The Grand Magus In Murim

Chapter 10: The Stones and The Junk

Ling Tianyu stepped out into the morning light of the eastern courtyard with a stride that carried the weight of a man who had never known a day of illness. Gone was the translucent, waxy skin that had haunted his parents for three years. In its place stood a youthful, resilient vigor. His shoulders were squared, his posture was refined, and his eyes held a clarity that seemed to pierce through the physical world.

As he walked toward the main hall, Madam Xu was the first to see him. She dropped the silk cloth she had been holding, her eyes widening in disbelief. Ling Zhenghai, who had been reviewing ledgers at the head of the table, stood up slowly. They looked at their son and saw a stranger wearing the face they had missed for so long. The lingering shadows of his long coma had vanished, replaced by the vitality of a healthy eighteen-year-old.

"Tianyu?" Madam Xu whispered, her voice trembling.

Tianyu offered a gentle, reassuring smile. "I am feeling quite well, Mother. Better than I have in a long time."

He walked to her and placed the jade amulet he had crafted into her palm. The stone was cool, humming with a faint, steady rhythm that instantly soothed the worry lines on her forehead. It was his first gift, a passive charm for health and vitality. After assuring them of his recovery, he turned to his father with a businesslike glint in his eyes. He requested a substantial amount of silver, claiming he needed to experiment further with his recovery methods through the jade arts. Ling Zhenghai, seeing the undeniable proof of his son's health, did not ask a single question. He simply nodded and gestured for his steward to bring the gold.

With his pockets heavy, Tianyu did not hesitate. He left the manor immediately, returning to the chaotic heart of Qinghe City.

The jade market was not nearly as orderly as the apothecary. Here, vendors dealt in gambling stones, raw and unopened. Most of these rocks were nothing more than glorified gravel, but to a seasoned eye, the potential for hidden treasure made the trade addictive. Tianyu did not browse the polished displays. Instead, he walked straight to the back alleys where the discarded, unpolished crates sat under dust-covered tarps.

He reached out, his hand hovering over crate after crate. Most were cold, dead things of simple earth. But every few seconds, his fingers would prickle. He would stop, point at a stone, and signal for the vendor to set it aside. His behavior was odd. He was not checking for color, texture, or weight. He was buying based on a silent, inner frequency.

"Put that one in the cart," Tianyu said, gesturing to a particularly ugly, cracked stone.

"Young master, that is just river rock," the vendor laughed, watching the silver exchange hands. "You are just throwing money away."

"Just load it," Tianyu replied, his voice indifferent to the crowd beginning to gather.

Observers sneered as Tianyu continued. He bought rocks that looked like dried mud. He bought jagged pieces of slate. He filled three carts in less than an hour. The onlookers mocked him, whispering about the spoiled young master who had returned from a coma only to squander his family fortune on junk. Tianyu ignored them. They saw trash, but he felt the latent potential of qi trapped within these shells. He arranged for the delivery to be sent straight to his private quarters, ensuring no one would see what he truly intended to do with them.

As he finalized the transaction, he began to make his way back toward the city gates. However, his path took him past a row of dilapidated stalls that specialized in broken goods and scrap metal. He intended to walk past them, but a sudden, violent tug on his consciousness stopped him dead in his tracks.

It was a pull so sharp that it mirrored the feeling of standing in the presence of the World Tree.

His gaze snapped toward a pile of rusted iron and splintered wood. He stepped closer, ignoring the grime. Buried beneath a heap of broken swords was the shaft of a long spear. The head was gone, sheared off by some ancient impact, but the rod itself remained. It was dark, almost black, and felt remarkably cold to the touch. When Tianyu grabbed it, he felt the resonance of life. It was not dead wood. It was dormant.

Beside it lay other broken relics. A shattered heavy axe head made of an unknown, heavy alloy that hummed with static energy. A bow made of a translucent, bone-like material that bent without breaking despite being snapped in two.

Tianyu did not know what they were. The metal was not steel, and the wood was not cedar. But the sensation they gave him was identical to the materials he had once used to craft the most potent artifacts of Grandia. They were leftovers from a time when the world was far more dangerous and far more magical than the current era of martial artists.

"I will take all of these," Tianyu said, his voice dropping to a low, serious tone.

The stall owner blinked, eyeing the trash pile. "The broken stuff? Those are just scrap. I keep them around for the weight."

Tianyu reached into his robe and tossed a pouch of silver on the table. It was more than enough to buy the entire stall. "They are not scrap. Load them into the cart with the stones."

As the vendor scrambled to obey, Tianyu looked at the dark spear shaft in his hands. The mockery of the jade sellers faded from his mind. He had come to the market seeking raw jade, but he had stumbled upon something far more ancient. The world of martial artists had hidden these treasures away in junkyards, unaware that they were holding pieces of history.

He climbed into his carriage, the weight of the new acquisitions reassuring him. His foundation was growing. With the jade to create his magic circles and these ancient components to serve as the physical vessels, the former Grand Magus began to see the shape of his future. He was not just returning to his old power. He was building something entirely new. The path ahead was dark, but he had never feared the shadows before.