Chapter 31: Carving the Spirit Gathering Array Pattern

After saying goodbye to Qi Jinxuan, Zhou Yu drove his car straight to the People’s Square in the western suburbs of Jing City. Back when he was in school, he would often come here to hang out with classmates. Besides the large square, there was also a quiet park nearby and some amusement parks.

Along the way, his mood was cheerful. After cultivating the Jade Dew for ten days, he finally had a harvest. Sixty thousand yuan was truly a significant amount of wealth for him. Before, during his job, it would have taken him one or two years to earn that much, but now, just two pieces of Jade Dew had achieved it.

It didn’t take long for Zhou Yu to reach the People’s Square. He then parked his car in a nearby parking lot and asked the staff for the location of Yayu Pavilion.

Next, he walked to Yayu Pavilion, which was located on one side of the square. The shop didn’t look very big, only one room, and the storefront decoration was just passable, unable to compare with those large jewelry stores.

The surrounding area was full of high-end residential communities. He really didn’t understand how this seemingly ordinary jade shop could survive until now.

Walking slowly into the shop named Yayu Pavilion, Zhou Yu revealed a look of surprise on his face. The interior decoration was actually quite nice, with a rather classical charm, and some jade items were displayed in the bright glass counters.

What was surprising was that there was only a middle-aged man in the shop; it seemed there were no other staff members at all.

“Young man, what would you like to buy? Ancient jade, modern jade, Hetian Jade, or Jadeite?” the middle-aged man asked with a shrewd expression, looking Zhou Yu up and down with a smile.

Zhou Yu glanced at him and then said, “I want to buy a few pieces of jade and make a few plaques. Something in the range of a few hundred to a thousand yuan is fine. Qi Jinxuan sent me here.”

Initially, upon hearing that Zhou Yu wanted to buy a few pieces of jade, a gleam flashed in the middle-aged man’s eyes. But after hearing the latter part, he immediately became listless. “That Qi kid sent you. Alright, tell me, what are your requirements for the jade?”

“I want to buy four pieces of Hetian Jade. The quality should be roughly similar. The dimensions are here. Like I said earlier, the price for each piece should be around a few hundred to a thousand yuan.” As Zhou Yu spoke, he took out a piece of paper with the dimensions of the jade written on it.

The middle-aged man rubbed his forehead with a headache, picked up the paper, and looked at it. “Kid, you have quite a few requirements. Four pieces of Hetian Jade, right? Wait here. I’ll go cut them out from the back. By the way, do you need carving? There are two options: fully automated computer carving and hand carving by me, the master.”

Zhou Yu shook his head. “No, thank you, boss. I’ve already found a master for that.” These jade pieces and the subsequent carving were his secret; he couldn’t complete everything in one shop.

“Alright, then you wait.” The middle-aged man said grumpily and then walked into a back room.

Seeing the middle-aged man’s actions, Zhou Yu looked around the shop again, feeling full of confusion. This middle-aged man wasn’t afraid he might grab some jade items and run off.

Soon, the middle-aged man came out from the back, holding several cut pieces of jade. He placed them on the counter. “Young man, four pieces of Hetian Jade. See if you’re satisfied.”

Zhou Yu quickly stepped forward, picked up the four pieces of jade, and examined them carefully. Their color and size were basically the same. When held in his hand, they had a warm, cool feeling. With his eyes, he couldn’t tell at all whether this was real jade or fake jade.

However, since Qi Jinxuan introduced the place, there probably wouldn’t be a problem. “Boss, thank you. How much for the four pieces of jade?” Zhou Yu asked the middle-aged man, holding the four jade pieces.

The middle-aged man smiled. “Since you were introduced by that Qi kid, I won’t charge you too much. Eight hundred for each piece.”

Zhou Yu nodded, took out his bank card, and swiped three thousand two hundred yuan on the POS machine in the man’s shop. After thanking him again, he left the shop with the jade.

Afterwards, he went to an ATM near the square and withdrew twenty thousand yuan. Then he drove his car to Jing City’s famous jade street. Although it was famous, the place was a mix of good and bad. It was very difficult to buy genuine jade items here. Generally speaking, this place mainly catered to tourists.

After parking his car, Zhou Yu walked into one of the larger jade shops with the four jade pieces. Many of the jade shops here offered carving services, though most only had computer carving available.

Once inside, he inquired about the carving prices and showed a piece of paper to the shop owner.

The pattern on this paper was exactly the one from the Spirit Gathering Array Foundation Stone. Before setting up the Spirit Gathering Array, Zhou Yu had taken photos of all four Immortal Stones and then used software on his laptop to draw them out.

After all, he graduated with a computer science degree; a little drawing like this was nothing to him.

The four Immortal Stones used for the Spirit Gathering Array seemed to have immortal energy flowing within them, very different from ordinary jade. Naturally, he couldn’t directly show the photos, as that would undoubtedly attract others’ attention.

Seeing the pattern on the paper, the shop owner showed a look of surprise. “Young man, this pattern is not simple. Carving it has some difficulty. Why would you think of carving such a complex and incomprehensible pattern?”

“I’m into art. Jade pendants should naturally have an artistic feel. Boss, if carving it is difficult, I’ll go to another shop.” Zhou Yu said very calmly. The shop owner mentioning difficulty was probably just to raise the price. As he spoke, he started to walk outside, not even planning to take the paper back.

“Hey, hold on, young man. There’s nothing I, Old Li, can’t carve. With fully automated computer carving, even if it’s difficult, it can be engraved. Two hundred per piece. How many pieces do you want carved?” The shop owner quickly stopped Zhou Yu and quoted a price.

Zhou Yu couldn’t help but smile. Each piece of jade only cost eight hundred. “Boss, my jade pieces are only a few hundred each. I want two pieces carved. The patterns are different. One hundred for both sounds about right.”

“I’m not overcharging with this price. If you just wanted text carved, I’d charge you ten yuan. But with this pattern, it’s not like you can just hand me a piece of paper and I can use the computer to carve it directly. I need to create a three-dimensional image, which is the most time-consuming part.” The shop owner shook his head.

“Boss, you don’t need to draw the image. I have the original drawing ready.” Zhou Yu showed a bright smile.

The shop owner widened his eyes and looked at Zhou Yu. “Young man, you’re not from a rival shop here to probe my secrets, are you?”

“Rival shops are busy making money. Who would come to probe your secrets? I’m into art. How can I not know how to make images? Now the image is ready, and the jade is mine. One hundred for two pieces should be fine, right?” Zhou Yu said casually. He had been preparing for this experiment for a long time.

The shop owner could only nod. The image was ready, and the jade was ready. He was just using a bit of electricity. “Alright, one hundred for two. Where’s your image?”

“It’s on my mobile phone. Tell me your QQ number, and I’ll send it to you.” Zhou Yu waved his mobile phone.

Later, Zhou Yu sent the two original images from his mobile phone to the shop owner. Then he took out two pieces of jade, and the computer carving began.

While the carving was in progress, Zhou Yu watched carefully nearby, feeling a bit nervous, afraid that they might ruin it. After all, it was eight hundred yuan per piece.

It took an hour for one jade piece to be carved. The shop owner took it off the machine, glanced at it casually, and handed it to Zhou Yu. “Young man, take a look. My engraving machine produces absolutely perfect carvings.”

Zhou Yu took the jade, looked at it, and compared it with the image on the computer. It looked exactly the same.

Another hour later, the second jade piece was also finished. After paying, he watched as the shop owner deleted the images and cleared the traces, saying that artistic works have copyright. Then he left the shop.

Next, Zhou Yu went to another, much farther shop and repeated the same process, carving another jade piece. When only the last piece remained, he left the jade street and found a jade shop that was separately located on a street in Jing City. There, he had the final pattern carved.

Although he didn’t know if this experiment would be successful, the secret of the Spirit Gathering Array absolutely could not be casually revealed.