"And I also know you've been short on cash lately..."

It was true that He Kao was strapped for cash. Not only had he recently bought a new car, but he had also acquired an empty apartment that needed furnishing, and the two upper floors of the old house in his hometown were still rough rooms waiting for renovation.

He hadn't paid Yao Shaolan's commission fee either.

The 500,000 rental fee from Lin Qingshuang, plus He Kao's own savings of over 70,000, still wasn't enough when carefully calculated.

In the end, since Old Qian wanted to buy, He Kao decided to sell the item by converting its weight into gold value.

If not for Old Qian's special needs and his ability to sense that faint trace of spirituality, to ordinary people, it would just be two old gold bars with no traceable origin.

More importantly, this was He Kao's original plan.

When he handed the paperweight to Yao Shaolan, he had said as much, meaning that he had already entrusted the right to deal with the item, and in theory, Qian Guran had no need to consult with him any further, nor was there a need to inform him of these matters.

By this calculation, Qian Guran felt he had received too much benefit, so the two of them agreed that the final total price should be rounded up, with Qian Guran giving He Kao five million.

Additionally, Qian Guran also covered whatever amount He Kao owed Yao Shaolan for the commission fee.

The only remaining small issue was that Old Qian couldn't immediately produce five million in cash. So Qian Guran apologetically proposed to He Kao that he would first pay him two million, and settle the remaining three million within two years.

He Kao didn't mind and agreed immediately.

From He Kao's perspective, he didn't feel he was at a loss. Old Qian had helped him greatly in ways no one else could, such as dealing with two Tier Five Sorcerers today, and introducing him to so much information.

As the saying goes, "A single word of truth is worth thousands in gold." This is precisely what it means, not to mention that Old Qian had once saved his life.

Seizing Old Qian's moment of sentiment, He Kao asked, "The artifact refining you mentioned earlier, I'm very curious, does it require seeking materials with spirituality?

Is there a possibility that some items originally lack spirituality, but through the craftsmanship and consecration of a master, they gain special spirituality?"

Qian Guran: "What you're talking about sounds like the Spirit Awakening Skill of the Micro Realm Sect, a method only mastered by Tier Five Heart Measurers. This time, to refine these paperweights, I intended to find a Heart Measurer for help."

He Kao: "Heart Measurers, people with 'heart,' that's an interesting title."

Qian Guran laughed: "It's not 'good-heart,' it's 'measuring-heart.' Didn't Wu Yanjun explain it to you? There's an idiom about a carpenter measuring the heart. You're a seventh-generation carpenter, haven't you heard of it?

Our Qi Observation Sect's Tier Five Sorcerers are called 'Pity the Good,' and that 'good' refers to kindness."

He Kao was taken aback: "That idiom, I did hear it, a story my grandfather told me when I was a child... I thought it was just a children's tale, is it true?"

The story of "A Carpenter Measuring the Heart" told by He Kao's grandfather—

Once there was an old carpenter with magical skills who crafted a mechanical wooden man that could follow commands.

The old carpenter had an apprentice who thought he had learned all the skills but couldn't replicate such a mechanical wooden man. So one day, while the old carpenter was asleep, he secretly disassembled the wooden man, carefully measuring every component.

After returning, he crafted and assembled all the parts identically, but the mechanical wooden man lacked that kind of spirituality. Just as he was troubled, the old carpenter walked in.

The apprentice, seeing the master had discovered him, quickly knelt down and confessed, then asked, "I clearly crafted an identical mechanical wooden man, why won't it obey?"

The old carpenter asked, "Did you measure everything?"

The apprentice replied, "Measured everything, accurately."

The old carpenter shook his head: "Wrong, there's a craft you haven't mastered yet, which is measuring the heart."

In this story, "measuring the heart" is a pun. The heart signifies spirituality; simple imitation only captures the form, not the essence. Another meaning is a homophone with conscience.

Qian Guran laughed: "The scenes described in the story aren't entirely fictional. The Magic Sect has many miraculous methods throughout history, all beyond ordinary people's expectations. But looking back now, it's no big deal, just an intelligent robot.

The title 'Heart Measurer' has some relation to this idiom. The Spirit Awakening Skill is also called the Heart Measuring Skill, and mastering this technique marks one as a Tier Five Heart Measurer."

He Kao: "Besides the Spirit Awakening Skill of the Micro Realm Sect, are there other ways to imbue an item with unique spirituality?"

Qian Guran felt he had been drained and had to admit his limitations: "I am just a newly appointed Tier Four Government Official, not having inherited many secret techniques yet, so how could I know so much?"

What He Kao truly wanted to ask, was actually the mystery of Tan Xian's Walking Stick Painting, but he didn't dare ask directly, so he brought up this topic instead.

Unbeknownst to him, to craft a treasure like Tan Xian's Walking Stick Painting, the mere Tier Five Spirit Awakening Skill was entirely insufficient. Its mystical techniques were beyond what Qian Guran could comprehend at this moment.

After thinking for a while, Qian Guran finally said something useful: "You're curious about that pendant, aren't you? Just think carefully about who helped your grandfather craft it. Why not ask Elder Jiang in person?"

He Kao: "You also insist that the pendant was given to my grandfather by Elder Jiang?"

Qian Guran: "Lin Qingshuang wouldn't be wrong. If I were Elder Jiang, I'd be sneezing every day lately."

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