Chapter 29: Test with Shopkeeper Wan

Chapter 29: Test with Shopkeeper Wan

"Ahahahahah!"
Upon seeing that the arrow went straight to the deer's heart, Lin Xiao was excited. He didn't pull the arrow out and quickly took hold of the deer's body. Carrying it with him, he soon got back home.
Lin Yun and Wenren Yu were stunned speechless when they saw Lin Xiao returned back with a deer.
"Brother, your luck is very good!"
"Of course! There should be still enough salt to preserve the meat for a few days. We won't be lacking in meat at all for now," Lin Xiao said with a grin. The deer was quite large and because there were three of them, it might not last that long. At most, it would only last for two weeks.
Before the time was up, he would have to start hunting again or probably, fished?
"I'll work on it."
"I'll take more water for our drink."
They quickly worked on the meat and preserved it by using the salt. However, it effectively run out their stock, so Lin Xiao knew that he would have to trade some herbs with salt again tomorrow or used his payment from Shopkeeper Wan to get some salt.
…
The next day, Lin Xiao headed back to the village and went straight to Shopkeeper Wan's store. Shopkeeper was already waiting for him and quickly waved his hand when he saw Lin Xiao coming at him.
"What do you want me to try this time, Shopkeeper Wan?"
"It's this!" Shopkeeper Wan took out a plate and showed it to Lin Xiao. There were some engravings on top of the stones that looked highly unfamiliar. However, those who were keen would know that the engravings have meaning.
Lin Xiao clearly knew this. "Runes?"
"I want you to try activating it!"
F***!
Inside his mind, Lin Xiao was cursing Shopkeeper Wan's ninth generation. Those without knowledge regarding runes would not dare to activate one easily because they couldn't guess what it would end up. If it was a killing array… good bye their lives.
But if it was a good type of array, they would still survive.
Lin Xiao turned to look at Shopkeeper Wang and glared. "Do you want me to die, Shopkeeper Wan?"
"Come on, you're the only one who dare to try activating this rune!"
"I don't dare!"
"I'll give you 2 silvers!"
"NO!"
"3 Silvers!"
Lin Xiao looked at Shopkeeper Wan and raised his finger. "10 Liang of silvers."
"DO YOU WANT TO ROB ME?!"
"If you know the worth of this rune plate, I'm sure you wouldn't even show it to me, Shopkeeper Wan!" Lin Xiao retorted. Hell, even for cultivators, rune array was not an item that they could easily find. Activating a rune array only required them to infuse Qi inside, but they couldn't activate a rune easily because a slight mistake might cause them it to backlash.
The currency that was used in the village was copper coins, silver coins, and gold coins. With 1 silver coins worth 1000 copper coins, and 1 gold coins worth 1000 silver coins. Most of them here only traded with copper and silver coins because it was very rare for something worth more than 1000 silver coins to appear.
This rune plate was amongst the exception. If the rune plate was still working well, it could even be sold for several dozens of gold coins with no problems. For that reason alone, Lin Xiao didn't want to try without asking for high price from Shopkeeper Wan.
Shopkeeper Wan snorted. "If it's a faulty rune plate, you're going to overcharge me!"
Faulty rune plate didn't worth much. In fact, it could be treated as trash because no one could use it.
"5 liang of silver!"
"Do you think I have that much money?" While Shopkeeper Wan was the only person who had a lot of money due to several weird request from the villagers, he was not that rich.
Well, he had a lot of money but he would always invest by buying more items which would eventually helped him to earn even much more money.
Lin Xiao was silent for a moment. "1 liang of silver along with a bag of salt and a bag of grain."
"You really want to make me poor, you brat?"
"I'm betting with my life over here, Shopkeeper Wan!"
Shopkeeper Wan snorted then passed the rune plate to Lin Xiao's hand. "Come with me and test it out. I'll give out that damn 1 liang of silver along with the bag of salt and another bag of grain."
"Hehehe, you're very nice, Shopkeeper Wan."
"Said someone who sold their life for that."
Lin Xiao snorted and looked at the rune plate in his hand. He didn't have much knowledge regarding runes, but he could say for sure that the rune plate in his hand… was faulty.
There was faint broken markings at the side, which meant that the runes wouldn't be able to work properly. Even if it still could be turned on by infusing Qi inside, it wouldn't be able to work as well as when it was complete.
"Where are we going?"
"Of course to the plains! If my store is destroyed due to this item, do you want to compensate everything?"
Lin Xiao chose to stay silent. In any case, he should just try to activate the rune plate then go back home with the money in hand and also the necessary materials.