-Thank you DCRangeRange, Dean Dexter and Cannedbread –
Emerald Mountain wasn’t too tall. Liang Yan and his companion followed the mountain path upward. By the time they reached the halfway point, a few travelers gradually appeared around them—mostly young people around seventeen or eighteen, but also some middle-aged folk.
With a single glance, Liang Yan knew they were all cultivators. A strange feeling suddenly rose in his heart: though he himself was only at the first layer of Qi Refining, the cultivation levels of everyone around fell into his mind with absolute clarity, not missing a hair. For example, the black-clad youth to his left—one look and he knew the boy was at the second layer of Qi Refining. The sturdy man in a yellow shirt up ahead—he clearly knew the man was at the third layer of Qi Refining.
Puzzled, Liang Yan looked back at the old monk, but still saw only a gaunt, wooden old man without a trace of spirit energy, just an ordinary mortal so plain he couldn’t be more ordinary.
Liang Yan of course didn’t treat the old monk as a mortal. After mulling it over, he figured it must be a wondrous effect of the cultivation method the old monk had passed on. Ever since he began practicing this method, his hearing, eyesight, and intuition had clearly grown dozens of times sharper than before.
As he was deep in thought, the travelers around him suddenly halted. Liang Yan looked up and saw a stretch of white mist ahead, a murky whiteness stretching as far as the eye could see.
The people nearby seemed well prepared. One after another, they produced a talisman and flicked it into the air. The talisman caught fire in the wind, spun around, dropped in front of its owner, and immediately burrowed into the white mist, as if leading the way. Those who had cast talismans hurried to follow, vanishing as they entered the white mist.
Curious, Liang Yan asked, “What are those?”
“Road guides,” the old monk said without turning his head.
“Oh, then why don’t we have any?”
“No need. Stay close behind me.” So saying, the old monk strode into the white mist. Liang Yan followed right at his heels. The moment he entered the mist, a clammy, cold feeling washed over him. Fortunately, with the monk leading the way, he wasn’t too worried about danger.
After winding round and round inside the mist for who knows how long, suddenly the view brightened before their eyes, and the two finally emerged from the white mist.
Looking up along the mountain path, Liang Yan saw an old, simple little town nestled on the mountainside, its houses scattered and all in uniform red brick and gray tile. The streets bustled with people, so lively.
Once they entered the town, he realized all these people were cultivators. Many sat on the ground along both sides of the street, even setting up makeshift stalls. Some stalls were quiet and deserted; others were packed tight with crowds.
Being a young heart fond of excitement, Liang Yan couldn’t help but squeeze toward one of the crowded stalls, his first time seeing so many cultivators gathered together.
There sat a horse-faced man on the ground, head lowered as he read a book with rapt attention, as if the crowd gathered around him had nothing to do with him.
On the ground were all kinds of items: a few thread-bound booklets, a basin of green powder, plus a small blue knife and an ancient longsword.
The longsword glimmered faintly with spirit light; one look and anyone could tell it was no ordinary object. Most of the onlookers’ gazes were fixed on that ancient longsword, but clearly everyone knew it wasn’t cheap, and for the moment no one stepped forward to ask the price.
Liang Yan thought to himself, ‘I’ve trained with the old monk for many days, and in a fight I’ve relied only on my bare fists. It’s about time I found a handy weapon.’
In his daily wanderings with the old monk, they’d done a bit of robbing the rich to help the poor, so he still had quite a bit of silver money on him. So he opened his mouth and asked, “How much silver would it take for you to part with this longsword?”
The moment the words left his mouth, the surrounding crowd looked at him like he was some kind of monster. Even the horse-faced stall owner, who’d been reading with his head down, looked up and stared at him with an odd expression.
A moment later, the crowd burst into gales of laughter. Some were doubled over from laughing, and someone shouted, “Where did this country boy come from? Did he follow his master out here to broaden his horizons?”
A young woman in a green blouse also couldn’t help but chuckle, “Little brother, what local family do you hail from? Can it be you don’t know this Emerald Mountain Exchange Meeting is a cultivators’ gathering? Mortal silver won’t do here—you must use spirit stones to trade.”
These words immediately turned Liang Yan’s face bright red. He’d always been clever, and in all his life he’d never been so humiliated. He thought, ‘That old monk is way too unreliable. We’ve been cultivating all this time and he never said a word about spirit stones.’ With that, he turned his head indignantly—but the moment he did, he discovered the old monk had long since vanished without a trace.
Liang Yan’s heart lurched. ‘Damn it, could it be the old monk’s pockets are empty, his face couldn’t bear it, and he dumped me here, slipping away early?’ The old monk’s entire worldly goods amounted to a single tattered monk’s robe. The more Liang Yan thought about it, the more likely it seemed. Had he really run off?
Just as he was letting his imagination run wild, a voice suddenly came by his ear: “I have business to attend to. You wander around a bit first. Come find me in the Heaven Room at the Floating Cloud Inn in town this evening.”
Liang Yan knew this was the old monk’s voice transmission into his ear, and his heart settled. So he began roaming idly about the town, taking a look at every stall he came across. Anyway, he didn’t have a single spirit stone, so he just treated it as watching the bustle.
Time passed without him noticing, and soon it was evening. Liang Yan got up from beside a stall and was just about to head to the Floating Cloud Inn when someone suddenly clapped him on the shoulder. Turning around, he saw two men and a woman standing behind him: a young woman in red, a short, chubby youth, and a refined-looking man. All three were around seventeen or eighteen. Apart from the refined man, who was at the second layer of Qi Refining, the other two were both at the first layer of Qi Refining.
Right now, that refined young man was smiling warmly at him.
“Well met, fellow Daoist. I’m Chen Chong. May I ask your esteemed name?”
After a slight hesitation, Liang Yan cupped his fist and said, “Liang Yan.”
Chen Chong laughed with a bold, hearty air, “Ah, so it’s Daoist Liang. Let me introduce: this is Daoist Tang Yan, and this is Daoist Xu Kun.”
Liang Yan nodded to each in greeting. Then Chen Chong continued, “Daoist Liang, you’ve been looking around for half the day without making a move. I imagine none of these items have caught your eye.”
Liang Yan gave a rueful laugh inwardly. ‘Not catching my eye is a lie; not being able to afford them is the truth.’ But he could never say that aloud. He could only nod and say, “Indeed, not much good stuff here.”
Chen Chong’s eyes lit up. “So Daoist Liang, like us, is aiming for tomorrow’s mountaintop auction?”
Liang Yan was dumbstruck for a second and blurted out, “What auction?”
Chen Chong and his two companions exchanged strange looks. “Daoist, don’t tell me you don’t know about Emerald Mountain’s mountaintop auction? Which sect or immortal cultivation family do you hail from?”
Liang Yan thought to himself, ‘What sect could I possibly have? I’m stuck with a lazy monk who won’t even take me as a disciple, and I don’t understand a lick of common sense about the cultivation world. Today I’ve well and truly lost face.’
Though that’s what he thought, outwardly he still smiled and said, “Daoist Chen, you might not know, but my master is a lone cultivator. I’ve followed him in bitter cultivation deep in the mountains since I was little, and this time I’ve come out under orders to broaden my horizons.”
After hearing this, Chen Chong said with a genial smile, “So you’re a disciple of a rogue cultivator. Actually, the three of us are rogue cultivators too. Sects may be good, but they can’t match our freedom. It’s just that rogue cultivators stand alone and weak. When we meet outside, it’s better we unite and help each other.”
Liang Yan nodded in agreement.
“Since Daoist Liang doesn’t know about the mountaintop auction, let me explain. Speaking of this Emerald Mountain Exchange Meeting, it’s organized by the outer court of Yi Xing Pavilion, Zhao Kingdom’s number one immortal cultivation sect. Yi Xing Pavilion periodically holds exchange meetings of three sizes—large, medium, and small—across the country. During these, everyone can exchange cultivation experiences, sell or trade various spirit tools, pills, and materials.”
“As for our Emerald Mountain Exchange Meeting, it’s a small exchange meeting, specially meant for Qi Refining stage newcomers to trade what they have for what they lack.”
“So that’s how it is. Liang Yan is enlightened. Then what’s this mountaintop auction about?”
“Daoist Liang, what you may not know is that the outer circle of the exchange meeting is all odds and ends that don’t catch the eye. No one brings out the good things for street stalls, just as you saw earlier, Brother Liang—didn’t you also not find anything to your liking? The real good stuff is all at the mountaintop auction tomorrow evening.”
Liang Yan put on a look of sudden realization. “Then, are there any requirements to take part in this mountaintop auction?”
Chen Chong laughed, “No particular requirements. It’s just that the participants are usually from nearby immortal cultivation families or sects, so everyone knows each other. Daoist Liang has been secluded in bitter cultivation deep in the mountains for so long, you’re quite a new face. The gatekeeping disciples might make things a bit difficult if they see you.”
Liang Yan sighed, “So in other words, this auction still isn’t fated for me.”
“Not necessarily. Actually, my cousin is a disciple of the well-known Tan Mountain Sect around here, and he’s been chosen as one of the patrol disciples assisting at this auction. When the time comes, with him stepping in to help, we can join in the excitement as well.”
“Putting Brother Chen to such trouble, Liang Yan is truly embarrassed.”
Chen Chong straightened his expression. “Brother Liang, what are you saying? Like I said just now, us rogue cultivator disciples out in the world ought to help each other. Going to that auction this time is also to broaden our horizons.”
Liang Yan thought, ‘I’ve nothing else to do anyway. Since the other party is so cordially inviting me, it’d be rude to refuse.’ So he nodded and said, “Then my thanks first to Brother Chen.”
Chen Chong smiled, “It’s only right. Then let’s agree to meet tomorrow night at the hour of Hai right here and set off together.”
Liang Yan nodded, chatted and laughed with the group a while longer, and only then took his leave. By the time he reached the Floating Cloud Inn, it was already night. After asking the innkeeper, he found the Heaven Room. To his surprise, it turned out to be a premium guest room.
‘When did the old bald donkey get rich?’ Thinking this, he pushed the door open and went in.
The old monk was inside, sitting at the tea table with palms pressed together, as if in meditation. Seeing Liang Yan looking downcast, he asked, “Well? Did anything catch your eye today?”
If he hadn’t asked, it would’ve been fine. But the moment he asked, Liang Yan’s anger flared. Rolling his eyes, he said peevishly, “Plenty caught my eye; it’s just that my silver couldn’t be spent.”
The old monk knew he was being mocked, but didn’t get angry. Smiling faintly, he produced a small cloth pouch from behind his back as if by magic and handed it to Liang Yan.
Liang Yan instinctively reached out and took it. A glance made him think, ‘Could this be the legendary storage pouch?’ The moment he opened it, he was utterly shocked. Inside were a full hundred spirit stones, neatly and tidily arranged.
‘Did the old monk go out all day to scrape together these spirit stones for me?’ As soon as this strange thought occurred, Liang Yan found it unbelievable. The old man was usually so poor he didn’t have the money to buy a steamed bun, yet in such a short time he’d pulled together such a large sum.
Thinking he might have done it just so he could gain something at this exchange meeting, and wondering what hardships he’d endured, Liang Yan’s heart ached a bit. He wanted to open his mouth and say thank you, but with the proud nature he’d had since childhood, for a long moment he just stood there half-open-mouthed, stammering and unable to speak.
Seeing his strange expression, the old monk paid it no mind and continued, “Actually, you must understand, wealth is but an external thing. What we cultivators value most is our own cultivation. When you encounter something that can enhance your cultivation or increase your strength, you should act when it’s time to act. This, in fact, is why some good things often have a price but no market.”
Liang Yan took a deep breath and said, “This boy will remember.”
The old monk nodded with satisfaction and said, “Now go and do today’s homework.”
The night passed without a word. The next morning, the old monk went out again. After the previous day’s events, Liang Yan wasn’t worried. He simply stayed alone in the inn, meditating and circulating his qi.
A day’s time hurried by, and in the blink of an eye it was evening. Liang Yan came back to himself from meditation. There was no one else in the inn, and no sign of the old monk. Looking out the window at the street, people were here and there in twos and threes; most had already packed up their stalls.
‘Is the old monk coming back late today?’
‘Forget it. The agreed meeting time is nearly here. I’ll just head to that so-called auction first and see if there’s anything good.’ With this in mind, Liang Yan stood up, tucked the storage pouch the old monk had given him into his robes, pushed open the door, and strode out.
-Thank you DCRangeRange, Dean Dexter and Cannedbread –