Divine Level Witch Doctor

For the next while, Cheng Yunlong led Zhao Yuan to visit the shops on the Antique Street, one after another.

Over an hour passed. Zhao Yuan had visited most of the shops on the Antique Street, yet he still hadn’t found any Jade Artifacts or Jade that contained Qi. While he was a bit disappointed, he wasn’t surprised. ’If materials suitable for crafting Magical Artifacts were that easy to come by, wouldn’t they be a dime a dozen?’

”Master Zhao, are we going to keep looking?” Cheng Yunlong asked, rubbing his aching thigh.

For the past hour, he had been either walking or standing, only sitting for brief moments before getting up again. Even for someone who often went into the countryside and mountains to acquire goods, this was exhausting. After all, on those trips, he was on a motorcycle most of the time; it was rare for him to rely solely on his own two feet.

Zhao Yuan said, ”There are only a few shops left, aren’t there? Let’s check them. If we still don’t find anything suitable, I’ll try somewhere else tomorrow.”

He was anxious to find the materials and craft the Storage Ring. Not only was this precious item the first Magical Artifact he would obtain, but it was also incredibly useful.

”Alright, let’s keep going then.” Cheng Yunlong straightened up and led Zhao Yuan toward the next shop.

Just as they arrived outside the shop, a phone began to ring—it was Cheng Yunlong’s.

”Go ahead and take the call. I’ll go in on my own,” Zhao Yuan said.

”Okay, you go on ahead. I’ll come find you after I’m done with the call,” Cheng Yunlong replied.

The reception inside the shops on the Antique Street was generally poor; it was better to take calls outside. Besides, a call would only take a few minutes and wouldn’t cause much of a delay. ’Zhao Yuan might even be done looking and on his way out before I’m finished with my call.’

Zhao Yuan walked into the shop alone.

A staff member immediately approached and asked what he was looking for.

”Where are your Jade Artifacts?” Zhao Yuan asked.

”Right this way.” The staff member enthusiastically led him over.

Standing before the Jade Artifact counter, Zhao Yuan activated his Qi Observation Technique, but once again found nothing. Shaking his head, he was about to leave when a glimpse of something in a nearby pile caught his eye.

He could actually see the presence of Qi!

Zhao Yuan spun around, only then seeing clearly that the Qi was emanating from a pile of stones.

Suppressing his excitement, Zhao Yuan asked, ”Are these stones for sale?”

”You’re right, young man, these stones are for sale. But they’re not just ordinary stones, they’re Jadeite!” a middle-aged man holding a tea-cup explained with a chuckle, emerging from behind the counter. ”Have you ever heard of stone gambling, son? It’s really jade gambling. You pay a relatively low price for a piece of Jadeite, and if you’re lucky and cut a good piece of Jade from it, the value can multiply by hundreds, even thousands of times!”

The middle-aged man’s tone was intensely persuasive; he was clearly treating Zhao Yuan as a ”fat sheep” to be fleeced.

With stone gambling, if you bet right, you could indeed get rich overnight. But in reality, how many people actually win? Most people charge in, chasing the dream of instant wealth, only to end up getting wiped out. Stories of people losing their entire fortunes to stone gambling were all too common.

It made sense when you thought about it. The truly good pieces of Jadeite were snatched up by seasoned experts the moment they were unearthed. How could an ordinary person get so lucky with a find? The Jadeite in this man’s shop, for example, had mostly been bought on the cheap, meant to be used as bait for the ”fat sheep” dreaming of instant wealth.

Zhao Yuan smiled and asked, ”How much are these stones?”

”The prices vary from stone to stone,” the middle-aged man replied. ”Some are high-quality, and some are low-quality. The high-quality ones have a much greater chance of yielding Jade, so they’re also much more expensive.”

”Then how much is this one?” Zhao Yuan asked, pointing to the stone that contained Qi.

This stone was different from the other pieces of Jadeite. It had been cut before, in more than one spot. However, only one of the cuts revealed a hint of Jade. An amateur seeing such a stone would instinctively think it was more promising than the others; at least some Jade was visible. But in the eyes of an expert, this stone was worthless. It had been cut in so many places, yet only one showed Jade, and the exposed surface was clearly very thin—likely just a shallow layer.

The truth was, the middle-aged man had bought this very stone not long ago on a trip to Anxi Province, and he had paid a hefty price for it. At the time, the stone’s quality looked excellent from every angle, and it seemed sure to yield a good piece of Jade. But the result proved he had misjudged. After making several cuts, all he found was that one thin layer. He was so angry he wanted to just toss the stone, but he couldn’t bear to part with it after spending so much money. In the end, he brought it back and put it in his shop, hoping to lure in an ignorant ”fat sheep” to buy it so he could recoup some of his losses.

Seeing Zhao Yuan’s interest in the stone, the middle-aged man couldn’t help but feel a jolt of delight. ’Finally, a fat sheep!’ he thought. ’I’m going to fleece you good today. I don’t expect to get back all the money I lost, but I should at least recover thirty or forty percent, right?’

On the outside, however, he showed none of his inner thoughts. Instead, he put on a look of feigned, hesitant reluctance, frowning as he said, ”Young man, you have a great eye, picking out the best piece of Jadeite I have right off the bat. But I’m not really looking to sell this one. You see, it’s already showing Jade. It’s a guaranteed win, a sure thing.”

”Cut the act, boss. If you really didn’t want to sell it, you wouldn’t have put it out here,” Zhao Yuan said, cutting to the chase. ”Just name your price.”

”A straightforward young man! In that case, I won’t play games either.” A bit embarrassed at being called out, the man chuckled and held up a single finger. ”A flat price: one hundred thousand!”

Perhaps afraid he might scare Zhao Yuan off, he quickly added, ”One hundred thousand really isn’t expensive! It’s already showing Jade. As long as your luck isn’t terrible, you’re sure to cut more out of it. When that happens, its price won’t be a hundred thousand—it’ll be a million, maybe even ten million!”

Zhao Yuan chuckled. ’This boss really had his sales pitch down to a science.’ Still, one hundred thousand for a material to craft a Magical Artifact wasn’t expensive.

But this also served as a reminder for Zhao Yuan.

’Wealth, companions, technique, and location—the four cornerstones of cultivation. This ”wealth” part is truly important! Without enough financial backing, you can’t buy the medicinal herbs for cultivation, nor the materials for making Magical Artifacts. It seems that building my factory and expanding production is absolutely necessary!’

”One hundred thousand it is. I’ll take the stone,” Zhao Yuan said.

The middle-aged man couldn’t hold it in any longer and broke into a wide, joyous grin.

Just then, Cheng Yunlong, finished with his call, walked into the shop. He overheard the end of their conversation and immediately flew into a panic, yelling, ”What stone costs one hundred thousand? Shi Xuemin, you dare try to rip off Master Zhao? Believe it or not, I’ll throttle you!”