CHAPTER 13 Yanming?

At Qin Yan’s question, Fu Changling came back to his senses. He calmed himself down and said, “Heal ourselves at home in the day, and at nighttime we will head to the auction.”

Qin Yan acknowledged it. The both of them shared a meal in the day and made a request to the mayor that they were heading out to the Lotus Pavilion in the night.

Even at night, the little town was extremely crowded. Fu Changling made himself at home as he sauntered and nonchalantly said, “Say, this Hidden Realm of Xuanji, albeit small, is sufficiently equipped; with so much space they could even hold an auction.”

Speaking, Fu Changling took out the mask they’d just bought and turned to Qin Yan.“Speaking of which, didn’t you consider asking me how much money I have since we are going to an auction? Do you have plenty of money on you?”

Qin Yan reminded him, “You are a member of the Fu Clan.”

Fu Changling replied, “Tch.” The Fu Clan has nothing except plenty of money.

He crossed his arms and sighed. “Even being too wealthy is a problem; even you know that I’m rich.”

“Oh, do sword cultivators who are quite tight on money like you people never attend an auction before?”

Qin Yan said nothing and Fu Changling boisterously laughed, feeling a little excited, “Not daring to speak, that means you’re guilty. You must be usually quite tight on money!”

“En.”

Qin Yan finally spoke, “All will depend on Brother Fu when we arrive at the auction.”

“Done.” With a hand on his waist and the other holding his hand, Fu Changling said, “Let me show you how it feels like to be one of the rich attending an auction.”

Speaking, the two of them arrived at the Lotus Pavilion. An old man welcomed Fu Changling and Qin Yan, fawning over them. “Both Young Masters are…”

Before he finished speaking, Fu Changling covered half his face with his fan and reached out with the other, a middle-class spiritual stone sitting in his palm, and lazily he said, “The first room[5], please.”

At the sight of the spiritual stone, the old man’s smile widened plentifully and instantly welcomed Fu Changling. “This way, Young Master. May I ask for your surname?”

Fu Changling walked up the stairs and kept his fan. He proudly announced his surname—

Fu.

If this place wasn’t in a hidden realm, anyone who welcomed a guest by the surname of ‘Fu’ would only be smiling until flowers bloomed on their faces. Only, due to this place being in a hidden realm, the people inside of it would not be able to comprehend how much financial power the ‘Fu’ word would bring. And so, they welcomed these two Young Masters and brought them to the first room of the second floor of the auction.

As they stepped into the beautiful and elegant first room, Fu Changling beckoned Qin Yan to sit. Then, some servants brought them some tea before leaving the room.

Fu Changling was snacking on melon seeds as he watched Qin Yan who sat next to him. Interested, he asked, “Now that we’re in the Hidden Realm of Xuanji, we should be a little thrifty with money for the sword. After we leave this realm, whatever you wanted in an auction, I’d buy it as a gift for you.”

“Fellow Cultivator Fu must be kidding.” Qin Yan expressionlessly said, “We are not that close.”

Speaking, Qin Yan lifted his gaze at him in warning, “About the gift, forget it.”

It stunned Fu Changling to hear these words. Only after a moment passed did he manage to come back to his senses. He hadn’t realized that ever since he’d been reborn into the year when he was seventeen, he had also adopted the attitude of one. Back when he was seventeen, this was how he was like—to perceive money like it wasn’t important and giving it away easily as long as he could chat up with random strangers.

It was also because of this attitude of his that he’d drawn a countless number of admirers[6] and owed debts in forms of relationships[7]. Although those admirers had come willingly and he had not promised them anything, when rumours turned as solid as gold, they caused a dent to his reputation in his earlier years. Hence it was normal for Qin Yan to be wary of him.

He wryly smiled twice and concealed his awkwardness by chewing on melon seeds. At this time, the grand stage below gradually began to operate. A woman walked up the stage and clapped her hands, everyone fell silent.

The woman had just spoken two sentences and the auction officially began. Fu Changling sipped his tea and said, “Tch, how unfinicky.”

“In a hidden realm,” Qin Yan calmly said, “how finicky do you want them to be?”

“That makes sense.”

Fu Changling took it easily and studied the item being brought up as he sipped his tea.

The first item was a piece of jade. Fu Changling observed it and said in disappointment, “How could they bring such an item here? How unsightly.”

Speaking, Fu Changling began to fuss over that jade that seemed to be made from poor craftsmanship.

It was, after all, just a little town. There would be nothing too astounding on the auction. The items being brought up didn’t impress Fu Changling. As he commented on those items, he munched on his melon seeds, and after one shichen[8], the auction finally decided to wrap it up. The person on the stage feigned a mysterious tone and said, “The last item was only obtained by the Lotus Pavilion after many rough experiences. This precious item is a golden pagoda, called Linglong Pagoda. As long as everyone here knows the market, they’d know how much this baby is worth.”

After he finished speaking, the entire hall erupted onto heated chattering. Fu Changling and Qin Yan were astonished by the sight. After all, those people didn't know what the Linglong Pagoda truly was even though the townspeople in this little town were obviously passionate. The auctioneer was pleased with the scene and, raising a finger vertically, she smiled. “The starting price, one thousand spiritual stones!”

A thousand spiritual stones was a huge price in this little town of the Hidden Realm of Xuanji. Everyone who was excited a moment ago sank into silence upon hearing that price. But even so, there were still some people who raised their signs. With each time they did, they added one hundred spiritual stones and very quickly, the pagoda reached almost two thousand spiritual stones.

Qin Yan looked at Fu Changling, who was watching the show just next to him, and said, “What are you waiting for?”

“Wait a bit.” Fu Changling swept his hands together. “They're not yet at their limit.”

The calling for prices got slower and slower. As it approached nearly three thousand, finally no one dared to add anymore. The auctioneer said with a face full of smiles, “Three thousand, once.”

“Three thousand, twice.”

“Three thousand…”

“Three thousand one hundred!”

Fu Changling finally raised his sign and the auctioneer looked astonished. Fu Changling leaned in close to Qin Yan and whispered, “Only when you raise your sign in that manner, it will leave an impression on them.”

Just as Fu Changling was being cocky, the auctioneer suddenly said, “Three thousand two hundred!”

Puzzled, Fu Changling raised his head and saw that in another first room opposite of them, someone had also raised their sign.

The sight made Fu Changling astonished and after that, he quickly realized someone was raising the price, so he instantly raised his sign again. “Three thousand three hundred.”

The other person refused to relent. Almost immediately, three thousand four hundred were raised.

The price got higher and higher and obviously, the other person was determined on getting the Linglong Pagoda. He and Fu Changling outpriced the other but when the other person said “ten thousand”, Fu Changling’s expression changed.

Qin Yan was enjoying his tea but when Fu Changling said nothing, he curiously asked, “Something happened?”

Fu Changling turned to him with an ugly expression and said, “That… uh…”

“Hm?”

“Could I borrow some money?”

Qin Yan, “...”

At the moment Qin Yan sank into silence, the wealthy Young Master Fu felt his face particularly in pain.

Thankfully, Qin Yan didn’t say much. He took out his spiritual pouch from his sleeve and said, “I only have five hundred.”

That was a bit shabby.

These five hundred spiritual stones allowed Fu Changling to raise the signs five more times, but the other person appeared to have taken them for nothing and the price reached ten thousand and six hundred spiritual stones.

At wit’s end, both of them finally admitted defeat.

For the first time in his life, Fu Changling lost a battle of wealth. His eyes had turned red as he watched the other person stand up. Qin Yan calmly sipped his tea and said, “Someone else got the Linglong Pagoda, what should we do?”

Fu Changling inhaled sharply, finally no longer being able to keep his frustrations in.

“Since we’ve made it to this point, our life is at stake. Don’t blame me for being ruthless.”

Fu Changling’s fingers touched the tea, then quickly drew an incantation on the table. “Heaven and earth may ask me, to whereth thou had gone, go!”

When he finished, the incantation floated out. Fu Changling hurried and ran furiously out. “Let’s go!”

Qin Yan got to his feet and followed behind Fu Changling. Fu Changling fled down the stairs and led Qin Yan into a small alley. As he walked, he whispered, “Just now I’ve scanned him with my spiritual consciousness; this person is only in his core formation stage. I’ve placed a tracking incantation on him and now he’s coming towards this alley. Quickly run to the end of this alley and stop him. I will set up an array here to wait for him. When that time comes and we are attacking him on both fronts, we’ll take the pagoda by force!”

Speaking, Fu Changling took out the masks he’d bought on the way here. He tossed one into Qin Yan’s hands and put on the other.

“This wouldn’t be… too nice would it?”

“Wouldn't be too nice?” Fu Changling raised a brow. “Why don’t you think of something then. If you think this is too vile, then should I find the core of the Hidden Realm of Xuanji and shatter it by force?”

Qin Yan found that too vile, as well. So he said nothing and put on the mask before heading to the end of the alley.

Fu Changling had prepared the array on where he stood, waiting for that person to fall into the trap on his own.

After a while, there was a clattering sound as the other came from the front. A mess of uneven footsteps came. Fu Changling opened up his fan and the array below his feet burst into light. With one hand holding his fan, and the other behind his back, after a while, he saw a white-robed sword cultivator carrying an ebony wooden box with engravings of flowers hurrying towards their way with a sword in his hand.

He had a handsome face, and similar to Qin Yan, both of them had phoenix eyes. Though, he was a little less vibrant compared to Qin Yan, and therefore looked more ordinary. Fu Changling looked at him, astonished, and the reason was no other—this person’s looks was identical to Yanming in his dream!

Thankfully, he quickly came back to his senses. The other person’s long sword rushed towards him. Fu Changling activated the array and pulled the other person by his wrist, pulling him into the array.

Rattan shot out from beneath his feet and tied that person against the wall. Fu Changling smiled as he walked over, and just as he was about to speak, he saw a piece of jade on that person’s waist.

That piece of jade had a character on it: “Yan”. Astonished, Fu Changling instinctively reached out for the jade and flipped it around, only to see another word: “Ming”.

Memories poured into his mind and Fu Changling raised his head in shock. After a while, that sword cultivator’s long sword came for him and sliced off a strand of hair in front of Fu Changling. He looked into the other person’s steady and clear eyes, and said, “Yanming?”

The other person froze where he stood. At this moment, Qin Yan has rushed over. The other person didn’t stay; he turned and left. Fu Changling stood there, dazed. Qin Yan rushed towards him and furrowed his brows, saying, “Where did he go?”

Fu Changling shook himself clear upon hearing Qin Yan’s voice. He took down his mask and said, “I know who took the sword.”

“And then?”

Qin Yan’s suspicions grew deeper. Fu Changling turned around and said, “Relax. He’s not a bad person. I will go and retrieve it tomorrow.”

Author’s Notes:

There is no dog blood

There are no replacements

Rest assured