"Smiling? Then this would be easy. We were in the same line of work—how could we not be especially hostile upon meeting?" Ning Fengzhi had yet to endure society's harsh beatings and was far from as composed as he had been in the original story.
"Brother Xuan, that guy's coming over." Chen Gao watched Ning Fengzhi approach and gave him a reminder.
"He's the young sect master of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. Their inherited martial soul has appraisal abilities, and you're the deputy manager of a top-tier appraisal house in Spirit City. Wasn't it perfectly normal for him to come looking for you?" Nan Xuan was not the least bit surprised by Ning Fengzhi's arrival.
"Young sect master?" Chen Gao had already been shocked many times today, but he still had to reveal the bitterness deep in his heart once more.
"You must be the deputy manager of Momo Treasure Appraisal House. I am Ning Fengzhi of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect." Ning Fengzhi did not greet Nan Xuan. Instead, he looked at Chen Gao, because in his eyes, Nan Xuan was merely an appraiser while Chen Gao was the deputy manager.
"Oh, so you're the young sect master of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. A pleasure, a pleasure." Chen Gao responded to Ning Fengzhi, while Nan Xuan quietly took a step back.
They had established their identities on the way here. Nan Xuan was Momo Treasure Appraisal House's star appraiser.
"Oh, it seemed Deputy Manager Chen knew my identity very well." Ning Fengzhi stared into Chen Gao's eyes, hoping to find some answers there.
"Ah, Young Sect Master Ning was simply too famous. It would be hard not to know you." Chen Gao chuckled awkwardly and brushed him off.
Seeing that Chen Gao had no intention of explaining how he knew his identity, Ning Fengzhi did not press further. It would not be difficult to investigate him, but if anyone had any crooked ideas about him, they would be courting death.
"Deputy Manager Chen, this gentleman beside you should be one of your appraisers, right? I haven't seen him before. Could you introduce him? Your appraisal house is quite famous in Spirit City, after all." Ning Fengzhi sized up Nan Xuan and spoke to Chen Gao with a gentle expression.
"He is indeed one of our appraisers. You may call him Mister Nan. As for anything else, you should ask him yourself. Mister Nan is the 'god' of our appraisal house—I wouldn't dare overstep." Chen Gao wore a bitter smile as he apologized to Ning Fengzhi.
In truth, he simply could not keep making things up and had to let Nan Xuan take over.
"Then I'll be direct." Ning Fengzhi's lips curled upward. Since Chen Gao had told him to ask on his own, heh heh.
Chen Gao gestured for him to proceed.
"Mister Nan, would you consider joining our Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect? The compensation would definitely be better than what you have now, and if you make other contributions in the future, our sect can offer further benefits." Ning Fengzhi displayed his advantage—he would bury him in money. He refused to believe an employee could ever think he had too much money.
Chen Gao, standing beside them, was stunned. You wanted to use money to poach the owner of our shop? You really had some nerve.
Ning Fengzhi found Chen Gao's expression rather strange and thought he had made his intentions too obvious. Somewhat apologetically, he said, "Deputy Manager Chen, my apologies. The capable belong to those with money."
After saying that, he looked at Nan Xuan again and asked with a smile, "So, Mister Nan, what do you think?"
Nan Xuan had played a background character for so long that he saw the timing was right. He smiled faintly and said, "I have heard that the inherited martial soul of your Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, has appraisal abilities. I have appraised treasures for many years and would like to witness it for myself. Would Young Sect Master Ning agree?"
Ning Fengzhi found Nan Xuan's attempt at acting mature quite amusing. Don't think I can't guess your age just because you're wearing a mask. You're twenty at most. If you weren't somewhat useful to the sect, I couldn't be bothered with you.
"Since it is Mister Nan's request, I'll agree. But simply watching would be rather boring. How about we have a competition instead?" Arrogance filled Ning Fengzhi's eyes. His martial soul was the continent's number-one support martial soul. Did he think he could see it whenever he pleased without paying a price? Besides, Ning Fengzhi intended to test Nan Xuan's actual ability. If he only knew some unorthodox tricks, bringing him into the sect would be a waste of resources.
"Sure." Nan Xuan looked completely relaxed, as though none of this could stir even a ripple in his heart.
"Good. In that case, let Deputy Manager Chen decide the rules." Ning Fengzhi said confidently.
Chen Gao thought for a moment before saying, "Then let's compete in three rounds. Each of you will choose three rough stones from up ahead, one for each round. We'll compare the total value of the three gemstones you cut out. Whoever has the higher total wins. What do you two think?"
"I have no objections, but that seems a little too plain. How about we add a wager?" Ning Fengzhi said grandly.
Nan Xuan also nodded in an ostentatious manner.
He had his aura completely under control.
"Then what do you two intend to wager?" Chen Gao looked at Ning Fengzhi with some sympathy. What a huge sucker.
Nan Xuan pressed his lips together in a smile and said, "I imagine your sect has no interest in money. If I lose, I'll place myself at your disposal."
Seeing that Nan Xuan had put it that way, Ning Fengzhi naturally would not lower his standing. After thinking it over, he replied, "Then how about this? In my personal capacity as Ning Fengzhi, I'll promise to do one thing for you. This promise will remain valid for life."
Hearing this, Nan Xuan rejoiced inwardly, though his face remained calm. He replied, "Then I'll thank Young Sect Master Ning for this promise."
"Hmph, it hasn't even started yet. Don't celebrate too early." Ning Fengzhi was quite displeased by Nan Xuan's look of certain victory.
Seeing that the time was right, Chen Gao said to them, "Then let's begin. You have thirty minutes. Start."
A bystander said, "Thirty minutes to pick three rough stones, and they still have to be high quality? Isn't that a joke?"
"A joke? Both sides are big shots. They're professionals." A bald man watched Nan Xuan's group begin selecting stones and stood nearby to enjoy the show.
On Ning Fengzhi's side.
"Young master, should we help you take a look?" A man dressed like an assassin lurked in a corner and spoke to Ning Fengzhi.
"Can your martial soul appraise treasures?" Ning Fengzhi rolled his eyes at him, speechless.
The man in the shadows choked on his words.
"Could that other person possibly have higher Innate Soul Power than me? Could his appraisal ability be stronger than mine?" Ning Fengzhi did not even want to complain anymore. What kind of intelligence did these subordinates have? When he got back, he would have his family replace them.
"One after another, none of you have any faith in my martial soul." Ning Fengzhi summoned his martial soul into his hand and began sensing the stones one by one.
Another man standing at the entrance of the Stone Gambling Arena suddenly sneezed and muttered a few words.
The minutes passed quickly.
"Time's up. Have you both made your selections?" Chen Gao swept his gaze across both sides.
"Easy enough. Hurry up and get the masters to cut them open." Ning Fengzhi pointed at the three large stones in front of him, sounding impatient.
Then he looked at the stones by Nan Xuan's feet. Three of them did not even equal one of his, making him even happier inside.
Nan Xuan ignored Ning Fengzhi's disdainful gaze. No matter how Ning Fengzhi played, Nan Xuan would win. The other man relied on sensing, while for him, it was as if the rough stones themselves were telling him what they contained.
Nan Xuan grinned and secretly laughed. "Competing against a man with cheats—what were you thinking?"
Watching sparks fly between the two, Chen Gao rubbed his hands together and thought, According to the rules, once Brother Xuan wins, whatever Ning Fengzhi cuts out will belong to us too. Haha, another huge sum of money coming in.
He had some confidence in Ning Fengzhi's martial soul ability, but today, Ning Fengzhi had run into Nan Xuan.
"Ahem, then let's have the specialists cut open the rough stones." Chen Gao coughed lightly, trying hard to suppress his joy.
The Stone Gambling Arena was quite perceptive as well. They immediately arranged for two highly skilled masters to wait nearby. After all, these two were regular customers, and such a spectacle would greatly boost the arena's popularity.
Ning Fengzhi's stones were already being cut. Before long, green appeared.
"Look, it's green! It must be top-grade jade!"
Ning Fengzhi was delighted to see green emerge from his rough stone. He even raised an eyebrow at Nan Xuan, signaling for him to start cutting his own stones.
Just as the stone-cutting master was about to use the blade on Nan Xuan's stone, Nan Xuan hurriedly said, "Master, just polish mine carefully with gauze."
The master did not delay and immediately began polishing it as Nan Xuan instructed.
"Eh, black and translucent?" The surrounding spectators had already seen color emerge from Nan Xuan's polished stone.
Hearing that, the owner of the Stone Gambling Arena hurried over, put on his glasses, and examined it closely.
Then his breathing quickened as he said in astonishment, "This is the Wittelsbach Diamond! It's extraordinarily rare on the continent, practically priceless. I never expected one to be cut from a rough stone in my arena today."
"What? That exaggerated? Boss, are you seeing things?" Some spectators supporting Ning Fengzhi looked at the owner with ugly expressions.
"Hmph, who do you think you are, questioning me? When I was running this Stone Gambling Arena, you were still playing in the mud." The owner was furious at these people who spoke nonsense with their eyes open. He did not care if they made a fuss, but they could not question him.
Nan Xuan then signaled for the master to polish the other two stones. Sure enough, both were gemstones of extreme rarity on the continent.
Ning Fengzhi already knew that he had lost. He had not expected someone to truly be better than his Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda martial soul.
However, as the young sect master of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, he was not dejected over losing the match. Instead, he walked over to Nan Xuan and said with a smile, "It seems I won't have the chance to invite Mister Nan to visit our sect."
"Don't worry, Young Sect Master Ning. We're still young, and there will be plenty of opportunities. Perhaps one day, I'll join your sect." Nan Xuan said to Ning Fengzhi with a smile.
Ning Fengzhi merely smiled at Nan Xuan's words. If you take what I said earlier seriously, then you really are 'too young.'
"Mister Nan, rest assured. Since I, Ning, promised to grant you one request, I will certainly not break my word. But how do you intend to deal with these rare gemstones?" At this point, Ning Fengzhi had forgotten all about winning and losing and had set his sights on the gems Nan Xuan had cut out.
Hearing this, the Stone Gambling Arena owner felt his heart tighten, but he quickly relaxed again. He wanted to buy them too, but could his money possibly compare to Ning Fengzhi, the continent's richest second-generation heir?
"Oh? Young Sect Master Ning is interested?" Nan Xuan narrowed his eyes in a cheerful smile as he asked Ning Fengzhi.
"Ah, what young sect master? Just call me Fengzhi. Brother Nan, would you be willing to part with them?" Ning Fengzhi had thrown pride aside. What else could he do? He needed these gemstones. The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda had the word 'treasure' in its name—the more valuable the gemstone, the more beneficial it was to their cultivation.
"We're both businessmen. There's no such thing as parting with something out of affection. However, I need that Wittelsbach Diamond to make a pair of rings."
"But I don't have connections to any blacksmiths or engravers, so I'll have to trouble you, Fengzhi."
"As for the gemstone left over after making the rings, consider it your referral fee. How about it?" The moment Nan Xuan saw that gemstone, he had already made plans. Since Ning Fengzhi wanted to build a relationship with him, he might as well make use of that.
A pair of rings would not even use half the gemstone, let alone one of such supreme quality. Ning Fengzhi agreed without a second thought.
"I wonder which young lady has won Brother Nan's affection, enough for you to use such a gemstone to make rings. She is truly fortunate." Ning Fengzhi thought it was somewhat wasteful to make rings from such a gem, but he also wanted to be romantic like that once. Thus, he turned his gaze toward another gemstone Nan Xuan had cut out—the blue one.
Nan Xuan smiled with pursed lips and said nothing.
Afterward, Nan Xuan and Ning Fengzhi discussed the price of the other two gemstones. Together, they came to fifteen million Gold Soul Coins.
Of course, they had not been put up for auction. Otherwise, the price would have been even higher.
Ning Fengzhi also understood the other party's goodwill. Patting his chest, he promised, "Don't worry, Brother Nan. I'll definitely find the very best master to make your rings. Once they're done, I'll have someone personally deliver them to you."
"Then I'll leave it to you." Nan Xuan replied steadily.
Ning Fengzhi did not stay any longer afterward. He also wanted to return early and study these exceptionally rare gemstones of the continent.
Later, Nan Xuan found the owner of the Stone Gambling Arena and signed a long-term cooperation contract with him. Looking at the contract, all of the owner's previous disappointment vanished.
After handling everything, Nan Xuan and Chen Gao returned to Momo Treasure Appraisal House.
"Brother Nan, why is it that you always act so calm and speak so little in front of outsiders?" Chen Gao had stayed by Nan Xuan's side all day and felt that Nan Xuan was different from usual.
"Acting like that in front of strangers makes me seem cooler. Wasn't I the same when we first met?" Nan Xuan did not hide it. It was better for those around him to understand his personality than for him to conceal it and leave them guessing.
"I guess so. Back then, you really loved showing off." Chen Gao wore an expression of sudden realization as he recalled the Nan Xuan from before.
Before you continue