Chapter 0049 – Asking For The Moon
“One gold coin.” the stall owner obviously was very good at running his business, seeing Ning Cheng and the young girl wearing the sarong talk about the pearl hair clip, he immediately charged an exorbitant price.
What’s more, today the Nan Yuan City was filled with people from the outside, not to say about a gold coin, he even could charge 10 gold coins, as long he could find a person who took fancy to it, someone would definitely buy it.
The hand of young girl wearing the sarong trembled slightly, on the mention a gold coin, “How does such a pair of pearl hair clip cost 1 gold coin? Just how is this possible………”
In her view, even if this pearl hair clip was very delicate and beautiful, it would be at most be a few dozen copper coins, which was even less than a silver coin.
The stall owner said with an unhurried pace, “My pearl hair clip is unique, you would never find a second pair like it, moreover it was personally created by the Imperial Casting Master, how could you say that this price is expensive? Moreover, I only said that it is one gold coin for a pair, but not a gold coin for each one.”
Ning Cheng also knew that the stall owner was charging an exorbitant rate, but not to mention about 1 gold coin, even if he charged him a 1000 gold coins it would not be too much money to him. Moreover, for him a gold coin’s role was getting smaller and smaller. The thing he needed now the most was Spirit Stones, even Qi Gathering Stones to him would not be much useful.
“Boss, then if I will take out a gold coin, will you sell me the two pearl hair clips to me?” this sarong wearing young girl said as she looked at the pearl hair clip in Ning Cheng’s hand, gritted her teeth and said. She had come here to the Nan Yuan City to participate in the selection exam of the Clear Heart Academy, but she had become too fond of those pearl hair clips, and when she held onto one of the pearl hair clip in her little hands, she had a kind of an extremely tranquil feeling, she felt that this pearl hair clip was something made for her.
Since childhood, she had never spent such an extravagant amount of money just to buy a small hair ornament.
“No way.” the stall owner said firmly, while he simultaneously looking at Ning Cheng.
Ning Cheng heard the tone of the sarong wearing young girl, it seems that she really liked the pearl hair clip. However, this pearl hair clip was something necessary for him, from the time he saw the same pair of pearl hair clip in Nan Yuan City, he basically couldn’t express the surprise he felt in his heart. What this simple pair of pearl hair clip represented, this to Ning Cheng, was as if an invisible hand of god was guiding him towards it.
The young girl also looked at Ning Cheng, with her eyes filled with hope, she really hoped that Ning Cheng would give her the pearl hair clip. She was not a fool, she could clearly see why the stall owner had raised the price, it was not because that the pearl hair clip was really precious, but because she was competing with someone else, and the person who she was competing with was standing beside her.
Ning Cheng gave the young girl an apologetic look and said, “I’m really sorry, this pearl hair clip means a lot to me. If you could afford to part with it, will you be willing to give me the pearl hair clip in your hands? I am willing to buy you another pair of the pearl hair clips, that you can casually choose.”
The sarong wearing girl had a very rustic appearance, but Ning Cheng actually discovered that she and An Yi were not much different, she had a pair of eyes that were bright and clear, that innocent look in them made it look as if it could directly see into people’s heart, it made people unable to think of rejecting her in their hearts. But Ning Cheng affirmed, that she did not cultivate, her body did not emit even half the undulations of Qi cultivation.
After listening to the words of Ning Cheng, this young girl slightly frowned, not because Ning Cheng was not willing to give the pearl hair clip to her. She knew that in Nan Yuan City, seeing a gold coin was very rare, she estimated that she was the only such person who could actually afford it.
The reason she frowned was because Ning Cheng said that he was willing to spend such an extravagant amount of money to even buy a pair of pearl hair clip for her, this made her feel that this person was extremely frivolous. A man buying a pair of pearl hair clip for a woman, was not something that was casually done.
She shook her head, and put the pearl hair clip down and said, “This pair of pearl hair clip is not to be separated, since it has a lot of meaning for you, then I can give it to you.”
She said this with a gentle and demure tone, it made it seem as if giving the pearl hair clip to Ning Cheng was a natural affair.
Ning Cheng quickly took out 2 gold coins and gave them to the stall owner, then thanked the sarong wearing girl from the bottom of his heart, “Thank you, you can choose any pair of pearl hair clip, and I will buy it for you.”
This time the young girl wearing the sarong directly refused and said, “You do not need to, it was just that I liked the unique snowflake shape of the pearl hair clip, I do not need other people to buying things for me, I can take out 2 gold coins by myself.”
These words did not have a direct connection to Ning Cheng, he really missed his little sister Rou Lan, for her he was not willing to let this pair of that pearl hair clips to fall into the hands of a stranger.
A person who was standing on the side who had seen the exchange clearly, said with a ridiculing and sarcastic voice, “A man was unexpectedly competing with a woman for a pearl hair clip.”
That sarong wearing young girl was obviously afraid to cause more disputes, so she did not dare say anything, quickly turned around and walked into the crowd, and very soon disappeared from his view.
Ning Cheng ignored the words of other people, after he received the pearl hair clips from the stall owner directly, he did not leave, but rather asked the stall owner, “Boss, did all these huge amounts of people in the Nan Yuan City came to participate in the selection exam of the Clear Heart Academy? Although the Clear Heart Academy is large, it wouldn’t need these many people right?”
The stall owner who received the two gold coins was in a really good mood, after listening to the words of Ning Cheng, he immediately shook his head like the tail of the rattlesnake and said, “How could it be that, though there are a number of people here, but majority of the people come here to this city to compete for business. So if you want, you could go to the Spiritual Root Testing Plaza, there you will find many such stalls everywhere.”
“Spiritual Root Testing Plaza?” Ning Cheng did not understand it and asked again.
The stall owner patiently replied, “You came here to attend the selection exam of the Clear Heart Academy right? To participate in the selection, you will first have to go to the Spiritual Root Testing Plaza to test out your Spiritual Roots. Only when you pass the first test of your Spiritual Roots, only then will you be eligible to enter the Second Spiritual Root Test in the Clear Heart Academy.”
After saying this, the stall owner was afraid that Ning Cheng did not understand it, and said it with extreme pride, “This time our Clear Heart 3 Star Academy of our Ming Yi Country is recruiting for disciples, it is not that simple, if one was selected, then he might even be able to ask for the moon.”
“Oh, then what is going on here?” Ning Cheng was really curious now. Being selected to join the Clear Heart Academy, would certainly be of great honour and luck, but that does not mean that one could just ask for the moon.
The stall owner was very proud, as if the Clear Heart 3 Star Academy was his own private property, “You have heard of the Hua Continent right? Yi Xing mainland has 9 Continents, among the 3 Lower Class Continents, the Hua Continent is the largest with the densest Spiritual Qi, in case one’s status was good, then they could even go to an Intermediate Class Continent.”
“I know, I know, but I need to ask for more detail,” Ning Cheng quickly lowered himself and cupped his fists, he really wanted to go to the Hua Continent once.
The stall owner was very satisfied with the attitude of Ning Cheng, even if he did not have to attend to his business, he carefully explained to Ning Cheng, “I heard that the Hua Continent has five 5 Star Academies, three years later there will be a competition between these five 5 Star Academies in one of the Lower Class Continents. Once one of the 5 Star Academies won the competition, then they would acquire a great advantage and benefits”
“These 5 Star Academies for the sake of coming out on top in the competition three years from now, are simultaneously recruiting the best disciples from Ping, Yuan and Hua Continents. All the 3 Stars and above academies are participating in the selection of outstanding disciples from their respective academies. My Clear Heart Academy naturally is one of those Academies, as long as you get selected for the Clear Heart Academy, you might even have the chance to even go to a 5 Star Academy.”
“What are the great benefits that the students of Academy would receive?” Ning Cheng subconsciously asked, even if the 5 Star Academies had great advantages, he still found it very strange and was also curious about it.
“I do not about that.” The stall owner said with some embarrassment.
“I know about it, but you need to sell me that pearl hair clip that you just purchased.” A hoarse voice sounded next to Ning Cheng.
Ning Cheng turned around to see an extremely sturdy and robust young man, this young man was not only extremely robust, moreover he was wearing coarse homespun clothes on his body. Ning Cheng immediately guessed that this young man must have some relationship to that sarong wearing young girl.
When Ning Cheng saw that, he first thanked the stall owner, and turned to the young man and said, “Since my friend is keen on wanting the pearl hair clip, then let’s go to a quiet place to talk about it.”
Ning Cheng did not want to give the pearl hair clip, but he wanted to know about the situation. Although this youth did not seem to have any background, but it did seem that he knew much more about the things around here than the stall owner.
This young man simply did not think much, he immediately nodded and said, “Ok, you can lead the way. No matter what you ask, as long as I know about it I will tell you, but the condition is that you have to give me the pearl hair clips.”
He seemed to be very honest and straightforward, Ning Cheng took a glance at him and immediately determined.
Ning Cheng did not have much interest in what information the youth had, but because the Nan Yuan City’s stalls and restaurants were already very crowded, he was unable to find a peaceful place to sit so he just wanted to find a quiet place first.
Ning Cheng brought this youth to a somewhat less secluded place, and said bluntly, “Friend, this pearl hair clip is extremely significant for me, I have no way of giving it to you. However, I have only arrived in the Nan Yuan City, there are a lot of things that I don’t understand, and thus I have to ask others.”
The reason why he chose this youth to inquire, was because Ning Cheng felt that the opposite party was an extremely simple and a very honest person, moreover he did not seem to be a cultivator. Asking him, one who did not cultivate, was a lot safer, otherwise, if he asked a Qi Gathering cultivator of Nan Yuan City that why did he not know why the Clear Heart Academy was recruiting disciples, then they would definitely suspect him. If it was any other place then he could forget about it, but here he had Lan Yin Yue as his personal enemy.
After listening to Ning Cheng’s words, a trace of sadness flashed across the young man’s eyes, “Before when my younger sister found me, she looked somewhat depressed, since childhood, I did not let her suffer any grievances. After I asked her, I came to know that the pearl hair clip that she liked was bought by someone else.”
“How did you know that it was me?” Ning Cheng blurted, with so many people on the street, and coupled with the fact that the sarong wearing young girl had disappeared not a long time ago, he was only there because he wanted to ask a few questions to the stall owner, it was because of that delay that he had not walked out. Arguably, this youth had not seen him buy anything, and thus by rights he should not have known that he was the one who had bought the pearl hair clip.
The youth embarrassingly took out a handkerchief and said, “I said that I would certainly help her get it back, so she drew a picture for me, I could recognize that you were the same person as the picture……”
Ning Cheng saw the picture drawn on the handkerchief and immediately became sluggish, in this world there was still a person who was this skilful with their hands. This picture had quite a few strokes, but his image was fully outlined on the face of the handkerchief. This type of work could even be compared to the lifelike photo from a digital camera, rather this hand drawn portrait was even more realistic.
Ning Cheng had always been proud of his abnormal memory and analytical skills that could not be compared to anyone, but today he knew, that he was not the only person with the most abnormally powerful memory. Just with a glance, even the most minute of his facial expression were captured and drawn with a very fine detail, just how many so called geniuses could even compare to that?