Chapter 52: Absolute Zero
After spending so many years in this world, Long Xuan was no longer the naive person he once was. He often sent his clones to the markets to find places with books. Then, he used the Origin Realm to replicate these scenes, allowing his clones to read all the books within the illusion.
The clones would then return the acquired knowledge to his main body. As a result, although Long Xuan appeared unlearned and never read books, he was actually extremely knowledgeable, understanding a bit of everything.
Others might not recognize Millennium Ice Essence, but he certainly wouldn't miss it.
With a heart full of anticipation, Long Xuan, led by the young man, entered the cave mansion.
Along the way, the young man held a silver token, which allowed them to pass through various formations unimpeded into the cave mansion.
To avoid being disturbed by demonic cultivators, the cave was surrounded by numerous formations. Only those carrying an object called an "Array Guide" could move through these formations freely.
The Array Guide was like a key to these formations. Anyone who entered without it would be obliterated by the formations, which was why the young man waited outside for Long Xuan.
Initially, Long Xuan was a bit worried. What if he and Master Jin didn't get along, and things turned hostile? Wouldn't he be in danger within the formations?
Should he perhaps use the excuse of needing to relieve himself and let a clone replace him?
However, a quick scan of the surroundings with his Eye of Heavenly secret dismissed such thoughts.His golden finger could see where the formation bases were buried. If anything went wrong, he could quickly and violently break the formations from within.
Moreover, his Eye of Heavenly secret had a slight x-ray vision ability. Formation bases were generally not buried deeply, and he could enlarge the formation patterns in his vision.
What did this mean? In his microscopic world, formations were like software codes he could directly see, making them easy for him to crack.
Furthermore, these were formations by Di Xin. Considering he got knowledge from Di Xin, he was very familiar with her formations.
Unintentionally, he had developed another ability for his Eye of Heavenly secret, realizing how terrifying it was to have the power to destroy mountain-protecting formations of various races at will.
"Young friend Long, you finally arrived! I've been waiting for you. Please come in; the food and drinks are ready. Let's chat while we eat!"
Upon entering the cave mansion, a muscular man with a big smile greeted him warmly. This was the renowned Master Jin, a muscular man typical of most weapon refiners.
"How could I not come to Master Jin's invitation? To be honest, I was just eating at the Qian's Restaurant. Upon hearing you were hosting a banquet, I didn't even finish my meal and jumped out the window to come here. I saved my appetite for this."
"I'm not joking. You can check with Qian's Restaurant if you don't believe me."
"Hahaha... please come in!"
The two chatted happily as they walked deeper into the cave mansion. The cave was vast and not simply decorated, with many secret chambers dug out. It took Long Xuan quite a while to reach the spacious main hall.
Several of Master Jin's disciples were busy in the hall, indicating that he had quite a few students.
Long Xuan sat down at the table without hesitation. Despite Master Jin's words about waiting for a long time, there was not a single dish on the stone table, suggesting he had just arrived.
Long Xuan didn't point this out and continued making small talk with Master Jin. However, after a while, he couldn't see Master Jin bringing out the Millennium ice Essence and became impatient. He went straight to the point: "Since the food isn't served yet, Master Jin, why don't you show me that piece of Millennium ice Essence first?"
"Haha! You're quite impatient. Very well. This thing is extremely cold; you won't want to eat hot dishes once it's out."
Master Jin laughed, putting on thick gloves before taking out a blue crystal from his storage bag. The crystal was translucent and beautiful, yet emitted a terrifying chill.
Its presence instantly dropped the temperature of the cave mansion, making it feel like an ice cellar. Even across the table, Long Xuan felt the bone-chilling cold, causing him to shiver. One could only imagine the cold Master Jin was enduring while holding it.
No wonder he wore gloves. Such intense cold would freeze his hands without them.
Even without examining it closely, Long Xuan knew this piece of Millennium ice Essence was genuine. A fake could never produce such an extreme effect.
In his previous life, high temperatures could be infinitely high, but the lowest temperature was only minus two hundred degrees Celsius, known as absolute zero.
However, this world broke that limit. Here, low temperatures had no limit, potentially reaching minus millions or tens of millions of degrees.
The Millennium ice Essence surpassed the absolute zero of his previous world. He couldn't imagine how low the temperature would be if the Divine ice Flame was refined.
His heart raced as he looked at the progress of the Millennium Cold Ice Marrow, becoming even more excited.
[99.9999%]
What did this mean? Once the progress of the Millennium Cold Ice Marrow reached 100%, it would evolve into Ten Thousand-Year Ice Essence.
A thousand years made it Millennium Cold Ice Marrow, but even after nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine years, it was still Millennium Cold Ice Marrow. Wasn't that different?
If he bought this piece of Millennium ice Essence and stored it in a special environment for a few days, it would become Ten Thousand-Year Ice Essence, worth far more than what he paid. The thought thrilled him.
Given this progress, he estimated he wouldn't have to wait long to get a piece of Ten Thousand-Year ice Essence. His luck was simply incredible.
Though the Divine Ice Flame recipe required Millennium Cold Ice Marrow, replacing it with Ten Thousand-Year ice Essence would make the ice flame even more terrifying, not worse. He had truly found a treasure today.
Despite his inner joy, Long Xuan understood the art of negotiation. He maintained a calm demeanor but not too indifferent, as overacting would be suspicious.
"So this is the legendary Millennium ice Essence? It does look impressive. Let me take a closer look and verify its authenticity." Long Xuan said calmly.
"Here..." Master Jin smiled.
Since they were in his home, Master Jin wasn't worried about Long Xuan taking his treasure and running off. He generously placed the Millennium ice Essence on the stone table.
Instantly, a thin layer of ice formed on the stone table, startling Long Xuan.
Such terrifying power made him even more hesitant to touch it.
He didn't need to verify it; the progress indicator already confirmed its authenticity. Long Xuan stood up, pretending to study it for a moment, then looked at Master Jin and said:
"We rogue cultivators haven't seen much and haven't systematically studied treasure appraisal. I can't be sure if this is real."
"But I'd rather be safe than sorry. I'm going to buy it. Master Jin, name your price!" Long Xuan said, appearing conflicted and hesitant before finally speaking.
"Haha, you have quite the courage to buy something you aren't sure about."
"But even if you're not sure, I'll still sell it as if it were real. You'd better be prepared for my price."
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