Chapter 1061

This strange stone, according to legend, was a treasure transformed by a hopelessly devoted woman from the empire's history, who used all her own cultivation for love! If one could refine the strange stone, breaking through to seventh-rank cultivation would be no problem at all. Within this tale there is also a very moving story: it is said that back then, that devoted woman's husband went off to join the army and ended up dying in battle. The devoted woman, to mourn her husband, wept beneath the city wall where her husband had fallen for three days and three nights, until she actually cried the city wall down, and her own body transformed into this strange stone, later called by posterity the Stone of Love!

"It symbolizes a faithful and unwavering, beautiful love."

As the stall owner worked his patter, his face brimmed with emotion and tears streamed down — if he hadn't known he was making it all up on the spot, he would almost have believed it himself.

It was also fortunate that this other world had no profession like actor; otherwise the stall owner felt sure he could snag an Oscar.

"Well, Miss, how about it, want to buy it? I feel this strange stone has a special fate with you. Today is the first time I've brought it out to sell — normally I keep it stored at home. I just thought of setting up this stall, and here you two are."

The moment those words left his mouth, Miss Qianhui's heart stirred a little.

Earlier, while listening to that story, she had undeniably been moved; now that the stall owner had spoken this way, her hand uncontrollably reached for her coin pouch. But Lin Cheng had long seen through the stall owner's trick. He directly grabbed Miss Qianhui's restless little hand, turned his head toward the stall owner, and asked, slightly exasperated, "If it's really as miraculous as you say, then let me ask you — what era of the Tianwu Empire was that strange woman from? During which of His Majesty's reigns did this happen?"

"And which city's wall was it that she cried down? For such a major event, why is it that only you know about it, while no one else does? Do you have any proof?"

"If you can't produce proof, then you're just talking pure nonsense!"

As if they were suckers — this kind of stone was probably all over the streets.

"Right, most of the stuff on this treasure-hunting street is fake. If you're just here to buy the craftsmanship, that's fine, but if you came to hunt for treasure, spending dozens of gold coins on it is just buying a trap."

"Oh, I see, Qianhui understands now."

Sure enough, she was still too young — getting fooled by someone with a little patter and believing it so easily. Good thing Lin Cheng was here.

Her body tilted to the side, her head tipped over, and she leaned on Lin Cheng's shoulder.

"Hehe, having you is wonderful."

"What do you think leaning on my shoulder counts as? Don't press up against me, it's gross."

"No, I want to lean on you like this, pressed right up against you."

"Fine, then."

Seeing there was nothing to be done, Lin Cheng let her lean on him like that; it didn't affect him moving on to look at the next stall.

After glancing through no fewer than four or five stalls in a row, amid the stall owners' cursing, Lin Cheng's expression remained calm as he moved on to the next one.

The reason, naturally, was that he only looked and never bought. Whenever a stall owner started his patter, Lin Cheng would without hesitation expose the stall owner on the spot — not only naming the materials and craftsmanship, but even stating clearly when the piece had been made. This directly caused some customers who had originally been tempted to turn around and walk away.

This naturally drew the stall owners' curses.

After that, at several more treasure-hunting stalls they passed, whenever customers were picking things out, the stall owners explicitly refused to let Lin Cheng look, afraid he would expose the fact that every item on their stall was fake.

Regarding this, Lin Cheng just smiled it off. With a single glance he could tell almost everything was a craft item — and the key point was that the workmanship was all so poor, they probably all came from the same craft shop.

Lin Cheng guessed right.

The fakes on the treasure-hunting street almost all came from the same craft shop.......

At that moment, in the slums of Wucheng, a young boss of a secluded handmade craft shop sneezed several times in a row, his face gradually showing a suggestive look, wondering which performer from the pleasure quarter was thinking of him.

After walking past several more stalls, Lin Cheng, with Miss Qianhui, finally stopped in front of a stall whose owner was a mysterious figure draped in a black robe. Beside him stood a small sign that read: All items 100 gold coins each, no haggling.

That was a little interesting. Although prices on the treasure-hunting street being on the high side was normal, writing it out so explicitly — wasn't he afraid of offending potential customers?

Lin Cheng couldn't figure out the stall owner's exact thinking. He cast a glance over the few items on the stall — they weren't all craft items, and even those that were had workmanship far better than the previous ones. At the very least, they had been polished and finely processed, making the craft items look far less shoddy, and actually looking quite plausible.

Still, the styles were the same as those previous pieces of junk.

"Your finishing craftsmanship is decent — far better than the previous junk. Too bad the styles come from the same place as that junk, so at best it counts as the premium grade among junk."

Crouching down, Lin Cheng held in his hand a heart-shaped stone carved from a red-dyed rock. It did feel incomparably smooth to the touch, and on the surface there were no traces of polishing, nor any special smell of dye — as if it had formed naturally.

Who was Lin Cheng? A top-tier blacksmith with a system — the moment he touched it, he knew the origin of this craft item.

Lin Cheng's blunt words made the mysterious stall owner in the black robe tremble all over. He hadn't expected to be seen through so quickly — no wonder the brothers before had refused to let that fellow look. This young man in front of him really did have some skill.