Several days later, in Cloudstride City, a young scion of an aristocratic clan sat cross-legged in his room with the doors and windows tightly shut, silently frowning at the object in his hand.
It was a plain, old-fashioned ring, its surface bearing a little of fire copper's distinctive crimson sheen. It had the texture of both metal and jade, with a rich patina that suggested considerable age. Apart from that, however, there was nothing unusual about it, nor could he sense any of the spiritual essence that a magical implement or magical treasure should possess.
Clearly, this was nothing more than an ordinary Bronze Ring, most likely a practice piece casually made by some artifact-refining apprentice, or perhaps simply cast by a craftsman in the mortal world.
"Xia Ziyi, oh, Xia Ziyi, you really must have lost your mind, spending a full eight thousand talisman coins on something so useless. If word got out, wouldn't people laugh their teeth off?"
The territories under the Equal Sea Domain had their own talisman coins, while the Earthly Immortal Continent used another kind. Like those issued by the Creation Sect, both were pegged to spirit stones, so their values were similar.
Eight thousand talisman coins for a useless ornament—even Xia Ziyi, a young master of the Xia Household, one of Cloudstride City's three great aristocratic clans, felt he had suffered a terrible loss.
He was no genius to begin with, nor was he the eldest son. His monthly allowance was limited, and his family certainly would not allocate special funds to subsidize such a useless purchase. There was no justifying this kind of squandering.
Xia Ziyi felt that his intelligence had been deeply insulted. Besides regretting it, he was also filled with intense regret.
Just then, however, he suddenly felt a sharp pain