135 – Curse

The variety in the stall was much more plentiful than the previous.

There were beads, sculptures, paintings, vases, and items with bizarre shapes. It was easy to spot vendors with a bit more experience. Rather than using fake items from the factory, the stalls contained mainly authentic items. 

“Boss, how long have you been around?” asked Li Yun.

Thinking about his life, the vendor shook his head. “Way too long. I've probably been moving around these parts and Panda City for almost twenty years now.”

Eying the young lady, he suddenly remembered where he had seen her. “Oh, hey, you’re Meimei from the broadcast!”

Rouxi nodded.

“I enjoy your museum and city excursion series! Can I take a picture?”

“Sure,” Rouxi replied.

The vendor handed his phone to Li Yun. Remembering that he was technically on a date with her and not actually treasure hunting, he decided to follow along.

After snapping the picture, Rouxi returned next to Li Yun.

“So are you two looking for anything in particular?” asked the vendor.

“I’m testing my boyfriend's treasure hunting ability,” Rouxi replied.

The vendor laughed. “That’s interesting! How about I help you with the test?”

“Oh?” Rouxi and Li Yun both wondered what the vendor was suggesting.

“Most of the items here are collected by my family over the years. They aren’t high priced items, but they are guaranteed to appreciate in value with time. It’s a good investment. However, there is one item here that is worth at least 50 times higher than the actual sale price.”

“Oh, that’s interesting,” Rouxi commented. “Is there a particular reason?”

“Well, you see, that item has been passed down my family for several generations. There is quite an interesting story behind it. According to our family legend, we are not allowed to sell it for profit. It must only be sold to a buyer who is fated to buy it.”

Rouxi laughed. “That is quite an interesting history,” Rouxi wanted to film the segment. “Can I film this as you tell us the entire story?”

“Ah, sure!” The vendor immediately agreed. 

Rouxi then took out Li Yun’s phone and explained to the viewer that this was an impromptu treasure hunting session with Dr. Li. She narrated how they came across the vendor, Mo Ke, who sells items gathered by his ancestors.

“The story began 300 years ago. My ancestor was a tomb raider, not something that our family is particularly proud of."

"It may not be known to the viewers, so let me explain," said Rouxi. "Tomb raiders are heavily fined and sentenced for looting, and even the mention of it could be fined. Many shows have come out regarding tomb raiding, but the only reason why it's being allowed to air is because it shows the peril of tomb raiding. Nevertheless, it has revived interest in treasure hunting and searching for tombs.”

Mo Ke agreed. "Tomb raiding isn't for the faint of heart. My ancestor was very successful, but two of his first child died, and his third child was born deaf. He took the child to every single Buddhist and Taoist temple, asking to see if it was possible to cure his child. He finally came across a rural temple in a small town ran by a Taoist priest. The priest told him that there was a curse on his body that would pass down to his descendants. If he wants to appease the dark energy, he must bury all the items he has in possession.”

“There was one item that the priest asked him to keep, as it was meant to be owned by someone in the future. The priest instructed him to keep the item and sell it to the person who was interested in buying it. If the correct person buys the item, the descendent would be completely freed of the curse and they would even to gain prosperity.”

“Do you truly believe in your family’s curse?” asked Rouxi.

“Well, to a certain extent. Ever since my ancestor buried the item, his son miraculously gained back his senses. The descendants were still plagued with hearing problems, but never to the point of being deaf. I know from talking to my cousins that some of them have Usher syndrome.”

Usher syndrome was a rare genetic disease that caused sudden deafness or partial loss of hearing.

Li Yun thought about gene expressions. If medicine was able to turn off or turn on certain genes, it would change the course of medicine. Unfortunately, even if it was possible, there were also side effects that could be more damaging.

After listening to the vendor’s story, Li Yun patted him. There weren’t any signs of an illness, but many syndromes affected the genes and not the cardiovascular system. 

Usher Syndrome affected at least ten different genes that regulated the production of proteins associated with hearing and sight. Unfortunately, it was not something Li Yun could examine with his ability.

Li Yun checked his dantian. There was a strange yin energy surrounding the two pyramids. It wasn’t pronounced, but it was interesting. Was it possible for yin energy to alter gene expressions?

He wondered if Dr. Tsang had something similar in his dantian after the shadowy yin energy entered him.

After using Qivi, Li Yun used spirit detection. He had not used spirit detention since that time. A part of him was still afraid of the influences it had on him, but that fear had partially dissipated with time. He couldn’t let fear get the best of him.

As soon as he used Spirit Detection, he saw the eyes of a strange man looking back at him. Li Yun suddenly stopped and almost faltered back.

“Yun! Are you all right!?” Rouxi held onto him before he lost his balance.  

Li Yun nodded, stabilizing his body and standing upright. He was a lot more cautious when using Spirit Detection, and made sure to stop as soon as there was a reaction.

“Do you know what tomb your ancestor visited?” asked Li Yun.

“No idea, but one of the items the Taoist priest suggested to keep belonged to a tomb that my grandfather said belonged to someone powerful,” the vendor replied.

The more Li Yun heard about the story, the most curious he was about the artifact. He carefully examined the items sporadically placed on top of an old worn out black and yellow cloth.

Although there were some curious looking items, Li Yun wasn’t able to discern anything that would belong to the man he had seen. 

If it was an item without any character, Li Yun would have to check every item that looked like it was more than 300 years old. The vendor was actually carrying a lot of authentic items, but it didn’t emit any qi.

His eyes watched Rouxi’s hands as she examined the cloth.

“Yun, the staining on the cloth is natural to aged silk. It’s at least a thousand years old.”

Li Yun’s hand naturally drifted to the cloth and gathered the fabric between his fingers. The silk was heavy, but still soft, although the top surface felt rough due to aging. The pattern was worn out.

He used Qivi to see a group of court ladies working to create the cloth. It was a cloth that was made for an emperor’s ordination, as for which emperor, it had to be very early. The Shang dynasty and possibly even the Xia dynasty? Antiques that far back were difficult to determine as most of the information about that time period was lost and could only be discerned using accounts from later time periods.

He could ask Dun Mao to have it carbon dated.

“Your ancestor found this cloth from the tomb?” asked Li Yun.

Mo Ke nodded. “I am not sure of the exact value, but I was told it was priceless. I can sell it to you for 3000 yuan.”

With the silk cloth in hand, one of the requirements for the item was fulfilled. If this item had 1000 qi, did it mean he should focus on items from the Xia and Shang dynasty?

“You’re not going to sell it?” asked Rouxi.

“No, I have other plans for it.” 

Items: 9 different items with 1000 qi. 1/9.

Li Yun hung the cloth on a wooden hanger and placed it in a cool storage area in his workroom. Afterward, he turned to Rouxi.

“I’m heading to Imperial City on Thursday,” Li Yun had already told her before about seeing Xiao Yan again, but he didn’t have an exact date.

“All right.” Rouxi thought about the possibility of Song Taiji contacting him, but then again, it was likely that they had already met.

If Li Yun didn’t want to bring it up, she didn’t want to ask.