Chapter Thirty-Four: The Benefits of Upgrading

  However, the upgrade of the heterodyne also has special conditions. The specific condition for this upgrade is to absorb the spiritual energy from an antique that meets the requirements. The requirement is that the antique must be at least 1,000 years old and have a certain value (500,000). Only when this condition is met will the heterodyne be upgraded.

  This explanation made Chu Chen want to curse, as there was no hint about the upgrade conditions for his ability. If it wasn't for this lucky encounter with Director Zhao, who happened to have an ancient artifact from a thousand years ago that needed appraisal, he wouldn't know when his ability would be upgraded.

  But since the ability has been upgraded, there will always be some benefits, and this time there are three benefits in total.

  Firstly, the number of times he absorbed spiritual energy within a day had increased to five, which made Chu Chen extremely delighted. Previously, he still felt that three times were too few, and unexpectedly, it had increased by two times all at once, this was truly a timely help in a snowstorm.

  The second benefit is the improvement of physical fitness, but that information was not mentioned, I guess it's up to oneself to experience. So he started thinking about the difference between his body and before, as soon as he thought about it, he suddenly realized that his speed seemed faster than before, and his endurance had improved a lot, just running back home so urgently, without getting out of breath.

  Thinking of this, Chu Chen immediately tested it in the living room, and the result proved that it was indeed so. Now his speed is estimated to be about 10% faster than before, and physically he can even do fifty push-ups without panting, which makes him feel very happy.

  Physically, there's nothing much to gain; after all, no matter how strong one becomes, they can't become a god or superman. The third benefit, however, is what Chu Chen cares about the most.

  After this superpower upgrade, a progress bar appeared in his mind, the progress bar is divided into six grids, now the first grid is already full, and it's about to start accumulating for the second grid, while the third to sixth grids are gray.

  After that, every time he absorbs an antique or a piece of jade jewelry with spiritual energy, the quality of the spiritual energy can be reflected in the progress bar. This function is obviously a timely rain for Chu Chen, and with this prompt, he will not grope in the dark for the upgrade progress of his heterodox ability.

  However, after the upgrade, the increase in progress bars also has certain restrictions. Specifically, if the object of the heterodyne is owned by Chu Chen himself, the progress will increase normally, but if that thing is not his, it will increase according to different situations.

  For example, when Chu Chen helps others to identify antiques, although the Ling Neng can also absorb them, compared with his own antiques, the increased progress bar will be reduced to a quarter of the actual situation.

  And if he deliberately goes to an antique shop or a jewelry store to come into contact with antiques or jewelry, the progress bar will not increase at all, which also eliminates the possibility of him cheating.

  When the second progress bar is fully accumulated, it will inform you of the upgrade conditions. After passing, you can get corresponding rewards. The reward for the second grid not only increases the number of times the spiritual energy is absorbed and strengthens the body but also generates another kind of ability "Lingbao Eye".

  The function of the Lingbao Eye is actually the same as that of the left hand, but the difference is that at this time, you don't need to touch objects again, just use your eyes to absorb spiritual energy. Moreover, the most important thing is that the Lingbao Eye also has the ability of penetration, which can penetrate into the interior of objects while appraising them.

  After understanding the function of the Lingbao Eye, Chu Xuan was overjoyed. This Lingbao Eye was too important for him. Let's not talk about the appraisal of antiques first, just talking about gambling on stones, now even if Chu Xuan uses his special ability to detect that there is jadeite in the material, he still doesn't know what the distribution of jadeite inside is like.

  Jade, especially high-quality jade, is greatly affected by even slight damage to its overall value. However, with the addition of a translucent function, such losses can be avoided. Just this feature alone has gotten Chuchen excited, and there are many other convenient aspects as well, if he can contain his excitement.

  Just as Chu Chen was indulging in fantasy, the mobile phone in his pocket rang. He took a look at the number and it turned out to be Zhao Qirui, who had just parted ways with him. He hastily picked up the phone and said:

  "Hello, Brother Zhao, I'm Chu Chen."

  "Xiao Chu, I forgot to tell you earlier. Would you mind helping me keep an eye out for some good paintings or porcelain vases at the market? For the paintings, it would be best if they were by famous artists. And for the vases, it would be great if they looked grand and festive. This is a gift I'm preparing for my grandfather's birthday, so please put in some extra effort. Could you get back to me within a week?"

  Chu Chen hesitated for a moment, this request is not easy to say yes or no to, the key is to find a suitable one, but it's not that easy to find a suitable antique, if the price is cheap then it's fine, but if he buys it at an expensive price, Zhao Qirui will have to doubt his ability.

  Of course he wouldn't push it away, so I asked:

  "Zhao Ge, what's your requirement for the price?"

  Zhao Qirui, who was on the other end of the phone, joked: "This is not even a problem, even if you find something worth 100 million for me, as long as it's valuable, I'll buy it from you. Hehe, Little Chu, don't worry, we don't need to find both things, if we really can't find them, it's okay, I've also asked others to pay attention."

  "Alright, I'll help you find it as soon as possible, we'll be in touch later."

  He hung up the phone, and Chu Chen felt a bit worried. Zhao Qirui's request this time was likely to have some testing elements in it. If he couldn't find something that satisfied him at that time, his impression might be discounted, which was something he absolutely could not accept.

  Billionaires like Zhao Qirui are the bread and butter of antique dealers. As the old saying in the antique business goes, "If you don't make a sale in six months, you can live off that one sale for half a year." This kind of situation would not normally occur with small-time transactions, but only with big-spending clients like Zhao Qirui.

  Now that Zhao Qirui has given him the opportunity, he must do his best to maintain their relationship. When he has some precious antiques to sell in the future, even if Zhao Qirui doesn't buy them, he can introduce others to buy them, and the price can also be guaranteed, which is what people often call a high-quality sales channel.

  So what Zhao Qirui proposed earlier was that no matter how difficult it is, Chu Chen would help him complete it and the result must also satisfy him.

  Then Chu Chen made several good calls one after another, asking Wu Shu and his friends to pay attention to the antique requirements, and notify him immediately if there was any news.

  However, he didn't let Zhao Xueyi help him. After all, in the past, such tasks were always completed by Zhao Qi Rui through Zhao Xueyi. Now his behavior was like snatching Zhao Xueyi's rice bowl. If he let him help again, who knows what others might think? Even if their relationship is good, there will definitely be a rift between them.

  After waiting for a while, the phone rang again. Chu Chen took a look and found it was Wu Shu's call, so he quickly picked up the phone and said:

  "Hey, Uncle Wu? It's Xiao Chen. You've got news already?"

  On the other end of the phone, Wu Shu's laughter came through: "Xiao Chuan, you're really lucky. I happen to have a customer here who has a pair of suitable double-ear bottles that he wants to sell, and the price is also quite reasonable. Why don't you come over and take a look?"

  Upon hearing this good news, Chu Chen hastily said over the phone: "Alright, I'll come right away."

  He put down the phone and rushed to Wu Shu's store, but soon he realized that he had run too fast and hadn't even caught his breath, let alone sweated. It was summer now, if he went in like this, how could he explain it clearly to Wu Shu?

  So he had no choice but to bask in the sun for a while, until he broke out in a sweat on his forehead, then jogged back into the store, pretending to be out of breath.

  "Hey kid, what's the hurry? It's scorching hot today, don't get heatstroke. Quick, have a drink and take a rest." Wu Shu said with some concern as he looked at Chu Chen.

  Chu Chen didn't say much when he arrived, just smiled foolishly as he took the water and sat down on one side. As he drank water and rested, he genuinely liked this feeling of being cared for.

  At this time in Wu Shu's store, there was also a man of about thirty years old. This person should be the client that Wu Shu had just mentioned.

  Chu Chen apologized to him, and the man also said it was okay, letting him rest for a while before discussing the double-eared bottle. Then he looked at a double-eared bottle on the table, which was very exquisite, and was deeply attracted to it at first sight.

  This is a pair of ceramic bottles with ears, about 20 cm in height, which is a small bottle. The outer wall is coated with rouge red glaze and decorated with powder-colored "Fu Shou Wan Nian" pattern, symbolizing auspiciousness. The shape of the double ears is dragon-shaped, so the accurate name of this ceramic bottle should be called Rouge Red Ground Powder Color Fu Shou Wan Nian Pattern Double Dragon Ear Small Bottle.

  Wu Shu and others waited until Chu Chen had finished resting, then introduced each other.

  "It turned out to be Mr. Wang, what a pleasure to meet you." After listening to Uncle Wu's introduction, Chu Chen stepped forward and shook hands with the man, handing over his business card.

  Mr. Wang smiled and said after taking the business card: "Let's get straight to the point, I'm a bit short on time, Mr. Chu, you take a look at this pair of double-ear bottles first, does it meet your requirements?"

  Chu Chen didn't mince words either, and after exchanging a few pleasantries with Mr. Wang, he put on his gloves and carefully began to observe the situation.

  Looking at the style of this pair of ear bottles, it should be a piece of Qing dynasty Jingdezhen kiln factory's rouge red porcelain. The Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong periods of the Qing dynasty were a historical peak in the development of imperial porcelain production in Jingdezhen. The rouge red porcelain bowls made during the Qianlong period of the Qing dynasty, whether it was single-color glaze or mixed color porcelain, are enough to make people sigh with admiration.

  Among them, the rouge red should be one of the most innovative and representative glazes of that period. It is a kind of pink with golden color and purple tone, also known as "golden red" or "foreign red" due to the presence of gold in the glaze.