Buying Jade

Chen Mo walked along the street for quite a while before he found a shop selling writing brushes, ink, paper, inkstones, and feng shui items. He went in and bought a large amount of yellow paper, cinnabar, and wolf-hair brushes. Ordinary stationery shops had nothing suitable for him; only shops selling feng shui items carried such things.

However, most brushes marketed as wolf-hair brushes these days were not actually made from wolf hair. Cheaper ones used pig bristles, while better ones used sheep wool or rabbit hair. Fortunately, this shop had connections and could obtain genuine wolf-hair brushes, though they were rather expensive, costing several hundred to over a thousand yuan each.

Truly precious wolf-hair brushes were made from weasel tail hair mixed with sheep wool in specific proportions. Different proportions had different names, such as Big Wolf Hair, Three Purple Seven Sheep, and Seven Purple Three Sheep. Brushes made this way were expensive. There were also fine Purple Hair brushes, made from the fur on the backs of wild male purple rabbits during the ninth lunar month. Those were also costly brushes.

Chen Mo had just received seven million yuan, so he did not care about such a small expense. He bought every genuine brush in the shop suitable for Drawing Talismans. There were more than a hundred in total, and they cost him tens of thousands of yuan.

After buying those things, he found a spot on a back street and, once he was sure no one was around, stored everything Inside Universe Bead. Otherwise, his small backpack would never have held it all.

After purchasing those supplies, he headed to the Jade Area. Cultural Antiques Street was divided into many sections, one of which was the Jade Area, specifically for buying and selling jade objects, including modern crafts and antiques.

Chen Mo wanted to buy some ordinary jade to use as Formation Bases, then set up a Spirit Gathering Array and other formations to make cultivation more convenient.

But the fake accident incident from earlier gave him an idea. His Spiritual Sense could scan the insides of objects, so why not use it for Stone Gambling? Out of curiosity, he had once come across Stone Gambling in the Jade Area of Cultural Antiques Street. Back when he was in high school, he had merely watched it as a spectacle.

But thinking back on it now, he could test whether his Spiritual Sense could be used for Stone Gambling. He would not even need Stone Cutting. As long as he could buy good, translucent jade at a low price, he could make more powerful Spirit Gathering Arrays!

He currently had seven million yuan in capital. It seemed like a lot, and it was a lot to an ordinary person, but Rich People would not even spare it a glance. Good jade could cost millions, tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions. If he wanted quality jade, he simply could not afford it. That was why Chen Mo wanted to see whether Spiritual Sense could be useful here. Why not try something that could save money and bring benefits?

Upon entering the Jade Area, he saw numerous shops. Some displayed carved pieces right out on the street, while others simply piled them together. It looked unbelievable to outsiders, but insiders knew it was nothing special. More than ninety percent of the Jade Ornaments and pendants displayed outside storefronts were fake. They could not possibly have been carved from genuine jade.

The remaining ten percent were genuine, but they were all carved from scraps of Assorted Jade. Including the carving work, their total cost did not exceed two yuan, yet they could sell for anywhere from ten to one hundred yuan. They were perfect for fooling people who could not recognize quality goods. Good items would never be displayed out on the street.

Many jade carvings worth thousands or tens of thousands of yuan were kept inside the shops, displayed in Glass Counters. Their price tags ranged from thousands to millions, while some jade of collection grade was sold in dedicated display cases, making their value obvious at a glance. Chen Mo did not need jade that had already been carved into shape, so he excluded the jade in the counters.

Chen Mo swept his Spiritual Sense over those jade carvings, but felt no reaction at all. It was not because he knew how to distinguish them; he simply did not understand the differences. So he entered a Jade Store and carefully scanned the items one by one with his Spiritual Sense, which allowed him to discover something useful.

When jade was translucent and pure, his Spiritual Sense felt comfortable when scanning it. The more translucent and pure the jade was, the more pleasant it felt, carrying a cool, refreshing sensation. From the price tags and labels, he came to understand that any jade which made his Spiritual Sense feel comfortable was definitely expensive. Moreover, jade had to be at least Bean Green Variety before he could sense anything. His Spiritual Sense had no reaction to Assorted Jade or jade below Bean Green.

Therefore, none of the small jade carvings, ornaments, and trinkets displayed outside the shops gave him any reaction whatsoever. Chen Mo dismissed all of them. No matter how good or expensive jade without any reaction might be, it was utterly useless to him.

After walking farther inside, he finally spotted a shop selling Raw Jade. The stones came in different sizes and prices.

Chen Mo stepped forward and scanned them one by one with his Spiritual Sense. He found that whenever his Spiritual Sense entered a stone, it was like wading through mud, making progress extremely difficult. Most of the stones felt this way. Only a few allowed his Spiritual Sense to move slightly more smoothly after entering them.

He bought the few stones that gave him a feeling, spending more than seventy thousand yuan. Each stone was roughly the size of a fist. He carried them to the Stone Cutting area to have them opened. He wanted to know exactly how much jade content his stones contained and what quality the jade was.

Stone Cutting was free as long as the rough stone had been purchased there. A few hours later, the results were clear. None of the jade was particularly good. Some stones contained only a thin layer of Bean Green, some had only a fingernail-sized piece of Bean Green, and others had nothing but tiny specks of jade that were completely worthless. Of all the jade that was cut out, the only piece worth five thousand yuan was a Bean Green Variety chunk the size of a child's fist. In other words, he had suffered a disastrous loss on these stones.

Fortunately, Chen Mo had gained a clearer understanding of some of the patterns behind Spiritual Sense, giving him a reference for selecting rough stone later. As long as there was jade in the cut stones, he had the workers slice it into jade strips one finger thick and two fingers wide, intending to conduct an experiment. Several Stone Cutting workers shook their heads at his actions. Who would want stones like that? They truly could not understand what this young man was thinking. Many stones that still contained jade had not been cut open here; he packed them up to deal with after returning.

In truth, Chen Mo knew nothing about Stone Gambling and did not understand the differences between jadeite and other rough stone. He even used the wrong names when buying stones, so he could be said to be completely ignorant about Stone Gambling. Rough Material was also called "stone," Full Green Rough Material was called "colored goods," Rough Material with uneven green coloring was called "Patterned Material," and large Rough Material without High Jadeite was called "Brick Material." He understood none of it.

By then, it was late, so Chen Mo found a nearby hotel and prepared to stay the night. The next day, he would return to the Jade Area to buy more rough stone before heading home. Without jade, he would have no way to make Formation Bases.

As for the stones he had bought, he wanted to store them Inside Universe Bead and see whether he could use the Universe Bead to extract the jade from within them. If he could separate the stone from the jade, things would be much easier. He would no longer need Stone Cutting machines to slice open Raw Jade one by one. However, after probing the stones he had bought with his Spiritual Sense, he found that they did not feel very promising. Not only was his Spiritual Sense extremely sluggish inside them, but it also moved in fits and starts, indicating that the jade within was poor and had thin skin.

The Universe Bead truly was impressive. Under his control inside it, all the stone part within the rough stone turned into powder and merged into the soil Inside Universe Bead. Sure enough, although the remaining jade part was scarce and fragmented, with much of it only a thin layer that could not be used at all, every bit of jade inside the rough stone was revealed completely. No other tool could accomplish such a thing.

After gathering the usable jade, he found that there were only a few pieces. Using his control Inside Universe Bead, he divided them into several equal portions.

He had not expected his Spiritual Sense to be so effective Inside Universe Bead. Many actions impossible outside could be carried out there one by one. He let out a breath of relief. Once he bought jade the next day, he would finally have a way to extract and process it. There was another advantage as well: secrecy.

After cultivating through the night, he harvested another batch of vegetables Inside Universe Bead in the early morning. The vegetables grew incredibly quickly Inside Universe Bead. Chen Mo had already begun reducing the Planting Area, keeping only a few plants of each kind—enough for himself and his parents to eat. He no longer needed to consider selling the rest. Ever since Yuan Ruoshan had told him that this world also had Martial Artists and others, he had become even more secretive about possessing the Universe Bead. This absolutely could not be revealed.