Not too long after Lu Wen finished negotiating with the merchant and ultimately paid most of what he owed for the strange antique that he could feel some sort of connection from, Yi Xuan who had disappeared not too long after they had reached the temporary marketplace set up by the eccentric antique trading merchant group, appeared with a pile of antiques that she had managed to buy for no more than a dozen or so spirit stones.
"Lu Wen? What happened to you…?" Spotting Lu Wen who had a half dead look on his face while holding on to a small antique in the shape of what looked like some sort of ancient teapot, Yi Xuan could not help tilting her head in confusion before asking this. Not understanding why Lu Wen looked like he had just survived a life and death situation, while only getting a small, ancient looking teapot out of it.
"Yi Xuan?" Hearing Yi Xuan suddenly calling out to him, Lu wen turned around to look at her with dead look in his eyes. Making it obvious to her that something had happened, during the short few minutes she had wandered off to look for some promising antiques to buy.
"Ah! Did you perhaps get scam-"
"Quiet! There is no way someone like me, a young, genius, Core Formation Realm cultivator, would ever get scammed by some lowly merchant! Ehm! Let's return to the sect for now, I don't think there is anything of real value here!" Jumping up before rapidly starting to make his way back towards the sect after realizing that Yi Xuan was about to expose the fact that he had just been scammed of everything he had on him, Lu Wen didn't bother waiting for Yi Xuan before disappearing in the direction of the Ninth Star Peak.
"Hmph! This guy… He definitely ended up getting scammed and lost everything he had taken with him in the process!" Rolling her eyes as she instantly managed to see through what had happened, Yi Xuan did not bother spending any more time in the temporary antique market and instead chose to chase after Yi Xuan.
Part of her wanted to find out what he had ended up buying, while another part of her was curious about just how much he had ended up losing for him to storm off without even waiting for her.
…
Returning to the sect before making his way back to the privacy of his own courtyard, Lu Wen didn't bother wasting a single second before taking out the ancient teapot he had ended up buying with everything he had brought with him.
Rustle~
Following Lu Wen all the way into his courtyard, Yi Xuan curiously leaned forward to inspect the ancient teapot that Lu Wen had begun to examine for anything that might point towards it being some kind of powerful artifact that would make the sacrifices he had made worth it. "Hm? Is this the antique you bought? How much did you pay for it? One hundred spirit stones?"
"…"
"Don't tell me… One thousand spirit stone!?" Seeing that Lu Wen remained silent after hearing what she said, Yi Xuan could not help showing a shocked expression on her face as she said this. Even for a normal outer sect elder, one thousand spirit stones were not a small number of spirit stones and would take months to get back again!
As for someone like Lu Wen who was a little more prominent among inner disciples, it was not something he was unable to pay, but was still something that would take years for him to recover from. The only exception to this being that he was lucky enough to win one of the different events that Elder Song hosted every now and then.
"It wasn't just a thousand spirit sto- Ahm! I mean, I didn't lose anything, I managed to get this precious antique from a long-lost ancient empire for a cheap price and its worth Is much more than just a few spirit stones!" Feeling like she had hit a sore spot, Lu Wen quickly defended himself as he began showing off the ancient teapot. Making sure to retell the things that the merchant had told him in an attempt to convince Yi Xuan that he had not wasted his spirit stones…
"Sure… So, what does this half-broken teapot do?"
However, Yi Xuan easily saw through this and just rolled her eyes before moving closer to inspect the ancient teapot up close. Part of her feeling curious as to just what was so special about it that had caused Lu Wen, who was normally not easy to deceive, to buy it for such an astronomically high price without first making sure that he was not in the process of being scammed.
"Ah! Don't touch it so carelessly, what if it-"
Crack~
Not even a second after Yi Xuan touched the ancient teapot and began to inspect it in detail, a clear sound of something cracking apart sounded out before the ancient teapot broke in half. Taking both Yi Xuan and Lu Wen by surprise.
"This… Sorry, I didn't expect for it to be that fragile…" Not knowing what to say after seeing the ancient teapot breaking the moment, she touched it; Yi Xuan could only smile awkwardly before apologizing to Lu Wen for destroying the ancient antique he had just wasted all his wealth to buy.
"My spirit stones and artifacts… All gone for nothing!" Not responding to what Yi Xuan said, Lu Wen just stared mindlessly at the now broken teapot while the large number of spirit stones and artifacts he had given up for the ancient antique, passed through his mind.
Even if he deep down understood that he had been scammed by the merchant, he was not willing to admit it. Believing that the connection he had felt between himself, and the ancient teapot was real and showed that it should be some amazing treasure that the merchant had just mistaken for some junk that he wanted to use to scam him with… But now that he was faced with the broken teapot that was destroyed even by a light touch, he was no longer able to convince himself that he had not been scammed. Losing what had essentially taken him two or three years to gather.
Hm? But if the ancient teapot has been destroyed, why is the connection from earlier still there…?
About to give up on the broken teapot, Lu Wen suddenly noticed that the connection he had felt from it back at the market was still present.
Crack-!
"Lu Wen? Is something wrong?"
Ignoring Yi Xuan, Lu Wen fully broke apart the ancient teapot before starting to search the broke piece of the teapot. Looking for the origin of the connection that he felt. Understanding very well that the connection he felt did not originate from the ancient teapot itself, but instead originated from something inside the ancient teapot!
Not a second later, he found what he was looking for as he pulled out a small stone that looked like a normal pebble that could be found everywhere on the ground. The only difference between the small stone and a normal pebble was the fact that the small stone had a small barely visible symbol etched into it.
"Looks like my assumption was correct." Happily muttering this to himself as he felt the clear connection between himself and the small stone in his hand, Lu Wen could not help feeling curious as to just what the small stone was. Not wasting a single second before he began to examine it closely.
"…"
As a result, Yi Xuan, who had no idea about the connection between Lu Wen and the small stone, could only stare weirdly as her respectable senior brother suddenly began to excitedly examine what looked like a small pebble to her.
Not caring about the weird look, he was getting from Yi Xuan, Lu Wen turned his attention towards the small symbol that looked like a small teapot, similar to the ancient teapot that had been destroyed just a few seconds earlier.
"Hm? What will happen if I inject some of my qi into the symbol, will it perhaps cause some kind of change?"
Whoosh-!
Not thinking too much about it, Lu Wen decided to inject a small part of his qi into the symbol on the stone to see if it had any reaction-
"What are you-"
Seeing this, Yi Xuan was about to ask him what he was doing. However, before she had a chance to say anything, a weird power engulfed them. Transporting them to some unknown location.
…
At the same time Lu Wen and Yi Xuan were transported somewhere by the small pebble with the teapot symbol on it, Xuan Hao who had been busy teaching his disciples suddenly narrowed both his eyes as his divine sense swept out and began examining the location Yi Xuan and Lu Wen had been standing less than a second ago.
"How weird, there was a change in the space inside the formation, but I can't find any clues to what might have caused it… Did someone practice a space related technique…? No, the shift in space was too big and it shouldn't have been something that would have been possible for anyone below the Soul Ascension Realm. Maybe a natural space abnormality that just happened to take place inside the sect's formation?"
Not able to find anything after looking through the area with his divine sense, Xuan Hao just shook his head before returning to training his disciples. Not thinking too much about it as it didn't look like the change in space had caused any damage to the formation or the sect.