Lin Chen’s main purpose in descending the mountain was to buy a guqin. His requirements were modest: something suitable for a beginner would do.
[Host, you could take a look at the Myriad Treasures Pavilion. A low-grade guqin would be better for practice than an ordinary instrument, and it could also serve as a weapon. It’s a pity their auction just ended. Otherwise, you might have slipped in for a look.]
Lin Chen agreed with Dabai’s first suggestion, but not the second.
[We couldn’t afford to bid on anything anyway. Why go to the trouble of sneaking in?]
[Doesn’t Host want to see what an auction in the cultivation world looks like? You might even pick up a bargain.]
[No.]
He meant it. Everyone who attended such auctions possessed wealth and connections. Without sufficient cultivation to protect himself, even if he was lucky enough to find a bargain, he would be unable to keep it. Losing the treasure would be a minor matter; losing his life would be another thing entirely.
[Weren’t you the one who said we should keep our heads down until we’re strong enough?]
Dabai considered this and had to agree. Its Host was still far too weak. If genuine danger arose, the System could warn him, but it could not solve the problem for him.
The Myriad Treasures Pavilion had branches throughout the various regions. Whether one sought magical treasures, pills, cultivation techniques, or talismans, so long as one could pay in spirit stones, there was little fear of failing to find the desired item.
Its Yun City branch stood in the city center: a lavish, three-story establishment occupying an extensive plot of land, with a Golden Core Zhenren stationed there to oversee it.
An auction was held on the third floor every three months. Since the most recent auction had only just concluded, many cultivators were still lingering in the pavilion.
“Heh. So even a penniless brat like you has come down the mountain.”
Lin Chen knew who it was without needing to look. He could not fathom what was wrong with this spoiled young lady. It was as though they had been born to clash; lately, he had practically gone out of his way to avoid her.
Not because he was afraid. He simply found her troublesome.
Strangely, although she ordered other people about just as freely, nobody else seemed particularly offended by her behavior.
Bai Shuo and Bai Zhishan had come to the pavilion to look for things they might use in the Newcomers’ Competition. They had barely reached the entrance when Bai Zhishan spotted Lin Chen about to go inside.
Seeing that he was still wearing the same plain clothes, she looked down on him even more and was about to offer a few more mocking remarks when Bai Shuo stopped her.
“We came to see whether there’s anything useful for the Newcomers’ Competition,” Bai Shuo said. “We’re all fellow disciples. Why don’t we look around together?”
Bai Shuo and the others lived in the same residential compound as Lin Chen. Naturally, they had heard that he had reached Qi Refining in a single day. But Lin Chen seldom went out, and they rarely encountered him. Bai Shuo had not expected to meet him at the foot of the mountain.
“Thank you for the invitation, but there’s no need.”
Lin Chen raised an eyebrow, glanced at Bai Zhishan, then turned his gaze back to Bai Shuo. His refusal was decisive, and he walked straight inside.
Bai Shuo understood his meaning. If he wanted to befriend Lin Chen, he could hardly avoid dealing with Bai Zhishan. Until the girl changed her temperament, she would remain a constant headache.
“Gege, why did you invite him along? At least he knew his place and left on his own!” Bai Zhishan said. This time, she had actually remembered not to address Bai Shuo as Huangxiong.
“If you don’t correct that awful temper, one day you’ll suffer for it, and I might not be able to protect you.”
Bai Shuo was only a young adolescent himself, not much older than his sister. Before coming here, he had repeatedly warned her about the dangers of the cultivation world and told her to stop behaving like a spoiled princess. She had agreed readily enough at the time, yet here she was doing it again.
Had he known, he might as well have left her in Xuanwu Kingdom to be the little princess everyone adored.
“That won’t happen. Gege is the strongest!” Bai Zhishan said, holding his hand and acting coquettishly.
When they were alone together, she was still that sweet, lovable little princess.
Bai Shuo did not want to argue with her in public. With some resignation, he said, “Let’s go inside too. If we see Lin Chen again, show him some respect.”
Bai Zhishan pouted. “No! Anyone else is fine, but I just can’t stand him!”
“Why?”
“Why does there have to be a reason? He just irritates me. Gege, can’t you stop associating with him?”
“Honestly, you… He hasn’t even done anything to you.”
Bai Shuo could not understand where her hostility toward Lin Chen came from.
“Stop talking about him! Let’s hurry inside!”
She tugged at his sleeve, trying to pull him into the pavilion.
She had disliked Lin Chen from the moment she first saw him. His clothing was merely an excuse she used to mock him. Bai Shuo’s repeated admonitions only provoked her contrary streak, making her dislike Lin Chen more.
The first floor of the Myriad Treasures Pavilion was divided into four areas according to the type of cultivation resources sold, with low-grade goods making up the bulk of the stock. Each area was supervised by a Foundation Establishment steward, while the attendants who guided customers were mostly mortals.
The young attendant who received Lin Chen noticed his age and ordinary clothing. His expression turned haughty, and he asked rather carelessly, “What would the young customer like to see?”
Lin Chen was unsurprised. In the cultivation world, strength was everything. Cultivators at the same realm might call each other Daoyou. When dealing with someone weaker, the more courteous might still say Shidi or Shimei. Those with worse tempers would rather call such people ants.
Knowing exactly what he wanted, Lin Chen asked the attendant to take him to the magical treasures section.
The boy had a temperament of his own. Once he had led Lin Chen there, he stopped paying attention and left him to browse alone.
Magical artifacts were displayed in cabinets along the walls. They appeared to be within easy reach, but defensive formations protected them. Only the pavilion’s staff could remove them.
The outermost displays held mostly low-grade spiritual swords, their quality far inferior to the one Huaiyu Zhenren had given Lin Chen. Even so, the cheapest cost a hundred low-grade spirit stones.
Lin Chen passed them by and looked farther inside.
[Host, look at the upper right. There’s a Fuxi-style guqin there.]
Dabai’s timely reminder saved him from having to examine every item one by one.
Lin Chen looked up. The guqin was not as exquisite as Fengyuan, but it was still a rare and beautiful piece. Its body was entirely black, carved with delicate cloud patterns, and a faint gleam shimmered upon its strings.
The price was five hundred low-grade spirit stones. Lin Chen’s entire fortune amounted to only six hundred.
[Anything special about it?]
[Nope. It’s just an ordinary Yellow-grade magical artifact. Apart from looking pretty, it’s genuinely not much use. Usually only female cultivators buy this kind.]
[Seems that whether in the modern world or the cultivation world, women’s money is the easiest to earn,] Lin Chen mused. Then he asked, [Are there any other options?]
[There are, but Host can’t afford them, and their grades are about the same.]
In short, this was the only guqin he could currently afford.
“Could you take this one down so I can have a look?”
Lin Chen pointed to the instrument and addressed the inattentive attendant.
The boy looked him over and said contemptuously, “If you want to look, you can stand there and look. If I take it down and you accidentally knock or damage it, I’m afraid you couldn’t afford to compensate us.”
[Looking down on people like that! Host, I can’t stand it!]
Dabai’s anger surged. Even if its Host wore coarse cloth, he was clean and neatly dressed. What right did this attendant have to judge him by his appearance?
[It’s fine. I’m not angry, so what are you angry about?]
[Host, let’s go get you a few new outfits. Then people won’t keep looking down on you.]
[That’s not the issue. People like this are exceptions. We just happened to encounter a few of them.]
Dabai felt as though it understood a little better. It was only a System: it knew the heavens and the earth, but it could not see through the human heart.
“If this sort of magical artifact breaks as soon as someone touches it, then the goods at your Myriad Treasures Pavilion can’t be much to speak of.”
Lin Chen smiled, but there was unmistakable mockery in his words.
“How dare you! Who are you to slander the reputation of our Myriad Treasures Pavilion?”
The attendant’s eyes widened with anger. He had merely offered what he considered kindly advice because Lin Chen was plainly dressed. He had not expected the child to talk back.
Of course, the kindness existed only in his own imagination.
Lin Chen lowered his brows and replied casually, “Aren’t things displayed for sale so that customers can choose among them? Or does your pavilion require people to buy an artifact just because they looked at it twice? Besides, I’m interested in a guqin. If you won’t take it down so I can test its sound, how am I supposed to judge whether it’s any good?”
“Everything in the Myriad Treasures Pavilion is a rare treasure! A poor brat like you dreams of learning an immortal’s instrument and even has the nerve to talk about testing its sound. How could I allow you to make trouble here?”
“I hadn’t expected the illustrious Myriad Treasures Pavilion to be a place that judges customers by their appearance. How enlightening.”
Cultivators had keen hearing. The exchange attracted the attention of quite a few people, who turned to watch.
Lin Chen’s softly barbed tone made the attendant flush with anger. He was just about to retort when a deep voice sounded behind him.
“Stand aside.”
A middle-aged man approached at an unhurried pace. His gaze settled on Lin Chen, and a trace of scrutiny flickered in his eyes before his expression returned to calm.
“Starting tomorrow, you needn’t come back. Our Myriad Treasures Pavilion is far too small a temple to accommodate someone who judges people by their clothes.”
“Steward—”
The attendant was about to kneel and beg for mercy, but his voice was silenced, and in the next instant he was flung out of the pavilion.
The newcomer was the Foundation Establishment steward responsible for the magical treasures section.
He apologized to Lin Chen. “Our attendant was ignorant and neglected you, little friend. Allow me to offer my apologies. Is it this Liuyin Guqin that caught your eye?”
With a slight movement of his hand, the guqin appeared before Lin Chen.
[Host, you were right. Not everyone is like that attendant who thinks his eyes belong on top of his head. This steward certainly knows how to handle people.]
[The Myriad Treasures Pavilion wouldn’t have survived in the cultivation world by ruining its own reputation. That attendant was the exception.]
[Then what about Bai Zhishan? Is she an exception too?]
[…]
An unsolvable problem. Lin Chen genuinely did not know.
“Little friend, feel free to play a few notes. If it doesn’t suit you, you can look at something else,” the steward offered.
Seeing that Lin Chen had not moved, he assumed the boy was still angry.
Angry? Lin Chen’s expression had not changed from beginning to end. His silence was simply because he had been conversing with Dabai in his sea of consciousness.
“There’s no need. Naturally, I trust the Myriad Treasures Pavilion. Please pack it up for me.”
Even if Lin Chen wanted to play it, he did not know how. And even if he did, he would not actually have tested it. His earlier remarks had been intended to rebuke the attendant, but they had undeniably slighted the pavilion as well. It was better to offer some goodwill now.
“Are you certain you want to buy this guqin?”
The steward was not doubting his ability to pay. Rather, he felt that a child of Lin Chen’s age would have greater need of an offensive artifact such as a spiritual sword, or at least something defensive, rather than an artifact valued chiefly for its appearance.
Lin Chen nodded, took out a storage pouch, and handed it over. “I’m certain.”
Seeing his resolve, the steward did not press the matter. His spiritual sense swept through the pouch: five hundred low-grade spirit stones, neither more nor less.
“In that case, I’ll take the liberty of including a book of guqin scores as a gift. I hope our honored guest will forgive the earlier discourtesy.”
A moment ago he had been a little friend. The instant he spent money, he became an honored guest. Reality could be frighteningly practical.
“This guqin is called Liuyin. The scorebook contains mostly introductory pieces. If our honored guest doesn’t mind, please accept it as well.”
“Thank you, Steward.”
“If there’s anything else you require, please don’t hesitate to ask.”
“I won’t trouble you. I’ll just have a look around.”
Lin Chen had achieved the purpose of his trip, but it had cost him nearly his entire fortune, and the thought still made his heart ache a little. The scorebook the steward had given him, however, was an unexpected delight. It saved him the trouble of searching everywhere for beginner’s music.
| 道友 | dàoyǒu | Literally “friend of the Dao.” A courteous address between practitioners of cultivation or Daoist disciplines, expressing recognition of a shared path without necessarily implying personal friendship. |
| 哥哥 | gēge | Older brother; also a familiar or affectionate address for an older boy or man. The term may denote biological kinship or a socially close, brother-like relationship. |
| 皇兄 | huángxiōng | Imperial elder brother; an elder brother who belongs to the imperial family. Huang identifies the imperial relationship and xiong indicates an older male sibling. |
| 师弟 | shīdì | Junior male fellow disciple within a shared teacher’s lineage or sect. Junior status is generally determined by discipleship seniority, not necessarily by biological age. |
| 师妹 | shīmèi | Junior female fellow disciple within the same master’s lineage or sect; a relational title that indicates lower discipleship seniority. |
| 真人 | zhēnrén | Literally “true person” or “perfected person.” A Daoist designation for someone who has attained spiritual realization and cultivated harmony with the Dao. In cultivation fiction, a respectful title for an accomplished cultivator; the cultivation realm associated with it depends on the setting. |
Fuxi-style guqin (伏羲式古琴, Fúxī shì gǔqín): a traditional seven-stringed Chinese zither design named after the legendary culture hero Fuxi. The silhouette is distinct and different from the Luoxia silhouette mentioned for Fengyuan in the previous chapter.
The most useful distinction is: Fuxi = defined shoulders and restrained curves; Luoxia = repeated, flowing cloudlike curves.
流音琴 (Liúyīn Qín) — Flowing Melody Qin. A named guqin whose name evokes the flowing, resonant quality of music. Liúyīn (流音) means “flowing sound” or “flowing melody,” while qín (琴) identifies the instrument.