Chapter 142
As for anything produced from “Return to Nothingness”, she didn’t believe anything about it. After all, anyone who wanted to earn a good profit would claim that their item was from “Return to Nothingness”. In fact, they might just be trash from an unknown place.
The auction house encountered this situation several times per month, and there were many people trying to sell some crap. However, those people were fine with whatever price they could sell, only the owner of this broken cloth insisted that it would cost at least 1000 middle-level spiritual stones.
Just when the girl thought again that no one would buy this broken cloth, there’s suddenly a voice coming out of a private room from the second floor, “I’ll pay 1000 middle-level spiritual stones.”
The girl was shocked for a while, and there’s a pleasant look on her face, “a guest in the 9th private room on the 2nd floor is willing to pay 1000 middle-level spiritual stones, is there anyone else willing to suggest a price?”
There was a moment of silence in the hall, and countless divine consciousness explored the source of the voice. Unfortunately, their divine consciousness was blocked by the arrays outside the private room, and no information of the guests was leaked at all.
“Gosh, is there really a fool willing to pay for that broken cloth?”
“Who cares? He’s got the money.”
“Ha, could this be someone contacted by the Qilian family?”
“Tsk tusk, it’s a thousand middle-level spiritual stones, not sure who is so stupid to pay so much for it. I want to meet him really, and I might even sell him some other broken cloth for that amount of spiritual stones.”
Many cultivators were whispering among themselves, they didn’t think that it’s a good idea for the guest in the private room to buy that piece of broken cloth.
Since it could appear in the auction house of the Qilian family, it already proved that it’d already been verified by the family. However, the simple appearance of this cloth showed that even the verifier of the family didn’t find anything abnormal in it.
Since it couldn’t be sold out after one month, it proved that this thing really had no values. Even though it hadn’t been sold for one or two days, wouldn’t it be weird that it wasn’t sold after one month?
Everyone had the interest of collecting things that were left, but no one would suggest a price for something that’s deemed to be rubbish. Everyone there had the same intention and they wanted to know what the fool of the second floor looked like. How could someone be so generous to offer 1000 middle-level spiritual stones for one broken cloth?
“No one is bidding, and this broken…cloth will be owned by our guest in the ninth private room of the second floor.” The young girl looked shocked, and she was glad that the transaction went through, or she would have 2 middle-level spiritual stones less.
With the girl’s decision, this uncompetitive piece of broken cloth fell into Xu Ziyan’s pocket. The people in the hall began discussing, and 3 people in the private room also looked at Xu Ziyan with confusion.
However, unlike the people downstairs, these 3 people wouldn’t doubt why Xu Ziyan would buy that broken cloth. They were all waiting for Xu Ziyan to explain the use of this cloth.
Xu Ziyan smiled, “I just think that this grimace looks funny, it looks like the face that my dad jokingly made when I was a kid.”
Jiang Ying, Fang Tianrui, “…”
Both Jiang Ying and Fang Tianrui were speechless towards Xu Ziyan’s explanation. Xu Zirong looked at his brother with increasing doubt – Xu Xiao had always been a serious father, how would he make that face in front of Xu Ziyan? It’s something unimaginable.
However, he didn’t keep asking at this time. Although they were in the private room of the Qilian family, who could guarantee that there’s no arrays or spells of eavesdropping?
The four calmed down again, and when watching the auction below, Xu Ziyan showed a look of boredom. They occasionally bid for pills favorable for them, making it look like they had too many spiritual stones to spend.
In the quiet room of the Qilian auction house:
An old man of golden core frowned slightly and looked at the middle-aged man opposite, “can’t you notice anything in that piece of cloth?”
The middle-aged man looked a little frightened, “senior Hu, I haven’t noticed anything weird in it.”
The old man stroked his beard and pondered for a while. At this moment, a young man walked out of the quiet room and bowed to him politely, “master.”
“What did they say?” the old man asked, raising his head.
The young man said respectfully, “the guy who seems to be the leader said that the grimace on it looks like that of his father when he was small, that’s why he bought it.”
The old man was stunned for a moment, and waved his hand helplessly, “fine then, even if this item is some kind of treasure, it has nothing to do with the Qilian family.”
The middle-aged man and the young man both stepped out. The old man smiled and shook his head. He had seen treasures of all kinds. And he’d got no interest in that piece of broken cloth. It’s just that he vaguely felt that this piece of cloth had an extraordinary origin. He had just found a few appraisers, and even an elder of nascent soul had already seen it, but they still didn’t notice anything strange with it. He was very curious about it, that’s why he opened the eavesdropping array and tried to listen to his guests’ conversation.
“Why do I still care? I’m so old already.” The old man laughed at himself. Then, he started meditating.
When the whole auction was over, Xu Ziyan’s spiritual stones, that broken cloth and all the pills that they’d bidden were all delivered to them.
“Please take them. These are your spiritual stones, this is the item that you’ve bidden.” The young waiter respectfully handed over a bag of spiritual stones, a box and eight porcelain bottles.
Xu Ziyan took the bag, used his divine consciousness to count and made sure that the quantity was correct.
He put all other items in his Qiankun bag casually. He always felt as if there was someone using his divine consciousness to spy on him, he was thus extra careful and he didn’t put the stuff into Little Square.
“My guests, this is the silver medal for the VIP of the Qilian family. Anyone who holds the silver medal for the VIP of Qilian family can enjoy a 5% discount on items purchased at our store.” At this time, the young man handed out a silver card, there were several small arrays carved on the surface of the card, which served nothing more than removing dust and enabling concentration. It’s not very useful, yet very convenient.
“Thank you very much, then.” Xu Ziyan also acted politely and he took the card. No matter how small a mosquito is, it is still meat. Although 5% discount was not much, he could still accumulate a lot thanks to it. If he needed to purchase in bulk, he could save even more.
The guests on the second floor belonged to the VIPs of the auction house and naturally enjoyed a special passage. Although the people in the hall wanted to see how the stupid person, who paid so many spiritual stones for a piece of broken cloth, looked like, they weren’t using the same passage.
After politely sending Xu Ziyan and the others out of the auction room, the young waiter turned around, went back and entered the old man’s secret room for cultivation, “master, are we letting them go so easily?”
The old man slowly opened his eyes and looked at the young man with a smile, “Zifan, you have to remember that there’re countless opportunities in this world. Some people just miss their only chance by blinking once. Even I haven’t understood that piece of cloth, so what’s the use of you getting it anyway?”
After he finished speaking, he patted Zifan on the shoulder, “I know that you have been trapped in the period of Qi condensation for ten years. You are a little impatient, but you can’t be anxious for this kind of opportunity. You just need to be patient. Last year, I applied to be stationed in this auction house, that’s because I wanted to look for a chance for you to break through. Just be patient.”
“Thank you for your advice, master. Zifan is impatient.” The young man said gratefully.
“Go, get tomorrow’s catalog. If there is anything peculiar, don’t forget to send it to me.”
“Yes, master.”
The young man finished speaking and left. When he left, there was no anxious look on his face, and he calmly waited the opportunity that belonged to him.
In addition to the pills, they also needed to buy two good flying swords. Although he and Xu Zirong did not need weapons for the time being, Jiang Ying and Fang Tianrui, whose cultivation bases have greatly improved, needed to get new weapons.
After inquiring, they learned that the best shop in the Day Devouring City was called the “Sword Pavilion”. They knew instantly that all sorts of flying swords were sold there.
Xu Ziyan led the other three into the gate of the Sword Pavilion, and they soon met the shopkeeper, who’s a humble, fat man.
“My fellow cultivators, can I help you?” The shopkeeper asked enthusiastically.
“I heard that your flying swords have the best quality, is that so?” Xu Ziyan asked.
“Of course, the flying swords in the shop are all carefully crafted, and they’re top-grade artifacts, you can’t find this quality anywhere else.” The shop owner suddenly looked proud when he mentioned his products.
“Oh? Then can you show me some of them?” Xu Ziyan asked with interest.
The shop owner looked at the four of them and asked carefully, “may I know which one of you wants to purchase a flying sword?”
“Huh? Why? Do you choose your customers too?” Xu Ziyan asked curiously.
Xu Zirong did not participate in the conversation between his brother and the shopkeeper, but he was watching the flying swords hanging on the wall with Jiang Ying and Fang Tianrui.
There were about 30 flying swords on the wall, and each one was deeply inserted into the wall. Xu Ziyan and the shopkeeper did not pay attention to them, but Xu Zirong saw clearly that the material of the wall was absolutely unusual, at least in terms of hardness, it’s not much worse than iron of over 10,000 years.
Moreover, there was a very strange array drawn on the wall. The pattern of the array was very peculiar. Xu Zirong was a master arrays, but after studying it for a long while, he couldn’t figure out its use.
“So, are my guests interested in the wall too?” While the shopkeeper greeted Xu Ziyan, he didn’t neglect the other three guests, and he’d chat with them as well. Jiang Ying and Fang Tianrui looked at them for a while, and they didn’t notice anything special about the flying swords on the wall, so they simply stood behind Xu Ziyan.
“Is this the wall of trying sword?” Xu Zirong did not respond to the shopkeeper, but Xu Ziyan’s interest was aroused by the shopkeeper.
“Yes, the wall of trying sword in the shop is made by imitating the sword mound. Only by chance can the sword be inserted here.” The shopkeeper looked proud when he talked about the wall.
“So are there any restrictions on using the wall?” Xu Ziyan asked.
The shopkeeper smiled and replied, “My guest, this wall was made by my boss, who had collected countless expensive materials and refined them. At the beginning, my boss encountered countless dangers and troubles for the refined materials, and he entered so many territories with danger, and when he’s refining them…”
“Stop!” Seeing the shopkeeper’s frenzied expression and bragging about their boss, Xu Ziyan hurriedly asked him to stop, “just tell me, how much should we pay to pull one sword out?”
“My guest, you’re wrong with this assumption. How can you call this as pulling sword? This is called looking for opportunities. You can only pull one with similar attributes, if your attributes don’t match, it won’t be useful no matter how much you offer.” The shopkeeper blinked and smiled.
Xu Ziyan curled his lips secretly, he believed that everything just depended on the amount of spiritual stones.
“My guest, you must think that I’m kidding.” The shopkeeper looked more serious, “every flying sword here is of high-level. If you’re lucky, you might even get one qualified to be a magic weapon. My boss spent a lot of effort in collecting these swords everywhere, and none of these are made of simple materials.”
“Oh, according to you, the best flying swords in your shop are all on that wall?”
“That’s right. If a customer only buys flying swords in a small store, they can only buy top-grade flying swords, but if they use this wall of testing swords…” The shopkeeper smiled mysteriously, “you might be lucky enough to get one of the flying swords.”
Xu Ziyan laughed. This shopkeeper really knew how to attract people’s interest. Most ordinary customers would try if the price wasn’t extremely high. After all, people liked to bet and they wanted to spend a little and buy a flying sword worth a lot of money.
“If you want to try the flying sword on the wall, we need ten middle-level spiritual stones.” The shopkeeper finally proposed a price.
Xu Ziyan did some calculations, and he thought that it’s not really a high price. He turned back and looked at Fang Tianrui and Jiang Ying, “so? Are you interested to try?”
Fang Tianrui and Jiang Ying looked at each other and nodded slightly excitedly.
“What about Zirong? Would you like to try it too?” Xu Ziyan looked in Xu Zirong’s direction again.
Xu Ziyan took out a high-grade spiritual stone from his pocket and handed it to the shopkeeper, who smiled very brightly. He looked for his bag of spiritual stones and took out 80 middle-level spiritual stones for change.
Jiang Ying and Fang Tianrui eagerly stood in front of the wall, and Xu Zirong whispered something to them when he passed by.
Fang Tianrui was taken aback. He approached the testing wall thoughtfully. He didn’t try pulling out a sword. Instead, he closed his eyes and seemed to be feeling something.
When the shopkeeper saw this, there was a glimmer of light in his eyes, but he did nothing extra, he was still sitting there, drinking tea and chatting with Xu Ziyan.
After a few breaths, Fang Tianrui opened his eyes suddenly, then walked towards the corner with a flying sword that looked a little shabby.
The flying sword was a bit old, and there was even a missing piece at the handle, it seemed that the original jade inlaid there was lost.
The sword inserted into the wall was stained with rust. If he hadn’t sensed the very weak consciousness emitting from that sword, which responded to his call, he would never try with this sword.
Deng!
As Fang Tianrui drew his sword, there was a sound of metal humming. The rusty sword was pulled out, and it kept shaking when Fang Tianrui infused spiritual power into it.
The piece of rust on it fell one after another, revealing its true face.
“What a good sword!” Jiang Ying couldn’t help but exclaimed. He stood at Fang Tianrui’s side and was the closest to him, he clearly felt a strong and sharp power flowing from that sword.
“It’s a low-grade weapon of golden type – the Broken Arrow.” The shopkeeper sighed with emotion, “my fellow cultivator, you’re really lucky, you happened to have chosen a low-grade weapon with just one try.”
“What? Does the shopkeeper not want to give it away?” Xu Ziyan jokingly asked.
The shopkeeper laughed, “my fellow cultivator, don’t be kidding. Since I displayed this wall, I already expected that these swords would find their owners one day.”
“It’s my turn.” Seeing that Fang Tianrui was so lucky to find a low-grade magic weapon, Jiang Ying was also eager to try.
Jiang Ying took big steps to the front of the wall, and he also imitated Fang Tianrui’s moves and began to quietly release his breath.
After a while, Jiang Ying opened his eyes with disappointment. He looked at the sword on the wall and waved his hand helplessly, “I am not destined to have one of them.”
Xu Ziyan smiled, as being able to obtain a low-grade magic weapon was already worth the amount of spiritual stones they’d paid. Jiang Ying couldn’t pull a sword that he liked, so he might as well buy one for himself.
After choosing a good flying sword from the shopkeeper, Xu Ziyan paid the price of one hundred middle-grade spiritual stones. Just before they left, Xu Ziyan turned his head with a sense of feeling, he looked at the flying sword on that wall, and he was a little eager to try.
“So? My fellow cultivator wants to try as well?” The shopkeeper wouldn’t push his guests away, and he hurriedly asked.
“Um…” Xu Ziyan thought for a while. He usually only used a flying sword when he needed to fly. He knew that all flying swords on the wall were exquisites, and they would go to waste if they were merely used for flying.
“Brother, let’s try. Perhaps you’ll find a very suitable one.” Xu Zirong smiled slightly.
Xu Ziyan nodded, as he could very well afford 10 middle-level spiritual stones.
He took out the spiritual stones and handed them to the shopkeeper, then got to the front of the wall.
Xu Ziyan closed his eyes and held his breath, and it was the conclusion that Xu Zirong got after studying the array.
This approach could make those flying swords feel his call to the greatest extent, and if their attributes matched, there’s a high possibility to get a response.
After trying one sword and the other, his breath stayed on those flying swords, yet none of them responded.
Just as Xu Ziyan almost gave up, at the northwest corner of the wall, a silver-white sword called to him. Xu Ziyan got very excited, he suddenly opened his eyes and walked towards the flying sword.
Seeing that Xu Ziyan had chosen the sword, the shopkeeper suddenly revealed a very strange expression.
“Shopkeeper, what’s the name of this sword?” Xu Ziyan held up the sword with joy, watching the silver-white sword body, as if another layer of light was flowing on it. There was a dark green jade bead inlaid on the hilt of the sword, and the jade bead seems to have two characters inlaid inside, and it should be the name of the sword.
It seemed to be a matter of angle, but Xu Ziyan couldn’t see clearly what was written inside. He asked the shopkeeper directly.
“The name of this sword is Aurora, and it is a middle-grade magic weapon.” The shopkeeper looked embarrassed. This sword called Aurora was found by his boss from a historic site. It looked very spectacular, and the moves that one used with it were also with a silver-white beam of light. However, its power was actually quite inferior as a middle-level magic weapon. In fact, it just looked good on the surface, and it’s not powerful at all.
The material of the flying sword was rated as a middle-grade magic weapon, but the flying sword itself had only one function to make the moves look good. This undoubtedly made it a difficult decision when it’s about keeping it or ditching it. People usually wouldn’t choose it unless they needed it to pursue girls.
“What!” Xu Ziyan looked shocked. He didn’t expect that the sword Aurora, that he’d been fond of for so long, was found in the Day Devouring City.
According to the plot of the original novel, this sword called Aurora should have been bought by Bai Hua from a weapon shop near Tian Yu sect two years later. How could it end up here at this time?
The shopkeeper misunderstood Xu Ziyan’s meaning, thinking that he had noticed the effect of this flying sword, and he smiled helplessly. After all, he said that the flying swords hung on the wall were all high-grade magic weapons, but the material of this one had only reached middle-level. In terms of power, other weapons of middle-level might not be better either.
However, without waiting for the shopkeeper to respond, Xu Ziyan suddenly laughed, “I like this flying sword a lot. Well, let’s go now.” Afterwards, he left the shop quickly, leaving the shopkeeper looking dumbfounded. How could he like such a broken sword? There’s nothing treasurable about it, this guest’s really so weird…
The shopkeeper didn’t know the real meaning of Xu Ziyan, but Xu Zirong did. He clearly felt the ecstasy in his brother’s heart.
