Martial World (Web Novel)
chapter-1549

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There were too many scattered items in front of the old divine runic master’s stall. It was like he was too lazy to sort these things out and let them pile up in a messy bunch.

Among these random items was a common piece of broken jade that was hidden by some other things. If it weren’t for Lin Ming’s extraordinary eyesight and a faintly familiar aura that he felt from this broken jade, then he would never have noticed it at all.

Lin Ming silently squatted down in front of the old divine runic master’s stall, quietly probing that broken jade.

After a short period of time, he was able to confirm that he wasn’t mistaken.

Normally, someone old and well taught like this old divine runic master vendor would have a vast amount of experience and it should have been impossible for Lin Ming to find any hidden gems in his trove of random items. But, this broken jade was too special. Besides Lin Ming, there was no one else who would have sensed anything special about it.

Although this broken jade was only an inch in size and was extremely fragmented, there were faint lines on its surface. These lines revealed an aura, one that was the exact same as the emperor jade that Lin Ming had obtained from the Wheel of Destiny!

When Lin Ming first entered the Asura Road, he had obtained the emperor jade. By relying on it, he had been able to enter the Great Desolate God Trove hidden in the depths of the God Burying Ridge. In God Burying Ridge, the emperor jade had allowed Lin Ming to repeatedly overcome danger after danger, saving his life countless times!

“Could the Asura Road Master have left more than one piece of emperor jade? Was there a pair, or even more than a pair?”

Lin Ming didn’t know why this emperor jade was broken. This little piece wasn’t even a quarter of the size of a complete emperor jade, and it was also missing the most essential lines of an emperor jade. This would make perceiving anything from it nearly impossible.

This divine runic master must have accidently obtained this broken jade from somewhere, and although he could faintly feel that it was uncommon, he couldn’t figure out just what it was. He likely thought it was only a fragment of an ancient top magic weapon, and thus he had brought it out to sell.

Lin Ming began to leisurely look over every other item in the stall to prevent the old divine runic master from discovering his true purpose.

At this time, the divine runic master vendor opened his eyes, saying, “You aren’t a divine runic master and you also don’t understand the materials that I have, and yet you still linger around here. Have you taken a fancy to my items? Or perhaps you think you found some treasure amongst my random goods that you would like to take from me?”

As the old divine runic master spoke these words, Lin Ming felt his heart chill. This old geezer, he was far too vigilant.

However, Lin Ming’s behavior really couldn’t be explained. What others wanted, Lin Ming didn’t have, and as for the items that were placed out, Lin Ming had no idea what they were. If he continued to wander around here and look about, then that simply couldn’t be justified.

Lin Ming’s thoughts turned and he immediately responded, “Senior shouldn’t say that. Although this junior is nothing but an amateur layman when it comes to the divine runic arts and I also don’t have any materials that Senior wants, I have still decided to become a divine runic master in the future. I will eventually need to understand what these things are, and there are always some things that I have which Senior might need. For instance… god runes!”

The god runes in the Asura Road were obtained through completing missions. Lin Ming had many rare blue soul runes as well as a few zenith black runes with him.

A divine runic master’s divine runic arts needed rare god runes. Only by combining these god runes with inscription did that form the divine runic arts.

Lin Ming guessed that divine runic masters were normally busy with their own matters every day so they almost never had time to go out in the greater Asura Road and complete missions. Thus, in order to obtain rare god runes they would trade for them here. This was why he thought of exchanging some treasures with god runes.

“You want to become a divine runic master? Hehe…” The divine runic master vendor chuckled. Although hadn’t done any evaluations, his meaning was obvious. In his opinion, a human wanting to become a divine runic master was no different from a toad wanting to eat swan meat.

However, the divine runic master vendor was indeed interested in Lin Ming’s god runes. He asked, “What god runes do you have? Let’s take a look!”

Lin Ming didn’t take out his god runes just yet. If this vendor saw that he had so many rare god runes then he might ask for a ridiculous price.

Lin Ming said, “If I dare to speak like this, then I naturally have quite a few in my inventory.”

As Lin Ming finished speaking he continued looking at the random treasures. His original idea was to casually pick some items and then conveniently take the broken emperor jade too. However, he immediately rejected this after he thought of it.

This was because besides the emperor jade fragment, the other items didn’t need to be appraised at all. If he chose a random bunch of bargain items and then added on this strange emperor jade fragment once more, it would inevitably arouse the vendor’s suspicions.

It was clear that this vendor didn’t understand just what the emperor jade fragment was and Lin Ming lingering around here was suspicious to begin with. If he were to take the emperor jade fragment with a bunch of other things, then that would be far too suspicious.

Thinking of this, Lin Ming directly took up the emperor jade fragment and then flipped it over a few times in his hand. He suddenly said to Xiao Moxian, “Xian’er, I remember you said that your uncle wanted to refine his life’s magic tool, but he needed to fuse in the treasure spirit of an Empyrean spirit treasure? A complete Empyrean spirit treasure would be too luxurious, but using a fragment should be more than enough. Since your uncle’s 103,000th grand birthday celebration is coming up, then how about I make a gift of this spirit treasure fragment?”

Lin Ming was simply making things up on the spot. Where did Xiao Moxian have an uncle that needed an Empyrean spirit treasure to refine his life’s magic tool?

But, Xiao Moxian was a smart young woman; she immediately realized that Lin Ming wanted to hide his intentions of buying this broken jade and avoid the suspicion of the old man.

“Could this broken jade be a treasure?”

Xiao Moxian felt this all a bit too unbelievable. But, whether or not Lin Ming’s judgment was correct, she wouldn’t ruin his play anyways. Without revealing a puzzled expression, she slapped on the most helpless look that she could. With a thick embarrassment in her tone, she said, “Sir Lin, don’t you think that this gift is… a bit too sad? My uncle’s celebration will have people coming from all sides, and if you only take out a spirit treasure fragment then… don’t you think it’s a bit pitiful to take out? You should know that my uncle handles most decisions of my family. If he has a poor impression of you then I’m afraid that our matters will be…”

Xiao Moxian immediately responded with her own play. Lin Ming was left a bit stunned; wasn’t her acting a bit too good?

Hearing Xiao Moxian call this gift a bit… sad, the divine runic master vendor’s lips twitched. This was equal to saying that he was selling trash!

Just what sort of noble status was a divine runic master? He had lived to his old age and had a great deal of face, and yet right now he was insulted by a little girl; how could he be happy about this at all?

“Do you want to buy it or not!”

The old divine runic master coldly coughed.

Lin Ming quickly apologized. “Senior has misunderstood the situation. This junior didn’t mean it like that. I only meant to say that this magic weapon fragment has the lowest value out of all of Senior’s goods, but even so, it would bleed out far too much wealth from me. May I ask just how much this magic weapon fragment is?”

“Heh, you don’t need to flatter me into forgetting!” The old man sneered. He stared at Lin Ming and then said, “10 blue soul runes!”

Lin Ming’s heart skipped a beat as he heard this. He knew the approximate cost of an Empyrean spirit treasure fragment as well as the cost of a blue soul rune. 10 blue soul god runes for this fragment was far too outrageous. Although Lin Ming could afford 10 blue soul runes, he still felt that this old vendor was cheating him. If he agreed, not only would he make himself seem suspicious but this old man might not even sell it to him anymore.

“10 blue soul runes? Are you joking with me? As a senior, should you really be trying to butcher a junior like this? The most I can offer you is three!” As Lin Ming spoke, he raised three fingers and three blue soul runes floated above his fingertips. Lin Ming had taken special care in choosing these three blue soul runes. Although their value wasn’t too high, they were still quite rare among blue soul runes; they couldn’t be bought with mere money. Lin Ming wanted to stir up this old divine runic master’s interest.

However, Lin Ming never thought that as soon as the old divine runic master saw these three runes, he would immediately grab back the emperor jade fragment!

Lin Ming inwardly grimaced. Could this old man not be planning on selling to him anymore?

If the old divine runic master didn’t plan on selling to Lin Ming then Lin Ming didn’t have anything else he could do; he could only leave. Otherwise, if Lin Ming offered a higher price, the old man’s suspicions would be even higher, finally only having the opposite effect.

The old man flipped the broken jade in his hands several times, carefully probing it and using his sense to evaluate it. This process continued for an entire incense stick of time.

This old man had already appraised this item many times before. In the Divine Runic Masters Guild, the divine runic masters were generally on good terms with each other. When others evaluated this item, they also came up with a similar appraisal.

This sort of magic weapon fragment was likely of the Empyrean spirit treasure rank.

This wasn’t too tempting to the old man. If it weren’t for the strange lines that covered this piece of jade, he would have already dealt with it.

An Empyrean spirit treasure wasn’t priceless even if complete; it would be far lower in value than a transcendent divine might. This was because an Empyrean would at most be able to form a single transcendent divine might in their life, if at all. As for Empyrean spirit treasures, they would create several of them.

An incomplete Empyrean spirit treasure was even less valuable. It's only use was as Lin Ming had said, to draw out its artifact spirit and form one’s own treasure.

Finally, the old man handed the broken jade to Lin Ming. He coldly said, “Three blue soul runes, for you.”

Hearing these words, Lin Ming finally relaxed.

This old fellow was cautious and stingy to the point that he could squeeze oil from sand. A junior had chosen one of his items and even given a good reason for doing so, yet he had actually taken it back to look over several times!

Three blue soul runes was a bit high for an Empyrean spirit treasure fragment, but it wasn’t too outrageous. Lin Ming feared that the runes he took out weren’t able to move the old divine runic master. If so, he could only leave. Otherwise, the more he tried to barter the more suspicious the old man would be. It seemed that Xiao Moxian’s performance just now was a bit more effective than he thought.

Lin Ming handed over the three blue soul runes and finally bought what he wanted. As for the old man, he was satisfied with the three blue soul runes Lin Ming had put forth; he had indeed needed them.