A healthy looking old man stepped into the auction site with a youth by his side.
The old man was in a good health. His physical body seemed stronger than most young ones. The young man following him was looking around in curiosity.
“Zhan, no need to look at those worldly items,” the old man calmly said.
The young man lowered his head, tearing his gaze away. He had followed the old man for a long time, thus he soon smiled, “Master, if there is still some time, can I walk around after we obtain the jade containing the Koan Sutra?”
Then old man glared at the young, giving him a scare. “Stupid disciple, how many times have I told you, don’t attract attention. Don’t bring up the secret of the jade token. If anyone gets wind of it...”
The young interrupted his words with a serious face, “If anyone gets wind of it, those ghosts and monsters would covet it, which would mean fights everywhere. Then we won’t be able to cultivate quietly! Master, did I memorize it correctly?”
“Shut up!” the old man snorted, “From now on, meditate on the Inner Mind Sutra a 100 times.”
The young was dumbfounded. However, he dared not to go against his master, so he followed him while reciting the boring Inner Mind Sutra quietly.
Right then, an agitated 30- year-old man with an old black frame glasses fell right towards the old man.
The old man quickly caught him, but found out that his eyes were closed tightly. Furthermore, his complexion was pale and sweat beaded his forehead.
The old man frowned. He extended a palm to hold the man while pressing an acupuncture point.
Soon the patient woke up, “What happened to me?”
“Your breath suddenly became disordered, which caused your conscious to blur. Without my help, you would have fallen seriously ill.” The old man then stood up.
Indeed, the young man felt a warm current flowing through his body. His headache had also subsided a little bit, so he expressed his thanks, “Thank you for helping me.”
After showing his appreciation, the man hurried to the main meeting place of the auction.
“Who is he? He left just like that?” the disciple said.
“Did you finish reciting the sutra?” the old man asked.
“No…I’m reciting it now.” The young man zipped his lips at once.
The old man then continue walking slowly into the site.
……
“We’ve accepted your deposit of 150,000. It’ll be returned to you if you don’t buy anything in the auction. Please take care of your card and the original copy of the guarantee. This is my business card. You can look for me if you need any help.”
You Ye nodded and received all the receipts and documents, except the business card. Then she turned and left.
His colleague, a female attendant, sniggered to herself as she watched him get rejected. She then started imagining why such a beautiful woman would be with such an ordinary looking boy.
The female attendant was shocked out of her daydream when her manager pounded on the table, “Take care of the work here, I’ll be back later.” The manager left saying those words, then headed to the meeting place.
You Ye walked up to Luo Qiu, and said softly, “What are you looking at?”
“Something interesting happened.” Luo Qiu smiled. Then retold the story of the old man and the man that fell. “The young man seemed nervous the whole time, but that old man seemed to be an old physician with knowledge of Chinese medicine. Perhaps he also specializes in acupuncture?”
“It might be the ‘Qi’ therapy from ancient China,” You Ye said.
Luo Qiu wanted to ask more about the mysterious ‘Qi Gong’…However, compared to the club, the butterfly and mantis monster, it wasn’t anything special. So he asked, “Do a lot of people know ‘Qi Gong’?”
“What I said was ‘Qi’.” You Ye corrected him. “To be precise, there are ‘Nourishment Qi’ and ‘Defensive Qi’, which is different from the ‘Qi Gong’ that is known by the common people. In fact, the current Taoists are no match compared to the previous masters. Most skills have been lost throughout history. “
Luo Qiu smiled, “So it's like the traditional crafts, lost in the passage of time.”
“Master, it’s starting right now. Let’s go in,” You Ye reminded him.
Luo Qiu watched the time, “All right…by the way, how much deposit did you pay?”
You Ye smiled, “Less than the price of a spoonful of caviar that you eat.”
“Really?” Luo Qiu laughed and nodded.
Luo Qiu reached for the white jade token in his pocket. He felt as if it got a little warmer. He had no idea if it was his imagination or not.
He wanted to take it out and have a look. But suddenly, he felt a sense of discomfort. Turning around, he found a man staring at him.
if he recalled correctly, he was the man that was saved by the elder just now.
However he left as soon as Luo Qiu turned around.
You Ye saw the entire scene. She moved to follow the man, but Luo Qiu caught her arm, “That’s OK, he’s innocent. By the way, I feel that my senses in this aspect have become sharper recently.”
You Ye replied quietly, “It is because you have a duty as the boss to see the innermost thoughts of others.”
This was actually one of the fantastic abilities that the club bestowed to him.
Nevertheless, Luo Qiu didn’t consider it a good thing.
Luo Qiu shook his head, “Let’s take our seats…according to the booklet, the jade token should be auctioned off towards the end. We can just observe first half of the auction to increase our knowledge.”
He then joked and guessed, “Who knows, maybe we can witness a bidding war for some treasures among wealthy men.”
Luo Qiu and You Ye made a weird pair. An ordinary youth accompanied by a girl so beautiful she seemed to only appear in dreams, obviously the spotlight would be on the latter, attracting most of the attention. As the beauty drew the eyes of the crowd, no one noticed the old man or his disciple in a corner.
“Master, I didn’t expect to see such a refined lady here.” The disciple seemed to be mesmerized with You Ye.
But the old man suddenly opened his eyes. After forming a hand seal, he then struck a point between the eyebrows of the young man, yelling in a low voice, “Zha!”
“Master, I…” , fear was shown on the young man’s face.
The old man frowned, “Don’t talk, meditate on the Koan Sutra, persist in your belief, and clear all distracting thoughts! Don’t lose your Dao heart due to lust!”
The young man dared not delay, closing his eyes promptly.
The old man gaze at You Ye with grave expression, “Who is that lady? She has no human spirit, like a ghost, but does not seem to be a monster…”
In that instant, various thoughts flashed through the mind of the old man. He had came here for an item that had been lost for hundreds of years, after realizing what it was. However, he could not guarantee that others did not have the same goal as him. Hence, the old man took a deep breath, forming a hand seal again. Then, closing his eyes and concentrating hard in an attempt to see You Ye’s true form. Soon, he opened his eyes and gazed towards the corner once more.
This time, their eyes met.
At that moment, his spirit felt like it was being sucked into a huge whirlpool. His face turned pale, and his mind wavered. Relying on his strong spirit, he bit his tongue, and barely managed to pull himself away.
By this time, his heart was pounding like a drum and he could feel the cold sweat trickling down his back. Furthermore, his breath was disorderly, as if he had been struck by a serious illness.
He collected himself rapidly. Then using a Taoist Kung Fu skill, he mumbled some words and sent them over to You Ye. “I’m Yang Taizi. Who are you?”
“Taoist from the east? This is a warning. Don’t ruin my master’s good mood, or I will destroy your abbey! Hum!”
Yang Taizi turned pale. He caught his breath, while trying to recall who this powerful character was.
What was worse, she seemed to be a mere servant of someone.
The old man then sent a message to his group chat. ‘Does anyone here know of a beautiful girl with blue eyes and black hair, and powerful illusion skills near this area?”
……
……
“I’ll come back home in the evening…Don’t cook for me…”
Luo Qiu finally replied one of many messages sent by Ren Ziling. Then he raised his head and asked, “You Ye, did you say something just now? I heard some strange voice, but it wasn’t very clear.”
“Yes, but it wasn’t me.” You Ye smiled.
“Oh yeah?” Luo Qiu nodded.
At this moment, the auctioneer strided onto the stage and started to speak, “Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your coming. I’m very glad to…”
The first item entered the stage, following the long speech. It’s starting price was 30,000 RMB.
Luo Qiu showed great interest, listening carefully to the auctioneer who possess a wealth of knowledge. He decided he wanted to learn more about antiques and auctions.
Finally, the item he wanted appeared on stage.
Photos of the white jade token taken from different angles were displayed. At the same time, the auctioneer introduced it fervently, “Next let’s take a look at auction item No.27 provided by Gu Yue Zhai! You might already know some information about the white jade token. Let’s look at the back of the jade, we can faintly see the words ‘Zi Gang’ carved on it!”
The audience started to get excited, and began taking pictures.
The auctioneer smiled, “I’m sure the inscribe is familiar to everybody! Now, I can safely say, this is the jade from a famous sculptor of Ming Dynasty. And the jade is at least 500 years old.”
After reporting the year and the quality, the auctioneer said while rapping the gavel, “The starting price of the white jade token is 550,000 RMB. It’s a 10,000 RMB for every raise in price…550,000 going once! A66 is raising the sign…what a beautiful lady!”
Luo Qiu looked at You Ye raising her number plate gracefully, without a word.
“You Ye, are you actually a rich woman?”
You Ye gave an elusive smile as usual, “You Ye’s wealth, also belongs to master.”
You Ye had been living in the world for more than 300 years, furthermore, she had been with the club for a long time, so it made sense if she had a large amount of wealth.
Luo Qiu could also do the same, if he wanted.
“560,000! A45 gives 560,000! Anyone offering a higher price? 560,000 once!”
“570,000! A66 says 570,000! Anyone else?”
“580,000! A51, 580,000 once!”
You Ye was annoyed with the gradual increase in price. She stood up and shouted, “Don’t bother anymore, 1 million!”
Actually, 1 million was nothing really to those wealthy men.
What shocked them was the combination of her beauty and her confidence. It was a character that some men didn’t possess even in this patriarchal society.
On the other side, the old man in that corner, longed to raise his number plate. However, he was astonished by You Ye’s behaviour, and started breaking into a cold sweat again.
“…1 million going thrice! Deal! The jade now belongs to the lady at A66!”
Nevertheless, at this moment, a shadow appeared. He rushed to the stage, grabbed the white jade from the auctioneer’s hand, and then fled towards the emergency exit by the side.
The security guards armed with batons immediately chased after him.
Luo Qiu frowned. He saw that You Ye was getting angry…
Nevertheless, what surprised him was the robber. He was actually the man with black frame glasses that Luo Qiu saw twice previously!
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