Problems Knock The Door (1)

The following day, as the sun was already rising, Long Ming took a bath, changed clothes, and headed to Gao Ting's room. Gao Ting seemed to be in a deep sleep, rhythmically snoring. After checking that he seemed fine, Long Ming left the room and headed towards the residence's exit. On the way, he passed through the garden with the cherry tree and noticed Wu Yuying training there, with two women sitting nearby watching her.

After pondering for a few seconds, he decided to greet her later as she seemed busy. He continued walking to the residence's exit, and it didn't take long for him to reach the gate.

"I wish to visit the city for a while," he said to the two gatekeepers, showing a wooden sign with the Wu characters. The gatekeepers nodded silently and allowed him to leave.

Once outside the residence, Long Ming walked to the commercial area of the city, where shops, restaurants, and the like were located. He didn't know where the auction was, but he wasn't too worried since he didn't even know when it would take place. Along the way, he listened with interest to the conversations of passersby, especially when they mentioned things about other cultivator families and even about the championship that apparently would take place in about two weeks.

Long Ming also listened with interest to the latest happenings of these families. Occasionally, he also conversed with some passersby to discuss these events, and due to all this, he took longer than he should have. However, he soon arrived at a large four-story pavilion, and above a magnificent gate was a facade written: "Qin Yuan."

"This is it, definitely," he thought internally. As he was about to enter, he suddenly stopped as an idea crossed his mind: 'I could sell those weapons.' Long Ming suddenly remembered the weapons he had taken from the tomb. Many of them were not very useful to him, as despite being of excellent quality, they did not possess the qualities of his twin blade.

Therefore, he walked to a shop and bought a large bag. After paying and leaving the store, he began to walk stealthily through the street, using discreet movements to take each of the swords out of his spatial ring and place them in the bag. Even though there were many people on the street, his discreet and agile movements did not attract the attention of any of them, so they did not notice the sudden appearance of the weapons in his hand or even how his bag filled more and more with weapons as he walked.

Of course, this was only possible because Long Ming did not hurry to take out his weapons, walking for several seconds before removing a weapon and placing it in the bag. In this way, after several minutes, he placed the last weapon in the bag and finally put it on his back.

After that, Long Ming thought about returning to the pavilion, but he suddenly noticed some street vendors on the street where he was. And some of them were selling books, so he decided to buy them out of curiosity. Buying books from street vendors was a habit that Long Ming had developed over time. At first, it was to try to find some important information, but then it became a source of entertainment to read the exaggerated descriptions of these books.

"Hey, sir. What book is this?" he asked a street vendor while pointing to a book.

"This? It's the story of Yun Che's Harem. They say this book holds many secrets and mysterious techniques, as well as insights into cultivation and the art of courting women. Are you interested, young man?" the vendor spoke with a smile on his face.

Long Ming was interested in this book, so he bought it and put it in his attire before sending it to the spatial ring; a simple way to disguise its disappearance. Then, he continued walking through that place, buying several books that interested him. After that, he noticed a shop with various beautiful outfits and, without thinking much, entered the place to buy some more clothes.

Long Ming was someone who bought several things on impulse, especially if he found them interesting or beautiful. And his biggest interests were in fashion, more precisely to look handsome and elegant, and in dubious origin books.

After a few minutes, he left the store wearing an elegant black hanfu, along with a silver hairpin and a bag with several clothes. Then, he finally returned to the entrance of the auction and went to one of the attendants.

Observing his elegant clothes and beautiful face, the attendant smiled genuinely before speaking, "Hello, dear customer, are you interested in participating in the auction that will take place in three days, at night?"

"Oh? So, there's going to be an auction in a few days? How do they work?" he asked curiously. With his question, the attendant began to explain how Qin Yuan's auctions worked.

According to her, the auctions were weekly and sold all the accumulated items during the week. This involved items obtained through the pavilion's partners, such as alchemists, ruin explorers, and so on, but also sold objects from third parties. Although, to sell an object at the auction, it is necessary to go through an evaluation to determine its value; furthermore, the seller receives the auction payment, and if the object is sold for a much higher value than normal, the seller receives a small portion as a bonus.

To participate in an auction, you need to have an auction token, which is worth about a gold coin. And the way the auctions work is the same as always; they will display a valuable object, and whoever pays the highest value will take it.

"I understand, I want to sell these weapons here. I've tested them, so I guarantee they're worth something," he said while taking the bag off his back. In the bag were about ten weapons, most of them were swords, but there were also some spears, daggers, and even a whip.

"If you'll allow me, I'll call an appraiser," with these words, she left the table and went through a door. Long Ming waited patiently before a middle-aged man appeared next to the attendant.

"Hello, I am a weapons appraiser, my name is Boxue. I can assure you that my skills are impeccable, so don't worry, my abilities are legitimate," the man asserted in a respectful tone. Long Ming merely nodded as he allowed the man to make his evaluations.

After almost half an hour, the man finally finished evaluating the last weapon. According to him, the quality of the weapons ranged from intermediate to upper mortal grade, and there were even two weapons of lower yellow grade. This surprised Long Ming, but he maintained his poker face as he negotiated their value. In the end, he got three gold coins for the mortal grade weapons and ten gold coins for the yellow grade ones. It was an excellent result for Long Ming, who left with twelve gold coins already having paid for the token.

Upon leaving the auction, he noticed a group of people gathered in the middle of the street. Curious, he approached the group of people, and to his surprise, he noticed two young men arguing in the center of that group.

"Fei Lu, are you courting death?!" one of the arguing people shouted with obvious hatred in his voice and face. He was a handsome young man, dressed in a beautiful dark blue hanfu, and on his waist was a token with the character Fei.

"And what would a cowardly fool like you be capable of doing to me? Without your lackeys, you're just worthless!" the other young man spoke mockingly and disdainfully. He was a young man of average appearance and wore a simple, but also dark blue hanfu, and on his waist was also a token with the same character. It was obvious that they must be from the same family, and they didn't seem friendly to each other at all.

The two exchanged taunts for some time before the one with the beautiful dark blue hanfu, who seemed to be called Fei Ling, drew his sword and advanced towards the other young man, who should be called Fei Lu.

Fei Ling's speed was impressive, and within half a second, he reached in front of his opponent, delivering a mortal blow towards his neck. However, before his blade touched Fei Lu, the young man squatted and delivered a punch towards his waist.

"Gah!" Fei Ling let out a surprised sigh, along with a subtle cry of pain. He raised slightly for a few centimeters before stepping back and looked with astonishment and anger at Fei Lu.

"How could a crippled trash like you get so strong? Are you practicing some demonic manual?" Fei Ling asked accusingly, his voice loud enough for all spectators to hear clearly.

"Practicing a demonic manual? Ha! Fei Ling, you idiot, do you really think that, with your little strength, it's hard to surpass you? If it weren't for me getting injured, you would never have become the young master of the Fei family! But I guarantee that in the competition that will take place in one week, I will regain what is rightfully mine, and I will make you taste all the suffering you caused me!" Fei Lu uttered with obvious anger and resentment in his voice. Long Ming even had the impression that his voice faltered during the speech, and a few tears formed in the corner of his eyes.

"I will wait until then so I can humiliate you and show your place in front of everyone. So there will be no doubt about your insignificance!" with these words, Fei Ling left the place, knocking down one of the spectators who was in his way. Soon after, Fei Lu also left, and the crowd dispersed.

"Hey, what just happened here?" Long Ming asked one of the spectators of that confusion, his eyes seemed to shine with interest, and an obvious smile formed on his face. Although Long Ming didn't like getting into conflict with other people, he was still an enthusiast for conflicts, loving to see other people fight each other, delivering insults and even deadly blows.

"Do you see that Fei Lu? He was a talented young master from the Fei family, but since he suffered a serious injury during a sparring match with another member of the Fei, he regressed in cultivation and was unable to recover. Because of this, the Fei family made Fei Ling the new successor, and then Fei Lu, from what they say, began to be despised by the other family members. But something happened, and Fei Lu seems to have recovered his cultivation and progressed even more. Watching this short fight between them, I believe Fei Lu must have managed to reach the half step of the Qi Gathering realm," the spectator replied. He was an old man wearing dirty and torn clothes, and he even smelled of alcohol. Long Ming would normally ask someone else, but his intuition told him that this was the right man to ask this question, and it seemed he was right.

"You seem quite informed, old man. By any chance, where could I go to talk to you if I have other curiosities?" Long Ming asked while handing over a shiny gold coin. The man was surprised by this gesture but skillfully tucked the coin into his pocket and replied, "Go to the street... there you will find an abandoned and rundown building. If I'm not in the building, don't worry, there are other guys there who can help you too."

With a nod in agreement, Long Ming bid farewell to the man and returned to the Wu residence. On the way, he took the opportunity to read that novel he had bought, "The Story of Yun Che's Harem."

When he was near the gate of the residence, Long Ming put away the book, as he had already finished it. "This guy lived quite a life, huh..." he murmured contemplatively, then showed the family token to the gatekeepers and was able to enter the residence.

"Hm, guest Long," as he walked away from the gate, one of the gatekeepers suddenly spoke.

"The young lady Yuying was looking for you; she should be in the cherry tree garden at the moment," the gatekeeper informed him, so with a small thank you, Long Ming walked towards where she was.