Chapter 347

Chapter 347: Magical Artifact Fragment

"What can I interest you in, honored customer? My humble stall offers fine goods at fair prices. Truly excellent value."

Seeing Zhou Luo stop, the vendor immediately approached him, speaking with a friendly smile.

Zhou Luo didn’t look at him. Instead, his gaze fell on the items spread on the ground.

He extended his hand and began examining each piece carefully, like an ordinary person.

In truth, he had already locked onto a specific item, but showing that openly wouldn’t be wise.

The vendors here were battle-hardened. The moment you showed specific interest in an item, they wouldn’t budge at all on the price.

He wasn’t in a hurry to speak, merely continuing his deliberate inspection.

Baffled by this guy’s approach, the vendor squatted down next to him and asked pleasantly, "Honored customer, did anything catch your eye?"

"What’s the price on this piece?" Zhou Luo pointed to an ordinary crystal lamp.

The lamp was a damaged upper-grade magical artifact, not particularly high-grade. He deliberately "pointed the spearhead" here first.

Hearing this, the vendor’s eyes lit up. He immediately made his bid: "Honored customer, your discerning eye! This crystal lamp has excellent provenance. It was unearthed from ancient ruins…"

These vendors had honed impressive sales abilities. Once Zhou Luo expressed a hint of interest, he launched into an enthusiastic torrent about the artifact’s history.

Unless one was a Spiritual Appraisal Master, regular Qi Refinement cultivators found it very hard to discern an item’s true quality or other details without specialized tools.

What was unknown to this vendor was this: Zhou Luo was a Second Level Spiritual Appraisal Master.

Faced with certain items, he didn’t even need careful inspection. A single glance was often enough to grasp its general origin.

So, regardless of how sweet as honey this vendor’s words flowed, Zhou Luo didn’t believe a single syllable.

"How many spiritual stones?"

When the other finally seemed to be winding down, Zhou Luo cut straight to the point.

Taking the proffered exit, the vendor smiled: "Honored customer, you understand its rarity. Tell you what – I like you. Five hundred spiritual stones."

Five hundred spiritual stones for a damaged upper-grade magical artifact!

You could only pull that off in a place like this.

After all, an undamaged upper-grade magical artifact typically cost only a little over a hundred spiritual stones on the open market.

Zhou Luo looked at him, said nothing, and simply stood up to leave.

Seeing his potential customer walk away, the vendor panicked.

He instantly recognized Zhou Luo knew his stuff and hurriedly intercepted him: "Wai-wai-wait! Hey! We can haggle!"

"Thirty spiritual stones," Zhou Luo stated his price.

If not for his true objective, he wouldn’t even consider this artifact.

Still, it was fine. He could later use it for his own body refinement.

He had progressed to the second stage of his Ten Thousand Refinement Body Art over the years.

Currently, his physical body was already equivalent to a top-grade First Level magical artifact.

Although it still fell short of a Foundation Establishment magical artifact, continued progress would inevitably elevate him to a living Magical Artifact.

Hearing this bid, the vendor’s face immediately fell.

He shook his head and said, "This isn’t haggling at all, it’s practically ruining me."

"If possible, I can buy some other items too. If you’re unwilling, then forget it," Zhou Luo said casually.

In this situation, he had to act this way.

Otherwise, if anyone else noticed a weakness, it would become much harder to obtain that item later on.

Hearing these words, the vendor clearly became entangled in hesitation.

Zhou Luo had already stood up and, seeing the other party’s hesitant appearance, pretended to walk away.

Seeing this, the vendor urgently called out to stop him, "Wait, wait, we can discuss this. What else might you wish to purchase?"

Only then did Zhou Luo halt his movement. He gestured casually toward a few items, which naturally included that rather special one.

"A total of two hundred spiritual stones. If acceptable, I’ll take them right away," he decisively stated his final bid.

Upon hearing this bid, the vendor’s eyes lit up.

Because he roughly calculated that, under such terms, he could still earn several dozen spiritual stones.

Although it was just a few dozen, it was better than nothing.

So without any suspicion, he directly chose to agree.

Just like that, Zhou Luo naturally obtained that somewhat special item.

After acquiring these things, he did not pursue further opportunities.

After all, for such matters, doing it once was manageable, but multiple attempts would inevitably draw others’ attention.

After securing that item, he directly returned to the Bai family.

The room had already been tidied spotlessly by Bai Jia Yu at this time.

He took out that item separately.

It was a slightly broken jade piece, with fractured rune markings on its surface, appearing no different from an ordinary jade fragment.

But as a Second Level spiritual appraiser, when he touched this jade piece, he sensed a heavy aura.

That aura was extremely faint; an ordinary Qi Refinement cultivator, or even a Foundation Establishment cultivator, might not detect it.

But Zhou Luo, through the art of spiritual appraisal and his Foundation Establishment mental strength, could still perceive it.

He had never encountered such an aura before.

However, possessing a Foundation Establishment magical artifact, he could confirm this was surely superior to one, most likely a precious artifact fragment.

For the moment, he was not certain.

After all, items at the precious artifact level exceeded his current ability and realm to control.

The best way to verify this item’s characteristics was naturally to use it for body refinement.

At this thought, he first summoned Bai Jia Yu and ordered her to guard outside to forbid any disturbances.

Then he affixed Second Level spiritual symbols all around the room.

These spiritual symbols served to block mental strength and isolate power, making them difficult for even a Foundation Establishment cultivator to penetrate easily.

These Second Level spiritual symbols were crafted over the years by searching for materials, and today they proved useful.

After completing these preparations, he sat cross-legged on a cushion and held the jade piece in his palm again.

Initially, he did not proceed with body refinement directly, as a membrane still covered the jade piece, likely left behind by its original owner, which had to be removed first.

After a long while, he successfully stripped away that membrane, then calmed his mind and began executing the technique of the Ten Thousand Refinement Body Art.

Under the operation of the technique, streams of pure power surged within him.

That power was infinitely profound, mobilizing spiritual energy through his meridians, then transferring onto the item.

A short time later, the item emitted a radiant glow.

The glow was dazzling, gradually enveloping his entire right hand, while within it, threads of power were extracted and injected into his meridians, nourishing his entire body in return.

Repeating this cycle continually, the power within the jade piece was steadily absorbed.

If the power of a magical artifact was a small pond, then a precious artifact was a vast lake, their strength differing enormously.

Even as a mere damaged precious artifact, the power inside remained immense and boundless.

Thus, under this nourishment, his physical body underwent constant transformation and breakthroughs.