As An Antique Shop Owner, It's Only Reasonable That I Know A Bit Of Magic - Chapter 95

Su Fan stood up and stretched.

As night fell, the stream of visiting customers had finally trickled off.

He could at last tidy up the shop and rest for a while.

The appraisal event connected through Jamie and Rachel had, in terms of results, genuinely boosted the antique shop’s popularity.

It had also opened up several new avenues for Su Fan.

Interested buyers needed Su Fan to connect them with the owners of artifacts.

Similarly, sellers could also use Su Fan to reach potential buyers.

Back and forth like this, Su Fan was building his own business network.

While it wasn’t exactly booming, the “deserted shop” situation from before was unlikely to return.

After handling the miscellaneous tasks in the shop, Su Fan returned to his seat and sat down cross-legged.

[Jade Pure Realm: 5%]

The prompt floating in his mind prompted Su Fan to start thinking.

In the beginning, he had the foundational methods but lacked practical techniques, leaving him short on combat options.

But after experiencing so many supernatural events, the situation had reversed.

The number of supernatural abilities he possessed had increased, growing more profound, yet his core realm hadn’t improved much.

It was time to consolidate his gains and focus intently on cultivation.

Without sufficient cultivation as a foundation, he couldn’t unleash the full power of his abilities anyway.

He closed his eyes, relaxed his entire body, placed the tip of his tongue against the roof of his mouth, and formed a hand seal.

The Qi within his body was mobilized, flowing slowly along his meridians, reaching his limbs and bones, before finally settling in his lower Dantian.

Some might find this process monotonous and dull.

In truth, consecutive breakthroughs are ultimately a matter of chance.

Quantitative change leads to qualitative change, and the accumulation in between is inherently uneventful.

Ordinary cultivators, even if they could endure the drudgery of practice, could easily find themselves stuck at a certain stage for years, or even decades.

Often forcing them to seek rare spiritual herbs during their cultivation journey, undergoing perilous, life-or-death adventures.

Compared to them, Su Fan’s path could already be considered smooth sailing.

[You regulated your breathing, focused your spirit, and nourished your body with Qi. Physical strength +1. The Qi within your body has increased slightly.]

At regular intervals, he could feel these minuscule increments of progress.

The tangible sense of gain made Su Fan lose track of time as he repeated this cycle.

It was only when the noise outside the shop grew louder that Su Fan halted his cultivation and opened his eyes.

Unknowingly, he had been sitting in meditation the entire night.

His body felt not the slightest bit tired or uncomfortable; on the contrary, he felt clear-headed, refreshed, and strong.

Just a little hungry.

Su Fan got up and went to the kitchen to make breakfast.

After satisfying his hunger, he returned to his seat and began reading texts.

According to his original schedule, he should have been practicing a set of fist techniques around this time.

But considering the frequent visitors lately, Su Fan substituted it with scripture reading.

Otherwise, someone walking in and seeing Su Fan throwing powerful punches might wonder what was going on.

As expected, a customer arrived soon after…

Cultivating at night, running the business during the day, reading texts and gaining insights during spare moments.

He even found time to meet with an accountant who came by to handle tax forms.

Life continued like this for about half a month.

Su Fan’s realm also progressed from the Jade Pure Realm 5% to 8%.

As time passed, the number of customers drawn by his fame had decreased significantly.

Su Fan had anticipated this.

With new, novel shows popping up one after another, it was hardly surprising people were gradually forgetting.

The freed-up time allowed him to occasionally take a nap or doze off.

Life was fulfilling and stable, and Su Fan was quite satisfied.

The only fly in the ointment was that the job posting had been up for a while, yet not a single person had shown interest.

Was the barrier for being an antique shop assistant too high? Or was the salary offered too low?

Su Fan pondered this question in his spare time.

Soon, however, the bell at the door chimed again.

Su Fan looked up and saw a young woman.

She was young, full of vitality, well-dressed, and polished.

Behind her, a small group of other young men and women clustered together.

The moment they entered the antique shop, they started chattering noisily and looking around.

Su Fan glanced over their attire.

They weren’t carrying any items, so they didn’t seem to be here for appraisals. Judging by their demeanor, they didn’t look like the type interested in antiques either.

That air of frivolous, shallow recklessness marked them unmistakably as college students.

Compared to high school students, college students, with one foot semi-in society, enjoyed more freedom.

But most lacked life experience, and their minds weren’t even fully mature.

The result of having freedom that didn’t match their maturity was constant trouble-making and mischief.

The local cultural atmosphere tended to push young people towards being social butterflies.

They often moved in packs, renting villas for who-knows-what kind of parties or going on group trips.

This group perfectly fit the classic “doomed college student crew” trope from horror movies.

Even without using his supernatural sight, Su Fan could see the mark of death on their faces.

A textbook example.

“Welcome,” Su Fan greeted them perfunctorily.

Among the students, a tall, sturdy white youth glanced at Su Fan, then turned to ask a shorter, chubbier student, “Is this the psychic your dad mentioned? Doesn’t seem that special.”

“I only overheard it briefly at the dinner table; I’m not sure if it’s him or not.”

“Can’t be him. Look at that clueless, dumb expression. Reeks of a nerd,” a brunette college girl chimed in, leaning into their conversation.

“That’s so accurate. Looks like the type who’d always have his nose buried in a book.”

“Hey, don’t say that. I think this guy seems alright,” said the only Black youth in the group.

Although they were whispering, Su Fan heard every word clearly.

Idiots.

Su Fan was just about to kick these fools out of his shop.

But the lead blonde girl spoke up just before he could.

“Hello, I’m here to get something appraised. Could you help me, please?”

Su Fan looked her over. “Sure. Bring the item out.”

With Su Fan’s consent, the blonde took an old box from her bag and placed it on the counter.

The box was adorned with a pentagram pattern, seemingly related to astrology.

But the moment Su Fan saw it, he frowned.

Such a thick, malevolent aura.

Since beginning his cultivation, he’d developed an innate aversion to things like this.

He activated his supernatural sight for a closer look and saw a dark mist seeping from the box’s seams.

Within it seemed to be mixed the auras of different evil spirits.

“You’re sure you want this item in the box appraised?”

“Yes… is something wrong?” Su Fan’s question made the blonde pause.

“Items like that aren’t welcome in my shop. I must decline.”

“If you don’t want bad luck, take that thing back to wherever you found it.”

Here, Su Fan paused, then added.

“And as for the rest of you, go home immediately. Maybe you’ll get to keep your lives.”