The Pruxus Hall was filled with music that rippled through every corner like a gentle stream flowing over one's heart. The visitors wandering the hall gazed quietly at each stone sculpture on display.
The hall was divided into three main exhibition areas: the Ordinary Exhibition Hall, the Expert Exhibition Hall, and the Master Exhibition Hall.
The Ordinary Exhibition Hall was the largest, showcasing the greatest number of stone sculptures. In the northeast corner of the Ordinary Hall stood three works in a row, each possessing a very particular quality. Anyone with even a passing knowledge of stone carving could sense that distinctive air about them.
However, among the tens of thousands of sculptures in the Ordinary Hall, these three pieces were like needles in a haystack — easy to overlook.
"Most of these works have the appearance but lack the substance."
Baron Juno, now well over a hundred and sixty years old, strolled through the main hall of Pruxus Hall, his gaze sweeping across sculpture after sculpture. The baron had no other particular hobby besides stone carving. He spent every morning at Pruxus Hall without fail.
Yet in the Ordinary Exhibition Hall, works that could truly catch Baron Juno's eye were exceedingly rare.
"Lord Baron, has any sculpture caught your fancy?" A beautiful female attendant approached him. Since Baron Juno visited every day, the staff at Pruxus Hall had grown quite familiar with him.
Baron Juno shook his head and smiled. "Haven't found one yet."
"Lord Baron, the works in the Ordinary Hall are far inferior to those in the Expert and Master Halls. Why do you spend most of your time here in the Ordinary Hall each day?" the attendant asked curiously.
Baron Juno put on a mysterious smile and said, "That's something you wouldn't understand. There are countless works in the Ordinary Hall, and who knows where a masterpiece might be hiding? The feeling of sifting through gravel to find gold — there's nothing quite like it."
"Oh?" The attendant looked at Baron Juno with a puzzled expression.
The baron said nothing more and continued admiring the sculptures one by one. But when he reached the three works by Lin Lei, Baron Juno's eyes lit up instantly. With a hundred years of experience studying stone carvings, he recognized the uniqueness of these three pieces at a single glance.
"Cold... natural... proud..."
Baron Juno murmured involuntarily.
It was a quality — an aura. For a stone sculpture to be called a masterpiece, it needed precisely that kind of distinctive presence. Baron Juno immediately felt the cold, proud aura radiating from these three works, and that special quality captivated him in an instant.
"You there, mark them down for me. For these three works, I'll offer a hundred gold coins each," Baron Juno said directly to the female attendant beside him.
The attendant immediately beamed as she pulled a notepad from her pocket. First she recorded the catalog numbers of the three sculptures and wrote down the bid prices. Then she produced three stickers and placed them beside each of the stone carvings, each one reading "100 Gold Coins."
While the attendant was recording, Baron Juno studied the three sculptures even more carefully.
"Wait, that's not right!" The baron's cloudy eyes suddenly sharpened, fixed intently on the stone carving of a Rapid Dragon. "The scales carved on this Rapid Dragon's back and the contour lines of its legs — how are they so seamless? Logically speaking, the scales should have been carved with a round blade, while the leg contours should have been done with a flat knife. No matter how careful you are, it's impossible to achieve this level of fluid naturalness — not one hundred percent!"
Baron Juno had spent a hundred years studying stone carvings.
He had never been a particularly wealthy noble. But by relying on his extraordinary eye — buying sculptures at low prices and reselling certain pieces at premium rates — Baron Juno had become one of Fenn City's wealthiest men.