Chapter 61: The Good Things Are Always Free! (1/2)

Si Qian had a lively and straightforward personality, and she was very blunt when speaking. Upon hearing the old man say that he wasn’t selling the stove, she immediately rushed over: “If you’re not selling it, why did you take it out? You’ve brought it out, why not sell it?”

“Is it because I just said that your stuff is all broken and worn out, and now you’re purposely not selling it to my junior sister just because she wants to buy it? If that’s the case, I apologize!”

“We’ve been walking around Yunhai City the whole day, and my junior sister has seen many stoves, but none of them made her ask for the price. This stove, though it looks extremely ugly, my junior sister has already asked about it. This shows that it must have something extraordinary about it.”

“Since you’ve already brought it out to use as a bench, it seems like you want to sell it, right? If not, why don’t you just use a stone from the roadside as a bench? Or do you think we can’t afford it?”

The old man’s mouth twitched, and then he gave a proud and dismissive snort: “I’m not selling it! You all can’t afford it anyway, so go on, go on!”

Si Qian, with her fiery temper, had never seen such a stubborn old man. Just as she was about to continue arguing with him, she was stopped by Ye Qingning.

Ye Qingning had a feeling that the old man was probably one of those mysterious experts who let the main character stumble upon hidden treasures, but his personality was just a bit quirky.

She said: “Senior, my senior sister is straightforward by nature, so if anything we said offended you, I hope you can forgive us. I’m not very good with words, and if I’ve upset you as well, I also apologize. I know the origin of this stove, and seeing that you’re using it as a bench, I couldn’t help but ask about the price.”

“After all, you’ve placed it here as a bench. Anyone who sees it would think it’s useless to you. Wouldn’t it make sense to sell it?”

“If you didn’t care about it, even if it was a precious item, it would still be trash in your eyes.”

“But often, what others consider to be trash may not truly be useless. If you encounter someone who understands it, even trash can be turned into treasure. Do you think my words make sense?”

Si Qian and the others were completely confused. What was this about trash and turning it into treasure? They couldn’t understand at all.

However, the old man seemed to understand and raised an eyebrow, sizing Ye Qingning up carefully.

He had been in Yunhai City for a few days, and although some people had noticed that he was sitting on an unusual bench and asked if it was a stove, no one had ever directly pointed out the stove’s origins or spoken to him in such a manner.

This young girl, however, seemed to be quite perceptive. She had even figured out that he had purposely placed the floating stove as trash, just to see if anyone could recognize the seemingly useless iron block as a treasure.

Compared to the blunt and thoughtless junior sister, this girl knew how to talk.

“I didn’t expect you, little girl, to be so insightful. You speak clearly as well. So tell me, what’s the origin of this stove?”

“Don’t worry, there’s no one around.”

Ye Qingning felt that the old man meant there was indeed no one nearby. She lowered her voice and replied: “This is a floating stove, a square stove without legs, forged from floating light ore. It has a spiritual formation inside to maintain its floating state and automatically controls the fire and spiritual energy.”

“Moreover, the stove is extremely light and thin, and even though the flames burn inside, there’s not a single trace of heat that escapes. Even if you touch it, you won’t feel any warmth.”

“At first, I didn’t realize that this was a stove. It wasn’t until I caught a faint medicinal fragrance that I noticed it. I believe not long ago, you must have used it to refine some medicine.”

The three other people were stunned, not expecting that this ugly iron block was actually a floating stove. It sounded quite impressive, and no wonder none of the previous stoves had caught Ye Qingning’s eye.

Who would have guessed that such an extraordinary treasure was hidden in such a shabby stall?

Junior Sister Ning is amazing! She could recognize it just like that!

But now, would the old man still sell it?

Chapter 61: The Good Things Are Always Free! (2/2)

The old man’s eyes were filled with surprise as he stared at Ye Qingning. He hadn’t expected her not only to know the origin of the floating stove but also to know that he had recently used it to refine medicine. This really caught him off guard.

He had initially thought she was just a newcomer, but now it seemed that her understanding of alchemy was far beyond what he had anticipated.

He even squinted his eyes and smiled: “Little girl, this floating stove has been with me for many years. I never intended to sell it. I just wanted to find someone fateful enough to pass it on to.”

“Since you’ve already identified its origin, you’re clearly an insightful person. Whether you’re destined to have this stove is up to you.”

“Senior, what do you mean by that?”

“Just now, you mentioned that you smelled the medicinal fragrance and guessed that I had recently used it to refine something. Well then, answer me, what medicine did I refine? If you get it right, I’ll give you this floating stove.”

The four of them were dumbfounded. Who could possibly answer that? ∑(´△｀)

It’s said that identifying medicinal herbs requires great care, not only recognizing their appearance, smell, properties, and effects, but also knowing the spiritual materials used in their refinement. Even so, many ancient medicines are still not identified.

Even a master alchemist might make mistakes.

How could anyone recognize it just by the fragrance?

Even if a dog’s nose were here, it couldn’t smell it!

Si Qian and the others were seriously suspecting that the old man was doing this on purpose—he didn’t want to give away the stove, and secretly hoped Ye Qingning would guess right.

After all, if she did guess correctly, this ancient treasure would essentially be hers for free.

Ye Qingning remained silent, carefully sniffing the air for any lingering traces of medicinal fragrance.

Though faint, the scent was still quite distinctive, and she felt a sense of familiarity, as though she had smelled this fragrance somewhere before.

The system, wishing it could give Ye Qingning a cheat code, felt frustrated—ever since it had encountered a bug, it wasn’t quite what it used to be.

One day, it would rise again!

Ye Qingning remained silent for a moment, deep in thought, before slowly speaking: “Senior, the medicine you refined earlier was the Heavenly Fragrance Life-Extending Pill.”

The old man’s eyes widened in disbelief, staring at Ye Qingning in shock. He was astonished that she could tell the medicine just from the faint scent.

He stroked his beard and burst into laughter: “Good! Good! Good! I didn’t expect you to guess it correctly. I had underestimated you.”

“It seems that this floating stove is truly destined for you. I’ll keep my word, and give it to you!”