Chapter 122: Chapter 117: Dog Nose Technique?

Song Changsheng couldn’t help but marvel. He had also just used his Divine Sense to carefully inspect the Bronze Spiritual Artifact, and his conclusion was more or less the same as Sunx Chuanming’s, with just one difference.

Sunx Chuanming had said the Magical Artifact had twelve points of damage, but Song Changsheng had only found six—exactly half.

There were only two possible reasons for this discrepancy. One, Song Changsheng’s perception wasn’t sharp enough to see them all. Two, Sunx Chuanming was deliberately exaggerating, and the twelve points of damage were pure fabrication.

Given Sunx Chuanming’s status as the head Tributor, Song Changsheng naturally wouldn’t believe it was the second option. The conclusion was obvious: the man’s perceptive abilities were far superior to his own.

This conclusion stunned Song Changsheng. After all, the strength of his Divine Sense was dozens of times greater than Sunx Chuanming’s!

Furthermore, he was a Tier Two Low-Grade Refiner who frequently handled Magical Artifacts. Even so, he had only managed to find six flaws. ’Are Treasure Appraisers’ eyes really that sharp?’

Song Changsheng couldn’t help but feel a little doubtful. However, he didn’t jump to conclusions. Instead, he found a seat in the shop where he wouldn’t disturb anyone and watched quietly.

This Master Sunx was clearly quite famous. A constant stream of Cultivators came to him to have Magical Artifacts, ores, and even Cultivation Technique Manuals appraised, all of which he identified with ease.

The most difficult challenge was a set of identical keys. The owner explained that there were eight keys in total: seven fakes and one real one.

They were originally meant to confuse others, but now they had gotten mixed up, and even he, the owner, couldn’t tell them apart. He had no choice but to bring them to Master Sunx for help.

With his experience, Song Changsheng could easily tell that this person was here to cause trouble. This was beyond the scope of treasure appraisal; after all, according to the man, the real one was identical to the fakes, down to every last feature.

’If that’s the case, is there even a difference between real and fake anymore?’

It was such an obvious trap, yet Sunx Chuanming still took the job. And within a quarter of an hour, he had found the real key.

This left not only the troublemaking Cultivator dumbfounded, but also sent waves of shock through Song Changsheng’s own heart.

After all, he too had just spent a quarter of an hour observing the set of keys with his Divine Sense, yet he had found nothing. Although he could sense subtle differences between them, it was impossible to distinguish the real one from the fakes.

His admiration for Sunx Chuanming grew even more.

Not until dusk fell and the general store hung out its "Closed" sign did Sunx Chuanming finally get a moment to rest.

He had appraised dozens of items for people that day, earning nearly a hundred Spirit Stones, which left Song Changsheng speechless. ’Didn’t they say this general store isn’t very profitable? But this Sunx Tributor earns such a considerable income in a single day. Over time, how could it not make money?’

’Could it be that they’re pocketing the profits?’

The thought flashed through Song Changsheng’s mind, but he quickly dismissed it. He simply couldn’t bring himself to suspect these elders who were so loyal to the clan.

After a moment’s thought, Song Changsheng stood up and walked over to Sunx Chuanming, saying with a cheerful smile, "Sunx Tributor, your Treasure Identification Skill is truly marvelous. Earning nearly a hundred Spirit Stones in a single day... this junior is deeply envious."

Sunx Chuanming glanced at him and said flatly, "There aren’t this many items to appraise every day. I only hold court here one day a week. What you saw today is my entire income for the week."

Song Changsheng had a sudden realization. He had been biased by his first impression; seeing so many customers, he had assumed it was a daily occurrence, not the total for an entire week.

Now, not only did it not seem like much, it actually felt like too little.

Before he could speak again, Sunx Chuanming added, "Young Clan Leader, you’ve been observing for so long. What insights do you have to offer?"

Instead of answering directly, Song Changsheng posed a question of his own. "If I may ask, Sunx Tributor, regarding that Bronze Spiritual Artifact from before, this junior only found six points of damage, while you found double that. I wonder, which ones did I miss?"

"Which ones did you see?"

"I saw..." Song Changsheng listed his findings one by one.

After listening, Sunx Chuanming stroked his beard and said, "To have noticed even these flaws means the Young Clan Leader’s perception is already far beyond that of an ordinary person."

Although it was a compliment, it made Song Changsheng feel as though he were being praised by a melon seller hawking her own wares—after all, Sunx himself had found twelve flaws.

Sunx Chuanming didn’t know what Song Changsheng was thinking and continued, "I wonder if the Young Clan Leader noticed these spots... here, here, and here. On these, the damage isn’t obvious, and they look quite normal.

"However, their damage is not on the surface, but internal. They are completely beyond repair. That’s why I advised that man to melt it down into Artifact Refining Material to cut his losses. After all, it’s not easy to find another sucker."

Recalling the spots he pointed out, Song Changsheng realized he did have a vague impression of them. He had noticed a slight hint of something odd at the time, but without the ability of ’X-ray Vision’, he had skipped over them once he saw nothing abnormal on the surface. He never expected the problem to be internal.

Song Changsheng was once again shocked by Sunx Chuanming’s perceptiveness.

He went on to ask about several other items, and Sunx Chuanming patiently answered each question. But when he asked about the set of keys, the man revealed a cold smile. "Actually, I couldn’t tell which of those keys was real and which were fake either."

"What? Then how did you convince that man?" Song Changsheng was truly astonished now. He had seen it with his own eyes: the troublemaking Cultivator had been utterly shocked, paid his fee, and left in disgrace.

A smile touched the corners of Sunx Chuanming’s eyes, revealing his immense confidence. "Since he came to challenge this old man with a puzzle, he must have known the correct answer himself.

"It’s not that I’m arrogant, but if even I can’t tell the difference, he certainly can’t either. Therefore, he must have marked one of them, just waiting for me to make a mistake so he could reveal the truth.

"The mark could have been its position, or some hidden symbol. So, I first deliberately shuffled the keys out of his sight. When I saw his expression remain unchanged, I determined the mark was on the key itself."

"But... this junior also observed them carefully. The keys in that set are identical in both appearance and material. I didn’t find any mark at all," Song Changsheng said, confused.

Sunx Chuanming chuckled. "If they were truly identical, he wouldn’t have brought them. I could have just picked any one of them and been correct. One of them had to be different in some way.

"This man is quite extraordinary. The mark he left was extremely subtle, but it couldn’t escape this old man’s nose."

"Your nose?" Song Changsheng didn’t understand what a nose had to do with it.

"My nose. I smelled a scent on those keys—a scent unique to every Cultivator. One of them had a stronger scent, which means it had been handled the most. Naturally, that one was the real one."

Song Changsheng was dumbfounded. He never would have guessed it was done by smell. He had assumed it was some profound, high-level method.

Seeing Song Changsheng’s reaction, Sunx Chuanming snorted coldly. "The method may be simple, but not just anyone can do it. Without cultivating the corresponding Secret Technique, you would never be able to smell that faint scent."

"Is everyone’s scent really different?" It was the first time Song Changsheng had ever heard such a thing. He knew that every Cultivator’s aura was different, but the idea of a unique scent was unheard of.

Sunx Chuanming stroked his beard, nodded, and said with a hint of smugness, "Of course they’re different. It’s just that this scent is practically imperceptible, so ordinary people can’t detect it at all.

"And this Secret Technique is not actually a treasure appraisal method, but a genuine Tracking Secret Technique. After cultivating it, as long as you know a person’s scent and are within a certain range, you can always find them."

Song Changsheng’s expression suddenly turned strange. ’This skill... isn’t that just the "Dog Nose Technique"?’

Unaware of what he was thinking, Sunx Chuanming looked at him with bright eyes and said, "If you want to learn, I can teach you."

...