As the people from Chixiao Sect entered, those waiting outside became even more anxious.
They eagerly anticipated seeing the members of Chixiao Sect return, confirming that the Shuishui City Trading Center had indeed paid them in full for their goods and even signed the next round of orders.
This would mean that they could continue this business, ensuring a significant and stable income for the future.
However, there was still some worry. What if the Trading Center ran out of spirit stones before their turn? Or what if this was a one-time deal, and afterward, they reduced the quantity of goods they wanted to buy or even stopped altogether?
With these thoughts swirling in their minds, everyone was tense, waiting anxiously.
Yet one by one, each sect and royal family went in with their numbers, and each came out with smiles on their faces, carrying spirit stone bags filled to the brim.
Even the last sect to enter had no issues with receiving their payment; the Trading Center did not run short on spirit stones, as some had feared.
However, the Trading Center was very strict about the quality of the goods. Each item had precise and detailed grading standards.
The traders saw a small, white board on Li Zhouxuan's desk, no larger than two palms, but when Li Zhouxuan placed the storage bag filled with goods on it, the white board would immediately extract all the goods from the storage bag, encapsulating them in glowing orbs that hovered in the air.
Li Zhouxuan would then assess the color of the glowing orbs to determine the quality of each item within them, settling the payment accordingly.
If anyone questioned the grading, Li Zhouxuan remained calm. He would take out a jade slip, lightly touch it to the glowing orb, and the orb would transfer the detailed assessment of every item's quality, flaws, and grading criteria to the jade slip.
The small white board was actually a hidden reward Lin Xiao received upon completing the city-building task. Its name was the Scale of Fairness.
To simplify the process of verifying the quality of goods, Lin Xiao placed it in the Trading Center for everyone to use.
However, its abilities extended far beyond simply grading items.
When Lin Xiao used the identification function on it, the description read:
"Scale of Fairness: General function—can be used to assess the quality of any object, with the results being recorded onto a jade slip. Special attachment—In a world of extremes, black and white may blur over time, but one day, when the universe shifts, fairness will reign supreme."
Lin Xiao didn't have time to ponder the latter part in detail, but for now, it proved incredibly useful for the Trading Center, so he left it there.
If anyone raised doubts about the grading, Li Zhouxuan would hand them the jade slip to review.
The jade slip was, of course, for on-site review only and couldn't be taken away. However, if someone wanted to make a copy, they could take a stack of blank paper from the side to transcribe the contents of the jade slip.
It was understandable that some of the sects were a bit wary since it was their first time dealing with Shuishui City. However, once they saw the detailed breakdowns and precise explanations of the flaws in their goods, they found it hard to dispute.
There was no room for denial—the assessments were thorough and precise. Whether it was a minor flaw or a significant defect, every detail was clearly identified. If anyone still doubted the judgment, they could select the specific item in the jade slip they disagreed with, and the Scale of Fairness would immediately isolate that item, levitating it for display while highlighting every flaw in bright detail.
This capability left everyone even more impressed with Shuishui City's power.
Even some Nascent Soul cultivators could, at best, roughly assess the quality of items in a storage bag with their spiritual sense, but it would never be as accurate and detailed as the Scale of Fairness.
Perhaps Nascent Soul cultivators specializing in such skills could achieve it, but none of the cultivators in the Mortal Realm were known for mastering these arts to this extent.
For most cultivators, time spent honing such skills was better spent on cultivation itself. While they were not amateurs in appraising goods, calling them experts would be a stretch—and they would need to be masters in every category to match the scale's accuracy.
It was one thing for them to fall short in this area, but for Shuishui City to casually produce such an item for everyday transactions showed a startling disparity in power and resources.
After delivering their goods and receiving their spirit stones, none of the sects or royal families left right away. Instead, they headed to a nearby counter set up just outside the External Trade Office.
This was where the Trading Center sold goods.
The attendant at the counter was a young man.
He was actually from the Miscellaneous Hall, but the hall elder Liu Yunan had sent him to assist in the Trading Center.
His name was Bai Shu.
Sitting at the counter, Bai Shu worked efficiently. Shelves filled with storage bags surrounded him.
Whenever a sect or royal family representative brought over their shopping list, Bai Shu would swiftly grab the corresponding goods from the storage bags on the shelves and hand them over.
Initially, the sects and royal families hadn't been too concerned about the quality of the items sold by the Trading Center, as the prices were already quite affordable. They figured as long as the quality wasn't too far off, it would be acceptable.
After all, they were mainly buying basic resources where quality variations didn't make a huge price difference.
But after witnessing the Scale of Fairness used in purchasing their goods, many became curious. Would the same strict standards apply to the items sold by the Trading Center?
This was a small issue that didn't need to be escalated. Li Zhouxuan, on his own authority, decided that once he was done processing all the goods, the Scale of Fairness could also be used to test the Trading Center's wares. However, it would be restricted to checking goods purchased from the center. Any additional items brought for testing would incur a fee.
Li Zhouxuan also immediately set the testing fee: one spirit stone could assess 100 low-grade items or 10 mid-grade items.
As the head of external trading, Li Zhouxuan had the authority to set prices, and this fee wasn't arbitrary. It was based on the approximate consumption of spirit stones by the Scale of Fairness during its operation.
Since the Trading Center only dealt with low- and mid-grade items for the time being, he only had data on those levels. He didn't bother setting prices for higher-grade items, as no one in the Mortal Realm likely had any to bring for testing.