Chapter 3645 — A Man of Ambition
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 3
Opportunity always favors the prepared. Through Yu Jiang's unremitting efforts, at last, on the open day of the inner street a few days ago, he had discovered the very thing he had dreamed of—an object of destiny that everyone else had overlooked, yet one sufficient to set a man upon the summit.
It was the Star Ink Stone recorded in the ancient texts!
Whenever he thought of that pitch-black lump of stubborn stone, Yu Jiang could not suppress a surge of excitement. This was a supreme treasure that even the Hong Clan Merchant Guild had misjudged! A price of one thousand spirit jade was hardly low, true—but if the ancient texts spoke truly, its real value far exceeded a mere thousand spirit jade. Multiply that tenfold, a hundredfold, and still it would not be enough!
Unfortunately, Yu Jiang had not possessed a thousand spirit jade at the time. Though he was an inner sect disciple of Soaring Heavens Pavilion and his monthly stipend far exceeded that of disciples from the other two pavilions, saving a thousand spirit jade from such a stipend alone was hardly realistic.
What was more, he had spent these three years as a steward in the Pavilion of Stored Scriptures and had never gone out to take the high-reward missions, so he was not as flush with funds as other inner sect disciples of Soaring Heavens Pavilion.
Fortunately, Yu Jiang had already arranged with someone to borrow a thousand spirit jade before the inner street's open day next month. The interest was steep, yes—but so long as he bought the Star Ink Stone smoothly, the returns it brought would be tenfold, even a hundredfold!
To wait less than a month more and then purchase the Star Ink Stone recorded in the ancient texts—one could well imagine the surging tide of emotion in Yu Jiang's heart at this moment. This was a supreme treasure capable of changing the entire course of his life!
Yu Jiang was not worried that anyone might snatch the Star Ink Stone before him, for a thing like the Star Ink Stone was far more obscure than any other treasure. This was evident from the fact that even the Hong Clan Merchant Guild's appraiser had failed to recognize its true worth. It was only out of an appraiser's instinct—a sense that the thing was no ordinary article—that it had been symbolically priced at a thousand spirit jade.
Apart from a man like Yu Jiang himself, who had pored through ancient texts expressly for this purpose, no one else could possibly know what the Star Ink Stone was for, much less spend a thousand spirit jade to buy such an inexplicable stone. So Yu Jiang considered it as good as his.
Suddenly, a strange figure flashed through Yu Jiang's mind—none other than that rootless wandering cultivator he had never met before, the one standing beside him when he found the Star Ink Stone that day. From the look of things then, the man had seemed somewhat interested in the stone as well. Surely that fellow could not also know the Star Ink Stone's value?
The moment the thought arose, Yu Jiang laughed at himself. To begin with, a rootless wandering cultivator would have no chance to consult classic ancient texts, so the odds of him recognizing the Star Ink Stone were infinitesimal. And even if he did recognize it, so what? Could he possibly scrape together a thousand spirit jade and buy it out from under him?
Yet laugh at himself though he might, this Star Ink Stone was far too important for Yu Jiang to risk losing. However absurd the notion seemed, he would strangle the risk in the cradle.
Better safe than sorry—he decided to go and wait there the night before the inner street's open day next month, and to buy the Star Ink Stone at the very first opportunity. That way, even if that rootless wandering cultivator had likewise set his eyes on the stone, and even if he had likewise raised a thousand spirit jade, in the end he could only gaze upon it and sigh.