The reception room of Tushan Chamber of Commerce’s shop was not luxurious, but was very natural.
The room was decorated with rocks and root sculptures, added with exquisitely handcrafted tables and chairs. Everything in the room was an artwork. Fiddling with the thick and short bamboo tube, which was square in shape and serving as a teacup, Ji Hao observed the furniture in this room. He had to admit that the Tushan Family was truly wealthy. These wooden and rock tables and chairs seemed to be ordinary, but in fact, every single one of them was surrounded by a thriving life-force.
The life-force suffused the entire room and connected with nature. The entire reception room was a great formation, and had been absorbing natural powers, transforming the natural powers into a life-force. It was releasing slowly, bringing all living beings in the room both physical and mental pleasure.
"Great tea!" Lowering his head and taking a sip of the steaming hot tea, Ji Hao praised with a low voice, "Really great tea."
"The tea is nothing. The man understands the goodness of the tea is truly rare." Sitting aside, Tushan Inkstone naturally flattered Ji Hao, "Mr. Summer, you understand the sweetness of the tea. Clearly, you are a real tasteful man. You are so different from those silly rude people."
"Tasteful my a*s!" Ji Hao showed the whites of his eyes and cursed out loud. Pointing at Tushan Inkstone, he sneered and said, "I am an old spirit creature, a crayfish, a monster! I set things on fire, I loot and kill people! What’s so good about this tea? I know nothing. It’s flavorless water! No better than a vat of old wine!"
Tushan Inkstone’s handsome face instantly turned red. Gasping heavily, he stared at Ji Hao. Ji Hao changed his attitude so suddenly that Tushan Inkstone was almost choked by the words he had prepared to say.
This old crayfish, why didn’t he follow the common template? Tushan Inkstone nicely praised him, he could have easily said something sweet too. After that, the two of them would smile to each other, and do some small talks, then the friendship could be built, right? But how could he suddenly swear? Tushan Inkstone’s face twitched for a while, then grinned embarrassedly, and said, "Mr. Summer, do you prefer some wine? We have our special ‘fox rose’ here. It’s a secret product of our Tushan Family. It’s pure and sweet…"
Ji Hao raised his right hand, slapped a golden sandalwood root carving table into pieces, then stared at Tushan Inkstone and yelled, "What fox rose? Don’t get me any soft sweet things like that! I want the strongest, cheapest wine! Hmm, I am a lowly creature. I cannot bear those good things. I like the cheap ones!"
Tushan Inkstone’s face turned dark once again. This shop was run by the Tushan Family, and everything in this chop was the best of the best. Ji Hao asked for the cheapest wine, but where could Tushan Inkstone find any?
Tushan Inkstone grinned again embarrassedly. Tushan Inkstone prepared to say something, but Ji Hao smashed another square table, then crossed his legs and said slowly while shaking his leg, "Ah, almost forgot about the business. Enough about tea or wine, take out your treasure now, eh? What treasure do you have?"
Tushan Inkstone had already phrased his words, but again, Ji Hao stoped him from saying. He opened his mouth widely, with a very dark face. For the third time, he grinned embarrassedly, and then stuttered, "Ah, treasure, yeah, yeah, the treasure!"
Ji Hao looked at Tushan Inkstone coldly and said in a vicious tone, "I am telling you, Tushan Inkstone, if your treasure can’t make me happy…I will tear your head off!"
Tushan Inkstone’s eye corners twitched intensively, then he took a deep gasp and gave a bitter smile.
In Kui Gate, Tushan Inkstone had met countless spirit creatures. Those spirit creatures all needed things from him. Therefore, even though they were brutal and violent, they still had to restrain their tempers and act politely in front of Tushan Inkstone. When did Tushan Inkstone ever meet someone with such a capricious mood like Ji Hao?
Smiling bitterly, Tushan Inkstone stopped trying to make friends with Ji Hao. He clapped his hands loudly. A refreshing aroma spread out form a folding screen behind him. Following a light series of footstep sound, a beautiful young girl wearing a snow-white silk long dress walked to Tushan Inkstone, smiling as she carried an oval-shaped tray.
Carefully and seriously, Tushan Inkstone stood up and took out a purely dark shell piece from the tray.
A faintly sensible, prehistorical spirit creature power spread slowly from the shell. Sensing the spirit creature power emitting from this foot-square shell piece, Ji Hao felt nothing uncomfortable. But behind him, Shermie already started shaking.
Ji Hao looked around at Shermie. A big half of Shermie’s face was covered in the shell, and on that face, beam-sized drops of sweat oozed out. He was quivering intensely, as if a mountain was pressing on his shoulders. He was trying his best to fight the pressure, but inch by inch, his body bent, and so did his knees.
"Is this the treasure you mentioned?" Ji Hao’s left hand glowed with a silver-blue light. Shermie was almost suffocated by the pressure. Ji Hao conveniently patted on Shermie’s shoulder with his left hand. Instantly, Shermie made a long gasp for air, then quickly straightened his body.
In a great shock, Shermie cast a complicated glance at the square-shaped shell piece, then put his mouth near Ji Hao’s ear and whispered something.
With a secret magic, Ji Hao turned himself into a crayfish, but in fact, he was a pure-blooded human being. Therefore, he couldn’t feel the terrifying power contained in that shell. But once the shell was taken out, Ji Hao felt like being dragged into a purely dark, scary world. He saw an enormous, black crayfish, roaring in the darkness, covered in a gray mist.
That crayfish was hundreds of thousands of miles long. He lied in the darkness and roared in rage. Dazzling thunderbolts struck down and cracked his black shell, turning it into ashes. At last, a tremendous axe descended. A pair of indescribably giant hands gripped the hilt of the axe and fiercely chopped this crayfish into two, from the head to the tail.
The sharp Chaos power streams stirred up by the axe tore apart the crayfish’s body. Within a couple of breaths, the crayfish was torn into bits and pieces. By the end, only the hardest piece of shell on the middle of the crayfish’s head remained.
At the moment, Tushan Inkstone was holding that piece of shell.
Ji Hao looked at the shell and seemed to be deep in thought. This treasure had stories, he could tell.
"According to the legends, when Saint Pan Gu created this world, thirty-million Chaos monsters attempted to take away the natural fortune that belonged to Pan Gu, and this world he created." Tushan Inkstone glanced at Shermie in surprise, who wasn’t affected by the power of the shell anymore, then continued, "Saint Pan Gu was infuriated. With the world-creating enormous axe, he killed countless Chaos monsters. Among those dead Chaos monsters, one was called the ‘netherworld soul-eating giant crayfish’!"
"This is the only remaining piece of shell that belonged to the giant crayfish, containing all his powers, and also a drop of his blood sealed in it."
Smilingly, Tushan Inkstone looked at Ji Hao, and said, "With this treasure, Mr. Summer, you will have a chance to regain his power."