Chapter 18: Carved Array, Warm Jade Seals the Soul
The jade pendant was put back on the counter.
The old man in Táng Zhèng's eyes looked like a master craftsman from several centuries ago, sitting in a clock shop wearing reading glasses and repairing various small parts.
There's just one thing that doesn't look right. That is, the eyes!
The old master of the Treasure Pavilion had a pair of turbid eyes, from which two glints of sharp light would occasionally leak out unintentionally.
So Tang Zheng stared into his eyes without blinking...
"Is there something dirty on my face?" The old man's demeanor instantly dropped, "What are you staring at me for?"
"I want to take a closer look and see if you're a bad person."
"Cough, can you see this?"
"Of course." Tang Zhengyu used his past life experience in the game to distinguish between NPC factions, and after thinking for half a day, he finally answered the old man's question, "The jade pendant was given to me by a friend as a token of trust."
"......" The old man touched his own face, "It seems I'm not a bad person?"
"But not a good person either." Tang Zheng added a knife.
"Hahaha..." The old man burst out laughing, "You little kid are interesting!"
As he spoke, the old man didn't return the jade pendant to him, but instead pulled out an old and worn stone tray from under the counter, which looked a bit like the turntable used in cake shops that Tang Zheng had seen before.
Only to see the old man carefully place the jade pendant on the stone platform, his hands pressed against the edge of the platform, and with a loud shout, a delicate small hammer star map burst out from behind him!
And on that small hammer with intricate flower patterns, three bright stars rose in succession!
As star power was injected, the patterns on the jade pendant were magnified like a magnifying glass and floated up from the stone pedestal...
"The structure of this formation......" The old man's eyebrows furrowed again.
Tang Zheng stood on one side, speechless.
"You, turn it around." The old man pushed the stone pedestal in front of Tang and then lowered his head to continue searching.
Tang Zheng placed his hands on the stone pedestal, and suddenly felt a chill run down his spine as if the pedestal was a ferocious beast rapidly devouring his star energy...
At this time, the old man had already flipped out pen, ink, paper and inkstone from under the counter, without even looking at Tang Zheng, and began to copy the repeated formation chart floating in the air stroke by stroke.
Tang Zheng's forehead was covered in cold sweat...
Today was enough for him, gathering fifty strands of star power had exhausted his energy once, cutting out the purple gold had exhausted his energy again, and this stone platform should still need to come again.
Is it worth all this trouble?
Shhh...
The entire Treasure Pavilion was left with only the sound of Old Master's brush strokes and Tang Zheng's increasingly heavy breathing.
"Alright!" After who knows how long, the old man finally finished tracing.
"Ah..." Tang Zheng almost collapsed onto the counter.
"Huh? You little brat, not a single star is lit up?" The old man only noticed Tang Zheng now.
"You've finally figured it out!"
"How can you possibly operate the 'Stellar Stage'? This is absurd! You're looking for death!"
"Damn it! Why didn't you say so earlier? It's clearly your fault...!" Even Tang Zheng was impressed by the old man's shamelessness.
"You... you're looking for death." The old man's eyes flickered.
"You murdered!" Tang Zheng said resolutely.
"Don't say anymore. Don't you understand respect for the elderly and care for the young?"
"You didn't love me when I was young!"
"Grass, you're so young?"
"Brother is so young!!"
The old man lost the argument, shook his head, and casually pulled out a small box from his pocket and tossed it to Tang Zheng, "Alright, take it back and make up for it."
Tang Zheng opened it and took a glance inside. It was a huge pill that could choke someone to death if swallowed.
Tang Zheng didn't know what it was and wasn't polite, directly shoving the box into his pants pocket.
After throwing out the medicine pill, the old man didn't pay attention to Tang Zheng again, but instead carefully looked at the paper where he had copied the array method.
"The strokes are like silk, with a clear sequence of depth and shallowness, the five elements ring each other in restraint... Such a wonderful array structure is actually hidden in an auxiliary cultivation jade pendant... The old man looked at it for a long time, tracing the lines with his finger, and only lifted his head after a while, looking at Tang Zheng. "Young man, this array looks like an auxiliary cultivation 'Spirit Gathering Array', but the master has modified just a few strokes, and it's no longer a 'Spirit Gathering Array'."
"What is that?"
"Shu Yu Feng Hun Zhen!" The old man carefully returned the jade pendant to Tang Zheng, "The master who created this array sealed his own soul into this jade pendant to ensure the peace and safety of the owner's descendants..."
"The descendant of the owner of that jade pendant, Xing Bao didn't die, could it be because......"
"With this jade pendant, even the power of a star explosion would be absorbed by it for the most part. The master's body would only bear a small portion of it. If treated in time, there should still be a glimmer of hope!"
"What if it's not their family descendants using it?" Tang Zheng had no idea what triggered the jade pendant, he was a stowaway to the Xingyao continent, and it was impossible for him to be long-lost brothers with Tian Meng.
"It's best not to use it, the bloodline of those who don't understand the jade soul is unstable, and there's a risk of being counter-attacked." The old man looked at Tang Zheng putting away the jade pendant, then continued, "Take good care of it, it's not just a jade pendant, it's a story!"
"Hmm." Tang Zheng nodded slightly.
Tian Meng should still think that after being saved by Xing Bao's power, it was Huajin Wang who rescued him.
It seems that at the time of his explosion, what actually protected his star pulse was their family heirloom jade pendant!
……
It's not easy for Tang Zheng to come to the Gathering Treasure Pavilion.
After identifying Tian Meng's jade pendant, he still had his own business to attend to. So, after putting away the jade pendant, he immediately started looking for Wen Mo in the Treasure Pavilion again.
Tattoo ink, because it can be used for "Stellaluna sight", so it seems to be a very common thing in the Starlight Continent.
The entire wall of shelves in the Treasure Pavilion was filled with nothing but inkstones.
There is a delicate small porcelain bottle of ink, and also stone ink placed in boxes, cinnabar ink, pine smoke ink, purple ripple ink, all kinds of colors are available...
"Hey kiddo, don't look at those, you can't afford them." The old man hummed a tune with a pleased expression, clearly intentionally provoking Tang Zheng.
"Well, which ones can I afford?" Tang Zheng knew he wasn't cheating the customer, but was trying to save face after their earlier argument, so he didn't get angry.
"Hey! What you can afford is not in this store, next door, turn left... uh, that row of small shops, they all sell tattoos, go take a look?"
"How much is this?" Tang Zheng didn't hear what he was saying at all, and picked up a small box that looked pretty good.
"You're not old, but your eyes are really sharp! That's the Yaoshan Department's Ya Mo, this is the most expensive item on my shelf, it's just these few pieces of Ya Mo."
"How much?"
"One Purple Gold Coin!"
"It's settled."
"Want... want it?" The old man's face still didn't look satisfied.
"Ah, here it is." Tang Zheng tossed out that piece of purple gold from his sleeve.
An old man with a transcendent appearance, as soon as he caught the purple gold, his demeanor was lowered again: "So soft? Is this... pure gold?"
Tang Zheng smiled but did not speak.
When judging the jade pendant, the old man still used instruments, but judging the authenticity of the purple gold was much easier - the higher the purity, the stronger the ability to communicate with star power, and as long as the star power is injected, it can be known whether it is true or false.
It's really pure gold!
The old man raised his head and looked at Tang Zheng deeply.
"Kid, three or four pieces of pure gold can be exchanged for five Purple Gold Coins, but this isn't a pawnshop, so I can only give you a discount. Let's say it's worth four and a half Purple Gold Coins. If you buy that box of Jade Ink, I'll give you three Purple Gold Coins and fifty Flowing Silver Coins in change."
Because pure gold is too soft, even ordinary people can scratch it with their fingers, so the Zijin Tongbao cannot be made of pure gold, but is mixed with about 40% other things to fix and shape.
"How is it?" The old man didn't ask about the origin of this piece of pure gold, but instead asked Tang Zheng.
"Alright." Tang Zheng nodded, although the transaction fee of 50 Flowing Silver Coins was not low, it was higher than his monthly salary, but the safety of the Treasure Pavilion was worth the price.
The transactions in Jubaogei are relatively complex. Each transaction requires a detailed record of the date, item, and buyer's identity and physical characteristics.
When asked about Tang Zheng's identity, Tang Zheng naturally couldn't produce it.
He came to the Gathering Pavilion mainly to solve the problem of his identity plate. Without a clear identity plate, how could he explain his identity?
"Identity..." Tang Zheng lowered his voice, "A friend introduced me to the first floor of Jubaoge, to resolve the issue with my identity badge."
"First floor?" The old man's eyes blinked rapidly twice.
"Right, first floor half."
"What's on the first floor?"
"Huh?" Tang Zheng remembered that Meng Fenghua said it was the first floor and a half, "Is it the first floor and a half of the Treasure Pavilion where they do 'big business'?"
"What's it to you whether I'm a big shot or not? Speak up! Who told you that old man my name is Yilou Half? My name is clearly Banyilou!"
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