The antique market was a dazzling array, with all sorts of so-called antique stalls lined up one after another.
Du Tianyu strolled through it, quickly discerning the truth of things. Even the applied yellow earth couldn't conceal the freshly made "historical" aura from last week. He couldn't help but find it amusing – for the sake of money, you deceive me, and I deceive you.
Watching so many people wandering among the stalls, the greedy desire to find a bargain made them lose themselves.
Soon, Du Tianyu finally found what he needed at an inconspicuous little stall: ancient jade.
It was a small pile of damaged jade pieces of various sizes, with everything from jade pendants and tablets to jade rings, interspersed with quite a few genuine ancient jade items.
Ancient jade was the perfect material for crafting magical artifacts. The ancients were far more profound than modern people imagined, especially the jade chosen for accessories was extremely demanding.
The earliest jade pendants worn by the ancients were magical artifacts. It was only with the passage of history, for unknown reasons, that jade ornaments became ordinary decorations, and their prices were increasingly inflated.
"Boss, how much are these ancient jade fragments?" Du Tianyu picked up a piece and asked.
The owner was a middle-aged man with sharp ears and a monkey-like face. His small eyes immediately gleamed, and a professional smile instantly appeared on his face:
"At first glance, you... ah, you are an expert! Your... your eye is sharp, you saw... ah, you saw right away that this is ancient jade."
Du Tianyu immediately sensed that he might be overcharged.
The boss was also a stutterer.
"Don't... ah, don't look at these... the jade is broken... shattered, but it still can't hide... hide... ah, hide the... historical... vicissitudes!
This... what is this? This... this... ah, this is culture, this... is heritage!"
After a lengthy spiel, Du Tianyu was left dumbfounded. Seeing his silence, the boss smiled and said, "You... you... ah, you choose first, pick... pick what you like, and we can easily... easily discuss the price!"
Du Tianyu knew that buying cheaply was impossible; being ripped off was unavoidable. But he didn't mind too much; good ancient jade was hard to come by.
After a long time of searching, he only picked out nine pieces. The quality wasn't great, but they met the basic requirements for crafting magical artifacts. These were relatively intact in structure, without fatal cracks.
Pretending to hesitate for a long time, he put three pieces back.
"Just these five, what's the price?"
"Oh my! I knew... knew... ah, I knew you were an expert! You... you... ah, you picked out all the good ones.
Looking at... your eye, twenty... twenty... ah, twenty thousand for all of them!"
Du Tianyu cursed inwardly:
"You really dare to ask for that much, aren't you afraid of choking on it!"
But he said aloud, "How about five hundred? If it's okay, I'll take them!"
"Oh dear! Too... too little! We're a small business, we won't even make back... make back the capital! Please... please... ah, please add a little more!"
Du Tianyu pretended to consider it and said, "How about this?" Saying this, he reached out and took back the three pieces he had put back earlier. "One thousand!"
"Deal!"
These two words were no longer stuttered. The boss smiled and wrapped the jade, handing it over!
Du Tianyu felt he should have haggled more, gone through a few rounds, but he didn't expect the deal to be struck so quickly! He had no choice but to pay, take the wrapped jade, and turn to leave!
Watching Du Tianyu walk away, the stall owner reached out and picked up a cardboard sign that had been face down beside the pile of jade. The side that had been facing down read four characters: "Ten Yuan Each."
…
Leaving the market entrance, Du Tianyu felt like he had been fleeced!
However, he didn't dwell on it too much. Instead, he took out a piece and muttered to himself, "I'll do it myself!"
"Of course, you should do it. Who else would?"
"Waste, don't provoke me for no reason!"
"Did I provoke you? You're the one who keeps calling me 'waste,' 'waste.'"
"Fine, I don't care anymore, you play by yourself!"
"That's hilarious! Then I won't play either, I'll just go back to being my useless self!"
"Don't, don't, don't! You're powerful! I admit I'm afraid of you."
"That's more like it.
Hey! Why can't I feel you, but you know what I'm thinking?"
"I find that strange too. Logically, we should have become one person.
But the reality is, you are you, and I am me.
After thinking about it, there's only one possibility."
"What possibility?"
"My realm must be too high, and you're too useless."
"Damn it! Here you go again!"
"I'm just describing our current situation!"
"Actually, this is pretty good! Someone to talk to!"
…
There were many people here. Although Du Tianyu spoke softly, his mouth was always muttering, making others think he was ill, like a patient who had escaped from a mental hospital.
Unintentionally, Du Tianyu had wandered into the depths of the antique street. This place seemed much more upscale.
Looking around, he saw the largest antique shop, its storefront very conspicuous, with three golden characters on the signboard: "Pavilion of Myriad Treasures"!
A slight smile appeared on Du Tianyu's face. The five pieces of ancient jade had already been exchanged in his hand. He held the ancient jade behind his back with his right hand, flipping it around as if playing.
Soon, the ancient jade changed its appearance, looking as good as new, with smooth and lustrous edges. Then he switched to another piece.
"Big brother, are you almost done?"
"It's already very fast! Your realm is too weak. If you hadn't wasted time after merging and wasted seven or eight farts worth of spiritual energy, I wouldn't be struggling so much!"
"You didn't say so earlier, now you're blaming me! Stop! Can't you use it sparingly? I feel like you're about to drain me dry."
Saying this, Du Tianyu picked up the transformed ancient jade, a satisfied smile on his face. However, his complexion was slightly pale.
Being a large antique shop, a beautiful receptionist walked over to greet him as soon as he entered.
But upon clearly seeing Du Tianyu's appearance, the woman turned and walked to the side, actually directing another receptionist to come over.
Du Tianyu immediately felt disgusted, thinking, "There are really a lot of snobs."
This young lady looked like she was new and didn't dare disobey, quickening her pace towards him.
"Sir, good afternoon! May I ask what you need help with?"
"Could you show me around? For example, jade items."
"Certainly, sir, this way please!"
"Sir, this is our shop's jade collection. They are all personally carved by masters. Look, this piece is..."
Du Tianyu listened while carefully observing. Unfortunately, although the jade was exquisite, none of it met the standards for crafting magical artifacts. He shook his head.
"Do you have any ancient jade or the like?"
"This? We do have some, but only members are qualified to go to the second floor."
…
"Zhou Tong, there's a customer outside, go and attend to them!" The woman from before directed the young lady again.
Zhou Tong looked troubled. "Sister Liu, I'm still..."
"Still what? Didn't you hear what I said?" The woman called Sister Liu actually came over angrily. "Zhou Tong, do you even want to keep working here...?"
"Wait a moment, this young lady is explaining things to me. Am I not a customer?" Du Tianyu asked somewhat疑惑ly.
That Sister Liu was tall and quite beautiful. However, her face was full of a disdainful expression.
"You, a customer? I could see right through you at a glance. Looking at jade? Can you even afford it?"
Du Tianyu said with a slightly cold expression:
"Oh! So this is the attitude of your Pavilion of Myriad Treasures towards customers!"
"Customer? Attitude? Only those who can afford it are customers. Can the clothes on your body be worth a hundred yuan? You look so poor."
Du Tianyu was truly angry now. He looked at Zhou Tong and asked, "Miss, what are the requirements for membership in your esteemed pavilion?"
That Sister Liu immediately covered her mouth and laughed, "Hehehe! That's really hilarious! You want to apply for membership?
Let me tell you, you need to spend ten million or have antiques worth over ten million consigned at the Pavilion of Myriad Treasures!"
Upon hearing this, Du Tianyu realized that the membership requirements were indeed exceptionally high, and he couldn't help but look troubled.
He only had ten million. It wasn't worth impulsively buying something just for membership, especially since there was nothing good to buy. He also didn't know if his few magical artifacts were qualified.
Seeing Du Tianyu's expression, the woman immediately became smug and said to Zhou Tong, "Aren't you going to quickly go to the entrance and greet the distinguished guests!"
"Wait! Did I say she could leave?"
"Oh dear! So you came here deliberately to cause trouble! Security, throw him out!"
"What great prestige! Anyone who doesn't know better would think you own this place." Du Tianyu was truly angry. Such a small receptionist was actually so extremely rude.
"Pavilion of Myriad Treasures, someone in charge come out!" With this low roar, Du Tianyu added a trace of spiritual energy. His voice was deep but could spread to every corner of the shop.
"Security, why aren't you throwing him out? This guy is just here to cause trouble, it's such a bad influence."
Two security guards with unfriendly expressions were about to come over and ask Du Tianyu to leave. Just then, a woman's voice came from the second floor: "Wait!"