Chapter 133: The Unfinished Scroll

“This is the place.” Ning Xiu glanced down at Hunge, and upon receiving his confirmation, he raised his head to carefully examine the dilapidated house before him, feeling a touch of surprise.

“According to what you just said, all the fake maps sold by orphans like you throughout Chunshui City come from Old Di. So logically, he should be quite wealthy. Why would he live in a place like this?”

“Old Di never took a single cent from any of us,” Hunge said fearfully, looking up.

Ning Xiu had originally thought he had caught a big fish, but now it seemed he had hooked a tiger instead. He could only resign himself to bad luck.

With Ning Xiu’s level of cultivation and insight, he could clearly tell that Hunge was telling the truth.

He released his right hand and casually tossed the silver ingot he held, saying, “Alright, you can go now.”

Hunge, who had been standing anxiously, waiting for Ning Xiu’s judgement, was clearly not expecting him to honor his promise. He stared blankly at the silver ingot, forgetting to reach out and catch it. Only when it fell to the ground with a soft clink did he snap back to reality.

Such unexpected joy always came as suffocatingly as unexpected sorrow.

These children had been selling fake maps for many years, and of course, they had been caught out from time to time. When that happened, they often suffered brutal beatings, and in some unlucky cases, even lost their lives.

Who would have thought that this time, after being exposed, they would actually receive silver?

“Thank you, noble hero! Thank you, noble hero!” Hunge picked up the silver, knelt, and kowtowed multiple times before running away like the wind.

Ning Xiu watched him leave, then slowly approached the wooden house before him.

*Knock, knock, knock...*

“Is that you, Hunge? You’re quite early today.”

An old man’s voice came from inside.

Ning Xiu stood in front of the door, silent for a moment before asking, “Is Old Di here?”

“So you have guests. I knew those brats like Hunge would learn some manners eventually.”

*Creak*

The door opened, and an old man with a head full of white hair stepped out. He looked up at Ning Xiu and slowly said, “Since you are a guest, please come in.”

“Thank you for having me.”

...

The room was cramped, almost filled with maps of various sizes.

A candle on the wall cast a faint light, preventing the space from falling into complete darkness.

“Sit anywhere you like. We can discuss matters later. Let this old man finish this map first,” the elder said, returning to his chair and picking up the pen to continue the work he had left unfinished.

Although the old man invited Ning Xiu to sit freely, Ning Xiu glanced around and found there was nowhere suitable to sit. Fortunately, he had not come as a guest.

He stood quietly, watching the old man. Though aged, the elder’s thin but steady hand wielding the brush was firm and full of strength.

After a while, Ning Xiu shifted his gaze. The map on the table was only half drawn, clearly not something that could be completed quickly.

Out of courtesy, Ning Xiu remained silent and quietly moved to the long table nearby. He picked up one of the maps and began examining it with growing interest.

If he guessed correctly, these maps were the ones Old Di had prepared for Hunge and the others.

Ning Xiu’s memory was exceptional, almost eidetic.

Yet the more he looked, the more alarmed he became. Among hundreds of maps, none were identical.

If these were simply fake maps, they could have been made by copying a fixed template, which would have been the easiest and most efficient way.

This was the source of Ning Xiu’s puzzlement: the old man in front of him was diligently and carefully creating each map as if they were authentic.

The elder painted slowly, sometimes pausing to ponder, just as one would when drawing a genuine map.

Ning Xiu glanced over and saw the work nearing completion.

He intended to wait a little longer standing there, but his attention was suddenly drawn to an ancient wooden rack in the corner.

The rack had clearly aged, exuding a rustic charm.

It too was stacked with various maps. Ning Xiu walked over, pulled one out, and found it unfinished and flawed.

Not just this one — the entire rack was filled with incomplete and defective maps. The yellowed pages showed their age, just like the rack.

“These are my early failed works...” the old man’s voice came from behind.

Ning Xiu slowly turned around to find the elder standing quietly behind him.

“Old Di,” Ning Xiu said, placing the map down, his expression unchanged.

“Alright, young man, speak your mind. What brings you to this old man?”

Old Di looked at Ning Xiu and asked.

“I want to buy a map of the Death Desert from you. You can set the price as you wish,” Ning Xiu said straightforwardly.

He wanted a genuine map. In the Death Desert, the importance of a map was obvious.

The Peng family village had gone to great lengths to open a trade route, but it was only a portion of the Death Desert map.

In fact, forces that roamed the Death Desert all held some form of desert map.

Each map varied in detail and size. Ning Xiu hoped to acquire the most complete one possible.

This was why Hunge, who merely acted as a guide, was given fifty taels of silver outright.

These children had no idea of the value of these maps. If Ning Xiu were to name a price of 500 or even 1,000 taels, he might have a better chance of deceiving them.

“If it’s that map, I already have it prepared for you.” Old Di turned and handed Ning Xiu the map he had just finished drawing. “As for payment, you’ve already settled that. If there’s nothing else, you may leave.”

Ning Xiu took the map without even glancing at it and tucked it into his chest.

“Have others brought Hunge and the others to see you before?”

“Counting you, this should be the fourth—or maybe the fifth time. I can’t quite remember,” Old Di said as if reminiscing.

“But I’ve only given the real map to two people.” He looked up, his cloudy eyes fixed on Ning Xiu, and said slowly, “You are one of them.”

“Thank you, elder,” Ning Xiu said sincerely and turned to leave.

The door closed behind him. Old Di sat back down, picked up his brush, and resumed his unfinished work.

...