structure is actually hidden in a jade pendant that assists in cultivation..." The old man looked at it for a long time, gesturing with his fingers, and finally raised his head and looked at Tang Zhengdao: " Young man, although this formation looks like a 'Spirit Gathering Formation' that assists in cultivation, the master has modified it with just a few strokes, and it is no longer a 'Spirit Gathering Formation'."
"What is that?"
"Broken Jade Soul Sealing Formation!" The old man carefully handed the jade pendant back to Tang Zheng, "The master who carved the formation sealed his own soul into this jade pendant to protect the owner of the jade pendant and his descendants..."
"The descendants of the owner of the jade pendant are immortal. Could it be because..."
"With this jade pendant, even the power of the starburst will be absorbed by it, and the owner will only bear a small part. If he is treated in time, he should have a chance of survival!"
"What if it's not used by their descendants?" Tang Zheng didn't know what happened if he triggered the jade pendant. He smuggled to Xingyao Continent. It's impossible that he and Tian Meng were brothers who were separated in multiple dimensions, right?
"It's best not to use it. If you don't have the bloodline of a jade soul, it will be unstable to use and there may be a risk of backlash." The old man watched Tang Zheng put away the jade pendant before continuing, "Keep it safe. It's not just a jade pendant, it's a story!"
"Yeah." Tang Zheng nodded.
Tian Meng probably still thought that it was the extravagant Kaoh who saved him after the starburst.
Now it seems that, in fact, it was their family's ancestral jade pendant that protected his star veins in time when his star exploded!
…
It was not easy for Tang Zheng to come to Jubao Pavilion.
After identifying Tian Meng's jade pendant, he still had his own important work to do, so after putting away the jade pendant, he immediately started looking for Wen Mo in Jubao Pavilion.
Tattoo ink, because it can be used for "astrological tattooing", it seems to be a very commonly used thing in the Xingyao Continent.
An entire wall of shelves in Jubao Pavilion is filled with tattoo ink.
There are inks in exquisite small porcelain bottles, and graphites in boxes, including cinnabar ink, pine soot ink, and purple kite ink in all colors...
"Son, don't look at those. You can't afford them." The old man hummed a tune proudly, and it was obvious that he was deliberately arguing with Tang Zheng.
"Then, which ones can I afford?" Tang Zheng knew that he was not trying to bully the customer, but was just trying to get back at the man for their argument, so he was not angry.
"Hey! Everything you can afford is not in this store. Next door, turn left... Look, that row of small shops are all for tattoo ink. Why don't you go and have a look?"
"How much is this?" Tang Zheng didn't even listen to what he was saying and picked up a small box that looked nice.
"You may be young, but you have a very good eye! That is Yao ink produced by the Yaoshan tribe. These pieces of Yao ink are the most expensive on my shelf."
" How much?"
"One purple gold Tongbao!"
"Yes."
"Want...want it?" The old man looked as if he was not ready to show off.
"Okay, I'll take it." Tang Zheng threw the piece of purple gold out of his pocket.
The old man, who looked like a hermit, had his status lowered again as soon as he caught the piece of purple gold: "So soft? Is this... pure gold?"
Tang Zheng smiled but said nothing.
When judging the jade pendant, the old man also used instruments , but judging the authenticity of purple gold was too easy - the higher the purity, the stronger the ability to communicate with star power, and as long as the star power was injected, the authenticity could be determined.
It's really pure gold!
The old man raised his head and looked at Tang Zheng deeply.
"My son, three taels of pure gold can be exchanged for five purple gold coins, but this is not a pawnshop, so I can only give you a discount. I'll give you four and a half purple gold coins. If you buy that box of Yao Mo, I'll give you three purple gold coins and fifty Liu Yin coins."
Because pure gold is too soft, even ordinary people can scratch it with their fingers. Therefore, the Zijin Tongbao cannot be made of pure gold, but is mixed with about 40% of other things to fix the shape.
"How is it?" The old man did not ask about the origin of this piece of pure gold, but only asked Tang Zhengdao.
"Okay." Tang Zheng nodded. Although the exchange fee of fifty Liuyin Tongbao was not low and was higher than Tang Zheng's monthly salary, the safety of Jubao Pavilion was worth the price.
Transactions at Jubao Pavilion are relatively complicated. For every transaction, the date, item, and identity and appearance of the purchaser must be recorded in detail.
When asked about Tang Zheng 's identity, of course Tang Zheng couldn't give it out.
The main purpose of his coming to Jubao Pavilion was to solve the problem of the identity plate. How could he explain his identity clearly if the identity plate was not yet resolved?
"Identity..." Tang Zheng lowered his voice, "My friend introduced me to the first and a half floors of Jubao Pavilion to solve the problem of identity badges."
"First and a half floors?" The old man blinked twice.
"Yes, the first and a half floors."
"What do you mean one and a half floors?"
"Eh?" Tang Zheng remembered that Meng Fenghua was talking about the first and a half floors. "Is it the first and a half floors where Jubao Pavilion does its 'big business'?"
"I don't care if you're a big business or not? Tell me! Who told you that my name is Yilouban? My name is Ban Yilou!"
