Chapter Four: First Encounter with Wu Wanren

There were quite a few vendors in the alley. He had come here to see if he could find any suitable elixirs for himself. After all, he had already made up his mind to leave the Shen family, and without the backing of their name, he would inevitably encounter more trouble.

This marketplace was truly vast, selling everything imaginable: offensive magical artifacts forged from the hooked beaks of low-grade firebirds for eighty spirit stones; bamboo eagle flying instruments for solo flight at only one hundred and fifty low-grade spirit stones; battered town-sealing inkstones, the most expensive priced at eighteen, the cheapest at eleven low-grade spirit stones; incomplete low-level cultivation methods ranging from five to five hundred low-grade spirit stones… The variety was staggering. Though he could not afford them, it was eye-opening all the same.

Wandering about, Shen Junhuai arrived at a secondhand sundry shop, which specialized in trading used and broken goods. Many impoverished itinerant cultivators scoured this place for what they needed. After making a circuit inside, he came upon a pile of items stacked by the courtyard wall and discovered a stone riddled with fine cracks. At home, he had a similar ore, a childhood toy tossed to him by his father—it attracted metal like a magnet. When he first received the "Compendium of Myriad Marvels," he recalled seeing some descriptions of such stones, though he hadn’t had time to read in detail.

He acquired the stone for a single low-grade spirit stone—sometimes, youth truly had its advantages. He also picked up a rusty metal plate with several tadpole-like characters wriggling slowly across its surface for five low-grade spirit stones.

From an elixir stall, he obtained two Yunling Flowers as auxiliary ingredients for Foundation Establishment Nine-Turn Pills, and a handful of Poluo Illusion Grass, necessary for late-stage Qi Refinement Nourishing Qi and Cultivating Origin Pills, all for a little over ten low-grade spirit stones. Fully refined pills, costing hundreds of mid- to high-grade spirit stones, were still out of reach.

At another exit of the alley, a vendor had a large bamboo basket filled with various broken weapon parts displayed on a wooden rack. These did not particularly interest him, but he knew the vendor—a blacksmith from his mother’s hometown, distantly related to his mother Liu.

"Grandfather Wu, why are you setting up shop here?" The old man’s name was Wu Sanyang, a craftsman of some repute with ancestral skills.

"Young Seventh Master, come, let’s talk inside." The elder beckoned Shen Junhuai behind the stall. "It’s like this: your Uncle Datou has joined the Celestial Mechanism Sect. Your Aunt Wu misses her grandson terribly and wouldn’t leave, and I’m getting too old to forge much longer—so I set up here to clear out old stock."

Datou, his only son Wu Wanren, bore a humble nickname. "Really? The Celestial Mechanism Sect is a cultivation sect—among the millions in Pingdu City, few would ever be accepted as disciples!" Shen Junhuai exclaimed in disbelief.

"Indeed. He’s been there two years, just promoted to outer disciple, and spent over a year as a menial laborer. He’s around, should be back soon. Wait here for him," the old man replied.

Excitement surged through Shen Junhuai. Wu Wanren had reached the seventh martial tier a few years ago, and though over thirty, they got along well. As a child, Shen Junhuai would follow him everywhere. Now, anxious to test his spiritual roots but with no idea where to begin, he thought to turn to Wu Wanren for help.

Wu Sanyang still regarded him as a child; Shen Junhuai munched absentmindedly on fruit the old man handed him, making idle conversation.

"How did you find your way here, Old Seventh?" Wu Wanren’s arrival was met with genuine delight. After Shen Junhuai explained his troubles, Wu said, "How about this? I’ll go back with you for a visit—haven’t seen your cousin in ages. I just brought back some demon boar; we can drink and chat." Bending down, he pulled a knife from under the stall and handed it to Shen Junhuai. "Take this—it’s good stuff."

Having settled his family matters, Wu Wanren returned with Shen Junhuai to the Shen family’s side residence.

Meeting Liu was an emotional affair. After a meal and some drinks, the two sat in the courtyard for a detailed talk.

Wu Wanren revealed he had a wood spiritual root, and had been introduced to Senior Brother Yun Jiezhi during his cultivation in the Crane Crown Mountains outside West City. Upon his recommendation and subsequent testing, he was admitted to the sect. Spiritual root testing was done with a spirit essence stone; during a mission with dozens of other sect members, his uncle had a stone, which could be brought within a month. This delighted Shen Junhuai.

Wu Wanren had not yet built his foundation, being at early ninth stage of Qi Refinement. Among the tens of thousands of Celestial Mechanism Sect disciples, this was just entry level—not enough to attract attention. Thus, his advice was that if Shen Junhuai could cultivate, it would be best to join the sect after Foundation Establishment, as only then would the sect’s resources be directed towards him.

As for cultivation methods and elixirs, Wu Wanren promised to help after confirming his spiritual root. The Crane Crown Mountains outside the western city…

Soon after, Shen Junhuai produced the knife.

"This blade is called Shadow Edge. My father forged it from dozens of top-grade yellow-tier broken swords, melding them with high-grade black iron. When I joined the Sword Sect, it became redundant for me—take it for your protection. This blade has an unusual trait: it absorbs blood, likely due to a special ore mixed into one of the broken swords."

Delighted by this unexpected gift, Shen Junhuai could scarcely keep his mouth closed, earning more good-natured teasing from Wu Wanren.

Upon seeing the metal plate Shen Junhuai acquired, Wu Wanren added, "You should find Uncle Huan; he knows a master appraiser who might recognize it."

As Wu Wanren had to rejoin his sect brethren the next day, they agreed to meet again in a month, and he took his leave.

The following day, Shen Junhuai went to see Shen Yihuan.

After examining the metal plate, Yihuan took him several miles away to an armory. The shopkeeper, Liu Shanying, was a master appraiser. In the cultivation world, countless rare objects existed—no one could know them all. Thus, the profession of appraiser arose: stationed at the front of major shops, they rented space to identify items for customers, or were trained by the shops themselves.

Liu took the plate, studied it carefully, then produced a vial of liquid to clean it thoroughly. He scrutinized it again; countless tadpole-like silver characters, resembling seal script, seemed to swim endlessly across its surface, radiating boundless knowledge and supreme secret arts. His eyes lit up, breath growing heavier. Soon, his hands began to tremble and sweat beaded on his brow.

"Brother Shanying, what have you discovered? Is it a treasure?" Shen Yihuan couldn't help but ask urgently.

Without replying, Liu hurried into the inner room and quickly retrieved a bamboo scroll from a bookshelf. He unrolled it, his finger tracing a line of text as he buried his head in it, motionless.

When Liu finally looked up, his cheeks were flushed.

He gazed solemnly at Shen Yihuan and Shen Junhuai. "This is a page—a page from a treasure book! A treasure book!" His voice trembled with excitement.

"What do you mean? Please, tell us!" Shen Junhuai pressed eagerly.

"This belongs to you, young man?" Liu looked at Shen Junhuai. "How to say… This is a page from a book. Yes! Only a single page, or rather, one page from a larger volume."

He seemed almost incoherent with excitement.

"Look here," he pointed to the side of the metal plate. "See this row of round holes? They're for binding with golden thread. Why gold thread? Because this is made from Sunflame Stone and celestial meteorite iron, the legendary 'Iron Xuan Gold Codex.' This is a page from that very codex, as these books could only be bound using gold thread crafted from mixed gold and dragon sinew from the ancient two-headed ao jiao."

"How can you be sure it was bound with such thread?" Shen Junhuai questioned.

"Look again at these holes—aren’t they as thin as a strand of hair?" Liu explained patiently. "Only such gold thread could support the weight of a book made from these metal plates."

"And how do you know the composition of the metal?" Shen Yihuan asked.

"The meteorite iron can be identified, and only with Sunflame Stone fused in could such script be inscribed upon it."