Yan Qingsang paid of his own accord, and throughout the entire process, neither of them ran into any interference.
Once the two walked out of the shop, Yan Qingsang said lightly, "You really think there's Desolate Jade among those raw stones?"
"The odds are very high," Jiang Chen replied with a smile. "If you don't believe me, we can find a place to have them appraised?"
He had selected those raw stones with great care.
While the find might not be as absurdly lucky as that time in Yellow Oriole Valley, Jiang Chen was firmly convinced that at least one of the stones contained a piece of Desolate Jade bearing ancient legacies.
"Let's go." Yan Qingsang had no patience for idle chatter.
The two of them entered another shop. Appraising raw stones required many steps and could not be accomplished by hand alone.
Specialized formation arrays were needed to process the raw stones and peel away their outer layer. The entire procedure demanded extreme precision and utmost caution.
Even the slightest mistake could destroy the internal structure of the stone, and if it truly contained a Desolate Jade with ancient legacies, those would be ruined beyond recovery.
For that reason, the processing of raw stones was far beyond the capability of an ordinary person.
It required professional expertise, professional formation arrays, and professional technique working in concert to complete the job.
The processing fee, however, was quite reasonable.
The two paid the fee and followed the craftsman inside, where he activated the formation array and began working on the raw stones.
When he reached the sixteenth stone, the craftsman let out a low exclamation: "Now that's something good."
The outer layer of that raw stone was slowly ground away, revealing the luster of ancient jade beneath. Before long, the entire piece had been fully uncovered for all to see.
The craftsman drew in a sharp breath. "Good heavens, this is a fine piece. Definitely top-grade quality. Friend, would you be willing to part with this ancient jade?"
Yan Qingsang asked calmly, "How much can you offer?"
"Someone like me could never afford it. But I can put you in touch with a buyer. Based on my estimation, this ancient jade is worth at least a million or so!"
Jiang Chen smiled faintly. "Not for sale. Anything below three million, and it's not happening."
The craftsman chuckled. "Sounds like you know what you're talking about. If this jade were taken to auction, three million would be within reach. But if a shop were to buy it, you'd probably get somewhere between one and a half to one point eight million. Auction houses have to consider market conditions, and there are commission fees as well."
"All right, there are still a few stones left. Let me continue processing them."
The craftsman steadied himself and went back to work on the remaining stones. The next few, however, yielded no surprises. Nothing at all.
But that single piece was more than enough.
When the two walked out of the shop, Yan Qingsang's heart still hadn't settled down. He held the ancient jade in his hand, turning it over and examining it again and again.
It was indeed a piece of Desolate-era fine jade, containing a cool, soothing aura within. It should be the kind of treasure that calmed the mind and steadied the spirit.
The charm of Blue Mist Ancient Jade lay in the fact that every piece of Desolate Jade it produced carried a different legacy and offered different powers.
Some could be used as medicinal ingredients, some could be refined into magical artifacts, some served as wearable treasures, some contained ancient cultivation techniques recorded within, some harbored tremendous energy, and some even concealed ancient bloodline legacies deep inside.
It could be said that Blue Mist Ancient Jade was one of the most extraordinary types of ancient jade in the entire Abyssal Islands.
This was precisely why Blue Mist Ancient Jade was so popular, and why people from all Ten Great Divine Kingdoms were willing to make the journey.
The appeal lay right there.
Often, an unassuming investment could yield returns of ten times, or even a hundred or a thousandfold.
Yan Qingsang's mood was now extraordinarily agitated.
A long while passed before he finally steadied himself and fixed his gaze on Jiang Chen. "I haven't had the honor of asking your name, friend?"
"You may call me Shao Yuan."
After the incident at Winter Extension Island, the alias Jiang Chen was no longer usable. So he had reverted to an old name he had once used back in the human domain.
The human domain and the Abyssal Islands were cut off from each other in any case. The name Shao Yuan had never been widely circulated. Even in the human domain, only a handful of people knew it.
There was one more key point, of course — Shao Yuan was a name that Huang'er knew.
If one day even Shao Yuan could no longer be used, Jiang Chen had also considered the alias Zhen Shi, the Alchemist King Zhen. That was also a name Huang'er knew.
However, the title Alchemist King Zhen carried too great a fame. Jiang Chen was concerned that Elder Xi might have heard of that name as well.
For the time being, he preferred not to use the Alchemist King Zhen alias and instead opted for Shao Yuan.
"Shao Yuan. Very well. I'm curious — do you know me?" Yan Qingsang asked.
"We've never met before," Jiang Chen replied, shaking his head.
"Then why did you seek me out?" Yan Qingsang was a cautious man, even as he felt an enormous opportunity waving at him from across the distance.