It was in the dead of the night when a young maiden from QingHai Sect exited NanJiang town, carrying a little child in her arms. She had not run for long before a group of burly looking men clad in black blocked her path and surrounded her. She stopped and eyed them cautiously. A beer-bellied fat man dressed in gaudy crimson ChangPao emerged from amongst the men while fanning himself, sniggering.

 

Unbeknownst to both groups, a young man clad in a black martial robe weighed the situation from the shadows of the alleys.

 

The young man has no obligation to lend her a hand. However, it does not seems like he intends to be just a bystander either.

 

- - -

18 hours ago in front of NanJiang city’s gate.

- - -

 

A blood-red stone gate eighty zhangs in height and width stood tall. Hundreds of visitors formed a snaking queue in front of the traveler checkpoint, a few meters away from the city gate.

 

Despite the size, NanJiang city is quiet well known for its commercial activity. The city’s merchants offers various kinds of rare items and ingredients that can’t be found elsewhere, and this applies both for its white and black market respectively. This is one of the reasons why the city is always swarmed by visitors from all around the country.

 

A young man clad in form-fitting black martial robes stared at the throng of the crowd – impassive. He scanned his surroundings for a few long moments before something caught his sight.

 Amidst the crowd, a speck of white stood out.

 

A slender white hand reached out from behind a veiled hat to cast the white muslin veil aside. A young maiden gently shook open an ivory folding fan, gathering wind to her. The weather was rather cold at this time of the year and she was bundled up tightly, face veiled even behind the veiled bamboo hat. However, her fair hand waved the fan steadily, in contrast to the near-freezing weather. Behind parted muslin lies a pair of limpid autumn eyes framed under fluttering lashes

 

A stranger to NanJiang city, ZhengYi considered to approach the young maiden to ask for directions.

 

However, before he could reach the maiden, the spiritual energy in his veins started to crash in unpredictable surges.

 

He clenched his teeth and frowned.

 

Ever since he had completed his training and was allowed to leave his territory, the Black Sea Palace, his spiritual qi had been unruly.

Such is the cost of a rushed cultivation.

Amongst his clansmen, ZhengYi was considered gifted – completing training within a short span of a few decades compared to the rest of his clansmen who underwent the same training as he is. It was after he has completed his training, he was finally allowed to venture outside of his territory.

 

Initially pleased with his speedy improvement, he had left without a second thought. Yet he now felt that he probably should have taken some more time to solidify his foundation lest he had improved too fast and risked qi deviating.

 

ZhengYi actually had arrived in this town by chance.

 

While he was en route from Black Sea Palace to his destination, the spiritual qi in his core had started to become restless and in order to avoid unwanted incidents, he had decided to seek land for safety. Currently, he is unsure about his whereabouts but will have to lay in wait for several days until his energy flow has calmed down completely.

 

As he was walking about to ascertain his surroundings, the sight of the young maiden somehow caught his sight. There was nothing unique on the maiden outer appearances nor outfits. Some travelers have worn similar attire both in color and style. However, it was peculiar on how it is only the young maiden caught his line of sight.

 

Nevertheless, some encounters are predestined by karmic entanglement. They might have owed each other in their previous incarnation. With this in mind, ZhengYi strode towards the young maiden once again, undoubtingly.

The young maiden hands which was pinning up the muslin veil immediately hand froze, opening the ivory folding fan with a rap to shield her face as the young man entered her view.

 

“This Young lady, may I trouble you for a moment? I am new to this area. May I ask if you are familiar with how I may find out more about this city ?”

A pair of icy phoenix eyes scanned the young man briefly. She then rapped close her fan and gestured forward with it.

 A hundred zhangs towards the direction she pointed at, stood a small courtyard. The courtyard was situated oddly right before the humongous city gate – the only formal residence outside the city. All around are small makeshift stalls where merchants sold foods and odds-and-ends to tourists. 

ZhengYi followed the directions of the maiden’s fan and noticed that the travelers are all lined up to gain entry to the courtyard.

ZhengYi turns his gaze back to the young maiden who is still holding her fan to the courtyard impassively.

“Do I go there?”, he asked further, hoping for more explanation.

Hearing his question, the young maiden seemed to have grown slightly irritated. ZhengYi can see her eyebrows twitch slightly and her eyes narrow as she consider her response towards his question. This time, she patted his shoulder with her fan and pointed towards the same direction again while making horizontal swipes.

ZhengYi followed her line of sight and noticed that she seemed to be underlining the words written in large golden font on a black name-plaque on top of the courtyard.

It reads ‘Immigration Station’.

When ZhengYi turned his sight back to the young maiden, she was reaching upwards towards her wooden hat, where she had pinned up her outer veil. She was undoing the clasp, intending to hide behind the veil again when ZhengYi interrupted her once again.

 

She let out a soft sigh openly this time around and voiced out.

“This Young master, is there anything else I can help you with?”

ZhengYi was slightly started upon hearing her voice. The young maiden had used a spell to alter her voice.  It was a well-concealed spell. Had he had not been so well trained, he wouldn’t have noticed. 

However, ZhengYi still puts up a calm smile and smiled gently at the young maiden.

“I came from another continent and am new to this area. If it's not troublesome, may I seek your guidance in the city?”

“It is troublesome, I'm afraid. I apologize I am not of any help as I am not too familiar with this area as well. Maybe young master could ask the merchant behind for some guidance.”

At the end of her sentence, the young maiden unpinned her veil and hid behind the layer of white muslin.

Having had no choice, Zheng Yi clasped his hands in thanks and moved towards the merchant group behind her to ask. As it was of not much trouble, the merchant group agreed to guide him in through the immigration and even brought him into the inn they were staying at.

 

Having booked a room in the inn recommended by the merchant, Zheng Yi had nothing else to do. Instead of sitting around at his room, waiting for his energy to settle down, he decided to take a walk around the city. It had been a long time since he last mingled amongst mortals.

 

Making his way through a crowded marketplace, he walked past a towering building decked with golden and bronze decoration. The signage read “Fortune Auction House”.

 

Throngs of people gathered about the auction house. Zheng Yi had no desire to buy anything and decided to give it a pass. He had barely walked for a hundred feet when he felt an irritating tugging sensation clamor about his mind. The auction house’s signage keeps on blinking in his mind, like a vexing reminder. He kept on walking. The image of the auction house name board kept on flashing in his mind. Eventually, he gave up, turned around, and walked towards the auction house. It was no harm visiting such places since he had nothing to do anyway.

 

He had no shortage of money and bought an individual seat on the second floor of the auction house. The seats on the first floors are cheaper but they are all cramped side by side around the center circular stage. On the contrary, second-floor seats are located in partitioned rooms, with thin silk curtains covering the balcony for buyers who seek to conceal their identity.

 

Before long, the auction commenced.

 

As expected, the items auctions couldn’t be compared to the treasures belonging to his sect. Spiritual herbs like Evergreen grass, WinterDew Flowers, ButterflyAmaranth, GoldVine Bark were all rather common items for him. There were also some lower grade beast eggs and treasures not worth mentioning. Before long, he grew bored. He was about to leave when the auctioneer announced an item that caught his attention.

“Ladies and gentleman, the next item is a 7-years-old grade-3 YaoRen! They are excellent ingredients for pills and research! Bidding will start at 1000 golden pearls with 100 pearls increment for every new bid!”

The crowd chattered incessantly upon hearing this.

 

Zheng Yi furrowed his brows. 

He abhors the practice of using and selling YaoRen. 

YaoRen is a rare type of mortal,born with one-in-a-million chance and has a varying degree of usefulness. They are also called human lingzhi (human ginseng) because their blood and organs have medicinal properties. The degree of usefulness is ranked by a grading system which ranked them from grade 1 to 8. Being in grade 3, this child was around low to mid-grade. 

However, as there is no way to detect human panacea except for their excellent self-healing ability, if the human panacea themselves did not actively feed their blood to others, it is near impossible to recognize them. As such, the human panacea is considered a rare item. 

Whatever is available is likely to be farmed produce from previously discovered YaoRens. 

A YaoRen’s child may or may not be a YaoRen. However, since they have a higher chance of producing a YaoRen child, adult YaoRen is often bred like livestock to produce new YaoRens for sales.

Having encountered one before, Zheng Yi was disgusted at the practice of buying and selling YaoRen like ingredients. This child, if left to its fate, will likely end up living a life like farmed animals for a few years before having its organs removed for its medicinal properties.

 

He had no shortage of gold and was considering if he should interfere when a clear crisp voice rang in the hall.

“Is it a girl or a boy?”, a mellow but firm voice rang out from a cubicle on the second floor. Amidst the chatter, the young man’s voice rang like clear harp strings silencing the crowd.

 

The chatter amongst the crowd receded before some nervous laughter erupts amongst the audience.

 

Some of the audience even resorted to chiding an “Aiyaaaah!!!” while waving their hand about.

The reason they have laughed is that it doesn’t matter whether a YaoRen is a woman or a man – the usefulness remained the same. The fact that the buyer is asking for the child’s gender raised some suspicion amongst the audience that the buyer might want the YaoRen for some unsavory uses or a bedwarming slave.

The old man who was the auctioneer was stumped and stood still like a stork on the stage as the crowd laughed on.

 

“Auctioneer, is it a girl or a boy?”

The voice asked again, unperturbed.

 

The old auctioneer dare not dilly dally any more. He gathered himself and answered, “It’s … it’s a girl.”

 

He doesn’t know why the buyer would ask such a thing. The little girl indeed looked rather unkempt. Despite the auction house having cleaned her up and gave her new clothes to wear, her hair was shorn short and she looked rather boyish. At this age, it was hard to tell if she was a girl or a boy just from appearances alone. The thought that the buyer may have some unsavory inclination towards the young girl rose in his mind. However, he quickly shot down this thought. Who is he to give a damn? He is here to sell things not for humanitarian work. This buyer had bought some spiritual herbs for a high price – in particular WinterDew herb which quite a lot of people sought after and had won it by bidding the highest. Such rich patrons are hard to come by and he doesn’t want to irritate one.

 

“1000 gold pearls”, the voice rang.

The crowd gasped.

 

They didn’t expect that such a shameless PedoBear exists in this world – to openly bid for the child after ascertaining its gender.

 

ZhengYi frowned in his seat. He understood what the crowd was thinking about, but he detected no malice nor negative intention from the buyer’s voice. The voice was firm and soothing, like frozen ice on a lake’s surface. It carries an icy tone but with an undertone of soft breeze underneath.

 

In addition, he felt a certain familiarity towards the voice.

 

Soon, some other buyers started bidding as well.

“1100 golden pearls!”

“1200 golden pearls!”

“1500 golden pearls!”

The first buyer let out a long sigh as if he was tired. It was rather audible because the second-floor rooms are equipped with voice magnification spell which helps make richer patrons ‘ bid louder. His apathetic attitude irritated some of the other buyers who are clearly tense from bidding.

 

“2000.”, the clear voice rang again.

 

The crowd gasped.

‘Raising the bid by 500 golden pearls at once – this person must be some rich household’s young master!’ is what in the head of the other buyers upon hearing the increase on the bet.

“HMPHH!!!”, an angry grunt was amplified around the auction house theatre from a room opposite to the first buyer’s on the second floor, “3000 golden pea….”

 

“4000.”, the first buyer’s cold voice retorted before the other buyer could even finish his bid.

 

A grubby hand with fat fingers grabbed the curtain aside on the second floor, revealing a chubby fat man whose face was red. He was fuming from anger, and his sleeves fluttered as he pried open the curtain and leaned forward on the balcony edge– his belly flowing over the handrail.

 

“YOU!!!!”, he pointed straight at the room opposite his and yelled,” just tell me what your highest price is, so we can stop wasting time!!!”

 

However, the first buyer merely remained quiet, unaffected by the provocation.

 

Seething from rage from being ignored, the bald man slapped the balcony railing loudly with a “BAM!!!” and cursed, “FUCK YOU! Fuck your mother and your entire family!!! 6000 golden pearls!!”

This was actually, the highest he could go. He wanted to stop wasting time and thought he might as well go all out. He was desperate to get his hands on this YaoRen and is willing to spend such an exorbitant amount of money on it. Definitely no one will be so mad as to waste such a ridiculous amount on a YaoRen aside from him.

Almost immediately, the sound of a fan being rapped close echoed in the amphitheater.

 

ZhengYi caught this sound and thought it oddly familiar.

 

“7000 golden pearls.”, the mellow voice answered firmly.

 

The fat man immediately coughed up blood, spraying the curtain on his room red. His attendants scurried about him in panic and carried him away. He had been too vexed by the bidding that he had suffered slight internal injuries.

 

A soft low chuckle can be heard from the first buyer’s room. The chilly autumn wind blew in the theatre amidst the silence and a certain silk curtain was lifted slightly, revealing a handsome young man, looking scholarly and proper behind the silk curtain. He was tapping his folding fan gently against his knees as he waited for the auctioneer to finalize this deal. The corner of his lips was slightly raised, revealing his amusement.

 

From his seat, ZhengYi can clearly see the red and black cranes embroidered on the edge of his sleeves and his waistband. His hair was tied up in a half-ponytail, two long black hairpins attached to the bun.

 

The sound of a chair falling filled the room as ZhengYi stood up. He walked out of the room and rushed towards the first buyer’s balcony.