Zhong Baiye picked out seven Uncut Stones in total, choosing whatever caught his eye without any particular technique.
The shopkeeper, Shitou, looked at the Uncut Stones he had chosen, his mouth twisting slightly.
It was not because he thought Zhong Baiye had picked too many, but because the treasures revealed in the previous stones had given him a fright.
At this rate, did that not mean every Uncut Stone Zhong Baiye had chosen contained a treasure?
Uncovering two priceless treasures had already left his heart bleeding. If they found any more, he might actually collapse unconscious on the spot.
But then another thought struck him. Isn't this the perfect chance to promote Jade Mystery? Once these onlookers spread the news about the treasures they've uncovered, Jade Mystery will become the biggest jade shop on Jade Street.
"Boss! Boss!"
Seeing Shitou staring into space, the assistant thought the number of Uncut Stones had frightened him and hurriedly shook him.
Shitou quickly snapped out of his daydream, picked up his short knife, and prepared to work on the stones.
His feelings were complicated. He wanted the stones to yield something good, yet he was afraid they would.
The onlookers fell silent when they saw Shitou preparing to cut open the Uncut Stones.
Someone had spread the news that the phenomenon visible throughout Liyue earlier was connected to this place, so the crowd had only grown.
The place was packed tight. Even Zhong Baiye and Lumine could only keep themselves from being crushed by the crowd. Only Shitou and Zhongli had a clear space around them.
Every eye was fixed on the Uncut Stones in front of Shitou.
Now Zhong Baiye felt the same nervousness Lumine had experienced earlier.
Shitou also noticed the growing crowd. Looking at the Uncut Stones before him, he decided to put on a show to attract more customers to Jade Mystery.
Shitou took several deep breaths, then suddenly lifted his short knife and swept it across the stones, creating a mesmerizing sight.
The short knife flitted over one Uncut Stone after another like a white butterfly.
Strangely, the butterfly's dance seemed to have no effect on the stones. They did not change at all.
"Drip!"
Ten minutes soon passed, and the surroundings were so quiet that everyone could hear Shitou's sweat dripping onto the floor.
Suddenly, Shitou drew back his hand, and the butterfly became a short knife once more.
Shitou bowed to Zhong Baiye and gestured toward the stones. "Esteemed guest, I have finished opening all your Uncut Stones."
Looking at the seemingly untouched stones, Zhong Baiye could not quite understand what Shitou meant.
The onlookers exchanged puzzled glances as well. The stones clearly looked no different, so how could he say he had cut them all open?
But in the next instant, something happened that stunned everyone.
Shitou slammed his hand down on the table holding the Uncut Stones.
Bang!
Following the impact, the stones' outer shells melted away bit by bit like butter exposed to high heat, slowly revealing the treasures within.
The priceless treasures Zhong Baiye had imagined did not appear-or rather, these treasures produced no unusual phenomena.
His luck was about the same as Paimon's. Of the seven Uncut Stones, only three yielded anything.
One contained a crystal-clear piece of crystal ore. Someone knowledgeable in the crowd immediately recognized it as high-grade crystal ore, the kind used to make highly sought-after weapons.
The other two contained a yellow pocket watch and a stone glowing blue, respectively.
The yellow pocket watch looked perfectly ordinary. No one recognized it, and it showed no reaction at all, seeming to be nothing more than a mundane object.
The other item was what they had come to find: noctilucous jade. It did not quite resemble the image in the game, looking more like an oval blue-violet gemstone.
Since the version in the game had impurities on its surface, he had not immediately recognized it as noctilucous jade.
He only realized what it was when an onlooker beside him called it noctilucous jade of the finest quality.
Now that he knew what the stone was, Zhong Baiye turned his attention to the yellow pocket watch, picking it up to find out exactly what it was.
To his disappointment, no matter how he examined it-even using elemental power-he could not determine what it was.
Perhaps this yellow pocket watch really was just a yellow pocket watch, with no special powers whatsoever.
Someone even offered fifty Mora for it, pricing the yellow pocket watch as scrap.
"Fifty Mora? Even a dog wouldn't give that a second look."
Zhong Baiye shot the man an irritated glance. Even if it truly was an ordinary item, he would not sell it for fifty Mora.
It has to be worth at least a hundred thousand Mora.
That was what Zhong Baiye thought, but after a long wait without another offer, he had no choice but to remain stuck with the watch.
The onlookers all dispersed. Most had come after hearing that someone here had uncovered an incredibly valuable treasure, only to arrive and find ordinary objects.
They felt that staying any longer would simply be a waste of time.
As for the customers who had been in the shop earlier, Zhong Baiye's "connections to an Adeptus" had frightened them so much that they did not dare tell anyone what had happened.
Returning to the matter at hand, Zhong Baiye put the pocket watch in his bag, picked up the noctilucous jade, and walked toward Zhongli.
It would have been a lie to say he was not disappointed with what he had uncovered, but the thought that it was all "on someone else's tab" cheered him up.
What could be better than enjoying yourself on someone else's tab?
In high spirits, Zhong Baiye soon handed the noctilucous jade to Zhongli.
Looking at the noctilucous jade in his hand, Zhongli spoke as though to himself.
"When a fool is shown the moon, he looks at the pointing finger instead."
Zhong Baiye did not quite understand what he meant. After all, who remembered useless bits of dialogue while playing a game?
Zhongli paid that no mind. He took the noctilucous jade over to the window and continued explaining.
"When you point at the moon, a wise person understands that you are indicating the moon. But a foolish person sees only the finger before their eyes, not the moon."
With that, Zhongli held the noctilucous jade up toward the sun.
"The grain and outer shell are merely the finger. Noctilucous jade is a wondrous stone used to illuminate the night. Its brightness is what matters-the moon in this comparison."
Something miraculous happened. The noctilucous jade now shone like a full moon.
Everyone present felt as though a full moon had suddenly appeared in the sky, vying with the blazing sun.
At that moment, the assistant nearby took out an ordinary piece of noctilucous jade and imitated Zhongli.
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