Though excitement surged in his heart, Lin Haoming kept his expression neutral. He even deliberately furrowed his brow, whispering, "Junior Brother Lin, let me ask you: do you even know the difference between a high-grade spent stone and a low-grade one?"
"This..."
Lin Feiyang, who had dealt with spent stones for years, naturally knew there wasn't much practical difference. While high-grade spent stones were usually found in the spirit eyes of a mine where energy converged, they were still useless to a normal cultivator once depleted.
Faced with this, Feiyang pulled out a cloth bundle and poured a pile of spirit stones onto the table. "Senior Brother Lin, this is my entire life savings—one hundred thirty-two spirit stones. I really don't have a single one more. How about this: let me take the magic tool now, and I'll pay back the rest later?"
Lin Haoming sighed with feigned helplessness, swept the stones into his storage bag, and said, "Forget it, Junior Brother. Just give me all the spent stones you brought with you today, and we'll call it even."
"Senior Brother! You... you've truly done me a massive favor!" Feiyang was incredibly moved. Even as a supervisor, he had to be careful with his expenses; this discount was a huge relief.
Lin Haoming felt the Merit Bead react strongly. He knew Feiyang was genuinely grateful. But then, a notification surprised him: he could now unseal the second layer of the Demon Gathering Bead.
---
The Geometry of Merit
Lin realized that the golden thread on the Spirit Gathering Bead was still faint. The merit required to unseal the second layer of the Demon Gathering Bead was clearly much lower than what was needed for the fourth layer of the Spirit Gathering Bead.
As he focused his divine sense on the Merit Beads, he noticed a stunning change. In the center of the string, where there had been nothing, a cluster of pure, flawless white light had appeared.
He found he could move this light with his mind. When he moved it toward the Spirit Gathering Bead, the golden thread grew slightly more solid. When he moved it toward the Demon Gathering Bead, the thread there became almost entirely filled.
He suddenly understood: This light was a unit of Merit. Specifically, a Small Merit.
· Unsealing the second layer of the Demon Gathering Bead: Required 1 Small Merit.
· Unsealing the fourth layer of the Spirit Gathering Bead: Required 9 Small Merits.
· A Great Merit: Consisted of 81 Small Merits.
Lin didn't know how many good deeds it would take to earn a Great Merit, but having a visual representation of his currency made him much more confident.
---
Preparing for the Depths
After sending the emotional Lin Feiyang away, Lin entered his stone chamber with the bag of spent stones.
Feiyang had delivered thirty high-grade spent stones and nearly one hundred mid-grade ones. Lin placed his Spirit Accumulation Bead on a high-grade stone. He confirmed it could indeed be refilled, but the math was daunting: one high-grade stone equals ten thousand low-grade ones. To refill it completely would take ten thousand hours—over two years. He couldn't afford to wait that long.
A few days later, a scruffy, unkempt-looking Qi Refining cultivator arrived at the Third Level of the Blood Refining Sect. This sloppy cultivator was, of course, Lin Haoming in disguise.
Using the token Ling Shengjie had given him, he descended alone into the depths. This level was reserved for Foundation Establishment cultivators.
Looking up at the thousand-foot ceiling and the sprawling landscape of hills and a wide river below, Lin marveled at the scale of the underground world. According to sect records, the Third Level was wider than the largest nations on Earth. Here lay the true core of the sect.
Lin's target was the Third Level Market. This was the key to ensuring his success—and survival—in the upcoming spirit stone mine competition.