Chapter 48: The Treasure That Can't Be Opened

  "Well, this... I don't know what specific function this ring has either, but it's said to be the key to opening a certain mysterious realm. That realm is said to belong to a Golden Elixir stage expert..."

  "Stop it... To be honest, I don't listen to those useless things. What's the point?" Lin Feng hastily interrupted the boss's words. Early in the morning, he had heard enough about the secret realm and the cave mansion, which was nothing more than raising the value of the goods.

  "Haha, it seems you're a sensible person too. I'll be honest with you, I don't know what use it has either. I just thought it looked ancient and spent 150 spirit stones on it a few years ago. Selling it to you for 200 isn't expensive, you never know, maybe after you take it back, you'll discover its secrets..." The boss seemed to have made doing business a habit, and before three sentences were out, he started exaggerating again.

  Actually, he bought this thing when he first started doing business and spent 20 spirit stones on it because he took pity on the seller. The person who sold him the ring was also a small scattered cultivator who looked poor and pitiful. Plus, the Panlong Ring really did look good, which means it's easy to deceive people, so he bought it. Who knew that after buying it, he never got rid of it? It's not that no one asked about it, many people did ask, but those willing to spend spirit stones on something useless for cultivation were few and far between. At least, this boss had never met anyone like that.

  "In other words, this ring is neither a space ring nor has any real key function?" Lin Feng interrupted the boss's nonsense again, pointing directly to the essence.

  "There must be a use for it, we just haven't found it yet..." The boss still wouldn't give up.

  "Let's talk about the price, I'd like to buy it and study it, but your price is a bit too outrageous." Lin Feng interrupted him, appearing very strong and confident, with an expression that said "you can't fool me". In fact, he was already delighted in his heart, of course, there must be some use for it, although I don't know what exactly, but Bao Yu wouldn't be wrong. But would I tell you?

  "One hundred and fifty pieces of spirit stone, I'll return them to you at the original price." The boss looked like he was in physical pain, a pretty good performance.

  Lin Feng didn't say a word, he just stared at his boss with his eyes, his mouth corners seeming to smile but not quite.

  "One hundred and two, can't be less." The boss was in agony.

  "One hundred, no haggling, take it or leave it." Lin Feng watched the performance for a while, then quoted a price that the boss would definitely accept, and put on an air of "I won't sell if you don't agree".

  "Take it, I've been doing business for so many years and I've never seen a customer as good at bargaining as you." The boss looked like he was mourning the loss of his firstborn, but the corners of his mouth revealed a hint of satisfaction.

  Lin Feng didn't say another word, took out 100 spirit stones from his storage bag and placed them on the counter, casually putting the Panlong Ring inside, turned around and left. It wasn't until now that he finally let out a sigh of relief and completely put his mind at ease. The reason why he had spent so much effort haggling over the price earlier was purely for show, to avoid arousing suspicion. Lin Feng still understood the principle of "carrying a jade seal and committing a crime". This way, everyone was happy - the boss made money, Lin Feng got the treasure, and there were no loose ends. What's not to be delighted about?

  Having obtained the precious treasure, Lin Feng no longer had the mood to help Liu Kai dig up treasures. He directly went to Liu Kai's stall and handed over some spiritual medicines he had collected over the past few days and the treasures he had just dug up, reminded him a few words before leaving the market, not even having the extra mind to respond to Liu Kai's repeated praises.

  Lin Feng had originally planned to go to the Baibao Hall today to buy some Gongfa symbols, but now he didn't have the mood for it. At this moment, what he most wanted to know was what kind of treasure the Panlong Ring actually was. Without returning to the Xiuzhen shop, where there were many people and too much gossip, Lin Feng directly came to the high-end inn that Liu Kai had mentioned yesterday - Jiling Pavilion.

  "Open a room." Lin Feng, facing the shopkeeper of the foundation period cultivation, didn't feel guilty at all. Whether it was a large inn or a small one, as long as there was money and spiritual stones, the boss or the shopkeeper would welcome him with a smile.

  "Which building would you like to stay in, the upper house, middle house or lower house? Each one is a separate courtyard and the prices are reasonable!" The shopkeeper was indeed very experienced and with just one glance he could tell that Lin Feng was a first-time visitor to Jiling Hall, so he introduced everything in great detail.

  Lin Feng was just borrowing this place to study the treasure, thinking that it wouldn't take much time, so he said: "How many spirit stones does a medium-sized room cost per day?" This wasn't a small inn where Liu Kai lived, they didn't collect silver, but spirit stones.

  "Eight pieces of spirit stone per day, if a fellow daoist stays for one month, only two hundred spirit stones are needed." The shopkeeper introduced.

  Lin Feng was about to say something when he suddenly remembered Qian Dele's threat and felt that staying in the small inn for a long time would be more likely to cause trouble, so he said: "Then let's stay for a month first!"

  After paying 200 spiritual stones with a painful smile, Lin Feng was soon led to a secluded courtyard. The servant boy brought tea and fruit after asking about Lin Feng's habits and requirements, then left him alone.

  At this time, Lin Feng carefully looked at the yard. The yard was not big, but it was divided into three rooms: a practice room, a reception room, and a rest room. The three rooms were arranged in a circular shape to form a courtyard of about three feet square. In the courtyard, there was a jade stone table and several stone stools. Except for this, there were some rare flowers and grasses at the foot of the wall. The whole small yard looked clean, simple, and quiet, very suitable for practitioners to practice.

  Lin Feng casually breathed in and out, feeling that the spiritual energy here was indeed abundant, probably about three or four times that of the Yang family. Even compared to Xi Lian Mountain, it might be higher by a lot.

  "It's indeed different with the Spirit Gathering Array! Here, the cultivation speed is probably one or two times faster than at the Yang residence!" Lin Feng came to this conclusion after a brief feeling, and couldn't help but secretly sigh that having money was indeed different. Should he consider living here long-term? With his current earning ability, it wasn't like he couldn't afford it either.

  Lin Feng thought for a moment and shook his head. There was no need to think too much now, anyway he had already moved in. He could consider the problem slowly over the next month. What was most important now was finding out the secret of the Panlong Ring, hoping it would bring him surprises.

  He had already instructed the shopkeeper not to disturb him unless it was his own order, so Lin Feng briefly observed the small courtyard before entering the practice room and carefully examining the Panlong Ring.

  The appearance of the Panlong Ring is not complicated at all, it's just two dragon bodies coiled into a ring shape, very simple. The dragon head is also quite rough, or should I say, heavily worn out, anyway, it's not exquisite, at least you can tell that the person who made this ring doesn't have a high level of craftsmanship, but why did Baoyu react so strongly?

  Lin Feng carefully examined every scale on the dragon's body, every protrusion and depression, but found no mechanism. He then took a closer look at the material of the ring, which was quite special and couldn't be identified as any ordinary metal. The color resembled that of brass, but Lin Feng was certain it wasn't brass, rather a unique metal or possibly an alloy of several metals. Lin Feng tested its hardness with his sword and found that even high-quality steel swords and mid-grade magic artifacts couldn't leave a mark on it, indicating that the material was indeed extraordinary.

  He thought that such a ring was usually made into a spatial ring, so Lin Feng used his divine sense to carefully examine it again. However, he didn't discover any entrance, and it was clear that it wouldn't be a spatial ring, or at least not an ordinary one - he just hadn't found the way in yet. This was because he knew that some powerful Cultivators would seal their belongings with their divine sense, and once sealed, only a cultivator of equivalent power could open it.

  Could it be the latter case? Even if it's a ring of a high-ranking cultivator, I should have detected some fluctuations with my divine sense. This Panlong Ring doesn't have any restrictive fluctuations at all, so it shouldn't be that either. Did I buy a fake one? Lin Feng couldn't help but suspect this, but after examining it with the Treasure Jade, the scorching feeling and the bright seven-colored light on the jade clearly indicated that this ring was definitely not ordinary.

  Is this ring just valuable for its material? What level of spiritual ore was used to refine it? Was it fifth or sixth grade, or even higher? Lin Feng didn't dare to think about it. Currently, the highest grade of spiritual ore he had seen was third grade, and he had only seen pictures of fourth-grade ones. Fifth-grade and above were just hearsay, so he couldn't make a judgment.

  Forget it, since that boss, a clever person, didn't understand the function of this ring, he must have used many methods and none of them damaged it. Lin Feng decided to try all the methods he could think of. So, he no longer had any scruples, using water bubbles, fire burning, grinding with sandstone, and wiping with various spiritual medicine juices. If not for considering the disgusting problem, he even wanted to soak it in urine to see what would happen.

  After messing around for half a day, there was still no discovery, and the dust and dirt on the ring were quite clean. What kind of evil thing is this? Lin Feng casually threw the ring onto the table, leaned his body back, and began to think wildly. For a moment, he thought that the ring might indeed be made from high-grade spiritual ore, only shaped like a ring, and then another moment, he thought about what the old boss who sold him the ring said, perhaps it was truly the key to some secret realm.

  "Could this be a demonic object?" Lin Feng's first reaction was that the secret realm had a large amount of high-grade spiritual medicine and spiritual ore, as well as various treasures. But thinking again, there were also many demonic and evil objects in the secret realm. A clever thought occurred to him, and Lin Feng sat up, looked at the ring, and carefully picked it up.

  Xie Xiu and Mo Xiu often use blood to sacrifice when making objects, so many times they need to open their objects with blood as a guide or wipe away the blood mark. Is this ring also an evil object or a magic object? Lin Feng's heart skipped a beat, but he quickly denied his own thoughts, because although the ring was made roughly and had an ancient style, the dragon body and head were both strong and powerful, with a majestic aura, making it unlikely to be an evil or magical object.

  Lin Feng put his mind at ease, as long as it wasn't an evil demon's object, there was nothing to be afraid of. It is said that top-grade treasures and high-level spiritual artifacts often use blood sacrifices to increase their connection with their masters. Since the Panlong Ring showed such a high level on the treasure jade, could it have been used for blood sacrifice as well?

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