Mysterious Stone

Early the next morning, Lin Yi ate a simple meal of dried rations, left Little Flame asleep in the wooden hut, and strolled out of the camp alone.

The gates of the Flamewaste Tribe looked even more imposing than they had yesterday.

Lin Yi had barely reached the entrance when one of the guards recognized him. That huge herd of Bluemane Horses had been far too eye-catching yesterday.

"Here for the Trade Gathering?"

"Yeah, just going in to look around."

The guard nodded, beckoned over a young tribesman, told Lin Yi, "Follow him," and asked no further questions.

Lin Yi followed the young man along the main road through the Flamewaste Tribe and arrived at a broad open space.

The clearing was roughly the size of two or three football fields. The ground had been leveled and covered with a layer of fine gravel.

Rows of neat wooden sheds had been erected around the clearing. Beneath each shed was a square stall area, simply partitioned off with wooden stakes.

"This is where the Trade Gathering is held." The young man gestured around the area. "The stalls were marked out in advance. The official gathering doesn't start until tomorrow, but those who arrive early can set up on their own. Feel free to look around, just don't enter the tribe's inner areas."

With that, he turned and left.

Lin Yi stood at the entrance to the clearing and swept his gaze around. More than half the area was still empty, with only a scattered few stalls already set up.

Beast pelts, dried meat, pottery jars, stone pots, and other miscellaneous goods lay beneath the wooden sheds. Now and then, he saw bundles of polished bone arrows and stone spears. They were all roughly processed goods, nothing particularly refined.

Lin Yi began wandering about at an unhurried pace. Spirit Eyes silently opened, its pale golden-white gleam deliberately suppressed to the faintest brightness. From the outside, it merely looked as though his eyes were naturally light-colored, with a hint of pale gold. Unless one looked closely, no one would notice anything unusual.

Spiritual energy motes drifted slowly through his field of vision, revealing every item on every nearby stall with perfect clarity.

Ordinary beast pelts, ordinary bone tools, ordinary herbs—most of the stalls truly had nothing special.

Lin Yi sighed inwardly as he walked. Finding a bargain really wasn't that easy. The scenes in novels where protagonists casually stumbled across priceless treasures were complete nonsense in reality.

He continued onward, already considering whether he should try his luck in another area.

Then something at the edge of his vision caught his eye.

That stall was tucked away in a remote spot near the innermost corner of the clearing, far more deserted than the others.

The stall was small, and its wares were a jumbled mess: stones, broken bones, several blackened metal fragments, and a broken-handled blade of unknown material, all piled together like scrap picked up from the ground.

Yet when Lin Yi's Spirit Eyes swept over that pile of junk, they suddenly caught a glimmer.

A dense mass of spiritual energy lay quietly dormant inside a fist-sized gray-black stone.

Its spiritual energy was not exceptionally pure, but there was a considerable amount of it.

If not for his Spirit Eyes, which could see through the outer shell and into its interior, that stone would have been no different from any random pebble picked up by the roadside.

Lin Yi's heartbeat quickened slightly. Yet his face did not reveal the slightest flaw. Instead, he slowed his pace, putting on the appearance of someone casually looking around, and sauntered over to the stall.

The young man tending the stall was even younger than Lin Yi had expected. He was around twenty, with a face tanned dark by the sun, though his eyes were quite bright. Wearing a short vest sewn from some unknown beast hide, he sat cross-legged behind the stall, polishing something with a whetstone in his hand.

Lin Yi crouched down and pretended to rummage through the goods.

He deliberately avoided the gray-black stone. First, he picked up several ordinary small ore pieces to make up the numbers, weighed them in his hand, and set them down. Then he inspected each of the black metal fragments, his brow faintly furrowed as though none of them suited his fancy.

"Is this all your tribe sells?" he asked casually.

"Of course not!" The young man immediately waved his hand, pride in his voice. "The good stuff from our tribe is all in the back. It won't be put out until the Trade Gathering officially begins. These are things I picked up myself."

"You've got good luck, picking up so much." Lin Yi smiled and pointed at the pile of stones on the stall. "I've been wanting to forge a weapon that fits my hand, but I've been worried about finding good materials. These stones and ores of yours look decent enough. What do you want in exchange?"

The young man lowered his head and glanced at the pieces Lin Yi had indicated. Including the gray-black stone, Lin Yi had selected four or five pieces in total, varying in size and appearance. From the outside, they looked like nothing more than a pile of ordinary wilderness rocks.

After thinking for a moment, he scratched the back of his head. "Um... do you have Ferocious Beast meat?"

"I do. What level?"

"Tidal Surge Realm will do. Just one piece." The young man answered readily, likely thinking these items were not worth much himself.

On the surface, Lin Yi showed a hint of hesitation. His lips pressed together slightly, as though he were weighing whether the trade was worthwhile. Only after a breath or two did he slowly nod. "Fine. I'll trade."

He took out a processed piece of Tidal Surge Realm Ferocious Beast meat from the beast-hide pouch he carried and handed it over. It weighed at least two or three pounds.

The young man took it and weighed it in his hand. Clearly pleased with the amount of meat, he grinned and swept the stones into Lin Yi's arms.

"Thanks, friend! If you've got any good goods, come back tomorrow."

"Sure." Lin Yi answered, casually stuffed the stones into his pouch, dusted off his hands, and stood up before heading toward the next stall.

His expression remained calm, but inside, he was already bursting with joy. Brother, you didn't know good goods when you saw them. You can't blame me for that. Lin Yi chuckled to himself.

He knew that stone was worth far more than one piece of Tidal Surge Realm Ferocious Beast meat, but showing any impatience in a place like this would only arouse suspicion.

By padding the deal with a pile of junk and then readily paying with meat, the other party would only think he was an easygoing young man. He would never imagine what he had just thrown away.

For the next stretch of stalls, Lin Yi browsed much more carefully. Spirit Eyes remained active at low power, sweeping over every item beneath every wooden shed.

The goods at the other stalls were either everyday items too ordinary to mention or poorly made bone and stone tools.

"That's about enough. Time to head back."

He ambled back the way he had come. As he passed along the Flamewaste Tribe's main road, he ran into that patrol of guards again. They gave him a glance and passed by.

Lin Yi left the gates without incident and returned to the wooden hut area of the outer camp.

Just as he reached the entrance of his own wooden hut, the village chief came out from next door. The old man held a bowl of hot water in his hands. Seeing Lin Yi return, he smiled and stepped forward to greet him.

"How was it? Find anything worthwhile?"

Lin Yi patted his beast-hide pouch, a trace of irrepressible delight on his face. "I actually found something. Let me study it first."

Seeing his expression, the village chief did not press him for details. He merely nodded and said, "All right, get on with it."

Then he carried his bowl back inside. Lin Yi entered his own wooden hut in three quick strides, closing the door behind him.

Lin Yi casually tossed the ordinary ore pieces he had used as filler into a corner by the wall. At last, he held the gray-black stone in his hand and raised it toward the light from the window.

It was fist-sized, rough-surfaced, dark gray throughout, and heavy in his palm. From the outside, it was nothing more than an ordinary wilderness stone. Tossed by the roadside in the Great Wilderness, no one would spare it a second glance.

But Lin Yi's Spirit Eyes clearly saw a full, tranquil mass of spiritual energy wrapped beneath that gray-black outer shell, giving off a gentle glow from deep within the stone.

"Interesting..."

Lin Yi turned it over and examined it for quite some time. He weighed the stone in his palm, and the corners of his mouth slowly lifted.