The system is the proficiency panel

Lin Ji dragged the still-angry Yun Shitian along, through the bustling hall, toward a dim corner shrouded in piles of debris and the dust of time. The air was thick with the combined scent of cheap tobacco, stale parchment, and unidentified magical materials.

Old Pipe was curled up in an armchair with leather that was almost worn through, his large brass pipe tilted to his lips. A wisp of gray smoke rose up, swirling between his messy gray hair and greasy robe. His eyes were closed, his chest rising slightly, as if he was sleeping soundly, deaf to the noise around him.

Yun Shitian couldn't help but sneer and whispered.

"That's it? You sleep like a bear, what do you know?"

Lin Ji ignored him, his eyes darting across the counter in front of Old Pipe. A variety of items were piled haphazardly on it: rusted arrowheads, a few murky crystals, several incomplete animal hide maps, a few notebooks with blurry covers, and a few small glass bottles filled with strange powders or dried plants. Everything was covered in a thin layer of dust, exuding an air of decay and mystery.

"Old sir?"

Lin Ji's voice was not loud, but it clearly penetrated the surrounding noise.

The old pipe didn't move at all, only the ash in the pipe flickered slightly with his gentle breathing.

Yun Shitian pretended to be impatient, took a step forward, and tapped the edge of the counter with his fingers, making a dull "thump thump" sound.

"Hey! Old man! Wake up! Are you still doing business?"

At that moment, Old Pipe's eyelids opened slightly, his cloudy eyeballs almost colorless in the dim light. He let out a gurgling sound like phlegm in his throat, slowly raised his skinny hand, removed the pipe from his lips, and exhaled a puff of thick white smoke.

"call……"

The old pipe let out a long sigh, and the sound was as hoarse as sandpaper rubbing against each other.

"Noisy young people... disturbing the old man's sweet sleep will cost you..."

He slowly sat up straighter, his cloudy eyes finally fully opened. His gaze lingered on Lin Ji for a moment, then swept over Yun Shitian, and finally fell back on Lin Ji's face, with a kind of amusement as if he was examining an antique.

"A new face... He carries the scent of fresh earth from the forest, along with a subtle edge and depth. Either he's a fool seeking death, or a ruthless character looking for trouble. Tell me, what do you want?"

Lin Ji ignored the other party's temptation and got straight to the point.

"We need information about the Quicksand Forest. The most detailed map possible, as well as the history of this forest before its corruption, especially reliable records of the legends of the ancient power deep within the forest."

"Oh?"

A faint gleam of brilliance seemed to flash in the old pipe's turbid eyes. He slowly refilled the tobacco, lit it with a dry twig, took a deep breath, and let the smoke envelop him again.

"You have a big appetite, young man. A detailed map... that could save your life, but it could also be the source of fatal disaster. As for history? Ah, in a land tainted by the Maw of Corruption, the past is long forgotten in dust and whispers. You seek forbidden knowledge."

He blew out a smoke ring, which strangely maintained its shape in the air.

"The price... is naturally extraordinary."

“The price is easy to talk about.”

Lin Ji spoke calmly, and lightly touched the storage ring with his fingers. A small piece of medium-grade spirit stone emitting pure energy fluctuations appeared in his palm.

The warm luster of the spirit stone is particularly eye-catching in the dim corner, and the pure spiritual power it contains is completely different from the magical aura of Aetherius.

Middle-grade spirit stones are not inferior to low-grade spirit stones. They can quickly restore spiritual power without side effects, and can also be used for cultivation, formations, and refining... There may only be a few of them in a spirit mine, and they are very precious. With Lin Ji's current status, he only carries dozens of them on him in case of emergency.

The old pipe's gaze was instantly fixed on the spirit stone, and his cloudy eyes erupted with astonishing greed and surprise. He subconsciously reached out to touch it, then abruptly retracted his hand. He glanced around warily, lowering his voice, trembling with disbelief.

"This... this is... such a pure energy crystal! I've never seen it before... Where did you get it, boy?"

“The source is unimportant.”

Lin Ji took back the spirit stone, the light disappeared, and Old Pipe's face suddenly showed a strong sense of loss.

“What matters is, can it be exchanged for what I want?”

The old pipe smoker stared at Lin Ji's hand, his Adam's apple rolling up and down, greed and struggle intertwined on his face. He took a few puffs of his pipe, and his voice became even hoarse in the smoke.

"Map... I have a fragment of the Marauder's Point map here. It was drawn by a reckless elven druid decades ago. It records some of the paths he took deep into the core area and the changing patterns of the corrupted nodes. It's old, but it's a hundred times better than the garbage the guild has released. As for the history... hehe."

He let out a meaningless low laugh and fumbled out a palm-sized hardcover notebook wrapped tightly in oilcloth from under the counter. There was no text on the cover, only a dark brown stain that looked like dried blood.

"This is the fragmentary notebook of an old scholar driven insane by the Embrace of the Corrupted Maw. It contains fragmentary records of legends about the 'Whispering Root'... It is said to be the oldest core of life and wisdom in the forest before the advent of corruption, and the initial target of the Corrupted Maw, Morgaroth. The notebook also mentions that near the source of corruption in the deepest part of the forest, one can see the twisted and polluted remains of ancient elven buildings... The location of these ruins may be related to the ancient power you seek."

He weighed the oilcloth bag and another piece of what looked like some kind of gray bark (the Marauder's Map), his cloudy eyes fixed on Lin Ji.

"The map fragments, plus this madman's notebook, in exchange for that... energy crystal you just mentioned, five! Not even one less!"

Five mid-grade spirit stones! This price was an exorbitant sum. Yun Shitian raised his eyebrows and was about to explode, but Lin Ji stopped him with a look.

Lin Ji pondered for a moment. He had no shortage of spirit stones, but he didn't want to be taken advantage of. He spoke slowly.

"Three. Plus one more piece of information. After the clash between the Ashes Merchants and the Rotmaw Embrace in Weeping Canyon, what have they been up to recently? Who within the Ashes Merchants is most hostile to the Rotmaw Embrace? Or, in other words, who wants to tear a piece of its flesh off the most?"

The old pipe squinted his eyes, his expression becoming even more blurred behind the smoke. He seemed to be weighing the pros and cons, and after a moment, he slammed the greasy counter.

"Deal! Three bucks is three bucks! Consider it my opening day charity!"

He quickly pushed the oilcloth bag and the bark fragments in front of Lin Ji, his movements not behaving like an old man. Lin Ji also simply took out three medium-grade spirit stones and handed them over.

Old Pipe grabbed the Spirit Stone and held it tightly in his hand like a rare treasure, greedily feeling the surging energy within it, a satisfied yet obscene smile on his face. He lowered his voice and spoke rapidly.

"Those hyenas of Ash? Bloodhand Karroz! He's Ash's second-in-command in the Quicksand Forest, ruthless and mercenary. He led the team that robbed the Rotmaw's sacrifice last time! I heard that the shipment contained a vital vessel that the Rotmaw's Embrace was about to sacrifice to Morgaroth, but Karroz stole it. Harkon, the Rotmaw's Hearteater, has a bounty on Karroz's head, and the price is terrifyingly high!"

"Carlos is like a mad dog right now, recruiting troops everywhere. On the one hand, he's guarding against Rotmaw's revenge, and on the other hand... hehe, I guess he's thinking of making another big move! I heard that he's been in frequent contact with Bloodthorn's people recently, and I don't know what he's plotting. If you want to cause trouble for Ashes or use them, you can't go wrong by looking for a breakthrough through Bloodhand Carlos!"

Just as Lin Ji was digesting this information, Yun Shitian, who had been looking around nearby, stumbled across the guild hall counter and suddenly paused. He tugged hard at Lin Ji's cloak, his voice low and tinged with surprise.

"Lin Ji, look! That man trading at the counter! The badge he just put into his arms... doesn't it look very similar to the Transfiguration Badge we got from the Blood Moon Cult priestess in Shadow Valley?"

Lin Ji frowned. How could the emblem of the Jones family of the Eldarin Arcane Federation appear on an adventurer in the Quicksand Forest?

This was no coincidence! His divine sense instantly covered the surroundings, and he saw a sturdy figure carrying a huge package leave the Adventurer's Guild and disappear at the intersection. On the inside of his clothes hung an inconspicuous badge composed of elemental lines.

The interwoven pattern of the badge's elements was strikingly similar in style to the deformed badge on Serena's body!

The waters of the Quicksand Forest are far deeper than anticipated. The Embrace of the Corrupted Maw, the Ash Merchants, the Adventurer's Guild, a mysterious ancient source of pollution... and now, even the Jones family of the Eldarin Arcane Federation, one of the most powerful nations in the Human Alliance, is involved?

Lin Ji's eyes instantly became extremely sharp. He quickly put away the fragments of the map and the oilcloth notebook given by Old Pipe, and whispered to Old Pipe.

"Thank you."

Then he grabbed Yun Shitian.

"Go! Follow that man!"

The two pushed aside those blocking their way, and amid the adventurers' surprised and dissatisfied gazes, they transformed into two swift shadows, sprinting in the direction the man had disappeared! The old pipe smoker looked in the direction they had disappeared, a complex and incomprehensible light flashing in his cloudy eyes. He took a deep puff of his pipe, submerging himself once again in the thick smoke. The clamor in the guild hall seemed to pause for a moment at this moment.