The next morning, Lin Yan awoke from deep meditation. After a night of circulating his Soul Power, he felt that the Soul Power vortex in his dantian had grown a little more solid. Although he was still some distance from rank sixteen, the feeling of keeping his feet firmly on the ground and improving steadily put him very much at ease.
After a simple breakfast, Lin Yan told Uncle Zhang and Brother Li to keep an eye on the shop, then strolled out of the Hundred Herbs Shop.
His destination was clear-the market district, the busiest part of Nuoding City and the place where information from the most varied sources mingled.
As the morning wore on, the market district was already boiling with voices. Peddlers carrying shoulder poles loudly hawked fresh fruit and vegetables. The air was thick with steam rising from food, the pungent smell of spices, and a faint animal stink drifting from the livestock section. Traveling merchants in all sorts of clothing, local residents out shopping, and armed mercenaries with watchful eyes wove through the crowds, forming a bustling street scene full of everyday life.
Lin Yan did not rush straight toward the restaurants and teahouses where he might pick up information. Instead, he first lingered among the inconspicuous general-goods stalls and secondhand wares. He seemed to be casually looking through old books, rusty weapons, and oddly shaped handicrafts, but his mind was still as he carefully sensed any movement from the Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul within him.
Ever since discovering the spores of the Iridescent Withering and Flourishing Fern through his Martial Soul's senses yesterday, Lin Yan had kept the matter in mind. There were precedents in the Soul Master World for a resonance arising between Martial Souls and particular heavenly treasures, especially certain top-tier Martial Souls, which were exceptionally sensitive to power of the same attribute or origin. Although his Blue Silver Grass was only an ordinary plant-type Martial Soul, perhaps some unknown changes had occurred after its tempering by a Thousand-Year Soul Ring and its fusion with the Soul Ring of the "Iridescent Withering and Flourishing Fern." If put to good use, this sensing ability would undoubtedly be an enormous advantage.
However, after he passed seven or eight stalls in succession, the Blue Silver Grass remained as quiet as ever, without the slightest response. Lin Yan was not discouraged. If treasures could be found everywhere, they would not be called treasures. He adjusted his mindset, shifted his main objective to gathering information, and headed toward the largest teahouse in the center of the market district, "Welcome Guests."
The Welcome Guests teahouse had two floors. The ground floor was mostly occupied by ordinary people and was exceptionally noisy; the second floor was relatively quiet, with more private seating and higher prices. Traveling merchants of some standing and Soul Masters liked to stop there to discuss business. Lin Yan went straight upstairs and found a secluded seat beside a window that also afforded a view of most of the other tables. He ordered a pot of plain tea and a few snacks, then began pouring and drinking at apparent leisure, while his ears worked like the most precise instruments, catching every conversation around him.
"...We finally got this shipment to Nuoding City before the rainy season. Our next stop has to be the Balak Kingdom. I hear medicinal herb prices there have been soaring lately..."
"Isn't it all because the border's unsettled? The trade routes keep getting cut off. Ah, doing business is hard these days..."
"Brothers, hunting that ten-year Tusked Boar was a close call! If Boss Wang's last Soul Skill hadn't packed a punch, we'd have gone down right there! Once we sell the materials, we've got to have a proper drinking session!"
"I hear the Suotuo Intermediate Soul Master Academy is expanding enrollment this year, but apparently they've added a practical combat component to the entrance test. It won't be easy..."
"Soto Academy? That's a long-established powerhouse. Its graduates are at least Soul Elders, with boundless prospects ahead of them. But its standards are high, too. I don't think your boy's chances look good."
Hearing news about Soto Academy, Lin Yan immediately focused his attention. Lei En and the others, with whom he had previously teamed up when entering the Star Dou Great Forest, had come from the Soto Soul Master Academy. They were already Soul Elders at such a young age, so the academy ought to be quite good.
He sat in the teahouse for nearly another two hours. As the teapot gradually emptied, the valuable information he heard also began to repeat. Lin Yan set down a few Copper Soul Coins, rose, and left. He planned to take another look around the square where mercenaries gathered.
After descending the teahouse stairs and merging back into the noisy market crowds, he passed an utterly inconspicuous stall tucked into a corner. The stallholder was an old man with graying hair and a face full of wrinkles, wrapped in a filthy fur coat and dozing with narrowed eyes. Scattered across his stall were dull-colored ores, unidentified beast bones, broken pottery jars, and several grime-covered scraps of wood that looked as though they had been picked up from some ruin.
Lin Yan had already walked past, but at that very instant, the Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul in his dantian gave a slight tremble, conveying an extremely faint yet distinctly discernible trace of longing! The sensation was very similar to what he had felt when he first touched the Iridescent Withering and Flourishing Fern spores, only weaker, like a guttering candle in the wind that might go out at any moment.
Lin Yan stopped in his tracks, his heart involuntarily beating faster. He forcibly suppressed any unusual expression, turned around as though nothing had happened, and crouched before the old man's stall.
"Sir, how much are these things?" Lin Yan casually picked up a stone that looked like iron ore and weighed it in his hand as he asked, while his gaze swiftly swept over the inconspicuous scraps of wood on the stall.
The old man opened his cloudy eyes, glanced at Lin Yan, and said listlessly, "Black ironstone, ten Copper Soul Coins apiece. As for the rest, just name a price for anything you fancy. I picked them all up in the wasteland outside the city."
Pretending to be interested in the ore, Lin Yan examined several pieces, then picked up a beast bone and looked it over. Only then did he "casually" pick up one of the pieces of wood. It was roughly palm-sized, grayish-black all over, with a dry, cracked surface and even a few patches of mold. The instant his fingers touched it, the Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul within him gave that faint stirring again, confirming that this was the object.
The wood felt very light in his hand, its texture loose and porous, as though a squeeze would crumble it. Apart from seeming very old, there was truly nothing special about it that he could see.
"Sir, did you pick up this rotten wood too? Even burning it would make too much smoke. Still, it wouldn't be bad as an ornament." Lin Yan curled his lips in feigned distaste.
The old man chuckled, revealing sparse yellow teeth. "You've got a good eye, young man. This wood has an unusual shape and would make quite an attractive ornament. If you like it, give me five Copper Soul Coins and take it home to play with."
Five Copper Soul Coins was practically giving it away. Lin Yan secretly rejoiced, but showed hesitation on his face. He looked through the other items again before finally replying as though reluctantly agreeing, "All right. With this piece of black ironstone, that makes fifteen Copper Soul Coins." He did not want to seem interested only in the wood, lest he arouse suspicion.
"Done, done!" The old man readily took the money and pushed the items toward Lin Yan.
With the transaction complete, Lin Yan casually put the black ironstone and the piece of withered wood into the cloth pouch he carried, though inwardly he was far less calm than he appeared. He quickly left the market district and returned to the Hundred Herbs Shop. After greeting Uncle Zhang, he went straight back to his room in the rear courtyard.
After closing the door, Lin Yan eagerly took out the withered wood. He examined it carefully again, but still could not sense any fluctuations of power. It was like an ordinary piece of rotten wood that had died completely. Yet the continuous, faint resonance from his Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul could not be false.
He tried slowly feeding a thread of Soul Power into the withered wood. At first, his Soul Power was like a clay ox entering the sea, eliciting no response at all. But Lin Yan did not give up, maintaining a faint, steady flow of Soul Power. About an incense stick's worth of time passed, and just as he began to think his senses had been mistaken, a change occurred!
The withered wood trembled almost imperceptibly. Deep within a barely discernible crack on its surface, a trace of pale golden luster seemed to flash, finer than a strand of hair and faint in the extreme! Though it vanished in an instant, Lin Yan keenly caught it! At the same time, he sensed that within the withered wood, there seemed to be a wisp of life origin even tinier and more dormant than that in the Iridescent Withering and Flourishing Fern spores, which had awakened by the slightest degree, with immense difficulty, under the stimulation of his Soul Power.
There really is something strange about it! Lin Yan's heart jolted, and he hurriedly stopped feeding in Soul Power. That trace of pale golden luster and the fluctuations of life immediately faded as well, and the withered wood returned to its lifeless appearance.
He did not dare make another reckless attempt. The vitality within this withered wood was too weak, and the slightest carelessness might extinguish it completely. He found a soft brocade pouch, carefully placed the withered wood inside, then tucked it securely against his body.