Mortal Mage

Changjiang City is located at the confluence of two major rivers in Song State, connecting the inland and coastal ports, and is the water and land transportation hub of Song State.

In Changjiang City, rivers crisscross in all directions, and countless cargo ships shuttle across the wide water, loaded with goods from all over the place, especially jade from Liang State.

Under Ye Die's arrangement, Zhang Mingxuan and his party successfully entered Changjiang City.

Through a minor official in the government office, Ye Die spent a hundred taels of silver to help Zhang Mingxuan, Hao Fen, and Zhu Ding complete their household registration in the Song Dynasty.

With his household registration in hand, Zhang Mingxuan can walk around Changjiang City openly without worrying about his identity being checked.

Several people walked to a prosperous inn in the city.

Ye Die and Ye Wu clasped their fists and saluted Zhang Mingxuan, their expressions solemn: "Master, I have to go back to the palace to report. The Eighth Prince has a lot of work to do. I am afraid it will take a few days to find a suitable reason to resign from the position in the palace so that I can follow you, Master."

The second girl is the Eighth Prince who serves in Changjiang City.

Zhang Mingxuan frowned slightly when he heard this.

During the trip, Ye Die briefly mentioned to him the deeds of the Eighth Prince. The Eighth Prince was a powerful prince in the royal family of the Great Song Dynasty, and controlled most of the forces in the southern part of the Great Song Dynasty.

It is not easy for Ye Die Ye Wu to escape from the Eighth Prince's nose.

If these two women handed Zhu Ding over to me, I would not be able to report to the government house, for fear that something unexpected might happen.

Therefore, he took out He Yiping's and He Yihu's flying swords from his storage bag and gave them to the two women.

These two flying swords are mid-grade flying swords used by Jindan stage cultivators. The swords are extremely sharp and incredibly powerful. For Ye Die Ye Wu, who is at the fifth level of Qi training, they are simply the treasures he has always dreamed of.

If they really encounter any fatal disaster, they will have more ways to save their lives.

The two girls took the flying swords, their faces instantly filled with joy, and they couldn't let go of them.

"Master! Disciple bows to thank you!"

The two girls could not hide their excitement and spoke in unison. No matter how Zhang Mingxuan tried to dissuade them, they still knelt down and kowtowed three times to express their gratitude before respectfully saying goodbye and leaving.

After entering the inn and renting a room upstairs, Zhang Mingxuan called Zhu Ding to his side and asked meaningfully, "Xiao Zhu, do you know how much this piece of jade that is two meters long and wide is going to cost?"

"That depends on what kind of jade it is. If it's ordinary green jade from Liang, it's worth three to five thousand taels of silver. If it's purple jade, it's worth at least ten thousand taels of silver."

"Then how many jade slips can be carved out of this piece?"

"Just the jade slip?"

Zhang Mingxuan nodded. At the moment, he only needed a blank jade slip. The method of infusing spirits into blank jade slips was clearly recorded and explained in "Essence of Runes". He did not need to find a jade carver to infuse spirits into the jade slips.

The jade slip carved by Zhu Ding only has the basis for attracting spiritual energy. If the jade slip is to truly become something that can record spiritual memories and attract spiritual power, the jade carver needs to imbue the jade slip with spirit.

"If it is a rough piece of jade that is two meters in size, after removing the waste material and impurities in the stone, at least two hundred pieces should be able to be carved."

"Only two hundred?"

Zhang Mingxuan gently stroked the ring on his finger and probed deeper.

These two large pieces of jade rough material are both more than one person tall. According to his estimation, at least three to five thousand pieces can be cut out.

"Because the jade slip has extremely high requirements for the stone material, there cannot be any impurities. Otherwise, it will not be able to... have... spirituality..."

Zhu Ding hunched his head, raised his head slightly, and spoke with hesitation.

Hearing this, Zhang Mingxuan sat down in the room, frowning and thinking.

Zhu Ding can only carve eight jade slips a month. At this rate, when will it take him to decipher all the 100,000 jade slips in his hands?

Unless he goes to...the Ministry of Industry of the Song Dynasty to purchase.

However, he was not sure whether such a large-scale purchase would attract the attention of some sects, but it would definitely attract the attention of the Song Dynasty. At that time, it would be extremely difficult for him to hide his identity.

There is no better solution at the moment.

The next day, he left the inn and found a home in the city. He spent eight hundred taels of gold to buy a mansion with six entrances and six exits and complete furniture, and settled Zhu Ding in it.

In the main hall of the house, Zhang Mingxuan gently placed the land deed on the table, then looked down at Zhu Ding who was bowing in the hall, and said earnestly, "Xiao Zhu, this house is bought for you."

When Zhu Ding heard what Zhang Mingxuan said, he didn't understand and knelt down in a hurry.

"There are spiritual stones and money in it."

Zhang Mingxuan sat up from his chair, lifted up Zhu Ding's thick short palm, put Shang Hua's low-grade storage bag in Zhu Ding's hand, and continued in a serious tone; "I only want the jade slip."

After saying this, he took out the two large pieces of jade rough stone from the ring and placed them in the hall.

Zhu Ding took the storage bag, but he did not show any joy, because he knew that Zhang Mingxuan had not finished speaking.

"Am I being nice enough?"

Zhang Mingxuan squatted beside Zhu Ding and patted his shoulder. "Would you be so kind?"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Ding held the storage bag in both hands and kowtowed again, his tone filled with fear; "I will definitely behave myself and will never cause any trouble."

"Get up. We are in a cooperative relationship. You are not a slave, and I am not your master. Keeping my business secrets is your obligation and responsibility as Party B."

As Zhang Mingxuan spoke, he grabbed Zhu Ding's arm and pulled him up from the cold ground, then smiled slightly, "One month, eight?"

"Twenty! Servant...if I work hard for a month, I can produce twenty."

Zhu Ding bowed hastily.

"Playing tricks?"

"No, no, no, it's just that I'm not very skilled at carving jade slips. But I've heard that the jade carving craftsmen in the Song Dynasty do nothing else but carving jade slips. They can carve up to 20 slips a month. I think I should be able to do it, too."

“Don’t be too hard on yourself.”

Zhang Mingxuan showed a amiable smile on his face and stepped out of the main hall; "The little fox will come to you to get the jade slips every month. It doesn't matter if it's more or less." After saying that, Zhang Mingxuan walked out of the courtyard.

Zhu Ding was holding the storage bag, and was about to go out to see him off, but was stopped by Zhang Mingxuan. Then he heard a voice in his ear: "I have set up a defense formation in your house. It can not only protect your safety, but also block all the sounds in the yard. If I have time, I can help you find some helpers."

When the voice was transmitted, Zhang Mingxuan had already left the courtyard.

Zhu Ding then tremblingly opened the storage bag.

Although he has a useless spiritual root, he is not a mortal with no cultivation. After all, he has stayed in Lingyin Temple for decades and can mobilize spiritual power to open the storage bag.

At a glance, there were probably more than one thousand taels of gold in the storage bag, nearly a thousand spirit stones, and several thousand of various loose silver and copper coins.

Looking at it, he carefully took out a two-liang silver ingot from it, took a light bite, and a tearful smile immediately appeared on his dark face.

He hurriedly closed the storage bag and put it in his crotch. Then he stretched out his hands and began to weigh the raw jade.

-

After returning to the inn, Zhang Mingxuan took out the jade slip of "Essentials of Runes" from his storage ring and began to study it, while Hao Fen knelt on a cushion beside him, playing the zither and drinking tea.

The entire jade slip provides a detailed classification and description of the runes.

Runes are divided into four levels: heaven, earth, black, and yellow.

Among them, there are two heavenly-grade runes, twelve earthly-grade runes, sixty-four mysterious-grade runes, and four thousand nine hundred and sixty yellow-grade runes.

There were only five simple annotations behind the two heavenly runes: "No use". There was no explanation of what kind of spiritual power was needed to draw the runes, and there was no formula to activate them.

Thinking that the heavenly grade rune was not a simple thing, he immediately put it out of his mind and looked up the twelve earthly grade runes again.

The earth-grade runes correspond to the twelve spiritual roots. As long as the spiritual roots have corresponding attributes, they can be drawn and activated, but the use column is written in a scattered manner. There is also no explanation on how to activate and activate them.

Finally, his spiritual consciousness looked more and more at the sixty-four mysterious runes.

The Xuan-grade runes are obviously much more detailed. Not only are their uses and drawing techniques recorded, but also their activation methods are described in detail.

The yellow-grade runes are also extremely detailed.

If there is no problem with the uses and descriptions recorded in these runes, then he can basically use these runes to design any formation he wants, as well as magical weapons and even aircraft.

However, design is design, but the layout problem still bothers him, because most of the runes require pure earth spiritual roots.

For example, if it is the same Fire Escape Formation, if it is a pure earth-type spiritual root, then the power of this formation can be increased by at least two major realms. Although he can use the rat's teeth to temporarily filter the mixed spiritual power in his body and make it purer, it is after all relying on external forces, which is a world of difference from the original spiritual roots.

After reading it in detail, he withdrew his spiritual consciousness from the jade slip, then put the jade slip into the storage ring and continued to pace around the room thinking.

He had basically finished reading the Compendium of Immortal Herbs, but he was not an alchemist and did not know how to make pills. He did not know the difficulties in making immortal-grade foundation-building pills.

However, he has spirit stones in his ring. If he uses these spirit stones to buy some longevity pills such as elixirs, he can still live another three to five thousand years.

But if he fails to build a foundation at the age of 200, he will never be able to build a foundation, and will just be a rotten wooden body, barely lingering on in the world.

Thinking of this, a hint of anxiety appeared on his face, and he felt a little upset.

"Master, is there something on your mind?"

Hao Fen pressed the strings of the zither in his hand and looked at Zhang Mingxuan.

Zhang Mingxuan raised his eyelids, looked at the beams, and slowly asked Haofen a meaningful question: "If Cuiyun Continent is a small world kept in captivity by Daochu Realm, then what are we?"

Hao Xian's fingers trembled slightly, almost touching the strings, and her expression was filled with uncontrollable excitement; "We... are just chess pieces regarded as ants, at their mercy. The master is just a thought, life and death are just a moment." She seemed to see a person who had been dull for many years suddenly awaken, and her tone gradually became excited: "I know that the master is kind-hearted and cautious, but the truth of this world is that the strong are respected and the weak are always oppressed. Even in the small world of Canglang, there are countless people who want to break the cage." She gently put down the guqin in her hand; "Even if I become an animal, I will never be an animal that is slaughtered and has no resistance..."

"But I..."

Zhang Mingxuan took a deep breath, and he became more and more aware of the deep sense of powerlessness in his heart.

"Master, you shouldn't be so indecisive... I think you are too cautious."

Hearing this, Zhang Mingxuan stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the river flowing in the distance.

The shimmering water seemed to symbolize the elusive thoughts in his heart.

"I am a useless spiritual root after all."

His voice was calm, but with a hint of helplessness; "Perhaps I am still a manipulated pawn. What is the meaning of my efforts and struggles?"

“If everything in the world is a chess piece, then we should be the one who controls the game, rather than being manipulated by others.”

There was a rare sharpness flashing in Haofen's eyes.

Zhang Mingxuan withdrew his gaze from the window and fell on Haofen, staring at her quietly.

"Control the chess game..."

He muttered to himself, a complex emotion flashing across his face.

At this time, Hao Fen stood up, walked to Zhang Mingxuan's side, and looked at him with charming eyes: "The master himself said that he wanted to establish a sect."

Hearing this, countless emotions flashed through Zhang Mingxuan's eyes.

He has battle formation diagrams and hundreds of thousands of jade slips containing martial arts techniques.

But he has a useless spiritual root, and these are of no use to him.

He knew what he was afraid of.

But in the end, a bit of fighting spirit ignited in his expression.

Seeing this, Haofen breathed a sigh of relief, slowly walked back to the piano, gently plucked the strings again, and the melodious sound of the piano flowed through the house.

The sound of the piano was like a breeze, blowing away the haze in Zhang Mingxuan's heart and making him gradually calm down.

"If this is destiny, then let's change it."

Zhang Mingxuan whispered to himself, his eyes becoming more determined.

There is a gentle night breeze by the window, bringing a little coolness.

Under the cover of night, the lights outside Changjiang City gradually light up.

On the distant river bank, teams of flower boats are slowly converging towards a pavilion-style building in the city, which seems to be very lively.

"Let's explore the deep waters of the Song Kingdom."

Zhang Mingxuan turned and looked at Hao Fen.

"The slave obeys the master."

Huo Xian put away her zither and stood up. A white mist flashed over her body, and her plain white dress turned into a colorful silk dress with misty hair and cloud-like tresses.