Chapter 10: The Wind and the Rain are Like Ghosts
There were countless unseen businesses in the fish market, as well as countless unseen people and countless noises.
Just half a joss stick ago, as the black-topped boat Ding Ning was holding swayed away from the shadowy dock, traveling between the countless wooden stakes supporting the fish market, the thick-browed young man from the foreign land who had been full of questions outside the fish market earlier walked into one of the pawnshops by the river along with the gentleman he was talking about.
Without pawning anything, led by a stooped old man with a black bamboo staff, the two foreigners passed through the pawnshop's backyard door, through a narrow alleyway, and into a large door.
The dark and damp narrow alley was very quiet, however, entering this gate, it was a completely different world.
A not so big hall, inside set up more than ten square tables, each chapter around the square table but densely crowded at least a dozen people, all around the corner are burning incense, but because of the crowd noise, but it seems to be pandemonium.
Seeing the scene inside the room in the moment, thick eyebrows young man's pupils unconsciously shrink slightly.
Not because of the hostility implied in the eyes of those around him and the unique aura of a cultivator, but because of an item that was currently being placed on the countertop in the center of the room.
It was a piece of jade that was the size of an adult's thumb and had a waxy yellow color.
In the eyes of ordinary people, this might be a piece of ordinary topaz of bad color, however, almost all cultivators would know that this was the Yellow Bud Dan of the Nanyang Dan Sect of the Korean Dynasty in the past.
The Yellow Sprout Pill is warm and moist in nature, greatly benefiting the true qi, and is one of the best supplementary elixirs for practitioners of the true qi realm who have a lack of innate talent on their way to the true yuan realm.
When the Nanyang Dan Sect was in its heyday, there were only a few hundred Yellow Sprout Pills that could be made in a year, and now that the Nanyang Dan Sect no longer exists, the Yellow Sprout Pills are naturally even more scarce.
This kind of medicine, in the Qin Dynasty also belongs to the forbidden goods that are not allowed to be traded, however, the noisy sound that fills this room is the continuous shouting of prices.
So this place, naturally, was an illegal auction place.
The thick-browed young man originally knew that the fish market had a lot of unimaginable scenes outside, and that there were many transactions of things that were very important to cultivators, however, as soon as he entered the door and saw something of the level of the Yellow Sprout Dan, he still had the same inexplicable sense of shock as the countryside child who had just entered the city, and he couldn't help but think in his mind that the Changling Fish Market was indeed worthy of its name.
The clean-cut young man dressed as a scholar in front of him also stopped and stared at the scene between the field, and the hunched old man with the black bamboo staff who was leading the way didn't urge him on, but also just waited in silence.
At this moment for this one yellow bud Dan's competition has reached the point of some crazy, some years ago the value of two thousand taels of silver a yellow bud Dan, at this moment has shouted to a thousand taels of gold, and there are still a number of parties in the fight.
Shouted a few more times, the two sides of the fight ultimately only a young sword master wearing gray shirt and a middle-aged man whose face is covered with a black veil.
The young swordsmith's face has risen to red, a drop of sweat on the forehead keeps sliding down, while that black veil middle-aged man is sitting still, extremely calm and collected, every time shouting just in accordance with the minimum rules, in the young swordsmith's bid on the basis of another hundred taels of silver.
Instantly has passed one thousand three hundred gold.
The young swordsmith's face turned from red to white, this Yellow Sprout Dan was extremely important to him, if not for this Yellow Sprout Dan, I'm afraid that with the root of the disease in his body, he would not have a chance to break through from the second realm to the third realm in this life.
Therefore, he turned his head and looked at the middle-aged man whose face was covered with a black veil almost with a pleading, even begging gaze.
The middle-aged man saw his gaze, yet only let out a light laugh that was cold and disdainful.
The young swordsmith's emotions finally spiraled out of control as he stood up with a huff and snapped, "Two thousand taels of gold!"
The room was filled with silence.
Everyone's eyes were gathered on him.
Even if this young swordsmith was the son of a certain clan with incredible wealth, two thousand taels of gold for the purchase of a Yellow Bud Dan was still a bit too extravagant for any clan.
If it wasn't for the middle-aged cultivator with a black veil on his face, I'm afraid that this Yellow Sprout Dan could have been purchased at around one thousand taels of gold.
Hearing the young sword master shouted out the price of two thousand taels of gold, the black veil middle-aged practitioner obviously stalled, however, he still sat stoically, only his voice slightly chilled: "Brother is a good spirit, a certain family is not as good as, just brother can really take out two thousand taels of gold?"
The young swordsmith suddenly fell into an ice cave, and his red face became incomparably snow-white.
A clamor.
Just by looking at his demeanor, all the people in this room knew that he was not the son of a rich clan, and that he had just shouted out the price of two thousand taels of gold just because of a momentary loss of emotional control and an imbalance in his mindset.
After the ridicule is ice cold.
Shrimp has shrimp road, crab has crab road, any place has rules, the fish market's dark road is even more harsh.
The yellow-shirted master teacher-like thin man who had previously been standing staunchly in front of the table where the Yellow Bud Dan was placed to preside over the auction shook his head and looked at the young swordsmith with a sympathetic gaze as he sighed softly, "You should understand the rules here."
The young swordsmith's shirt was drenched in sweat.
His right hand landed on the hilt of the longsword hanging diagonally at his waist.
Then he took a deep breath, but his expression was firm as he slowly extended his left hand.
Originally, the gazes of everyone in the room had already gathered on the longsword at his waist, but at this moment, when they saw him move like this, the mocking looks in the eyes of the majority of the people in the room began to disappear, and a hint of respect appeared on their faces as well.
This young swordsmith's sword looks very light, the hilt is a rare green-gold color, this is definitely not a mortal product, the value should be at least two thousand taels of gold above.
According to the rules of this kind of black market in the fish market, since he had already shouted out the price, he could at least use this sword to offset it in exchange for that Yellow Bud Dan, but his actions at this moment, he obviously refused to give up this sword, and instead, he wanted to use the method of sharpening his finger to give an explanation.
A lost sword can be found again, but a broken finger cannot be regenerated.
However, the sword was a symbol, a spirit, for cultivators who majored in the sword.
Cultivators who possessed this spirit would often go farther on the path of cultivation.
That was why this young sword master's choice at this moment caused all the contempt and ridicule in the hearts of everyone around him to vanish and turn into respect.
"Enough."
Seeing that this young swordsmith had already exerted his strength and was about to chop off his two fingers with a single sword according to the rules here, but right at this moment, a clear shout rang out.
"I'll give him this Yellow Bud Dan."
The voice was simple and calm, without any emotions of showing off or gaining favor in it.
The young sword master turned his head in shock.
The one who came out was the clean-cut young man dressed as a scholar.
At the same time he simply and calmly uttered these words, the thick-browed young man behind him slightly raised his eyebrows and directly took out a black pearl from the baggage behind him, placing it on the side of the Yellow Bud Dan.
This black pearl was the size of a pigeon's egg, emitting a faint ethereal light, and any discerning person would know at a glance that it was definitely more than two thousand taels of gold.
The young swordsmith was sure that he had never seen these two before, thinking that if the clean-cut young man had only been one step slower in making his voice heard, two of his own fingers would have landed on the ground by now.
He first felt lucky and surprised, but then was ashamed and embarrassed, momentarily unable to say anything.
The young man dressed as a scholar did not say anything, just looked at the old man who stopped beside him to guide the way, began to move.
The hunched old man did not say much either, and proceeded to lead the way towards a side door within this house.
The young swordsmith began to regain some of his senses, his hands trembled uncontrollably, and a strange blush once again rose to his pale face due to his excitement, "My name is Zhong Jiang..."
He was obviously about to give his name, yet he only spat out four words before being interrupted by the clean-cut young man dressed as a scholar.
"I don't need you to repay anything, so there's no need to tell me your name either."
The clean-cut young man didn't turn around and calmly, even seemingly unapproachable, simply said.
Then he followed the old man into the off-ramp door and disappeared from everyone's stunned sight.
The young swordsmith stood frozen for a few seconds, beads of sweat rolling down his forehead once again.
For some reason, he suddenly understood what the clean-cut young man meant.
To the clean-cut young man, this was just something that could be resolved casually, however, for his life, he would never meet such a person again, and he would never have the chance to do it again.
He absolutely could not make another terrible mistake like that that was just a result of an emotional outburst.
Getting a lesson and enlightenment was a greater favor than the granting of the dan.
Therefore, after this young sword master from Zhongjiang in Guanzhong received the Yellow Sprout Dan handed over by the presiding auctioneer, he made a deep salute to the side door where the clear-cut young man's figure had disappeared, making a gesture of presenting his sword.
Seeing him act like this, the many cultivators in this room looked even more solemn.
......
Inside the side door was another deep hutong.
The eaves and canopies above the hutong were not intact, and there were lines of rain showering down.
In the many houses on both sides, there were many figures swaying like ghosts, with disorganized voices, not knowing what they were doing.
The wind and rain were as obscure as the people were like ghosts.
In such a picture, even the clear young man who casually bestowed away a Yellow Sprout Pill had a bit more of a ghostly thought in his calm and determined eyes.
However, he immediately snapped out of it, and a trace of anger surfaced on his face.
A hot aura spread out with his body as the center, the wind and rain couldn't come close, and all the gloomy auras dispersed.
The old man leading the way was holding a black bamboo staff in his hand.
Not far ahead on the left side, against the wall of the hutong, there were also a few black bamboo plants planted.
In this instant, a few black bamboo like a living snake twisted up, quickly turned into black gas disappeared.
Scenery suddenly changed, a lot of ghostly figures disappeared, while the place where the several black bamboo disappeared, but there is a hidden wooden door.
Inside the wooden door was a dark room.
"I never would have thought that the Merchant Missy, cultivates the Yin God and Ghosts Way."
The clean-cut young man said indifferently with a cold smile.
