Chapter 18

The jade pendant was placed back on the counter.

Tang Zheng saw the old man, who looked like a master craftsman from centuries ago, sitting in a watch shop, wearing reading glasses, and repairing various small parts.

There was only one thing that didn't match: his eyes!

The old man's cloudy eyes would occasionally reveal a sharp glint, intentionally or unintentionally.

So, Tang Zheng kept staring at his eyes...

"Do I have something on my face?" The old man's dignity was instantly lowered, "Why are you staring at me?"

"I need to carefully examine whether you're a bad person."

"Hmm, can you tell that?"

"Of course." Tang Zheng used his experience from identifying NPC factions in games from his previous life. After looking for a long time, he finally answered the old man's question, "The jade pendant is a token given to me by a friend."

"..." The old man touched his face, "So, I'm not a bad person?"

"But you're not a good person either." Tang Zheng added.

"Ha ha ha..." The old man laughed, "You're an interesting kid!"

As he spoke, the old man didn't return the jade pendant to Tang Zheng. Instead, he pulled out an old and worn stone platform from under the counter, which looked a bit like the rotating platform used in cake shops that Tang Zheng had seen in his previous life.

The old man carefully placed the jade pendant on the stone platform, pressed his hands on the edge of the platform, and shouted. A delicate small hammer appeared behind him!

On the intricately patterned small hammer, three bright stars rose in sequence!

As the star power was infused, the engraved patterns on the jade pendant seemed to be magnified and floated up from the stone platform...

"The structure of this array..." The old man's brows furrowed again.

Tang Zheng stood to one side, silent.

"Try to activate it." The old man pushed the stone platform toward Tang Zheng and then lowered his head to search again.

Tang Zheng placed his hands on the stone platform and felt a bone-chilling cold. The stone platform, like a monster, quickly devoured his star power...

At this moment, the old man had already taken out ink, paper, and a brush from under the counter. Without even looking at Tang Zheng, he began to meticulously copy the floating array diagram.

Cold sweat appeared on Tang Zheng's forehead...

Today had been tough for him. Gathering fifty strands of star power had drained him once, and cutting out the purple gold had drained him again. Activating the stone platform would likely drain him once more.

Was it really that exhausting?

Scribble, scribble, scribble...

In the entire Treasure Pavilion, only the sound of the old man's brush and Tang Zheng's increasingly heavy breathing remained.

"Done!" After an unknown amount of time, the old man finally finished copying.

"Phew..." Tang Zheng almost collapsed under the counter.

"Hey? You, a kid, didn't light up a single star?" The old man finally noticed Tang Zheng.

"You only noticed now!"

"How could you activate the 'Star Instrument Array Platform'? That's sheer recklessness! You're asking for death!"

"Damn! If you can't use it, why didn't you say so earlier? You're clearly trying to kill me..." Even Tang Zheng was impressed by the old man's thick skin.

"You... You're asking for death." The old man's eyes flickered.

"You're trying to kill me!" Tang Zheng was firm.

"No more talk. Don't you know about respecting the elderly and caring for the young?"

"You don't care for the young!"

"Grass, are you young?"

"I'm very young!!"

"..." The old man lost the argument, shook his head, and casually fished a small box out of his pocket, tossing it to Tang Zheng, "Fine, take it back and replenish yourself."

Tang Zheng opened it and saw a large pill inside, the kind that could choke someone if swallowed.

Not knowing what it was, Tang Zheng didn't hesitate and put the box in his pocket.

After throwing the pill, the old man ignored Tang Zheng and carefully examined the paper with the copied array diagram.

"The engraving is as fine as silk, the depth and shallowness are orderly, and the five elements counter each other... Such a brilliant array structure is hidden in a jade pendant for auxiliary cultivation..." The old man looked for a long time, traced the patterns with his fingers, and finally raised his head to look at Tang Zheng, "Young man, this array looks like an auxiliary cultivation 'Spirit Gathering Array,' but a master made a few changes, and it's no longer a 'Spirit Gathering Array.'"

"Then what is it?"

"Shattered Jade Soul Sealing Array!" The old man carefully handed the jade pendant back to Tang Zheng, "The master who engraved the array sealed his soul into this jade pendant to protect the descendants of the pendant's owner..."

"So, the descendants of the jade pendant's owner can survive a starburst because..."

"With this jade pendant, even the power of a starburst would be absorbed by a large part, and the owner would only bear a small part. If they receive timely treatment, there should be a chance of survival!"

"What if it's not used by the descendants?" Tang Zheng wondered what it meant for him to trigger the jade pendant. He had sneaked into the Starlight Continent and couldn't possibly be a long-lost brother of Tian Meng from another dimension.

"Better not to use it. Using it without the bloodline of the jade soul can be unstable and may result in a backlash." The old man watched as Tang Zheng put away the jade pendant and continued, "Take good care of it. It's not just a jade pendant; it's a story!"

"Okay." Tang Zheng nodded.

Tian Meng probably still thought that the Flower King had saved him after the starburst.

Now it seemed that during the starburst, it was actually their family's ancestral jade pendant that protected his star veins in time!

...

It wasn't easy for Tang Zheng to come to the Treasure Pavilion.

After identifying Tian Meng's jade pendant, he still had his own matters to attend to. So, after putting away the jade pendant, he immediately started looking for ink in the Treasure Pavilion.

Ink, because it could be used for "Star Pattern Tracing," seemed to be a very common item on the Starlight Continent.

An entire wall of shelves in the Treasure Pavilion was filled with ink.

There were small porcelain bottles of ink, as well as boxes of stone ink, cinnabar ink, pine soot ink, and purple iris ink in various colors...

"Kid, don't look at those; you can't afford them." The old man hummed a tune, clearly trying to argue with Tang Zheng.

"Then, which ones can I afford?" Tang Zheng knew the old man wasn't cheating him but was just trying to regain some dignity after their argument, so he wasn't angry.

"Heh! The ones you can afford aren't in this shop. Next door, turn left... See that row of small shops? They all sell ink. Go take a look?"

"How much is this?" Tang Zheng ignored what he was saying and picked up a small box that looked good.

"You're young, but your eyes are sharp! That's Yao Ink from the Yao Mountain Tribe. The most expensive items on my shelves are these few pieces of Yao Ink."

"How much?"

"One Purple Gold Coin per piece!"

"I'll take it."

"Take... take it?" The old man looked like he hadn't had his fun yet.

"Yep, I'll take it." Tang Zheng threw a piece of purple gold from his pocket.

The old man, who looked like a transcendent master, caught the purple gold and his dignity was lowered again: "So soft? Is this... pure gold?"

Tang Zheng smiled but didn't speak.

When identifying the jade pendant, the old man had used instruments, but identifying the authenticity of the purple gold was easy—higher purity meant stronger star power communication. Just a quick infusion of star power would reveal the truth.

It was indeed pure gold!

The old man raised his head and looked deeply at Tang Zheng.

"Kid, three taels of pure gold can be exchanged for five Purple Gold Coins, but this isn't a pawnshop, so I can only give you a bit less. Let's say four and a half Purple Gold Coins. You buy that box of Yao Ink, and I'll give you three Purple Gold Coins and fifty Silver Coins back."

Because pure gold was too soft and could be scratched by a finger, Purple Gold Coins were not made of pure gold but were mixed with about 40% of other materials to fix the shape.

"Deal?" The old man didn't ask about the origin of the pure gold, only asked Tang Zheng.

"Deal." Tang Zheng nodded. Although the exchange fee of fifty Silver Coins was not low, it was worth it for the safety of the Treasure Pavilion.

Transactions in the Treasure Pavilion were complex, with each transaction recorded in detail, including the date, item, and the identity and appearance of the buyer.

When asked about his identity, Tang Zheng naturally couldn't provide it.

He came to the Treasure Pavilion mainly to solve the identity plate issue. Without the identity plate, how could he clearly state his identity?

"Identity..." Tang Zheng lowered his voice, "A friend introduced me to the first half-floor of the Treasure Pavilion to solve the identity plate issue."

"First half-floor?" The old man's eyes blinked rapidly.

"Yes, the first half-floor."

"What first half-floor?"

"Hey?" Tang Zheng remembered that Meng Fenghua had mentioned the first half-floor, "The first half-floor where the Treasure Pavilion does 'big business'?"

"I don't care if it's big business! Tell me, who told you that old man is called the first half-floor! I'm clearly called Ban Yilou!"

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