“Strange, this jade was harvested just seven months ago—how could its spiritual energy have dwindled to so little? Never mind, it’s still authentic Fire Rock Warming Jade, not bad at all. I’ll give you fifty thousand for it.”

James Miller said generously, playing with the piece of warming jade.

Given the current climate, jade isn’t worth much in the antique and jewelry market. As just a warming jade ornament, at most it could fetch fifty thousand, and that’s only if you’re lucky. The price James Miller offered was already quite fair.

But that doesn’t mean this fat man is some honest soul. He might not need the warming jade himself, but that doesn’t stop him from taking it back to fool some other clueless sucker. After all, there are plenty of rich people in Lingnan, and even more men who’ve worn themselves out with a life of debauchery—there’s no shortage of fat sheep to fleece. Besides, although the spiritual energy inside the warming jade has mostly dissipated, unless you’re an expert like them, the average person wouldn’t be able to tell. As long as you’re good at talking it up, you might just turn around and make eighty or a hundred thousand in profit.

Chapter 6: Second Under Heaven in Pure Yang

But the outcome was still unexpected. Thomas Reed reached out with a big hand, and before James Miller could react, the warming jade was snatched back with a “snap” and tossed onto the coffee table. He lifted his head, not even sparing James Miller a glance.

Earlier, Thomas Reed had at least exchanged a couple of words with the steady man, but with James Miller, he hadn’t said a single word from start to finish.

James Miller swallowed hard, his chubby face flushing bright red, and shot Thomas Reed a fierce glare. If this were Lingnan, no matter how tough this guy named Deng was, James Miller would definitely make him pay. Showing attitude in front of Boss Wang? That’s just asking for trouble.

With two big bosses in a row getting snubbed, no one else wanted to step up and get embarrassed. If the warming jade really was as James Miller and the steady man said, with only ten or twenty percent of its spiritual energy left, then fifty thousand was already the highest price anyone would offer—no one would bid more.

Anyone able to attend this kind of trade fair isn’t a fool; who would throw money away for no reason?

Is Thomas Reed’s bald head really that attractive?

Is it worth giving him such a big benefit?

At this moment, David Harris slowly walked over. He didn’t even look at the warming jade, but took the wild ginseng with five leaves from Linda King’s hand, gently placed it on the coffee table, and asked with a smile, “Want to trade?”

“Wow…”

A chorus of exclamations immediately erupted from the crowd.

That wild ginseng had just been bid up to two hundred and fifty thousand by James Miller and Mr. Brooks from Yuezhong, but David Harris hadn’t been tempted in the slightest. Now, he was offering it in exchange for a piece of Fire Rock Warming Jade worth, at most, fifty thousand.

Was he crazy?

Or had both the steady man and James Miller misjudged, and the warming jade was actually something valuable?

But then again, that didn’t make sense.

The steady man and James Miller weren’t novices—they’d been dealing in medicinal materials for years. How could they fail to judge the quality of warming jade? One person making a mistake is understandable, but the odds of two old hands both being wrong are slim.

So what’s really going on here?

“Deal.”

Without another word, Thomas Reed picked up the five-leaf ginseng and spat out a single word from his throat. He was a seasoned herbalist, and although wild ginseng doesn’t grow in Miaojiang, anything personally appraised by William Grant couldn’t possibly be fake.

David Harris smiled, bent down to pick up the warming jade, and reached for the earthen box beside it, intending to put the jade inside.

Suddenly, a bright red hand shot out from the side, lightning-fast, and snatched the earthen box away. It was Thomas Reed, looking down at David Harris from above, and he said coldly, “The five-leaf ginseng for the warming jade doesn’t include this box.”

David Harris just smiled, slowly straightened up, looked at Thomas Reed, and said gently, “Brother Deng, the five-leaf ginseng isn’t nearly enough to trade for this box. What else do you want? Maybe I can come up with it.”

He was calm and unhurried, showing not the slightest sign of anger.

The people around immediately widened their eyes, their faces a mix of shock and excitement.

So the real treasure was this unremarkable, earth-yellow box with black edges?

With so many people here, not a single one had noticed?

These onlookers weren’t idle bystanders either—they were all seasoned veterans of the medicinal market, each one shrewder than the last. Could it be that today they’d really run into a master, and everyone had missed it?

Thomas Reed finally gave David Harris a serious look, scanning him up and down twice before saying coldly, “You can’t come up with it. I want genuine top-grade wild Longtou Fengwei Grass, one jin, dried.”

“One jin of top-grade wild Longtou Fengwei Grass? Are you kidding?”

Immediately, everyone looked at Thomas Reed as if he were crazy—completely out of his mind, the kind that’s beyond help.

Longtou Fengwei Grass is another name for Huoshan Dendrobium, commonly known as Mi Hu. It mainly grows in the Huoshan County of the Dabie Mountains, usually found in the crevices of mist-shrouded cliffs and on ancient towering trees. It’s the finest among Dendrobium officinale.

The Daoist classic “Daozang” once listed Huoshan Dendrobium, Tianshan Snow Lotus, three liang of ginseng, one-hundred-twenty-year-old Polygonum multiflorum, sixty-year-old Poria, deep mountain Ganoderma, deep-sea pearls, and Cordyceps as China’s “Nine Immortal Herbs,” with Huoshan Dendrobium ranked first. This shows just how precious it is. Historically, Huoshan Dendrobium was reserved for the royal family, and many emperors used it to refine elixirs of immortality in their quest for eternal life.