The news that the Imperial Preceptor of the Primordial Yang Palace would bring back a wealth of treasures from the Immortal Realm had spread more than six months earlier. Now that Shi Feiyang had truly returned with three great ships laden with treasures, all the high officials, wealthy merchants, and people of power and influence in the Capital City and the surrounding regions flocked there.
They remained half skeptical, imagining that this was probably another Taoist fooling people with elixirs and sleight of hand. Once they arrived and saw for themselves, however, their eyes were opened wide.
Who had ever seen five-colored pearls the size of pigeon eggs? There were black pearls as large as grapes and yellow pearls as large as longans, too. Most extraordinary of all, every one was perfectly round and uniformly sized!
Ordinarily, finding even one such pearl was exceedingly difficult. Moreover, many pearls taken from clams were not round at all, but came in every conceivable shape.
What they did not know was that the Giant Clam Tribe had cultivated these pearls specifically according to Shi Feiyang's prescribed methods and specifications. Dedicated clam Monsters grew the pearls, then spat them out and handed them over to the tribe once they reached the required size. That was why they were all large and round.
Besides pearls of every color, there were coral trees taller than a person. Never mind seeing such things—they had never even heard of them!
For a time, these high officials and wealthy merchants went mad buying. Many imperial princes in distant regions, unable to leave their fiefs themselves, sent their stewards with attendants to make purchases.
Once inside the Ming-Yu Immortal Market, these "country bumpkins" found everything delightful and bought with wild abandon.
Others spotted a business opportunity, purchasing goods in bulk