Chapter 1597 – Astronomically Expensive Materials … … … When Lin Ming returned to Divine Rune City, he discovered that the atmosphere was different from before. There were over ten times the guards stationed at the city gates. Originally, there were several guards at the gates of Divine Rune City, and their cultivation was at the Divine Lord realm. But now, there was a small army of soldiers, and the leader of this group was a Holy Lord. Every person that entered the city was subjected to a strict interrogation. That Holy Lord captain always held a crystal ball in his hands with strange Law lines that shimmered within it. These Law lines were clearly due to the divine runic arts. Lin Ming could see from a glance that this crystal ball was used to determine whether or not a martial artist that was trying to enter the city had disguised their cultivation. “Strange…” Lin Ming rubbed his chin. Why was Divine Rune City on such high alert all of a sudden? “Is there some influence that wants to attack Divine Rune City?” Xiao Moxian asked. Lin Ming shook his head. “It shouldn’t be. Divine Rune City is a neutral place to begin with and it is a massive influence with a tremendous number of divine runic masters. There shouldn’t be anyone that would move against Divine Rune City, especially since so many other organizations depend on them.” Lin Ming pressed down the suspicions in his mind. He walked over to the city gates with Xiao Moxian whereupon the both of them were immediately stopped. “City entrance token!” A martial artist icily said as he blocked Lin Ming’s path. Lin Ming looked at the war armor that these guards were wearing. Some of them wore the standard service armor of Divine Rune City and others didn’t. As if they were formed from two different groups. Lin Ming said, “I am a divine runic master from the Divine Runic Masters Guild. This is my badge.” Lin Ming took out his third grade divine runic master badge. After the guard inspected it, he returned it to Lin Ming and allowed him and Xiao Moxian to pass. After entering Divine Rune City, it became apparent that the inside clearly hadn’t changed much. The streets were still busy and bustling as usual. Lin Ming walked all the way to the Divine Runic Masters Guild, flashing his divine runic master badge and entering. As he passed through the trading area he saw many divine runic masters and alchemists trading within. He also immediately saw Old Xue. At this time Old Xue was comfortably reclining back in a rocking chair. A pile of random items was placed in front of him and he seemed to have fallen asleep. After 25 years, Old Xue hadn’t changed at all. As Lin Ming and Xiao Moxian walked past, Old Xue’s eyes suddenly shot open. “Hey boy, so it was you!” Old Xue’s eyes shined as he saw Lin Ming as if he had seen a treasure. He looked at Lin Ming for a long time, looking him up and down until even Lin Ming began feeling uncomfortable. Lin Ming coughed, “Elder Xue, it’s been a while.” Xiao Moxian also sweetly called out, “Elder Xue, it’s nice to see you.” Old Xue lit up with a smile as he heard Xiao Moxian greet him. He had an extremely good impression of this likable young girl. But as he turned back to Lin Ming, his face darkened. “It’s been over 20 years. Do you even remember that you are a divine runic master of the Divine Runic Masters Guild? Brat, I think you must have forgotten everything as you went adventuring outside! Even so, it seems you managed to make a breakthrough in your cultivation. I remember that when you left you were only at the early Divine Lord realm.” Lin Ming rolled his eyes. It seemed this Old Xue really spoke without caring for what he said. “It’s a lucky breakthrough. I must say Old Xue, now that I’ve returned to Divine Rune City I saw a great number of guards standing outside. Just what is going on?” “Heh, it’s a war.” Old Xue grinned, looking as if he didn’t care much. It seemed he was already accustomed to these types of situations. “Although I said it's a war, the truth is that it’s not related to us. It’s a spiritas Empyrean influence of the inner Asura Road, the Extreme Star Holy Lands, fighting with another saint Empyrean influence, the Heaven Strife Holy Lands. As for the reason they decided to suddenly go to war, it's probably because they are competing for something. Our Divine Runic Masters Guild is one of the groups supporting the Extreme Star Holy Lands. Because they’re at war they buy up a massive amount of pills and divine runic symbols that are constantly transported to the war front. As for the guards at the city entrance, they were sent here by the Extreme Star Holy Lands. They’re afraid that there will be some saint spy infiltrating into our city to stir up chaos. During this period of war, all saint martial artists, regardless of whether or not they’re connected to the Heaven Strife Holy Lands, are forbidden from entering the city.” In these last 100 million years, the Divine Runic Masters Guild would occasionally cooperate with some great influences and provide them with a massive number of pills and divine runic symbols. Of course, these great influences would pay them back with rich rewards, including origin energy runes, rare and precious materials, inheritance jade slips, and so forth. This was a significant source of wealth for the Divine Runic Masters Guild. Compared to the income of the shops in Divine Rune City, the income from participating in these wars was often far more valuable. “So it’s like that.” Lin Ming thoughtfully said. When human martial artists studied the divine runic arts they were only inferior to the spiritas. As for the saints, they could be called simple-minded with extremely brawny bodies; their soul force was pitifully weak and they weren’t suited for auxiliary skills like the divine runic arts or alchemy. Moreover, the saints didn’t have a good relationship with the spiritas to begin with. Indeed, in all these years, there weren’t many saint martial artists that came to Divine Rune City. The crystal balls placed at the gates of the city were to prevent any saint martial artists from sneaking their way in. Lin Ming was secretly startled. In these 100 million years it was unknown how many times the Divine Runic Masters Guild had cooperated with other influences like this. The wealth they had accumulated after all this time could be imagined. “I must say boy, why did you return so suddenly? Is there something going on?” Old Xue eyed Lin Ming suspiciously. He felt that this fishy boy probably needed something. After being seen through by Old Xue, Lin Ming awkwardly rubbed his chin. He said, “There really is something I need. The reason I returned to Divine Rune City is because I need to buy some materials to refine a pill.” Lin Ming directly stated a goal. “Hoh! So you’ve even practiced alchemy!” Old Xue looked at Lin Ming in surprise. With his current understanding of Lin Ming, if Lin Ming dared to say he wanted to refine a pill then his skill in alchemy was likely considerably high. “You brat, you know to return when you want to make use of us, but are you aware you have zero contribution points!?” In the Divine Runic Masters Guild, the contributions that a divine runic master made to the guild would be converted into points. Since Lin Ming had been gone for 25 years, he naturally didn’t have any contribution points. Lin Ming awkwardly coughed. He smiled and said, “There were some matters I had to attend to so I’ve been a bit delayed. I should be staying at the Divine Runic Masters Guild for a period of time, and there really are some rare and precious materials I need to buy, I just don’t know where they are sold.” As Lin Ming spoke, Old Xue rolled his eyes and sent Lin Ming a look of disdain. He said, “What are you smiling so sadly about? My Divine Runic Masters Guild has the best and most complete material storehouse in the entire world! There are no materials you cannot buy, I’m only afraid that you can’t afford them.” Old Xue said with full confidence, a great deal of pride glowing on his face. “Then I’d like to request for you to look over this list and see if I can obtain these materials here.” Lin Ming smiled and took out a list from his spatial ring. This list had all the materials needed to refine the Ravenous Wolf Heaven Pill. There were a total of 32 different kinds of materials. Old Xue took the list with a great show of graciousness. Then, he looked over the list. He was immediately left dumbfounded. The first several materials on the list were precious, but as long as one had enough money they could be bought. However, the latter materials were horrifying! There were several materials that even Old Xue had never seen before; he had only heard of them! “Dragon saliva grass, heaven devouring snake gallbladder, jade dragon’s horn, primal jade quintessence…” Old Xue was left stunned. Not even the Divine Runic Masters Guild had all of these materials! Although the Divine Runic Masters Guild’s storehouse was rich and abundant, since there were materials that came in, there were materials that went out. If these materials couldn’t be converted into pills and divine runic symbols then they were useless. Thus, after many rare and precious materials entered the storehouse they would soon be traded away to others. As for the extremely rare and precious materials that were in high demand and couldn’t be bought normally, they didn’t stay in the storehouse for too long. These materials that Lin Ming had listed, if placed within the Divine Runic Masters Guild storehouse, would require the highest level of authority to use. That was, the authority of a seventh grade divine runic master! Moreover, the price was bound to be astronomically high, to the point where one would strain their neck! “Are you messing around with me!?” Old Xue slapped the list on the table, his beard and eyebrows flying up in a rage. He felt that Lin Ming was teasing him; just how could a young junior use these materials!? In his opinion, even if Lin Ming obtained these materials it would be impossible for him to use them in alchemy. It would be a complete waste. “Why would we be messing with you? If we buy them we’re definitely using them.” Xiao Moxian backed up Lin Ming. Old Xue looked at Xiao Moxian, half believing, half disbelieving. He turned back to Lin Ming. “Are these materials things your master wishes to use?” Old Xue immediately thought. Lin Ming pushed this train of thought along. He laughed, saying, “That’s about right. Do you think the Divine Runic Masters Guild has these materials?” Old Xue gave Lin Ming a side-eye and leisurely said, “The more general rare and precious materials are indeed here, but I’m afraid that the Divine Runic Masters Guild only has two or three of the most precious materials on this list. Moreover, they are exorbitantly expensive. Not only do you need a massive amount of origin energy runes, but more importantly you need a certain degree of authority as well as contribution points. I estimate that just one of those materials will require 700-800 million points. If you stay in the Divine Runic Masters Guild in the future you will receive a monthly salary of contribution points. As a third grade divine runic master, I think every 18 million years or so you’ll be able to barely afford a few leaves of dragon saliva grass.” Old Xue mockingly said. As a third grade divine runic master, Lin Ming’s yearly salary would be around 20 points. In 10 million years he would receive 200 million points, just barely enough to buy a single material. Of course, if Lin Ming rose to a higher level of divine runic master in the future then his salary would also increase. Even then, it wouldn’t be by too much. Lin Ming wryly smiled, “Old Xue, I’m glad you’re happy teasing me.” Old Xue spread his hands in goodwill. “I’m just speaking the truth. Even I can’t afford the things you want. But… if your master is willing to join the Divine Runic Masters Guild then he might be able to obtain what is needed in a short period of time.” Seeing Old Xue make circles to ask about his master, Lin Ming said, “My master will not come to the Divine Runic Masters Guild. Only I can buy these materials…” “Ha! Then do as you want.” Old Xue lazily said, his expression saying he didn’t care about Lin Ming’s business. He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.