Chapter 21: Upper Grade Magical Artifact, the Thief Who Stole Spirit Charm

In the Jade Altar Temple's shop.

Li Yinsheng decisively placed his order.

It was common knowledge that Stewards usually did not oversee the shops. In a situation where everyone was either a Direct Lineage or a True Disciple, the Temple Master's Direct Lineage was naturally the most reliable. However, if the female shopkeeper before him hadn't revealed her identity on her own accord, Li Yinsheng would never have associated her with being the Temple Master's Direct Lineage.

A Direct Disciple was meant to inherit their master's legacy and position. Anyone could only have one Direct Disciple—this was a fixed rule written in the precepts. She looked no older than twenty-five or twenty-six. To be established as the Direct Lineage from among all the True Disciples at such an age, she had to possess extraordinary talent.

Li Yinsheng sighed inwardly. He thought, "It's a pity that despite my nearly a century of profound Cultivation, my practical methods lag completely behind."

Otherwise, anyone else with a Cultivation level similar to his could easily probe the female shopkeeper's foundation. He could only rely on his Qi perception brought by his Cultivation to roughly estimate that she had about thirty or forty years of Cultivation... probably?

Shaking his head, Li Yinsheng stopped dwelling on the matter. Apart from the lost Town Guardian Technique in the Xuanzhen Temple's Scripture Pavilion, seventy to eighty percent of the other inheritances were still intact. Given some time, he could always make up for these lacking methods.

Right now, he cared more about something else.

"Shopkeeper," he leaned forward slightly and asked seriously, "you just said that if I hire you for the Array Formation, not only will the deposit be waived, but the total price will also be cheaper...

"I wonder... exactly how much cheaper can it be?"

Facing the approaching Li Yinsheng, the female shopkeeper instinctively held her breath before saying, "How about dropping it to one hundred thousand talismanic coins?"

Li Yinsheng's eyes lit up as he muttered to himself, "One hundred thousand... That's equivalent to the price of an ordinary Array Master setting up an ordinary small Spirit Refining Array."

Yet, the result would be a Bright Spirit Refining Array personally set up by the Direct Lineage of the Jade Altar Temple's Temple Master. He thought, "This is an absolute steal!"

However, the female shopkeeper heard his muttering and seemed to misunderstand something. She raised a hand to pinch her earlobe. "If you still think it's too expensive, how about ninety thousand talismanic coins?"

She could drop it even further?!

Li Yinsheng felt that if he bargained a bit more, there would still be room for negotiation to lower the price again. But taking all this into account, he had already gained quite an advantage. After brief consideration, he dismissed the idea.

"Then thank you very much, Shopkeeper," Li Yinsheng expressed his gratitude.

Facing his thanks, the female shopkeeper nodded. She paused before speaking, "My last name is Meng, Meng Yu. I'm just acting as a temporary shopkeeper, so you should just call me Fellow Daoist."

"Alright, Meng," Li Yinsheng naturally agreed.

"How should I address you, Fellow Daoist? At which Daoist Temple do you cultivate, and where do you want the Array built?" Meng Yu asked.

"I am Li Yinsheng from the Xuanzhen Temple. As for the location of the Array Formation, it will be on my temple's Xuanzhen Peak," Li Yinsheng replied.

Hearing Li Yinsheng mention the Xuanzhen Temple and Xuanzhen Peak, a trace of pure bewilderment flashed across Meng Yu's face.

She wondered why she had absolutely no impression of this Daoist Temple.

But she quickly cast this doubt to the back of her mind. Among the dozens of Daoist Temples under the Zhengyang Dharma Vein, only a scarce ten or so were well-known far and wide, and all of them were leaders in certain skills. This Xuanzhen Temple was probably a relatively small and unremarkable Daoist Temple, which was why she didn't recognize it.

Meng Yu asked, "Then Li, when do you want to start building the Array?"

"The sooner the better, it just depends on when Meng has free time," Li Yinsheng said without hesitation.

"I can go right now," Meng Yu said immediately.

"Now?" Li Yinsheng was somewhat surprised. "But aren't you the shopkeeper, Meng? Can you get away right now?"

"It's fine. If I go for the Array Formation, someone will naturally cover for me temporarily," Meng Yu said.

"Oh..." Li Yinsheng didn't dwell on it and said, "Then, Meng, shall we set off now? I'll take you to Xuanzhen Peak."

"I'll go to the storehouse to get the Array Formation materials. Setting up a Spirit Refining Array is troublesome, so I need to call two assistants. Li, wait for me a moment."

Meng Yu brought out another plate of gorgon nut cakes for Li Yinsheng before hurrying into the back hall.

Li Yinsheng ate and drank. A moment later, Meng Yu walked out of the back hall with two people in tow. The man and woman behind her looked slightly older than her, but they wore quite respectful expressions as they followed her. Furthermore, Li Yinsheng noticed that beside Meng Yu's original Qiankun Bag at her waist, there was an additional Qiankun Bag stamped with the Jade Altar Temple's name, presumably used for official expenses.

Li Yinsheng exchanged greetings with the two disciples Meng Yu had brought, and then walked out of the shop under her lead.

Standing on the bluestone-paved road, Li Yinsheng felt a bit troubled. He needed to lead these three Array Masters to Xuanzhen Peak for the Array Formation, but his only method of Flying in the Sky was the Wind-Gathering Skill. Was he supposed to just grab a Wind Spell and blow these three all the way up to Xuanzhen Peak?

Fortunately, just as the thought arose in Li Yinsheng's mind, Meng Yu stepped forward. A Cyan Jade Chessboard flew out from her Qiankun Bag, instantly expanding from the size of a palm to ten feet square, hovering quietly a foot above the ground.

Meng Yu stepped onto the chessboard first, with the other two following closely behind.

"Li, point the way, and we'll head to your Xuanzhen Peak," Meng Yu said.

Li Yinsheng stepped onto the chessboard, a look of surprise on his face. Allowing a Cultivator to fly on objects was one of the functions of a Magical Artifact, but only Upper Grade Magical Artifacts possessed such capabilities. Lower Grade Magical Artifacts like his Cold Leaf Sword, as well as the stronger Middle Grade Magical Artifacts, didn't have this effect; otherwise, he would have flown over on his sword instead of gathering the wind.

However, what surprised him wasn't the Upper Grade Magical Artifact itself. It was the fact that this Magical Artifact hadn't flown out of the Qiankun Bag at Meng Yu's waist labeled "Jade Altar Temple," but from her own private Qiankun Bag. In other words, this Upper Grade Magical Artifact most likely wasn't a company vehicle for business trips issued by the Jade Altar Temple, but Meng Yu's own personal possession.

This made Li Yinsheng extremely envious. An Upper Grade Magical Artifact easily cost hundreds of thousands of talismanic coins, which was more than what he was spending to build the Spirit Refining Array. Even the Stewards of the various Daoist Temples didn't all have Upper Grade Magical Artifacts on them.

He thought, "As expected of the Direct Lineage of the Jade Altar Temple's Temple Master. She's really rich."

While Li Yinsheng sighed with emotion inwardly, he pointed out the direction of Xuanzhen Peak.

Without Meng Yu seemingly making any movements, the chessboard beneath them naturally ascended, carrying the four of them through the air in the direction Li Yinsheng indicated. Standing on the chessboard felt like walking on flat ground to Li Yinsheng. With great interest, he stared down at the chessboard beneath his feet, observing the patterns and Restrictions on it. This was his first time coming into close contact with an Upper Grade Magical Artifact; before this, he hadn't even seen a Middle Grade Magical Artifact.

"Are you interested in my Cyan Jade Chessboard, Li?" Meng Yu took a step closer to Li Yinsheng and asked.

"Is the Cyan Jade Chessboard the name of this Magical Artifact?" Li Yinsheng asked.

"Yes," Meng Yu nodded. "Because I have the word 'Yu' (Jade) in my name and I usually like playing chess, I asked an expert from the Zulu Temple to forge this Magical Artifact."

He thought, "It's even custom-made! She's really rich..."

Li Yinsheng sighed with emotion once again.

Before Li Yinsheng could speak, Meng Yu took the initiative to speak again, telling him about the process of customizing the Magical Artifact. Li Yinsheng nodded in agreement.

Although Li Yinsheng only responded to Meng Yu occasionally, her narration did not stop, completely contrary to her initially cold and taciturn demeanor.

The two of them stood on the front half of the chessboard, while the two disciples Meng Yu had called to act as assistants stood on the back half.

Watching Meng Yu continuously talking to Li Yinsheng, the male disciple lowered his voice and spoke to the female disciple beside him, "What's going on with Senior Sister Meng? She usually speaks very little and never chats with anyone. It's really weird..."

He and the female disciple beside him were actually a few years older than Meng Yu, but since Meng Yu had cultivated since childhood, had been a Beginner earlier, and had a higher Cultivation, she was naturally their Senior Sister.

"It's not that weird for Senior Sister Meng to act like this."

Facing the confused male disciple, the female disciple answered verbally, but her gaze remained fixed on Li Yinsheng's side profile, never shifting away.

"Junior Sister, you're acting very weird today too." The male disciple was even more confused.

The female disciple finally tore her gaze away from Li Yinsheng for a moment, looking at the person beside her with an odd expression. She shook her head and sighed, "Senior Brother, you don't understand."

Not long after, the Cyan Jade Chessboard carried the four of them to the front of Xuanzhen Peak.

But the Cyan Jade Chessboard did not descend.

"To build a Spirit Refining Array on a mountain peak, we first need to find a Spiritual Eye location suitable for extracting and gathering Spirit Charm, construct the Array to gather the Spirit Charm, and then send the gathered Spirit Charm to the Spirit Refining Array which refines special Spirit Charms..."

Senior Sister Meng stood at the forefront, holding a Compass in her hands.

"Different mountain peaks have varying numbers and locations of Spiritual Eyes, as well as differing levels of difficulty in extracting Spirit Charm from them. This needs to be explored using Geomancy Skill," she said, looking toward Li Yinsheng. "Li, how many Spirit Gathering Arrays have already been built on your Xuanzhen Peak, and where are they located? Point them out to me first.

"Once I determine the locations of all the Spiritual Eyes using Geomancy, I'll select a few from the remaining Spiritual Eyes that haven't had a Spirit Gathering Array built over them yet to construct the Spirit Gathering Sub-arrays for the Bright Spirit Refining Array."

Generally speaking, a mountain peak with a Spirit Vein could have over a hundred Spiritual Eyes, large and small. However, only a few Spiritual Eyes allowed for easy extraction and collection of large amounts of Spirit Charm. Such Spiritual Eyes would have already had Spirit Gathering Arrays built over them long ago, and the Spirit Charm would be directly supplied to a large-scale Spirit Refining Array to endlessly refine special Spirit Charms.

The remaining Spiritual Eyes could also be used to extract and gather Spirit Charm, but the efficiency wouldn't be high. However, to provide Spirit Charm for a small Spirit Refining Array, finding a few more ordinary Spiritual Eyes and building Spirit Gathering Arrays would be more than enough when combined.

"Uh..." Li Yinsheng scratched his cheek and spoke with some embarrassment. "Meng, to be honest, the Xuanzhen Temple didn't have any Spirit Gathering Arrays prior to this. All the Spiritual Eyes are empty, so you can just go straight to the best Spiritual Eye."

For the first time, an extremely obvious emotion appeared on Meng Yu's usually impassive face. She thought, "Are you kidding me?"

"Are you joking with me, Li?" Meng Yu shook her head, completely disbelieving Li Yinsheng. "It's true that some Daoist Temples are short on funds and haven't built too many Spirit Gathering Arrays on their peaks, but the top-tier Spiritual Eyes will definitely have Spirit Gathering Arrays built on them."

Li Yinsheng sighed. "Our Xuanzhen Temple didn't even have a Spirit Refining Array before, so what would be the use of gathering it?"

They didn't even have a Spirit Refining Array!

Meng Yu now felt even more that Li Yinsheng was joking.

A Daoist Temple with only a mountain peak but no Array—wasn't that like a person living in a house with only four walls, lacking any doors, windows, or furniture?

"If you don't believe me, Meng," Li Yinsheng spread his hands, "wouldn't we know if we just fly straight to the best Spiritual Eye to take a look? It's definitely completely empty. You can just build the Spirit Gathering Array right there."

Seeing that Li Yinsheng spoke sincerely, Meng Yu became a bit unsure. So she nodded and, following the best Spiritual Eye location measured by Geomancy, steered the Cyan Jade Chessboard over.

A moment later, upon flying near the Spiritual Eye, Meng Yu stopped the Cyan Jade Chessboard and looked at Li Yinsheng expressionlessly, a hint of reproach in her eyes.

"You really were joking, Li." She pointed at the ground not far below. "Isn't that a Spirit Gathering Array?"

In the direction she pointed, an area of what was originally a dense wild forest had been abruptly cleared out. On the cleared empty space, an Array the size of a house stood prominently. Beside it were several Cultivators wearing grayish-yellow Daoist Robes, who were continuously forming hand seals and casting spells around the Array, tossing in some materials from time to time.

"Look, there are even people maintaining the Array, although... even from this far away, one can tell their techniques are crude."

Meng Yu looked at Li Yinsheng, somewhat reproaching him for making fun of her.

But soon, she realized that Li Yinsheng's expression wasn't right.

Li Yinsheng's face held neither the mischief of a successful joke nor the embarrassment of being seen through. Instead, it carried an undisguised coldness. His pitch-black eyes narrowed slightly, radiating an intimidating icy gleam.

"Meng, those few people down there are not from the Xuanzhen Temple," Li Yinsheng said. "If I haven't misidentified their Daoist Robes, they should be disciples of the 'Yellow Crane Temple' from the neighboring peak."