The driver took the five hundred-yuan bills handed over by Eric Carter. Although the other party looked like a middle school student, he spoke with remarkable maturity. The driver nodded immediately and said, “Little brother, you’ve definitely gotten into the right car. When it comes to Shanghai’s antique markets, no one knows them better than I do! Back in the day, I dabbled in antiques myself for quite a while. At this hour, the most bustling place is definitely Cangbaolou, so let’s head there first.”

The name “Cangbaolou” (“Treasure Pavilion”) might sound a bit tacky, but almost all treasure hunters—whether locals, outsiders, or even blue-eyed, high-nosed foreigners—find the name pleasant. A commercial building hiding treasures is exactly the kind of paradise treasure hunters dream of.

The real name of “Cangbaolou” is actually “Fuyou Road Arts and Crafts Market.” Its predecessor was the Fuyou Road Antique Street Market. The Fuyou Road Antique Market was originally located around Fuyou Road and Jiucang Street, west of Henan Road. At its peak, it boasted nearly a thousand stalls and was as famous as Beijing’s Panjiayuan Antique Market, giving rise to the saying “Nan Fu, Bei Pan” (“Fuyou in the south, Panjiayuan in the north”).

Currently, “Cangbaolou” has four floors, offering everything from antiques and old items, ceramics and jade, bamboo and wood carvings, the Four Treasures of the Study, calligraphy and paintings both old and new, coins from various dynasties, to vintage fans, antique clocks, beauty calendar posters, and yellowed old photographs. There’s nothing you can’t find—real or fake. To call it a paradise for treasure hunters is true, but it’s also a bewildering maze for them.

Along the way, the driver introduced almost all of Shanghai’s famous antique markets to Eric Carter, with special emphasis on the “Cangbaolou” they were about to reach.

“Little brother, we’re here. I’ll park the car here and wait for you. When you’re done, just come back here to get in.”

After the driver stopped the car, Eric Carter nodded in response, picked up his backpack, and got out.

As for rapid foundation establishment, aside from taking a few rare spiritual pills, another method is to have a highly skilled cultivator forcibly open the Ren and Du meridians for the one establishing their foundation. However, for Eric Carter, heir to the Treasure Refining Pavilion, there was clearly another shortcut: the “Heaven and Earth Treasure Refining Spirit Array.” This array is a type of spirit-gathering formation. While not endlessly mysterious, if one can set up this array and cultivate within it, their progress will be several times faster than usual.

Especially now, after surviving tribulations and starting over, Eric Carter had chosen the “Yue Moon and Rising Sun Heart Technique,” using the power of moonlight and sunlight to establish his foundation. This made the “Heaven and Earth Treasure Refining Spirit Array” even more important. As long as he could set up this array, Eric Carter was confident he could complete his foundation within a month.

That’s why he came to the antique market—because the essential material for setting up this spirit-gathering array was jade—a large amount of jade!

Entering Cangbaolou, Eric Carter browsed casually and finally stopped in front of a shop called “Zhenyu Zhai” (“True Jade Studio”).

“Boss, is all your jade here?” Upon entering the shop, Eric Carter didn’t bother to look around. He just swept his gaze over the place and asked directly.

The owner of “Zhenyu Zhai” was a thin, middle-aged man with a goatee, looking very shrewd. Seeing Eric Carter ask, he couldn’t help but frown, thinking, Which family’s kid is here making trouble? Without a second thought, he waved his hand and said, “Kid, don’t mess around in the shop. This isn’t a place for you to play. Go find your parents.”

Eric Carter’s mental age was already close to three hundred years old, so being called a kid by someone barely in his forties was quite annoying. “I’m here to buy jade, not to be lectured by you.”

Money often speaks for itself, especially in the mundane world. Eric Carter understood this well, so as he spoke, he had already pulled out a thick stack of hundred-yuan bills from his backpack.

Sure enough, upon seeing the money, the boss immediately fell silent. He put on a smile and said, “So little brother is truly here to buy jade. Don’t worry, my shop is a century-old jade store, always honest with customers young and old.”

Chapter Six: Raw Jade and Immortal Stones

When Eric Carter selected jade, he didn’t judge by its rarity or whether it was an antique. Among cultivators, jade is also called “immortal stone,” but not all jade deserves that name. Even among recognized immortal stones, there are different grades.

For the jade needed to set up the “Heaven and Earth Treasure Refining Spirit Array,” the quality requirements weren’t high—just forty-nine pieces of lower-grade immortal stones would suffice.

That’s why, after checking out several jade shops, Eric Carter chose “Zhenyu Zhai,” because this shop had the most raw jade. Raw jade is a step above raw material, but still largely unprocessed.

“Boss, bring out all your raw jade for me to see.”

Eric Carter’s serious expression and tone, combined with the thick stack of hundred-yuan bills on the counter, made the boss put away his earlier disdain. He replied, “Little brother, I do have quite a bit of raw jade here, but honestly, those don’t have much collectible value and can’t really be considered antiques. If you’re interested, I do have a few recently unearthed ancient jade pieces. Take a look…”

Every antique shop owner prefers to sell expensive items rather than those cheap pieces worth only a thousand or so yuan, and this boss was no exception.

“No need. I don’t want antiques or finished pieces. Just bring out all your raw jade for me to see.”