The Prodigies War

Before returning home, Lin Xun paid a visit to Golden Jade Hall.

After selling the Flame Blade for a sky-high price which shook the entire city, Golden Jade Hall was no longer the same desolate place from before. It had become as busy as a marketplace with a constant flow of visitors.

Gu Yanping was capable, trustworthy and principled. He swiftly established a foothold for himself in Donglin City as his business grew day by day.

Lin Xun could not help but feel impressed. Gu Yanping was already a Spirit Dipper stage expert, so who could have expected that he would also be so amazing in the merchant ways?

When Lin Xun left Golden Jade Hall, he was accompanied by Gu Liang.

After slaying Old Tiger Lu three days ago, all the treasures in the dead man’s secret underground storehouse had been emptied out by Lin Xun.

There was gold, silver, pearls, herbs, pills, and other resources like ores. The entire collection had been painstakingly accumulated by Old Tiger Lu over the past dozen years and could fetch an astonishing price.

However, after sieving through everything, Lin Xun found that most of the treasures were of little use to him. He had paid a visit to Golden Jade Hall to sell off the things he didn’t need.

After being told about it, Gu Yanping cheerfully agreed and sent his son, Gu Liang, with Lin Xun to appraise the value of the goods.

……

Slum district 49th residence.

It took Gu Liang an entire incense stick of time to go through all of the articles. His final calculated value was 116 gold coins!

Lin Xun was surprised. This sum was equivalent to 11,600 silver coins and 1,160,000 copper coins!

It was definitely an astronomical sum to Lin Xun as it could purchase nearly forty Flame Blades priced at 300 silver coins.

From this, it could be seen how much wealth the slums’ number one faction, the Black Tiger Gang, had plundered over the years.

More importantly, these only included the things Lin Xun was unable to use.

The herbs, money, aeth resources and other things Lin Xun had already taken out would add up to at least another 100 gold coins as well!

Lin Xun could only sigh deeply. Conquering and looting were indeed one of the most effective means of obtaining wealth.

Under Lin Xun’s insistence, 116 gold coins were rounded down to 100 gold coins, completing the exchange with Golden Jade Hall.

Lin Xun’s act of voluntarily giving up 16 gold coins made Gu Liang feel both admiration and gratitude. He now saw Lin Xun as a person truly worth befriending.

Gu Liang promised Lin Xun that he would personally deliver the agreed amount once all of the goods were sold.

Gu Liang had no choice. Given Golden Jade Hall’s finances, they could not take out 100 gold coins on such short notice.

Lin Xun did not mind as he was not in a rush. After settling the details, he began chatting with Gu Liang.

Lin Xun soon found out that the second Flame Blade he had given Gu Yanping had ultimately sold for a price of 200 silver coins, an entire 100 silver coins fewer than the first blade.

This was quite understandable since scarcity meant value. Any treasure would be at its highest price if it was the only one on the market. Likewise, the price would drop once the second and third pieces appeared.

According to Gu Liang, however, the Flame Blade’s price would never drop below 160 silver coins no matter how many appeared. After subtracting Golden Jade Hall’s share, Lin Xun would earn 110 silver coins.

Lin Xun did some calculations; it cost him around thirty silver coins to craft a Flame Blade. If so, selling a Flame Blade would triple his initial investment!

Why did rune masters have superior statuses and be so well-respected?

It was because rune masters could create astonishing wealth that would make many people jealous. It was as the saying went: what flowed from a rune master’s fingers were not runes but endless gold!

At the present, Lin Xun was still not a rune master because he could not singlehandedly complete a rune array. He was still considered a rune apprentice.

However, the ability to craft aeth tools at the True Martial stage was incomparable talent and the first of its kind!

Fortunately, only Lin Xun and Xia Zhi knew of this secret. Otherwise, it would give a big scare to the other rune masters in the world.

After all, who would dare to believe a mere thirteen-year-old youngster, who was still far from the Spirit Dipper stage, would already possess the ability to craft aeth tools?

If the other rune masters were to find out that Lin Xun could not only craft aeth tools but also have a 100% success rate, who knew what they would think?

Of course, if rune masters were to also find out that his Explosion Blades were 20% more powerful than normal, what would they think?

Lin Xun was no greenhorn and deeply understood the concept of keeping a low-profile while amassing wealth. He would naturally not divulge such secrets.

However, it was not an easy task to keep these secrets.

For instance, Gu Liang suddenly asked, “Lin Xun, the second Flame Blade has an extra old ‘Xun’ word on it which resembles its maker’s unique signature. As long as this signature is present, people will know the item is the work of a certain rune master.”

At this point, Gu Liang suspiciously looked at Lin Xun, “Could this ‘Xun’ word be…”

Lin Xun answered with a question, “Do you think it’s possible given my capability?”

“Er…” Gu Liang hesitated for a long time before shaking his head, “It can’t be you. Although there are True Martial stage rune apprentices who are exceptional enough to craft aeth tools, it is very rare to find one. Moreover, all of these rune apprentices hail from old and powerful factions and you would normally never see any.”

After a pause, he continued, “Most importantly, these two Flame Blades are special. Although they are made from the same materials and rune arrays as ordinary Explosion Blades, the Flame Blade’s power is substantially higher, making it a completely new kind of aeth tool. A treasure like this can only be created by great rune masters with amazing ability.”

From his words and tone, it was clear that Gu Liang would not believe it even if Lin Xun admitted the two treasures had been crafted by him.

However, this was good for Lin Xun. At least he didn’t need to waste more saliva trying to make his lie convincing.

Lin Xun grinned, “Gu Liang, no need to keep guessing. I might not be able to promise anything else, but I can guarantee that as long as I’m in Donglin City, I will be able to provide Golden Jade Hall with some aeth tools.”

Gu Liang had originally wanted to ask about the Flame Blade’s creator, but after hearing Lin Xun’s words, Gu Liang immediately understood that Lin Xun was not going to divulge this secret.

On the other hand, Gu Liang could also tell from Lin Xun’s words that he likely had a special relationship with the mysterious rune master. Otherwise, he would not dare to make such a promise.

Gu Liang could not help but envy Lin Xun’s luck. Who wouldn’t envy someone who could maintain a relationship with a rune master?

However, Gu Liang did not know that a mere sentence from Lin Xun would veer him so far from the truth…

They chatted some more before Gu Liang bid farewell and left.

Lin Xun was left alone in the courtyard, his eyes narrowing slightly as he fell into thought.

Although it had been less than a month since he arrived at Donglin City, far too much had already happened. In addition, most of it was related to the Wu Clan.

First, Black Widow and two assassins had gone after his life, followed by the Black Tiger Gang threatening him and Xia Zhi. Lin Xun’s days had not been peaceful.

Fortunately, all of it was now in the past. After two painful back-to-back lessons, the Wu Clan should not dare openly take action for a while.

However, the threat was still there and Lin Xun would not let his guard down. He knew that the Wu Clan would come after him sooner or later as long as he lived.

Thankfully, he had established a strong relationship with Golden Jade Hall and had sent a message to Mu Wansu through Wang Lin a few days ago which should make her reevaluate her attitude towards him.

All in all, there was not much Lin Xun needed to worry about before the district exam and he could spend more time training.

Compared to these petty matters, Lin Xun was more concerned about his cultivation path. As long as he was strong enough, all these plots and schemes would become jokes!

Since Lin Xun had recently advanced to the True Martial sixth layer, it was very difficult to have another cultivation breakthrough any time soon.

At the True Martial sixth layer, aeth power could be circulated 108 times in the body which was also known as a single cycle of power. The blood in the body would boil like a furnace, burning with power.

The True Martial seventh layer was known as the Little Cycle level. Upon reaching this stage, aeth power could be continuously cycled nine times! The cultivator’s aeth power would also undergo rapid development and begin to touch the true essence of circulation.

At the present, there were still some ways to go for Lin Xun to reach the Little Cycle level. A breakthrough was unachievable for the time being.

For his spirit cultivation, Lin Xun’s senses were growing rapidly due to the Little Divine Meditation Art. It would not take long for him to light the third spirit star in his mind-sea.

This area was not something Lin Xun needed to worry about at all.

Similar to his spirit cultivation, his physique power was constantly growing under the tridaily tempering of the Omega Secret-Realm’s trial. Lin Xun’s physique was currently at the copper skin iron bone level and ordinary weapons could not hurt him.

Lin Xun had changed his destiny and been reborn ever since his four heart acupuncture points had recovered. He had shown unimaginable potential in all areas of cultivation, which had enabled him to reach his current heights.

Lin Xun’s only regret was that he was still unable to find any news about the arch-enemy who had stolen his Origin Aeth Artery years ago.

Since he first entered Donglin City, Lin Xun had visited the library many times to research information about the Grand Abyss Heaven Devourer.

However, he had ultimately found nothing.

The Grand Abyss Heaven Devourer was a type of Origin Aeth Artery, also known as an innate cultivation talent!

There were many cultivators in the world, but only a small handful were born with Origin Aeth Arteries. Such cultivation talents were as rare as phoenix feathers or unicorn horns.

Due to these circumstances, there were naturally almost no records about Origin Aeth Arteries.

Donglin City was merely a remote border city in the empire’s southwest province. It was easy to imagine how impossible it would be to find any information about the Grand Abyss Heaven Devourer here.