Seeing that Jing Wei had not changed his expression after telling him about the condition of the Spatial storage ring, Lin Mu was now even more confused. He was wondering whether the old man had finally started to show the effects of his old age.
~Chuckle~
"You think I don't know this ring is damaged? I know that of course, I knew the moment I got my hands on it. But that's not all this ring is. Even if it is damaged, I can still analyze and learn a lot of things from it. Merely the techniques and skills used to make this ring are amazing. Even the best Spirit tool refiners in the entire Great Zhou Empire cannot match it." Jing Wei spoke in the same excited tone.
Lin Mu finally understood why the old man was happy and saw that Duan Ke's expression also improved after hearing it. Lin Mu then remembered what he was gonna ask him about and thought that he should do it while they were on the topic of the ring.
"Seeing that you can analyze the ring, can you also perhaps repair it?" Lin Mu questioned.
Hearing Lin Mu's question Jing Wei was a bit stunned and his expression calmed down.
"Hmm, I definitely cannot restore it to how it was originally, as I neither know the techniques nor have the skill to do it. But… I may be able to restore it to a fraction of its full capabilities. Though I cannot tell how big that fraction would be." Jing Wei answered.
Lin Mu's eyes lit up after hearing Jing Wei's answer. It didn't matter to him how much this ring could store, it only mattered that it was functional. Lin Mu had the mysterious ring with a massive storage capacity, the limits of which even Senior Xukong could not perceive, thus this ring would only going to be used as a disguise.
"Can you repair this ring for me then?" Lin Mu asked.
Duan Ke looked at Lin Mu for a moment before turning to her Grandfather. She did not know whether her grandfather would be accepting of such a request or not. If it was in the past, even the big sects would have to wait for months before they could even speak to him. But now here they were, hiding in some small town.
Jing Wei smirked a bit before replying.
"Sure, in payment of letting me study this ring I can repair it for you." Jing Wei spoke in a calm tone.
~Phew~
Lin Mu took a breath of relief after hearing his response, as this meant that he would be able to cover up for another one of his big flaws. No longer would he have to hide or pretend to do something else whenever he got something.
"Though, I do not know how long it would take me to repair it. I have simply not seen anything like it, thus I cannot give you an estimate. How about I contact you with the communication jade when it's done?" Jing Wei asked.
"That would be fine, as long as you can fix it anything is acceptable." Lin Mu replied while nodding his head.
~Ahem~
Duan Ke coughed lightly, bringing the attention of the two men towards the skeleton in the room.
"We were speaking about this and you two already forgot it seems." Duan Ke spoke in a chiding tone.
Lin Mu couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed but Jing Wei had no reaction. He still seemed to be basking in his previous feeling.
"Ah, of course. Let's get to it shall we," Jing Wei said, trying to nullify the awkwardness.
Duan Ke and Lin Mu both nodded in response and turned their attention to the skeleton.
"So from what I can gather, this is indeed a Nascent soul realm cultivator that came from another world. The ring and the beast storage treasure pretty much confirms that." Jing Wei spoke.
Duan Ke had a slightly confused expression hearing her grandfather's words as a doubt appeared in her mind.
"The beast storage treasure? Isn't it possible that it is not linked to the dead cultivator but rather someone else?" Duan Ke inquired.
"There is a possibility, of course. But… I've seen the craftsmanship in the ring and the beast storage treasure, and there is no doubt that there are certain similarities in them that are definitely not found in this world. I highly doubt there can be another person, that too in this region that came from another world." Jing Wei clarified.
Duan Ke had an enlightened expression on her face as she understood Jing Wei's assumption.
"Oh?… He's good. Much better than I expected." Xukong suddenly spoke.
"What do you mean senior?" Lin Mu internally asked as he tilted his head.
"That old man was able to spot and link the fine similarities in the manufacturing and refinement techniques that were used to make the Beast storage treasure and the spatial storage ring, even though the beast storage treasure was pretty much junk at that point. Looks like the standards of this world may be slightly higher than I thought… or perhaps this old man is the better one of the lot." Xukong explained.
Lin Mu did not reply and simply hummed in acknowledgment as he focused back on the conversation.
"What about the peak grade spirit stones?" Duan Ke asked.
"Hmm, I can't tell much about their source as they are depleted. If they still had a slight amount of spirit qi left in them, then I may have been able to find some traces in them that could have pointed out to the mine that they originated from." Jing Wei answered.
"They can do that?" Lin Mu spoke in a surprised tone to Xukong.
"Indeed, although all spirit stones are pretty much the same, there are still some fine traces in them that can help to identify which mine they came from. The spirit qi in them is absorbed from the area that mine would be in, thus it would have something like a signature on it.
Though this is quite faint and cannot be perceived by most cultivators. Only the Dao shell cultivators and above are able to sense them and that too with special equipment and supportive formations." Xukong explained.
"That's amazing…" Lin Mu muttered in appreciation and awe.