Chapter Eleven: The Promise

  "Wait a moment," said the salesperson, carefully putting the "Huan Diao" back in its original position. Then, she rummaged through a large drawer and pulled out a cloth bag, from which she took out a bundle of roughly crafted carved knives and tossed them onto the counter with a slightly rough motion.

  "This one, fifty silver coins, but it's often only used for practice. Wanting to make an excellent magic pattern is almost impossible." The salesperson said frankly.

  He glanced at the goods on the stage, and Xiao Hong's expression wrinkled slightly at the sight of the coarse carved knife, forming a strong contrast with his previous "gentle" demeanor.

  "Isn't there something a little better?" Xiao Hong hesitated for a moment before asking, clearly the inferior engraved knife in front of him was really too pathetic.

  "Okay, just a moment." The salesperson didn't show any impatience and continued searching on the shelves.

  An hour later, when Xiao Hong came out of the tattoo shop again, he was already in a lot of pain, his backpack was bulging, and there was a leather belt around his waist with a special holder for his tattoo knife and ink.

  But it's not cheap either, a full 50 silver coins, however, the appearance is also considered good, and very practical.

  Looking at Xiao Hong's palm again, there were only two copper coins left, and a music spell, which recorded several songs.

  This is a small gift given by the Magic Pattern Store for purchasing 500 gold coins.

  Looking at the only two copper coins left in his hand, Xiao Hong smiled wryly and could only comfort himself that once he learned how to make magic patterns, he would earn the money back.

  After turning several corners in the street, Xiao Hong soon arrived at the bus stop leading to Dongcheng Quarry again. The two copper coins in his hand were just enough for the fare.

  Taking the magic thread bus back home, it was already dusk by the time I arrived.

  Xiao Hong unfolded the backpack and began to take out various materials from the fully packed backpack, starting to process them one by one into a ratio of magical liquid.

  What Xiao Hong needs to do now is to refine the pain-relieving Medicine Rune, which is also what Xiao Hong urgently needs. Although there is Sang Hongyun's Pain Relief Medicine Rune, it can only be used 50 times. If he wants to rely on it for a year, he must use it sparingly.

  He made medicine himself and cured his own illness, which was also Xiao Hong's initial intention for learning to make magic needles.

  Xiao Hong, who was already familiar with the medicinal properties and proportions of the pain-relieving potion, handled the materials with ease. In just five short minutes, a small vial of pale blue transparent liquid appeared in his hand.

  Everything was ready, and the sky had gradually darkened, with the last rays of sunset also submerged in darkness.

  Put on the clothes for quarrying, pick up the hoe, Xiao Hong quickly walked out of the door and headed to the location of the mine. Since it was dark night, when Xiao Hong arrived at the mine, there were almost no people inside, most of them had gone to the cafeteria.

  Arriving at the third layer of the mine, Xiao Hong stopped where Li Le and others often mined and began to search continuously. He started mining and intended to use these white jade stones for making magic patterns.

  Several hours later, when Xiao Hong walked out of the mine, it was already past 9 o'clock in the evening. The entire quarry was almost deserted.

  Xiao Hong originally planned to hand over a few pieces as a token of apology, but seeing the quiet surroundings, Xiao Hong fortunately decided to take everything and didn't hand over a single piece.

  He returned home with caution and began to process the raw white jade stones without stopping. One raw white jade stone can be cut into two or three pieces of white jade, and if he's lucky, four pieces are also possible.

  In just about half an hour, Xiao Hong cut out six pieces of white jade with the cutting tool he bought.

  Sitting in front of the shabby desk, Xiao Hong adjusted the brightness of the light to its maximum, rolled up his sleeves, took a deep breath, picked up a piece of cut and polished loadstone, and pulled out an oblique knife from the carving knife case.

  Xiao Hong manipulated his inner energy and channeled it to the tip of his knife, striking down.

  "Ouch."

  It was just the first knife, and Xiao Hong found that this knife was heavy.

  Once failed, the cargo ship will be completely scrapped.

  Helpless, Xiao Hong slightly shook his head and without hesitation took out the second piece, repeating the action from before, cutting down.

  The entire process was bumpy and rough, but in the end, the carving of the pattern was finally completed with some difficulties.

  The next step is to inject the magic pattern liquid into the texture of the stone, which is also a very delicate task. Not only must you control the amount of magic pattern liquid injected into the texture through your willpower, but also avoid overflowing, and at the same time, inject your own willpower into the magic pattern liquid during the injection process, in order to facilitate the final step of activation.

  He took out a V-shaped carving knife, dipped it in the previously prepared magic pattern liquid, and then Xiao Hong was ready to guide it into the pattern through his spiritual power.

  Plop.

  Just as Xiao Hong was about to take the V-shaped carved knife out of the bottle filled with demonic pattern liquid, a drop of demonic pattern liquid fell directly onto the loadstone due to Xiao Hong's slow guidance, and seeped into the loadstone, rendering the entire loadstone completely useless.

  "This... " Seeing such a scene, Xiao Hong was almost tearless, helpless, and could only accept the fact of this failure.

  The lesson learned is that details determine success or failure.

  Xiao Hong took a brand new whetstone and picked up the slant-edged knife again, starting anew.

  ……

  Time had arrived at midnight, and looking again at Xiao Hong sitting in front of the desk, his hair was disheveled, his eyebrows were tightly locked, and one foot of the table held seven or eight pieces of failed magic patterns.

  At this moment, Xiao Hong's heart is already somewhat anxious and frustrated. He had thought that he had made sufficient preparations, but he did not expect to fail so miserably. With just one careless move, he would thoroughly fail, losing all his materials and having to start from scratch again.

  The closest to success was when the first two steps were completed, and when using the driving force to activate it, a slight movement of body and mind caused the driving force to become unstable, resulting in the direct failure of the magic pattern that was about to succeed.

  This must be said, it was a great blow to Xiao Hong.

  Crunch.

  A moment of inattention, the carving knife slipped out of his hand and flew off the stone, creating a wrong path, another failure.

  "Damn it." Xiao Hong finally couldn't bear it, and let out such a sound, directly throwing the stone in front of him away, and forcefully grasping his hair, then leaning back against the chair and letting out a long sigh, as if trying to vent all the suffocation in his heart.

  Xiao Hong was well aware that this was due to his own impatience, but at this moment, he couldn't calm himself down no matter what.

  The direct cause of this phenomenon is that every time he fails, it means the loss of his hard-earned money. The more he thinks about not being able to afford failure, the greater the pressure becomes, and the greater the pressure, the more unbalanced his mentality becomes, thus entering a vicious cycle.

  Once again, Xiao Hong carefully took out the two mysterious magic beads from his underwear pocket and gazed longingly at the beautiful patterns on them. At this moment, Xiao Hong truly felt how far away he was from such exquisite magic patterns.

  After a moment's contemplation, Xiao Hong, exhausted in body and mind, casually put the two magic beads into the porcelain bowl that still had several red flower fruits.

  However, at this moment, Xiao Hong's tired expression moved slightly, and the corner of his eye suddenly noticed a brand new magic pattern on the table, which was the audio magic pattern given away for free by the magic pattern store, said to be some newcomer Muci's album.

  For what music, Xiao Hong really didn't understand much and didn't have the leisure to understand. He glanced at Muxi'er's album with a slightly tired expression, then placed his hand on it, activating it with a hint of force. After that, Xiao Hong leaned back in his chair again, his eyebrows furrowed together, his mood was terrible.

  But at this moment, the audio tattoo next to Xiao Hong suddenly flickered, and then a soft and beautiful music slowly entered Xiao Hong's ears, like a refreshing breeze on a hot summer day, brushing past Xiao Hong's anxious heart, followed by that clean and pure female voice.

  Unable to help it, Xiao Hong's tightly furrowed eyebrows slightly moved and slowly relaxed.

  Suddenly, Xiao Hong seemed to have a feeling that he was in his mother's warm embrace, listening to his mother's gentle lullaby, about to fall asleep, peaceful and quiet, like a warm current, wrapping around Xiao Hong's cold heart, making him feel a long-lost warmth.

  Slowly opening his eyes, he saw in the shadowy sound pattern a woman wearing a white dress standing among the flowers, softly singing. Her long hair cascaded down like a waterfall, her fresh and elegant appearance making Xiao Hong's entire demeanor relax completely.

  "...after so many springs, I can't recall how many white hairs you have, lonely me, still upholding the promise of the past..."

  Plop.

  As the lyrics came out of the audio cassette, a tear suddenly welled up from Xiao Hong's eye and rolled down his cheek to the ground.

  Such words seemed to awaken Xiao Hong's dusty memories, the chaotic village, white bones everywhere on the streets, his mother's icy hand grasping him.

  "Hong Er, leave here as soon as possible, remember, for me, live on..."

  "Mom, I will." Xiao Hong remembered answering like this.

  Then her mother's face with a smile slowly solidified, and her own helpless face was filled with tears.

  Unable to help himself, Xiao Hong slowly covered his face with both hands, his shoulders shaking constantly, tears seeping out from between his fingers, but Xiao Hong didn't make a single sound. The singing seemed to have pierced through Xiao Hong's heart, exposing the most vulnerable part of him.

  It can be said that Xiao Hong has been struggling to live on, not only because he is afraid of death, but also for the promise he made to his mother at the beginning.

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