Chapter 1

"Brother Ming, Brother Ming……"

On a country path shaded by green trees and lined with lush grass, a boy of about thirteen or fourteen, with a robust and sturdy build, was running while shouting loudly. His clear voice prompted the village dogs to bark in response. A half-grown, clumsy dog, tongue lolling, followed him, bounding along behind.

In no time, the boy ran out of the village.

From a distance, he could vaguely see a familiar figure standing on a small hill.

"Brother Ming is indeed here."

The boy's face lit up with joy. He had not come to the wrong place, but...

Suddenly, a thought crossed his mind, and the joy on his face vanished instantly. He sighed and quickly ran to the foot of the hill, raising his hand and waving it vigorously at the figure on the hill, shouting, "Brother Ming, come down quickly, back to the shop."

On the small hill, a boy who looked about sixteen or seventeen years old, upon hearing the call, shook his head as if being pulled back from deep thought. He looked down at the boy below and smiled brightly, "Little Tiger, what's the matter? Why are you in such a hurry?"

"A big customer has come," Little Tiger, out of breath from running, panted for a few moments before hurriedly continuing, "Someone came to the shop to have a treasure appraised. Uncle Li from next door said it's a warrior, a big customer, and asked me to find you quickly."

"Warrior, someone who could have become a warrior himself..."

Seeing Brother Ming's eyes glaze over, Little Tiger sighed inwardly. Although Brother Ming always wore a smile in the village, looking as if he was happy, everyone in the village knew that he must be very disappointed inside.

Six years ago, Brother Ming, whose real name was Lin Yiming, was already renowned throughout the surrounding areas. He was once the pride of the entire Nanlin Village. Who would have thought that later, he would be expelled from the mountain gate for being unable to draw in qi, what a pity!

Lin Yiming, after a brief moment of reminiscence, regained his composure. Looking at Little Tiger, who seemed even more distressed than himself, he patted Little Tiger's head and said with a light laugh, "Little Tiger, everyone has their own destiny. Although I cannot become a warrior, I can appraise treasures."

Lin Yiming smiled lightly, but in his heart, he sighed. Human fate is truly full of twists and turns.

Back then, he was highly regarded by the sect and cultivated as a genius. Unfortunately, the good times did not last long. For six years, from the time he ascended the mountain, he was unable to successfully draw in qi.

Others saw his inability to draw in qi and assumed he lacked the potential to be a warrior. But only he knew the reason: he was a穿越者 (穿越者 means a person who has traveled through time or space, often used in the context of someone from a different world or era).

He was originally an Earthling, and his soul did not belong to this world, being rejected by it. The entire world did not recognize him, so how could he draw in the external spiritual energy into his body?

He remembered that when he was young, he had a strong desire to become a powerful person in this world, but he was eventually expelled from the mountain gate.

The only consolation was that he understood the reason for his inability to draw in qi within a year of being in the sect.

During the remaining five years, he spent his time reading books. Although he did not solve the problem of drawing in qi, he read a lot. Perhaps because he was a穿越者, his mental strength was naturally much stronger than others, so he became an appraiser.

Perhaps this was his destiny, destined to never become a powerful warrior!

Lin Yiming gave a self-deprecating smile and slowly walked towards the village.

In Nanlin Village, there was a simple house with front and back yards. This was where he appraised treasures for people.

From a distance, Lin Yiming saw a man in his thirties standing in front of his house. The man, dressed in gray, clearly had well-defined muscles, and a broadsword was slung on his back.

Lin Yiming quickened his pace and approached the man, gesturing towards the door, "Sir, I apologize for keeping you waiting. Please come in."

"Are you the appraiser?" The man's eyes widened, looking at the young boy in front of him with some disbelief. He had heard that the appraiser here was young, but this was too young, looking only about sixteen or seventeen. Appraisers are not like others.

Appraisers need very high mental strength, which increases with age. Could a boy this young really be an appraiser?

The man looked at the young boy's youthful face and sighed. It seemed he had made a wasted trip. He would have to teach a lesson to those who told him the appraiser here was very skilled for making him come to this remote place.

Even the famous appraisers in town could not identify his treasure. This young boy, though rumored to have a keen eye and never failed to appraise any treasure, was too young to be believed to identify his treasure.

As he entered the room, the man became even more skeptical that this young boy could appraise his treasure.

The rooms of other appraisers were filled with various tools to assist in appraising, but this young boy had very few. Many things he had seen in other appraisers' rooms were not present here.

The man looked around the room, and the young boy's voice sounded.

"Sir, what do you want to appraise? Please bring it for me to see."

The man hesitated for a moment but still took out his treasure. He had come this far, so he might as well let the boy take a look.

A small, crystal-clear blue bead, about the size of a baby's fist, appeared before Lin Yiming.

Lin Yiming took the bead and placed it in front of him, examining it carefully in the sunlight coming through the door.

The color of the bead was not the common blue but a very light blue. There were also intricate patterns carved on the bead.

"Please wait a moment while I appraise your treasure."

Lin Yiming walked into a side room. Appraisers cannot be disturbed while appraising. If deliberately disturbed, the appraisal could fail, and in severe cases, it could cause mental trauma to the appraiser, even leading to insanity or death!

Lin Yiming took the bead into the back room, locked the door, and focused his mental strength on the bead, which flowed into it like water.

To appraise an item, an appraiser must use mental strength to enter the treasure. If the mental strength is sufficient, the appraiser will see a vision of the item's past in their mind. By observing this vision, the appraiser can determine the purpose of the item.

Of course, although it is a vision, the appraiser still needs tools. Even for the same item, the resistance encountered by mental strength entering from different angles can vary. These tools help determine the angle with the least resistance.

However, for a spherical treasure like this, there is no need to determine the angle, as the resistance is the same from any direction.

Soon, as Lin Yiming's mental strength entered the bead, a vision appeared in his mind.

In an endless sea, a figure with an indistinct face held the bead and moved forward, the sea parting before him.

"So, it's a water-repelling bead. This man has had quite a stroke of luck to obtain such a treasure!"

Lin Yiming opened his eyes, took the bead, and walked out of the back room, saying softly to the man, "This is a water-repelling bead. Within three zhang, water will automatically part around it. Even an ordinary person carrying this bead can cross rivers and enter the sea, remaining untouched by water!"

After speaking, Lin Yiming looked at the man, marveling at his luck. He wondered what fortune the man had encountered to obtain such a rare treasure. Water-repelling beads were not common, and among the treasures he had appraised in the past six months, this was one of the best.

Ordinary places do not have water-repelling beads. Could this man have just returned from some ancient ruins?

"Water-repelling bead!"

The man's eyes lit up, and he snatched the bead back from Lin Yiming. He knew the value of a water-repelling bead. Treasures with special functions were worth a fortune.

Seeing the man's actions, Lin Yiming smiled. Over the past six months, as his reputation grew, he had appraised more and more treasures and met more and more people. He had seen many people like the man in front of him and was no longer surprised.

Extending a hand, Lin Yiming smiled, "Sir, the appraisal fee is one hundred taels of silver." His fees were not fixed but varied based on the value of the treasure. The cheapest appraisal fee was twenty taels, and the highest he had charged was one hundred taels, which he had done three times.

"One hundred taels? You're robbing me!" The man's thick eyebrows shot up. "You want one hundred taels just for a look? No such luck! I don't even have a single coin!"

"That's not how it works. Without my appraisal, you wouldn't know the value of this treasure and might even damage it. It's only right that an appraiser is paid for their work. I don't charge arbitrarily; the fee is based on the value of the treasure. If you go to the city, the fee will be even higher."

Lin Yiming moved to the side of the man and spoke gently, "Sir, think about it. If you appraised a treasure for someone and they didn't pay, how would you feel?"

"If someone didn't pay me, I'd just kill them. But you're not me; I'm a warrior, and you're nothing."

The man looked at Lin Yiming with disdain and said, "If it were an appraiser in the city, I'd pay whatever they asked. But you, I won't pay you anything. Coming to this godforsaken place is already a huge favor to you."

Lin Yiming's clean face remained calm, his long eyebrows still relaxed, and his smile unchanged. "So, you think I'm easy to bully and won't pay?"

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