Due to Eric Carter's persistence, the shop owner reluctantly dug out two boxes of raw jade of various sizes from his shop and placed them on the counter. “Young man, in this entire Treasure Pavilion, mine is the only shop that has raw jade for sale. Go ahead and pick; just let me know when you’ve made your choice.”

Since raw jade really isn’t worth much—even the finest pieces only sell for a few hundred thousand at most—and the raw jade in this shop wasn’t even of mid-grade quality, with each piece costing less than a hundred, even a tenfold profit would only be a few thousand at best. So, the owner’s interest in Eric Carter, this small customer, had already waned. He spoke offhandedly and went to greet other customers entering the shop.

Eric Carter didn’t mind. He quickly scanned the two boxes of raw jade on the counter, about a hundred or so pieces in total. The largest was no bigger than a fist, and the smallest was barely the size of a fingernail.

“Hopefully, at least half of these hundred-plus pieces will meet my requirements.” Eric Carter placed three fingers on the jade, channeled a trace of inner energy, sometimes smiling, sometimes frowning, switching to another piece every few seconds and repeating the process. After a few minutes, Eric Carter had very quickly rearranged the raw jade from the two boxes.

“Forty-six pieces have the quality of lower-grade spirit stones... five are close to mid-lower-grade spirit stones. Looks like my luck is pretty good, being able to pick out so many with spirit stone quality from over a hundred pieces.”

There are many ways for cultivators to discern whether a jade has the potential to become a spirit stone. As the sect master of the Treasure Refining Pavilion, Eric Carter's method of identifying spirit stones was naturally highly advanced. With just a bit of inner energy to probe the jade, he could determine its quality within seconds, because spirit stones contain the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, which can subtly resonate with a cultivator’s inner energy.

“Boss, I’ll take all fifty-one pieces of raw jade here. Name your price.” Eric Carter waved to the owner, who was busy attending to other customers.

The owner was stunned at first, then hurried back to the counter. “Young man, you want to buy that much raw jade...” No wonder he was surprised—after all, this wasn’t a jade wholesale market, and no one ever bought so much jade at once, especially raw jade with little commercial value.

“Business is business, no need to ask so many questions.” Eric Carter maintained a calm smile. “Please give me a price quickly. I skipped class to come here, and I don’t have much time. I need to get back to school soon.”

With such a big sale, there was no reason not to do business. The owner nodded eagerly. “I see you’re sincere and buying a lot. You should know, this batch of raw jade came from the Hetian Jade Field. If you buy them individually, most are eight hundred each, which is already a good deal. I’m straightforward, so I’ll round down the total—forty thousand even. How about that?”

Forty thousand for fifty-one spirit stones—really not expensive! From a cultivator’s perspective, Eric Carter even thought the price was too cheap. Besides, he was never one to care much about money. As soon as the owner finished speaking, Eric Carter nodded and took out four stacks of hundred-yuan bills from his backpack. “Deal.”

Just as Eric Carter was about to close the box and leave, a flash of red swept past his side. A fair, delicate hand pressed down on the box lid. “Wait, little friend, can I discuss something with you?”

“Little friend?” Eric Carter directly ignored these three words, which he found quite annoying, and turned with a displeased look toward the so-called “big sister” who had intervened.

The “big sister” was a stunning beauty dressed in a fiery red outfit, about twenty years old, with a delicate oval face that carried a touch of classical elegance. Her eyes sparkled with a gentle charm, her cherry lips were naturally red, her nose was dainty, and her eyes, like black gems, held a hint of wild defiance. The blend of classical grace and wildness merged perfectly in her.

“First of all, I am not a little friend; secondly, you are definitely not my big sister.” Seeing that this beauty blocking his way still hadn’t removed her hand from the box, Eric Carter’s expression darkened slightly.

“Isn’t this Miss Sullivan? What brings you here?” The owner, having just finished counting the money, immediately greeted the woman in red with enthusiasm.

“Mr. Harris, why haven’t I seen you bring out this batch of raw jade before?” The woman in red clearly knew the owner and asked with a slight frown.

“This batch just arrived last week, brought back from the Hetian Jade Field by a friend. Your last visit was two weeks ago...” Mr. Harris spread his hands.

“No problem. I’ll take all the raw jade here—one thousand per piece, total of one hundred thousand. How about that?” The woman in red smiled.

“This...” Mr. Harris obviously didn’t want to offend this major customer, but he had just taken Eric Carter’s money and didn’t know what to say. After hesitating for a while, he looked at Eric Carter, about to speak, but Eric Carter cut him off: “The raw jade in this box has already been bought by me and is now my personal property. Please remove your hand and don’t get in my way.”