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nAfter a week of hard work, Ou Yangming, Ni Yinghong, and Zheng Ziwen finally completed the appraisals.

nThe process was mostly smooth as they were unanimous in the appraisal of most of the equipment.

nOf course, there were times where they faced troubles and differences in opinions, hence a few small disputes were inevitable.

nAt times, they were able to reach a consensus after friendly discussions, and eventually confirmed a piece of equipment’s specific grade and rank. However, there were also times where they quarreled endlessly. If they insisted on their own views without wanting to take a step back, the only way was to use appraisal art.

nThroughout the days, Ni Yinghong and Zheng Ziwen performed appraisal art several times, and each time was a golden opportunity for Ou Yangming to watch and learn.

nOu Yangming also noticed that Ni Yinghong either chimed in to support him or stood firm to her view during crucial moments, so appraisal art was used many times.

nHad Ni Yinghong not made things difficult, they would not have used appraisal more than five times during the week. As she stirred up more trouble, Zheng Ziwen was forced to execute appraisal art more than ten times even though he was unwilling to. As a result, the two appraisers had used appraisal art for a total of more than twenty times, and Ou Yangming benefited unexpectedly.

nOnce the three masters approved the last piece of equipment, Zheng Ziwen was almost going to collapse to the ground.

nMental power and essential Qi were different. Once the former was greatly consumed, it would be extremely difficult to recover it. Although Zheng Ziwen was gifted with mental power, similar to Ou Yangming in the past, he could not put the power to use. Zheng Ziwen could only perform appraisal art through a mysterious method, so a huge consumption was required each time he performed the art. After using the art for more than ten times in consecutive days, he had reached his limit.

nWhen Ou Yangming saw that Zheng Ziwen’s face was as white as a sheet, he made an evil guess that Ni Yinghong would probably not have ended the appraisals so quickly if Zheng Ziwen still had energy left.

nNeedless to say, Ni Yinghong was not feeling well too. She had executed appraisal art only one time less than Zheng Ziwen, hence she was also clearly pale. Nonetheless, if that was not the case, Zheng Ziwen would not have put in so much effort.

nThey delivered the message once they confirmed the task was done, and Lin Yichen arrived not long after. He thanked everyone with a smile but gasped when he noticed Zheng Ziwen’s face. “Master Zheng, are you not feeling well?”

nZheng Ziwen smiled bitterly. “I’m fine, I just performed appraisal art too many times in the last few days. I’ll recover after resting for a few days.”

nLin Yichen was dumbfounded. “Were the equipment appraisals this time very tough?”

nEquipment appraisal was a very serious matter but was sometimes associated with luck. One would have a hard time if one encountered many pieces of equipment that were especially difficult to be identified.

nZheng Ziwen made stuttering sounds and had no choice but to remain silent.

nThough there was a considerable amount of equipment this time, which increased the difficulty, the appraisals would not have been that hard if the three of them could work together to mediate the disputes.

nHowever, they stumbled upon a little devil.

nWhen Zheng Ziwen thought about the errors that occurred while working together with Ni Yinghong, as well as Ou Yangming who chose to keep quiet or added fuel to flames during crucial moments, he suffered a splitting headache.

nDespite that, he knew very well of Ni Yinghong’s background and Ou Yangming’s potential, thus he dared not reprimand them.

nNevertheless, Zheng Ziwen decided to never work with them anymore.

nLi Yichen somewhat understood the situation after seeing his expression, so he said with a bitter smile, “Master Zheng, thank you for your hard work, I’ll give you a huge gift once you return.”

nFollowing that, he looked at them and said, “You’ve worked hard these days, so you may pick a piece of equipment for your own. Please!”

nOu Yangming naturally took the waist sash whereas Ni Yinghong picked a piece of jewelry instead of the small round shield, so Zheng Ziwen kept the shield inside his bag right away.

nLin Yichen looked at their chosen items, then finally fixed his gaze on Ou Yangming and asked, “Master Ou, do you not want to choose something else?”

nIn actual fact, the three pieces of equipment chosen were marked, where their features and their equivalent rank were recorded.

nThe small round shield was originally a piece of top-notch equipment, and while Ni Yinghong had chosen the jewelry spontaneously, it was not inferior to the shield in terms of their value.

nOn the opposite, the waist sash chosen by Ou Yangming was stated to be a piece of Good Grade equipment.

nOf course, the three grooves on the waist sash were eye-catching, but that feature alone was not enough for the sash to be mentioned on equal terms with Ni Yinghong and Zheng Ziwen’s picks.

nOu Yangming smiled. “Thank you, Head Shopkeeper Lin, but I’m quite fond of this waist sash as it’s my first time encountering this type of equipment, so I decided to choose it.”

nLin Yichen’s eyes lit up. He quickly glanced at Zheng Ziwen, who shook his head to tell him that there was nothing unique about the waist sash.

nWhile feeling puzzled, Lin Yichen laughed and responded, “Okay, since you’re so polite, I’ll compensate you with another 200 taels of gold.”

nOu Yangming smiled brightly and said, “Thank you, Head Shopkeeper Lin.”

nIt was an unexpected joy, and he would never think that any amount of gold or silver was too little.

nSubsequently, Ou Yangming turned to look at a corner in the basement. Over there, more than a hundred ores of different sizes were piled up, which was quite unsightly.

nLin Yichen noticed his look, so he said with a smile, “Master Ou, those are raw gemstones that were gathered from the forest. If you’re interested, how about you pick a few for fun?”

n“Raw gemstones?” Ou Yangming came to a sudden realization. “So these are raw gemstones!”

nThe gem that Ou Yangming used to store the Qi Return attribute was actually retrieved from a raw gemstone, but he had no idea before this as he had never seen one before.

n“Yes, these are raw gemstones with better conditions, so we preserved them,” Lin Yichen replied to him with a smile, then added after a pause, “It’s possible to obtain Attribute Gems from these raw gemstones.”

nNi Yinghong suddenly flashed a smile. “Master Ou, there’s no harm in buying a few for fun. If you really manage to acquire Attribute Gems, I’ll teach you the way to embed them in a sash. What do you think?”

nOu Yangming was extremely moved when he looked at the three grooves on his waist sash.

n“Head Shopkeeper Lin, how much are you offering the raw gemstones for?”

nLin Yichen instantly smiled like a fox that had just captured a rooster. He put up a finger and answered with narrowed eyes, “They’re not expensive, each of them cost 20 taels of gold.”

n“20 taels of gold?” Ou Yangming immediately widened his eyes as he was in disbelief.

nYes, please forgive him. Ever since he grasped smithing art, he had somewhat benefited and gained an accumulated wealth of a few hundred taels of gold.

nThat said, a majority of the gold was actually the fee from the current appraisal task, as well as the reward given by Lin Yichen. The remaining portion was an apology gift from Zhang Yinfan. Even if Ou Yangming added everything together, he definitely did not have more than 500 taels of gold.

nIf the raw gemstones were sold for 20 taels of gold each, did it not mean that he could only purchase twenty of them even if he gathered all his possessions?

nIt was then when Ou Yangming finally understood what it meant to be really wealthy.

nHe cleared his throat and asked, “Head Shopkeeper Lin, can they be sold at a slightly cheaper price?”

nLin Yichen remained a smile on his face. “Master Ou, in all honesty, ores of such good quality are usually sold for more than 30 taels of gold each, so 20 taels of gold is the lowest price I can offer you. If you don’t believe me, you may ask them how much it costs to gamble on stones1 in the prefecture.”

nWhen Ou Yangming turned to look, Zheng Ziwen and Ni Yinghong nodded slowly at him.

nSeeing as he was still hesitant, Lin Yichen chuckled. “Master Ou, how about this? Since you helped me with a big task, I can’t be too stingy. How about you just pick three of them for fun?”

nOu Yangming was moved. “I’ll go take a look.”

nHe walked over to the pile of ores, then randomly took one up. All of a sudden, a light shone in his palm.

nNobody saw the light because the ore was blocking it, but Ou Yangming did not look delighted at all.

nFrom his point of view, the Military Fire was the synonym of omnipotence, but the fire did not bring him any surprises this time. The ore was just a normal stone, and Ou Yangming did not find any useful information from the Military Fire.

nHe sighed and shook his head. ‘It looks like the Military Fire isn’t as almighty as I think it is. At the very least, it can’t be used on these ores.’

nOu Yangming put down the ore, then proceeded to touch another one. Even after his Military Fire flashed for about six times, he did not gain any information.

nJust as Ou Yangming decided to give up, he subconsciously reached out for another ore.

nIt was a fist-sized stone that was an irregular polygon and was not striking at all.

nThat being said, Ou Yangming’s body quivered a little this time when his Military Fire appeared again, but it was unnoticeable. His face, that had turned away from Lin Yichen and the others, took on an astonished expression.

nThis was because a peculiar image suddenly flashed in his mind.

nIt was a red light. Though it was not intense, he could feel that it came from the ore in his hand.

nOu Yangming’s eyes glowed, and he could not help but clench his fist. He quickly recovered a normal expression, then put down the ore lightly before reaching for another one.

nOnce Ou Yangming touched more than ten ores, he found another one that contained a strange light.

nIt was not proportionate at all. In the case of a one-in-ten probability, it meant that 200 taels of gold were required to attain a gem.

nNonetheless, according to the universal value of gems, nobody knew if it would actually be a bargain.

nAfterward, Ou Yangming clapped his hand and stood up. He said while smiling with squinted eyes, “Head Shopkeeper Lin, I’m quite interested in the ores. I don’t want the gold reward this time, I’ll offset them with ores!”

n1 The practice of buying a raw gemstone and having it cut open, with the hopes of it holding some gems

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