thefictionvixens Chapter 74 Martial Soul Treasury
Chapter 74 Martial Soul Treasury
The Spirit Hall's treasury, to put it bluntly, is an internal supermarket open to its own employees. Although Li Fulan holds that gold-plated "Honorary Elder" token, its current access level is only that of a "Bronze Member," limiting it to the first floor.
The entrance to the treasure vault is a heavy bronze gate, with intricate soul patterns carved on its surface. It is said to be a protective formation personally set up by a titled Douluo.
When Li Fulan placed the token on the sensing slot, the soul patterns lit up one by one like activated fireflies. Then, the door slowly slid open to both sides, revealing the dimly lit passageway inside.
The first-floor vault was much larger than Li Fulan had imagined, measuring over a hundred feet square. Dozens of eternally burning soul lamps hung high in the dome, illuminating the entire space. Countless display cases of varying sizes were embedded in the four walls, each containing all sorts of items that shimmered with light, some bright and some dim, under the illumination.
At first glance, it does indeed have a dazzling array of items.
But Li Fulan only glanced at it and silently labeled the place a "tourist shop" in her mind.
Closest to the entrance was a row of display cases showcasing weapons. The swords, spears, and halberds were polished to a gleaming shine, and their arrangement was quite sophisticated, giving them a truly imposing presence from a distance.
Li Fulan approached for a closer look and discovered that most of them were mass-produced, standard soul-guided weapons. Although the materials were of good quality, they were just ordinary refined steel and had no special soul-enchanting effects.
A weapon labeled "Howling Moon Longsword" was placed in the most conspicuous position, with a tag stating that it would cost 50 contribution points to exchange. Li Fulan reached out and picked it up, finding it fairly light and the balance of the blade acceptable. However, upon closer inspection, she noticed several fine chipping marks on the blade, indicating that it was a secondhand item that had been used for some time before being "donated" here.
Beside it was a shield called "Mysterious Iron Barrier," priced at 80 contribution points. Li Fulan tapped it with his knuckles; the sound was dull and hollow. Anyone with expertise would know that the thing was hollow inside and would probably deform under a heavy blow.
Further inside was an area displaying blueprints for soul tools. Dozens of yellowed parchment scrolls were neatly stacked on shelves, each scroll's cover bearing the blueprint's name in cursive script. Li Fulan casually pulled out a scroll, unfolded it, and saw it was a blueprint for a "Basic Soul Gathering Lamp," priced at only 5 contribution points.
He glanced at the blueprints and found that the technical sophistication was roughly equivalent to a middle school student's craft project. The core principle was to use a special soul stone as an energy source, combined with simple array inscription, to achieve a long-lasting glow. You could buy a finished product like this for a dozen or so gold soul coins on the market; it wasn't worth the effort to make it yourself.
The other scroll of blueprints was slightly more advanced, showing the crafting method for an "intermediate storage bag," priced at 200 contribution points. Li Fulan flipped through it and found that the capacity of this storage bag was roughly equivalent to a regular wooden box, and there were strict weight limits on the items stored; exceeding fifty pounds would cause the space to collapse. For someone like him who carried millions of gold coins, this thing wouldn't even be enough to fill a tooth gap.
The low-grade herb section was well-stocked, with three whole rows of shelves filled with all kinds of medicinal herbs.
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However, after careful examination, Li Fulan discovered that most of these so-called "rare herbs" were common varieties less than a hundred years old, such as the Fire Red Fruit, the Blood Ginseng, and the Nine-Leaf Lingzhi. These could be bought in outside herbal medicine shops for a little money and were not worth exchanging for contribution points.
The only thing that caught his eye was a plant labeled "Three-Hundred-Year-Old Thunder Spirit Grass." This thing did have some value for Soul Masters who cultivated thunder-attribute techniques, as it could be used to concoct pills to enhance soul power. But for someone like Li Fulan who followed the fire-attribute path, taking it home meant he could only keep it as a potted plant.
At the other end of the shelf were some rather exquisite-looking ornaments. There were belt buckles inlaid with gemstones, jade pendants carved with soul beast patterns, and wristbands woven with gold thread. These items did indeed sparkle under the light, easily giving people the illusion that they were "worth a lot of money."
But Li Fulan knew at a glance that these things were nothing more than pretty but useless decorations. Most of the gemstones were made from inferior crystals dyed with soul power, and the patina on the so-called "antique jade pendants" was obviously artificially aged. As for the gold-threaded wristband... Li Fulan suspected that it wasn't gold thread at all, but rather copper wire plated with gold powder.
Xiao Wu, on the other hand, was thoroughly enjoying herself, occasionally pointing at the sparkly objects and exclaiming in amazement. Her eyes sparkled with childlike innocence as she lingered over a jade pendant engraved with a rabbit pattern, muttering, "So beautiful, Master, can we exchange this for something else?"
Li Fulan rubbed her head without saying a word.
Deep down, he was having a fierce吐槽 (tu cao, a Chinese internet slang term for roasting or criticizing) contest.
These things are so shabby they wouldn't even fool a three-year-old. The entire first-floor treasury of the Martial Spirit Hall is filled with this kind of trash? Are they trying to take advantage of the uncultured bumpkins who come to exchange for these items?
Those so-called Howling Moon Longswords and Xuan Iron Protective Barriers, in the world before he transmigrated, would only be of the standard quality found in a small wholesale market like Yiwu. And they dare to display them here as treasures?
Li Fulan stood with his hands behind his back, inspecting the market like a picky old man. His gaze swept over the rows of shelves, his expression growing increasingly subtle. If it weren't for the fact that this was Spirit Hall territory, he would have liked to just turn around and leave.
Just as I was about to grab something to hand over, my peripheral vision was suddenly drawn to a dusty glass cabinet in the corner.
The cabinet was placed in the most secluded corner of the first-floor vault, surrounded by piles of dusty clutter, clearly untouched for a long time. The glass surface was covered in dust, making it almost impossible to see what was inside. But through that hazy glass, Li Fulan vaguely sensed an extremely strong energy fluctuation.
It was a scorching, magma-like aura, as if a volcano was hiding inside the cabinet, ready to erupt at any moment.
A thought struck Li Fulan, and she quickly walked to the cabinet, reaching out to wipe away the dust on its surface.
The next second, his pupils suddenly contracted.
Inside lay a piece of crimson bone, resembling a right hand metacarpal bone. It floated silently in the cabinet, the surrounding air seemingly distorted by its intense heat, with faint flame-like patterns visible flowing within the bone.
The patterns writhed like living things, sometimes coalescing into the shape of flames, and sometimes dissipating into flowing magma. Each change released a scorching energy wave.
This is a soul bone. And it is a soul bone.
However, this soul bone seems to be incomplete, only the size of a palm.
Li Fulan's breathing quickened slightly. As someone who had transmigrated from the modern world, he was intimately familiar with the various settings of the Douluo Continent. Soul bones were precious remains that had a very small chance of condensing after a soul beast died; fusing with them could grant the user some of the soul beast's abilities from its lifetime. Depending on the location, soul bones were divided into skull bones, torso bones, and limb bones, with the most precious being external soul bones.
The metacarpal bone before us is part of the right arm bone. Although not as rare as the skull or torso bones, it is still a treasure that is hard to come by. More importantly, the energy fluctuations emanating from this soul bone are extremely dense, indicating that it is at least a ten-thousand-year-old artifact.
Li Fulan suppressed her excitement and looked down at the label under the cabinet.
Item: Flame Lord's Exploding Right Palm Bone. Age: 30,000 years. Exchange Price: 1000 Contribution Points.
He almost burst out laughing.
Which intern listed this price? Throwing a ten-thousand-year soul bone into a newbie village shop and listing it for a pittance? It's like finding a max-level artifact in a level 1 weapon shop in an online game's newbie village, and the price is only 1 gold coin!
A 30,000-year-old fire-attribute soul bone would have a starting bid of at least five million gold soul coins at an outside auction. If several fire-attribute soul masters were bidding against each other, the final price could easily reach tens of millions, multiplying three to five times. But here, it only requires 1000 contribution points, which is a mere million gold soul coins?
Li Fulan no longer wanted to complain about the Spirit Hall's pricing logic. Without saying a word, he swiped the token onto the sensor slot.
"Beep—Redeem successful."
With a soft click as the glass case opened, the priceless soul bone fell into his palm. The instant he touched it, a scorching heat emanated from the bone's surface, a sensation akin to holding a freshly forged branding iron. But for Li Fulan, who cultivated fire-attribute techniques, this heat not only caused no harm but also brought him a sense of comfort.
He stored the soul bone in his storage ring, called out to Xiao Wu who was still reluctant to part with the rabbit jade pendant, and strode towards the exit of the treasure vault.
Outside the treasure vault, Elder Yuan, who was drinking tea to calm his nerves, suddenly heard a piercing alarm sound from the crystal ball in his hand.
That crystal ball is the monitoring terminal of the treasure vault, displaying the exchange records of any item in real time. Normally, the exchanges on the first floor of the treasure vault are mostly for worthless trinkets, which Elder Yuan wouldn't bother to look at. But the alarm sound just now was particularly jarring; it was a special signal specifically used to alert that "important items have been exchanged."
Elder Yuan looked down and his originally ruddy face instantly turned deathly pale, then turned a deep liver color, and he spat out a mouthful of tea.
"Oh no! Oh no! Something terrible has happened!"
Elder Yuan, disregarding his image, rushed towards Li Fulan, who had just emerged, shouting in a trembling voice, "You...you swapped the Flame Lord's soul bone?!"
Seeing this, Hu Liena's charming eyes flashed with a hint of doubt. She crossed her arms and leaned to the side to watch the show: "Elder, it's just a soul bone, isn't it? Although it's precious, it has 10,000 contribution points. It's no big deal to exchange it."
"Oh dear, my Miss Hu Liena!" Elder Yuan slapped his thigh in frustration. "That floor only has that one soul bone! It's the most prized treasure of our branch hall, used to give those low-ranking deacons a false promise... no, to motivate them! That thing is actually worth at least ten million gold soul coins, and it's priceless! If it weren't for being a broken soul bone, it wouldn't even be available on the first floor!"
Elder Yuan explained, on the verge of tears, "Logically speaking, a deacon who can stay on the first floor would never accumulate 1000 contribution points in their entire life! And someone who could accumulate 1000 points would have already advanced to the second or third floor, and wouldn't even look down on the trash on that floor! Who would have thought that such a freak would come along... who directly spent money to accumulate 10,000 contribution points!"
This is a classic system loophole. A theoretically possible redemption option was set up because it was assumed that no one could meet the conditions, but then they encountered Li Fulan, a pay-to-win player who doesn't play by the rules.
"Then... what do we do?" Hu Liena was also stunned, her gaze towards Li Fulan becoming even more peculiar. This guy is not only rich, but his luck is also ridiculously good; it's like he's come to the Spirit Hall to buy supplies!
Just as Elder Yuan was pacing anxiously, wondering whether he should swallow his pride and try to get the soul bone back,
A majestic and icy voice seemed to pierce through layers of space, exploding directly in everyone's minds.
"Let him come over."
The voice wasn't loud, yet it carried a chilling, oppressive quality. Elder Yuan froze, then immediately bowed respectfully, offering a salute to the void.
It is His Holiness Pope Bibidon!
Elder Yuan wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and his gaze toward Li Fulan became extremely complex, containing both envy and sympathy.
"Elder Li... Elder Li," Elder Yuan swallowed, his tone becoming unusually polite, "His Holiness the Pope... requests to see you. Please follow Miss Hu Liena to the Papal Palace."