"One wisp of Killing Intent, one wisp of ghostly qi, two wisps of yin qi, one wisp of Blood Baleful Qi, four wisps of killing intent..."
Chen Shaojun had still been relatively relaxed at first.
After yesterday's experiment, he had roughly determined that small amounts of yin baleful qi and ghostly qi posed little threat to most Appraiser Apprentices.
With the Divine Gaze Technique, they could easily be dispersed.
But very soon, he discovered that quite a few of the treasures among this batch of "raw materials" contained substantial amounts of yin baleful qi.
"One porcelain bottle, seven wisps of yin qi.
"One hairpin, nine wisps of Killing Intent.
"One fan, ten wisps of Blood Baleful Qi."
Chen Shaojun's expression flickered uncertainly.
The dangers hidden within these raw materials were absolutely not small.
One had to know that the Goshawk's Eye he had appraised before, measured by quantity, probably contained at most seven wisps.
Another thing worth mentioning was that the value of an appraised treasure had nothing to do with the amount of yin baleful qi and ghostly qi it carried.
In other words, even something utterly worthless could still be tainted with dense yin, ghostly, and baleful qi.
That was also why the Goshawk's Eye might have contained seven wisps of Arrow-Path Killing Intent, yet only four wisps of medicinal spiritual qi.
Suddenly.
Chen Shaojun's expression changed.
His gaze locked tightly onto a tray held by a menial servant at the very edge.
There were likewise several "raw materials" awaiting appraisal there.
But his eyes fell only upon one Jade Ruyi among them.
Yin energy crowned it, so dense it had turned black.
And faintly, within that dense yin energy, he could even see a ghastly pale face howling within.
"Is there a ghost attached to this Jade Ruyi?"
Chen Shaojun's face went pale in an instant. His hair stood on end, and he instinctively took a sharp step back.
Even though he had long known that ghosts existed in this world.
Facing such a being head-on so suddenly still made his scalp crawl.
"Brother Chen, what's wrong?"
At that moment, it happened to be Zhao Hu's turn. He had been about to take a fan handed over by Shen Lang when he hurriedly grabbed Chen Shaojun.
"N-No, nothing..."
Chen Shaojun shook his head and did not reveal what he had discovered.
Because he knew that even if he said it, no one would believe him.
Nor did he wish to expose the secret of his Spirit Eye Technique.
"Alright, Chen Shaojun. This is the item you need to appraise."
Shen Lang swept Chen Shaojun a bland glance, a trace of contempt appearing on his face, before handing him a bamboo flute.
The Killing Intent within this bamboo flute was exceedingly faint. It was one of the few that did not even amount to a full wisp.
"Thank you, Mr. Shen."
Chen Shaojun thanked him, then glanced at the fan in Zhao Hu's hand and discovered that it was precisely the one containing ten wisps of Blood Baleful Qi.
Thinking of Zhao Hu's strength of blood and qi, which would absolutely be unable to withstand the impact of such surging Blood Baleful Qi, and knowing that the more precious the treasure appraised through the Spirit-Seeking Treasure Mirror, the greater the reward obtained.
He hesitated for a moment before finally saying, "Zhao Hu, let's switch appraisal items."
"Th-Then, alright."
Zhao Hu hesitated slightly, then agreed.
He did not suspect anything. After all, before appraising a treasure, no one knew exactly how much danger the item they were about to appraise contained.
There was not a single Appraiser Apprentice in all of Shengjing City who had mastered the Spirit Eye Technique like Chen Shaojun.
The two then exchanged appraisal items and each entered their own appraisal room.
Chen Shaojun was still in Appraisal Room Seven. He opened the fan.
A landscape painting sprang vividly onto the paper, with a line of poetry inscribed beside it, seemingly a farewell verse for a friend departing on a long journey.
Though Chen Shaojun did not understand calligraphy and painting, he could still tell that the artwork and calligraphy on this fan possessed considerable skill.
He placed the fan on the table, lit a candle, burned bamboo incense, then closed his eyes to rest.
His earlier use of the Spirit Eye Technique had consumed a certain amount of his mental energy.
He could use this time to rest for a while.
Half an hour later, Chen Shaojun opened his eyes.
The candle had long since gone out, though a short stub remained. Of the three sticks of bamboo incense, one had burned down completely, while the other two remained, one long and one short.
"As expected, the Killing Intent is rather heavy. It can already affect its surroundings.
"If one held this fan for a long time, affected by the Blood Baleful Qi within it, the mild outcome would be irritability, a short temper, and troubles springing up from nowhere. The serious outcome would be illness clinging to the body and a grave bout of sickness."
Chen Shaojun was not surprised by this result.
Under the Spirit Eye Technique, he had long since judged the amount of baleful qi on the fan.
Lighting candles and burning incense now was merely to verify it.
He calmed his qi and focused his mind, gathering his spirit.
The Divine Gaze Technique was successfully unleashed.
Containing the force of Chen Shaojun's spiritual will, it surged straight into the fan.
At the same time, the Blood Baleful Qi attached to the fan was stirred as well, transforming into towering blood baleful energy that swiftly poured toward him.
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle...
The two were like mortal enemies, canceling and grinding each other away.
One breath, two breaths, three breaths...
Chen Shaojun's blood and qi continuously surged, transforming into spiritual power.
Only after a full ten breaths did he suddenly feel his thoughts clear.
The Blood Baleful Qi originally attached to the fan had been completely ground away by him.
However, his face was also slightly pale, and the expenditure had not been small.
"Ten wisps of Blood Baleful Qi was still somewhat beyond my limits.
"Only because the Essence-Nourishing Pill had replenished me and greatly increased my essence, qi, and spirit could I endure it. Otherwise, I absolutely wouldn't have held on. The baleful qi would have entered my body, and I would have ended up like Zhang Wang."
Chen Shaojun let out a breath, feeling that he truly had been somewhat rash this time.
Even with preparations made beforehand, he should not have taken risks so lightly.
But he also knew clearly that Zhao Hu, whose blood and qi were depleted, absolutely could not endure the intensity of the Blood Baleful Qi on this fan.
Once the appraisal began, Zhao Hu's spiritual will would likely be scattered in an instant. Then the baleful qi would enter his body, causing irreparable harm.
After all, they had known each other for some time. Zhao Hu was also one of Chen Shaojun's few friends in the pawnshop. Since it was within his power, he naturally would not stand by and watch him die.
Not to mention.
He had not gained nothing.
The Blood Baleful Qi was ground away.
The Spirit-Seeking Treasure Mirror emerged in response, and the shape of the fan appeared reflected upon it.
At the same time, scenes related to this fan vaguely surfaced in Chen Shaojun's mind.
Before the fan was made, it had actually been rather ordinary. Its material could not be considered high-grade, but the person who painted and wrote upon it was no ordinary man: the renowned and talented calligraphy master Xu Chenchang. Thus, talent had attached itself to it.
At a poetry gathering, Xu Chenchang learned that his friend Zhao Quan was about to travel far away, so he composed a poem and gifted it to Zhao Quan.
That was how this fan came into being.
But none of that was important.
What mattered was that, through the fan, Chen Shaojun saw a man with a knife scar on his face kill Zhao Quan with a single bloodied sword stroke, with blood splashing onto the fan as well.
Afterward, the authorities appeared, sealed away the fan, and impounded it within the yamen.
What kind of place was a yamen?
A place where Fierce Baleful Intent was at its densest.
This fan had talent attached to it, and it had also been stained by blood. After half a year of being steeped in the Fierce Baleful Intent within the yamen, that talent was naturally sealed away and transformed into Blood Baleful Intent.
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