Treasure Appraisal

"Please take a look at this cloud and crane longevity incense burner, sir. Although it is made of bronze, its exquisite carving is a masterpiece."

Manager Huang pointed to the first tray, on which was placed a brass incense burner. The entire body was openwork, resembling countless auspicious clouds swirling together, with cranes circling within the clouds, and one could vaguely see a peach in their beaks.

Gu Fan examined the items for a moment, his expression unchanged, and shook his head slightly, saying, "Nothing special."

Manager Huang carefully observed Gu Fan. Seeing that he showed no interest, he waved his hand, and the maid carrying the incense burner stepped back to make way for him.

Another maid stepped forward, carrying a tray with a jade ruyi. The head was red, yellow, and blue, carved with three lotus flowers, while the body was emerald green, resembling the stem of a lotus flower.

"Look at this Three Treasures Jade Ruyi, sir. Not only is the carving by a master craftsman, but the material itself is also naturally formed. It is a precious item transported from Chen Kingdom across the sea," Manager Huang said confidently, pointing to the ruyi.

In his opinion, even ordinary wealthy families rarely see such treasures, and Gu Fan should be tempted.

Unexpectedly, Gu Fan remained indifferent, only glancing at it before commenting, "It's passable."

This gave Manager Huang some trouble.

The two items that were just displayed were already top-quality items in the shop. If even these two items failed to catch Gu Fan's eye, then the remaining items were unlikely to be of much use.

After a moment's hesitation, Manager Huang cupped his hands and asked, "My shop is simple, please forgive me, sir. May I ask what you usually like so that my staff can fetch it for you?"

His idea was simple: since Gu Fan didn't care about these things, he might as well cater to his tastes.

Upon hearing this, Gu Fan shook his head slightly and sighed, "These things are not bad, barely acceptable, and I can accept them all."

Manager Huang was overjoyed at the unexpected turn of events, but then he heard Gu Fan continue, "But I have a question for you, Manager Huang."

"Please ask me anything, sir. I will answer to the best of my knowledge."

If Gu Fan were to actually buy these two treasures, the profit would be enough to keep him up at night. At this moment, Manager Huang was overjoyed and agreed to Gu Fan's request without hesitation.

Gu Fan took out a piece of white paper from his sleeve, slowly unfolded it, stared intently at Manager Huang, and asked, "Do you recognize this character?"

What was written on the white paper was a Taoist script.

It wasn't the Daoist script that Gu Fan copied from the suspicious silver ingot, but rather an ordinary Daoist script.

Gu Fan's purpose in doing this was merely to find out whether this Manager Huang knew Dao Wen.

If he didn't recognize it, it meant that the suspicious silver ingot might not be related to the Treasure Pavilion. At least this Manager Huang was unaware of it. After all, the circulation of silver in such shops is not small, and he might have just happened to receive that silver ingot.

If he recognized the Daoist script, Gu Fan could reveal his identity as a cultivator and inquire whether the Treasure Pavilion sold any magical artifacts, assuming he was just a rogue cultivator looking to find a bargain.

Haifeng City is near the Cloud Realm Mountains, and there are quite a few registered disciples who were expelled from the Zixia Temple. Perhaps some of them can read Dao Wen.

The worst-case scenario is that the other party not only recognizes the Dao script but also guesses that Gu Fan's purpose is related to the silver ingot, but the probability of this is extremely small.

At this moment, Gu Fan had maximized his divine sense, observing the expressions of everyone present. Hidden in his sleeve, his palm had already formed several spiritual talismans.

From the moment he stepped into the Treasure Pavilion, he had already used his divine sense to investigate. There were no cultivators in the pavilion unless their cultivation level was higher than his and they were able to hide themselves.

Therefore, Gu Fan not only held a handful of fireball talismans, but also a fire shield talisman and a lightness talisman in his hand. If a cultivator were to make a move, he could immediately throw out the talismans to escape.

Hidden in the mountains and forests dozens of miles outside Haifeng City is a sizable market town, established by the Lingxiao Sect. The market town has many Lingxiao Sect disciples, enough for Gu Fan to escape.

Before descending the mountain, Gu Fan went to the market and exchanged some spirit stones for gold and silver.

A single low-grade spirit stone can be exchanged for a thousand taels of silver. It has to be said that any cultivator who gives up cultivation could become a wealthy man in the mortal world.

On the other side, Manager Huang picked up the white paper with a slight surprise, frowned as he looked at the Taoist inscriptions on it, and slowly shook his head after thinking for a moment.

"I am not very knowledgeable and have never seen this character before. Could it be that you copied it from an ancient book? If you are interested in rare books, we have some in our shop."

Manager Huang's answer put Gu Fan at ease, and the others present showed no surprise. Gu Fan had no choice but to put aside the matter of investigating the silver ingots and leave it for another day.

Quietly putting away the talisman, Gu Fan shook his head and said, "If the shopkeeper doesn't recognize it, then forget it."

"What about these two treasures...?" Manager Huang asked tentatively.

"Oh, I've bought them all." Gu Fan realized what was happening and said something that made Manager Huang beam with joy.

Next, Gu Fan didn't even haggle over the price. He directly gave away a handful of gold leaves according to Manager Huang's quote, taking his extravagant style to the extreme.

Manager Huang quickly instructed his staff to pack up the two treasures so that Gu Fan could take them with him, while he chatted with Gu Fan at the same time.

Before the two could exchange more than a few words, a small head peeked in from outside the door, looking timid, and stepped inside.

He was a boy of about twelve or thirteen years old, thin and dark-skinned, wearing a gray linen shirt that was old and patched.

When Manager Huang saw the young man, fearing that he might offend the distinguished guest, he gestured to his staff with his eyes.

The waiter understood immediately and stepped forward, scolding, "Where did this brat come from? Go play somewhere else!"

The boy was startled, then seemed to remember something, and suddenly mustered his courage to say, "I'm not here to play around, I'm here to pawn something!"

After speaking, the boy took out a black wooden plaque from his pocket. The plaque was shiny and carved with many exquisite patterns.

The shop assistant was knowledgeable; seeing that the brand seemed quite good, he turned to look at Manager Huang.

Manager Huang first gave Gu Fan a forced smile before waving his hand, signaling the shop assistant to lead the boy toward the counter.

Behind the counter sat an elderly man in white robes, who had been fiddling with an abacus ever since Gu Fan entered the Treasure Pavilion.

When the boy placed the wooden plaque on the counter, the old man in white picked it up, examined it closely, squinted slightly, looked at the boy clutching the hem of his clothes, and said in a deep voice, "A broken wooden plaque, two taels."

The boy seemed greatly shocked and shouted, "You're talking nonsense! This is my family heirloom, it's very valuable!"

The old man in white put down the wooden sign, pushed it forward with two fingers, and repeated, "One broken wooden sign, two taels."

The young man stared at the old man in white for a while, then gradually gave in and pleaded in a low voice, "Five taels, please? My mother is sick, and I need five taels to buy medicine."

The old man in white paused for a moment, then repeated, "Two ounces."

The boy gritted his teeth, reached out and took the wooden sign back, stuffed it into his pocket, and walked out the door with his head down.

There are many shops in Haifeng City, so he plans to try other places.

He hadn't gone far when a voice came from behind him: "Hey, do you want five taels of silver?"

The boy stopped abruptly and looked back in disbelief.

They met Gu Fan's gaze.