I walked over to the stones I’d already scanned. Little Spring traveled next to me while cautiously observing our opponents.

“Hey, which three you would pick out of these.”

He randomly pointed to several stones. From my past perusal of them, I knew that they were either duds or low-quality jade.

Looks like I wouldn't trust his luck too much then. Knowing what exactly was in each of those, I placed my mark on the three most promising ones and started walking back to the conflict stone, which was what I nicknamed the stone we were fighting over.

After a tug at my sleeve caught my attention, I turned to Little Spring who pointed at a group of stones to my left that were fairly small. He wanted me to look through all of those? Was he trying to kill me?!

He looked up at me with adorable pleading eyes. Fuck it. An elder’s duty was to spoil the younger generation a bit.

I could only use my divine sense at Golden Core stage for a very short amount of time, so it was best to do them all at once. I reached out to the whole section of stones and peered inside each stone simultaneously for a half-second. My world dimmed. I nearly blacked out.

“Fairy Lin!”

Little Spring caught me before I fell. He stared at me, shock and concern evident on his face.

”Don't worry. I'm fine. It’s just an injury I sustained.”

He tightly clenched his fist and bit his lip.

I pulled out a few more talisman papers and put my mark on two more stones.

Okay. Here’s hoping whatever she picked wasn't as good as my selections. Because I was done using my divine sense for the rest of the day. It should be the rest of the week, but I doubted the enemies we were about to make would let us off for that long.

I walked up to the poor sales clerk and had him move my three best stones over to the conflict stone. I also paid for the stones as well as the cutting.

It didn’t take long after that for stupid Sea Pearl to find three stones she was satisfied with and move them over as well. I think she must have had some kind of tool to help her choose since she proudly stood while peering at us with a mocking smile. If that was the case, then I definitely couldn’t let this bitch take away Little Spring’s stone.

At this point, we’d started to draw in a crowd. Even people from outside the yard came in to spectate.

“So, how does this work?” Little Spring asked.

“The shop assistant will cut open our stones based on where we tell him to, then they’ll do a preliminary examination and an appraiser will let us know an approximate price. They judge the quality based on Color, Transparency, Texture, and Spiritual Retention. The jade with low or no Spiritual Retention would be sold off to non-cultivators while the higher quality ones would be sold exclusively to cultivators. Of course, this means that the Spiritual Retention grade is what matters most because, given a choice between paying in spirit stones or gold, most people would prefer to pay in gold.”

“Do we have any gold?”

“No, that’s why I said ‘most’ people.”

Fairy Effervescent Sea Pearl rolled her eyes. “Let’s just get this over with, so you can pay for my stone, and we can finally leave.”

I handed one of my three best stones to the cutter and explained to him where he should slice first. I could have technically used micro-thin sword Qi to slice it, but I decided against that. If she did end up sending someone after us, I wanted to keep my combat ability hidden.

Once he opened mine, a large stone a foot and a half long, a beautiful white jade appeared. This was the pure white jade, perfect for creating the highest quality herb storage boxes. Though, I personally preferred green jade. Hm. Maybe I’d make Little Spring wear green to match his name. And then I’d give him a green jade crown to wear on his head... Wait, green. On his head. Wasn’t there that story about the guy who wore a green hat when his wife cheated on him, making green a very unpopular choice for headwear? Okay, I wouldn’t make him wear a green crown. As the main character, he could remember that and hold a grudge. After all, the third rule of Transmigrated into a Novel club was: If you don’t seek death, you won’t die.

A pull at my sleeve brought me back to the present, and I blinked. Yeah, okay. Using my divine sense like that hadn’t helped my mental situation. I needed to cultivate to the next level as soon as possible or else more of this zoning out and thinking of nonsense would happen again. And zoning out at the wrong time was a death sentence.

Several people made bids based on this one slice. And an appraiser that the stone yard hired came forward.

He used a spiritual tool on the stone and nodded. “The Color Quality and the Transparency for this white jade are both Heaven rank. The Texture is, unfortunately, Sky rank, but its Spiritual Retention is Transcendence rank. As long as the stone keeps this quality throughout, it will be an excellent jade, perfect for crafting high-quality herb storage boxes and pill bottles. It could be sold for at least 155 spirit stones or 155 thousand gold teals.”

I nodded. That was my take on the matter as well. I stored it away in my bag.

A few of the crowd called out prices from 160 thousand teals of gold to 165 spirit stones.

“I won’t sell any of my jade,” I said to the spectators. “My forging master will use it to teach me how to forge spirit items and weapons.”

That stopped most of them, but a few braver guys kept pushing.

Sea Pearl glared at me and handed her own piece of jade to the cutter. After some instruction, he cut a perfect slice into the stone revealing a fiery orange jade.

The crowd murmured at the rare color. The appraiser used his tool even as a few brave people in the crowd threw out some tempting offers to purchase it. “For this lovely orange jade, the Color Quality and Texture are both Sky rank. The Transparency and Spiritual Retention are both Heaven rank. Since it could be sold for at most 110 spirit stones, the more valuable stone is this fairy’s,” he said, gesturing to me.

Even as her face turned red and her cheeks puffed out from anger, I sent her a saucy wink.

“Do the next one,” she said, with grim finality.

Since I went first last time, naturally I went first again.

The stonecutter followed my instructions and made a slice in the stone, right down the middle. One half of the stone was just regular rock, while the other half had a portion of beautiful green jade. The appraiser's eyes sparkled. And he placed his tool on my jade.

“This beautiful green jade has a Color Quality and Transparency that are both Immortal rank. The Texture and Spiritual Retention are Transcendence rank. But this is only a very small piece that at most could make two rings and two pairs of earrings or the gem on a sword pommel. But it could still be sold for at least 230 spirit stones.”

I raised a brow at the bitch. See, I knew how to pick stones. You can’t beat me! Muahahahaha.

She handed over her next stone and had it cut over and over to reveal a piece of large green jade.

“Fascinating!” After the appraiser used his tool, he continued. “The Color and Transparency of this lovely jade are Heaven rank. The Texture is unfortunately Earth rank, but the Spiritual Retention is also Transcendence rank. Considering this jade’s size, as long as it stays the same quality throughout, it will be worth at least 310 spirit stones.”

Fuck. I was hoping I could win this without revealing my last stone, since, frankly, it could get me into trouble.

“So,” the bitch smiled. “Should we call it here, or do you want to be humiliated further?”

That boast didn’t deserve a response. I picked up my final stone and tried to hand it to the cutter, but Sea Pearl reached him first with her own. She winked facetiously.

“I want you to see this. So you know how truly hopeless your situation is.” She chuckled.

The poor stone cutter sighed and looked to Sea Pearl for instructions on how to cut her stone. Soon he made a slice down the left side and then used a spiritual tool to slowly grind away at it until a beautiful white jade appeared. It was even more beautiful than the one I had. The only issue was that it seemed to be a small piece. The appraiser, eyes twinkling with excitement, used his tool and then grinned. “This is a very small piece of white jade, but its quality is... Well. Immortal for everything except Translucency, which is Heavenly. This would make an excellent jade slip or protective pendant. It is worth at least 1 medium tier spirit stone or 1000 regular spirit stones.”

There were several people in the crowd crowing that they’d pay 1010 or 1200 for her stone but she calmly put hers away. Shit.

I handed him my last stone and told him to cut in on a thirds line, then I asked him to carefully grind it.

He ground it down using a special tool and then stopped and wiped the stone down with a cloth, showing a beautiful translucent green jade. This was a little bigger than Sea Pearl’s white jade but not by much.

The appraiser took his tool and his hand started trembling. “T-this...” he coughed. “Color, Translucence, Texture, and Spiritual Retention are all at the Immortal level, and are so close to being Golden rank in quality that I want to cry. I estimate that this jade is worth at least 2 medium tier spirit stones or 2000 regular spirit stones.”

There were a few people who spouted out a price that was a little under the 2000 price, but no one dared spend a medium-tier spirit stone on jade even if it was higher quality jade. I ignored the crowd and raised a brow at Sea Pearl.

“Looks like I win!”

The bitch glared at me. I could practically see the thoughts in her head as she likely made plans to murder me and take the stone she wanted. She handed four spirit stones to the shop associate and moved to leave.

“Hey!” Little Spring yelled and Fairy Sea Pearl jumped. “You haven’t apologized yet! And also, the loser pays! Four spirit stones aren’t enough to pay for the stone we were betting over. Unless you can’t afford it.” He looked at her with sympathy. “That’s it, isn’t it? You picked a fight with us because you couldn’t afford this stone.”

Effervescent Sea Pearl stomped her foot, turned as if possessed, and marched right back over to us. She tossed over a bag of spirit stones to the shop associate, then glared at Little Spring. “Don’t push your luck, child. I’m not apologizing.” Then she left in a huff with her glaring group of seafoam friends.

Little Spring looked like he would go after her, but I grabbed his shoulder and squeezed. “Don’t push her. She has a higher cultivation base. Just remember her name and face. You’ll be able to exact revenge in the future if you desire. The cultivation world is small, after all.”

I experienced a bit of joyful schadenfreude when I thought about how I was encouraging the main character to avenge himself against one of his past life’s wives... I was sure it would all turn out okay.

Hmm. The braindead wives used to talk to each other about how they met Bloodsword, as if sharing their stories proved that he loved them more.

What was her story again? She met him in her clan’s forbidden area after he won a spot to enter from a tournament. Then she fell for him at first sight as he was taming another spirit beast, so she followed after him. He found her annoying, but still protected her along their journey. He was looking for a certain item he’d heard that her clan had in the forbidden area... But actually, her clan had moved it to their safe.

Oh! That’s right. He married her to get that item as well as for her large dowry of spirit stones and treasures. Ugh. What was that item again? Well, whatever. He was on a different path now, so it probably didn’t matter.

Shit! I was zoning out again! I looked to Little Spring who peered around us. While he kept his face mostly emotionless, I could still see hints of worry in the tightening on his lips and the strength he held the corner of my sleeves.

“We need to grab our stones and go,” he said.

I nodded.