Hourglass

Jiang Yue smirked cheekily and bumped Yu Nianzhen's shoulder before he asked, "are you having separation anxiety?"

Yu Nianzhen frowned, but did not answer.

This would be the first time that they were going to act separately since arriving in the Cangxing world, and he had to admit that he was a little bit anxious about it.

"Keep a low profile." He instead warned and then walked away from the Three Boars inn.

'Different life, but he still a worrywart.' Jiang Yue chuckled and watched until Yu Nianzhen disappeared around a corner before he took a different road.

He planned to head to Fengying city's antique street, but he was not in a hurry to get there so he walked as he listened to merchants who were shouting loudly, hoping to attract the early morning crowd.

"How about a bottle of rosewater for the young lad's girlfriend?" A middle-aged woman shouted as she dragged Jiang Yue towards a roadside stall where tens of small bottles were placed on a large wooden table.

"Rosewater?" Jiang Yue asked and took the proffered bottle.

The white porcelain bottle was only the size of his pinkie, but it was etched with a beautiful red rose that made the bottle look very elegant.

The stall merchant was very excited when she heard Jiang Yue's question and she helpfully uncorked the bottle to allow him to smell the contents.

'Smells like a rose.' He thought and then closed the bottle.

"What does it do?" He asked.

If he came across rose water in the modern world, he would automatically assume that it was just a perfume, but after more than five months in the Cangxing world, Jiang Yue knew that practicality superseded aesthetic value.

"The young lad is quite knowledgeable." The stall owner praised before she continued to introduce the product.

"Rosewater is made from class one roses and thrice distilled water. It is not only pleasing to the nose, but also has a calming effect which is very beneficial when awakening meridians. All the young girls are using rose water."

'Isn't it a problem if all the girls smell the same?' Jiang Yue thought, but he did not mention it.

It's not like he had a girl that he wanted to impress and if he dared to buy such a product for Yu Nianzhen…

Jiang Yue shuddered as he thought of what would happen to him if he dared to present rose water to Yu Nianzhen.

He quickly gave back the bottle of rose water; as if trying to get rid of a hot potato which made the stall owner look at him curiously but Jiang Yue couldn't be bothered to care about it. It was more important not to provoke that demon lord otherwise he would have to suffer.

"I will be sure to come back if I find a girlfriend."

After saying that, Jiang Yue began to walk away, but the stall owner who had finally managed to attract his first customer for the day wasn't having it. It was only after Jiang Yue listened to the description of several perfumes that he managed to escape from the woman's entanglement.

'How dangerous.' He thought as he hurried away from the area, afraid that he would be pulled towards another stall.

Jiang Yue wandered aimlessly for the entire morning and when the sun was directly overhead, he finally arrived at the antique street.

Wang Hui had previously brought them to the antique street and at that time, the treasure compass had reacted in one of the stores, but Jiang Yue had not investigated for fear of alerting the young city lord. His plan was to come back the next day, but this had been delayed because absorbing the drop of stone milk had taken longer than expected.

Although he was anxious to find out what had made the treasure compass react, Jiang Yue had not directly come to the store after leaving the Three Boars inn because he was aware that someone had been following him since he left the inn.

He suspected that it was Wang Hui's people, but he wasn't willing to give up on the treasure that had already been discovered so he took his time to get to the store. Hopefully, the follower would assume that he was just exploring randomly since he was new to the city.

"Young master Jiang." The shopkeeper called as soon as Jiang Yue walked into the store.

The shopkeeper was a middle-aged man who had a bald patch on his head, which contradicted his long black hair in the areas surrounding the patch.

His fat body was covered by a dark green robe and his shrewd eyes narrowed as soon as he saw Jiang Yue.

He remembered that the young master had previously visited the store with the young city lord, but they hadn't bought anything in their previous visit.

"Can I look around?" Jiang Yue asked.

"Of course young master."

Jiang Yue usually hang the treasure compass like a locket around his neck and luckily, he had felt it vibrate against his chest as soon as he entered the store which meant that the treasure had yet to be sold.

The store was arranged like a modern-day minimart with three lanes made of floor to ceiling shelves. The shelves were further divided into thirty centimetres square cubicles and each cubicle held a single item.

'It will be difficult to find what I am looking for.' He thought as he walked to the first lane to begin his search.

The first cubicle held a broken spearhead made of a kind of black stone that Jiang Yue had never seen before. He took it to see if it would produce a reaction from the treasure compass, but there was none and he was about to put the spearhead down when the shopkeeper appeared next to him to introduce the item.

"This spearhead was recovered from the tomb of a qi transformation realm cultivator."

Jiang Yue took another look at the spearhead but still put it down. Neither he nor Yu Nianzhen had a spear origin and if it wasn't useful, the only other reason he would buy it was if it produced a reaction from the treasure compass.

For the next several hours, Jiang Yue walked around the shop and the shopkeeper tirelessly explained the origin and use of each item that he took an interest in.

"That book was found in the tomb of a class one formation master."

The book only had a few pages, but it was almost one foot thick because it was made of beast skin rather than the usual bamboo or jade.

Although the treasure compass did not react to the book, Jiang Yue was somewhat interested because he had learned that cultivators who had an illusion origin had a high aptitude for arrays.

"How much is it?"

"It is only two thousand gold coins."

Jiang Yue felt faint when he heard that and he had to force himself to regain his calm.

His and Yu Nianzhen's accumulated wealth was only a thousand gold coins and if that wasn't enough to buy an introductory book, wasn't it impossible for them to afford any useful books and cultivation manuals?

He took a deep breath, put the book down, and turned his attention to the next item.

It wasn't until half an hour later that the treasure compass began to vibrate vigorously as soon as Jiang Yue touched an item on one of the cubicles on the shelf in the middle lane.

The item was an hourglass that was half a foot tall and about twenty centimetres wide at the base. It looked normal with a wooden frame, a transparent jade body and golden sand, but the compass' reaction indicated that it was nothing but normal.

"This hourglass was recovered from the land of the fallen." The shopkeeper informed and a fleeting frown marred his fat face but he managed to hide it before Jiang Yue could catch it.

The hourglass had been recovered several years back, but it was damaged and couldn't keep accurate time.

However, it was made of good jade so the shopkeeper didn't want to sell it too cheaply, but no one had been willing to buy a broken hourglass for five hundred gold coins.

"If young master Jiang likes it, you can have it for five hundred gold coins."

Jiang Yue had already decided to buy the hourglass, but he pretended to think about it and when the shopkeeper saw that, he hurriedly added.

"Since the young master is a friend of the young city lord, I can give a discount and sell it for three hundred."

A fleeting smile appeared on Jiang Yue's face and he tamped down his excitement before he spoke, "I will recommend your store to the young city lord."

"This servant will be very grateful to young master Jiang."

After paying the three hundred gold coins, Jiang Yue did not immediately leave the store. He continued to look around, but after investigating all the items, he only bought a few jade bottles before leaving the store.

He had just exited the store and was about to head to the next one when a tingling sensation caused his hair to stand on end and he barely had enough time to jump to the side before a spear appeared at his previous position.