Chapter 767 – White Dragon Jade Card
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This new item in Lin Ming’s hand was also a true treasure that could sell for 7000-8000 spirit essence stones in an auction house. This was something that the Knifescar fellow had received 20 years before in a small town of the Thatch Region. Although it didn’t cost much, he still wasn’t willing to sell it to Lin Ming for a higher price.
The White Dragon Jade Row was known to have seven fakes for every three real treasure items. But the truth was that it couldn’t even match up to eight fakes for every two real treasures. Now, Lin Ming had continuously picked three real treasures in a row. Moreover, they were some of the top ranked items of the White Dragon Jade Row. Just how could there be such a coincidence in this world?
“Sir Lin, I could have never imagined… You’re so young and yet you’re an appraisal prodigy! The play that I put on in front of everyone must be laughable to an expert like you!” The Knifescar fellow said with a true essence sound transmission, still maintaining a smiling face.
Lin Ming faintly smiled in return and looked up at the Knifescar fellow. “Brother Knifescar, what are you trying to say? Are you saying there are any problems with the jade carvings I’m purchasing?”
Lin Ming already knew the answer to his question. He had been planning to buy both fakes and real items together, but Lin Ming’s finances were limited. If he bought some fake items, then he wouldn’t be able to afford the most expensive real ones. Plus, buying small fake items along with the most expensive real ones was merely him acting like an idiot, burying his head in the sand as he tried to fool this Knifescar fellow.
Thus, Lin Ming didn’t bother to conceal his intentions at all. This was a one-time transaction, after all, and he didn’t plan on returning to the White Dragon Jade Row in the future. If he ever came back, he feared that he would actually be asked to leave before he even went through the door. Since he was here today, he might as well take advantage of the fact that two great customers, Li Yifeng and Zhou Kun, were both here. Now, the Knifescar fellow couldn’t refuse to sell to him, nor could he ask Lin Ming to leave.
“Sir Lin, let’s not waste our time with these games. If you really did think there was a problem with any of these items then would you really spend over 10,000 spirit essence stones on a gamble? Today I will admit that my punishment is deserved, but that item in your hand is the last item that I can sell to you. My White Dragon Jade Row has its own rules and I can only blame my bad luck for being unable to realize that a Supreme Elder has visited my shop today. I also hope that you will consider my reputation here, and won’t push me to the edge. After all, my White Dragon Jade Row is open for business in this Thatch Region where both good and bad people are mixed up. We won’t allow anyone to bully us here.”
Since the Knifescar fellow said that much, Lin Ming no longer put on an act. “I apologize. Things are a little tight for me at the moment. Once I leave White Dragon Jade Row, I will be sure to withdraw. But, Brother Knifescar, you’ve also gained over 10,000 spirit essence stones. The value of these items I take away should only be around 18,000 spirit essence stones. Brother Knifescar should still have a hefty surplus profit.
Lin Ming’s few words set off a storm in the Knifescar fellow’s mind. This meant that Lin Ming had realized that the blood spirit jade from before was a fake. Thinking about it, it must have been Lin Ming who stopped Li Yifeng from increasing the price.
The Knifescar man had studied those bracelets for three whole days and still could not be sure about their authenticity. Finally, he had to got to a Great Elder from the Headquarters to appraise the item. But Lin Ming had only looked at it and touched it for a bit before realizing that it was fake. This meant that his vision was at least three points higher than any of the Elders in the Headquarters!
And thinking about it even more, when Lin Ming had chosen those three items several moments before, he had picked up the three most valuable ones from the pile of ambiguous treasures. This had made the Knifescar fellow extremely shocked.
Just who was this young man?
If he could walk together with Li Yifeng, and from the way that Li Yifeng treated him as an equal peer, it could be assumed that this young man surnamed Lin was not ordinary in the least. Still, he had never heard of him before. It was as if he had simply appeared out of thin air.
“I must say I admire Sir Lin’s eyesight. May I inquire into Sir Lin’s given name, and whether or not Sir Lin would like to join my White Dragon Jade Row Headquarters as a guest appraisal master?” If the Knifescar fellow had hated Lin Ming to the bones because he had swept up his three most expensive treasures, then all of that hatred had now disappeared. In the world of ancient jade carvings, appraisal grandmasters were existences respected by all. It was an extremely rare and valuable opportunity to bring a collection to a grandmaster and obtain his advice, and Lin Ming was already skilled enough to have reached this level.
“I’m sorry, but I must cultivate and I don’t have much time,” Lin Ming said, openly declining this offer and not even giving his name.
This made the Knifescar fellow feel extremely regretful; he had wanted to become friends with Lin Ming after all, or at least to develop good relations. But thinking about it, Lin Ming was bound to have some kind of extraordinary background, and would not necessarily wish to enter their White Dragon Jade Row.
“Since Sir Lin says so, then I won’t ask anymore. This is our Jade Row’s sound transmission card. If Sir Lin is interested at any time, then please come to my White Dragon Jade Row to have a look.” All of the Knifescar fellow’s words had been spoken with true essence sound transmission, except for these last words. He took out a viridian jade card with a lifelike Azure Dragon embossed onto the back. This was the White Dragon Jade Row’s engraving.
Lin Ming was startled as soon as he received this jade card. This card was actually made of wood spirit jade. Although it did not require much material and although it was an extremely low grade of wood spirit jade, it was still remarkable. This sort of jade card could not be randomly awarded, otherwise even the White Dragon Jade Row would be unable to bear the costs.
As the Knifescar fellow passed the jade card, Zhou Kun was watching all of it. This immediately sent him into a fit of laughter, “That’s the White Dragon Jade Card! I’ve come to the White Dragon Jade Row for several years before receiving one! Congratulations to Brother Knifescar for finding another golden goose! This is giving such face to Brother Lin here!”
In Zhou Kun’s opinion, Lin Ming was too great of an idiot. The first time here he had already delivered up over 10,000 spirit essence stones to the White Dragon Jade Row! This must have been the reason why the Knifescar fellow issued Lin Ming a White Dragon Jade Card, all in order to tie up this great golden goose.
Golden goose?
The Knifescar fellow did not know what expression to make. In fact, the actual golden goose was the laughing fool. Comparing Lin Ming to Zhou Kun… The Knifescar fellow did not know whether to laugh or cry.
The Knifescar fellow glanced at Zhou Kun and thought to himself, “Many thanks to a fool like you for buying that pair of so-called blood spirit jade bracelets to fill up my losses for today, otherwise I really would be in trouble.”
“Should I call you a tycoon, Sir Lin? Since you’ve already bought three ‘treasures’, do you not plan on buying any more?” Zhou Kun asked Lin Ming with zest. Today there were two wonderful events that had happened. First, he had obtained a precious treasure for a low price, and secondly he had watched as others were being tricked into buying expensive fakes.
Lin Ming faintly smiled and shook his head, saying, “I’ve already bought three items; I won’t be able to afford any more.”
“Haha, if you need spirit essence stones then you can also ask Brother Li. Brother Li is also a rich man!”
“Brother Lin, ignore him. Let’s go.” Li Yifeng patted Lin Ming’s shoulder in comfort. He didn’t know that Lin Ming had intentionally bought three expensive jade carvings in a row. With his understanding of Lin Ming, the man had no idea what wood spirit jade carvings were to begin with, otherwise he would never have asked those questions back on the spirit boat.
“Hehe.” As Zhou Kun saw Li Yifeng leave the White Dragon Jade Row with Lin Ming, he looked a bit regretful. “Brother Knifescar, I’ll come back next week, haha, but I will head out first for now.”
“Take care!” The Knifescar fellow said, all smiles.
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“Brother Lin, why did you buy those three jade carvings? The price of those three added together is over 10,000 spirit essence stones! It isn’t much cheaper than that pair of blood spirit jade bracelets!” Li Yifeng immediately asked Lin Ming as soon as they left. In his opinion, Lin Ming would not do something like that without reason. But he still could not figure out just what Lin Ming’s intentions were.
There was no way for Lin Ming to explain his reasoning in a simple manner, so he just casually said, “I just had a special feeling about those three jade carvings, so I bought them.”
“Alright.” Li Yifeng shook his head, a bit stymied. “Since you like it, it’s fine. Would you like to have your three items appraised? There is a sixth stage Life Destruction master in this city. He was also my first appraisal teacher that taught me how to identify wood spirit jade carvings; he is a highly respected and infamous individual. If he examines something he definitely won’t make a mistake. Although most of the goods in White Dragon Jade Row are fake, some of them are real after all. There might be something good among those items you bought.
“Oh? A sixth stage Life Destruction master?” Lin Ming was surprised. In the Sky Spill Continent, there were some martial artists who had been able to become Peerless emperors after reaching the fourth stage of Life Destruction. However, these were very rare occurrences. This mostly happened when someone stumbled into a massive bout of luck that allowed them to become Emperor powerhouses. Even then, they would be the weakest of the rank.
The most common Emperor powerhouses had reached stages five or six of Life Destruction before becoming Emperors. There were very few who had reached stage seven of Life Destruction and nearly none who reached stage eight of Life Destruction. As for ninth stage of Life Destruction, those were legendary existences detailed in ancient texts from the Realm of the Gods.
Now in this random desert city that Li Yifeng had stopped by there was actually a sixth stage Life Destruction Supreme Elder. It was natural that Lin Ming would be stunned. Such a person would logically enter the Divine Sea realm in just one more step.
Of course, this so-called ‘one more step’ was as difficult as ascending to the heavens.
As Li Yifeng and Lin Ming were talking, they suddenly a hearty laugh from in front of them. As Lin Ming followed the voice, he saw that not too far away, in a teahouse there were seven or eight men sitting around a stone table. The stone table had many pots filled with that putrid shredded-meat tea. And one of those men was Zhou Kun.
Zhou Kun swung his folding fan, a self-satisfied smirk covering his face. He had an open box in front of him and in that wooden box was that pair of blood spirit jade bracelets that he had previously bought.
“Brother Zhou’s expertise is amazing! Blood spirit jade has all but disappeared from the Thatch Region for the last several years, but now Brother Zhou’s purchase has really broadened our minds!” a middle-aged man wearing animal skins made compliments from across the table.
Zhou Kun laughed, his heart overjoyed. Still, he modestly said, “It’s just a preliminary judgment of mine. Although I’m 90% sure of my decision, there is still some risk involved. “
Just as Zhou Kun’s voice fell, a Revolving Core realm white-clothed old man smiled and said, “Brother Zhou is too prudent. Brother Zhou has extremely keen perception towards ancient jade carvings. You’ve only entered this trade for several years and yet your eyesight is no worse than this old man’s!”
The white-clothed old man laughed and picked up the pair of jade bracelets. He repeatedly studied them under the sunlight, occasionally taking out a small treasure mirror to examine it closer. Finally, he laid the bracelets back down and sighed in admiration.
“Old White, how is it, are they real?” a young man eagerly asked.
“They shouldn’t be fake,” the white-clothed old man breathed out. Seeing that this old man had come to the same conclusion as he had, Zhou Kun’s smile turned even brighter.
“How many spirit essence stones do you think they’re worth?” another young man couldn’t wait to ask.
“How rude!” The white-clothed old man admonished the youngsters, “Blood spirit jade, is extremely rare. Even new jades are hard to find, not to mention something as old as this! Every year the Nine Furnace Divine Kingdom only produces an exceedingly small amount, and nearly all of that is supplied to the Royal Family. You can hardly find this anywhere else, so don’t just open your mouth and ask how many spirit essence stones it’s worth!”