Repairing the Sky Lantern and Parents' Love (Seeking Follow-up Reads)

"Two Broken Spirits is expensive?"

Old Man Zhao stuffed all the Beef Jerky in his hand into his mouth, chewed quickly, then bent down to pick up a lotus-shaped sky lantern and handed it to Zhou Ling with a smile.

"Take a look. This is a Three-Engraving Pattern Lotus Lantern. How are two Broken Spirits expensive? Where's the expense?"

Zhou Ling examined it carefully. This lotus lantern was exquisitely crafted and uniquely shaped.

However, under [Basic Insight], he could see that two of the three engravings inside the sky lantern were damaged.

He immediately shook his head. "For this kind of lantern, even one Broken Spirit would be expensive!"

Old Man Zhao's eyes widened. "Are you even going to let people do business?"

Zhou Ling scratched his head. "If they're all one Broken Spirit each, I'll buy them all. Otherwise, forget it!"

Old Man Zhao frowned deeply at this. After weighing it up, he said, "How about twelve Broken Spirits?"

"If it's twelve Broken Spirits, then throw in a bottle of Metal-Attribute Spirit Ink for me."

"Ah, this..."

After some haggling, they finally settled on thirteen Broken Spirits.

Zhou Ling bought ten sky lanterns, along with a small bottle of spirit ink.

"Why are kids these days all so damn shrewd? So shrewd!"

Watching Zhou Ling leave with ten sky lanterns in both hands, his steps light and brisk, Old Man Zhao could only shake his head helplessly.

Fortunately, this batch of defective goods had not cost much, so he was not losing out.

Night fell, and Zhou Ling returned home.

The house was silent. His parents had not come back yet.

Zhou Ling put the lanterns in his room, then went to the kitchen to heat up the dinner his mother had prepared.

After a simple meal, he returned to his room.

He picked up the lotus lantern and began studying it, carefully examining the three colored-light engravings on the sky lantern.

Though he could not yet completely see where the problem lay, he had the [Basic Analysis] talent.

He quickly found one of the errors.

[You are analyzing the three colored-light engravings. Basic Analysis +1. Three colored-light engraving proficiency +1.]

"The main issue is with the blending of the spirit ink. The ink isn't pure enough, so spiritual power can't flow through it, and the engravings fail as a result."

"Good thing I managed to get a bottle of Metal-Attribute Spirit Ink just now."

Zhou Ling muttered.

These colored-light engravings were mainly prepared from spirit ink made with metal-attribute ores. With the help of the engravings, they could produce light in different colors.

Zhou Ling examined them several more times, but [Basic Analysis] gave no further prompts.

Zhou Ling was basically certain that the spirit ink was the only problem.

He then took out an engraving brush and the spirit ink, and set the lotus lantern in place.

He took a deep breath. After all, this was his first time drawing engravings on an artifact, so Zhou Ling was somewhat nervous.

Fortunately, it was only a three-engraving pattern, so the difficulty was not great for him.

With [Basic Insight] and [Basic Analysis], he understood this engraving like the back of his hand.

Very quickly, he calmed down.

Moreover, repairing engravings was different from drawing them.

The colored-light engraving before him still had its overall structure intact.

It was merely that the spirit ink had not been blended evenly enough, causing some of the lines to fail.

As long as he redrew them properly with spirit ink, it could be repaired.

Of course, this sort of repair tested an Artifact Refiner's experience and eye even more, as well as their proficiency with engravings.

Ordinary artifact-refining apprentices absolutely could not accomplish it.

The reason Zhou Ling could analyze the cause so quickly was mainly due to the boost from his two talents.

Zhou Ling carefully held the engraving brush and traced along the lines.

In less than a quarter of an hour, Zhou Ling had repaired the engraving.

After carefully checking it again and confirming there were no problems, he tapped the switch above it with his little hand.

At once, a bright ripple of azure light spread from the lotus lantern.

It cast the entire room in a dreamlike splendor.

"Great!"

Zhou Ling could not help shouting.

Once this Lotus Lantern was repaired, it could fetch at least a dozen or so Broken Spirit.

At the thought, Zhou Ling was instantly fired up as if injected with chicken blood, brimming with motivation as he continued repairing the other Sky Lanterns.

These ten Sky Lanterns were mostly Two- or Three-Engraving Patterns; only one had a Four-Engraving Pattern.

After repairing five in a row, Zhou Ling felt a wave of exhaustion wash over him.

Half of his Internal Spiritual Power had already been consumed.

He could only stop for now, sit cross-legged in meditation, and circulate the Spirit Flame Art to cultivate.

[You are absorbing spiritual energy. Spiritual Energy Affinity +1, Spiritual Energy +3]

Only after circulating it through two full cycles did he recover somewhat.

"Ling'er, time for a late-night meal!"

At that moment, his mother's call came from outside.

Zhou Ling looked up. A bright moon hung high Outside the Window.

It was already the second watch. What Mother called a late-night meal was actually their dinner.

Whenever there was a festival, his parents became even busier than they could handle.

I need to find a way to get a part-time job and help Father and Mother shoulder some of the burden.

Zhou Ling thought to himself.

He then walked out of his room.

On the wooden table sat a plate of Sauced Beef, a dish of stir-fried vegetables, a bowl of Spirit Egg Seaweed Soup, and a small dish of Fried Peanuts.

Zhou Shan had already poured himself half a small bowl of Spirit Wine and was sipping it slowly.

The beard he had not trimmed for some time made him look even more weathered.

Yet he sat with his back ramrod straight, his eyes bright and keen.

Zhou Ling knew that Father must have made a good haul today.

As Zhou Ling sat down at the table, Li Ru served him a bowl of soup.

"Ru'er, this Jade Hairpin is for you!"

At that moment, Zhou Shan took an exquisitely crafted green jade hairpin from his person and handed it to Li Ru, coughing a few times as he spoke.

"Why did you buy this?"

"How many Spirit Stones did it cost?"

Li Ru froze for a moment. Taking the Jade Hairpin, she could not help asking.

Zhou Shan took a sip of wine. "This is a First-Grade Mid-Rank Jade Hairpin. It can ward off fire fumes. I see you spending every day in the Kitchen, being smoked and baked by the fire fumes for so long—it isn't good for your health. I've wanted to buy you one for a long time."

"This time, I did pretty well in the mountains, so I bought it."

This First-Grade Mid-Rank Jade Hairpin had cost him seven Low-grade Spirit Stones.

Though he usually lived frugally, spending little each month aside from buying some ordinary Spirit Wine—hardly costing any Broken Spirit at all—he never begrudged spending on his wife and child.

Feeling the hairpin's warm, lustrous aura in her hand, Li Ru pressed her lips together. She picked up the wine jar and poured Zhou Shan another bowl, a trace of tenderness surfacing in her eyes. "If you want to buy something in the future, discuss it with me first."

"The child is still young. There will be many places to spend Spirit Stones on cultivation later; save where we can."

"I'm used to the fire fumes in the Kitchen. It's nothing serious!"

"Mm!" Zhou Shan nodded with a smile, picked up a peanut and tossed it into his mouth, eating it with great relish.

"Father, Mother, I'm done eating! I'm heading back to my room to sleep first!"

Watching his parents support each other through thick and thin, Zhou Ling felt warmth in his heart, along with a touch of helplessness.

Only after hearing Father say that did he realize just how hard Mother's work was.

If it were merely ordinary exhaustion, she could recover after resting well.

But fire fumes entering the body were an entirely different matter.

Once they damaged the meridians, they would have an enormous impact on cultivation.

If they invaded the lungs, they might even threaten her life.

At once, a fresh sense of urgency rose in his heart. He hoped he could become independent as soon as possible.

So his parents would not have to work so hard!