Chapter 30: A Sudden Surge of Progress
The murmuring crowd eventually caught the attention of Cheng Xiao. He opened his eyes and saw that Song Changsheng was simultaneously engraving two formations, both nearly complete.
“This... how is this possible?” Cheng Xiao could hardly believe his eyes.
Every formation master dreams of mastering the ability to split their attention and multitask, but nearly all fail. Cheng Xiao himself had tried and failed. This had led him to suspect that such a thing might not even be possible.
Clearly, he now had an answer. It was possible, just not for him. But soone he had looked down on had actually done it.
In that instant, an intense wave of resentnt and unwillingness surged within Cheng Xiao. He couldn't accept it. Why was it that with all his talent and effort he had hit a dead end, while this guy could achieve what seed impossible?
His emotional turmoil imdiately disrupted his focus. The third formation he was halfway through engraving collapsed in an instant. Cheng Xiao suddenly felt a sharp stab of pain in his sea of consciousness, it was excruciating.
With his consciousness in chaos, his spiritual power surged uncontrollably throughout his ridians and core. Cheng Xiao spat out a mouthful of blood with a loud “Wah!” and collapsed with eyes rolled back, completely unconscious.
Bai Ruofeng was alard and quickly rushed to catch him. Upon inspection, he found clear signs of qi deviation.
At this point, he couldn’t care about appearances anymore. Glancing around the crowd, he declared, “Hundred Treasures Pavilion concedes this match!”
Having dropped that statent, he picked up Cheng Xiao and fled the crowd in haste.
Everyone was caught off guard by this sudden developnt.
A cultivator exclaid in disbelief, “Hundred Treasures Pavilion just conceded like that?”
“Didn’t you see Cheng Xiao spit out blood? I think it’s serious. Bai Ruofeng looked like he lost his own son.”
“If you ask , it’s understandable. That was dual formation engraving! He was bound to lose anyway. Might as well pretend to faint and be done with it.”
For a mont, speculation blood like mushrooms after the rain. In less than fifteen minutes, dozens of versions of the story had already started circulating.
Then soone suddenly had a flash of insight: “Since the Earthfire Sect has conceded, shouldn’t we settle the spirit stone bets now? I bet on the Song clan to win!”
“Right! Ti to collect!”
In an instant, those who bet on Song Changsheng winning broke into cheers, rushing to collect their spirit stones from the bookies.
As for those who had bet on Cheng Xiao, gloom filled their faces, they looked like they had swallowed a fly.
When Song Changsheng opened his eyes, what greeted him was utter chaos and Cheng Xiao had already disappeared, leaving only a conspicuous pool of blood behind.
“What’s going on?” he asked, sowhat baffled.
“You’ve won, dear nephew. That Cheng Xiao from the Earthfire Sect passed out halfway through the match. They conceded and left,” Song Luyuan whispered excitedly beside him.
“They left?” Song Changsheng couldn’t help but chuckle. He had treated the man as a true opponent, even deliberately refining a slightly flawed artifact to throw him off. Turns out, he had overestimated him.
Looking at the artifact in his hand, he felt very satisfied. Due to the limited ti, both he and Cheng Xiao had chosen the simplest first-rank, low-tier formations.
Given the three-hour ti limit, Cheng Xiao at most could have inscribed four formations. But Song Changsheng had managed six in just two hours. The gap between them was obvious.
This difference, aside from a higher level of skill, was heavily due to his ability to divide his focus.
He had discovered this ability by accident while cultivating the Water-Fire Commanding Technique, and had experinted with applying it to formation engraving. The results had exceeded his expectations.
Putting away the artifact, Song Changsheng looked around and cupped his fists. “Fellow cultivators, I will be stationed at Seeking Treasure Pavilion for the foreseeable future. If anyone has formation inscription needs, feel free to co and place an order. I’ll not refuse.”
This match wasn’t just about humiliating Hundred Treasures Pavilion, it was also to make a na for himself. After all, practical experience was vital to improving his skills as an artifact refiner.
And as expected, business exploded in the days that followed. Song Changqian and the others were run off their feet every day.
In contrast, Hundred Treasures Pavilion was as cold as a grave, not only empty but also constantly the subject of mocking rumors. Their reputation was in tatters.
...
“Bai Ruofeng, you’ve thoroughly disappointed .”
Inside a secret chamber of Hundred Treasures Pavilion, a middle-aged man in blue robes stood with his hands clasped behind his back, speaking coldly.
Bai Ruofeng, face full of fear, stamred, “Elder Cheng, I didn’t expect Song Changsheng would...”
“Enough!” Elder Cheng exploded with anger. “Xiao’er nearly had his cultivation ruined because of you and you dare make excuses? You didn’t even investigate Song Changsheng’s background properly. What the hell have you been doing?”
The middle-aged man was seething. That single contest had nearly led Cheng Xiao to suffer permanent damage. He wanted nothing more than to slap Bai Ruofeng to death.
Bai Ruofeng dropped to his knees in terror. “I never ant for this to happen!”
“Hmph. This Song Changsheng has repeatedly foiled our sect’s plans. I absolutely won’t let him leave here alive,” Elder Cheng said, eyes brimming with killing intent.
Looking down at Bai Ruofeng, he continued, “Send soone to monitor him. The mont he leaves the market, report to imdiately.”
“At once!” Bai Ruofeng, relieved to be spared, hurried off to make arrangents…
Song Changsheng was completely unaware that the Earthfire Sect had already dispatched an elder to the marketplace and was plotting against him.
He was currently spending all his ti in the refining room, tirelessly honing his artifact refinent skills day and night.
“Finally finished the last one,” he exhaled deeply.
Inside the forging chamber, Song Changsheng stood up, finally able to take a break.
It had been nearly half a year since that last contest. Amid the mountain of orders, he had undergone a transformation, he successfully upgraded the treasure gourd to the top-grade first-rank level.
This marked his official recognition as the youngest top-grade first-rank artifact refiner in the Song clan.
Stepping out of the refining room, he handed the completed artifact to Song Luyuan. “Uncle, I’d like to take so ti off. If anyone wants sothing refined, please push their order back a little.”
“Ah, you’ve really worked hard these past months. You’ve done more in half a year than others manage in a full year. You definitely deserve a rest, take a whole month off!”
Right now, Song Luyuan would agree to any request from Song Changsheng. Forget ti off, if the boy asked for his daughter’s hand in marriage… cough, cough, he wouldn’t even bat an eye.
“A month, huh?” Song Changsheng nodded. He hadn’t really had a chance to explore the market yet, this was a good opportunity.
Just as he was about to head downstairs, Song Luyuan called out to him and handed him a storage pouch.
Opening it, Song Changsheng found five hundred neatly stacked spirit stones inside. He looked up, puzzled. “What’s this?”
“That’s your paynt for all the orders you completed,” Song Luyuan replied with surprise.
Realization dawned. In the Song clan, completing store orders ca with compensation. He had thought it would be contribution points, but it turned out to be cold, hard spirit stones.
Seeing his confusion, Song Luyuan smiled. “For those of us working outside the sect long-term, spirit stones are much more practical. It’s probably your first ti in a market like this, right? Perfect ti to go take a good look around.”
“I was thinking the sa. Many thanks, Uncle.” Song Changsheng finally accepted the pouch with a smile and walked out into the street.
He had been here for half a year and still hadn’t properly explored the place…
(Chapter End)
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