Courtyard Houses: From Bronze Compasses to Global Reach

The faint light of the teleportation array dissipated in the humid air of Kachin State in northern Myanmar.

The place Lin Yan stepped out of was not a town, but a dense forest rarely visited by people in the upper reaches of the Wulu River.

A thick layer of moisture, carrying the scents of earth and plants, wafted towards us, while the distant rumble of mining machinery could be faintly heard.

Unlike his observations on "world engagement" in Israel and Europe, his purpose on this trip was extremely pure—to act as a highly efficient "miner".

He closed his eyes, and his vast, ocean-like divine consciousness, centered on himself, silently permeated in all directions.

Mountains, rivers, vegetation, soil, bedrock... the layers of barriers of the material world become transparent under his perception.

Countless green and purple hues lie hidden deep underground; that is the "heartbeat" of the jadeite vein.

For a whole month, he wandered like a ghost through this area known as the "Emerald Heart".

His primary target is Hpakant, the origin of over 95% of the world's jadeite.

Lin Yan was too lazy to enter the mine, so he used earth magic to sneak into the depths of the crisscrossing underground veins.

Here, his divine sense was like that of the most skilled master, instantly discerning good from bad.

Ordinary brick materials and blue-green varieties were completely ignored.

His target is the Imperial Green Jade Root hidden in the core of the rock strata, with a rich, even color that seems to contain a pool of living water, and the glassy base with an extremely pure texture and a bright, fluorescent appearance.

Lin Yan's spiritual power transformed into the finest cutting tools, perfectly peeling off pieces of top-grade jade from the surrounding rock and storing them in his space, leaving only hollow rock shells.

The most valuable parts of the Hpakant mining area, accumulated over hundreds of years, were quietly emptied out in just a few days.

Lin Yan's second stop was Moxisha, where the pursuit was "seed".

He was looking for raw stones of the icy and glassy type, with a texture as delicate as solidified clear water and extremely high transparency.

Especially the famous "Moxi Sato Skin", which often has a breathtakingly beautiful jade-like flesh hidden under its skin.

He also specifically searched for a special type of plant—ice-floating flowers.

In his divine vision, it was a natural ink painting created by hydrothermal fluids containing chromium and iron in the jade crystals during hundreds of millions of years of geological movement. The blue-green bands were like smoke and mist, and were extremely lively.

These materials, full of artistic conception, were collected in batches.

Lin Yan's third stop was Longtang.

The Longtang mining area is difficult to mine and has a low output, but it is known for producing top-quality raw stones with old texture and good water content.

Lin Yan discovered many jadeite pieces here that were close to the quality of Dragon Stone, a rare variety that combined glassy texture, pure base color, and inner luster.

In addition, he also found some snowflake cotton material with extremely old texture and a strong gelatinous feel.

Dots of white cotton, like snowflakes, float evenly against the clear jade background, like travelers returning home on a snowy night.

These niche yet top-quality materials also couldn't escape his collection.

For his final stop, he chose Houjiang and Muna.

The Hau Jiang region produces many small pieces of jadeite, often with high-quality jadeite, which are the source of top-grade cabochons.

Lin Yan glanced at it quickly, focusing only on the older, more vibrant parts. Meanwhile, the Muna mine is renowned for its abundant snowflake cotton characteristics.

He harvested a large amount of "Muna Snowflake Cotton" here. The fluffy cotton fibers intertwined with the delicate jade-like flesh seemed to contain a world of ice and snow.

He disregarded the armed guards, political factional struggles, and harsh natural environment of the mining area during his trip.

When encountering rich mineral deposits, sometimes it's not even about "collecting" but about "devouring"—under the influence of divine sense, large areas of top-grade jade veins are moved into the space as a whole and placed in a specific area on the endless seashore, next to the treasures previously collected from the Mediterranean.

A month later, Lin Yan stood on the banks of the Mist and Dew River, looking inward at his own space.

The originally planned "treasure zone" has been illuminated by small hills made of various top-quality jadeite rough stones.

The imperial green of Hpakant is like the base of a mountain, with a dazzling and bright color; the glassy and floating flower varieties of Moshisha are like a clear stream, sparkling and shining; the rare varieties of Longtang are like stars adorning the sky; and the snowflake cotton of Muna is like a snow-capped peak that never melts.

Beneath the surface of Myanmar, several major mining areas have undergone the most thorough "resource relocation" since the country's founding.

In the coming decades, the supply of top-tier jadeite in the global market will quietly dry up, and the root cause of all this remains unknown.

Lin Yan patted the dust off his robes and looked toward the northern horizon.

Next stop—Mogok.

Lin Yan's sword flashed again, and he sped northward.

Below lies the vast Shan Plateau, with lush jungles and rolling mountains receding rapidly into the distance.

Before long, a valley came into view.

This is Mogok, known as the "Ruby Valley," a sacred place for the finest colored gemstones in Myanmar and even the world.

Lin Yan's divine sense enveloped the entire Mogok region, where the fiery intensity of rubies, the profound depth of sapphires, the brilliance of spinels, and the freshness of peridot intertwined to create a dazzling spectrum.

His consciousness first sank into the depths of the most renowned primary mineral deposits and alluvial placer deposits.

Target – Pigeon Blood Ruby.

In the "vision" of his consciousness, the red of ordinary corundum is either light or dark. Only those crystals with extreme chromium coloring, as if there is an inextinguishable flame inside, are his targets.

He transformed his spiritual power into the finest carving knife, carefully avoiding any internal cracks or inclusions, and meticulously extracted each pigeon blood ruby, varying in size but with an exceptionally vibrant color, from the mother rock.

The largest ones, unpolished and already resembling congealed blood, flow with a captivating "velvety" feel and "fluorescence" under the sunlight.

Mogok's centuries-old stock of "pigeon blood" has been completely wiped out.

Next up is the top-grade royal blue sapphire.

He only wants individuals that exhibit a rich, pure, and saturated blue color under natural light, neither purplish nor blackish, and whose crystals contain rutile needle-like inclusions that possess the potential for "starlight."

Inside some crystals, three sets of finely arranged rutile needles have already formed a perfect six-rayed star pattern, which can be polished to bloom "star rays".

These deep, serene blue crystals were acquired in bulk.

Along with this, some extremely rare pink sapphires and padparadscha sapphires were also not spared.

Mogok's spinel veins are also renowned.

Lin Yan pays particular attention to those varieties that display vibrant neon pink and neon red without any dark areas and are known as "Jedi Knights".

In addition, some spinels with special crystal shapes or rare purple or grayish-blue hues were also taken away.

He even discovered several legendary "color-changing spinels," which could change from blue-gray to purple under different light sources, which was quite interesting.

As for peridot, he values ​​the visual purification effect brought by its clear yellow-green color.

Select individuals with clean crystals, bright colors, and larger particle sizes for collection.

As for tourmalines from the Mogok region, especially rare rubellite tourmalines, zircon, and moonstone, he didn't let them go either.

However, we only select the most essential and highest-quality items, and do not engage in a comprehensive, sweeping search.

Just a few days later, Lin Yan stood on a quiet mountaintop in Mogok.

In the valley below, the sounds of miners hammering and water flowing as they wash ore still linger, and no one knows that the "lust" of this gem-loving land has been swept away.

Lin Yan looked up at the east and thought, "I should go back to China!"