Chapter 28: Chapter 28: Destiny is like a Star, Old Dynasty and Old Graces

First of all, among these seven destinies, Zhao Huai felt the most useless were the two Human Grade destinies.

They were obtained from a Calligraphic Model of Erudite and a famous painting respectively.

[Fiddle at Writing] and [Painting Technique Beginner].

The first one allowed him to write beautifully, mastering all styles such as running script, regular script, and cursive script, as if they were written by a master calligrapher. The other one granted him the talent in painting, making everything he drew look lifelike.

Zhao Huai never kept useless destinies. Without a second thought, he let them “enter the box” to eat dust, or use them to upgrade other destinies.

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Next were the three Yellow Grade destinies: [Expert Appraiser], [All-around Gracefulness], and [Doctor of Classical Studies].

[Expert Appraiser] was easy to understand from its name; it was a destiny that improved his ability to appraise treasures, identifying the authenticity and flaws of objects. It sounded quite fitting for his pawnshop business. However, to be honest, this destiny was barely satisfactory for Zhao Huai.

Barely meeting his standard.

Because of the presence of the copper coin, Zhao Huai didn’t need to know the authenticity of the treasures. He just needed to know if he should buy them.

As for [All-around Gracefulness], it was a social type of destiny, making him more eloquent and smooth in dealing with people, having a glib tongue, and being thoughtful in interpersonal relationships.

[Doctor of Classical Studies] came from a pile of classical and ancient books, granting the person vast knowledge of scriptures and texts, easily understanding various obscure theories, mastering the writing style of eight-part essays, having a photographic memory, and writing articles like a Great Scholar, reaching the peak of classical studies.

But what use did it have for him?

Zhao Huai was following the path of Immortal Cultivation, charging forward relentlessly, and had no intention to serve the emperor. It might be useful for scholars or students, though.

Students from his previous life would surely be overjoyed if they had obtained it.

Fortunately, the last two Black Grade destinies provided Zhao Huai some consolation as they emerged before his eyes.

[Refining Bones into Jade (Black Grade Lower-level)]: Absorb this destiny to transform your bones into ones as hard as spiritual jade.

[Crystal Clear Sword Mind (Black Grade Middle-level)]: Free your mind, lifting the limit of the sword techniques you’ve learned, enabling you to perform sword moves as you wish without a fixed set of techniques.

Zhao Huai was quite satisfied with these two destinies.

The first one emerged from a Hundred-year Spiritual Jade Dragon Bone Carving, strengthening his defense further. Spiritual jade was used as a material for crafting magical weapons, and after becoming jade, it could withstand tremendous impact, providing better protection.

[Vajra Body] only ensured that he had unbreakable, iron skin, while [Refining Bones into Jade] perfectly complemented his defenses.

Copper skin and jade bones complemented each other.

The second destiny came from an Ancestral Sacrificial Ancient Sword. Originally a magical weapon, its power had significantly diminished after a hundred years had passed, reducing it to a mere symbol.

This destiny not only aided him in learning sword techniques and mastering swordsmanship, but more importantly, it broke the limits.

All sword techniques have limits or weaknesses that constrain their power, but [Crystal Clear Sword Mind] allowed one to break those limits and make a sword technique even more powerful, enabling one to advance further on the sword path.

Moreover, through these seven destinies, Zhao Huai discovered a pattern.

Higher value items tend to yield rarer destinies. High-value items can yield high-level useful destinies as well as low-level useless ones. However, low-value items can only yield low-level destinies and cannot jump in quality.

For example, the Earth Grade destiny [Lucky Strike] he obtained from an unknown cultivator’s black ring was worth the value of an Earth Grade destiny.

In contrast, Master Huang’s forgeries and other unremarkable items had limited value, only able to yield low-level Human Grade destinies.

Zhao Huai carefully examined the cart full of antiques and treasures, picking up and putting them down, one after another, for a long time, at least half an hour.Master Huang naturally wouldn’t just stand there. Instead, he lay leisurely in the sedan, waiting patiently with a smoking pipe that somehow appeared in his hand. He took deep drags from it, puffing out white smoke every now and then.

Zhao Huai finished checking the items and sought Master Huang out. “This should be everything. When do you want to settle the payment, sir?”

“Whenever you want, shopkeeper.”

Master Huang sat up with a grin, taking a glance at the items Zhao Huai had selected.

His joyful smile froze for a moment, before returning, but it wasn’t as intense as before. Instead, it looked somewhat forced.

That was because he noticed that Zhao Huai had taken the best items from the batch, and they were all genuine!

He had carefully forged a large number of fake goods, but Zhao Huai didn’t pick a single one. How could his eyesight be so perfect? This deal would be a substantial loss for him.

Something wasn’t right.

Master Huang was clearly very unhappy.

Upon deciding that after the deal was done, he definitely wouldn’t let the shopkeeper take these items away so easily.

Zhao Huai could clearly see the subtle changes in Master Huang’s expression, but he pretended not to notice, casting a sidelong glance at the middle-aged man beside them.

In contrast, the middle-aged guard’s expression seemed to have relaxed quite a bit.

Zhao Huai secretly wondered, why was this man concerned about the whereabouts of these relics? Did he have some special connection to them?

Or perhaps, these relics were not discovered by Master Huang, but by this middle-aged guard?

Zhao Huai pondered for a moment before probing:

“Master Huang, how did you acquire this batch of relics from the old dynasty? I mean, before you got hold of them, if someone took your items and I end up getting charged, that wouldn’t be good. You know what I mean.”

After listening, a hint of wariness flickered in the depths of Master Huang’s eyes, but he reassured with a smile:

“Don’t worry, shopkeeper. These are items that the destitute royal nobles sold to me after being stripped of their titles. As these Yan nobles were demoted to commoners, I was able to collect these items. Therefore, you don’t need to worry, it’s absolutely safe.”

Zhao Huai nodded after listening. Master Huang’s explanation sounded reasonable.

After the demise of Yan Country, the vast imperial family disintegrated and completely lost their former privileges.

As they had fallen into the world without any means to support themselves, many people could only secretly sell their jewelry to maintain their family property.

However, he didn’t fully believe it. How could these royal nobles have access to such national treasures? They were all locked in the emperor’s private collection.

Seeing Zhao Huai’s expression, Master Huang asked curiously:

“I see the shopkeeper has quite a bit of sympathy for the Yan Dynasty. Why is that?”

Zhao Huai sighed lightly, lamenting, “Time flies, and feelings change. The Yan Dynasty stood for a hundred years, and after all, I was born under its rule. My grandfather once served as an official in Yan. Even though three years have passed, it’s hard to let go. Yan may have been weak, but there were people who stood up to fight against adversities.”

“Loval ministers of Yan, veteran generals of Yan, soldiers of Yan, everv one of them died for their country on the battlefield. To say it was all for naught would be too heartless.”

“Perhaps Yan had many shortcomings, but it was still the old dynasty and its past kindness. We cannot forget everything.”