Chapter 17: Tea (2)

Chapter 17: Tea (2)

The Thousand Treasures Hall was an auction house. It wasnt the largest in the capital, but the auctions it carried out were the richest. It had carefully cultivated its reputation for pulling in record prices for exotic and valuable items. That attracted sellers in droves, which in turn had led to a reputation for carrying out the most interesting auctions in the capital, attracting wealthy customers by the carriage-ful. Muchen could only tip his hat in admiration of their business model. The locals might not know about the idea of brand identity, but they understood the value of a good reputation quite well indeed.

The Thousand Treasure Hall wasnt far from the Golden Mountain Pavilion. After all, they catered to the same sort of people, albeit in different circumstances. Rich and noble families who were short of money would visit the Golden Mountain Pavillion and part with family treasures in order to get their hands on much needed silver. Conversely, when they were flush with cash they would head for the auction hall to add new treasures to their familys collection.

The appraisers working for the Thousand Treasures Hall might not be the worlds greatest experts in spirit tools, but if Muchen ranked them second he wasnt sure who would dare to claim first place. If he could hire one of them to look for the artifacts that had been crafted from Xinyis cultivation base, he could consider the job half done.

He frowned as a thought occurred to him. He pulled his mule cart over to the side of the road, giving the auction house ahead of him a contemplative look.

I should ask, he said, how is your recovery going?

It will go a lot faster if we get our hands on another one of those spiritual tools, Xinyi said. A touch of impatience had entered her voice.

What I mean is, Muchen said, would we be in any danger if the Cloudy Peaks Sect were to find you right now?

Not immediately, she said.

Muchen stayed silent. It was hard for anybody to admit weakness, much less a high level cultivator. He wouldnt have brought up the subject if he hadnt noticed how careful she was being now that they were in the capital. Seeing Xinyi behave as if there were limits to what she could handle was enough for him to be cautious.

Why does it matter? she asked.Visit no(v)eLb(i)n.com for the best novel reading experience

The appraisers at the Thousand Treasures Hall would be a great help in tracking down what were looking for, he said. But I worry that giving them such a task would leave traces that the Cloudy Peak Sect could use to find us.

The Cloudy Peak Sect, after all, knew which items they had made using Xinyis involuntary assistance. They might not know for certain that she would be able to heal herself by retrieving those items, but they would have to suspect. Once they discovered that she had escaped, tracking down those items would be an obvious first step towards finding Xinyis location.

Beyond that, looking for anybody looking for those items would also point them in her direction. Muchen didnt want to fall into a paranoid spiral and live a life of fearful inaction, but at the same time he didnt want to leave any obvious clues to their whereabouts when he didn't have to. If asking the experts at the Thousand Treasures Hall was an obvious idea to him, he had to assume that the experts at the Cloudy Peaks Sect could think of the same thing.

A single Golden Core expert wouldnt be a problem, she said. If they sent more than one, or one of their Nascent Soul cultivators made a move, things would get tricky.

Muchen raised an eyebrow. Any sect that boasted a Golden Core cultivator was a force to be reckoned with. All of the examples that he could think of offhand were Guardian Sects, second only to the five hegemons in terms of power and prestige. He'd fallen into the habit of thinking of Xinyi as a protective talisman of sorts, but he found he'd underestimated just how much protection she was providing.

Of course, even she would have trouble if he led the Cloudy Peaks Sect straight to them. It looked like he wouldn't just be able to hand the job off to an expert and rest assured. Fortunately, he'd never been afraid of a little hard work.

I will drown them in blood for inflicting this humiliation on me, Xinyi continued.

"We just have to be a little careful until we gather up those spirit tools," Muchen said, smiling as he guided the cart back in the flow of traffic. "Even the Cloudy Peaks Sect won't lightly mobilize multiple Golden Core cultivators."

Xinyi didn't respond by the time they reached the auction house. Muchen knew that the idea of laying low wasn't something that came easy to her.

He dusted himself off and straightened up his clothes after pulling his cart into the Thousand Treasure Hall's front courtyard. He hesitated before tying Huichen's reins to the hitching post. The usually humble item was made of beautifully polished hardwood. He hated to think of the cost of repairs should Huichen manage to damage the thing. He shook his head and did his best to make his way inside without gawking at the rich decoration of the auction house's front facade.

He was greeted at the door by a beautiful receptionist wearing a professional outfit and a professional smile. Welcome to the Thousand Treasures Hall. How may I help you today?

Muchen cleared his throat and made sure to regain his composure before he spoke. Im looking to find some information.

With the introduction complete, the receptionist bowed and excused herself from the room. Muchen waited for the door to close behind her before he approached Master Huang's desk.

Ive been asked to identify a spiritual tool, he said. I figured that consulting with an expert would be the best way to get started.

Master Huang gave him a neutral smile. "How could I dare to call myself an expert? This is the imperial capital, where crouching tigers and hidden dragons lurk around every corner."

"Still, you must be knowledgeable to work at the Thousand Treasures Pavilion," Muchen said, before getting to the true heart of the matter. "Of course, I could hardly expect you to help me out for free."

"I do handle the occasional private consultation," Master Huang said. "What is it you are looking for?"

"It's a little awkward to say," Muchen replied.

"Do you want my help or not?" Master Huang asked.

"I was hoping you would let me look through your records myself," Muchen said. "After all, my client wants me to keep their secrets."

It wasn't just for Xinyi's sake that he didn't want the information getting out there that somebody was searching for this particular set of spiritual tools. Muchen appreciated the help that she had given him so far, but he had no intention of becoming collateral damage in a fight between top level powerhouses.

"It's good that you value secrets," Master Huang said, "but what about our secrets? I can hardly let an outsider access to the Thousand Treasure Hall's internal documents."

"I'd only be interested in the records of spiritual tools on the Qianzhan Continent," Muchen said. "Nothing that touches on any secrets."

He leaned forward with a smile. "I understand that it was a hard and painstaking process to gather all of that information. I hardly expect you to share it with me for free."

Master Huang studied him for a moment. "Two taels per hour. You can sit here with me and read the books that I give you."

"I'll need to take notes," Muchen said.

"I can hardly let you copy our records," Master Huang said.

"Do I look like a scribe?" Muchen asked. "I won't take more than a page of notes a day."

"Very well," Master Huang said, before turning his attention to the shelf behind him. "Shall we begin?"

"Better to start tomorrow," Muchen said. "I still have some matters to arrange for today."

Master Huang nodded. "I won't see you out."

Muchen raised an eyebrow as he stood and left. He'd hoped to buy a bit of courtesy and goodwill with all the silver he was promising. Well, maybe this meant the old man wasn't treating him as an outsider.

He felt some reluctance in his heart as he made his way back to the Wang residence. At two taels an hour he'd wipe out all of his profits from the trip to the capital in just a few days. He could easily end up spending fifty taels of silver before he was done.

Muchen sighed. Ultimately, human feelings weren't a matter of calculating profit and loss. There was no need for an abacus when he was deciding whether to spend money for a friend.

Besides, numerically speaking, having Xinyi around had been worth far more than fifty taels of silver so far.