Chapter Sixteen: The Broken Sword

  "Brother, I want that half of the sword." Zi Lin's voice echoed in Ling Lin's mind.

  That thing, Ling Lin's gaze fell on the broken sword. Dull and unimpressive, it didn't seem like it had any use, yet Zi Lin actually wanted this thing. "Could it be something good? But I don't have any money." Thinking of this, Ling Lin felt a bit distressed, truly, a hero was brought down by a single coin.

  "What's wrong, you want this half of the sword?" Apparently, Ling Lin's expression was discovered by Shi Ning, who asked aloud.

  "Hmm." Ling Lin felt a bit embarrassed, but also let out a sigh of relief. Shi Ning didn't say anything, and she herself was too embarrassed to speak up.

  Immediately, Shi Jing raised an eyebrow and fell silent.

  "The auction is now starting, the starting price is five thousand taels of gold, and each increase must not be less than one thousand taels." The old man looked around and then took a deep breath before shouting loudly.

  It was quiet for a moment.

  "I'll give six thousand taels." someone shouted tentatively.

  The scene was quiet, with no one bidding.

  The old man knew the atmosphere was lively, "Six thousand two gold, is there anyone who can offer a higher price? This is an ancient sword from three hundred years ago, and it's extremely hard. It should be good for self-defense too."

  The scene remained quiet.

  At this time, a faint voice rose, but it came from the VIP room above, and judging by the sound, he was only 16 or 17 years old.

  "Twenty-two." It was exactly what Jing Jing said.

  "That young man again! Who knows what his background is, but he's certainly generous with his bids!" When Shi Ning first bid on the Spiritual Stone, her extremely youthful voice had already attracted a lot of attention. Coming from the VIP room, and with such a young voice, she must be from a powerful sect or aristocratic family. The only question was whether this naturally talented expert was her senior or herself. If it was herself, that would be a bit frightening. A naturally talented expert at such a young age!

  The old man with the surname Qu suddenly realized that this was obviously a good opportunity, "Ten thousand taels, and someone has raised the price again. What are you all waiting for?"

  In a VIP room, "Shan Shu, is this person that very young innate practitioner you were talking about?"

  A youth wearing a black brocade robe slowly opened his mouth, and a chill seemed to emanate from it. As he spoke, the temperature in the entire room seemed to drop by several degrees. The youth's face was not handsome, but could be considered delicate. However, this delicacy was thoroughly destroyed by a scar.

  This scar extends from the boy's temple to the bridge of his nose, and the huge scar is still bright red. When he speaks, it looks like a centipede crawling on his face, making him look exceptionally terrifying.

  "Yes, young master." Behind him was a Primordial Realm cultivator named Meng Shan.

  "Preposterous! Someone as young as you is actually younger than me!" The black-clad youth's face twisted in a scowl, his teeth clenched in rage, exuding intense resentment.

  Meng Shan looked at the young man who was said to be the most likely to break through to the Purple Mansion realm in the new generation of Dou Wu Meng, and heaved a slight sigh. He knew that the young master's strong competitive heart had erupted again.

  Having a competitive heart is not necessarily a bad thing, as it can increase the motivation to cultivate. However, his competitive heart was too severe, almost to the point of being warped in character. He couldn't bear to see anyone of the same age as him doing better, and when he did, he would think of ways to eliminate them! The black-clothed youth's qualifications were actually not bad, having broken through to Xiantian at the age of 17 and now already in mid-Xiantian. However, compared to Shi Congcong, he was still far behind.

  "Alas, it's your fault for being too talented." At 16 or 17 years old, reaching the mid-stage of Innate is indeed considered a genius. Meng Shan let out a sigh; this wasn't his first time doing something like this. He seemed to have already seen the tragic fate of that talented youth.

  "Bring over Ah Da and Ah Er, the two brothers as well." The black-clothed youth sneered, saying. His twisted and perverted psychology made him especially enjoy seeing those so-called geniuses die one by one in front of him.

  "Hmm." Meng Shan replied, then turned and walked out of the room.

  ……

  Ling Lin was very nervous. Just now, watching others bid, didn't feel much, but now it's related to himself, suddenly became tense. Silently praying in his heart, don't let anyone follow the price! Don't let anyone follow the price!

  It's unknown if Linglin's prayers had an effect. After Shi Ning reported the price, surprisingly no one bid against it. The scene seemed somewhat quiet.

  "Twenty-five thousand taels." A voice broke the silence of the scene.

  Inside the room, a black-clad youth sat lazily in a rocking chair, his expression seemingly smiling yet not quite. After flashing an evil grin, he said: "First, let's have some fun with you, a soon-to-be-dead person, and then let you fully savor the fear of death!"

  "Thirty thousand taels." Shi Ning said again.

  35,000 taels.

  "Forty thousand taels."

  "Forty-five thousand taels." The young man in black sneered.

  "Fifty thousand taels."

  Ling Lin's face didn't look good, originally thinking that no one would follow the half-sword body to this point, but unexpectedly things went against his wishes and instead rose all the way to 50,000 taels. It was really unclear whether someone truly wanted to buy it or just joined in on the excitement. After taking a glance at Shi Ning, he found her face gradually sinking as well.

  "Fifty-five thousand taels." Shi Jing added another five thousand taels again.

  "Breathe."

  The crowd in the arena gasped, fifty thousand taels of gold was not a small sum, many martial artists struggled their whole lives and couldn't even earn that much money.

  "55,000 taels are nothing, but there's no need to continue, anyway it was just to tease him a bit, I took it and it's not like I have any use for it." The black-clothed youth muttered to himself with a hint of mockery, "I suppose this sudden addition of tens of thousands of taels must be quite heart-wrenching for him."

  "55,000 taels the first time, 55,000 taels the second time, 55,000 taels the third time. Congratulations to this esteemed guest, this half of the sword will be delivered into your hands immediately." The old man's eyebrows opened wide with a smile, as if he had picked up 55,000 taels of gold for free.

  Before long, a maid came in with half of the sword's body held in her hands.

  "Tsk, tsk, this broken thing is actually worth so much money. I really don't know how you fell for such a worthless trinket." Shi Ningning took the half sword in her hand, looked at it for a few moments, then lost interest and tossed it to Ling Lin, "The 55,000 taels are what I borrowed from you."

  Ling Lin took over the sword body, quietly stroking this half of the sword body. Since it was Zilin's favorite, it must have been extraordinary. Ling Lin carefully observed it, but after studying for half a day, he couldn't see what use this half of the sword body had.

  "Brother, this broken sword body was once a top-grade spiritual sword, but now it's broken and only half remains. It's indeed useless now, the useful part is its material. It's called Soul Stone, a very precious refining material that has a significant effect on the soul. If I swallow it, my soul body can grow stronger, and later I won't need to fall into deep sleep every once in a while. It will also be helpful to you, brother." Zilin said happily.

  "Good." With a movement of his mind, Ling Lin slowly withdrew half of the sword's body into his Dantian.

  "Isn't that right, you want to use this broken thing as your weapon?" Shi Ning's face was full of surprise. It wasn't strange that she would think this way, the Sea of Consciousness could nurture weapons, but it was very costly to one's own true energy or yuanqi. Therefore, generally speaking, only the weapons used by oneself would be placed in the Sea of Consciousness. Ling Lin's actions undoubtedly made her think that he wanted to use this half sword body as a weapon.

  Helplessly, Ling Lin spread his hands and didn't speak. "Isn't it that he can't tell him that there's still a weapon in the sea of knowledge, saying it out would probably make people think he's crazy." Ling Lin curled his lips. He knew he was a special case, but not everyone had such a powerful devouring power like himself.

  Normally, even congenital masters dare not put more than one weapon in their sea of consciousness, otherwise it would affect their own cultivation. The basic principle of the Martial Way is that they will not put weapons into their own sea of consciousness, unless it's those who know they have no hope for their innate talent, but even so, generally they won't exceed one. But Ling Lin, this martial artist of the Martial Way, actually put two weapons in his sea of consciousness, if this gets out, it would truly shock countless eyes.

  When the halved sword body slowly sank into the sea of consciousness, Ling Lin heard the Purple Blood Sword emit a joyful sword hum, bursting out a dazzling purple glow that dyed the entire sea of consciousness a deep purple. The purple glow enveloped the halved sword body and slowly pulled it towards the Purple Blood Sword. Purple flames danced on the dull halved sword body, which rapidly softened at a visible rate before slowly dissolving into a drop of liquid that dripped onto the Purple Blood Sword below.

  "Drip, drip, drip..." As the half of the sword body's liquid entered, the Purple Blood Sword trembled more and more violently, its dazzling purple light becoming even more eye-searing. When the last drop entered, the Purple Blood Sword stopped trembling, its light retracting, completely withdrawing into the sword. After a few seconds of silence, a comfortable humming sound arose, and a cute little fatty wearing a purple bellyband slowly walked out of the Purple Blood Sword.

  "Brother." Zi Lin called out softly.

  "Is that all?" Ling Lin asked with a surprised expression. He himself possessed the power of devouring, and this purple blood sword had also repeatedly demonstrated its overbearing devouring power. This one man and one sword were truly well-matched!

  "Uh-huh." Zilin nodded happily, her small face full of joy, and said: "Zilin doesn't have to sleep anymore, Zilin can help big brother now."

  Looking at the excited and lively Zi Lin, Ling Lin was also filled with excitement. The power of the Purple Blood Sword and its mysterious space filled with the corpses of fierce beasts were all waiting for him to slowly explore. Zi Lin's growth undoubtedly gave him more opportunities to climb to the pinnacle of cultivation.

  "What, is this rubbish still useful?" Shi Ning looked at Ling Lin's unintentional excitement and asked in surprise, "Did you really pick up a treasure with this wooden head?" She shook her head, probably thinking it was impossible, and immediately lost interest, her gaze returning to the heated auction.