In Lingfeng City, at a marketplace in the southern part of the city, Ye Tian walked among the bustling crowd, looking ordinary and inconspicuous.
He strolled around the stalls, glancing left and right. At each spot he passed, he would pause to take a look. Ye Tian didn’t have many hobbies, but aside from cultivation, he liked collecting strange and unusual trinkets. Most of them were worthless, but he never tired of it.
Suddenly, he stopped at one stall, bent down, and carefully examined the oddities laid out before him.
The stall was run by an old man in coarse clothes, his eyes sharp and calculating. Spread across his stall were various strange items: a broken bowl, a snapped sword, an ancient ring, a cracked bracelet, a glowing bead, and a dirty treasure map…
“Boss, how much is this broken sword?” Ye Tian picked up the sword fragment and asked.
“This young master has good eyes. This sword once belonged to a great expert of the Yin-Yang Mirror Realm. It used to be a spiritual weapon, but was broken during battle, which is why it looks like this now…” Seeing Ye Tian’s fine clothes, the old man quickly explained with enthusiasm.
“If you really want it, you can take it for 30 taels of silver…”
Ye Tian rolled his eyes and said coldly, “Boss, stop bragging. The so-called sword of a Yin-Yang Mirror expert? This thing doesn’t even have a single inscription on it. It’s nothing more than a rusty broken sword freshly dug out from the ground. And you dare ask 30 taels? Do you take me for a fool?”
The old man’s mouth twitched, and he gave a forced smile. “Perhaps the inscriptions were worn off after being buried for too long. If you really want it, take it for 10 taels.”
Ye Tian crouched and started rummaging through the stall. He grabbed the ring, bowl, bracelet, bead, and treasure map, then raised them in his hand. “All of this together, 1 tael.”
“Ah, young master, you can’t be serious! That treasure map is worth a thousand taels, and that bead, it’s said to be a Dragon Pearl—worth tens of thousands. Isn’t 1 tael far too little?” the old man said anxiously.
Ye Tian rolled his eyes again, pulled out 1 tael, and said, “1 tael. Take it or leave it.” You are reading on novelping.com, the official source.
“Deal!” The old man snatched the silver quickly and pretended to look heartbroken. In reality, he was delighted. Those worthless scraps were things he had dug out of the ground, not worth a few coppers. Selling them for 1 tael was a windfall!
Ye Tian leisurely picked up the items and left the market. Once home, he hurried inside, closed the doors and windows carefully, and began examining his treasures.
Pushing the pile of junk aside, he picked up the cracked bracelet. Something about it drew his attention. His instincts told him this bracelet was different. When he passed the stall earlier, he had been irresistibly drawn to it, as though guided by an unknown force.
“Kid, stop staring. With your strength, you can’t see through this bracelet anyway.”
A crisp and melodious voice suddenly sounded in Ye Tian’s ear as he was examining the bracelet.
Startled, Ye Tian’s expression changed. He spun around sharply, his gaze sharp as an eagle’s as he searched the room. But he saw no one.
“Kid, don’t bother looking. I’m right here, in your hand.”
Just as he thought it was an illusion, the voice rang out again.
Ye Tian’s eyes narrowed, his gaze settling on the bracelet in his hand. “The bracelet… can talk?” His initial shock quickly turned into wild joy. “Could you be a spirit?”
A spirit within a weapon or artifact—only Saint Rank items could possess one! Could this bracelet be a Saint Rank artifact?
Ye Tian was stunned by this sudden discovery. To think that for just 1 tael of silver, he had bought something so extraordinary. His luck was heaven-defying!
“Kid, don’t get ahead of yourself. I’m not a spirit.”
The voice cut through his fantasy instantly.
“Brat, watch your mouth! What do you mean, ‘what are you’?”
The bracelet suddenly floated up. Above it, a translucent figure appeared. It was a woman, breathtakingly beautiful, wearing a snow-white dress. She looked like a celestial maiden descended from the heavens, her aura ethereal and pure.
“You… are you a fairy?” Ye Tian swallowed hard, stammering. The woman before him was far too beautiful, her presence divine. He had never seen anyone like her.
She giggled softly. “You sure know how to talk, boy. I’ll forgive your earlier rudeness.”
Then she asked, “Boy, do you want to become stronger?”
“Fairy, I want to become stronger!” Ye Tian answered without a shred of hesitation.
“Then are you willing to acknowledge me as your master?” the woman in white asked as her eyes fixed on him.
Ye Tian dropped to his knees without hesitation and knocked his head three times against the ground. “Disciple Ye Tian greets Master Fairy!” He knew this was his great opportunity. If he seized it, he could one day become an unrivaled powerhouse.
The woman looked satisfied, nodding as warmth filled her voice. “Good. My obedient disciple, my name is Yao Linglong. I come from Medicine King Valley, and I am an alchemist…”
“An alchemist!” Ye Tian’s heart burned with excitement. His beautiful master was an alchemist. Everyone knew that alchemists were highly respected, synonymous with wealth and status. Each one was like a walking mint.
“Master, can I also become an alchemist?” Ye Tian looked at Yao Linglong with hopeful eyes.
“Of course. Your constitution is unique. Once awakened, your cultivation will advance by leaps and bounds. Moreover, your physique leans toward the fire attribute, making it perfectly suited for alchemy,” Yao Linglong said gently. She had sensed his unique body constitution, which was why she guided him to the bracelet in the first place. Otherwise, how could he so easily stumble upon such a treasure?