I have seen dragons

Chapter 16 Treasure Forest

After a brief meeting, Yue Wen accepted the commission.

The man's name was Guo Yang. He worked as a technician in a factory in the suburbs. His wife had died early, leaving him and his son to depend on each other, and they were barely making ends meet. Unexpectedly, misfortune struck again; shortly after he lost an arm in an accident, his son also went missing.

That's why she looked so haggard.

He had arranged to meet the unscrupulous boss at 7 PM, and Yue Wen agreed to arrive early to support him. If the child wasn't kidnapped by the boss, he would help him deal with the threats from the underworld and get the compensation back properly.

If the child was kidnapped by the unscrupulous boss, then we must rescue him no matter what.

After agreeing on a time for the evening, Yue Wen asked Zhao Xing'er to watch over the office, and then rode off on his electric scooter.

There are only three shops selling rare items in City No. 7. Yue Wen chose the largest and best-reputed one, named "Bao Zhi Lin".

Riding the electric bike to the city center, Yue Wen encountered numerous traffic lights along the way, which made him realize that sometimes living in the suburbs is quite nice.

Among the rows of high-rise buildings along the river, there stands a three-story, pointed-roof structure, quite imposing from a distance. From the moment one steps into the grounds outside the building, ripples of magical energy emanate from it. Those outside can only see the scenery, not the customers walking inside. The grounds have over ten exits, maximizing the privacy of customer entry and exit.

Yue Wen chose this place not only because of its large scale, but also because Baozhilin is a large chain store that offers the best protection for customer privacy.

He himself had nothing to hide, but the item he was here to appraise today was obtained through murder and robbery, and he didn't want to be too conspicuous, lest it attract retaliation.

The identity of the man in black killed the night before is still being confirmed, but if he is indeed a heretical cultivator from the Flame Ghost Hall, as Qi Dian said, then we really need to be careful.

The Flame Ghost Hall is a relatively active evil cultivation sect in Tianbei Prefecture, which practices evil techniques such as corpse control, puppet making, and ghost cultivation.

Although the Super Management Bureau has been cracking down on it, the Flame Ghost Hall's techniques allow cultivators to unleash top-tier combat power in the early stages of their cultivation—even at the cost of sacrificing their future prospects. Many mediocre and opportunistic individuals are still willing to join.

Upon arriving at the lobby on the first floor, the receptionist, after learning that Yue Wen needed an appraisal, immediately gave him a mask and a number, and told him to wait in line outside the designated room.

Yue Wen went up to the second floor and waited for about half an hour before his number finally appeared on the display screen at the door.

"Hello." He walked into the room wearing a silver mask.

The room was simply furnished, with only a table covered with red silk, behind which sat a young man with small eyes and glasses.

"Hello customer, I am appraiser number 116, Tingbo." He introduced himself as Yue Wen entered.

"I would like to ask you, Master, to take a look at this item."

Yue Wen didn't waste any words and directly took out the half of the black gold skull. After all, every second in this room costs money, and it's quite expensive.

"Oh?" Tingbo, wearing white gloves, took the half of the black and gold skull, stared at it intently for a while, and slowly said, "This is... half of a black skull."

“Master, I recognize skeletons.” Yue Wen was speechless for a moment, “and I also know this is half of one.”

I also know your dad's last name and your last name.

Good guy.

I paid to come here, so you should at least tell me something I don't know.

……

"Hehe, sorry, I'll explain right away." Tingbo pushed the black gold skull back in front of Yue Wen and explained, "From what I've observed, there are no array patterns on this skull, so it's not a magic weapon. But the material is genuine black water dragon pattern gold, which is quite precious. It seems to be some kind of token."

"That's it."

Upon hearing this, Yue guessed that this thing might be some kind of token from within the Flame Ghost Hall, which would be of little use to him.

So he asked again, "Do you recycle these?"

"I'm sorry," Tingbo waved his hand, "Judging from its shape, this item may be related to a heretical sect. We don't take back treasures with unclear origins."

The Immortal Goods Shop is very cautious about recycling anything related to evil cultivators, so Yue Wen could understand their refusal. He then lowered his voice and asked, "If I were to sell it outside, how much would it be worth?"

"If we're talking about valuation, this half-skull, excluding the uncertain value of the token, is basically just a large piece of relatively pure Blackwater Dragon Pattern Gold material. I recommend a buyback price of around 100,000, or 1,000 talisman coins," Tingbo said very seriously.

The so-called talisman money is a type of currency that circulates among various immortal sects.

For many cultivators, money no longer holds much appeal, while magical items that can enhance cultivation can fetch astronomical prices, leading to a chaotic market.

Several major immortal sects joined forces and, with the help of the Super Management Bureau, introduced a unique and uncounterable "talisman currency" specifically for cultivators to use as currency for trading immortal items. This talisman currency could be exchanged for talismans, elixirs, and other hard currency at the top immortal sects, thus anchoring the currency's value.

However, these talisman coins are relatively high-end and are generally only used in transactions involving valuable magical items.

Yue Wen has not been in contact with him yet.

Hearing what the other party said, he roughly understood the situation and then asked, "Does Baozhilin sell 'Purple Jade Branches'?"

The preparation of Chaos Dragon Qi requires four kinds of materials, and Yue Wen certainly couldn't ask about them all at once, as that would be tantamount to telling the other party the recipe. So this time he only inquired about the first one, the Purple Jade Branch.

He plans to obtain the other materials through other channels.

“I’m sorry, our branch in City Seven doesn’t have any stock of Purple Jade Branches, the highest-grade consumable for alchemy. I can ask the store in the main city for you.” Tingbo immediately replied, “If you have them, we’ll get them for you.”

"Okay, thank you." Yue Wen nodded.

Tingbo glanced at Yue Wen and said, "These kinds of consumables are usually only used when refining qi with great fire. In fact, unless it is used in conjunction with the world's most advanced cultivation techniques, there is no need to use such top-grade materials. Our industry has the finest 'Welcoming Immortal Willow' and 'Azure Wood', which should meet your needs. You can consider it."

"Let me think about it. If you have any Purple Jade Branches in stock, please let me know first," Yue Wen said, standing up.

He had no doubt about the necessity of the materials; perhaps the appraiser thought that no one in the entire satellite city could possibly cultivate the most advanced techniques.

But Yue Wen possessed the true dragon's Daoist arts.

When I got back to the office, it was only a little past four in the afternoon.

Yue Wen left Zhao Xing'er to watch the shop while he went back upstairs to his room to study the method to break the curse. He was now starting to regret hiring an assistant so late.

Around six o'clock, the two set off together, preparing to go to the place they had agreed upon with Guo Yang to meet his boss.

"Would you like to ride on my electric scooter?" Yue Wen asked before leaving. "If you don't like it, you can take a taxi yourself."

"I'll just sit in the back seat," Zhao Xing'er smiled gently. "I rarely take taxis."

As dusk settled, a handsome young man rode a white electric scooter, with a beautiful young woman with long, flowing hair riding on the side of him. The two of them traveled along the elevated highway, becoming a striking sight on the city streets.

A middle-aged man driving a luxury car passed by, and upon seeing this, he gritted his teeth in anger and slammed his fist on the steering wheel.

She still spoke in a sweet tone on the phone, "Honey, I know today is your son's 60th birthday. I'm on my way. I won't be late. Love you."

"Oh, my wife's side is fine. After all, he's her biological father."

……

Meanwhile, at a factory on the outskirts of the city.

The portly boss opened the door and welcomed in two burly men in black suits and sunglasses, their faces full of menacing features. He immediately greeted them with a smile, "Brothers, we'll have to trouble you again today."

"Mr. Chen is an old friend of our Tiger Head Gang. It's only right that we step in and settle things," a burly man said coldly, revealing a row of gold teeth.

"So you're dealing with a disabled person who needs compensation, right?" Another burly man cracked his neck. "We do this kind of work all the time."

"Yes." Mr. Chen said with a smile, "But after we finish dealing with that cripple, there's something else I need to trouble you two with... My son's new car was vandalized today!"

(End of this chapter)