Urban Most Awesome Dad

Contained within the jade pendant was an astonishingly wondrous Sumeru space, where a vast desert lay spread out. In the midst of this desert was an empty palace, exuding an air of ruin everywhere you looked.

Upon entering this broken palace, Xu Fan discovered in the center of the grand hall an altar made of huge stones that still seemed to emit faint energy fluctuations. However, these fluctuations were exceedingly weak, almost imperceptible unless one paid close attention.

Xu Fan had already realized that this jade pendant was not ordinary but a spiritual treasure with an artifact spirit within.

In the Cultivation World, some exceptionally powerful magical treasures, after being nurtured naturally over many years, could develop consciousness. At that point, the magical treasure would no longer be ordinary; it would become a naturally grown spiritual treasure.

A spiritual treasure is a magical treasure that has awakened its self-awareness. The value of a single spiritual treasure could rival that of a thousand ordinary magical treasures, and even within the Cultivation World, they were exceedingly rare.

Having been a cultivator of great prowess previously, Xu Fan had owned many top-tier spiritual treasures and thus was quite knowledgeable about them. This jade pendant, though seemingly unremarkable at first glance, was something only cultivators like Xu Fan could enter through the Sea of Consciousness into its Sumeru space.

Clearly, the guardian spirit born within this jade pendant was no longer present, yet it had left behind a trace of its essence within the pendant—a streak of verdant green, the sole mark left by the guardian spirit in the jade pendant.

The desolate palace within the desert, sensed by Xu Fan’s Sea of Consciousness, was once the dwelling of the guardian spirit. The guardian spirit was gone, which caused the gradual desolation, but since it left behind its mark, the spiritual artifact now possessed the ability to repair itself. Whether it took a hundred or a thousand years, after the long passage of time, this spiritual artifact would gradually self-repair, ultimately summoning the guardian spirit once more at the altar in the center of the great hall.

Once the guardian spirit was summoned, the jade pendant would regain its true form as a spiritual artifact.

Xu Fan’s consciousness slowly withdrew from the artifact spirit’s Sumeru space, a hint of disappointment flashing in his eyes. Initially, he thought he had stumbled upon a treasure—finding a spiritual artifact with a nurtured artifact spirit in such a modest place. However, upon examination, he found the guardian spirit no longer existed, leaving only a repair formation that relied on time for restoration. Who knew how many centuries it would take to self-repair fully.

Nonetheless, this jade pendant still remained the finest item Xu Fan had discovered in Zangyu Tower. With past experience in repairing magical treasures, as long as the resources were in place, he could easily restore this jade pendant. Even if he couldn’t fully repair it, Xu Fan could still utilize this damaged spiritual artifact to achieve effects that many ordinary magical treasures could.

On the second floor of Zangyu Tower, Xu Fan flicked the jade pendant necklace in his hand and said to the Hanfu-clad salesgirl beside him, “I’ll take this piece of jewelry, wrap it up for me.”

“Sure, sir,” the Hanfu-clad girl nodded, taking the jade pendant necklace Xu Fan handed over, about to package it.

But suddenly, a voice from the headquarters boss came through her earpiece, “Wait, don’t wrap up that necklace yet, I want to meet this buyer.”

These words were spoken by the Zangyu Tower boss, Wang Fangtong, who was observing Xu Fan’s every move from the third floor of the tower.

The Hanfu girl obviously had to heed the boss’s words, so with a hint of apology, she bowed deeply to Xu Fan and said, “Sir, I’m sorry, but our boss would like to meet you.”

“Oh? Where is he?” Xu Fan asked, somewhat curious.

He had heard Zhao Dong mention the owner of Zangyu Tower before, supposedly the most astute appraiser in the whole Yulou Ancient Town. Could it be that he too had noticed the extraordinary aspect of this Jade Pendant?

However, if he had truly recognized the secret hidden within the Jade Pendant, he wouldn’t have placed it so openly on display.

Honestly, if this Jade Pendant wasn’t a damaged Spiritual Artifact passed down from ancient times, Xu Fan really wouldn’t be interested in it. Both its design and material were of average quality, hardly worth the price of 280,000.

As such, the Jade Pendant had languished in the display case for nearly a year, without anyone inquiring about it.

Now, with someone taking an interest, Wang Fangtong, the owner of Zangyu Tower, became intrigued and wanted to see exactly what about this Jade Pendant caught Xu Fan’s eye.

No matter how one looked at it, Xu Fan was a very selective person. There were so many jades displayed on the first and second floors, yet Xu Fan had regarded them with indifference, yet he took a liking to this particular Jade Pendant.

If it were for the cheap price of the Jade Pendant, that didn’t seem right either. Almost all the jades on the first floor were priced under one hundred thousand, with many of them having a better appearance than this Jade Pendant and at a cheaper price. If Xu Fan were someone who only cared about the price, he would have simply picked one from the first floor, there would be no need to come to the second floor to buy this Jade Pendant.

Even if we take a step back and look at the second floor itself, there were many jades cheaper and better designed than this Jade Pendant, contributing to its year-long neglect.

But the feelings of Wang Fangtong, the owner of Zangyu Tower, were different, although he was not a cultivator, he had a natural affinity for jade since childhood.

At sixteen, he went alone to the Dianmian border to buy gamble stones. Relying on his extraordinary intuition for jade, he made the biggest fortune of his life, and it was with the initial capital from those gamble stones that he was able to start his business in Yulou Ancient Town, eventually opening what is now one of Zhonghai’s top antique stores.

Wang Fangtong had personally examined the Jade Pendant in Xu Fan’s hand, and even with his exceptional intuition for jade, he couldn’t sense the value of this stone, feeling it was merely an ancient jade with some age to it.

Yet every time Wang Fangtong relaxed his mind, he could always feel a mysterious power contained within the Jade Pendant, one that constantly attracted him. But it always seemed as though there was an invisible film separating them, preventing him from entering into the depths of the jade and understanding what it truly contained.

Wang Fangtong had tried all kinds of methods but couldn’t discern the peculiarities of the jade, so he gradually gave up and placed it in the display case on the second floor.

But from time to time, he still paid attention to the Jade Pendant, always feeling that this Jade Pendant must be more than just an ordinary jade artifact.