"Mm."
Chen Qiu nodded, opened his eyes, and shook his sleeve, spilling more than thirty storage rings. Only then did he say softly, "Sorry to trouble you, sir."
Since this shopkeeper wanted to play the role of an old senior, Chen Qiu did not mind calling him sir.
"Whoa."
A flicker of surprise passed through the middle-aged man's eyes. "That's quite a lot."
The middle-aged man extended a wisp of spiritual energy from his fingertip, several times finer than a strand of hair and faintly visible in the dim surroundings. He picked up a storage ring, closed his eyes, and prodded the wisp into it for several breaths.
Then, an exceedingly faint, crisp sound rang out in the silent temple.
"Phew!"
The middle-aged man let out a light breath, pride appearing on his face. He set the storage ring aside and chuckled. "Just the most basic restriction. One look tells me it came from Xuzhou. Xuzhou loves making these utterly useless restrictions."
"Low cost and convenient."
He then took out another storage ring and repeated the process. After several breaths, he broke the restriction just as easily and said proudly, "Another Xuzhou restriction, though this one is a little more complicated. The sect added some restrictions of its own inside."
"But whoever laid those restrictions in that sect was clearly only half-baked. They put all their added restrictions on the crucial point for breaking the previous restriction. It's like worrying your house might get robbed, so you put another lock on the lock of your front door."
"Wouldn't I just smash down the door?"
"No challenge at all."
"Oh?"
As the middle-aged man picked up another storage ring, a hint of fighting spirit flashed through his eyes. "Interesting. I haven't seen this kind of restriction in years. You really came