16 The Bloody Rosary

As Cha Ming walked into the building, he was taken in by the elegance of the Jade Bamboo Auction House. The interior was tiled in white marble, with black tiles making runic patterns across the expansive floor. There were various desks that performed daily business and took bids for long-term auctions. This was a popular method of selling things like property, large amounts of ore, herbs, and beasts. These desks were made of white wood with a green jade countertop. Here and there were small bamboo forests that concealed tables for conducting business. These were for either VIPs or customers that needed the auction house to act as a guarantor, insurer, or witness.

Truly a license to print money, he thought.

The auction house was the hub of the Jade Bamboo businesses in the city. Anything could be transferred from the other core businesses in other cities, even information. He secretly wondered if one could hire assassins there. Everything else seemed available, so it was not a small possibility. Of course, it was not something they would advertise.

After waiting in line for some time, he approached one of the jade desks, where a beautiful attendant stood. She seemed very aloof and immediately judged Cha Ming by his age and simple clothes. He assumed her pay was heavily based on commission, and so she likely thought he was wasting her time. It didn't help that he seemed extremely uncertain, as if he didn't belong there.

"What do you want?" she asked gruffly.

Cha Ming was a little taken aback. He didn't offend her in any way. But he also didn't want to wait in line once again, so he stated his purpose. "I have some items that I need to sell. Would you be able to help me?"

"You can sell your junk at any common shop," she said haughtily. "This is the Jade Bamboo Auction House, and we only do quality business here. Go somewhere else. You're wasting my time."

She then looked to the next customer to have them come up. Cha Ming frowned. He thought for a bit and realized that if he had brought up his sales contract, he might have received a different reaction.

The world is unfair to the poor, he thought with a sigh. He brought out the green jade that Wang Jun had given him.

As soon as the green jade landed on the desk, the attendant paled. A door opened behind the desks, after which a friendly man with black hair and a black beard walked out. He was wearing green robes very similar to those Wang Jun wore.

"Distinguished guest, my apologies for the misunderstanding. I am Manager Li. Miss Su here will be suspended for a week in order to apologize to you. Miss Su, please bow to our guest in apology." The softly spoken middle-aged man stood with his hands behind his back. Miss Su trembled and bowed in apology.

As she was about to leave, Cha Ming spoke. "That is unnecessary, Manager Li. I am sure she has learned not to judge youngsters by their appearance."

It wasn't that he didn't think she deserved it; he simply wanted to cause as little trouble as possible for Wang Jun. After all, he was here on Brother Jun's recommendation, and he didn't know how much authority his friend had.

"Since our guest has requested it, you are excused from this punishment. Miss Su, please remember his magnanimity. Mister Du, please come this way to one of our bamboo tea gardens where we can discuss your business."

Cha Ming was quite surprised that the manager knew his name. He was not a famous figure, after all.

After they walked into one of the secluded bamboo groves, he noticed that the inside appeared much larger than the outside. Inside the garden there were flowers, birds chirping, and jade-colored bamboo as far as the eyes could see. If he were to guess, he could see about 500 feet off into the distance. Yet he knew that he had just stepped into a twenty-square-foot garden.

"I understand that it is your first time here, Mr. Du. Earlier today we received instructions from Auction Master Xie to treat you as a distinguished guest. As to how I recognized you, I believe you are the only sixteen-year-old youngster in the city with brown hair and hazel eyes that could procure a jade sales contract. There are perhaps three of these contracts in the city, the others being white, bronze, silver, and gold contracts."

Cha Ming had truly underestimated Wang Jun's status in this city. To be able to convince the auction manager to give out such a rare contract in this city to such a lowly figure as himself proved that his friend simply had too much influence in this city. In fact, how was he even qualified to be Wang Jun's classmate? The more he thought about it, the more he suspected Wang Jun's presence at the academy was a front or a ruse.

Noticing his surprise, Manager Li continued. "A jade contract is actually not built on the premise of making money but on the premise of establishing friendship. Typically, it is reserved for high-level political interactions, so the amounts are limited. I am not sure what your relationship to Master Xie is, but I assure you that you will get the best of care. In addition, you can expect the same treatment at any of our Jade Bamboo establishments. In addition, the card itself contains your picture and description, therefore none of the establishments will dare doubt its authenticity or think you stole it."

As he spoke, he continued to pour tea on the wet tea table. He used the traditional way of brewing the tea, making only one small cup at a time for each of them from the fresh leaves.

"This bamboo forest is isolated from the rest of the rest of the auction house, using a spatial formation. As such, you can feel comfortable revealing any business you might have."

The middle-aged man smiled and waited patiently while pouring tea. Cha Ming had already separated a number of talismans that he wished to keep. After receiving the large stack of talismans, Manager Li flipped through them and took a look at the jade contract. He then withdrew a pile of spirit stones from his bag and stored the talismans in his own bag.

He then gestured to the pile. "As per the contract, you are entitled to 5,500 spirit stones. While we don't store any materials here, I noticed that your contract mentions talisman-crafting materials. If you specify what you need, we can have them gathered and sent to your place within twenty-four hours."

Now that Manager Li mentioned it, Cha Ming would need a special kind of inscription ink that could be used to manufacture the soul pearls he would use for his Soul Pearl manifestation technique. While he wouldn't be able to afford a full set of top-quality pearls, he could at least ensure that he had enough to make a full low-grade set.

"Manager Li, if you would be so kind, I would like to purchase two hundred portions each of low-grade emerald regeneration inscription ink, low-grade cinnabar blaze inscription ink, low-grade silver piercing inscription ink, and low-grade earth pulse inscription ink, and low-grade Frost Mist inscription ink. Are 4,500 spirit stones sufficient?"

After receiving a nod and a smile from Li, he swept away the remaining 1,000 spirit stones. Their business concluded, he exited the auction house in search of the remaining components: soul pearls.

--

Soul pearls were not a common commodity, but neither were they rare. The people who usually used them were people who practiced monastic arts, like Daoist priests, Buddhist monks, or exorcists. The usual function of these pearls was to bind and restrict, though many of the professions used them to train their soul power.

Cha Ming's nose wrinkled as he walked slowly through a run-down shop, where a heavy scent of incense floated in the air. He had never liked incense. Perhaps it was because it was usually accompanied by pompous priests when lecturing the masses. Alas, when one hated something, one often forgot the original reason for hating it in the first place.

As he walked through the shop, he ran his fingers across various baubles and merchandise crammed on small wooden shelves. Here and there, small statues of the Buddha or various famous Daoist figures could be seen, their specially crafted eyes seeming to bore into his soul. There were also small packages of talismans, both fake and magical, strung across the walls. Over ninety percent were fake, and he could tell at first glance which were real and which were imitations.

One talisman seemed to stand out to him. Although it clearly looked like a fake and was built on what seemed to be the worst of papers, he was overcome with a violent impulse to grab the talisman and run out of the store with it.

Strange, he thought. He rarely had impulses like that. The run-down talisman was marked at fifty spirit stones for the one talisman and the forty-nine in the bundle. It was also marked with three characters, the characters for good luck (幸运) and the number four (四), a rather unlucky number often associated with death . Clearly, the person who made these forgeries had extremely poor taste.

After a few moments of hesitation, he finally managed to focus his attention on what was more important: procuring a set of soul pearls. Unfortunately, he was a little out of luck. The cheapest set of 108 was selling for 5,000 spirit stones, meaning that to purchase it, he would need to liquidate more of his talismans.

Sighing, he started wandering out of the shop. Just as he was about to walk out of the front door, he heard a high-pitched voice call out, "Wait, my friend! Wait!"

He turned around to the surprising view of a bald man with a thin beard and particularly bad teeth. Bad teeth may have been a bit of an understatement; the man had a total of five teeth remaining in his mouth, which seemed to be barely hanging on for dear life. The ancient-looking man had an extremely hunched back, and he was leaning on his cane as though a slight breeze could push him over.

"My dearest friend, it's truly good luck that we've met! I haven't had business all day, and I'm definitely willing to give you the cheapest price!" The old man shot him a crooked smile that reminded Cha Ming of a used-car salesman.

It never hurt to hear a person out, so he stepped back into the shop and walked back to the counter, where various rosaries of soul pearls hung on the wall.

"I don't know if you can help me, sir. What I'm looking for is much more expensive that I can afford," Cha Ming stated. It's not that he wanted to lower expectations, but he truly couldn't afford what was displayed in front of him.

"Pfft. Everything is negotiable, and you can find some amazing deals that you might have never dreamed of in this simple shop of mine." The shifty old man still had a wide grin plastered on his face. "Now tell me, my lucky young friend, what exactly are you looking for?"

"I'm looking for a set of soul pearls. Unfortunately, it seems like your cheapest set of a hundred and eight are five thousand spirit stones. I only have a thousand spirit stones with me, and unfortunately, I can't afford more. That's why I was stepping out of the store just now. It's simply too much to bargain for." Cha Ming knew that bargaining was very common in these stores, but the price would usually only be reduced by thirty percent. An eighty-percent reduction in price was asking for too much.

Contrary to his expectations, the man at the counter frowned. "Hm, that is truly difficult. Normally I wouldn't be able to help you out on such a large discount, but luckily you've found the right man!"

With an excited look, the man in front of him disappeared and returned with a small wooden chest. He quickly opened the wooden chest and withdrew a set of one hundred and eight bloodied pearls. The pearls seemed cracked and cut, and the blood sprinkled over a third of them made Cha Ming think that perhaps this necklace had been bloodied as they were hacked off a poor monk's neck. A look of revulsion flashed across his face as he fought the urge to vomit.

"Look, son, these are perfectly serviceable soul pearls. In fact, I think they were probably the best-quality pearls back in the day. I got these pearls for a few thousand pearls some decades ago, but for some reason no one ever wants to buy them. I'm just trying to cut my losses. Tell you what, I'll sell you these pearls for a thousand spirit stones. Brand new, you probably couldn't get these for fifty thousand! That's a hell of a deal!"

Cha Ming hesitated. Perhaps it was a very good deal, and he could take a chance on these pearls and experiment for a bit. Worst case, he would spend a couple of weeks making talismans, sell them, and come back and get a new set later.

"Look, that's taking a huge chance. What if these are cursed? I'd take them for three hundred, but that's truly the highest I'd pay for these. I'm taking on a big risk!"

The old man's eyes flashed with joy as he realized that he might have a taker. He didn't want to seem too eager, though, so he continued to haggle. "That's outrageous! I'd only sell them for seven hundred at the very least!"

"Five hundred, then, take it or leave it." Cha Ming didn't want to spend too much on a gamble. Finally, after a few minutes of pondering, the old man gave him an aggrieved look as he nodded his head.

"Fine, I'll sell them for five hundred spirit stones. It's a deal." He held out his aged, clawlike hand to close the deal. Cha Ming took his hand and shook it. After he dropped 500 spirit stones on the desk, the man took the pearls out of the box and tossed them over. "But I'm keeping this nice box!"

Cha Ming laughed as he walked out of the store and grabbed a wad of fake talismans that included the "lucky" talisman. "Fine, then, I'm also taking this wad of fake talismans. Keep your box!" The gleeful shop owner didn't seem to care and held his breath as Cha Ming walked out of the store.

--

"Phew, I thought he'd never fall for it. This is simply my lucky day, I've been trying to pawn off that cursed object for years! I never should have killed that monk decades ago."

As he spoke, his features began to regain vitality. What was once old and wrinkled skin was becoming soft and pink. His teeth seemed to grow back, and so did his hair. The hair continued to grow until it stopped just past his shoulder blades. The man now looked middle-aged and quite handsome.

"I tried to give those pearls to so many people. I tried to abandon them, destroy them, or slip them into people's bags as they made purchases. I tried everything! After years of research, I found out that the only way to lift the curse was to get someone to willingly buy the item. After displaying it for decades, no one would buy it! Finally, after having given up on ever recovering from the curse, I put these pearls away only to have this youngster looking for a set of cheap soul pearls.

"It's not that I hate you, kid, it's just that I like my life a lot more than yours. It just wasn't your lucky day." The old shop that had been in this very alleyway for countless decades closed early that day. Within two hours, the shop had been cleared of all valuables and the building abandoned. Half a day later, the middle-aged man was over a thousand li away, gliding merrily among the clouds.

--

Meanwhile, Cha Ming was ignorant about this whole affair. Unbeknownst to him, two strange things were happening inside his storage bag. First, the "lucky talisman" had suddenly vanished. It turned into a white mist that floated out of the bag and crawled up Cha Ming's shirt and onto his back, between his shoulder blades. A white tattoo of the character for luck (幸运) and the number four (四) appeared on his back and quickly faded away. Shortly after, a bloody aura left the broken rosary in his bag, pouncing on its new owner to continue the curse. The curse transformed into a red mist, which formed a vicious-looking dagger, threatening to stab into his spine.

As the red mist was about to drill into the unsuspecting Cha Ming, what appeared to be a white claw jumped out from his shoulder blades and grabbed the red mist, crushing it before it even had a chance to escape. Unknowingly, the curse which he had just purchased had been dispelled by the good luck he had just accumulated. The "luck" tattoo on his back glowed white once more. Where there used to be a four (四), there was now a three (三).