Library of Heaven’s Path

After taking away the middle-aged man’s Greenleaf Amber, the elder tilted his chin upward smugly before heading out. With a light chuckle, Zhang Xuan quickly followed behind him.

Leaving the market, the elder strolled along the streets for a moment before entering an alley.

Zhang Xuan swiftly flicked his finger, and that arrogant elder’s vision immediately turned black. His body faltered before toppling to the ground.

With Zhang Xuan’s strength as a Sempiternal realm consummation cultivator, dealing with a Saint 6-dan appraiser was a walk in the park.

“Soul Search!”

Without wasting any time, Zhang Xuan immediately invaded the other party’s thoughts. In an instant, he had already fully grasped the other party’s identity and background.

If he wanted to sneak into Sovereign Chen Ling’s palace, he would require a legitimate and verifiable identity. The appraisers who had been recruited into Sovereign Chen Ling’s palace would surely have to undergo rigorous identity checks in order to ensure that they were no threat before they were allowed onto the premises.

Thus, Zhang Xuan’s first goal at the market had actually been to find a reputable appraiser and assume the other party’s identity.

This way, no one would cast doubt over his identity.

“An appraiser from Kaiyong City, Wu Tao… He has already cleared Sovereign Chen Ling’s appraiser examination and is intending to make his way over soon. Well, this sure worked out in my favor. I’ll be spared a great deal of trouble this way…”

Zhang Xuan was able to find out about the appraiser’s background swiftly through Soul Search. After gathering everything that he needed to know, he lightly waved his hand.

Huala!

That arrogant Otherworldly Demon appraiser and his subordinates were reduced to dust, vanishing completely from the face of the world. The items that could be used to verify his identity had all fallen into Zhang Xuan’s hands.

“Alright, I should head over to Sovereign Chen Ling’s palace!”

The disguise amulet glowed slightly in Zhang Xuan’s hand, and his body began to transform. In the blink of an eye, he became identical to Wu Tao, such that even the latter’s closest kin would be unable to tell the two of them apart. Heaving a sigh of relief, Zhang Xuan began making his way over to Sovereign Chen Ling’s palace based on the directions that he had received from Wu Tao’s memories.

The Three Sovereigns of the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe each had their own palaces, and they were spaced equally apart in the capital. Sovereign Chen Ling’s palace was not too far from where Zhang Xuan currently was. Walking through roughly eight streets, he found himself standing before towering palace walls.

Zhang Xuan went up to the palace gates and passed the token representing his identity over to the guards. The identity token was inspected a total of eight times by numerous personnel before he was finally granted entry into the palace.

“Appraiser Wu Tao, please follow me,” one of the guards ushered.

Zhang Xuan was unable to uncover the real reason for Sovereign Chen Ling’s search for appraisers from Wu Tao’s memory. Most likely, none of the appraisers had been informed of the true reason. Thus, he leaned in toward the guard and asked in a lowered voice, “May I ask why Sovereign Chen Ling has invited us here? I would like to make some preparations beforehand so as to perform well before him.”

As he spoke, he discreetly passed a pinnacle spirit stone over.

The guard glanced at the pinnacle spirit stone before turning around to face Zhang Xuan with a wintry look on his face. “You just have to do whatever you are required to. Little schemes like this aren’t required in Sovereign Chen Ling’s palace!”

“Yes, yes!” Zhang Xuan nodded in a fluster. “I just wish to make some friends. I don’t mean anything else by it. As compensation for my thoughtless action, please accept this little gift of mine!”

“Un!” The guard hesitated for a moment before taking the pinnacle spirit stone and placing it within his storage ring. With a stern voice, he warned, “Don’t ever try this again in here!”

Following which, he turned around and continued proceeding ahead. There was a moment of silence before his hushed voice emerged. “You appraisers are being gathered in order to determine the exact value of a certain artifact. Sovereign Chen Ling has his eye on this matter, so no failures will be forgiven. If you dare overestimate the value, you could potentially lose your life. Don’t say that I didn’t warn you!”

Zhang Xuan hurriedly nodded in response.

The value of an artifact lay not only in its functionality but also its history. As such, appraisers would tend to append additional value to an artifact depending on the identity of its owner, but that could lead to some inaccuracies in the determined value.

Even if one imitated a work of art to the point where one could hardly tell the difference, the gap in the price between the original and the imitation would still be vast.

What the guard was saying was very simple. Regardless of the history of the artifact that he was going to appraise, he should determine its value based on its pragmatic functionality. There was no need to consider other factors.

“Keep that in mind, and it should be fine. I’ll take you over right now. I’m just a subordinate, so I can’t say for sure what kind of mission will be assigned to you. Nevertheless, I wish you the best of luck,” the guard muttered quietly before falling silent.

It seemed like this was the extent of the intelligence that he had on hand.

“I’m truly indebted to you!” Zhang Xuan replied respectfully as he passed another pinnacle spirit stone over.

The situation was truly a little bewildering. To think that Sovereign Chen Ling had really brought appraisers into his palace in order to appraise an artifact.

He had seen with his own eyes how severely injured Sovereign Chen Ling was back at the Temple of Confucius. It was only due to his superior cultivation that he did not lose his life on the spot. Yet, after returning to his base, instead of seeking treatment for his injuries, he had chosen to bring appraisers in instead.

Zhang Xuan found this extremely difficult to comprehend.

Following behind the guard, he soon arrived before a splendid looking hall.

There were numerous shelves within the hall, and all sorts of treasures sat quietly on those shelves. A sizeable number of appraisers were wandering around the shelves, examining the treasures on them intently.

As soon as Zhang Xuan entered the hall, another guard immediately walked over and spoke with an authoritative tone.

“You are one of the recruited appraisers, correct? Your task right now is to appraise all of the artifacts in the room. You are to write down each of their values on a piece of paper and place them into the corresponding boxes. Start from the first artifact over there. Remember, you are not to interact with any of the other candidates; anyone caught talking will be killed without any hesitation!”

Knowing that this was another challenge that Sovereign Chen Ling had prepared to test the appraisers that he had recruited, Zhang Xuan nodded before making his way over to the shelves.

In front of the first artifact on the first shelf, there was a box that resembled the polling boxes from his previous life. There was a unique seal inscribed on the box that prevented anyone from taking out or peering into the contents of the box. In other words, it was impossible to read the answers of other appraisers through Spiritual Perception.

To have so many appraisers gauge the value of the same artifacts… Sovereign Chen Ling is really trying to filter the group down to the cream of the crop! Zhang Xuan thought as he looked around the room.

The appraiser who had come before him had already finished appraising the first artifact and placed his estimate into the box before proceeding ahead.

With no chance to communicate with one another, this test would really assess the capability of the appraiser to value artifacts.

Zhang Xuan walked up to the first artifact to take a closer look at it. It was a black ore with a slightly rough texture. Astonishingly, he was unable to tell what kind of material it was with a single glance.

Thus, he stretched his hand forward, and a book swiftly materialized in the Library of Heaven’s Path.

“Stone of the Fallen Star, an ore that can only be mined from the Deep Abyss of Skynorth. It has the effect of calming inner demons…”

The book detailed the value and flaws of the black ore.

After browsing through the content of the book, Zhang Xuan did not rush to jot down the value of the black ore. Instead, he continued to examine it for a while longer before finally grabbing a blank piece of paper to write down the value that he had estimated.

The currency that he chose to use for his valuation was of course Great Yong coins and pinnacle spirit stones.

After slipping the paper into the box, Zhang Xuan moved on to the next artifact.

It was another rare ore that was of similar value to the Stone of Fallen Star.

Just like that, Zhang Xuan appraised five artifacts. He could not help but raise his eyebrows a little upon realizing that the artifacts that were on display on the shelf were all ores.

In truth, appraising ores was not too difficult. As long as one could correctly determine the properties of the ore, one would be able to easily estimate its value. But if it was a test, it did not make sense to use ores of similar values. Just what in the world was Sovereign Chen Ling up to?

After appraising ten ores, there was finally a change to the genre of the artifacts—medicinal herbs.

Some of the medicinal herbs on display were fresh whereas some were already dried and withered, making it extremely difficult to discern them properly. Keeping Wu Tao’s limited capabilities as an appraiser into mind, Zhang Xuan intentionally slowed down.

For some plants, he acted as if he was unable to determine its value, such that he took out a book and began jotting down notes, seemingly attempting to make a clever deduction.

“Alright, we shall be ending the appraisal today. Please return and rest well. We shall continue the appraisal tomorrow!”

After some time, a voice suddenly sounded from outside the hall. Following which, a middle-aged man walked right into the very center of the room.