Chapter 3629 — Star Ink Stone

The moment he stepped inside, Wei Zhao sensed how this Hong Clan Trading Company differed from the other shops on the inner street. The grander, more imposing decor was only secondary; what mattered was the clientele—far more people here wore the distinctive garb of elite inner-door disciples of the Tri-Pavilion than in any other shop. In other words, even on a day when the inner street was not open to outsiders, the Hong Clan Trading Company's business had to be far brisker than its neighbors'. Clearly it possessed some excellence all its own.

"Dragon Fish Gallbladder of the Northern Sea, listed at five hundred eighty-eight spirit jades."

"Mysterious Water Droplet, listed at six hundred forty-nine spirit jades."

"Earth Serpent Skin, listed at three hundred twenty spirit jades."

……………………

He had scanned only a single row of display cabinets, and already Wei Zhao's eyes were opened wide.

These were things he had never even heard of back in the mortal world!

None of them came with any description of their uses, yet their appearance alone was enough to tell him they were no ordinary goods!

What was more, Wei Zhao noticed that not a single item in the Hong Clan Trading Company was priced below a hundred spirit jades. Never mind the outer and middle streets—even the other shops of the same trade on the inner street were utterly dwarfed beside it, hardly in the same league. No wonder it drew so many elite disciples of the Tri-Pavilion.

The shop was laid out across three levels in a pyramidal arrangement: the higher the floor, the smaller the gallery space and the fewer the exhibits—though naturally the price of each exhibit climbed considerably, several already bearing jaw-dropping tags of over a thousand spirit jades. That the second floor's wares should always surpass the first was simply common sense.

Reaching the second floor, Wei Zhao made a rough circuit without any intention of lingering long. His purse was thin, after all; no matter how much he looked now, it would be looking for nothing, and would only stoke his envy.

As for the third floor, Wei Zhao had meant to go up and broaden his horizons, but the Hong Clan Trading Company's people stopped him. The third floor was the company's honored-guest section, open only to those who had spent a thousand spirit jades or more within its walls.

The inner street was already the VIP realm of the market district, and the Hong Clan Trading Company was one of the foremost shops on the inner street—so was its restricted third floor not the fighter jet among VIPs?

Wei Zhao privately surmised that anyone who could get in there was likely a personage of consequence, someone who could claim a place in the rankings of the entire northern island of Cloud Terrace Island!

Curious as he was about what remarkable exhibits the third floor held, since they had set such rules, Wei Zhao could only press his curiosity down for the moment and turn to go downstairs.

Yet just then a sudden throb seized his heart, as though he had overlooked something important. While Wei Zhao stood there at a loss, the voice of the blasted thing rang out in his mind: "Don't leave yet. The far corner of the display rack on your right—go take a look."

Wei Zhao started. The blasted thing had lodged in the jade pendant's space for some time now, but it rarely spoke up of its own accord unless something truly important was at hand. Could it have spotted some great treasure?

Doubt in his heart, Wei Zhao followed the blasted thing's direction and, without betraying anything on his face, walked to the far corner of the display rack at the side.

Since there was nothing eye-catching here, the crowd was noticeably thinner than elsewhere. At the moment only one person stood beside Wei Zhao; by his attire, he should be an inner-door disciple of the Skyward Pavilion.

"Senior Ghost, you mean here?" Wei Zhao communed with the blasted thing through his consciousness.

"That's right. This piece of Star Ink Stone is a fine thing. Think of a way to get it," said the blasted thing.

"Star Ink Stone?" Wei Zhao glanced left and right. There were only two or three exhibits along this side, and he quickly found the Star Ink Stone the blasted thing meant—except the Star Ink Stone had no label, only a price!

It sat in the farthest corner of the display cabinet, a lump of pitch-black stubborn stone the size of a fist. By its appearance it was thoroughly unremarkable, yet its price tag was startling: a thousand spirit jades.

Compared with the other high-priced exhibits, this thousand-jade Star Ink Stone was not only plain to look at but showed not the slightest hint of any use. To anyone else it was plainly a swindle of a item, and that was precisely why hardly anyone paused here.

But Wei Zhao knew this Star Ink Stone was anything but simple, for the instant he laid eyes on it, he felt that earlier throb in his heart once again—as though by some spiritual telepathy, this perfectly ordinary-looking stone was ceaselessly drawing him in.

Could this truly be some great treasure that others had overlooked? Wei Zhao was struck with awe at the mystery of it and asked the blasted thing, "Senior Ghost, what use does this Star Ink Stone have?"

"Telling you now would be useless. First find a way to get it in your hands, then we'll talk," said the blasted thing, and after that it paid Wei Zhao no more mind, leaving him staring blankly at the black stone before him.

Wei Zhao rolled his eyes in exasperation. Not even a word about what it was good for, just mysteriously telling him to get his hands on this stone—a thousand spirit jades, no less! As if it were so easy to get!

Thank goodness he had the jade pendant's space, that cheat of a divine artifact, to fall back on. Anyone else would have gone weak in the knees at the very mention of that price!

But grumble as he might, Wei Zhao knew that if he let this Star Ink Stone slip by, he would surely regret it one day! Even if the blasted thing had said nothing, that strange spiritual pull alone was no small thing to ignore!

Wei Zhao watched the Star Ink Stone in silence while he noticed that the Skyward Pavilion inner-door disciple beside him seemed, for some reason, to be quite interested in it as well. His burning gaze suggested he would have liked to buy it on the spot, but his expression was torn—most likely he did not have that many spirit jades on hand.

A thousand spirit jades was, even for an inner-door disciple of the Tri-Pavilion, a considerable sum. An ordinary disciple could never possess so many. Only someone of deep background like Xu Lingchong, or a high-ranking steward holding real power within the Tri-Pavilion, could possibly produce them.

Wei Zhao let out a quiet breath of relief. Thank goodness the Star Ink Stone's price was high enough—otherwise this man would already have snapped it up, and then he truly would not have known what to do.

Still, even if the man could not scrape together so many spirit jades at the moment, he hardly looked like an ordinary disciple. He gave the impression of being far above the likes of Meng Jueming—who knew when he might gather the full thousand? To obtain the Star Ink Stone, Wei Zhao would have to beat him to it. So even now, a not inconsiderable sense of urgency pressed upon him.

At present Wei Zhao had only a little over fifty spirit jades. At his current rate of secretly pocketing two a day from the mines, it would take at least a year and more to reach a thousand—plainly unrealistic! RS