Finally entering Xiamen City, Liang and the old man found a relatively cheap inn after searching over three hours. Most of the inns were filling up quickly due to the competition even though it was still almost two weeks away. Because of this, they walked quite a distance from the entrance.
In their room, the old man cut a piece of the Three-Fires Ironwood and began carving out a ring. Whenever the old man started working with the wood, Liang would always remain quiet. He was afraid interrupting him would lead to a failure and he still remembered the last time the old man got angry.
Liang asked him once before why the Ironwood was so valuable but he told him, “Any material can be used for arrays but wood is best for complex and layered arrays. The world’s made of tiny particles and plants absorb some of those from the ground. Some are useful and some aren’t.”
“Silver and gold channel qi the best but they don’t bond to all materials. What makes wood valuable for arrays, especially layered arrays are the veins that carry those particles where silver and gold can stick. You can connect the veins and build intricate arrays.”
“Ironwood isn’t made of Iron boy, but it has a lot of particle heavy veins silver can attach to. The best materials are from divine beasts, bones especially, but those aren’t exactly easy to come by.”
Liang could roughly understand the part about the plant veins and he knew there were different materials but he thought they were just the five elements. So much talk about particles left him realizing arrays were far more complex than he originally thought.
After carving out a ring of wood, the old man told him, “Go get some food. I’ll be finishing this and it’ll probably take me the rest of the day. We’ll sell the beasts and buy a few things we need tomorrow.” There was not much else to do so he complied.
He decided not to go far; downstairs there was a kitchen so he just ordered two meals and a couple of jars of wine. The food smelled decent and he was still tired from everything that happened. For the last six months, he trained every day so he decided to rest while the old man was working.
Waking up early due to a flash of bright light Liang saw the old man examining the ring to make sure everything was all right. There were thousands of impossibly thin lights that slowly disappeared showing were the old man had carved.
Seeing Liang was up, the old man tossed the ring to him telling him to drop a bit of blood on it as he had before. The ring looked remarkably similar to the one on the old man’s right hand but he never saw the old man use it, so he was not sure what it did.
Standing up to stretch and yawn the old man groaned out, “Ahhh… carving on rings is tiring. I tell you boy you sure are lucky to have a master like me. Look at this, to think that I, the array god would be pouring all my effort into someone, the bastard heavens they sure are cruel. For the great I to be…”
Liang stopped paying attention to the sob story midway. He knew the old man was trying to guilt him into something and it was best to just let him air out his grievances while he patted himself on the back declaring how amazing he was.
The village chief would do the same thing. Although the chief mostly talked about his milking and wheat-reaping skills, the stories were similar, he just took it as old people showing off one last time. After the old man finished Liang placed the ring on his finger and asked, “Master, is this like the ring on your finger? What does it do?”
“Hah! That ring is nothing like mine but there are a few similarities.” The old man contradicted himself in a single sentence but Liang understood his pride so he waited for him to continue. “That’s an illusion ring boy. There are a few different illusions in yours, change your appearance, make apparitions appear, cultivation and essence masks, a few other things as well.”
He was not sure what use apparitions would be but he asked the old man, “So will we be changing our appearances for the competition?” He could not think of any other reason but the old man replied, “You have enemies here or something? Why are you changing your appearance for that?”
“Don’t tell me, does the whole world know the legend of the mighty Liang, greatest woodchopper in the nine heavens? Don’t be dumb, we’re going to rob people boy, mainly the merchant guilds. Dirty bastards, anyways there’s a charm array on there, you’ll be using it.”
The old man ate his food slowly while ignoring the wine and brewing his own cup of tea claiming they would need to stay sharp. The sun was a little more than a hand above the horizon when the old man told Liang to show him the ring and he activated the charm array.
He opened his eyes wide and mumbled under his breath, “Yep, I’m still a man” before turning around and leading Liang out. It was an odd statement but he figured the array must have been working how the old man intended.
Walking through the lobby the server nearly dropped her tray when Liang walked by and all the men in the room stood up and stared with piercing gazes. It was as though they did not notice the old man at all and only saw Liang.
It was odd but throughout the whole city, wherever they went people would stop to stare at him. Women would blush and bite their lips seductively and men would lick their lips as if they were staring at a fat juicy steak and were ready to pounce.
When some of the men started following him and eyeing him from his head to the ground Liang started feeling extremely uncomfortable. The old man reassured him it was the charm but he no longer looked in Liang’s direction, just walked with his back bent over slightly and his head down.
It took nearly an hour to reach the merchants guild and before entering, the old man rubbed his finger on his ring, activating an array. The illusion made him look even older than he already did with long white hair and a wrinkly face with no beard. He also pulled out a walking stick, most likely hoping to get sympathy from the merchants.
The moment they entered all eyes went to Liang once again and everyone in the line told them please go ahead. As they walked up to the desk, the old man whispered to Liang telling him to smile at the clerks and the merchants but do not say anything.
He had no experience dealing with merchants so he was fine with the arrangement. However, when they arrived at the desk the clerk’s face became so red Liang thought she was going to pass out. She was even having a difficult time greeting them and when he smiled, she had to sit back down.
Before things became too awkward the old man spoke up saying, “Hello miss, we’re here to sell a considerable number of savage beast bodies and cores, is there a place where I can take them out of my storage device for you to examine them?”
The young clerk almost jumped when she heard the old man’s voice as if he only just appeared. She looked embarrassed at her mistake and nodded her head to the old man before turning to Liang and taking his hand saying, “Sir, please, please just wait here for a moment and don’t leave. My supervisor will be right out.”
After Liang reassured her he would not leave with a gentle nod, the young clerk turned and walked with rigid steps to retrieve her supervisor. He turned his head and asked the old man, “Master, what’s going on? Why is everyone acting like this?”
The men had lascivious smiles across their faces and the women were busy fanning their blushed faces. The old man did not look up and spoke as if he was holding in a fart telling him, “It’s the charm boy it’s the charm. Your master has really outdone himself this time; even I’m surprised at my skills. Just play along, don’t worry I’ll handle it.”
A short man with a thick mustache finally came out and he told the clerk to stand back while he dealt with the customers. His face was also flush but he cleared his throat and looked at Liang saying, “Miss, my clerk said you have some beast cores and a few other items you’re looking to sell. If you’d like we can go to a private room, just you and me, and have a nice long conversation about them.”
Liang immediately shot the old man a glare that made his knees weak. The merchant called him miss, the clerk called him sir, and both men and women were staring at him with lustful eyes. He could not be exactly sure, but the fact that the old man was unable to look at him gave him an idea.
Before the old man could speak, Liang turned back to the merchant and replied, “I’m sorry, you see my master is in control of everything I do. He decides all of our business dealings and is in charge of all transactions concerning me.”
Liang pointed towards the old man and instantly the anger of everyone erupted towards the old man. They were all wondering, “What does in charge of all transactions concerning me mean?” They had an idea of what was going on; this master of Liang’s was not a martial master.
The old man had a look on his face as if Liang betrayed him. He walked away from Liang and called the merchant over to have a short discussion. He was unable to make out everything but it sounded a bit like a negotiation.
“Old man, 1,000 for a night is just too much.” They went back and forth several times and Liang finally heard the two agree on 550 medium grade spirit stones and both walked back with smiles on their faces. The merchants smile told Liang he felt like he had made an excellent deal. The old man’s smile said, “You’re 10,000 years too young to try that on me.” Looking back at the merchant, Liang shuddered.
