Old man Ba's voice was fortunately not high enough for surrounding people to hear. Only Yun and Ling managed to listen to what we were discussing.
"En. I will not hide it from Patriarch as you are sister Ling's grandfather."
He had a hard time believing it but he flailed his head in a shrug, taking me for my word. Yun and Ling were also surprised, they've known me for quite a bit and I have never mentioned anything regarding an artefact.
They also spent much of their time in my company and thus were suspicious as to where I had obtained such a priceless item.
Artefacts were nothing to scoff at in the cultivation world. Such effects in the hands of a child could be devastating to even a grandmaster of cultivation.
"Brother Lei Ba…is it true?" Yun peeked his head between Shui Ba and me.
Ling did not speak, but I could tell she was interested to know too.
"It's true" I nodded in confirmation, "I apologize for hiding it from you two."
"That's not what I meant" he grabbed my shoulder with a tight palm. "I'm glad that brother has such a good opportunity. I won't ask where you got it so don't worry."
"Thank you for understanding!" I showed my appreciation with a nodding smile.
Ling and her grandfather expressed their understanding as well and ushered comfortably with their heads in turn.
I was glad this explanation was out of the way. As I came to bond with this world's people, I grew attached and could not allow myself to hurt their feelings or break their trust.
"Does little Lei Ba know what kind of artefact he has? Or what grade?" the patriarch tried to ascertain the situation first.
I guess basic information wouldn't hurt him to know but…
"This…" I raised my hand to my hair and rubbed them nervously. "I don't know what kind or grade it is. That's the reason I've come to the Shui clan to seek guidance."
"I see" the old man began stroking his beard again.
(What a bad habit…)
"I won't be able to accompany you all the way to our artefact specialists" he displayed a saddened expression, "even though I would have liked to see it with my own eyes too…"
Dang. Don't tell me I came all this way for nothing. Would I ever have the chance to do it later? Maybe the Feng clan could help me out…
"That's too bad—"
"But my Ling could take you herself to meet them. This young man would be allowed to accompany you too naturally."
A paper and a brush appeared out of nowhere in his hands. He wrote something and relayed them to his granddaughter.
"Thank you, grandfather" Ling said in a faint voice and a smooth smile.
"Thank you, old man Ba. I will remember this favour!"
He waved his hand, "No need to be polite. Any friend of Ling is welcome here!"
His two guards hastened to catch up to him as he distanced himself and left us to our own devices. He disappeared soon afterwards through the front gate and out of the clans' premises.
"Let's go then" Ling spoke for once without feeling embarrassed.
She led the way inside the Shui clan's settlement and in half a double-hour, we arrived before a small three-story tower. It was meticulously painted with deep blue and white and stood different from the rest of the buildings around as it was the most luxurious looking.
Business in artefacts must pay well.
The guards allowed us entry without the need for an introduction or a pass when they noticed the young lady escorting us. They moved aside and we went in without any problems.
Inside the tower, there were displays of armours, weapons, simple looking trinkets and odd gems. Nothing inside though appeared to be ordinary as everything released a certain amount of qi and aura.
We were on the first floor and there were two men, brothers by the similarities in their looks. One sat behind a counter and read a book of sorts while the other worked in front of a forge.
"Good morning, master Jie and master Cai!" Ling bowed respectfully when she announced herself.
The brother sitting behind the counter dropped down his book to see who was there. He stood up quickly and alarmed his brother of our arrival.
"Jie…Jie!" he hissed. "Stop working and come greet the patriarch's granddaughter properly."
Shui Jie* who was working the bellows to feed the fires, turned around and noticed us. He got down from his station and stood next to his brother Shui Cai* in order to invite us properly.
"Welcome to our shop, young lady Shui!" they mouthed simultaneously with perfect synchronization. Both of them got to one knee, clasped their hands and lowered their heads. "How may we be of service to you?"
She passed the letter her grandfather wrote to Cai. He read through it and smiled greedily.
"We would like to have you appraise an item my friend possesses."
"I see" Shui Cai folded the paper and stashed it into his suit. "Does your grandfather want me to do him a favour then?"
"No need. We will cover the expense" she answered without waver.
Ling was quite fearsome in front of her clansmen and she dealt exactly as the grandchild of the patriarch would. Even adults such as the two masters here revered and exalted her presence every second of the way.
"Sister Ling…surely you cannot do this much for me. I will definitely pay for the—"
"Forget it, brother Lei Ba!" Ling faced me with a strong smile. It was the first time she spoke with such power towards me that I was shocked and restrained my tongue. "If I can't do this for you then what kind of host would I be?"
"I can't accept this much—"
"Please accept it. I'm sure you would do the same if I ever needed something!"
I couldn't refuse anymore. She had placed this favour upon her own name and refusing her would be akin to tarnishing it.
She was not wrong though, I will find a way to repay her this gesture even if I had to insult Demonic God himself.
"Very well, I will accept!" I thanked her graciously.
"Wonderful!" one of the masters exclaimed himself. "Then whoever Lei Ba is out of these two then please follow me to the second floor."
Shui Cai opened his arm and ushered to the stairs behind them.
Being Lei Ba (obviously), I walked forward and climbed my way to the second floor of the refinery tower.
While the first floor was reserved to a counter, a blazing furnace and a set of displayed artefacts, the second was more or less a place filled with different strange instruments of which I knew not the properties.
As I reached the end of the stairs, I heard Yun and Ling chatting with Shui Jie downstairs.
"Would you like a cup of tea until my brother is finished with your friend?" the refiner asked.
"I would have to trouble master Jie with our presence."
"Nonsense…"
Their sounds were soon muffled when I fully stepped into the upper floor. Master Cai was following me closely and then went past ahead to a nearby table where he rummaged through tools and made a lot of noises getting his equipment ready.
Shui Cai was the artefact appraiser of the water clan. He was not a martial artist as I could tell from his sloppy movements and curved posture, but was a cultivator who specialized in artefacts and the likes.
"Oh, please have a seat friend…am I allowed to call you that?" he pondered for an answer, a strange magnifier in his hand.
"En, it is okay" I sat on the chair he pointed to and waited for him to be ready.
He took some time before he brought a stool and positioned himself in front of me.
"What is this friend's name?"
"Ke Lei Ba" I answered, though I didn't like useless small talk and wanted this over very quick.
"Good."
Shui Cai slipped a circlet over his head, lowered some kind of circular glass from it and positioned it in front of his right eye.
He made me spread my arms wide and raise my chin for him to have easier control at whatever he was going to do in order to appraise the item. If he was not a fraud, he would distinguish that the artefact was at least a bell.
"Now I will ask this friend to release his defences so I can examine without being forced out."
"Okay…how did you know I didn't have the artefact with me?" I asked curiously, seeing as he didn't ask me to take it out.
"Haha. I'm a master, this is to be expected!" he laughed. "And you have no void ring or space bag so I just assumed it was within your body, heh."
Well at least he was smart, I give him that. But let's see if he will be able to tell me more about the bell.
The master's eyes glowed of blue and a few minuscule writings emerged on the circular glass he positioned before one of them. As if shocked, he shook his head and batted his eyelids after rubbing them.
"I told you to lower your body's defences…I nearly went blind for the rest of the day!" he kept rubbing his eyes, some tears escaping them.
"I-I'm sorry master Cai. I just don't know how to do it."
Something was off. The moment he managed to look through, he did examine the item but an unknown force drove him out when he attempted to delve further.
I felt that kind of thing a few years back.
Yes, I remember it now. The day I was born, someone did the same thing and was forced out. This master must have tried to pry on things deeper than he was meant to and the bell kept him out.
After rubbing and opening his eyes carefully, checking he wasn't indeed blind, Shui Cai quickly reverted to a devastated and shocked expression…as if he just saw a god.
"Friend…the item you have…is it a golden bell?" he asked nervously with a stutter, checking if I knew what it was before he divulged any further.
"I don't know. I stumbled upon it in a ruined cave not far from the city" I lied to him, as there was no need to tell him where I got it.
He spun on the stool and grabbed a piece of charcoal and a giant paper. He drew the shape of the bell and some other details I hadn't noticed before upon it. At the very top of the bell, there were writings clearly saying its name.
"This artefact is called Myriad-Faceted Temporal Bell."
(Yeah…I think I'm just going to call it Temporal Bell for short.)
"As you can see, it has thousands of facets and each one of them can release a certain type of property" he ushered to the different sides of the bell he drew and explained. "I wasn't able to see much before being forced out, but one of the facets contains a very powerful technique.
"It is called Essence Disturbing Toll. If I am correct, you can use your own essence to ring the bell and shake the nearby qi, causing everyone in the radius to either fall unconscious, die or simply have a headache."
I never knew the item that Kun gave me was this powerful…
It had temporal in its name. Does that mean this is the same artefact she used to stop time back in Kazalkar? Did she give me this kind of thing?
And it has a myriad of facets? Just how many techniques and effects could it unleash?
Kun…you've outdone yourself and bought me a ticket to survival.
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*Check the very first chapters at the very beginning for the Index*