Chapter 26: Pan Spirit
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
While Su Yin returned to his residence…
At Dayan Market, an old man with a grey beard walked in.
"Elder Ji is here…"
"Elder Ji's insight is second to none in Dayan City!"
"If it weren't for tonight's auction, I reckon no one would be able to invite him here!"
He had just entered the door, yet his presence alone already elicited excitement from the waiters and the regular customers of the shop.
Ji Feng was the most famous Master Appraiser in Dayan City. It didn't matter if it was—paintings, calligraphy, copybooks, pills, or rare treasures—he would immediately know the authenticity and level of it.
Furthermore, he had never made a single mistake for decades!
With his reliability, Dayan Market would always be proud of the treasures that he had personally appraised. As long as a treasure was appraised and signed by him, its price would always be at least 30% more expensive compared to other treasures of the same level.
"Elder Ji, the owner is waiting in the private room…"
A middle-aged man greeted him.
The man was He Jinquan, the Chief Steward of Dayan Market.
"En!"
Elder Ji nodded his head, looking neither happy nor sad.
He followed closely behind He Jinquan.
As they walked forward, they soon came close to a wide wall covered with various treasures.
Sales Display Wall!
Most large-scale shopping malls in Qianyuan Continent always have this item.
Temporary items in lieu of the real one would be placed on this wall and the customers would be able to look at them as much as they want for their viewing pleasure.
If the customers saw something they liked, they could quote a price any time they wanted to purchase the item.
This was a simple form of auction.
"Did you receive any treasures recently?"
Elder Ji asked with a smile as his eyes landed on the wall.
"The good things we received have already been sent to the auction house. The things that are on the wall are worthless items…" He Jinquan smiled slightly.
Who will casually hang precious treasures outside?
For Dayan Market, the Sales Display Wall was just a marketing gimmick!
"That's true…" Nodding, Elder Ji was about to move on. But his steps suddenly came to a halt.
"Elder Ji, what's the matter?"
Puzzled, He Jinquan followed Elder Ji's gaze.
Then, he immediately saw a disc-shaped object hanging in the corner of the sales wall.
A pan?
His face became dark. He almost directly exploded on the spot from anger.
"Who hung this up?"
Although the quality of the items on the sales wall was incomparable to those in the auction, that didn't mean some random trash was qualified to be hung there too. Hang a pot today and a shovel tomorrow? What was going on? Was Dayan Market going to become a restaurant soon?
"Chief Steward, it's… it is Song Yafei from the front desk!"
"Today, a customer pawned this pan for three taels of silver…"
A young man arrived shortly in front of him. He was sweating profusely with his face pale from fright.
Song Yafei informed him that she was about to hang the pan up the sales wall. At that time, he thought that it would be sold sooner or later, so he didn't take it seriously. He hadn't expected that the Chief Steward would find out about what they had done!
They were in deep sh*t now.
Song Yafei would be scolded and he would probably get in trouble too.
"Pawned for three taels of silver?"
Furious, He Jinquan waved his hand and said, "Did you really think that any rubbish can be hung up on the sales wall? Take it down immediately. Aside from that, you and Song Yafei can forget about receiving this month's salary…"
"Yes…"
With a desolate expression, the young man hurriedly went up and was about to take the pan off the sales wall when an old voice rang out. "Hold on…"
Looking in the direction where the voice had come from, he saw Master Appraiser Ji Feng walking over excitedly from the side with an incredulous look in his eyes.
"Elder Ji…" He Jinquan was confused.
But Elder Ji ignored He Jinquan as he stretched out his palm. "Quick, pass the pan to me."
"Yes!"
The young man had no clue as to what was about to happen.
He obediently took off the pan and handed it over to Elder Ji.
But Elder Ji didn't dare to take the pan off the young man's hands so casually. He flicked his fingers and clear, clean water appeared around his hands. He thoroughly washed his palms using the water and only then—did he finally hold the pan with both of his hands.
His eyes were filled with piety.
"This…"
Seeing his actions, everyone around him looked at each other in confusion.
What was going on?
Why was Elder Ji so excited when he saw this pan?
Ignoring everyone's expressions, Elder Ji's fingers lightly landed on the pan.
His eyes closed tightly as if he was trying to sense something.
After a long time, his lips trembled as he said, "This… how is this possible?!"
"Elder Ji! What's wrong?"
Having witnessed such an expression appear on the face of Dayan City's best appraiser…
He Jinquan couldn't help but ask in concern.
Could it be that… there was something special about this seemingly ordinary pan?
"This pan… isn't simple!"
Elder Ji let out a sigh and looked at it with worship. "Although the most common materials are used in making it, the techniques used to create it are extremely advanced. The lines on it contain the profound truth of a Great Dao."
"It seems that someone has carved a Great Dao itself on it…"
"Carved a Great Dao?" He Jinquan's body trembled, his face full of disbelief. His lips trembled as he said, "Even the most powerful Crafter in the continent can't possibly do such a thing, right..?"
A Great Dao's profound truth differed depending on the cultivator's understanding and insight of the heavens.
Its weight was unparalleled.
Not to mention ordinary materials, it would be difficult for even the top treasures in Great Source Prefecture to carry the weight of a Great Dao in them.
As for carving it into ordinary fine iron and more importantly… carving it into a pan.
Was this Master Crafter so idle that bored that he had nothing to do?
Therefore, he crafted such a thing?
"This Great Dao wasn't successfully carved, it's broken at the most critical place…"
Shaking his head, Elder Ji expressed his regret. "If it wasn't broken, it would at least be an Immortal Artifact!"
"An Immortal Artifact?" He Jinquan dumbly said, "How can that be..?"
An ordinary-looking pan had almost become an Immortal Artifact, this must be a joke, right?!
"You don't believe my judgment?" Elder Ji frowned.
"It's not that…" He Jinquan shook his head quickly. "It's just strange. Since this pan has a Great Dao carved into it, even if that Great Dao is broken, it should be stronger than a normal spiritual weapon. Why is it that… I can't feel the existence of the weapon's spirit at all?"
Weapons were divided into—ordinary weapons, spiritual weapons, and immortal weapons!
Ordinary weapons were weapons used by mortals.
They were hard and sharp at the most. If a cultivator wanted to fly on a sword, it would be very difficult to do it with an ordinary weapon. Only when the weapon reached the level of a spiritual weapon and contained its own spirituality, could it fly thousands of miles and kill people thousands of miles away.
This pan had almost become an Immortal Artifact, so at the very least… It should be a spiritual weapon now, right? How come it had no spirituality at all?
"You can't feel it because your eyesight is too bad…"
Elder Ji snorted.
He took a deep breath and put his palm on the handle immediately afterwards. Then, he poured the true essence in his body into the pan. "My name is Ji Feng. Pan Spirit, please show us your might!"
Buzz!
When his words fell, the pan that had been placed flat on the ground levitated into the air. There was no wind, yet it quietly swayed in the air.
"As you wish!"
A faint spiritual thought suddenly burst forth.
Before He Jinquan could react, he immediately felt that his body was imprisoned by a special force.
Immediately after, the nearby pan slapped his face.
Thump!
Unable to dodge, he was knocked flying horizontally in an instant.
His head got stuck into the sales display wall not too far away.
Both of his exposed legs ceaselessly twitched.
"This…"
Everyone stared wide-eyed at the scene and the place went entirely silent.
-- Gift
received