Chapter 2197 — The Ancient Cauldron

"If the young master says it's damaged, then damaged it must be." Elder Five took the cauldron from Tian Canbian's hands and studied it carefully for a long while himself before passing it back to You Zhentian. "This is a fine cauldron, no question—it must date back to the ancient era, perhaps even the primordial age. But it has cracked and been ruined, and it can no longer be used to refine pills..."

"Then... can't it be repaired?" You Zhentian's face fell at the verdict from Tian Canbian and Elder Five.

"It can't." Elder Five shook his head. "The art of forging vessels has been lost. That is precisely why our Xuandan Sect can make first- and second-grade cauldrons but has never been able to produce a third-grade one!"

"But even if it can't be forged anew, surely it can be patched?" You Zhentian asked.

"Patching a vessel is no simpler than forging one!" Elder Five said. "Legend has it that forging requires a constitution steeped in three attributes at once—metal, fire, and wood. As for patching, the修补者 must possess both metal and wood attributes together... The art of repair does survive in the world, scattered here and there, but only the technique itself—the matching heart method and oral formulas were never passed down. Of the five elements, metal overcomes wood; with ordinary heart methods, no one can cultivate both at once! So this cauldron of yours is, in truth, worth very little. If it has any value at all, it is as an ornament to look at."

"Is that so..." A pang of grief shot through You Zhentian. He had bought the thing at a steep price from an antique collector—the man was a collector and did not part with his pieces lightly, so to acquire this cauldron You Zhentian had paid dozens of times its market value, along with a whole raft of other costs and concessions. And in the end, it was nothing but an ornament. Regret gnawed at him.

Had he known, he would never have paid such a sum. You Zhentian had no love for collecting antiques to begin with; and even if he had, buying at that price would have been the act of a fool. His original plan had been sound enough: present the thing to Tian Canbian and curry a little goodwill for the You family. But now it seemed the Xuandan Sect had no intention of taking it at all.

"You Zhentian, I appreciate the thought," Tian Canbian said mildly, understanding perfectly well what was in the man's heart. "You have run errands for our Xuandan Sect, and I will not treat you shabbily."

"Thank you, Young Master Tian!" You Zhentian's spirits lifted at once at this word of approval.

"All right, Zhentian. You may go down first." Old Master You was disappointed as well. A verbal acknowledgment from Tian Canbian was all well and good, but the item had not been taken a liking to after all. The You family had paid a fortune for a piece of junk, and it left him rather sour.

"Yes, sir!" You Zhentian turned and withdrew. He had no sooner stepped out of the secret chamber's door than the phone on his person rang. He glanced at the screen—it was You Panhu—and answered at once. "Hello? Panhu, how did it go? Did you get it?"

"Uncle. That Wei Zhao seems to be on his guard this time," You Panhu said with a bitter smile. "We offered him five second-grade pills, all Lesser Qi Gathering Pills, and he wouldn't take them. He just turned and walked off..."

"Oh? What is that supposed to mean? Does he think the stakes are too low, or does he simply not want to trade with you at all?" You Zhentian asked.

"He certainly doesn't much want to trade. But since he'd already shown the thing to others, if I pressed him, he ought to be willing. And when I named the stakes, he did stop in his tracks—he only refused after hearing me out..." You Panhu said.

"In that case, our offer must simply not be enough!" You Zhentian mused for a moment. "Here's what you do—throw in a top-grade ancient cauldron and see whether he bites!"

"A top-grade ancient cauldron? Does our family even have such a thing? And even if we did, we couldn't trade it to Wei Zhao!" You Panhu blurted out, taken aback.

"Of course we have one. Don't you remember—the cauldron I bought from that antique collector a while back?" You Zhentian held the cauldron up in his hand as he spoke.

"Oh, right, I remember now. But wasn't that cauldron meant to be presented to... the people above us in the family?" You Panhu did not say the Xuandan Sect's name aloud; after all, he was on school grounds, and a little discretion was wise.

"Ah!" You Zhentian sighed. "That cauldron is a fine thing, no mistake. But the Xuandan Sect cannot repair it either, so it's as good as scrap—fit only to be an ornament..."

"You don't say?" You Panhu pondered this for a moment. "Fine, then bring it over and let me string Wei Zhao along. That fool really doesn't seem to know much about pill refinement, let alone possess any great insight. Maybe he'll think he can repair it and figure he's getting a bargain."

"Yes, that's exactly my thinking! Wei Zhao can't possibly have the Xuandan Sect's understanding. Lead him on a bit, and if we can trade this cauldron for something useful to our family, so much the better!" You Zhentian said. "Even that pill refiner's journal is more useful than this cauldron."

"Understood. Then, Uncle, take a photo of the cauldron right now and send it to me. Wei Zhao is the type who won't loose his hawk till he sees the rabbit—if I just talk at him with nothing to show, he may not believe me," You Panhu said.

"Fine, I'll send it to you now!" You Zhentian said with a nod.

Wei Zhao and Han Jingyi had made their way into the classroom. Seeing that You Panhu had not followed them in, Han Jingyi finally spoke. "Brother Wei Zhao, can't we hold this material back from You Panhu and trade it for something better?"

"We can, but what he's offered is too little, and not much use to us anyway," Wei Zhao said. "I already have three Lesser Qi Gathering Pills. A few more wouldn't do me any good."

"Then could we ask him for some second-grade pill refinement ingredients instead?" Han Jingyi hesitated a moment. "The Han family does business too, and we have some dealings with medicine, so ordinary herbs can be purchased—but the ingredients for second-grade pills are rather hard to come by..."

"Fine. What ingredients do you want? Make me a list, and I'll ask him for them!" Wei Zhao nodded.

"Really? Brother Wei Zhao, you're so good to Jingjing!" Han Jingyi was rather excited. She had been worrying herself sick over where to find second-grade pill ingredients, and here You Panhu had delivered himself right to their door.

"You're studying pill refinement for my sake. It's only right that I help you get the materials." Wei Zhao felt a twinge of guilt—why was Han Jingyi thanking him, of all things? (To be continued.) RQ