Chapter 49 – Broken Sword
After breakfast, Ye Hai and Ye Chen, both arrived at the famous street in Luo City that was known for the antique shops located there.
The history of this street was as old as Luo City itself, the buildings located here were the most ancient ones in the city. And although the owners of the shops had changed from time to time, most of them were just taking over their family businesses, keeping the history alive between one generation to the next.
As they walked on the street, they saw that there were so many great things in every shop that Ye Chen did not even know where to look at anymore.
Ye Hai, who was standing right next to him, said: “Buying antiques here is more about luck. Someone had bought a high rank soul stone which looked like an ordinary rock for only ten silvers, then he sold it to a Clasping Yuan Realm warrior for two hundred million silvers. After that, he did not have to worry about anything for the rest of his life.”
Ye Chen laughed as he recalled that story. There were four different ranks total for soul stones: low rank, mid rank, high rank, and top rank. The gap between the quality of each rank soul stones was huge. Normally, a mid rank soul stone could be exchanged for fifty low rank soul stones, a high rank soul stone could be exchanged for fifty mid rank soul stones, after calculation, one high rank soul stone was equal to about two thousand five hundred low rank soul stones, and each low rank soul stone was two hundred and fifty silvers each. Adding all that up together, a normal person could live a really happy life with that kind of money.
“Let’s go have a look at the Nine Tripod Pavilion.” Ye Hai pointed at an antique building twenty steps away from them.
Ye Chen nodded. The Nine Cauldrons Pavilion was an ancient thousand-year-old shop that was extremely well connected. The ancient nine footed bronze cauldron in the middle of the lobby was the shop’s emblem. One time, a leader of the Ye family tried to purchase it, but was rejected. Rumor said that, the background of Nine Tripod Pavilion was extremely powerful and that even the Ye family was wary of it.
As they passed through the gate, there was no one that came to welcome them; everyone seemed to be extremely busy.
Ye Chen and Ye Hai did pay heed to it and walked straight inside.
In front of them was a huge cauldron that was taller than three people standing on each other’s shoulders. It had a blue hue that was so dark that it was almost black, and a spherical round shape. Numerous ancient Chinese characters were carved on its surface; below the cauldron’s body, there were nine feet supporting its humongous body, giving it an impression of being extremely stable. It had quite an extraordinary sight, making people feel as if it was touching the heavens.
Ye Chen took a deep breath. The last time he was here was four years ago, when he was still very young and weak. When he saw the nine footed cauldron back then, he did not feel much. But right now, he felt as if his soul was being shaken by its Zhen Qi.
When he turned his head to look at Ye Hai, Ye Chen saw that Ye Hai obviously did not sense anything from the cauldron, and although he was curious to know, he did not say anything.
“Let’s go to the second floor! There’s nothing good here on the first floor.” Ye Chen suggested after he scanned the room and failed to see anything noteworthy.
“Yes, all the items here on the first floor are no different from those displayed at the other shops.”
As the two walked together, they reached the second floor which was exquisitely decorated.
Compared to the first floor, there were not many people on the second floor. Including the shop assistants present, there were only about fifteen or sixteen people at best, which made the room seem quite empty.
The people who were on the second floor could be considered quite rich, since even the cheapest antique present here was worth thousands of silvers. As for whether or not it was worth it or not, it all depended on one’s own luck.
“Damn, this stone sculpture should at least have a hundred years history!” Ye Hai was attracted to a human sized stone sculpture that was full of cracks.
Ye Chen glanced at it before losing interest in it and walking away.
Right then, someone had already found the antique they wanted to buy, however, that person’s choice of antique surprised Ye Chen.
“Hey, go tell your manager. I want to buy this wooden shelf, just give me a price.” The speaker was a fat looking guy who wore extremely fancy looking clothes and had rings on all of his fingers. However, he did not seem to have much patience.
The shop assistant was secretly annoyed. What the heck do you want this shelf for? This was just something used it to display all the antiques, is he trying to mess with us? But he put on a smile and said: “Okay, let me go check with the manager, please wait a second.”
“Hurry.” The rich fat guy waved his hand, while his eyes stared at the wooden shelf like it was going to grow a pair of feet and run away from him.
Ye Chen found this funny, but this also made him start to think. I should not judge a person by his appearance, this shelf might be more valuable than it appears to be.
With such thoughts in his mind, he stared at the wooden shelf with all his attention then suddenly released his soul force.
Swoosh!
There seemed to be an invisible wave in the air, that slowly entered into the wooden shelf and searched carefully. If there was anything special with it, Ye Chen would be able to sense it.
Hm?
There is a soul stone hidden inside this wooden shelf. It has way better Yuan Qi than a low rank soul stone. Judging from that, it must be a mid rank soul stone which is worth five thousand silvers. How did this fat guy detect it? Or maybe he just simply wanted the shelf?
Ye Chen was a little bit excited but also a little confused, but it was just five thousand silvers, which was not that tempting for him. With his cultivation, it would be extremely easy for him to make that amount of money, of course, it would be easier for him to spend it.
The manager walked towards the fat rich guy in a hurry, he said to him: “Sir, are you sure you want this wooden shelf?”
The fat rich man rolled his eyes, “Give me a price!”
The manager reached out a finger, “Ten thousand silvers.”
“Good, excellent price. My father-in-law would probably really like this ancient wooden shelf.” The rich fat guy did not hesitate at all, as he took a one thousand gold note out from his storage ring.
“Excellent, as long as you fancy it. Lee, quickly, clean up the wooden shelf for our guest.” As he took the gold note, the manager told the shop assistant.
Ye Chen was speechless. If the rich guy really did not know about the hidden soul stone and only bought it for his father-in-law; and the manager had no idea as well, given that he was only using this wooden shelf for decoration, then I guess nobody really lost in this transaction.
It looks like there are many interesting things happening in the Nine Feet Cauldron Pavilion. Nothing here is truly strange anymore.
As he shook his head, Ye Chen walked past the group.
There were countless antiques on the second floor. There was a broken half of a bronze mirror that was full of rust, a dark colored jar, a piece of material that was at least a thousand years old, there were also broken shells and weapons like steel chains, long swords, a broken blade, bent iron sticks, and a hammer without an iron chain and so on.
Releasing his soul force, Ye Chen looked at all the antiques one by one. His eyes pure and calm like river.
In the end, only the Shooting Star Hammer grabbed Ye Chen’s attention. If it was repaired, it would be as valuable as the great blade inside Ye Chen’s storage ring, perhaps even more.
Unfortunately, the broken hammer had already lost its sharpness and the rust accumulated from a thousand year neglect had burned out its spirit. It could only be used as a decoration or as a collection at home, instead of a weapon. Ye Chen could not accept it at all.
As he put down the Shooting Star Hammer, Ye Chen was about to leave.
Suddenly, something caught his eyes. It was a broken sword hidden in the gap between a wooden shelf and the wall. Only the hilt and half of the sword was left, its surface was dusty and lackluster, the sword could not be any more ordinary than this.
As he picked up the broken sword, Ye Chen had a quick look at it before he infused some of his soul force into the sword.
“Hahahahhahahaha…”
A loud rich laugh rushed into Ye Chen’s head. At that second, Ye Chen felt as if he had traveled back to an ancient time where nothing else existed but the laugh resounding in his ears.
“What’s going on?” As he cut off his soul force, there was a hint of perspiration on Ye Chen’s forehead.
Using soul force to inspect an object was a new skill that Ye Chen recently picked up. Unlike using his consciousness, soul force allowed him to inspect deeper instead of just the surface, otherwise he would not have detected that mid rank soul stone in that wooden shelf.