Dragon Soaring Jade Shop

Everyone along Vermilion Bird Street noticed how bustling the street was today, and the liveliest spot of all was the jade shop that had just opened—Dragon Soaring Jade Shop. The shop was packed wall to wall with people. Fortunately, its owner had bought a large enough place, or customers would not even have been able to get inside.

"Boss Wang, I heard this Dragon Soaring Jade Shop has jade pieces made from the legendary Flawless Jade. Is that true?"

"Do you even need to ask? Of course it's true. Do you know who announced the news? The world's greatest jade carver—Zhang Kuang. Do you think it could be fake? Besides, my wife just had one of our servants notify me to hurry over. Stop talking, let's go! It's the legendary Flawless Jade!"

"Sis, look at that swordsman guarding Dragon Soaring. He's so cool!"

"Yeah! Look at his eyes—they're like an endless, dark night sky. So mesmerizing!"

A girl who had been carefully admiring the once-in-a-millennium flawless jade artifact—Dragon Soaring—heard the two girls talking and turned to look at the swordsman seated beside it... She froze. That male swordsman was simply too cool: a face carved from white jade, sword-like brows, an aquiline nose, slightly thick and sensual lips, and those deep-pool eyes that seemed able to contain all things...

I sat motionless in a chair beside the Flawless Jade—Dragon Soaring—like a pine tree. Railings had been set up within a meter around me to keep customers from coming close. I was suffering now. So many people were staring at me—well, actually, at the legendary treasure beside me, Dragon Soaring.

I didn't know whether the beautiful woman in front was laughing and pointing at Dragon Soaring or at me. That dead fat guy was staring at me so hard he was drooling. Heavens, I couldn't take it anymore!

Li Da and the others in the distance were still snickering. It was enough to make me furious, but for the sake of my grand plan, I had to endure, endure, endure...

Ahh, I couldn't bear it anymore! Why wasn't some bandit coming along? At least that would give me something to break the monotony.

Just as I was suffering, a black flash shot past. It was fast, but my reaction was faster. Before the black flash could touch Dragon Soaring, I had already caught it. Looking at the ring before me, I smiled. He actually thought he could steal something directly with a ring? Wasn't that looking down on me too much? True Primordial Energy surged through my right hand, which gripped the ring, and with a fierce shake, the ring flew back toward where it had come from at even greater speed. In an instant, someone was knocked flying by the ring, and he still had not recovered from the fact that I had caught his ring.

The fellow was knocked down before the crowd by the ring, yet the first thing he thought of was not running away, but...

"How could you catch my Lightning Ring? How is that possible? Can you tell me what method you used to catch my Lightning Ring?"

I stared at him, not knowing what to say. He was a bandit who had been caught, yet instead of fleeing, he was spouting a pile of meaningless nonsense at me.

The customers outside burst into laughter when they heard him. Such a foolish bandit really was strange. Could this guy be an idiot?

"He's the Lightning Bandit!" A voice rang out in the jade shop's main hall. At once, everyone fell silent.

He was the world's greatest thief, the Lightning Bandit. The Lightning Bandit had stolen countless times in his life, yet no one had ever managed to catch him. His martial arts had already reached the Third Rank, but what was truly terrifying was his speed. His speed was unquestionably the fastest in the entire martial world. To this day, after snatching a treasure, no one had ever been able to catch up to him. Five years ago, Demon Lord Shi Yi, one of the world's ten greatest experts, had chased him for three days and three nights without catching him. That was what had earned him his reputation as the world's greatest thief. Yet today, his legend had been shattered—instantly shattered by a young swordsman. He had been captured with ease, without even the slightest power to resist. Even after being caught, he could not believe that someone had seized his weapon, the Lightning Ring, with a bare right hand.

Everyone around me stared at me. Some were shocked, some worshipful, and some... enamored.

After that minor disturbance, no one else came to steal anything. All I could do was stare solemnly at the people around me and endure the gazes of those infatuated girls, gazes hot enough to melt steel.

Night had fallen. The people on the street had gone home, and the peddlers had begun putting away their stalls. Dragon Soaring Jade Shop, which had only opened today, was closing as well.

Finally, finally... it was over. I was finally free. From morning until late at night, I had truly suffered. Those infatuated girls had stared at me for so, so long! I rose from my chair and stretched. Just as I turned to put Dragon Soaring away, a sudden change erupted. Ten men in black rushed in from the pitch-black street outside and charged into the jade shop. Nearly ten of them rushed at me with incredible speed. The constables we had hired to deter petty thieves did not even have time to react. If they had faced an ordinary expert, they would have succeeded. But they were facing me—the true number one expert under heaven, the number one expert who was countless times stronger than the number two expert under heaven.

I looked at the group with a cold smile on my lips. They thought highly of me, all right—there were actually two Second-Rank Experts among them. There was no need to say more; they had to be from one of the Four Great Families or the imperial palace. With such a powerful force, the person behind them was clearly determined to obtain my Dragon Soaring. But I would disappoint you—and make you regret it in pain!

I pressed the index and middle fingers of my right hand together. A Sword Light nearly a meter long appeared upon my hand, as solid as a physical object. The last time I faced Li Si, my Sword Light had still flickered. Now it was almost tangible, because these people were worth me using this much of my strength.

When they saw the Sword Light in my hand, the two leading men in black visibly shuddered. Only someone with Third-Rank strength could possibly unleash Sword Light, and only a Second-Rank Expert could produce Sword Light a meter long. But Sword Light that was nearly tangible was absolutely the strength of a First-Rank Expert. A First-Rank Expert could certainly defeat six Second-Rank Experts. They knew that today's mission could no longer be accomplished.

"Retreat!" one of the leading Second-Rank Experts immediately ordered. He was decisive. The instant he saw that things could not be done, he withdrew at once. But they had encountered me.

The black-clad men immediately retreated with great speed. But if they thought they could just leave so easily, weren't they looking down on me too much?

"You should at least leave something behind!"

A thread of Sword Light flashed violently. I severed the tendons in the right hands of both leading Second-Rank Experts. Looking at their bedraggled state, I smiled. Their master was going to cry now. His two Second-Rank Experts had been reduced to having only Third-Rank strength. Hahaha...

"Too fast, too fast! Number Thirteen, tell the Young Master that this guy has at least the strength of a Heavenly Guard. Be careful of the Zhang Family. Number One and I will go treat our wounds first," one of the wounded Second-Rank Experts said to a subordinate beside him.

The street returned to silence, as though nothing had happened.

All of us from Star Peak Manor returned in high spirits. Today's opening had been an absolute success! That wall-to-wall crowd had been truly spectacular, and countless wealthy men and noble ladies had wished us a prosperous opening!

A group of us core members of Star Peak Manor sat in the main hall. I had returned to my childlike appearance and sat high in the seat of honor. At this moment, I should have been very happy, but my eldest disciple—this bastard Li Da.

"Sister Yu, did you see how Master looked sitting in that chair? Wow, he didn't move at all, and so many people were staring at him! There were even lots of beautiful women staring straight at Master. Especially that fat guy who kept drooling! Master's expression never changed! Hasn't he reached the realm where Mount Tai could collapse before him and his face would not change?" Li Da did not notice my murderous gaze in the slightest and kept talking to Sister Yu.

"Is the Young Master an ordinary person? He's the all-powerful Young Master! Of course he reached that realm long ago! He sat through that whole day in that situation. I couldn't stand even one second of it. I think the Young Master may already have reached the realm of those enlightened monks, where all things are empty!" Sister Yu was just as thick-skinned, actually joining Li Da in talking about it.

"What are you doing? Why are you pulling me?" Sister Yu shouted at Brother Wang. At the same time, Li Da shouted at Li Er. Following Brother Wang and Li Er's gazes, they finally noticed the look in my eyes—I was ready to eat people.

Sister Yu truly deserved credit for being older and more experienced. She immediately said, "Young Master, we were praising you! Why are you acting like this?" After saying that, she even wore a thoroughly confused expression. I couldn't take it anymore. I had lost. I couldn't win against you, and I couldn't even win against my own disciple!

Once Li Da heard Sister Yu's words, he finally understood and immediately wanted to flatter me, but he was too slow—slower than my reaction.

"Li Da, you brat, you actually dare speak ill of your master. Starting today, spend three days in the secret chamber practicing martial arts. If you run around, enter the Eight Formations, and then... heh heh, just think about those people who came to the manor that day!" I said to Li Da with a smile at the corner of my mouth, deliberately sounding cold.

Li Da wanted to argue when he heard that, but the miserable figures of those people immediately appeared in his mind. After Master had released them, every one of them had looked dazed and foolish. They had been driven completely mad by the Eight Formations! That included a Second-Rank Expert.

Actually, the true Eight Formations did not possess such great power. It was only because its energy source now was my True Primordial Energy that a Second-Rank Expert naturally could not escape!

I looked at his pitiful expression. I could not let him off, or he would only become even more outrageous in the future. I took a deep breath and calmed myself. It was time to discuss proper business.

"Brother Wang, how were the sales at our Dragon Soaring Jade Shop today? Tell us!" I asked Brother Wang, who sat in the seat of honor to my right.

Brother Wang stood up, looked around at everyone, and said with a smile, "Because Dragon Soaring Jade Shop has five masters of the jade-carving world, including Uncle Zhang and Elder Zhuang, our costs are very low, and every jade piece sells at a high price. Today, we sold more than fifty jade pieces and received roughly one hundred thousand taels of silver. After deducting all sorts of expenses, including labor and jade costs, our actual profit was twenty thousand taels. Judging from today's situation, we estimate that we will have ten thousand taels of silver coming in every day from now on. That also depends on Uncle Zhang and the others' superb craftsmanship. If we open branch shops in the future, we will certainly have to hire jade carvers of a lesser standard. If one jade shop can earn two thousand taels of silver a day, that would already be quite good."

As soon as I heard that, it seemed that the skill of jade carvers truly determined the price of jade artifacts. I looked toward Uncle Zhang and asked, "Uncle Zhang, back when you were at Baoyuxiang, how much would people of Elder Zhuang's skill receive in a year?"

Uncle Zhang immediately replied, "Back then, Baoyuxiang had a rule. First-class jade carvers like Elder Zhuang received three thousand taels of silver a year, second-class jade carvers received one thousand taels of silver, and the lowest, third-class jade carvers, received five hundred taels of silver."

Looking at Uncle Zhang, it seemed he himself did not fall into any of those three categories. I asked, "Uncle Zhang, what about you? How much silver did you receive in a year?"

Uncle Zhang immediately put on the air of a lofty master, cleared his throat, and said, "I was the only special-grade jade carver. I received twenty thousand taels of silver a year."

Everyone looked at Uncle Zhang—not with reverence, but...

"What are you showing off for? My, Li Da's, master is countless times better than you, and I, Li Da, am at least twice as good as you!" Li Da muttered softly from the side. Everyone had already witnessed Uncle Zhang's superb carving skills in the secret chamber, so none of them were the least bit surprised now.

Uncle Zhang looked around at everyone. When he found none of the expectant looks he had hoped for, he coughed again and sat down.

Looking at Uncle Zhang's expression, I smiled and said, "Uncle Zhang, from now on, the jade carvers at the jade shop we open will be paid twice what Baoyuxiang pays in a year! We can't be too greedy!"

At once, Uncle Zhang's brows lifted with delight. "On behalf of Elder Zhuang and the others, I thank you, worthy nephew. There'll be many jade carvers coming in the future."

"Uncle Zhang, don't celebrate too soon. You won't be getting a single coin yourself!" I immediately added.

"Worthy nephew, what are you saying? How could I possibly ask for money? You only need to make more Flawless Jade for me." Uncle Zhang looked at me with a face full of righteous integrity.

"Alright, alright, let's leave it at that for now. Everyone, go back and rest—it's already very late. Brother Lang Feng, remember to go with me to register at National Martial Academy tomorrow. Don't sleep in. If you're late, I won't take you!" With that, I stood and headed toward my room.

"Second Brother, I'll definitely get up very early. Don't worry." Brother Lang Feng skipped excitedly toward his own room.

The sky outside was already dark. Tomorrow would be a new beginning!