22: Ancient mirror

In the following days, Qin Feng's life fell into a fulfilling and regular rhythm.

Every day before dawn, he was already sweating profusely in the backyard. He had long since mastered the Basic Sword Art, and every casual move carried the charm of Perfection. He began to turn to cultivating that set of Poison Jade Sword Art; to explain its origin, he simply claimed it was an ordinary Yellow Rank sword art he bought from a martial arts hall with his savings. After Doctor Chu inspected it and confirmed it wasn't an evil skill, but just a somewhat unconventional and sharp style, he let it be. With the support of the Sword Heart, his progress with this sword art was also extremely fast, and a faint hint of cold and devious intent began to emerge within the sword moves.

During the day, he was an apprentice at the Huichun Medical Hall. Gathering herbs, sorting, grinding, assisting his Master in recording pulse cases, and even lending a hand with some simple trauma treatments. His learning ability was extremely strong, and with the implicit boost to his Comprehension Ability from the 'Sword Heart,' he grasped many medical principles and herbal properties immediately, often nodding in approval from Doctor Chu. Xiao Chun was even more impressed by this Senior Brother who progressed at such a rapid pace, always coming to ask him whenever she encountered difficulties.

At night, he would either study by lamplight, delving into that thick book 'Hundred Herbs Property Analysis,' firmly memorizing the shapes, scents, effects, and principles of mutual generation and inhibition of various medicinal ingredients; or he would sit cross-legged in meditation, cultivating without cease. Seeing his rapid progress in Internal Energy, Doctor Chu worried that his self-taught Cultivation Technique might go awry, so he passed on a yellow rank high grade Internal Skill he had modified himself called the 'Green Wood Skill.' This technique was full of vitality, excelling at nourishing the Meridians, healing injuries, and sustaining Qi, making it perfectly suited for those in the medical field. Relying on his solid Foundation, Qin Feng switched to this cultivation without any obstacles; instead, he felt his Internal Energy become even more pure and thick.

With the help of the qi and blood pills and his own unremitting efforts, his cultivation naturally reached a Breakthrough to the Late Stage of the Martial Apprentice realm, and he seemed only one step away from the Martial Artist realm.

However, the daily refreshed System intelligence seemed to have become dull because his life was too 'comfortable,' consisting of trivial neighborhood gossip for several consecutive days:

[(White) The daughter of Squire Wang from the East City eloped with a groom. Squire Wang is offering a reward of fifty gold coins to find his daughter.]

[(White) Blacksmith Li from the South City discovered his apprentice secretly learning his family's secret technique, the 'Overlapping Waves Iron Forging Art,' and kicked the apprentice out in a rage.]

[(White) Widow Zhang from the North City discussed poetry and lyrics late at night with the scholar next door, and they were spotted by a neighbor getting up in the night, causing rumors to fly.]

[(White) The pastry chef recently hired by the Drunken Immortal Tower was originally a eunuch demoted from the Imperial Kitchen; his pastries are indeed extraordinary.]

[(White) Zhao Xiong, a constable of the Six Fan School, was suspended from duty for taking bribes while investigating the Fierce Tiger Gang's gambling dens.]

Looking at this miscellaneous but useless information, Qin Feng could only smile bitterly. Was it because he was staying low at the medical hall and things were too peaceful that even the System was 'slacking off'?

It wasn't until seven days after he last obtained green intelligence that the System finally refreshed a striking piece of yellow intelligence:

[(Yellow) The 'Bogu Pavilion' antique shop in the West City yesterday received an ancient-looking Bronze Water Chestnut Mirror. The mirror's body has weak, abnormal energy fluctuations, suspected to be a relic of an ancient Cultivator. If the Host can buy it, there may be some gains.]

A bronze mirror? A relic of an ancient Cultivator?

Qin Feng's spirits lifted; anything pointed to by yellow intelligence would definitely not be an ordinary item.

At noon the next day, taking advantage of a gap when the medical hall wasn't too busy, Qin Feng strolled to the Bogu Pavilion in the West City. The shop wasn't large, filled with various jars, paintings, and old books, appearing somewhat cluttered. He pretended to browse casually and soon found the Bronze Water Chestnut Mirror described in the intelligence on a corner shelf.

The mirror was about the size of a palm, with intricate water chestnut patterns on the edges and mottled bronze rust; it indeed looked quite old. He picked up the mirror; it felt slightly heavy and cold to the touch, but other than that, he didn't feel any 'abnormal energy fluctuations.'

"Boss, how much for this mirror?" he asked nonchalantly.

The shop owner was a thin middle-aged man who glanced over and said casually, "Oh, you have a good eye, customer. This is an antiquity from the previous dynasty, finely crafted. It's only fifteen silver coins."

"Fifteen? That's too expensive." Qin Feng shook his head, put down the mirror, and made a move to leave, then pointed to a few old books that looked like no one wanted them and a small clay jar. "With these added in, fifteen silver coins for everything. If that works, I'll take it."

The owner looked at the few tattered books and the inconspicuous jar; the cost combined was less than three silver coins. After a moment's thought, he readily agreed, "Deal! Since you're sincere, I'll consider it making a friend!"

Qin Feng paid the money, wrapped the bronze mirror and those 'bonuses' together, and brought them back to the medical hall.

Back in his room, he couldn't wait to take out the bronze mirror and study it carefully. After wiping away the surface dust, the mirror surface was blurry, only barely reflecting a shadow. He tried injecting a trace of Green Wood Skill Internal Energy, but the mirror didn't react at all. He tried sensing it with Mental Energy, but it was still like a stone sinking into the ocean.

"Strange..." Qin Feng turned it over and over for a long time, even following the tropes from novels in his past life by dripping a drop of blood on it, but the blood just slid off the mirror surface and wasn't absorbed. "Could the intelligence be wrong? Or does it require special conditions to trigger?"

After studying it for a long while without any results, he could only temporarily put away this seemingly ordinary bronze mirror into the System space, leaving it for future exploration. Perhaps the Opportunity hadn't arrived yet.