Chapter 213: Heart Amber

Sui Zaihua reached out, and the sword flew into his hand: "Do you know which two types of inscriptions the East Sea Sword Furnace generally has?"

"I don't know." Seeing Pei Ye said sullenly.

"... As a swordsman in the Clumsy Realm, you can be considered 'single-mindedly toward the sword'." Sui Zaihua smiled, "They are 【Sword Casting Inscription】 and 【Sword Appraisal Inscription】."

"The East Sea Sword Furnace masters the world's sword evaluation system. If you take a wild sword to them for appraisal, and it can be graded, you can get an inscription on the sword body. The value of this sword will have support and stand out from then on." Sui Zaihua pointed, "I guess, the fifty-one swords on this wall all have appraisal inscriptions."

Seeing Pei Ye looked up, but didn't see any.

"Because they are engraved on the sword body." Sui Zaihua smiled, "If it's like this one, with marks on both the hilt and scabbard, it means both the hilt and scabbard are from the East Sea, not to mention the sword body—if I unsheathe this sword, I will most likely see a casting mark."

Sui Zaihua drew the sword, and the water-bright sword body slid out silently. This alone made Seeing Pei Ye stare again—his own sword, unless very light and slow, would definitely collide and make a sound when entering or exiting the scabbard.

Then he looked down and saw that there were indeed a few small characters engraved under the sword guard—【Grade C, Lower, Injury-Life Furnace】, and the faint shadow pattern "East Sea Sword Furnace" under the characters.

Seeing Pei Ye remembered that he had seen this format before; it was on Zhu Gaoyang's sword, with 【Grade A, Lower, Rhino-Reflecting Furnace, Caution】, but he didn't remember asking the name of the sword in the end.

At this time, this sword lacked the last item, but the format of the first two lines matched.

Sui Zaihua injected true Qi, and the small characters flowed with light like swimming snakes. The old man let go and smiled: "It should be genuine. Do you know what the price of such a sword is?"

"..." Seeing Pei Ye looked at the old sword in his hand, which was worth five taels and was already the best sword in Fenghuai. He raised his head and hesitated, "Thirty taels?"

This was already twice the silver the young man had on him. When Shang Lang left, he only lent him twenty taels, which was enough for the journey to the Divine Capital.

Sui Zaihua smiled: "Between sixty and one hundred and twenty taels."

"..." Seeing Pei Ye was shocked and speechless, "Isn't this... just a piece of iron?"

The young man's "single-mindedness toward the sword" obviously made the old man laugh again. He shook his head and said: "It's not just iron. The formula is much more complex, and—do you know sword patterns?"

"I don't know."

"Then I won't make up lessons for you. Sword casting is a great study." Sui Zaihua smiled, "In short, the smoothness of guiding true Qi with such a sword is unimaginable, and there are many strange effects depending on the sword pattern, and there are even spirit swords cast specifically for sorcerers... even if we only talk about the material—look."

The old man held the hilt with one hand and the tip of the sword with the other, bending it down with force.

The sword arched into a completely folded arc, making one's heart jump. Seeing Pei Ye's heart and lungs stopped for a moment: "You—"

This was one hundred taels of silver!

The old man let go, and the long sword suddenly sprang back—there was no vibration at all. It immediately stood straight again into a static, hard state, without the slightest shaking.

"... So amazing." Seeing Pei Ye murmured sincerely.

"Right." Sui Zaihua flicked his finger with effort again, and the sword vibrated, but the vibration of the sword body was still minimal.

"Hey, you—" Seeing Pei Ye was startled again and blurted out.

Sui Zaihua glanced at him: "What?"

"My lord... this is after all the Inspector's most valuable..." Seeing Pei Ye hesitated.

Such casual handling without asking obviously made the young man feel a bit inappropriate.

"Oh," Sui Zaihua nodded, "then there's no way—our Cao Aman has always been self-willed."

"..." Seeing Pei Ye's expression stiffened slightly.

Sui Zaihua smiled, stroked the sword in his hand, and sighed softly: "It is indeed the most beautiful and supreme object on the path of cultivation, but for those with insufficient talent, one can only touch it like a literary trinket and soak up a bit of its refined air."

It sounded like he was bad-mouthing the Inspector again, but combined with the old man's expression and tone, it seemed like a simple sigh, and the focus of the words was not on the Inspector, so Seeing Pei Ye simply remained silent.

The old man let go, hung the sword back, and turned away from the sword wall: "You just said you had a question to ask me, what is it?"

"It's about the 'Sword Jian Jian Xin Zhao' today, my lord." Seeing Pei Ye followed, "The junior thinks it is quite magical, and doesn't know how it achieves this effect."

Sui Zaihua looked back at him, slightly surprised: "You are interested in magic tools?"

"Hmm." Seeing Pei Ye nodded. He was of course interested; he had been since he was a child.

"Do you want to learn the way of refining tools?"

Seeing Pei Ye was startled. He had never thought of this: "... No, just curious, I haven't seen these things much."

Sui Zaihua nodded and said warmly: "Coming out of a small place when young, one always feels that everything is wonderful, especially when entering a big city, it is even more dazzling. I went through that too. But it is best to focus on one thing and study it deeply to establish a foundation for one's life. Your sword talent is excellent, and it's okay to understand other paths, but don't touch left and right, and lose your main trunk instead."

Seeing Pei Ye was startled. This kind of old man's advice really evoked some familiar yet strange feelings. His throat moved, and he said "Hmm".

"'Sword Jian Jian Xin Zhao' is a rare magic tool on the Mind-Spirit Realm. If you want to say how it works, it's a lot of complicated courses. Simply put, you can treat it as a mirror, but what it reflects is not your face, but your Mind-Spirit Realm." Sui Zaihua said, "And the things placed in the magic tool will have an impact on the reflected Mind-Spirit Realm."

Seeing Pei Ye grasped the key point: "Then how is it reflected? Is there something special about the mirror surface?"

"Right." Sui Zaihua looked at him approvingly, "The mirror surface is polished from 'Heart Amber'. By reflecting the eyes with it, you can open the Mind-Spirit Realm."

"Oh," Seeing Pei Ye nodded slowly, "Lord Sui, is this substance... common?"

"How could this be common?" Sui Zaihua laughed first, then suddenly startled, looking at him, "Are you... asking about the murderer in Bowang recently?"

"..." Seeing Pei Ye choked for a moment, "Ah right, does Lord Sui know about this?"

Sui Zaihua sat at the table and took out a piece of paper: "At noon in the Prefecture Office, your Immortal Platform's Yan Inspector also asked me about this. He said the murderer's magic tool was used as a reflection heart, but the magic tool is not yet willing to be handed over by Tianshan, so I didn't see it. I didn't have much to say."

"Anything that can be used in the Mind-Spirit Realm is a rare thing, but it's not so rare that every piece has a name and an owner." Sui Zaihua continued, "The Sword Academy has some in storage, as for the origin of others, it's actually hard to say."

"My lord... the Immortal Platform lord asked you, is it because you can see magic tools?"

This was a strange way to ask. Sui Zaihua smiled: "Know a little."

Seeing Pei Ye hesitated: "This Soul-Snatching Bead is actually with me."

The old man was surprised and reached out.

Seeing Pei Ye took out the bead and leaned forward slightly: "Can you see anything from it, my lord?"

Sui Zaihua turned the jujube-sized round bead in front of his eyes and smiled: "This should be official business handled at the Immortal Platform."

Seeing Pei Ye was embarrassed: "Sorry to trouble you."

Sui Zaihua smiled and examined the bead carefully. In fact, Seeing Pei Ye saw at a glance that it was exactly the same as the mirror surface of the Sword Jian Jian Xin Zhao, but the old man still turned it at different angles to the sunlight: "It is indeed Heart Amber—but with such a small amount, it is even harder to trace."

"Does the amount matter?"

"Of course, the more Heart Amber, the deeper the reflection. To see the heart and nature, you need a piece as big as the 'Sword Jian Jian Xin Zhao'—like this magic tool, it's only enough to reflect the shallow layer." Sui Zaihua glanced at him and greeted, "Not wanting to know what's going on with this thing? Sit next to me."

Seeing Pei Ye leaned over and squatted beside Sui Zaihua. The old man tilted the bead toward him: "Look, the 'Sword Jian Jian Xin Zhao' has no danger, but this thing is not so. Why do you think?"

"It has this iron-cast part behind it."

"Not bad. The Sword Jian Jian Xin Zhao only has a mirror hoop, transparent on both sides, and the mind and spirit come and go freely in the Heart Amber; while this bead is half-transparent and half-solid. I think half is 'reflection', and half is 'retention'. Retaining the mind and spirit is the dangerous effect."

Seeing Pei Ye suddenly realized, and frowned: "However, Lord Sui, this bead doesn't seem to just capture the mind and spirit, but to seize martial arts. How is this completed?"

"... This is the craftsmanship of the creator." Sui Zaihua looked at it intently: "It should be related to the things left in the Heart Amber."

"Things left?"

"Right." Sui Zaihua smiled, "What did you see in the Sword Jian Jian Xin Zhao?"

"A... demon covering the sky."

"Not bad, that is the thing left by the Sword Academy in it, used to test your state of mind in danger; if I leave a bowl of noodles, it tests your reaction to food."

"... I don't like noodles that much."

"Is that so? I like noodles very much. In short, the things left are different, and the effects produced are different. And, in the Sword Jian Jian Xin Zhao, do you still remember the sword techniques you learned?"

"... I don't remember anything."

"That's it. And this bead uses less Heart Amber, so I'm afraid the person being reflected still retains the memory of sword techniques after entering. And just right, leave a suitable scene in it, and you can let him reveal his strongest sword techniques inside. After that, seal this segment of mind and spirit, and you have completed a seizure of someone else's martial arts." Sui Zaihua said, "Just like picking fruit."

Seeing Pei Ye nodded slowly.

"As for the more detailed and clearer mechanism, you have to try it yourself to know." Sui Zaihua turned the bead and suddenly asked, "Do you want to try?"

Seeing Pei Ye was startled and shook his head violently.

Sui Zaihua nodded: "I don't want to either."

"..."

However, this sentence of the old man really activated Seeing Pei Ye's idea—【Quail Head】 can keep awake in the Sword Jian Jian Xin Zhao, can it be used to defend against this bead?

Its status must be high enough, but the authority is not necessarily compatible—it corresponds to the "Heart Amber" part, which can break the confusion of the heart, but for the "retention" part, I don't know if it has any effect.

To know the answer to this question, one has to return to the "more detailed and clearer mechanism" mentioned by the old man.

"Then that's it—actually, you can take it apart and see, but I don't have the time, and Tianshan might not agree." Sui Zaihua smiled faintly, looked at Seeing Pei Ye and asked, "Can I copy a copy of this information for the Immortal Platform?"

Seeing Pei Ye was startled, thinking that Tianshan was unwilling to hand over the Soul-Snatching Bead because they wanted to hold this evidence in their own hands, but didn't want to hinder the Immortal Platform from investigating the case, so he said: "Of course."

Sui Zaihua nodded, leaned back gently, looked at the bead in his hand, pointed to the paper and pen and said: "As big as a jujube, weighing about two taels, the front is Heart Amber, the back is cast gold..."

He raised his eyes and looked at Seeing Pei Ye who was standing upright, and sighed: "Please record it."

"... I'm not very good at writing, my lord."

"... Oh, sorry." Sui Zaihua then took the paper and pen himself, "Can you grind ink?"

Seeing Pei Ye walked over, blushing a little. To be honest, living in Fenghuai for more than ten years, he never felt that being unfamiliar with pen and ink was inconvenient, but now that he had been in the city for less than twenty days, he had repeatedly suffered this kind of "insult".

Thinking that he would have to spend time to make up for his books after going to the Divine Capital, the young man secretly made up his mind. Then he thought of the "General Introduction to Six Dynasties Sword Arts" with a dangerous progress, and his mood was not very good for a while.

Sui Zaihua dipped the fine brush in ink and recorded his entire analysis of the Soul-Snatching Bead on the paper line by line, until he filled two full pages before putting down the pen.

Seeing Pei Ye looked and saw the dense small regular script, unable to help but say: "Did we say so many things just now?"

The old man didn't speak, and handed the two sheets of paper to him to see. Seeing Pei Ye was startled, only to find that the handwriting on them was exactly the same.

Sui Zaihua untied a small seal from his waist, stamped it on the end of the two sheets of paper, and handed one to him: "You take this one to Tianshan, so it won't be difficult to do."

He actually copied one for him.

"..." Seeing Pei Ye was a little flattered, "Oh good."

Sui Zaihua glanced at him and smiled warmly, "Next is the matter I want to find you for."

Seeing Pei Ye carefully put away the paper: "Please speak, my lord."

Sui Zaihua looked at him: "Have you reached the peak of the Clumsy Realm?"

"Arrived just two days ago."

"How old are you?"

"Seventeen, my lord."

"How many years have you practiced the sword?"

"Eight years."

Sui Zaihua stopped talking and looked at him and smiled.

Seeing Pei Ye said with some difficulty: "... I really don't want to enter the Shaolong Sword Academy, my lord."

Sui Zaihua clasped his hands together, and a slight white eye had already rolled out: "I think you are actually much more arrogant than Shang Huaitong, but you always pretend to be very humble."

"..."

"Why don't you want to go to the Sword Academy?"

"... I want to go to the Divine Capital, my lord."

"Divine Capital Wu Gong Examination, taking the official path? However, coming out of the Sword Academy is also full of prospects." Sui Zaihua looked at him, "Even if you don't come to the Sword Academy, I don't suggest you go to the Divine Capital. Shaolong Prefecture is already a deep sea enough for young dragons to flip, and going to the Divine Capital, even true dragons have the trouble of golden rocs. You are a country boy with no one to rely on, it is really difficult to stretch—do you know, whether it is Shaolong or the Divine Capital, what is the most important thing to gain momentum in such a place?"

"Backing."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 214 =====