At the counter, Hai Bodong stood with his back to Su Tian, a flicker of conflict in his eyes as his aged face shifted through uncertain expressions.
After a moment, recalling the strength Su Tian had displayed, Hai Bodong could only sigh helplessly. He brushed a finger lightly over his Storage Ring, and a small piece of ancient-looking, yellowed parchment appeared in his palm.
He caressed the ancient map fragment in his hand for a long while, reluctant to part with it. Then he turned around, looked at Su Tian with a complicated gaze, and sighed.
"I've been making maps for decades, but I've never seen one this complex. Not long after I first obtained it, I tried to make a copy of this fragment."
Hai Bodong sighed softly and shook his head helplessly before continuing.
"But no matter how I drew it, the finished map was always bizarrely different from the original. After several attempts, I could only abandon the idea. Still, I suspect it might have something to do with the map being incomplete."
Su Tian understood the reason behind everything Hai Bodong had said perfectly well.
At that moment, Su Tian stared intently at the small map fragment in Hai Bodong's hand. He could not help drawing a deep breath, a gleam of burning desire flashing in his eyes.
Although Su Tian knew the reason, he had no intention of clearing up Hai Bodong's doubts.
An immense amount of soul power lay hidden within these map fragments, concealed so subtly that anyone other than an Alchemist, whose mental strength far exceeded that of ordinary people, would find it exceedingly difficult to detect.
This soul power would not directly harm anyone.
However, if someone tried to copy the map, it would invisibly erode their mind, making the map