Chapter Thirty: The Jade Piece That Recognizes Its Master

The old man with the thick eyebrows stroked his beard and chuckled lightly. “Little girl, what sort of item would you like to purchase?”

Li Ying pondered thoughtfully for a moment. “Sir, I would like the same as my elder brother. I’m interested in a Qi Refinement Pill. Do you have any for sale?”

Li Mu’s heart stirred slightly. The old man before them possessed an unfathomably deep cultivation. Perhaps he really did have a Qi Refinement Pill. If so, no matter the price, Li Mu would buy it.

“You seek it for the sake of a cultivator?” The old man’s smile lingered.

“Yes,” she replied, her tone resolute.

“Heh.” The old man shook his head with a faint smile. “Alas, I do not possess what you seek.”

Li Ying lowered her head, a trace of disappointment flickering in her eyes, but she quickly looked up again. “It’s nothing. My brother will find a way.”

“Is there nothing else you desire?” the old man asked.

Li Ying shook her head. “No, sir, I want nothing else.”

“Are you certain?”

Li Mu felt a surge of confusion. He quickly stepped forward to shield his little sister. “Senior, we shall take our leave now. Thank you for your hospitality.”

“I’m not speaking to you, child. Mind your manners,” the old man’s face darkened slightly. Without any visible movement, Li Mu found himself unable to move. His entire body seemed bound by invisible force—his spiritual power sealed, utterly unusable.

He couldn’t even speak. Li Ying, oblivious to the change, gazed at him in mild confusion.

With a gentle wave of his hand, the old man’s pale gray ring suddenly radiated with multicolored light. From that light, dozens of items floated before Li Ying, revolving in the air.

“You and I are fated to meet. Choose as you please, little girl,” the old man said, his gaze flicking to Li Mu. “As for the price, five mid-grade spirit crystals will suffice.”

But Li Mu was already stunned.

Not only did the old man possess a magical ring, but the array of treasures spinning before them—though Li Mu was no expert in the arcane arts—each clearly surpassed the value of five mid-grade spirit crystals.

A piece of jade, green as emerald and clear as water—surely the legendary Cloudwater Jade, a rare material of the fourth grade, worth a fortune.

A formation of swords, revolving like dragons in flight—each one a treasure-grade weapon of at least the second tier. In the shops, even the least among them would fetch thousands of mid-grade spirit crystals.

There was also an egg, the size of a quail’s, wholly red and radiating pure spiritual energy in visible waves. Could it be a pet egg from legend? Any spiritual pet possessed unique techniques, invaluable aid for cultivators—worth more than even top-tier weapons. And this egg’s energy was abundant, as if nurtured within a third-grade spirit-gathering formation. Clearly, it was a third-grade pet egg, exceedingly precious.

And then, there were pills, jade slips, talisman arrays—each at a glance revealed itself as a rare treasure.

Li Mu was shaken. Who was this old man? The rarity of these items exceeded anything Li Mu had ever seen—even the treasure vault of Jadeiron Sect’s branch was not this well stocked.

“All of these are available to choose from?”

Li Ying’s hand drifted lightly over the treasures, her eyes shining with excitement.

The old man smiled. “Of course, little girl. You may pick whichever you wish.”

“Thank you, sir.” Li Ying fiddled indecisively. Everything was good—so good, in fact, that she couldn’t make up her mind.

Li Mu said nothing, only watched his little sister’s hand skim over one rare treasure after another. He was anxious, though he didn’t know what to pick either. Watching each treasure slip by was a torment.

Finally, Li Ying closed her eyes and let both hands fall at random upon one of the treasures, lifting it before her.

“Sir, I choose this one.”

“Are you sure? Won’t you take a closer look?” The old man’s eyes glinted with a strange light, as if the treasure Li Ying had chosen was somehow surprising.

Li Ying nodded emphatically. “Yes.”

The old man stared at her, shook his head, then pointed into the air. A faint red mist emerged from Li Ying’s finger, seeping into the treasure she held.

“Now, pay,” he said, looking at Li Mu and making a gesture for payment.

The pressure on Li Mu’s body abruptly vanished. He could move again. Though being so restrained had unsettled him, he said nothing more, simply handed over five spirit crystals.

“The transaction is complete. Be on your way. Little girl, I hope we meet again.”

The old man raised his hand. A veil of swirling mist enveloped the siblings, and in the blink of an eye, they found themselves back on the street.

Li Mu and Li Ying both felt as if waking from a dream.

“I never got to thank him!” Li Ying turned to re-enter, but the door—once open—was now tightly shut, impossible to open again.

Li Mu shook his head. “He said we may meet again. For now, let’s go home.”

The whole affair left him deeply puzzled. He couldn’t make sense of it and felt strangely adrift.

Li Ying was the same, holding a pale green jade slip in her hand, staring at it dazedly.

“Let me see,” said Li Mu, taking the slip and inspecting it carefully.

The slip was unlike the usual rectangular jade slips; it was perfectly round, with a hole through its center, and its color shimmered like water.

But a jade slip was a jade slip—a vessel for information. Whether it contained cultivation techniques, formation methods, or something else, he could not tell.

The moment he infused it with a trace of spiritual power, a surge of force rebounded from the slip, sending him flying and sprawling in the dirt.

Li Ying cried out and rushed to help him up. “Brother, are you alright?”

Li Mu shook his head, suppressing the turmoil of spiritual power within him, and forced himself upright. He recalled the old man’s earlier gesture and suddenly understood—the old man had drawn a drop of blood from Li Ying and infused it into the jade slip, binding it to her. Any other cultivator who tried to use it would only trigger its defensive force.

This was blood-binding.

Yet most jade slips only stored information, and rarely contained so much spiritual power. For this slip to strike back with such force was anything but ordinary.

Li Mu’s sense of mystery and unease deepened. But for now, Li Ying could not cultivate and had no spiritual power, so she would not be able to access the information within the slip. It was a bitter realization.

He handed the slip back to his sister. “Ying’er, take care of it. This is a precious item. Don’t lose it.”

Li Ying replied earnestly, “Alright. Anything that gentleman gave must be good.”

“We bought it, remember?” Li Mu grumbled. He didn’t much like the old man’s attitude. The way he treated his sister and him was day and night apart—one warm, one cold.

“Why didn’t you pick the pet egg?” Li Mu asked. The thought of missing out on an egg worth tens of thousands of spirit crystals pained him.

Li Ying shook her head. “The red jade—this is what I like.”