After a bit of indulgence in rehashing his choices over the past few months, Yang Qing noticed a troubling pattern that prompted him to quickly think of other matters. In a VVIP room as luxurious as this, that was not hard to do.
Using the brief mont of respite and privacy, along with a desperate need to occupy his mind with other things, Yang Qing began fiddling with the arrays in the room. He familiarized himself with each and every one, enjoying every bit of the discovery.
The winner for him was the array that allowed him to transform the walls on the sides and the ceiling into clear glass. This let him see outside and allowed the exterior to influence the aesthetics within.
It was not the ability to see outside that enamored him—had it been in a different place with a more ordinary view, the array’s effects would not have quite so taken him. But because the array was being used in a room housed on one of the leaves of an enormous oak tree that seed to reach the sky, with the clouds around strongly supporting that illusion, it made for quite a captivating sight.
The height, the orange-red clouds, the large leaves, the gentle crisp air—everything made Yang Qing feel as though his room were situated in the very skies themselves. When highly imaginative children who had just dipped their toes into the waters of cultivation, filled with outlandish ideas of what hid beneath those waters, imagined paradise places filled with immortals, did not half of those imagined places look exactly like this room? An abode surrounded by wondrous clouds and a tree that subverted imagination.
Yang Qing did not know about others, but for him, the places he imagined looked exactly like this, which was why he could not help but feel excited by the view. The Order had more wondrous places that transcended the mind and imagination even more than the Dawn Cloud Oak Tree, but what the latter had over the forr was that Yang Qing could simply enjoy it without fear that sothing dangerous lurked beneath, waiting to claim his life or teach him a cruel lesson. At the Order, the more wondrous sothing was, the more dangerous it tended to be.
"Thankfully it isn’t purple," Yang Qing murmured, sighing in relief as he relaxed back into his futon and gazed at the sky above, covered in moving orange-red clouds that cast a relaxing, dimming radiance across his room.
After a few minutes of sipping wine, sighing in pleasure, and admiring the skies, the tranquility, and the opulence of the room, Yang Qing sat back up and fished out bowls of roasted spiced peanuts, roasted lon seeds and sunflower seeds, so marinated bamboo shoots, crunchy marinated pig ears he had forgotten he had, and so spiced dried fish fillets.
As he was taking them out, as was his habit, his spiritual sense was on high alert, watching for unexpected guests. The snacks fell under the category of things he didn’t mind sharing, but if he could eat alone, that wouldn’t be too bad, now would it?
The view and the room practically demanded solo dining. Who hosted a dining party in a VVIP section?
A satisfied smile spread across Yang Qing’s face when he saw the wide spread of snacks and the wine gourds and pots of tea just waiting for him to devour. The smile grew even wider when he detected no presence heading his way.
He grabbed the gourd of glutinous rice wine and the bowl of roasted lon and sunflower seeds and sauntered over to the viewing window. There, another futon and a small rectangular table attached to the window welcod him. He nodded in satisfaction as it allowed for comfortable viewing and dining.
With one hand used as a pillow to rest his head and the other to pour wine, Yang Qing relaxed as he watched the events below, feeling like an emperor admiring his subjects and domain: subjects here being the "commoners" in the common section.
He popped a sunflower seed into his mouth, followed by a satisfied crunch, then a swig of wine, as he examined the crowd below.
With roughly half an hour until the auction began, the house looked very much full. Almost every seat was taken, and the palpable, feverish, anticipatory excitent famous to auction houses already hung heavy in the air. It could not help but influence even Yang Qing. He had not planned to bid on anything, but given the atmosphere, he could not help but reevaluate.
"Getting one or two things wouldn’t hurt, would it?" he murmured to himself, his eyes brightening by the second with excitent. He still had a few leftover winnings from his graduation ceremony, savings set aside for sothing he might truly need down the line. But being here, he could feel his hands grow itchy.
He was quickly getting sucked into the atmosphere the more he looked. The staff of the Vast Blue rchant Company shuffled about with purpose, handling last-minute details by the auction podium, while others moved through the hall attending to the guests. So welcod arriving guests and ushered them to their seats; others engaged in warm, polite conversation with those already seated, laughter occasionally mixing in.
As for the guests, so appeared to be ditating as they waited for the clock to run down to the start of the auction. Others were, like Yang Qing, simply looking around. Still others were conversing with one another—or so Yang Qing assud. He did not see their mouths move, nor hear the sounds of speech, but the subtle fluctuations of their spiritual senses and the equally faint shifts in their expressions suggested communication was taking place, quite possibly via spiritual sense, given that these guests were Palace Realm experts.
There were quite a lot of Palace Realm experts on the floor below. About half were Palace Realm experts, all of them in the early stage, just like Yang Qing, with a great majority being at the first stage.
He did not sense any in the middle or late stages, which was to be expected; those with that strength were likely given one of the many VIP or VVIP rooms. Yang Qing’s eyes could not help but drift over the gallery platforms around the dod auction house, with a greater part of his attention on the platforms on the sa level as his, as he wondered what kind of figures occupied them.
The Vast Blue rchant Company may have catered primarily to rogue cultivators, but despite their dark history with established organizations, they likely still dealt with them. You did not reach the heights they had without doing so, and when it ca to auctions, such groups were the best clientele, given their spending power.
Yang Qing wondered if one of the sections held a mber from, say, a rank two organization.
His eyes soon settled on the one place in the entire auction hall designed to draw everyone’s attention: the auction platform. The goods were not there yet, but just gazing at it, Yang Qing could feel the aura of wealth and treasure that was about to grace it. Li Gang stood there with his graceful poise, speaking with whom Yang Qing assud to be other staff mbers of the company, given the embroidered dawn cloud on a vast blue sky motif on the sleeves and chests of their robes.
Yang Qing could not help but sigh, smiling wryly at their interaction. "I wonder how many of them wish he were dead?" he wondered as he observed the cordiality of their exchange and how natural it looked. They genuinely seed like cultivators who got along. There was no resentnt, envy, jealousy, or any form of hostility leaking from any of the staff mbers Li Gang was interacting with.
Their eyes were clear, and their mannerisms appeared genial and supportive of one another. And yet, quite possibly among them were so who absolutely hated Li Gang’s guts, especially those in contention to beco the next master of the Vast Blue rchant Company. Still, not a single trace of that hostility could be felt from them. Even Yang Qing, with his seasoned senses built from years of dealing with conniving cultivators in his courtroom, could not detect any. All he saw was harmonious, mutual support in handling the tasks needed for the auction.
This scene was precisely why he feared cultivators, and also why he could not help but praise himself for joining the Order as opposed to a place like this. His simple personality was not built for such calculating environnts, where you could not tell what hid behind people’s smiles and genial treatnt.
He would rather be overworked, threatened by an old fiend and forr instructors, and verbally abused by a celestial nesting weaver than have a relaxing, cushy post here, or even at any of the other sects and organizations of a higher rank than the Vast Blue rchant Company.
If it were not for the Order, knowing what he knew now, there were only two other places he could entertain joining. One was the Thousand Battle Hall Pavilion, and the second was the Jade Leaf Academy, where he would not mind being an instructor.
As for the forr, he had a good impression of it. Its mode of operation and spirit were no different from that of the Order: as long as you had aptitude, your background did not matter; you would be nurtured well in the Thousand Battle Hall Pavilion. Not to ntion, it was powerful.
As for the Jade Leaf Academy, while he suspected it might have so factionalism, given that it was created by the Jade Leaf Empire, the Ten Thousand Dao Jade Leaf Tree was enough of an attraction for Yang Qing to overlook that. It also had a vast library. And while he felt there might be factions within, he believed its treatnt of mbers was better than most, given that even rogue cultivators could enroll, and if they showed enough talent, it was not difficult to be taken on as an instructor, like their old family friend.
Speaking of the library... There is actually a third one now for consideration. Silver Breath Peak would not be a bad place to settle, Yang Qing thought, a wistful smile forming on his face as he imagined that serene, secluded peak in the Silver Crane Sect, which seed like the perfect haven for a cultivation art bookworm like him.
Actually, of all three places, he felt that peak suited him best.
When I get ti, I will go see Senior Shuyuan, Yang Qing thought eagerly, the sage elder with a passion for cultivation arts flashing in his mind.
His daydreaming smile turned to a somber sigh as another figure erged in his thoughts. It was a slender young lady with glossy black hair, whose hands and eyes never stopped trembling with despairing worry and fear.
"Xia Fang," Yang Qing murmured softly. "I wonder if she went to see Senior Xia Cangfu."
Sighing, he raised his wine cup toward the sky, his solemn gaze lingering on the drifting clouds above and the visage of the evening sky filtering through. With the dawn clouds reflected in his deep green eyes, he said, "May your next story be lighter, Xia Fang." He paused briefly before downing his wine, then quickly refilled the cup and brought his somber attention back to the auction.
Ti quickly slipped by, and before Yang Qing knew it, the house suddenly went silent as the light in the room—and its entire focus—settled on the young, scholarly, swordman-like handso man in a pristine white robe who walked gracefully to the center of the podium.
Cupping his fists with poise, he gave an elegant, slight bow.
"My na is Li Gang of the Vast Blue rchant Company. I would like to sincerely thank you all for gracing our company with your presence. It is truly an honor for us to have you here with us," said Li Gang, lifting his gaze with a composed smile as his eyes swept from the lower platforms to the gallery.
"I know all of you are eager to see what we have in store, and so are we," he said, pausing before adding with quiet amusent, "especially for your spirit stones."
A sonorous laugh rippled through the audience.
After the laughter died down, Li Gang continued. "Without taking more of your generous ti, I will now officially announce the start of the auction," he said softly, gracefully clapping his hands. This seed to serve as a signal, for one of his colleagues appeared from the left, carrying what looked to be a jade-wooden ladle with an aqua-green sheen. One could hear the gentle sound of water waves emanating from it, and the spiritual qi around the auction hall stirred toward it.
The temperature may have chilled slightly when the ladle appeared, but the eyes of all present boiled with fervent passion as they followed that ladle until it was brought to the raised podium on the auction platform.
"And here is the first item: the Sea Jade Ladle," said Li Gang as he held the ladle carefully with both hands and lifted it for all to see.
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