Chapter 49: The Broken Sword

  ……

  After having breakfast, Ye Chen and Ye Hai accompanied each other to a relatively famous antique street in Luocheng.

  The history of Antique Street is almost as long as that of Luoyang City, and the buildings are among the oldest. The bosses of the shops have changed countless times, but most of them have been passed down from generation to generation.

  Walking on the street, the goods in the shops on both sides made Ye Chen overwhelmed.

  Yehai, who was standing beside him, said: "The ancient street is often accompanied by opportunities. Someone once bought a top-grade spiritual stone that didn't show its true value for just ten taels of silver and then resold it to a martial artist at the Yuan Yuan boundary, earning over two million taels of silver, and lived a life free from worries about food and clothing."

  Ye Chen smiled, he also knew about this matter. The Ling Stone is divided into four grades: lower grade, middle grade, upper grade and extreme grade. The difference between each grade is very large. Under normal circumstances, one piece of middle-grade Ling Stone can be exchanged for fifty pieces of lower-grade Ling Stone. One piece of upper-grade Ling Stone can also be exchanged for fifty pieces of middle-grade Ling Stone. Calculating this way, one piece of upper-grade Ling Stone is equivalent to two thousand five hundred pieces of lower-grade Ling Stone, which is equal to two hundred and fifty taels of silver. This amount can allow an ordinary person to live a stable life for ten generations without any problems.

  "Let's go, we'll take a look at Jiuding Xuan." Ye Hai stretched out his hand and pointed to the antique building twenty steps in front of them.

  Ye Chen nodded, Jiuding Xuan is an ancient shop on Antique Street for thousands of years, with the most extensive connections. The nine-foot bronze tripod in the center of the main hall was its signboard. At that time, the master of the Ye family wanted to buy it, but was refused. Later, it came to nothing. It's said that Jiuding Xuan has a very powerful background, even the Ye family wants to move it and has to think thrice.

  Crossing the threshold, no one came to greet, everyone was busy with their own affairs.

  Ye Chen and Ye Hai didn't mind either, and walked in directly.

  What enters the eye is a giant bronze tripod, as high as three people, with a color of cyan and black, a round shape, with many ancient characters engraved on its surface, and most of them are different. Its body has nine feet supporting it, looking sturdy and stable, as if it could hold up the sky and calm the earth, bringing a huge shock to one's soul.

  Ye Chen took a deep breath, the last time he came was four years ago, at that time he didn't understand much, seeing the nine-footed bronze tripod didn't have too much of an impression, just thought it had a lot of momentum. Now, upon seeing it again, his soul seemed to be trembling, and the lively aura had hints of stagnation.

  She glanced at Ye Hai and saw him unmoved, Ye Chen felt strange in her heart but didn't say anything.

  "Let's go upstairs! The first floor is just some small stuff." Ye Chen suggested after taking a casual look around, seeing no antique that caught his eye.

  "Well, the antique shop on the first floor is no different from other antique shops."

  Two people walked side by side and came to the simple and elegant second floor.

  Compared with the first floor, there are very few people on the second floor. Adding the shop assistants waiting nearby, there are only about fifteen or sixteen people, making it seem extremely empty.

  However, those who can afford to go upstairs are not ordinary people, after all, the most common antique on the second floor costs nearly a thousand taels of silver to buy, so it's up to each person's luck whether they make a profit or lose money.

  "Wow, this stone statue must have a history of at least several hundred years!" Ye Hai was attracted by a stone statue that was as tall as a person and covered in cracks all over its body.

  Ye Chen lost interest after a glance and parted ways with Ye Hai, walking in another direction.

  At this time, someone had already chosen an antique that they liked, but this antique made Ye Chen surprised.

  "Hey, tell your boss that I want this wooden frame, no matter the price." The speaker was a fat man with a rich expression, wearing luxurious and exaggerated clothing, all ten fingers were covered in rings, looking like a newly wealthy businessman who had just made his fortune, appearing to be impatient.

  The shop assistant felt annoyed in her heart, "What do you want to do with the wooden rack for placing antiques? Are you intentionally making things difficult?" She smiled on her face and said, "Okay, I'll go ask, please wait."

  "Hurry up and come back." The fat rich man waved his hand, his eyes fixed tightly on the wooden frame, afraid it would run away.

  Ye Chen found it amusing, but he, who was usually calm and collected, reflected again that one shouldn't judge by appearances, and this wooden frame might not be as simple as it seemed.

  He thought for a moment, then focused his attention on the wooden frame, releasing his spiritual energy.

  Buzz!

  The air seemed to burst forth with an invisible wave, slowly seeping into the wooden frame, meticulously searching, and as long as there was any special place, Ye Chen could sense it.

  Huh?

  "This wooden frame actually contains a spiritual stone, with an aura dozens of times that of a low-grade spiritual stone. It's likely to be a mid-grade spiritual stone, worth around 50,000 taels of silver. But how did this fatty detect it? Or maybe he just likes the wooden frame and doesn't have any other intentions." Ye Chen was surprised and uncertain, but 50,000 taels of silver wasn't enough to move him. With his current abilities, making money was easy, and spending it was even easier.

  The boss of Jiuding Xuan hastily walked up with a smile on his face and asked the fat rich merchant: "Sir, are you sure you want this wooden frame?"

  The fat rich man rolled his eyes and said, "Name a price!"

  The shopkeeper stretched out one finger, "Ten thousand taels."

  "Good, very cheap, my father-in-law should like this old wooden frame." The fat rich man didn't even frown, and took out a gold ticket worth one thousand taels from the storage ring.

  "It's fine if you like it, Little Li. Quickly help the customer clean up the wooden frame." The shopkeeper put away the gold ticket and instructed a nearby clerk.

  Ye Dun was speechless for a moment. If what the fat rich man said was true, then indeed there was nothing special about the wooden frame, it was just used to please his father-in-law, and the shopkeeper didn't know where he got this wooden frame from, so it was placed on the second floor as an ornament, so it wasn't a loss.

  It seems that in Jiuding Xuan, strange things are too common and no longer surprising.

  Shaking his head, Ye Chen walked past several people.

  The second floor has too many antiques, with half a copper mirror covered in verdigris, black-painted flower vases, and fabrics from unknown eras. There are also more damaged armor and weapons, such as chain mail, steel armor, seven-jointed armor, long knives, broken guns, broken swords, curved iron rods, and meteor hammers without iron chains, etc.

  Releasing his spiritual energy, Ye Chen looked through each item one by one, his eyes calm as water.

  In the end, the only thing that caught his eye was still the Flowing Star Hammer. If it were to be restored to its original state, its value would not be lower than the treasured sword in Ye Chen's Storage Ring, and might even surpass it.

  Unfortunately, the incomplete Meteor Hammer's sharp energy has dissipated, and after thousands of years of erosion, its spiritual energy is completely gone. Even if he brings it back, it can only be used as a decorative item or an antique, unable to utilize it, which is unacceptable to Ye Chen.

  Put down the meteor hammer, Ye Chen was about to leave.

  Suddenly, his gaze froze on a broken sword at the gap between the wooden frame and the wall. The broken sword had only a hilt and half of its blade, with a dull surface that was unremarkable in any way. It was unknown how many years it had been hidden here, silently and unnoticed.

  He picked up the broken sword and observed it slightly before infusing his soul power into it.

  "Hahahahahahaha..."

  A burst of vast and desolate laughter suddenly flooded into Yedust's mind, and in an instant, he seemed to have arrived in ancient times, with the sky and earth blurred together, and only the sound of laughter entering his ears.

  "What's going on?" Ye Chen cut off his soul power, and a cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

  The ability to probe objects with soul force was only unearthed by Ye Chen not long ago, and unlike spiritual force, the probing of soul force is more in-depth, rather than being confined to the surface, otherwise he wouldn't have detected the mid-grade spirit stone hidden within the wooden frame.