Chapter 235 - Appraisal
“I have heard from other people that your store has an appraisal master able to appraise all kinds of rare materials and treasures that exist in this world. He also has never made a mistake, is this true?” Liu Ming quietly asked as his eyes swept around the extremely spacious shop.
“Oh, so fellow here is looking for Master Chu to appraise materials. However, Master Chu charges three hundred spirit stones to appraise each material. It also has to be materials that I am unable to appraise before he will attempt to do so.” The mustached man replied unexpectedly.
“So you’re also an appraisal master!” Liu Ming heard this and looked at the middle aged man with unexpected eyes.
“I wouldn’t dare. I’ve only studied under Master Chu for a short while and am able to appraise most ordinary materials. Of course, if you would like me to appraise materials it would naturally be cheaper. Generally around thirty spirit stones is enough. If fellow would like for me take a look first and if I am unable to appraise them, then we can look for Master.” The mustached man replied with a face full of smiles.
“Since it’s like that, I have a few items here for you to take a look at first.” Liu Ming heard that and nodded thoughtfully.
“Good, if fellow would like to take a seat in the quiet room.” The mustached man said happily.
Even though he appraised items, the fee was not high. However, it was different than selling items within the store. The appraisal fee was entirely his.
Thirty spirit stones was quite a considerable amount of income to him.
Therefore after the man gave instructions to his shop assistant, he and Liu Ming went further into the shop into a parlor to sit down.
At that time, Liu Ming flipped his hand over and took out a small vial only a few inches tall and placed it on the table. He said simply:
“This is a bottle of unknown Pure Aura Qi that I happen to obtain, I’m hoping that Mister would be able to help me appraise what type it is.”
“Pure Aura Qi!” The mustached man heard this and was slightly moved.
Even if it was the cheapest Pure Aura Qi, a portion of it was worth at least several tens of thousands of spirit stones. He originally thought that Liu Ming was just an ordinary loose practitioner but now it seemed that he had guessed wrong.
The mustached man thought quickly internally but only a trace of a bitter smile was shown when he spoke.
“I didn’t imagine that you wanted an appraisal on a precious treasure such as a Pure Aura Qi. If it wasn't an ordinary item, then I would have been able to help. Unfortunately for Pure Aura Qi, I’m afraid that I’m not experienced enough for it. That said, let me request for Master Chu to come take a look. This item is worth several tens of thousands, it’s better for Master to appraise. However in terms of fee, naturally….”
“As long as it can be appraised, the fee will be what you said at the beginning. That is not a problem. However what if this item cannot be appraised?” Liu Ming asked with a small smile.
“Hoho, if Master cannot appraise this item, then naturally we would not take your Spirit Stones.” The mustached man said without hesitation.
“Good, then it’s decided.” Liu Ming quietly nodded.
The mustached man excused himself and left the parlor.
After a moment, a delicate and pretty maid came in and delivered a cup of fragrant tea. She bowed and then left the room.
Then after a little while, a white haired, white bearded, wide nose elderly man in a yellow gown entered the room with large strides.
The mustached middle aged man followed closely behind. Once he saw Liu Ming, he hurriedly said,
“Let me introduce everyone, this is Master Chu!”
“So it’s you who wants me to appraise a Pure Aura Qi.” The yellow-robed elder calmly asked, having cut straight to the chase as his eyes swept over the table to the small bottle on the table.
“That is correct. If you don’t mind, Master.” Liu Ming stood up in courtesy.
The yellow-gowned elder nodded his head. With one hand, a “whoosh” noise was heard, and the small bottle was moved to his hand.
This Master Chu, his Fa Li was not weak and was also at the Middle Spirit Apostle stage.
Master Chu first stroked the bottle with one hand, while the other hand made a sign.
A “pu” sound was heard.
A large white light cover appeared and completely covered the small bottle.
At this time, the elder used one finger to point at the small bottle. The lid flew off and several black colored strands flew out from within as well.
Each fine strand was entirely translucent and they flew around the small bottle unhurriedly.
Master Chu squinted both eyes, used an unknown technique and his pupils emitted a faint green flickering. He moved two fingers and held onto one of the black strands. Then, he pulled off the light cover, placed his nose close to take a whiff and then placed the cover back.
“Guyin Aura Qi, attribute towards the yin, after condensing to be symbol qi, it allows the body to be of the yin, dry element. It greatly increases the defense ability as well as amplifies dark type spells. However, it greatly restricts growth that are Fire type spells or yang type cultivation methods. This can be considered a lesser quality Aura Qi.” The yellow robed old man indifferently said this while the black strands returned back into the small bottle in a flash.
“Ah so it’s the Guyin Aura Qi, thank you, Master.” Liu Ming heard this and revealed a thoughtful expression.
The elder’s description about the Aura Qi’s attributes closely corresponded to what he had originally expected. It seems that this was not wrong.
“Apart from this Aura Qi, do you have other items you would like me to appraise?” The elder asked indifferently as he placed the small bottle aside. It appeared that he did not care too much about this lower quality Aura Qi.
“Master Chu truly deserves your reputation, I do have two more items that require an appraisal. However one of these items may be shocking and I’m afraid it is not suitable to show to Master here.” Liu Ming said this in a certain tone as he retrieved the small bottle and nodded his head with satisfaction.
“Not suitable to reveal this here. I understand, please follow me. There is another location where restrictions are set up and have the ability to contain and bear whatever treasures or items that are revealed. Shopkeeper Meng, please unlock this special room.” Master Chu first stared blankly at him, but then started smiling again before he turned to instruct the mustached man.
“Yes. Would this fellow please follow me.” The shopkeeper said this and nodded his head.
Liu Ming didn’t have much of an opinion after he heard that so he followed the two of them out of the parlor. They passed through a small cabin and then arrived in front of a rock door covered in white inscriptions.
The mustached man made a one handed sign, and after a bit, the rock door slowly opened.
The three people entered in order.
Liu Ming eyed the interior in one sweep and discovered that it was a small sized stone room. Apart from the spotlessly white translucent circular table in the middle of the room, there was nothing else. However, the floor and all four sides of the stone walls were covered with densely written spirit inscriptions.
Liu Ming examined the spirit inscriptions with rapt attention and was reassured.
Although there was a lot of spirit inscriptions, they were commonly seen simple types of restrictions and there were not any that had the effect to injure or kill.
Since it was like this, he did not need to be worried about the store’s people using the restrictions against him...
“What does fellow think about this? What type of restriction do we need, I’ll active the corresponding ones.” The yellow robed elder glanced at Liu Ming and a small smile was shown.
“Don’t worry about the rest. However, I would request for the floor to be reinforced so it would be harder.” Liu Ming said this while he used his foot to tap on the limestone floor.
“Reinforcing the floor, that shouldn’t be a problem.” The yellow robed elder was quite surprised but made a single handed motion, and a part of the spirit inscriptions on the floor lit up becoming a layer of white light.
However, when Liu Ming saw this, he shook his head and took a glyph from his sleeve and threw it towards the floor.
A “pu” sound was heard.
When the glyph touched the floor, it exploded and from within it, numerous yellow colored inscriptions rushed out. In a flash, it disappeared into the ground without a trace.
In the next moment, the whole stone room floor suddenly lit up with a pale yellow spirit light.
When Shopkeeper Meng and Master Chu saw this, they looked at each other and saw each other’s astonishment.
They naturally knew that these yellow colored spirit inscriptions were used to reinforce the floor.
At this time, Liu Ming dug around in his sleeve for a bit before shaking his sleeve. A layer of white light twisted out.
With a “bang”, the whole stone room shook.
A pale silver cauldron appeared in a flash and fell heavily to the floor. As a result, half of the three legged cauldron sunk directly into the floor and cracked the limestone floor.
The yellow robed elder and Shopkeeper Meng had some guesses to what it was going to be, however, once they witnessed this situation, they were extremely shocked. They cautiously looked towards the silver cauldron in a daze.
“Does fellow want me to appraise this cauldron?” Startled, Master Chu eyed the silver cauldron.
“Of course not. Even though the cauldron is a treasure of sorts, it cannot be compared to the item inside it.” Liu Ming quietly said as his eyes flashed.
“The item inside it?” Master Chu heard this and his expression changed. He moved a couple of steps towards the side of the cauldron and then peered over the edge to look inside.
“This is……” A drop of unremarkable looking black liquid was inside the cauldron. When the elder saw this, he revealed a dumbstruck expression.
……
Half an hour later, when Liu Ming once again left the store from the main entrance, Shopkeeper Meng followed beside him. He was pleading non-stop:
“Fellow, are you really not going to consider selling those two items to our store? As long as you agree to sell it, we can talk about the price. I’m sure we can agree on something that fellow would be satisfied.”
“Shopkeeper Meng, I was only here to appraise the materials. Those two items are very useful to me and I would not be willing to sell it to others.” Liu Ming responded with a blank expression and then flew off.
The mustached man watched Liu Ming’s back with an expression of pity as Liu Ming flew off into the distance. He thought that those two items in Liu Ming’s possession were going to a waste.
When the shopkeeper returned back into the store, his master was sitting on a chair， thinking pensively about what had happened.
“Looking at you, it seems that person was not willing to sell.” The yellow robed elder asked quietly.
“Yes. That person did indeed have no intention to do so. It’s such a pity. It’s quite a waste that those precious materials fell into this Spirit Apostle’s hands. If I received these items and put it on the auction to sell, everyone including all the old crystal level monsters would be tempted by it.” Shopkeeper Meng smiled bitterly in response.