by Tinalynge
Glancing at Cao Cao by his side, Xu Min sighed in envy. The snake was deeply asleep and not bothering with refining essences at all because he was a magical beast. Cultivation for a magical beast was quite different from those of humans. While Xu Min was working hard to increase his rank, Cao Cao automatically grew stronger and stronger just by growing up. He was currently nothing more than a juvenile. However, the strength he would gain by the time he reached adulthood was unknown. Also, no one would know how much food he would be eating.
Chapter 24 - Shopping Time
Early in the morning, the golden specks of lights fluttering around the young man shone in the rays of sunshine. As soon as he stopped his regulated breathing, they all dissipated into thin air. By his side, little Cao Cao was still asleep while coiled up on the soft bed with a satisfied look on its face.
Cao Cao had finally woken up the night before. After looking at the small snake, Xu Min understood that it was still exhausted after having battled many men in the forest. The young man could not help but feel both gratitude and a desire to improve rapidly so that he was strong enough to protect the snake by his side.
Having decided to strengthen himself, Xu Min started stretching his tired muscles before he quickly dressed. Afterwards, he went to the outskirts of the city once more. He exited the large gates and started to run from one gate to another.
The city was massive. At first, Xu Min had planned on running around the entire city. However, as he ran for hours on end without even having completed even a quarter of the way, Xu Min finally decided to only run towards the next gate.
Running in the scorching sun with the snake coiled around his neck, Xu Min pushed himself to his limits. His legs had long since gone numb. Sweat dripped from his body and the only thing that motivated him to keep moving was the constant thoughts of how weak he was. Laughing at himself, he remembered that he wished to take revenge upon the Zhong family leader. However, he was nothing more than an early stage One-Star Warrior.
Gritting his teeth, Xu Min forced himself to keep running every time his body wished to stop. After running at his fastest speed for what felt like an eternity, he finally saw a city gate in the distance.
Witnessing him running all the way to the wall, everyone stared in shock. The sight of the sweat dripping off his body and the sound of panting from inhaling air was enough to make anyone who looked at him to slightly inch away. But the young man did not care. Looking at the sun, he could see that it was the afternoon and was shocked to know that he had managed to run for all these hours straight.
With tired legs and a rumbling stomach, Xu Min went back to the inn. His entrance was even more astonishing than it was the day before. This time, no one assumed that he was rich. Everyone could see that he looked like a poor man who had managed to find enough coins to rent a good room for a short time.
Having people think this way did not bother Xu Min. The more people who expected him to be poor, the more likely he was to be left alone by the other cultivators within the inn and the restaurant.
Xu Min started to make some stretching movements which Overseer Tian had taught him. He slowly relaxed his entire body before he went for a bath to wash all the sweat off his body. At the same time he began washing himself, Cao Cao decided to wake up. With skilled movements, he swam around in the water with as much enjoyment as Xu Min.
After the bath was over, Xu Min once more ordered a massive amount of food. He shared it with the snake and then stood up within the room to take the stance which Wang Li had given him. Standing in position, the young man closed his eyes as thousands of jade white specks of light appeared behind him. At a closer inspection, one could see that these specks of light actually looked like small shards of ice made from white jade. They all hovered there filling up the entire room with specks. As Xu Min opened his eyes, an excited expression was on his face.
Having created this many shards, he was incredibly satisfied with his performance. The sun was getting ready to start its descent behind the city walls. Xu Min looked out to the city at dusk and the streets were still bustling with life. Carts were driving on the busy roads and customers, cultivators, and commoners alike were travelling to and fro within the city.
Xu Min looked at the bustling life down on the street the young man sighed deeply. Having finished the scheduled physical labour of the day, the young man knew it was time for him to start cultivating the Qi within his Dantian cave. Unfortunately, he also knew that even if he had started a few hours earlier, it wouldn’t have amounted to much. Cultivating the Battle Qi was something which took an immense amount of time.
The reason why the majority of the so-called geniuses were all from rich families were because they could afford to purchase medicinal herbs, pills, and pastes to enhance their high class martial arts.
Knowing this, Xu Min suddenly felt like hitting his head heavily against something hard. He knew that with the money he currently possessed, he would still be able to purchase some pills. However, they would not be the most expensive and rarest of the pills but would be a great benefit for an early stage One-Star Warrior.
Xu Min looked at the bustling streets once more. He rushed out the door, down the stairs towards the restaurant, and left through the front door with an incredible speeds.
As soon as he had entered the stone roads outside the inn, Xu Min was suddenly and completely uncertain about what to do. He knew what he wanted to do, but how to execute it was not easy. He had no idea as to which kind of shop sold medicinal pills nor did he know anything about which kind of pills he needed to purchase. Every time he thought about how weak he was, Xu Min’s eyes glistened with anger and determination. So, he rushed through one street after another as the sunshine slowly became less and less. As his passion grew, the sun began to descend behind the city gates as a chilled air filled the city.
Customers no longer headed out to shop and the majority were on their way home to eat with their families or to finish their work. Even so, Xu Min did not give up and finally, he reached a place called Alluring Treasures Pavilion.
Looking at the place, Xu Min could not think of anywhere else that could sell medicinal herbs or medicines. He saw that customers still entered the shop.
He was relieved that he had been wearing his black set of clothes as he had left the bath. They had made him look less like a penniless manual laborer.
When he came to the front gates, he found that one had to pay an astonishing entrance fee of fifty silvers. Even though the fee was quite extraordinary, multiple people kept flooding into the store. Eventually, Xu Min paid the fee and began to follow the flood of people.
Following the masses, Xu Min and Cao Cao were taken into a massive room filled with people who each were sitting on chairs that were placed in front of a large stage. Seeing this, Xu Min was completely taken aback. He had previously heard about auction houses from Overseer Wang Li, but he had never truly entered one before. As he continued exploring the inside of the house, he was filled with confusion as to what to do.
He had been given a number when he had paid the entrance fee. At first, he had expected that it was the number in which he’d be served. But now, he understood that it was a number used when bidding on an item.
Although Xu Min felt somewhat out of place, he quickly found a seat. As he glanced in every direction with curiosity, he finally experienced what an auction house was like for the first time.
Xu Min was not the only one astonished because little Cao Cao’s face was turning from one side to another. He looked at the humans and his surroundings, while feeling the apprehension within the small room. Both the man and snake could not wait for the auction to actually begin.
Although they were impatient, it took about an hour until the doors of the auction house were finally closed. Prior to the start of the auction, guests constantly flooded in through the doors. At last, the light within the room dimmed while the lights at the stage shone with an amazing radiance.
Seeing this,
Xu Min was excited and happy. Although he had never been at an auction before, he had heard that exotic and tempting items and high end medicines all appeared there.
Waiting patiently, a woman finally stepped onto the stage. Her body was shrouded in a very tight fitted dress and an elaborate and bejewled crown sat on the woman’s hair. She was so incredibly beautiful that both Xu Min and Cao Cao found themselves breathless. Looking at this beautiful woman, Xu Min remembered a sentence his teacher once had told him,
“Women are the cause of many evils. A beautiful woman can cause men to go insane and cities to be destroyed.”
Looking at the woman in front of him and at the fevered glances of the surrounding men, Xu Min could not think of any other woman that the phrase could fit as perfectly as it did on her.
Her beautiful hand was slim and displayed a bit of her wrist. Her skin was white like jade and her lips were as red as blood. Her eyes were dark and deep like a phoenix. Her hair appeared to be smooth and beautiful in an elaborate style.
Even Xu Min, who usually felt nothing about women, could not help but feel his heart skipping a beat. Even Cao Cao, the snake around his neck, was mesmerized by the beauty of the woman on the stage.
Just as Xu Min was drawn into her beauty, the red lips opened themselves and a greeting sounded out. Her voice was soft as velvet and comfortable like a warm bed in the cold dark night.
“Welcome to the Alluring Treasure House,” the woman started. “Today, we have three extraordinary items on display. To ensure that the good gentlemen have enough money for the items all the way to the end, we will start with these treasured items.”
And without further ado, the woman swung her hand and came four cultivators. Each one of them were far higher in rank than Xu Min. This made it impossible for him to determine their strength. Cao Cao whispered, ‘Four Seven-Star Warriors!’ which took the young man by surprise.
On the table, there was a scroll in a case. The scroll looked like any other, but the way it was guarded clearly showed something different. Xu Min’s curiosity prompted him to adjust himself slightly in his seat so he could see the scroll better. Yet no matter how hard he looked at it, it was just an ordinary scroll.
Sighing deeply, Xu Min leaned back against the seat once more as he waited for the explanation from the beautiful woman. He did not have to wait long before a smile broke out on her tempting red lips. A gentle voice rung through the quiet auction house.
“What we have here, good Sirs, is a martial art skill that has been acquired earlier this season from the Ruins of the Immortals.” she said. As the ravishing woman paused slightly, a collective gasp of air could be heard within the room. Xu Min was not as interested in the martial art skill as he was for what this Ruins of Immortals could be. He had only glanced once at an Immortals Cave. To see the legendary Ruins of the Immortals would be something he would trade his wealth to see.
Chapter 25 - The Alluring Treasure Pavilion
‘I want to go to the ruins.’ Cao Cao’s voice sounded in Xu Min’s mind. The young man could not help but chuckle as he had the exact same thoughts as the small snake around his neck. Petting the snake with adoration, Xu Min could not help but answer, ‘We’re going to watch the auction for now. Later on, we can use some coins to gather information on these Ruins of the Immortals.’
Hearing this, the snake nodded in agreement as it closed its eyes from being petted by Xu Min.
Looking at the auction house, one guest after another lifted their signs. They were bidding for the martial art scroll. The price quickly surpassed the amount of money Xu Min had, even after counting the White Jade Card. Now, the young man understood that he could be considered a rich young master just from selling the Yearning Sunflower. However, he was still far from being able to hold a candle against the rich families and clans within the Ri Chu City.
Although Xu Min followed, interested in the price of the martial art skill, he still did not have feelings of jealousy towards the ones who could afford it. Instead, he felt excited from thinking about the Ruins of the Immortals. Although he had told Cao Cao they’d find out later, his curiosity was still very strong.
The martial art skill ended up selling for the astonishing amount of three thousand and four hundred gold coins. It was a tremendous amount of money for such an item.
“The first of our three special items this evening was just sold for such an amazing price,” the woman said as she, once more, stood at the stage. She caused every man within the room to cough, clear their throats, and rub their eyes. Their eyes and throat had suddenly gone dry from staring at the alluring curves and the beautiful figure.
“I hope you have not spent all your money just yet,” the woman continued. She completely ignored the numerous gazes that were glued to her body. Instead, she moved around on the stage which allowed her figure to twist and turn. From doing that, she attracted even more gazes her way. A mischievous smile was playing on her blood red lips as she looked at the men within the room.
“Our next item is incredibly rare,” the woman said. She continued as though her movements came from her excitement about the items rather than to draw in more fevered gazes. This convinced the men to try and make her notice them by bidding on the items she was selling.
Once more, four high ranked Warriors came from through the door. This time, Xu Min was completely flabbergasted as he looked at the item up for sale. On the transparent counter, a flower was standing tall. It was a flower which Xu Min knew all too well. It was the Yearning Sunflower he had sold earlier for a whopping eleven hundred gold coins.
Patting his bag by his side, Xu Min put a quick glance into it and noticed that he had two more yearning sunflowers. A grin appeared on his face as the young man leaned back into his chair to ready himself to watch the bidding war with interest. He was very curious to see how much the flower would sell for and not to mention how many bidders would be interested in buying this flower.
“Today we have this astonishingly beautiful Yearning Sunflower,” the woman started to describe the flower. “The Yearning Sunflower will turn into a Lustful Sunflower the moment it touches sunshine. This makes it even more rare than its mutated stance. I know that Master Dong Liang is currently searching for a Yearning Sunflower. Anyone who can gift him one of these will be able to invite him over to visit their family or clan. Not only master Dong Liang, but Huang Zhen is also looking for one. To be able to pick and choose between the two grandmasters, one can imagine how important this flower may be.”
The woman continued as she walked around the stage. Her eyes glanced over the audience but were shortly stopped on a smirking youngster as he pet a snake coiled around his neck. Seeing this, the young woman could not help but frown slightly. However, she quickly regained her composure and a blinding smile showed on her face as she started the bidding war.
One sign after another was lifted into the air. Voices constantly shouted greater and greater amounts of gold coins. Within a few moments, the price of eleven hundred gold coins Xu Min had sold it for was the calling price for the Yearning Sunflower. It did not stop there, however. Three family leaders were battling it out each other. One after another, each family yelled a higher price than the previous family. It quickly reached three thousand gold coins where it slowed down slightly. The bids now only raised fifty gold coins at a time.
Eventually, one of the families had to opt out and were no longer capable of bidding. Two families stayed competing until eventually one of the men shook his head. He stopped the bids which allowed a tall and lean man with a black beard and long hair to shout out the winning bid of three thousand seven hundred and fifty gold coins.
Hearing the shocking amount of money, Xu Min could not help but raise an eyebrow in surprise. The price was quite higher than what he had expected it to sell for. Yet, it was still quite a bit less than what the woman who had purchased it had hoped to sell it for.
After the first two items had been sold, the woman on the stage once more star
ted to pace around the stage. She was using a lot of flowery and grandiose words to describe the winning families. Anyone could see that her words pleased the families they were spoken about.
“Finally,” the woman said with her face growing very mysterious. A smile hung on her face as she was preparing to describe the final item. “This item is the main attraction for tonight. It can clearly rival both the Yearning Sunflower and the Martial Art Skill from the Ruins of the Immortals.” The mysterious expression on the woman’s face grew further into amusement as though she was finding this entertaining.
“The next item up for sale is a suit of armor which has been given further protection by a runic inscription from our very own Ri Chu City’s Lord Zhan Weisheng.” As soon as the words had been said, a large tremor ran through the entire room. Everyone seemed to be looking around as though they were searching for someone. Before they had managed to find anyone, the woman on the stage cleared her throat. Instantly calling everyone to order, she commanded the men to once more sit down in the seats. All their eyes were glued onto the woman who nimbly went towards the side where she gestured towards a balcony.
