Chapter 13: The Mysterious Black Stone

  For the next two days, Yang Yun still spent his days in the library, and he had flipped through all the books in the library.

  In the vast ocean of knowledge, in the Jinglun Hall, several rows of bookshelves suddenly appeared, with seven or eight hundred books placed on them.

  Yang Yun transformed into a figure and walked back and forth in the Jinglun Hall, with a look of great satisfaction on his face.

  "All the books from the county school are here, it was worth all the hard work these past few days, I've been flipping through books until my fingers are numb."

  Yang Yun's mind stirred, "Now try writing a strategy."

  Suddenly, a void creature, in the corner of Jinglutang, a kirin stepped on the cloud and floated out a Qingmu wooden desk, on which the four treasures of the study were neatly arranged.

  A green bamboo pen with a silver nib, a square inkstone with a clear and crisp sound of ice cracks, a piece of pine soot, and a large stack of snow-white rice paper.

  A strand of silver moonlight shines down, and clear water suddenly appears in the inkstone. The pine and ink come flying over to start grinding the ink automatically. After the silver brush is dipped in the ink, it dances across the rice paper, with line after line of elegant calligraphy appearing like flowing clouds and water.

  From the moment the first word was written, more than a dozen books flew out of the bookshelf, floating in mid-air and flipping rapidly. Occasionally, one would stop, and some golden sentences would emerge from it, flying towards the silver pen like birds taking refuge in the woods.

  Some books flew back to the bookshelf after being flipped through, while others flew out again. Hundreds of books fluttered about like a swarm of butterflies, flying back and forth between the air and the bookshelves, creating a flurry of rustling pages and flipping sounds that blended together in a cacophony, as if one were standing in a deep valley surrounded by streams.

  Half a moment's work, and an article of strategy has been written. The books fly back to the bookshelf, the four treasures of the study return to their place, the inkstone is spotless like a mirror, without a single trace of ink or water. Several pages of Xuan paper filled with words are quietly placed on the desk, the ink marks on the paper quickly dry, and faintly, as if there is a hint of ink fragrance floating around.

  With a thought, the entire content of the article was clear in his mind, as familiar as if Yang Yun had written it himself.

  Yang Yun sighed: "Wonderful! This strategy article is clear and logical, whether it's the argument or the evidence, there's no flaw to be found. The whole article won't have a single mistake, the only shortcoming is the transition between paragraphs, and the tone of the writing. However, with just a bit of effort to polish it, it will definitely be better than what I spent hours racking my brains to write before - wonderful, too wonderful!"

  Yang Yun took another look at the consumption of Moonlight True Qi.

  "Not bad, the article I just wrote only consumed about one-tenth of the true energy I cultivated in a day, which is much less than the consumption of deducing and cultivating exercises."

  The deduction of the sea of consciousness requires energy support. Since opening up the sea of consciousness, Yang Yun's monthly true energy cultivated through hard work every night has been spent more than half on the deduction technique.

  "It seems that the Moon Flower True Qi will have to bear another expense." Yang Yun sighed helplessly, although the expense was not great, but now every day's accumulated true qi was already very little, this was simply like scraping flesh from a wound.

  The sea of knowledge is good, but it's too energy-consuming. Now, the cultivation speed of Yang Yun's Moon Flower True Classic can only be described as tortoise-like. The accumulation of true energy is insufficient, and it cannot accumulate and impact the next acupoint, let alone improve the level of cultivation.

  Yang Yun is now absolutely both painful and happy. It's like someone has made a fortune, but this money must be used to build a house. Before the house is built, they can only drool on one side and suffer from hunger and cold on the other.

  "I'll endure, I'll endure until the tenth layer of the Moon Essence Scripture is pushed out, after all, sharpening a knife doesn't mistake chopping firewood. The realm of condensing the aperture is laying the foundation, at this time the method can't have any mistakes." Yang Yun comforted himself, but it seemed he had forgotten that above condensing the aperture was guiding the qi to exit the aperture, and then there was building the foundation, when the time came to push out the next step of the method, the consumption would absolutely make him tremble with fear and be in unbearable pain.

  After memorizing the entire county school library's contents in his mind, Yang Yun finally relaxed a bit, and apart from still going to the library every day for a spin, he finally had time to stroll around Jinghai County.

  Only then did I realize that Jinghai County, although small, has a port and is frequently visited by merchants from the sea, making trade quite prosperous. The market also occasionally reveals some rare treasures.

  After wandering for two days, relying on the Moonlight Spirit Eye and his experience in dreams, Yang Yun actually gained a considerable harvest. By buying things from the market and then reselling them to larger shops, Yang Yun's silver increased to eight taels in just two days, more than doubling.

  Yang Yun's face floated with a faint smile as he pinched his thickened wallet.

  "Eight taels of silver, I heard that the registration fee for Haitian Academy in the prefectural city is five taels. Well, if we add up to ten taels, we can go to Fengming Prefecture."

  Yang Yun thought to himself, "The Fengming Prefecture is known as the Little Eastern Wu City, it's the largest city in southern Wu State, the market there must be even bigger and more prosperous. Hehe, with my keen eye for treasure, food, lodging and tuition will definitely not be a problem, who knows, I might even make some money to bring back home."

  In Fengming Prefecture, of course, there was more than one academy, but the collection of books in Haitian Academy was the most famous, and the tuition was paid once a month. Yang Yun naturally chose this academy.

  It was getting late, and the crowd in the market began to disperse. The vendors started to pack up their stalls.

  "The second layer of the Moon Flower True Classic has been broken through, I've memorized all the books in the county school library, and then I found a way to make money, three joys are coming, tonight we need to celebrate."

  Yang Yun had something to do at night. According to the previous plan, when he went out in the morning, he had already greeted Fan Jun and said that he would go to a friend's house for dinner and not return.

  As the crowd dispersed and walked to the end of the market, in front was a white stone arch bridge, with a curve of emerald water flowing from under the bridge hole. Along the riverbank on the opposite side was a street paved with bluestone slabs.

  Most of the shops on the street have already hung lanterns, and the colorful lights are reflected in the river water, with a prosperous atmosphere.

  "I've long heard of Qu Shui Jie's great reputation, today I must have a good meal." Yang Yun swallowed his saliva, patted his money pouch, and strode towards the bridge.

  "Huh?!" Yang Yun suddenly stopped in his tracks.

  Near the arch bridge, a middle-aged vendor was slowly picking up his goods from the ground. Just now, Yang Yun habitually swept the area with her Moonlight Spirit Eye and found something interesting.

  "Uncle, what kind of stone is this black one?" Yang Yun asked as he stepped forward.

  The middle-aged vendor stopped what he was doing, looked at Yang Yun and said: "I don't know what kind of stone it is either. A smuggler gave it to me two years ago, but the texture of this stone is not bad, after two years there's no wear and tear at all."

  Yang Yun picked up this string of black stones and examined it carefully.

  There are thirteen black stones strung on a purple ribbon, just the right size to wear on your wrist. These black stones look unremarkable and seem like ordinary rocks.

  The new moon in the sky has risen, Yang Yun re-activated the Moon Spirit Eye, and indeed, these stones miraculously disappeared from view in the Moon Spirit Eye.

  "It can actually absorb the moon's aura, and it's a pure absorption, without any reflection. But it doesn't convert into spiritual energy, so it's not a spiritual object, but it's absolutely not an ordinary stone either. Well, just for its ability to completely absorb the moon's aura, I should buy it back and study it." Yang Yun thought.

  "How much does it cost?"

  The stall owner hesitated for a moment, "If you want it, take it for 100 coins."

  Yang Yun was about to respond when he suddenly saw the whale skin that had been under the black stone bracelet, its surface worn out badly, but still visible were some blurry floral patterns.

  "Is this leather from Heishi as well?"

  "Yes, it was wrapped in this skin when I received it."

  Yang Yun took out a piece of broken silver, about one or two mace, "Black stone rosary, including this whale skin."

  The whale skin was just ordinary goods, but since it came from the same source as the black stone, Yang Yun decided to buy them all.

  The merchant took the silver fragments, weighed them, and checked their purity again. Smiling, he said: "Deal! Thank you for your patronage."

  Yang Yun casually put on the black stone bracelet on her wrist and stuffed the whale skin into her bosom before bidding farewell and leaving.

  After crossing the small bridge, strolling along the bustling Qu Shui Street, there were restaurants and teahouses everywhere, even brothels and pleasure boats. Every household was brightly lit, with people crowded together, wafting through the air was the fragrance of wine, and in her ears was the sound of silk and bamboo music. Yang Yun couldn't help but sigh again at the prosperity of Jinghai County.