Return of the Immortal Emperor Daddy-Chapter 62: Invaluable

"Mr. Wu Tian, you truly are a god," Xia Qian said as she approached him.

"Indeed. From now on, you’re my god," Lin Fa immediately chimed in. He gazed at Wu Tian with boundless awe and admiration. The situation had been so dire, yet Wu Tian had completely turned it around. Lin Fa had never seen or even heard of anyone with such skill.

Hearing their remarks, Wu Tian just smiled, a little exasperated. It’s just a trivial matter. Why all the fuss?

The Stone-Cutting Master looked at Wu Tian with admiration. "Sir, shall we begin cutting the last Raw Stone?"

Wu Tian nodded.

A buzz of anticipation went through the crowd as all eyes focused on Wu Tian’s final Raw Stone. "This is the last one," someone murmured. "I wonder what’s inside." "Is this young man really that miraculous?" another asked. "Can he pull off another miracle?" They were all eager to see what kind of jadeite it would reveal—or if it would be nothing at all.

SCREECH!

The ear-piercing sound of the cutting machine rang out again. Everyone stared at the Raw Stone, their gazes a mixture of tension, surprise, and anticipation.

Just then, the Stone-Cutting Master exclaimed again, "There’s green!"

The crowd immediately pushed closer, their eyes glued to the Raw Stone. "Really?" someone shouted. "What kind of green is it?" "Is it a high-grade piece?"

Master Zhen swayed, on the verge of collapsing. The Heavens, help me, please help me, he pleaded inwardly. Don’t let it be glass-type. Please, not glass-type... Anything but glass-type...

Perhaps his prayers to The Heavens had worked. The material inside the Raw Stone was, indeed, not a glass-type.

When Xiao Liang spotted the sliver of exposed green, a thought suddenly struck him. An incredulous expression crossed his face as he strode forward.

"Let me do the cutting," Xiao Liang said.

"Teacher, you..." Nalan Jie was stunned. His teacher was a titan in the world of antiques, the undisputed number one, but Nalan Jie knew his teacher’s talents extended far beyond that. His teacher had been good friends with the second-ranked expert in the Gambling Stone Circle and had learned many techniques from him. He had even selected numerous top-grade jades himself. However, since Xiao Liang no longer cared for fame and fortune in his old age, his accomplishments in the Gambling Stone Circle were largely unknown.

Otherwise, Xiao Liang’s reputation in the Gambling Stone Circle would surely surpass Master Zhen’s. Now, seeing his teacher insist on cutting the stone himself made Nalan Jie feel even more uneasy. Could the jadeite inside this stone be something extraordinary? he wondered.

Nalan Jie glanced toward Master Zhen, but the old man’s eyes were closed in prayer, completely oblivious to his questioning look.

The crowd watched, perplexed, as Xiao Liang took control of the cutting machine himself. Many of those present were aware of a part of Xiao Liang’s identity, and their eyes widened in surprise.

Wu Tian watched this scene with great interest. As expected of someone from the Five Surnames and Seven Families. He really is different from ordinary people, he thought.

The more perceptive members of the crowd, seeing Xiao Liang take over the cutting himself, already had their suspicions. They knew that whatever was inside this Raw Stone had to be something spectacular.

Nangong Yi and Lin Tianlong could only grit their teeth in helpless frustration.

Master Zhen, however, remained oblivious. He kept his eyes shut, praying fervently. He wasn’t normally superstitious, but what else could he rely on right now? If Wu Tian just suffers one setback—a Waterloo—then my defeat as a master of the Gambling Stone Circle won’t be quite so tragic.

"Just as I thought..." As Xiao Liang cut into the Raw Stone and revealed the barest glimpse of what was inside, a smile lit up his eyes.

Everyone leaned in, staring intently. "What’s going on?" "What’s in there?"

"This is..." Several perceptive people had also realized what it was, and their voices trembled.

"Imperial Green?"

"My God, it’s a treasure among treasures!"

The words hung in the air for a moment before the crowd erupted into a frenzy. Every single person was staring in disbelief, their faces masks of pure astonishment.

Hearing the murmur of "Imperial Green?" from the crowd, Master Zhen’s eyes snapped open. His prayers had been answered, in a way. It wasn’t a common glass-type jadeite inside the stone. No, it was Imperial Green—a grade far superior to any glass-type!

Master Zhen felt the life drain out of him. He collapsed limply to the ground, his eyes utterly desolate.

Master Zhen knew it was all over. He had lost to a young man. From this day forward, he wouldn’t be a titan of the Gambling Stone Circle but its biggest joke—a cautionary tale told over tea. How did it come to this? He couldn’t believe this young man, Wu Tian, possessed such incredible insight. He also began to resent Nalan Jie for dragging him into this mess. He had tried to snatch a chicken, only to lose the rice used as bait.

When Xia Qian heard her grandfather’s exclamation and looked at Wu Tian, her beautiful eyes shone with surprise, shock, and something more... an undeniable ’interest.’

This man... is fascinating.

Xia Qian made a resolution then and there: she had to get closer to him. She wanted to find out just what else this man was capable of and what other secrets he was hiding.

Finally, Xiao Liang finished, perfectly extracting the jadeite from Wu Tian’s last Raw Stone.

"My god! Even for an Imperial Green, you’d never find one of this quality!"

"That’s right."

"Its value... it’s astronomical!"

Even Xiao Liang had never seen an Imperial Green Jade with such perfect coloration. The green had a unique quality, a hue even more soothing to the eyes than a vast prairie.

"Does ’Imperial Green’ mean it’s the emperor of all jadeite?" one person exclaimed in awe.

"Precisely. It is the king of jadeite. In ancient times, a piece like this could only be possessed by the Imperial Family."

"And even then, very few emperors were ever fortunate enough to own one."

The crowd was in a state of complete shock. A glass-type was already impressive, but an Imperial Green was a legendary find, a rarity almost never seen in the world. Even the professional appraisers in the crowd were scratching their heads, admitting to themselves that they couldn’t possibly estimate the value of this Imperial Green. But one thing was clear to everyone present: this Imperial Green Jade was a treasure among treasures.

With this single piece of Imperial Green, Wu Tian had enough wealth to become one of the most powerful figures in Yang City.

"I remember at an auction in Europe, a piece of Imperial Green the size of an eyeball sold for five billion. This one is the size of a football... my god, the value is..." The man who spoke was a boss in the jade industry. He was recalling an event that had sent shockwaves through both the Gambling Stone Circle and the jade world. But the Imperial Green auctioned in Europe couldn’t even begin to compare to the one Wu Tian now possessed.

"Teacher, what do you estimate the value of this Imperial Green to be?" Nalan Jie asked Xiao Liang, seeing that the team of professional appraisers dared not make a call.