Chapter 13: The Interesting Young Man
"Xu Ancestor, should we attend the auction, or not?"
Ling Qingshu stood in front of the desk, while Xu Yang sat across from her, holding the special letter in his hand.
This letter had come from a powerful force in Qi State City, the Spirit Treasure Auction House.
It was an invitation for Ling Qingshu and the reclusive Xu Yang, who had never shown himself to outsiders, to attend an auction a few days later.
"An auction? Interesting. And the name of this auction is even more interesting."
Xu Yang looked at the signature of the letter. The two characters "Lingbao" were familiar to him, as if he had seen them somewhere before.
With Xu Yang's affirmative reply, Ling Qingshu was pleased.
She had heard of the Spirit Treasure Auction House long ago, but when she was still in the Foundation Establishment stage, it had seemed out of reach.
Now that she had broken through to the Golden Core realm, the Spirit Treasure Auction House had sent an invitation.
Ling Qingshu was eager to experience this and see the world.
As for Xu Yang, he had no particular objections either. In fact, he was quite eager to attend, curious to see what interesting items might appear at the auction.
Thinking about it, the last time Xu Yang had attended an auction was 15,000 years ago.
Since then, even though he had traveled through many places, he hadn't stepped into another auction house.
Three days later, Xu Yang walked ahead with Ling Qingshu following closely behind as they entered Qi State City.
"Ancestor, just ahead is the Spirit Treasure Auction House. I've heard it's a branch of a major power."
Ling Qingshu pointed to a huge sign in Qi State City and introduced it to Xu Yang.
Xu Yang's gaze fell on the sign of the Spirit Treasure Auction House. He had a rough understanding of it now—it was wealthy.
At least in this era, in Qi State City, the Spirit Treasure Auction House was one of the top two.
When Ling Qingshu showed the invitation letter, a Foundation Establishment cultivator from the auction house came out to guide them inside.
Along the way, the Foundation Establishment cultivator explained the situation of the Spirit Treasure Auction House to Ling Qingshu and Xu Yang.
Although this particular branch in Qi State City was quite small, in the eyes of the local cultivators, it was still a formidable entity.
The Spirit Treasure Auction House in Qi State City had six floors. Floors two to four were dedicated to selling spiritual items.
The fifth floor was where the auctions were held, and the sixth floor housed the living quarters for the auction house's cultivators.
Once they were guided to the fifth floor, the Foundation Establishment cultivator left to greet others.
Xu Yang, however, was a restless person. Hearing that floors two to four sold spiritual items, he decided to go down two more floors.
Ling Qingshu trusted Xu Yang's independent actions and stayed on the fifth floor. It wasn't long before someone came over to strike up a conversation with her.
Xu Yang made his way down to the second floor, intending to start by looking at the lowest-quality spiritual items in the Spirit Treasure Auction House, planning to work his way through the second, third, and fourth floors.
If Xu Yang came across something he liked, or something that caught his eye, he wouldn't hesitate to buy it.
As Xu Yang wandered alone on the second floor, his aura only at the Qi Refining stage and his youthful appearance, trouble soon found him.
After Xu Yang took a liking to a spiritual herb, a well-dressed young man nearby spoke up, intending to compete with Xu Yang for the herb.
"Kid, do you know who I am? If you're smart, hand over that herb to me and don't make trouble for yourself."
Looking at the young man's arrogant expression and the words that hinted at a strong background, Xu Yang didn't get angry. In fact, he found it amusing.
It had been tens of thousands of years since he last encountered such a thing.
He hadn't expected that by attending a small auction, something like this would happen to him again.
Holding the herb, Xu Yang asked with a smile, "You want this herb too?"
"That's right, kid, you seem to know your place. I like you," the young man said.
The young man directly reached out to take the herb from Xu Yang's hands, thinking Xu Yang would obediently hand it over.
Xu Yang looked at the young man's movement, and with a slight flick of his wrist, the herb was out of the young man's reach.
The young man grabbed air and stared at Xu Yang, his eyes filled with surprise.
"Kid, do you not know who I am? Tell me, how much will you sell this herb for? This herb is mine," the young man said arrogantly.
Xu Yang shook his head in response.
"To me, this herb is priceless."
In reality, the herb wasn't rare; it just had some special properties.
To the young man, this herb seemed no different from ordinary weeds. He only decided to compete for it because it looked somewhat decent.
"Priceless? This is just a regular herb, alright? The truly priceless ones will only appear at today's auction," the young man scoffed.
"You know this herb is very ordinary, almost too common, so why are you still competing with me?"
"Me!" The young man was momentarily speechless at Xu Yang's question.
After thinking for a moment, he finally gave himself a reason.
"I like it. What's wrong with that?"
Hearing this, Xu Yang's smile grew even wider. He nodded repeatedly and handed the herb to the young man.
"Alright, alright, you like it. This herb is yours."
After saying that, Xu Yang turned and walked off to look at other herbs, leaving the young man standing there, stunned.
What was going on? He had just taken the herb from Xu Yang, yet somehow he felt like he was the one at a disadvantage.
Didn't he just look like a beggar accepting charity when he took the herb?
Realizing this, the young man quickly tossed the herb back.
How could he, the young master of the Fang family in Qi State City, someone who was a rich but useless person with nothing but money, look like a beggar?
Shaking his head and casting aside his distracting thoughts, the young man went on to look at other herbs.
Meanwhile, Xu Yang, who had turned to leave, was in a good mood.
Who would have thought that just casually wandering outside would lead him to such an interesting young man?
Thinking back to the whole situation, Xu Yang couldn't help but smile.
If it had been 20,000 years ago, with his mindset back then, he definitely would have made the young man suffer a little.
But now, Xu Yang faced the situation with a smile and a carefree attitude, showing the difference in his state of mind.
In these 20,000 years, his mindset had indeed improved a lot.
On the cultivation path, it's not just about cultivating power, but also cultivating the heart.