Talk Part 2

"By the way, Mei, Lin Qing mentioned that you had some good news?" I asked.

"Oh yes, I almost forgot" Mei said, her face lighting up. "In essence, I have an idea of what to do with the vase and how to unlock its secret."

"Seriously? I want details!" I exclaimed.

"Basically, after talking to some people, I found out that this sealing method isn't particularly rare; it was used in the times of the great sects! Could you please hand me the vase?"

I eagerly handed Mei the vase, waiting to see what she would do next.

"Are you okay with me breaking it?" she asked. "It's necessary. We can do it without breaking it, but it will significantly slow down the progress, and it might take a lot of time to achieve what I want without damaging the vase."

"Break it, I don't mind" I replied. "I couldn't decipher the unlocking pattern, and I can't stand looking at this vase anymore."

Mei nodded and began preparing to break the vase, a determined look on her face.

Click.

"Mei shifted her gaze from the vase, which had now turned into dust and settled on the floor. In its place, there was a piece of jade about the size of a matchbox hanging in the air.

'What you're seeing, Master, is a type of hidden dimensional space gem, a relic from the times of the great sects' Mei said as she held the piece of jade in her hand. I continued to listen intently.

'The concept was that these dimensional space gems were placed within everyday objects, things that no one would ever suspect. In this case, it was the vase. Over time, if the person who sealed it wasn't particularly skilled in the art of arrays, the sealing array could deteriorate, leading to the effects we saw in this vase' she explained.

'How do you know all this?' I asked with curiosity.

'In our province, this knowledge isn't widespread, as we are somewhat behind compared to our neighbors. But have you heard of the Black Wasteland?'"

"Yeah, I've heard of it, but it's a forbidden territory, as far as I know" I said, not entirely sure where this conversation was headed.

"The essence of it is that, first and foremost, this continent was the pinnacle of civilization during the era of the Great Sects.

After an unknown catastrophe, it became a restricted zone. Currently, access to the continent is controlled by three sects, but that's not the point.

Occasionally, some artifacts from this zone surface and are sold at auctions, if they're found in places where we can reasonably expect high-ranking individuals once lived.

But, again, not here. Some of these items are sold as trinkets or souvenirs; it's not a big deal. I met a traveler who came here for an upcoming auction, and that's how I got this information.

It's not that uncommon, as many people from that era had such personal storage spaces. However, there's an issue.

Opening them is quite expensive if you don't know the activation key because, typically, these bags aren't valued unless they belonged to a sect or high-ranking individuals.

The problem is that it's not always easy to tell who the spatial storage belonged to" Mei explained.

"Wow, that's fascinating! How do they open these storage spaces?" I asked.

"So basically, i got array to break the attachment to the previous owner and open it. I've obtained it. The catch is that it will cost around 3,000 spirit gems, which is certainly not a small sum" Mei explained.

"Wow, that's approximately 3 million spirit stones! That's quite something!" I exclaimed.

"Yes, are you sure it's worth it?" Mei asked.

"Trust me, yes. I believe that with Ye Chen, such luck, and everything he acquires will be valuable in one way or another" I assured her.

"Alright, I'll get everything prepared. It will take a couple of days; it's not as straightforward as it seems" Mei said.

"Okay, by the way, I have some interesting news as well" I mentioned.

"Is it about Ye Chen? If it's about what happened today and what you were discussing, then I'm afraid I already know" Mei replied.

I turned to Lin Qing and noticed that she was examining our walls with genuine interest, seemingly oblivious to our conversation.

"Well, yes, but not just that. I mean, not only that. In a way..." I began, not entirely sure how to explain.

"It is about item I can get, I can try materializing an item right now" I finally stated.

"Oh" Mei exclaimed, her eyes wide open. "Master, can we do this in the morning? I need to think and discuss some things with Lin Qing."

"Alright, then I'll wait for you in the morning. Go about your business and contemplate. If I stay, I'm afraid you won't come to any conclusions by morning. I'll go practice" I replied, turning and walking away. It was time to expend some excess energy, and if the pleasant method wasn't available today, I'd engage in something useful!

***

Mei:

When the master left his office and left Lin Qing and me alone, I continued to contemplate the emerging possibilities. After some time, I snapped out of my thoughts and turned to Lin Qing.

"What about the crystals that Ye Chen needs? How difficult will it be to create them?" I asked.

She pondered for a few seconds and replied, "In general, it's not too difficult, but I'm afraid the first few attempts might not be successful. On the other hand, considering that we grind some of the crystals into dust and use them as fertilizer, there's no issue. There's a vast deposit of сelestium there. Once we set up a base and create a place to store it, we'll need to mine it. We've disguised the approaches, but accidents happens. That's how we discovered it in the first place."

"Alright, no problem. The main thing is that we can make them. What do you think about the Blue Mist Elder?"

"Well, I've been thinking about what we can do with him given the new information" Lin Qing replied.

I tilted my head slightly, waiting for her to continue.

"Considering that he manages the funds that will be transferred to the inner circle and holds items intended for the auction, if we acquire something that can put him in an peril position for example steal something valuable and make it known, after checking if he has any immediate political opponents, we can shift the blame onto them. Since a direct confrontation is not feasible at the moment due to our current weakness, I believe this is the optimal approach."

"That sounds intriguing. I would only add the appearance of a third party, represented by us, but with a conditional distant relative who happens to visit us with a strong cultivation and brings us a small amount of celestium as a gift, something we intend to auction" I suggested.

"Why?" Lin Qing questioned.

"Firstly, it would give us a substantial "backer", not just an average middle-class family. With our current background, they wouldn't pay much attention to us, but it doesn't hurt to be cautious.

Secondly, it's not widely known, but they plan to bring items from the Vague Continent to this auction, and there could be a lot of interesting things. We don't have that many finances, and it would be good to have more spirit gems. "

"Understood." Lin Qing replied

I continued "Also, considering that there will be many people from other sects attending due to the interesting items, we could try to complicate Blue Mist Elder's life, although I'm not sure how exactly yet" I explained.

"Sounds good"

"Go ahead and make us 3-4 of those celestium crystals. I'll check on the young master and see if he needs any assistance" I said with a smile.

"As you wish, madam" Lin Qing replied with a slight bow and exited the room.

Now, where are those new stockings and lingerie I ordered today?