Purple Bloodwood

Ye Fan took Wu Haoqiang to Tang Yongjin's villa. The estate covered a thousand mu, with flowers blooming everywhere and countless fountains.

Wu Haoqiang skipped along the cobblestone path, turning back to call to Ye Fan, "Uncle, this house is more than ten times bigger than mine!"

Ye Fan said gleefully, "That's right! That's right! We can feast at a rich man's expense!"

Tang Yongjin: "..."

Tang Yongjin led Ye Fan into his storeroom, which held scrolls, porcelain, bronze ding vessels, and more...

Zhou Jinzhi looked at the dazzling collection filling the room and smiled at Tang Yongjin. "Old Tang! You've stashed away quite a few treasures. If not for our young friend Ye, I'd never have gotten to see them."

Tang Yongjin waved a hand. "You're giving me far too much credit, Brother Zhou. I just picked up a few things here and there."

"Uncle, there's a lot of junk here!" Wu Haoqiang said.

Zhou Jinzhi: "..." That stupid little brat.

Ye Fan gave Wu Haoqiang a displeased look and smacked him on the head. "What nonsense are you talking? Mind your manners!" His gaze swept over the shelves as he rubbed his chin. "There's plenty of junk, sure, but there are plenty of good things too."

Zhou Jinzhi: "..." Wu Haoqiang was spouting nonsense, but Ye Fan wasn't much better. They really were two peas in a pod.

"Brother Tang, you've got quite a collection!" Zhou Jinzhi said.

Tang Yongjin smiled. "I collected them in my spare time."

Ye Fan's attention was caught by a brush washer. "Young Master Ye, has this brush washer caught your fancy?"

Ye Fan shook his head. "No, it's just a little strange."

"What's strange about it?" Tang Yongjin asked.

"Purple seepage usually appears in ancient tombs. Antiques taken out of those tombs may carry traces of it, but they generally don't cause any trouble."

"For one thing, purple seepage dissipates over time. For another, the toxin only affects people once it accumulates to a certain level. But this brush washer is a modern reproduction, yet it actually has traces of purple seepage on it-and they seem quite concentrated," Ye Fan said.

Tang Yongjin said stiffly, "A modern reproduction? Isn't it an antique from the Song dynasty?"

Ye Fan nodded. "How could it be from the Song dynasty? This thing can't be more than ten years old."

Tang Yongjin: "..."

Zhou Jinzhi walked over to examine it. "It really doesn't look like an antique. You've probably been duped."

Zhou Jinzhi glanced at Tang Yongjin, feeling a little helpless. After getting rich, his old friend had developed a taste for putting on a cultured air. Good or bad, he brought everything home! And now...

"Where did this brush washer come from?"

"A friend gave it to me." Tang Yongjin's expression remained calm, but there was a ruthless edge to his voice.

"Young friend Ye, I wonder how many other things here have problems. Could you pick them all out for me?" Tang Yongjin asked.

Ye Fan nodded. "Sure."

Ye Fan soon picked out three more problematic items, and Tang Yongjin's expression grew uglier with each one.

Ye Fan opened a wooden box and found a wood carving inside.

"Young friend Ye, is there something wrong with this wood carving too?" Tang Yongjin asked, puzzled.

Ye Fan shook his head. "Nothing's wrong with it. This is good stuff."

Ye Fan hadn't expected to find purple bloodwood here. It was a type of spirit wood that could be used as an ingredient to refine Purple Blood Pills. Spiritual energy brimmed from the carving; it should be enough to refine seven or eight Purple Blood Pills. With those pills, reaching the third level of Qi Refining should be no problem.

Zhou Jinzhi admired the carving. "What exquisite workmanship! Could this be the work of Ghost Blade Carver, whose skill is almost supernatural?"

"What a waste!" Ye Fan said, shaking his head.

Zhou Jinzhi looked at Ye Fan in confusion. "Young Master Ye, do you think the workmanship is poor?"

"I don't know about the workmanship! But this purple bloodwood is a spiritual material. Carving it into a sculpture cost it some of its spiritual energy, and whoever did it must have wasted quite a bit of the wood too," Ye Fan said glumly.

Tang Yongjin smiled. "A friend gave this to me. If you like it, Young Master Ye, I'll ask him where the carving came from and see if I can find more of the same spirit wood."

Ye Fan looked at Tang Yongjin, his eyes shining. "I'll leave it to you, then. This carving should only have used one section of the spirit wood. Sorry for the trouble, Boss Tang, but please ask around about where it came from."

Tang Yongjin had been prepared to pay dearly, but Ye Fan only wanted a wood carving. A small-time businessman had given it to him, and Tang Yongjin hadn't thought much of it. From Ye Fan's and Zhou Jinzhi's reactions, though, he knew it was something valuable.

Tang Yongjin couldn't help feeling ashamed. He couldn't recognize a genuine treasure, yet the thing he'd taken a liking to turned out to be a modern reproduction.

Ye Fan followed Tang Yongjin to his study. Tang Yongjin pulled a large pile of business cards out of a cabinet and found the card of the man who had given him the carving.

"Young Master Ye, I'm very sorry. He said the wood was salvaged from a sunken ship. He noticed its unusual grain and sent it to Ghost Blade Carver to be carved. He doesn't know where it originally came from either, and this was all the wood there was."

Learning that there was no more wood, Ye Fan couldn't help feeling disappointed. Still, getting a section of spirit wood meant the trip hadn't been wasted.