Chapter 543: The Repair Hall's Stockpiled Wealth

Lin Yu was momentarily stunned, then quickly understood.

"In the Way of Survival, resources reign supreme. Over these past few years, the Repair Hall hasn't just earned spirit stones; it's hoarded a massive stockpile of resources. That's what they call having grain in the barn so you don't panic."

Su Ming withdrew his divine sense and opened his eyes.

Luo Feng was still fiddling with the formation plate. Seeing Su Ming come back to his senses, he curiously leaned in.

"Junior Brother Su, are those auxiliary materials the old man wants really that tricky? Want me, your senior brother, to make a run to the Hall of Stewards for you? I still have quite a few unused quotas from Formation Peak."

Su Ming glanced at him, didn't refuse, and simply handed the jade slip over.

Luo Feng took the jade slip and swept it with his divine sense.

"Hiss—" Luo Feng sucked in a sharp breath of cold air. "Did that old man rob someone? A century-old Purple-backed Begonia? The guys at the Spiritual Plant Garden guard those things like the apple of their eye. And this Cold Pool Ice Crystal? You'd have to exchange contribution points for that at Ice Soul Peak, right? Twenty-three items like this, and he wants them in three days? How the hell is that possible?"

"No need to go to Ice Soul Peak." Su Ming's tone was calm. "Most of these things are available in the Repair Hall. If you have nothing to do, Senior Brother, why not come with me to the Repair Hall's back courtyard storage?"

Luo Feng raised an eyebrow.

"The Repair Hall? That place that specializes in fixing broken junk has treasures like this? Fine, let me see just how much wealth you've hoarded there over the years."

The two settled on their route and quickened their pace. Half an hour later, they arrived at the Repair Hall under the jurisdiction of the External Affairs Hall.

The Repair Hall was no longer the chaotic scrap heap it had been back in the day.

In the spacious courtyard, over a dozen assembly lines were running with extreme efficiency. Low-level menial laborers and outer sect disciples each had their designated tasks: disassembly, cleaning, formation line repair, spiritual energy testing. Every single step strictly followed the standards Su Ming had established years ago.

Wang Defa was holding a thick ledger, pacing back and forth between the assembly lines. He had gotten another size bigger than before, his steward's robe was spotlessly clean, and his brow carried a shrewd air of someone holding significant power.

Looking up, Wang Defa spotted Su Ming walking into the yard. He was stunned for a moment, then his chubby face instantly lit up with a brilliant smile.

He directly shoved the ledger into the hands of a nearby apprentice and jogged over.

"Hall Master! You're finally back!" Wang Defa bent extremely low at the waist. "Everyone in the Repair Hall has been waiting for you to return from the Central Continent! Did everything go smoothly?"

Su Ming didn't bother with pleasantries. At this critical juncture, every single second was incredibly precious.

He directly thrust the jade slip in front of Wang Defa.

"Old Wang, this is the list of auxiliary materials. Take me to the deeper warehouses of Area B and Area D in the back courtyard. Help me find these things and see how many we can use."

Wang Defa took the jade slip with both hands and rapidly swept his divine sense over the densely packed twenty-three lines of text.

The smile on his face faded, and his brow furrowed slightly. But in front of Su Ming, he raised no questions.

"Rest assured, Hall Master. Most of the items on this list, we have on record in our warehouses. Follow me."

Without another word, Wang Defa turned and led the way, guiding Su Ming and Luo Feng through the busy assembly lines and straight toward the oldest wooden warehouses in the deepest part of the Repair Hall, sealed by layers of formations.

He pushed open the thick, Mystic Iron-clad wooden door of the Area D warehouse.

"Creak—"

A wave of air, mixed with the scent of aged medicinal herbs and metallic tang, rushed out.

The light inside was extremely dim. On both sides were towering wooden shelves that reached the ceiling, packed densely with countless large and small wooden boxes, jade containers, and cloth pouches. The old, yellowed labels were blurry and hard to read in the gloom.

Some of these supplies were what the sect had allocated but never used. Some were scraps dismantled from abandoned giant formation plates. And some were items brought back by Repair Hall disciples on missions as debt payments. Over a century, they had piled up like a mountain, layer upon layer.

Wang Defa pulled a spiritual light lamp from his sleeve and held it high. The extremely faint fluorescent light cast flickering shadows between the shelves.

Shadow flew up from Su Ming's shoulder and landed silently on the top of the tallest shelf, overlooking this corner from above.

"Hall Master, look at this batch of Cold Liquid. These were waste products from the Vessel Hall's failed forging last year. They mixed in Ice Soul Peak's cold energy. Originally they were going to be thrown away, but you said to keep them as coolant. I filtered them with spirit water three times. The purity is definitely up to the list's requirements."

Wang Defa expertly weaved between the shelves, muttering nonstop as he moved, deftly pulling down dusty jade bottles one by one and placing them on the ground.

"And these Red Flame Sands. These were scraps eliminated by the Flame Cauldron Peak last month. They said the grains were uneven, but they're perfect for carving fire-attracting flow arrays. I'll have someone grind them into powder in the back of the warehouse."

Su Ming followed behind, holding the jade slip. He didn't speak. He just focused intently on the materials Wang Defa was pulling out, his divine sense meticulously scanning every single item to confirm that their spiritual energy fluctuations met Elder Qingyang's extremely strict requirements. Then he used his spiritual energy to check off a mark on the jade slip's list.

Luo Feng brought up the rear, watching as Wang Defa, like a magician, pulled out one precious auxiliary material after another from that pile of junk. His eyes grew wider and wider.

"Impressive, Junior Brother Su. You've dug a treasure trove right under the Cloud Hidden Sect. How did you manage to hide so many good things in this scrap heap?"

Su Ming ignored Luo Feng's exclamation.

His gaze followed Wang Defa to the deepest part of the warehouse—the most damp and cold corner.

Wang Defa hung the spiritual light lamp on an iron hook on the wall, rolled up his sleeves, and with considerable effort, moved aside a few large abandoned iron crates. Then he half-knelt on the ground and, from under the lowest shelf, carefully pulled out an old wooden box covered in a thick layer of dust.

The corners of the wooden box were severely worn, and its original lacquer had peeled off, revealing the dark purple grain of the incorruptible wood beneath.

Wang Defa used his sleeve to meticulously wipe the dust off the box's surface, revealing a yellowed paper label pasted on it. Though the writing on the label had faded somewhat, each stroke was incredibly neat, as if carved with a knife.

"Thousand-Year Jade Essence. Deposited by Elder Ma."

Wang Defa stood up, handed the wooden box to Su Ming with both hands, and lowered his voice.

"Hall Master, this was personally ordered by Elder Ma to be sealed at the very bottom before he went into his final seclusion. He said he acquired it by chance during his travels in his early years. It can be used in a killing formation, so he kept it here."

Su Ming reached out, took the wooden box, and slowly opened its copper latch.

"Click."

A single piece of jade essence, no bigger than a thumb, with an extremely warm, milky white luster, lay quietly on the red velvet. Its surface was flawless, emitting an extremely faint yet unbroken fluorescent glow.

Lin Yu let out a long sigh inside the ring.

"That Old Man Ma really had good eyes and an even better character." Lin Yu's voice carried a hint of emotion. "He left this here, perhaps so that one day, it could serve as a life-saving trump card for some junior of the Repair Hall. Karma works in cycles. Today, that trump card has truly fallen into your hands."