Ming Xiaolong grabbed Lu Siyu's hand to stop her, which puzzled the woman.
There was a terrifyingly grim look on Ming Xiaolong's face, but no anger could be seen in her eyes. When a person’s fury truly peaked, they could become perfectly calm. Qian Shu's words had been like a bucket of cold water, completely inundating Ming Xiaolong and jolting her awake.
She inhaled deeply, and when she looked back up, there were absolutely no emotions in her eyes.
Qian Shu frowned. This was not good; he had said too much and pushed too hard. He had accidently woken the girl up.
Still, it did not really matter. No one could take Ming Xiaochou away from the Autumnspring Slip. They had to create a second Everchange Valley with Ming Xiaochou as the foundation. Only then can we fulfill Master’s long-cherished wish.
Given the lengthy preparations that they had made, failure was no longer an option.
Ming Xiaolong said nothing further and instead silently observed the ground below.
Qian Shu glanced at the young woman and also fell silent. Even one more word would be too oppressive.
Granny Ya stepped forward. “Respected young masters and mistresses, please come inside to chat.”
Everyone followed Qian Shu in an orderly fashion. The Autumnspring Slip had arranged a special place to host their honored guests.
“Miss Xiaolong, please join us inside for a chat,” Granny Ya addressed Ming Xiaolong.
Worried, Lu Siyu grabbed Ming Xiaolong’s hand. “Fourth Sister?”
Ming Xiaolong smiled at her. “I’m fine. Go on in first.”
“What about you?”
“I need to say a word to him.”
Lu Siyu looked down, and her eyes quickly lit up. “Right! How could I forget about him? That guy is also infuriating whenever he opens his mouth.
“In that case, I’ll head in first, Fourth Sister. I’ll keep them from speaking about you behind your back.”
Ming Xiaolong nodded.
The young woman had already gone inside. She was an easygoing person, and she never got involved in others’ conflicts. Ming Xiaolong could no longer afford to think about that person, and she pulled out her communication device to speak to Lu Yin.
Down on the ground, Lu Yin was studying a book stall with a great deal of interest.
The women from Deathmound had already trashed most of the book stalls, but since there were not too many women, they could not stop the Autumnspring Slip disciples from packing up their stalls and running away. As soon as any of the disciples saw women from the Third Peak approaching, they would move to a new location. The way the vendors fled looked ridiculous, but it did allow them to continue selling their characters.
Lu Yin had been studying one particular stall for quite a while. The disciple from the Autumnspring Slip who manned the stall had grown quite irritated with Lu Yin. “Have you made a decision or not? Hurry up! Those women are on their way.”
“Are you scared of them?”
“Are you not? That’s Deathmound we’re talking about! Those women are ruthless.”
“I’m not scared.”
“Brag all you want, brother, but don’t get in the way of me selling characters. Are you going to buy one or not?”
“I’ll buy this one,” Lu Yin said, grabbing a character. Just as it was picked up, a foot shot out from the side, kicking the Autumnspring Slip disciple and sending him flying. A woman from Deathmound’s Third Peak had arrived. She was quite fierce-looking, having had her nose sliced off. “Brat, I suspect that you might be hiding a criminal in your stall. I’m going to search it.”
The disciple was about to cry. How could anyone possibly hide in a book stall?
Still, he did not dare to argue with anyone from Deathmound. Instead, he simply scrambled away in a panic. The woman did not bother to chase the man. Instead, she simply glanced at Lu Yin and left.
Lu Yin smiled. He had gotten a character for free.
Shui Su watched the entire exchange. She had clearly seen how Lu Yin had deliberately waited for the woman from the Third Peak to arrive before picking a character and had even positioned himself to block the woman from the vendor's view as she approached. How despicable!
Lu Yin examined the character in his hand. It contained as much power as a Dukkhan’s attack. This meant that this was one of the Worldscript’s hidden characters. It was the character Boundary (界).
Most of the characters being sold by the Autumnspring Slip disciples were ones that they had made themselves, which lacked any real power. The strength of the characters matched each disciples’ cultivation, and the vendor was clearly not a Dukkhan. However, since every character carried a bit of power that was derived from the Autumnspring Slip, it was impossible for anyone to tell which characters were strong and which were weak simply by looking at them. Buying a character was essentially gambling.
It was gambling because each character was sold for a high price, with the standardized price being that of a character with the power of an Ortuser. Even sequence powerhouses would have to bleed a little to buy a few characters. As for weaker cultivators, most could only afford to buy one or two characters during the Worldscript. If their bets did not pay out, people could potentially lose everything. On the other hand, if they won, they could sell a character for 1,000 or even 10,000 times what they had bought it for.
Of course, even the disciples of the Autumnspring Slip might not know which characters were real. This was because sect elders had selected the characters that each stall would sell, just to confuse buyers. This meant that no one could determine if a character was real or fake simply by observing the vendor. On top of that, most disciples sold their characters with their eyes closed.
Lu Yin had not relied on any tricks when choosing his character. He had simply observed the runes.
He had not used runes in a very long time. Lu Yin had cultivated a great number of powers and abilities, and runes were among them. Cultivating runes granted him perception of things that were completely undetectable to most people.
By spreading his runes across the book stall, Lu Yin had been able to identify a suspicious character by observing which had gathered the most runes.
The Boundary character (界) had been boiling with runes, instantly drawing Lu Yin’s notice. The only reason why he had taken so long to choose was because he had no money. He had been waiting for a woman from the Third Peak to arrive so that he could get the character for free.
His communication device buzzed at that moment.
He had received a device from Si Jiushi. It was what people in the Nine Odysseys Megaverse used to communicate, and it was the second such device that Lu Yin had encountered that worked between parallel universes. The first was the wireless jincans. This was the first time that Lu Yin had found anything else with a similar ability.
He heard Ming Xiaolong’s voice. “My brother, Ming Xiaochou, is already able to break through to the Myriad Changes realm, but because he’s stuck here in the Autumnspring Slip...
“Lu Yin, I apologize for how I’ve been treating you. I’m sorry for my rudeness and for my stubbornness. I don’t know if you have a way to release my brother, I just hope you do. I’m begging you, please help. This isn’t my official request, but my personal plea.
“Regardless of whether you can succeed, I’ll consider my request completed.”
Lu Yin put the device away and looked up. He had no idea what had happened to cause Ming Xiaolong’s attitude to change so drastically.
“The Autumnspring Slip really has done quite a lot.”
Shui Su glanced at the Boundary character (界) in Lu Yin’s hand and commented, “The Autumnspring Slip has done more than enough. Among cultivators, there’s a phrase that’s specifically used to describe this sect.”
She glanced around cautiously and then whispered, “Chaos through words.
“The Autumnspring Slip is able to accomplish many things with their characters, and they always have a justification for whatever they do. For instance, if the character Evil (恶) gets close to someone, no excuse will be needed to attack them, as many people will believe the character to be true.
“On the other hand, a Goodness (善) character can bring someone both fame and fortune.