"Mr. Lu, aren't you familiar with Jubaozhai's efficiency by now?"
Manager Lin smiled. "Rest assured, it's already taken care of."
With that, he made an inviting gesture, indicating they should sit down before talking.
Lu Yuan nodded and found a seat tucked away in a corner that offered plenty of privacy.
Manager Lin instructed the staff to prepare some tea before stepping away, clearly heading off to retrieve the item Lu Yuan needed.
Seeing this, Lu Yuan felt no hurry and took a gentle sip of the light tea.
The tea had a delicate flavor that left a lingering fragrance in the mouth.
Though he knew little about fine teas, he understood that this variety was exorbitantly expensive—far beyond what an ordinary family could ever afford.
That was only natural. Anyone who could set foot on the sixth floor was either immensely wealthy or exceptionally powerful, so Jubaozhai would naturally bring out their finest offerings to entertain them.
"Mr. Lu, sorry to keep you waiting."
Before long, Manager Lin returned holding a tray draped in red cloth. "Here is what you asked for. The seller was quite straightforward about it."
At these words, Lu Yuan nodded without a word and pulled back the red cloth.
Resting on the tray was a square seal.
It was not large, roughly ten inches across.
The entire body was pitch-black, exuding an aura of antiquity.
Carved atop it was an unknown ferocious beast that seemed to stare straight at anyone who looked upon it, giving off an ominous impression.
"That's it. It's the one." Lu Yuan looked at it with deep satisfaction.
The seal was virtually identical to the one he had seen in his previous life.
Even the finest details matched perfectly.
There was no doubt about it.
"Excellent." Manager Lin smiled upon hearing that. "Once payment is settled, this piece belongs to you, Mr. Lu."
"Rest assured." Lu Yuan took out his phone, tapped the screen a few times, and transferred the remaining ten million directly into Jubaozhai's account.
Seeing the transfer go through, Manager Lin poured him another cup of tea and continued, "Mr. Lu, not to overstep, but this item has an evil aura about it. Most collectors wouldn't spare it a second glance. Spending fifteen million on it really doesn't seem worth the price."
While voicing such an opinion might seem somewhat inappropriate, anyone who could rise to become the manager of Jubaozhai's sixth floor was no ordinary person.
Manager Lin's remarks were meant to place him in the role of a concerned friend.
The goal was simple: to draw them closer together.
After all, only people who considered each other friends would speak so candidly.
An evil aura?
It would be strange if it didn't have one.
This thing was never meant for the living in the first place.
Lu Yuan chuckled inwardly. For now, only he knew that this item was called the Ghost Seal. On the surface, it appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary antique.
In truth, however, its origins were monumental. It was intimately tied to the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor. Had he not been fortunate enough to participate in those events in his past life, he would never have known what this Ghost Seal truly was.
Strictly speaking, it was one of the crucial keys to opening the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor.
Spending fifteen million to acquire this Ghost Seal was a guaranteed bargain; it only seemed a bad deal in the eyes of the ignorant.
As for the First Emperor's mausoleum, legends about it had never ceased.
It could practically be called one of the most enigmatic locations in all of Huaxia, yet no one had ever succeeded in probing its depths.
The reason was simple: outsiders had no way of entering. Even with the architectural blueprints, it was impossible to breach unless one gathered every single key.
Trespassing recklessly meant certain death.
Now, counting this Ghost Seal, Lu Yuan had already secured two keys. The other was the heirloom cauldron belonging to Chen Song's family.
Of course, he had no intention of explaining any of this. He merely smiled, took another sip of tea, and said, "Thank you for the warning, Manager Lin. To each their own hobbies. By the way, has the sixth floor taken in any other curious items recently?"
Lu Yuan figured that Jubaozhai was a gathering place for all kinds of untradable artifacts from across the country.
Since he had discovered the Ghost Seal here, he wanted to try his luck again.
Naturally, he did not hold out much hope.
Even after the global mutation, the number of artifacts capable of transforming into divine objects was exceedingly small. It was not as though any old antique was guaranteed to be extraordinary.
Otherwise, he wouldn't need to do anything else—simply collecting all sorts of antiques would have been enough.
"Of course there are!" Manager Lin's eyes lit up, sensing another deal. Drawing out an album he had prepared beforehand from his coat, he said, "Everything is in here. Take your time, Mr. Lu. If anything catches your eye, just say the word, and I guarantee I'll take care of it for you."
As the manager, he received a commission on every transaction concluded on the sixth floor, so he was naturally eager to please.
Lu Yuan nodded and opened the album to look through it.
Just as expected, it was filled with various ancient artifacts.
Given the reputation of Jubaozhai's sixth floor, every piece was guaranteed to be authentic.
Yet after flipping through page after page, he found nothing he wanted.
A moment later, Lu Yuan paused, preparing to return the album.
Soon, however, his gaze shifted slightly. On the very last page, he spotted a miniature pagoda.
The small pagoda had eleven tiers. Though weathered by the passage of time, the high-definition photograph showed that it was exceptionally well preserved, without the slightest damage.
It was this very pagoda that plunged Lu Yuan into a flood of memories—memories of an earth-shattering battle capable of altering rivers and mountain ranges, which he had observed from afar in his past life.
One of the combatants, when unleashing their full might, had manifested an internal anomaly that looked almost identical to this pagoda.
One had to understand that even after the global mutation, that individual had stood among the absolute peak powerhouses.
And now, Lu Yuan was laying eyes upon this object once again.
Snapping out of his thoughts, Lu Yuan looked up and asked directly, "Manager Lin, what is this?"
"Oh, this?" Manager Lin glanced at it, pondered briefly, and replied, "This is called the Eleven-Tier Blood Pagoda. According to the seller, it was blood-red when it was unearthed. The excavation site was allegedly right next to the burial site of an ancient eminent monk. Our appraisal dates it back nearly two thousand years. Why? Are you interested in it?"
In Buddhist terminology, a pagoda was also known as a stupa or futu.
Monks often said that saving a life was worth more than building a seven-tier pagoda, referring to a pagoda seven stories high.
"Yes," Lu Yuan nodded. "Could you help me contact this seller? Price is not an issue."
"I certainly know your financial strength, Mr. Lu, but this seller is a tricky one. There's a bit of an issue."
Manager Lin frowned and explained, "The man is in real estate. He used to be quite wealthy, but his cash flow dried up and his net worth plummeted, so he wanted to sell this piece to raise some funds. His asking price was twenty million. But just recently, he managed to secure a bank loan.
"So he called just yesterday to say he's no longer selling this Eleven-Tier Blood Pagoda and intends to keep it for his own collection."
"Is that so?"
Lu Yuan's heart sank.
He studied the image again, confirming that the object was indeed identical to the anomaly that powerhouse had displayed.
After that great battle, Lu Yuan had specifically inquired about it and was eventually told that the anomaly came from refining a divine artifact into one's five viscera and six bowels. It unlocked the body's hidden treasures, unleashing its latent potential while making the internal organs as indestructible as divine gold!
Moreover, didn't the eleven tiers of the blood pagoda correspond precisely to the five viscera and six bowels?
It was definitely this object without a shadow of a doubt.
Back then, Lu Yuan had lamented for quite some time, wondering why he hadn't been blessed with such good fortune.
Now, the very same item was right before his eyes.
Was he supposed to just let it slip away?
Chapter 9