After entering Treasure Tower, Tang Yi was slightly surprised; it was like two different worlds separated by a single door.
Outside Treasure Tower, although bustling and crowded, the transactions were largely small-scale, typically amounting to only a few thousand or tens of thousands, with the most being a few hundred thousand at most.
The inside of Treasure Tower, however, was modest in size, with each shop covering an area of just around ten or twenty square meters, and with sporadic customers. But the attire of these people alone made it clear that they were all wealthy or noble.
As for the items in the shops, any random piece was either a rare treasure or an antique relic, with prices starting from at least a million.
It was no wonder Treasure Tower wasn't easily accessible to the public; any item inside could easily bankrupt an ordinary person.
The shops in Treasure Tower mainly catered to the elite; ordinary people simply couldn't afford to shop here.
Lin Shaocong said to Tang Yi with a smile, "Buddy, how about it? Today you've truly opened your eyes with Fatso here and seen what the real world is like, huh!"
"Hmm!" Tang Yi nodded slightly but having mingled in the Cultivation World in his past life, there was no high-end trading venue he hadn't visited. Any random one could probably astonish Lin Shaocong to the point of dropping his jaw.
"Follow Fatso, the first floor is just chump change with deals amounting to a few million!" Lin Shaocong boasted. "My old man inherited 'Duobao Zhai' on the upper floor, where the minimum spending starts with tens of millions!"
Treasure Tower was divided into five floors. If, as Fatty said, the first floor starts with millions and the second with tens of millions, then the items on the top fifth floor must start at tens of billions.
Are there really antiquities on Earth worth tens of billions of Xuan Country currency?
At the same time, Tang Yi looked Lin Shaocong up and down, chuckling, "So, Fatty, you're actually a bona fide rich second generation, with your family doing deals worth tens of millions."
"Psh! What rich second generation am I? A single apartment in Shanghai is worth millions. A family fortune of tens of millions is at most middle class!" Lin Shaocong led Tang Yi up a flight of stairs towards the second floor.
As they ascended, Lin Shaocong whispered, "They say it starts at tens of millions, but you've got to account for costs. The key is that Treasure Tower takes a 10% commission on any sale from the shops here!"
"And this antique and curio business, as always, goes by 'not opening for three years, but living off one opening for three years,' That's why I say my old man is foolish for taking over this crappy shop. Not like my uncles who inherited companies, now those are genuine money trees that literally rake in barrels of cash daily!"
During their conversation, they arrived at the second floor of Treasure Tower, which was obviously smaller and only housed a few shops. Tang Yi quickly spotted Lin Shaocong's father's 'Duobao Zhai.'
Indeed, as Lin Shaocong said about the antique and curio business, three years without business, yet thriving after just one opening—upon entering Duobao Zhai, they found that the shop was devoid of customers, except for a female shop assistant who was idly playing a computer game.
"Buddy! Feel free to look around yourself!" As soon as Lin Shaocong saw there was only the female shop assistant, he immediately abandoned Tang Yi for the sight of her.
"Xiaowen..." However, Lin Shaocong had just opened his mouth when the shop assistant directly retorted, "Fatty, if you pester me to be your girlfriend one more time, I swear I'll go jump into the Qiutao River and drown myself!"
Lin Shaocong, still shamelessly persistent, continued to pester Xiaowen.
Hearing their dialogue, Tang Yi felt awkward and promptly moved away to a different counter, feeling it best to keep his distance from the pair.
Lin Shaocong's father's shop might look small with just a few items displayed on the modest counter, but each piece was exquisite.
However, seeing the prices beside those items, just as Fatty had mentioned, all started from tens of millions. With his meager funds, Tang Yi could only feast his eyes.
But as Tang Yi moved to another counter, his eyes suddenly lit up.
He saw dozens of stones of various sizes on the counter, looking unremarkable but each priced ranging from thousands to tens of thousands.
Tang Yi knew these were raw stones; typical jade and curio stores always prepare some uncut stones specifically for customers to gamble on.
Seeing that Tang Yi stayed in front of the gambling stone counter, Lin Shaocong hurried over, patted Tang Yi's shoulder, and advised, "Buddy, listen to Fatso's advice, gambling on stones is a fool's game, it's almost always a loss!"
"My old man may be dumb, but he's been dealing with jade for decades. The stones he chooses for gambling are all carefully selected leftovers, and they definitely have no value inside!"
No sooner had he finished speaking than Xiaowen let out a cold laugh, "Fatty, if you dare ruin the boss's business, when he returns from Gong Country, see if I don't report you!"
"Go back to your game!" Lin Shaocong reminded her, "And remember to gouge out your eyes once you're done playing it!"
Lin Shaocong's tone shifted as he whispered to Tang Yi, "Don't you just want to get a nice piece of jade to make Mo Qingxue happy? Wait, and I'll steal the key to the storage for you. Go in and take whatever you want. My old man doesn't keep track—he won't notice if one or two pieces go missing."
"No need!" Tang Yi shook his head.
Lin Shaocong's suggestion might seem harmless, but they were talking about items worth more than ten million. Moreover, Tang Yi knew his true purpose—to absorb the Spiritual Energy from the jade for cultivation.
Jade, also known as Spirit Jade, is referred to as Spirit Stone in the Cultivation World. Most cultivators rely on absorbing the Spiritual Energy contained within it for cultivation. Of course, the better the jade, the more Spiritual Energy it contains.
But regardless of the jade's value, once the Spiritual Energy was extracted, it would become nothing more than a worthless stone.
By his own estimation, to reach the peak of the Postnatal Realm, Tang Yi reckoned he would need to consume several dozens of pounds of top-grade jade. For the Innate Realm, the required jade would have to be measured in tons, and for realms beyond, the numbers were astronomical.