Antiques

He woke up earlier than normal. Though he felt better after the sleep, he still felt a little down. So he decided to take a walk around the city and clear his head.

After a light breakfast, he got a servent to inform his mother and went out. He roamed around aimlessly for a bit. He tried the food stalls, bought some trinkets and eventually got bored. Though it was the festival time, the streets are relatively empty in the morning. He was about to go back home when he saw an antique shop out of the corner of his eye.

'Right antiques! How could I forget, it's highly probable to find a cheat level item here.' he entered the shop, little excited.

The shop had an antique-y look. He could smell incense, it made him feel tranquil. The shop owner was an old man, sitting behind the counter reading a book. The moment he stepped in, a young man welcomed him and started to introduce the items enthusiastically.

Zhang Wuji listened for a while and got disappointed. They were all items of clear origins or special traits that made them collectibles. Some were famous works of mortal artisans, painters, some were owned or made by famous people, there were some items once belonging to cultivators, but nothing special.

He stopped the young man and asked "Are there any items of mysterious origin? Like those from some ruins or some unknown source?"

The young man gave him a weird look and turned towards the old man. The old man seemed to hesitate a bit before coming to a decision.

"Young master, you are in luck." The old man closed his book and got up.

"We have just what you are looking for." He bent down and took out an intricately carved wooden box and took out a small bundle of beast hide. He took out a piece of stone out of it.

"Just a month ago, a friend of mine gave me this stone token that he found in an abandoned cave in the Black Forest to auction in the Lou Auction House three days from now. The words on the token are a bit obscure but the style is definitely not of this time. You can have a look." He handed the token over to Zhang Wuji.

'Sigh, I'm sure this is fake, but my heart won't listen. I wish I had some kind of appraisal skill.'

.....

'Sigh. Ten silver down the drain. He didn't even have to try hard to con me. He must be making fun of me right now. I can imagine him taking out the same token and waiting for the next target.' Zhang Wuji walked back home with mixed feelings.

He now found a way to search for cheats but it only made him more frustrated. Getting conned repeatedly is not a good feeling.

After reaching his room, he took out the stone token and inspected it carefully. He couldn't make out anything from it. He then brought his thumb to his sharp canines and bit.

Nothing happened. He put some more force. It hurt. He slapped himself on the head, went to the table, took a knife and made a small cut on his index finger.

He squeezed out a few drops of blood onto the stone token and waited. After five minutes, he held the token in his hand and tried to put his mental energies into it. He stared hard at it. His mind was filled with its image. He felt it carefully with his palms. He repeatedly thought about it, chanted stone token and tried every way he could think of to concentrate his mental energies into the token.

'Maybe it activates with qi. Or maybe spirit sense. I'll have to wait to test those. Sigh.'

'I should be strong and not lose hope.'

He looked at the unchanged rectangular piece of stone and resisted the urge to smash it to the ground. He put it on the table and lay on his bed.

'I guess I'll get some sleep and try again in the evening. Sigh.' He did not have the habit of sleeping in the noon and one can't sleep just becouse they want to. He toosed and turned for a while and eventually lost himself in his thoughts. He imagined himself getting the cheat and having the time of his life in the cultivation world.

Right as he was about to wage war on the Dragon Realm for kidnapping his beautiful fiancee, he heard a knock on the door. He opened the door, pissed at being disturbed from his rescue cum conquering mission.

"Young master the food has been prepared. Madam has asked me to inform you." A maidservant bowed and delivered the message.

'Right I forgot about lunch. If I don't go, she will personally come to take me away and I wouldn't be able to resist. Might as well get this over with.'

He closed the door behind him and followed the maidservant.

When he reached the dinner hall, he noticed there was a new character on the table. She wore a long yellow robe with wide sleeves. Her black hair was tied in a ponytail and she was happily chatting with his mother while munching on her food. She had a cute face with a well endowed body. It was his eldest uncle's daughter Zhang Yuxi.

'This is bad.' She was the only person other than his parents that old Zhang Wuji was close with. They treated each other like real siblings. Since young she took care of him and beat anyone up that tried to bully him.

Zhang Chen could say things like 'I would beat you up everytime I see you' only in the sect. If he dares to say something along those lines here, he would have his jaw broken. Older generation cannot interfere in young people's fights and she was the strongest. At twenty three, she was in the third level of qi condensation. If she were a male, she would be the successor to the family head position, not Zhang Chen by a long shot.

Old Zhang Wuji was timid and shy and didn't speak much to others. The sole exception being this big sis of his. And this was a big problem for him right now.

After one year, if there is a huge change in personality, it might not be a problem in normal situations. But these are not normal situations. He did not know if possessions were popular in the cultivation world. He did not know if his own situation was not an unfamiliar thing to the residents of this world.

Her entry would mean two problems to him. One, the possibility of being exposed. Two, the certainty which is the sibling talk. He had no mood to play his role as a brother and entertain her.

The moment he walked in, she noticed him. He jumped up from his seat and hugged him excitedly "Lil' bro how have you been, I heard you made new friends? tell me about them."

"Zhang Yuxi you are now a grown woman, behave as one." his mother spoke with a lecturing tone.

"Yes auntie." she pulled him to the seat beside her and sat down to continue the conversation while eating.

'Sigh it's just for a few days. I gotta endure.' He grumbled inwardly.

.....

The following three days he spent his time listening to the seemingly unending stream of nonsense coming out of his cousin's mouth, eating his meals with his parents and buying mysterious items and antiques, getting conned willingly and trying different methods to activate the could be cheats he bought.

Sometimes Zhang Yuxi would tag along and he'd have to explain himself which was a big headache. Thankfully she didn't find anything suspicious about him and treated him the same as old Zhang Wuji.

'Tomorrow marks the start of the festival. There'll be a competition to measure the improvement in the younger generation, then there'll be the end of the year rituals the next day, followed by three days of new year rituals, sigh, just thinking about it makes my head hurt. Especially tomorrow. That Zhang Chen fellow will definitely create some trouble for me.' Zhang Wuji thought as he lay on his bed.

'I hope this will all disappear when I wake up tomorrow. Sigh. Who am I kidding, let's just hope for a good night's sleep for now.'