Cohabitation with Sword Spirit-Chapter 316 - 53: 009

Wang Jiu’s words made the atmosphere at the scene awkward for a moment.

"Sorry, let me confirm," Shen Ying rubbed her forehead, "Golden Jade Love?"

Wang Jiu said, "Number 7, Brocade Street, Central District, three stories high, with a scarlet sign at the entrance, Golden Jade Love..."

"Is it really that Golden Jade Love?!" Shen Ying found it hard to believe, "The biggest matchmaking agency in Shen City?!"

Wang Jiu corrected, "It’s the most advanced and highest annual revenue, not the biggest in scale. In terms of scale, ’Thread of Fate’ has more registered members and completes more matches annually..."

"No need to mind these details! You really saw Shen Jinghai at Golden Jade Love?!" As Shen Ying spoke, she was already holding a little notebook and squatted down in front of Wang Jiu, her face full of the excitement and curiosity typical of a juicy gossip story.

Wang Jiu said, "Yes, Golden Jade Love’s business hours are from 8:30 AM to 8 PM. I arrived on the scene at 8:15 and saw Shen Jinghai, who also arrived early, at 8:20..."

"8:20?" Shen Ying interrupted, "That’s during Shen Jinghai’s usual office hours. Every day he arrives at his office to handle affairs before 8 AM without fail. A friend told me he’s been working as usual these days, and at that time, he should be in his office."

Li Wanqing also had doubts: "And on your side, he just brazenly went to Golden Jade Love? Without any disguise?"

Wang Jiu said, "He wore a Fossil Mask."

"A Fossil Mask?!" Shen Ying was taken aback, "That’s indeed a Magical Treasure rewarded to Shen Jinghai by the former City Lord. Wearing it can conceal one’s appearance, distort others’ senses to reduce one’s presence, making him as unnoticeable as a pebble on the roadside... But you can see through a Fossil Mask?"

Wang Jiu said, "Such misleading illusions are ineffective against someone with perpetual Global Perception. I notice every pebble by the roadside."

"..." Shen Ying was a bit speechless; what Wang Jiu referred to as Global Perception sounded rather fantastical.

The human mind is limited and cannot finely process all the information gathered by the five senses, so some unimportant information gets ignored. This is the fundamental application principle of the Fossil Mask. However, Wang Jiu’s Global Perception not only means a broad and unerring sense of awareness, but more importantly, all the information within that perception range is processed by him.

And what kind of formidable Divine Sense is necessary to support such a Divine Technique? Currently, those possessing such a technique are surely masters with highly refined Divine Senses, already transformed into Primordial Spirits. This Wang Jiu actually possesses this level of power?

Shen Ying was unaware of Wang Jiu’s identity as the Celestial Divine Sword and naturally couldn’t comprehend that for a Demon-slaying Divine Weapon, Global Perception is the most basic of basics. The ever-changing Demon Race on the battlefield is full of deceit, and any slight carelessness could lead to a surprise attack from behind. People are only shocked to realize this before their death when it’s glaringly evident that the inconspicuous earth and stones are actually transformed demons. So during the mid-Immortal Demon War, all cultivators entering the battlefield of the Rain Cover Realm and above must master Global Perception. Those lower in rank with weaker Divine Senses must at least have a Great Cultivator with the ability of Global Perception leading them. Otherwise, without Global Perception, they are almost akin to heading to their deaths under the relentless sneak attacks of the demon race.

As for Wang Jiu, although in the Sword World, he possesses sharp tools like the Demon-Pointing Sword, once amidst a large battlefield, the countless demon army fills every nook and cranny. Even if the Demon-Pointing Sword operates at full capacity, it can’t mark every demon’s position, hence Global Perception is also indispensable for him. For a seasoned veteran, a Fossil Mask, which deliberately lowers one’s presence, is like a torch in the night, standing out clearly.

Shen Ying pondered for a while, then asked, "Let me confirm once more, are you sure the person you saw was Shen Jinghai?"

Wang Jiu said, "I had a close encounter with Shen Jinghai previously and have already noted the characteristics of his True Essence Fluctuations. The Fossil Mask has a feature that encrypts True Essence Fluctuations, but the encryption method is very simple, making it easy to reverse engineer."

"Sorry, I’m having some difficulty understanding," Shen Ying waved her hand, "So let’s finish the story first. You saw Shen Jinghai at the entrance, and then?"

"Then, even though he arrived after me, he was able to enter first through the VIP entrance because he held a Golden Coin VIP Card..."

"Wait, a Golden Coin VIP Card?!" Shen Ying exclaimed in surprise, "To my knowledge, that’s the highest level VIP at Golden Jade Love. Not only does it require the applicant to have power and wealth, what’s more important is having a long enough registration time at Golden Jade Love and enjoying a lot of their services..."

"Wait!" This time it was Shen Ying’s turn to be interrupted by someone else.

Li Chaolu asked, "If I’m not mistaken, isn’t Golden Jade Love a high-end matchmaking agency in Shen City?"

"Yes, it only serves cultivators, and formal services are only open to cultivators of the Cloud Surge Realm and above."

Li Chaolu continued, "For such a matchmaking agency, if it’s truly high-end and reliable, it should quickly successfully match people, facilitating good marriages for others. So what’s the deal with the long registration time and using many services?! This isn’t a restaurant or beauty salon for daily consumption! Is Golden Jade Love about matchmaking or pimping?!"

Shen Ying was silent for a moment, then said, "That depends on how you use it. All I know is that a Golden Coin VIP Card can only be owned by a seasoned user. Which means, Shen Jinghai he..."

Wang Jiu nodded, "He probably goes to Golden Jade Love every week to find a partner."

"...Every week?!"

"Yes, I saw him enter the VIP room, and the steward in charge greeted him like this: ’Mr. Shi, you’re here again this week? What a coincidence, our theme this week is ’plump’, according to your previous preferences. Please take your time to choose...’"

Shen Qingming was taken aback: "Which inn did they dig up this waiter from?! And a matchmaking agency with themed keywords!? The more I hear, the weirder it gets!"

Wang Jiu explained: "From what I’ve observed, they probably categorize the registered members in the database, extract theme keywords, and then select a specific theme each week for discounts and focus recommendation activities. The benefit of this is that it gives clients a sense of novelty, allowing them to notice each other’s excellent traits more and ignore their flaws, for example..." 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

"There’s no need to explain the technical principles!"

Wang Jiu continued: "In any case, Shen Jinghai spent about an hour selecting six people on the recommendation form. He also proposed further filtering requirements: mainly concerning facial proportions, body fat percentage, and genetic diseases. The steward promised to meticulously select through the famous Magical Treasure ’Golden Thread Weaving’ of Golden Love, then went backstage, rolled a pencil, and solemnly recommended the second-ranked person to him."

"..." Shen Qingming weakly said, "I’m too lazy to go into details, keep talking."

Wang Jiu said, "Shen Jinghai was quite satisfied with the recommended candidates, so the steward agreed to arrange a date within three days. After exchanging a few polite words and signing the service fee invoice, Shen Jinghai left."

Shen Qingming finally perked up at a topic of interest: "How much?"

"The advanced screening package costs 20 spirit stones, the date arrangement fee is 10 spirit stones, and the senior consultant consultation fee is 10 spirit stones. After deducting the VIP discount and theme word discount, the actual charge was 23 spirit stones."

"...23 spirit stones, it really is easy money." Shen Qingming remarked, then suddenly paused, "Wait a minute, didn’t that steward say he comes every week, so if it’s 23 spirit stones a week, in a year that’s..."

"Yes, 1196 spirit stones." Wang Jiu quickly replied, "According to the backend data of Golden Love VIP, Shen Jinghai’s total spending last year amounted to 1344 spirit stones, and the current balance on his card is 3656 spirit stones."

"He even got a prepaid card!?"

Shen Ying spat out, "Getting a 5000 spirit stones prepaid card for a place like this, how confident is he in himself?!"

Wang Jiu explained: "According to my investigation, Shen Jinghai has been getting a prepaid card with about a thousand spirit stones each year for the past few years, so he figured it was better to get a card with a bigger discount at 5000 spirit stones."

"...For the past few years, a thousand each year?"

Wang Jiu said: "The steward’s spending record only goes back to 2010, but based on Shen Jinghai’s reward points in 2010, he must have spent at least over 5000 spirit stones before that."

"Damn." Shen Qingming couldn’t help but curse, "What a rich fool!"

Shen Ying was also stunned: "Spending nearly a thousand spirit stones a year, no wonder, no wonder he always lived so frugally—we always thought he was simple and diligent, turns out he was spending his salary on this!"

Li Wanqing laughed out loud: "You Shen City people really know how to have fun. Two Deputy City Lords—one addicted to romance novels, likes dressing up as a maid to read fan fiction to people; the other enchanted by blind dates, with a stable thousand spirit stone annual expenditure, a weekly matchmaking appointment. Truly admirable."

Shen Ying, deeply involved in intelligence work in Shen City, was not convinced: "Does the Cyan Cloud Li Family have any room to laugh at us?"

"We’re pretty odd too, which is why a marriage alliance between our two families is a perfect match."

Li Wanqing’s couldn’t-care-less attitude left Shen Ying utterly helpless.

In the end, the topic had to be shifted in another direction.

"Next, I have just one question: What were you doing at Golden Love? Did you know ahead of time that he would be there?"

Wang Jiu said, "Of course not, but this conclusion can be easily drawn based on simple logical reasoning. Shen Jinghai, being from the Shen Family, possesses a natural sensitivity and strong emotional needs due to his bloodline. But for various reasons, he has never shown it over the past decades. So, the logical inference is that he must have privately fulfilled his emotional needs somehow. And when it comes to fulfilling emotional needs, it’s naturally Golden Love."

As he spoke, Wang Jiu earnestly pulled out a flyer.

"Golden Love, composing your exclusive romance."

"7 Brocade Street, fulfilling all your emotional needs."