Fang Dacheng was overjoyed. If he went along and acted according to the situation, he might be able to make a few million in kickbacks with his skills. It seemed that this Wei guy was quite easy to talk to.
On the way to Lin Shilong's house, Lin Shilong himself drove a Mercedes-Benz S360 that was neither new nor old. Given Lin Shilong's wealth and status, driving such an old car was not appropriate for him. He didn't even hire a driver and did everything himself.
However, Zhou Xuan felt that Lin Shilong was quite genuine, unlike ordinary rich people who indulged in lavish meals and showed off their wealth. The more Lin Shilong acted this way, the more Zhou Xuan thought he was a good person.
But is Lin Shih-lung connected to the antique dealers in the case he's secretly investigating?
But no matter what, Lin Shilong is a very prominent collector in Jiangbei. The stronger he is, the more likely he is to be connected with those people. As long as he is connected, he will have the opportunity to get information from the items in their hands and to continue the investigation. Otherwise, there is no way to investigate now. The clues have been cut off by Mo Yinshan, and the masked man has disappeared without a trace, including his aura.
However, Zhou Xuan was also somewhat relieved, because he guessed that person probably didn't expect that he could still escape from there alive.
Lin Shilong's home is in the suburbs, not in the city, but it is a newly developed high-end villa area. Lin Shilong's car is not very nice, and his clothes are not very nice either, but his house is very luxurious.
The villa covers at least 1,000 square meters, with an independent garden, swimming pool, and all the amenities one could need. As soon as we arrived at Lin Shilong's villa, the servants brought us tea.
Lin Shilong chuckled and said, "Mr. Wei, please rest for a while and have some tea before we go to my collection room. There's no rush!"
Zhou Xuan was naturally not in a hurry, but Fang Dacheng was the most anxious. The more Zhou Xuan and Lin Shilong bought from each other, the better, so that he would get more running fees.
Zhou Xuan also hoped that Fang Dacheng would come along. This man had long been his enemy, and today he bought that worthless piece of oil-blue clothing from him. Although he had earned 50 million from Lin Shilong, it was rightfully his due through his ice-qi ability. Considering the situation later, if he could get revenge on Fang Dacheng, he would not give up.
After drinking tea for a while, Lin Shilong brought up the topic again, and Zhou Xuan stood up with a smile and said, "Alright, let's take a look at Mr. Lin's collection!"
Wei Xiaoyu naturally followed along, but remained silent. She didn't have Zhou Xuan's ability to change her voice; speaking would reveal her clear and melodious voice, which might cause unnecessary trouble. Besides, she didn't know anything about antiques and jade, so she simply kept quiet.
Lin Shilong's collection room was in the inner room of his study. The door was a security steel door with no windows on any side, which seemed to be specially designed. After opening it, Zhou Xuan followed Lin Shilong inside.
The collection room is about forty square meters, not particularly large. The lighting in the room is cleverly designed. When countless small lights are turned on, the light shines just on an antique, and the intensity of the light is just right for viewing.
There were at least a hundred antiques of all sizes. Zhou Xuan did not use his ice energy, but observed them with his naked eyes and experience. There were many kinds of porcelain, coins, bronzeware, calligraphy and paintings, inkstones and brushes.
To the naked eye, Lin Shilong's collection is quite valuable, and some pieces are very expensive. For example, he has several pieces of blue and white porcelain and a considerable amount of jade. However, none of them are as valuable as the micro-carving piece he recently bought. In his collection room, the most valuable pieces are probably those few pieces of blue and white porcelain, but they certainly won't exceed 50 million yuan per piece.
However, if Lin Shilong's collection is valued in total, it would be worth over 100 million, which is quite substantial. Zhou Xuan understood that Lin Shilong's collection was far more numerous and genuine than the one in his shop. Although he hadn't activated his ice energy to detect it yet, he estimated from what he saw that most of the items were genuine.
Fang Dacheng's eyes widened in disbelief. He had never seen so many antiques before, and given Lin Shilong's discerning eye, status, and wealth, there were no fakes among them.
Zhou Xuan still used his ice energy to probe, but since the ice energy probe could only reach a few meters and his strength was not yet sufficient, he simply walked around the room while looking around, which didn't seem strange to anyone.
As the icy air passed by, it became clear that Lin Shilong's collection was indeed genuine. Although there were no particularly rare national treasures, it was still quite good.
Zhou Xuan was slightly disappointed. He had hoped to detect a few or more counterfeit items. If he could fool Lin Shilong's fakes, they would obviously be very real, and he might be able to run into the group of counterfeit antique dealers in the case, or confirm that Lin Shilong was one of them.
Zhou Xuan was disappointed, however, because there wasn't a single fake item in Lin Shilong's collection room; at least, his ice energy couldn't detect anything from a fake year.
Zhou Xuan had no intention of buying these things. With a sigh, he wanted to say goodbye to Lin Shilong, as it seemed that Lin Shilong was not the person he was looking for.
However, just as he turned around, a thought suddenly struck him. The object being detected by the ice energy was strange, so he quickly took a closer look.
The ice energy was probing a small, round, golden-yellow cauldron-like object, just large enough to hold in both outstretched hands. Around the cauldron were nine golden dragons, their tails at the bottom, their heads facing inwards, their claws supporting the bottom and gripping the rim, their mouths wide open towards the center. Inside the cauldron, at its core, was a round, white bead that looked like a pebble, not a pearl or anything else.
This thing puzzled Zhou Xuan, because his ice energy could not detect the age of the small cauldron with nine dragons swirling around it, nor could it detect what material it was made of!
This was the first time since Zhou Xuan possessed ice energy that he couldn't determine the true age of anything other than the golden stone. However, this small cauldron was definitely not made of the golden stone material that gave him his special ability, because he couldn't sense any trace of ice energy in it. So he was certain that the cauldron wasn't made of the same material as the golden stone. But anything he couldn't detect was also worth questioning about its origin.
Zhou Xuan was stunned for a moment, then used his ice energy to probe again, but the result was still the same. He still couldn't detect anything. After a while, he thought that his ice energy ability had disappeared or failed. He then tested an antique next to him, and immediately got the authenticity, age and origin of the antique in his mind!
This definitely isn't a problem with his ice-energy ability; there must be something strange about that little cauldron!
Zhou Xuan couldn't help but forcefully use his ice energy to probe the small cauldron again, but no matter what method he used, he couldn't find out the origin of the small cauldron. Not only could he not find out, but Zhou Xuan also tried to convert and devour it with his ice energy, but it didn't work!
What exactly is this thing?
Zhou Xuan became increasingly curious, even forgetting about investigating the case and the antique dealers' hideout. He carefully examined it under the light, realizing that something that ice energy couldn't detect or transform could not possibly be simple!
Lin Shilong was paying attention to Zhou Xuan, but after Zhou Xuan came in, the hundreds of collectibles seemed to be nothing to him, and he didn't pay any attention to them. When his attention finally settled, it fell on this item!
Volume 1, Chapter 355: The Secret of the Nine Dragon Cauldrons
Seeing that Zhou Xuan was not interested in anything except this cauldron with ten dragons playing with a pearl, Lin Shilong laughed and said, "Mr. Wei, what's wrong? Are you interested in this thing? Hehe, then I'll ask Mr. Wei to guess what era this is from?"
Fang Dacheng and Wei Xiaoyu also approached and looked at the item in Zhou Xuan's hand. ()
Zhou Xuan glanced at Lin Shilong, whose face clearly indicated he needed to guess. Lin Shilong smiled broadly and, after a moment's thought, said, "Mr. Lin, you've stumped me. Let me think..."
Smiling, Zhou Xuan glanced at the other items in the collection room and chuckled, "Boss Lin, in my opinion, apart from this Nine Dragon Cauldron, everything else in your collection room is genuine, just of varying values, some high and some low. None of them are demonic items. As for this one... hehe, to be honest, I really can't tell!"
"Good eye!" Lin Shilong gave Zhou Xuan a thumbs up. Zhou Xuan was puzzled. He had said the others were genuine, but he couldn't tell this one was real. Why was Lin Shilong saying he had a good eye? Does not being able to tell something mean you have a good eye?
Lin Shilong chuckled and said, "Mr. Wei, to be honest, everything in my collection room, except for this one, is genuine. Although some are expensive and some are cheap, none of them are actually counterfeit. The only exception is this small cauldron with nine dragons playing with a pearl. I can't tell the difference myself, but I've had it appraised by several experts. The material of the cauldron is a bit strange, but it's probably some kind of alloy. The shape and color of the cauldron don't show any signs of age, and the nine dragon patterns are not something that could be made with the technology of the past. It doesn't fit the current methods of counterfeit products, so the experts are certain that this is a modern craft. I just don't know where it came from. The patterns and images are quite well done. It doesn't have much collectible value, but it does have some aesthetic value. I bought it for two thousand and plan to put it on my office desk!"
Upon hearing this, Zhou Xuan felt much more at ease. Given Lin Shixin's status and wealth, he naturally wouldn't haggle with him. Since Lin Shixin had mentioned that he only spent two thousand and that experts had appraised it, confirming it as a modern artifact, things were much easier. This item was beyond his ability to detect or transform with his own ice energy, so it was definitely not an ordinary item. He couldn't say what made it special or what era it came from, but if he had the means, he wanted to buy it.
"Mr. Lin, of all the collectibles here, I only want this small tripod. I'd like to put it on my desk. Nine dragons playing with a pearl—dragons are auspicious!"
Zhou Xuan smiled and said, without showing excessive joy or curiosity, simply stating that he wanted to place it on his desk as a decoration, just like he did. "Mr. Lin, how much do you want?"
Lin Shilong chuckled and said, "Mr. Wei, you've really treated me like a friend today. The price of your miniature carving, well, everyone knows it. You've been lenient with me. I was even thinking of giving you something decent, but I didn't find anything I liked. I only took a liking to this cheapest one. What am I supposed to say?"
He sighed and said, "Mr. Wei, you can take this Nine Dragons Cauldron if you want it. Don't talk about money. Why don't you look at something else? If it's just this worthless ornament, I won't have the face to talk to you about being friends!"
Lin Shilong made his point clear at once: if Zhou Xuan wanted something, he could give him anything valuable, but this small tripod was worthless. Given his status, it would be unreasonable to give such a thing as a gift to a friend. The willow branch that Zhou Xuan gave Lin Shilong on that miniature carving was worth at least 20 to 30 million!
The other party offered him 20 or 30 million, but he only gave them 2,000. Naturally, he felt embarrassed and ashamed.
Since Lin Shilong had said so, Zhou Xuan couldn't say anything more. Anyway, he didn't think it mattered since it wasn't valuable and hadn't cost much money. However, he was still a little disappointed that he hadn't seen any demonic items related to the case. After all, his purpose in coming with Wei Xiaoyu was to find clues and find out the true identity of the Ghost Mask. That was what he wanted most and was most eager for.
"Thank you, Mr. Lin. I won't stand on ceremony!" Zhou Xuan thanked Lin Shilong and took the Nine Dragons Cauldron in his hand. He was even more surprised when he held it. He thought the Nine Dragons Cauldron would be very heavy, but it was light. It was like a wooden product, only slightly heavier than wood, but definitely much lighter than metal. If it were a piece of copper, iron, or gold of this size, it would weigh at least twenty pounds. But the cauldron that Zhou Xuan was holding probably only weighed two or three pounds!