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"This academy feels so cool; is it because of the Ice Jade Brother Feng mentioned before?" a tall and thin merchant exclaimed in surprise as he looked around.

From time to time, one could see a crystal clear blue jadeite floating among the flowers and trees, radiating an extremely cool aura, instantly dazzling the eye.

This thing could actually keep the entire courtyard so cool, and its design is exquisite. If well-designed, it could even add to the luxurious feel of the yard—it must be a luxury item that the wealthy will scramble for!

"Indeed..." the merchant surnamed Feng responded with a nod and a smile.

Not far away, Wei Gongcheng and his group had just arrived at the academy. With so many people around, it wasn’t appropriate to jump the queue, so they entered the academy at the same time as Feng’s group.

"Truly miraculous..." Luo Yi marveled at the floating Ice Jade: "What’s the principle behind this? How can mere jadeite carry such complex techniques?"

"Brother, do you also understand techniques?" a gentle voice rang out from behind. Luo Yi was startled, not expecting someone to strike up a conversation unprompted, and quickly turned around to look.

The speaker was a young man who appeared to be only about fourteen or fifteen years old, wearing a yellow shirt. Wei Gongcheng had mentioned before that disciples of the Earth Character Courtyard from the four courts of heaven and earth wore yellow as their sign.

"Oh, hello, young sir," Luo Yi hurriedly returned the greeting, curiously sizing up the other party.

At fourteen years old, the young man’s spiritual power was not low, at least at the level of a Fifth Rank magician. At such an age, in the Capital City Yin Yang Academy, he would be considered a top talent. Jiangnan... has such seeds of talent?

It’s a pity for such potential to remain in Jiangnan...

"Brother, you are too polite..." the young man said with a smile: "Since you are a magician, we are fellow practitioners. I can’t sense your spiritual power, which must mean you are my senior by many years. In front of you, I can’t presume to be called ’sir’."

He’s quite humble...

Luo Yi nodded, satisfied. With such potential coupled with modesty, the young man’s future was boundless. He thought about whether he should write a recommendation letter for him to the Capital City Yin Yang Academy.

"Is this your first time visiting our place?" the young man asked with a smile: "Magicians visiting for the first time are always very curious about the things here."

As he spoke, he lifted his hand lightly, and one of the floating blue jadeites in the flowerbed flew over to them.

"Did you make this jadeite?" Luo Yi asked in astonishment.

"It’s a trifling trinket not worth mentioning, you flatter me too much..." the young man said with a laugh.

"How can you call this a trifling trinket?" Luo Yi hastily said: "The ability to engrave such complex techniques onto jade is something I’ve never heard of before. And the intricacy of the engraved array is truly remarkable. The jade can’t generate spiritual power on its own, right? It operates by continuously drawing in the energy of heaven and earth through this magical array to emanate coolness, doesn’t it? "

"You overstate my accomplishment," the young man replied with a nod: "This is nothing special, just an array that anyone with a basic understanding of arrays from our academy can create by thinking about the changes in the element periodic table. My father is a merchant, so I am more sensitive to business opportunities. Many of my classmates could have made this, but they didn’t think of it, and I beat them to it. It’s not complicated to make, but it has significant commercial value. Thanks to this, I’ve had quite a few extra research funds recently, which has indeed been fortunate. "

"A merchant’s son..." Luo Yi was taken aback. A merchant’s son... can nurture a Fourteen-year-old Fifth Rank magician? He had always thought the young man was from a Sorcerer Family of Jiangnan!

His talent... could be comparable to the once famous Wang Ye!!

And what did he say about array basics?

Such a miraculous array that can refine energy in a cycle without human intervention is considered basic?

And what is this element periodic table?

Why don’t I understand a word?

"I’ve recently researched a new thing, would you like to take a look?"

Luo Yi snapped back to reality and eagerly nodded: "Yes, please!"

Not far away, the merchant named Feng noticed the interaction and gestured to the merchants beside him.

"Brother Feng, what’s going on?"

"Keep up, keep up, there might be some good stuff.

" The merchant with the surname Feng laughed, "These young masters, on normal days, they love to seek out fellow magicians from outside to evaluate their projects because magicians from sorcerer families are wealthier and can more easily understand the value of the projects. They are more likely to pull in large investments than merchants like us. Let’s follow and see, listen to what the magician has to say. "

Several wealthy merchants were stunned, it sounded quite reasonable, but... something felt off.

It took a few moments for them to realize, when had this Feng... become so casual... with the magicians?

You should know that to ordinary mortals, magicians are mysterious and dangerous beings. Common people, if they cannot cozy up to them, keep their distance with respect, yet this guy... seems to treat the other party as nothing more than a tool for selecting projects?

Before they could fully react, the group had already walked into the display hall.

Inside the display hall, all sorts of magical things were exhibited on the stands, with effects they had never even imagined, dazzling their eyes.

They inquired eagerly and continuously.

"Oh, that? That’s Bright Jade Jadeite, it lights up the place. If you put it above your house, it can make the night as bright as day. That product is already half a year old now—the new ones are lanterns with unique colors."

"That crystal ball? That’s great stuff. That’s called Thousand Facets, it can record all the scenes you see in front of you, then watch them anytime.

Not just landscapes, but even portraits can be recorded.

This thing is very popular. Whether you’re traveling through scenic spots to record the beautiful scenery into the crystal for later viewing or recording your children and wife when they were young, it’s said that even after a hundred years, those recorded scenes will still be there, anytime you want to see past loved ones and your younger self. "

"This... this... this is good stuff!" Several wealthy merchants were so amazed they almost jumped up—if not for the merchant named Feng holding them back, they might not have been able to help themselves from running over to take a closer look.

"No rush, no rush, these are all mature projects, we can’t get involved anymore," the merchant Feng sighed and shook his head.

"Take that Thousand Facets, for example, when it was first proposed, it was just an idea without even a demonstration product. Many people didn’t invest, and it was the Shen Family who invested.

Now, after half a year of development, a crystal ball can record two hours of video, the colors are becoming brighter, and the images inside clearer. I heard they spent a lot of money."

"This project has become so hot the Shen Family didn’t want to monopolize it, so they offered investment in the second phase of research.

At that time, you wouldn’t believe it—many people went crazy bidding.

Now the third phase is about to start calling for investments, and it’s said that investors able to maintain are all big shots who can put down a million Fragrant Silver.

Our capital is nothing compared to theirs. "

"This... this... this..." Several people were green with envy at the project. Such a thing, if put in one in the Capital City, could sell for millions of gold—practically a divine artifact!!

"We can invest..." hurriedly said one wealthy merchant, "When I get back, I’ll convert all my assets into jadeite—I must take a ten percent share!"

"You mustn’t do that!" the merchant Feng quickly waved his hands, "That technician, Mister Lan Feng who’s running the project, said it’s still in the early stages, and it uses precious materials.

This third phase can’t hit the market for a short two years and the risk is extremely high.

Don’t be blinded by greed. If the money you invest doesn’t yield results, it’s just like throwing it in the water.

You’re arriving in the third phase, but you won’t be able to enjoy the first two stages of products. "

"That’s possible?" The merchants were startled; they thought that by joining, they would share in all the benefits.

"Nonsense!" the merchant Feng gave the other party a disdainful look, "The merchants from the first two phases took huge risks. Making money was due to their good judgment—why would they want to share their golden egg-laying goose with you?"

"Er..."

"But indeed, these large projects do carry big risks, because even if you do invest successfully, if you can’t keep investing, then the continuously updated and perfected projects will replace your previous products.

It’s good if you can even make back your initial investment in the short term.

If not, it’s just a bottomless pit, the more you put in, the bigger it gets! "

The crowd: "....."

"So we might as well invest in some small projects and be safe," the merchant Feng said in a low voice, "Don’t worry about missing out—there are talented people in abundance at Lyuzhou Academy, good things keep popping up every month, there are plenty of opportunities to make money!"

"This...." One of the wealthy merchants said in a hushed voice upon hearing this, "But I’ve heard that the Imperial Court has already started to suppress Jiangnan. In the future... will Lyuzhou Academy... still be around?"

"Hasn’t the Imperial Court been defeated?" the merchant Feng frowned.

"That’s just a minor defeat!" one wealthy merchant said excitedly, "The main forces of the Imperial Army haven’t arrived yet!"

"We are the same..." the merchant Feng furrowed his brows looking at them, "I’ve heard, Lord Xu Hu, with just thirty thousand warriors, defeated the Imperial Army. Just in Nanming Prefecture, my soldier brother told me, there are still two hundred thousand troops that haven’t been moved at all..."

The crowd: "....."

Luo Yi, listening from afar, had a mix of complex feelings.

He was astonished at the military power of Chen Qing today but felt even colder inside at that phrase from the merchant Feng... ’we’.

Clearly, the people of Lyuzhou, between the Imperial Court and Chen Qing, without hesitation... chose Chen Qing!!