After dealing with the inspector, Li Yun drove to the 8th Cloud Buddhist Temple, the oldest temple in Yide dating back to Han Dynasty.
At the footstep of 8th Cloud Buddhist temple, Li Yun touched whatever items were in his way, from the stair rails to the lion statues and tall wooden doors. His jing shen qi was maxed out at 100, but the enhanced Qivi had reduced the amount of energy required. The problem was, he wasn't sensing anything. He could see live animals, but he was never able to sense anything in plants and objects. He was hoping that his enhanced ability could sense something in objects.
His only hope was the most revered item in the temple, the large stone Buddha statue in the center of the courtyard. He walked casually in the statue when the only visitor left and touched the craved pattern on the Buddha's face.
He blinked, but the moment his eyes opened, he saw a large monk in plain grey work clothes chiseling and hammering into the stone statue. The surrounding area looked like the rear courtyard of the temple. A another brief moment later, he looked around and everything returned to the present.
"I wasn't able to sense it when I was here before, but it seems like the upgraded Qivi can sense qi in objects," he thought. However, there were still many unanswered questions in his mind. What made the item possess qi when there were other objects made around the same time period? Was there something special about the cauldron, or could it be the artisan? How was he able to see the flashes of memories from the past? More importantly, how could he distinguish the numerical value of qi?
Looking at the statue, Li Yun wondered if it was possible to lift it. Li Yun gripped both hands to the bottom and pushed the ground with his knees. The 500-kilo statue shifted slightly, but even with his strength, he was going to break his back if he continued. The monk sweeping the adjacent courtyard eyed Li Yun suspiciously.
"Ah, hi," Li Yun felt a bit awkward and backed away "Just admiring the beautiful statue."
The monk returned another suspicious look with his brow kneading two vertical lines in his forehead.
“Have a nice day sir,” said Li Yun before leaving. Probably not the best idea to steal from a Buddhist temple. He wondered how much it would cost to buy something like this at an auction.
Maybe the monk Luba was right, to break through, cultivators really needed a lot of resources. The problem was, his investments were tied to his company. He couldn’t take the money out without jeopardizing his plans to distribute the drug. Although it was not generating any profit, once the drugs were approved, money would start pouring in.
Another problem with gathering materials was his lack of knowledge on what was real and what was fake. There were many imitations and copies of antiques. Li Yun quickly opened his message app.
Yun: Any suggestions on antiquity books?
Rouxi: Why? Entering the antiquity market now?
Yun: Shouldn’t I at least have some knowledge of what my girlfriend is interested in?
Rouxi: sus
*send e-books*
Li Yun opened one of the three e-books she sent over on his phone. It took him a few more days to read through over suggestions online.
Early on a Saturday morning, Li Yun stopped by the antiquity market. He was hoping to apply some of the knowledge he had learned to find antiques.
He had watched a couple of live antique shows with Zuowang, but it was disappointing that the majority of experts had prepared information ahead of time. There were only two experts who had real-time antique hunting broadcasts. One was Lao Gu Long and the other was Fu Yaoshu. Lao Gu Long was an expert in vases and urns, and Fu Yaoshu was an expert in paintings and calligraphy. They had the ability to spot valuable items and evaluate antiques on the spot. The majority of other experts, although legitimate, needed time to research and confirm antiques.
Using Zuowang on antiques was different from surgery. Surgery was based on the repetition of movements, but spotting an antique on sight was extremely difficult. Appraising antiques required a lot of working knowledge and experience.
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Think of luxury brand imitations sold on the street. A highly skilled fashion connoisseur needed to know everything about the brand and items before spotting a counterfeit. However, what if the fashionista came across an antique purse? Would they know if it was an imitation or fake? Without any knowledge of the brand, it was difficult to identify.
Antiquity was tens and hundreds of times harder to train as there were also antiques that had never been seen or discovered before. The only accurate way to judge was by carbon dating an item, which was destructive and impractical to perform on the spot.
In the broadcast of elder Gu Long, an elderly man approaching his eighties, was shown slowly walking down the antiquity market in Brocade City. Most of the time, he was simply discussing the common items that were sold.
Elder Gu Long, with his cane, pointed to an item that interested him. His assistant lifted up the small teacup for him to inspect.
“When buying at the market, you can’t ask the vendor if they have carbon dating documents,” elder Gu Long narrated in his broadcast. “So you have to rely on sight and touch to find a flaw.”
Elder Gu Long paid the vendor 150 yuan for the teacup and then held the teacup to the camera, “This teacup right here has a Ming dynasty reign marking.” He pointed to the seal at the base, “However, the style and painting of the blue glazing suggest it was made in the late Qing dynasty. From the coloring, it seems like an authentic item, but the marking isn’t crafted by a first-rate artisan. You also do not see factories reproducing this type of teacup, so there’s a 90% chance that it was made before the turn of the century. Although it is a counterfeit from that time, it is still over 100 years old, and could be sold to a private collector for 500 yuan.”
Marks on Chinese Porcelain - Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) reign marks [https://gotheborg.com/marks/bild/m7.jpg]
After using Zuowang on the two experts, Li Yun had a general idea of what to look for, but he wasn’t an expert. If there was one thing he could recognize and assist with the search was his knowledge of calligraphy. Whether it was written by an expert, copied from a machine, or traced by an amateur, Li Yun was able to tell from his experience copying scripts.
Li Yun stopped at the first vendor on the street, and knelt down to look at the various trinkets spread out on the ground. He recognized a lot of the fake trinkets and internally thanks Bizi.
Prior to shopping, Bizi was kind enough to show him her distributor catalog, which had all sorts of counterfeit products. She had wondered if he was joining the business. Although Rouxi Knew a lot about artifacts, Bizi proudly mentioned that no one knew more about fakes than her. Considering that everything she sold was fake, Li Yun was inclined to believe her.
Back in the street, Li Yun looked through the trinkets, some of the items were likely from the same manufacturer that produced cheap quality trinkets that Bizi sold. Li Yun didn’t bother wasting his energy to use Qivi on those items.
He touched a lot of items, unfortunately, nothing. Li Yun stood up in disappointment, he couldn’t spend all of his energy touching random items. He spent 5% of his energy just checking the first stall.
Li Yun walked into an antique store called Buried Treasure. The shop sold antiques, but they also provided services to authenticate items. The shop was part of the Antique Appraisal Association, one of the most trusted organizations. Elder Gu Long and Fu Yaoshu were both members and senior advisors.
“Ah, hello sir, are you looking to buy or sell?” asked the store clerk.
“I’m just looking around,” Li Yun replied, there were higher chances of the items sold in the store was authentic. He didn’t need to buy the item, just checking out what other items could possess qi.
There was a man trying to pawn a blue and white porcelain. At a glance, it was difficult to tell if it was authentic or not. Li Yun looked at the antiques on display. He touched a wucai vase with bright colors.
MET DP342705 (cropped).jpg [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/37/MET_DP342705_%28cropped%29.jpg/800px-MET_DP342705_%28cropped%29.jpg]Wucai - Wikipedia [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Chinese_-_Wine_Jar_with_Carp_among_Water_Weeds_and_Lotuses_-_Walters_491917_-_View_A_%28cropped%29.jpg]
An image of an elderly gentleman flashed in his head. The man was working the pottery wheel to form the round belly of the vase. Another flash appeared, taking him to the time when the elderly man painted the trees and branches with a cobalt blue underglaze.
Li Yun released his focus, and looked at his phone. Barely any time had passed. A commotion at the counter made him turn to look at the appraiser, who was turning down the client.
“Sir, I believe this is a modern vase and imitation,” the appraiser said. “I suggest that you don’t waste your money going through the authenticating process.”
“Look old man, I got this Ming blue and white plate for a lot of money,” the man argued. “It’s definitely not fake. I even have the receipt for it. You’re telling me it's a fake without authenticating it is b*******.”
“The fee for the authentication is based on 3% of the potential value, with a minimum of 300 yuan,” said the man. “The potential value of your item is 100 yuan. If you want to pay 300 yuan, that is fine, but you’re losing money to authenticate something that is obviously fake.”
“Peh! Why do I need to pay 300 yuan if it’s not guaranteed that I will get a certificate!?”
“It has always been like that sir. If you don’t want to sign the agreement, please be on your way.”
The man wanted to argue again, but there were two security guards inside the hall, so he gave up and left angrily.
The appraiser, Dun Mao, sighed and shook his head. He had seen too many cocky and arrogant treasure hunters hoping to find the big score.