The Legendary Master’s Wife - Chap 103

Chapter 103: Appraising Treasures

You XiaoMo raised his head and saw the gigantic auction house towering in front of him. He couldn’t help but gasp in amazement.

This auction house was really too big. Even the Olympic games’ iconic structure ‘Bird’s Nest’ was not as big as this Big Mac in front of his eyes. At that time he made a special trip there to see the Olympic games. Then he was shocked by the grandness and size of the Bird’s Nest. Now, looking at the auction house of HunJi city, he realized that there was just no comparison between these two things.

t/n: Bird’s nest: Beijing National Stadium. This stadium was designed for the 2008 Summer Olympic and Paralympic.

The Bird’s Nest was not even half the size of the auction house. Furthermore, the building material was obviously not something ordinary as it was completely constructed with black-colored stone. It wasn’t clear how many years it had been but there were no signs of wear and tear on the surface.

The name of this Big Mac was the Seven Stars Auction House. It was said that it was backed by HunJi City’s master, a very strong and powerful ace. Under his command were many strong soldiers and valiant generals. That was why no one had ever dared to stir up trouble at the Seven Stars Auction House.

Outside the door of the Seven Stars Auction House, there were twenty or so guards equipped with sharp weapons and dressed in black uniforms. Their eyes were penetrating like hawks, constantly fixed on the people coming and going on the street as well as the people going in and out of the auction house. You XiaoMo could faintly feel the power oozing out of them, his amazement showing in his eyes. These people were really impressive. No wonder this was Long Xiang Continent’s third largest city. Behind its prosperity was a powerful leader.

When they appeared, seven or eight out of the twenty or so black-clothed guards set their eyes on them. Accurately speaking, they fell on Ling Xiao. As for the puny You XiaoMo, he was completely ignored by them.

After getting out of the carriage, Ling Xiao stroked the Raging Fire Horse near its ear and said softly, “Go. Find a place on your own and wait.”

With those words, the Raging Fire Horse turned the carriage around and galloped towards the city gate.

You XiaoMo heard the noise and turned around to witness this scene. He exclaimed and was about to rush over to bring back the Raging Fire Horse when Ling Xiao calmly pulled him back.

“Why did you pull me back? The horse got away.” You XiaoMo immediately said anxiously.

“Don’t worry, it couldn’t run away.” Ling Xiao consoled him.

You XiaoMo turned around and looked at him. He seemed to ponder the truth in his words but no matter if it was true or false, it was already too late because the Raging Fire Horse was gone without a trace.

Under the watchful eyes of the black-clothed guards, Ling Xiao just picked You XiaoMo up and went with flow of people into the auction house.

Although the auction had not started there were quite a lot of people coming and going. An endless stream of people were moving around inside the vast interior. You XiaoMo was still in awe of the enormous space when Ling Xiao put him down and pulled him towards the center of the great hall.

Right on top of the center of the great hall was a black screen that seemed to be made out of jade. On the screen, many items were scrolling passed. There were magic pills, magic herbs, soul training manual, and other items for auction. The lowest was level four. For grand scale auction housed like Seven Stars, low level magic pills and magic herbs didn’t qualify to show up.

You XiaoMo stretched out his head here and there checking out the things on the screen. For others, these were ordinary things. But for him, these things were precisely what he needed. As for the rare things that didn’t show up on the screen, even if he managed to get them, he wouldn’t have the opportunity to enjoy them for now. Furthermore, he was currently a pauper, with only ten or so gold pieces on him.

Ling Xiao took a sweeping look and his eyes fell on stone room that had a sign that said treasure appraisal hanging on top. Two burly strong men were standing at the door. Seeing them walk over, they glanced at them before letting them in.

You XiaoMo popped his head out from behind Ling Xiao and looked in amazement at the numerous closely-spaced small secret rooms. One could faintly see the movement of people inside. This type of separation would ensure that the people bringing their treasures to be evaluated would not have to show others the treasures they had. This way attracting the attention of deceitful and covetous people could be averted.

Just when he was looking at this, a scantily clad female attendant walked over to them, snow white breasts on the verge of popping out, the revealing factor not any less than in modern times. The attendant’s eyes swept passed You XiaoMo and finally locked onto the tall and handsome Ling Xiao, immediately revealing a flirtatious smile. She said in a voice that made the listener weak-kneed, “The two sirs are here to appraise treasures or to submit items for auction?”

Ling Xiao just replied with a word when he saw You XiaoMo looking at the attendant with a stunned expression. He was immediately displeased and frowned. The attendant thought that Ling Xiao didn’t like this manner of speaking so she immediately changed her way of assistance, respectfully bringing them to a secret room.

When she turned around, Ling Xiao grabbed a hold of You XiaoMo and said unhappily, “What are you looking at?”

You XiaoMo didn’t notice his expression, exclaiming, “I didn’t expect that the women over here would be so open. I had thought they would be more conservative. It’s too shocking!”

“So, you like this type of woman?” Ling Xiao narrowed his eyes and asked softly.

“How is that possible!” You XiaoMo refuted without thinking. He then added, “I still prefer a rather innocent pretty girl s. This one is too racy. I don’t like it.”

When he heard him refute loudly, Ling Xiao’s expression immediately softened considerably. But before he could be happy for a few seconds, he heard what he continued saying. Immediately dense dangerous storm clouds emerged and yet a certain person still failed to realize what was happening.

“You like innocent ones with pretty eyebrows?” Ling Xiao hugged him tightly to him. His breath was clearly scorching hot but the words were cold and sinister, freezing three inches deep. From his words, he deduced that pretty eyebrows were referring to women.

t/n: this is a really unintended pun. Basically You XiaoMo uses 美眉 (meimei), which is widely used in modern era as internet slang for pretty girl, since in modern era, mostly girls have their eyebrows fixed. But 美眉 (meimei) direct translating is pretty eyebrows, which is also use to compliment a person’s beauty. In historical era, this word didn’t make a distinction between men or women, since men can also have pretty eyebrows. For example, in Journey to the west, this word was used to describe a man’s beauty. Thus, Ling Xiao later noticed You XiaoMo meant to compliment the girl, and not making a neutral statement.

A certain obtuse young man finally realized. He raised his head and saw Ling Xiao smiling very sweetly. Even his eyes were smiling. It was just that it was a rather black smile. Immediately alarm bells started ringing in You XiaoMo’s heart.

It’s the end. The end. He had never seen Ling Xiao smile like this ever since he met him. The twenty-first century had Black Friday. Ling Xiao had Black Smile …

“Li…Ling-shixiong, we…should go in… ” You Xiao trembled in fear as he spoke. The little man in his heart shed tears in his place. What happened this time? Tears!

Ling Xiao smiled slightly, “You still haven’t answered my question.”

The horror. Compared to when he watched horror films, this smile made him feel even more terrified. Good grief. He had an inkling that this smile would probably scare him his whole life. Now looking at him smiling like that, his heart was seized with fear.

“That …you’ve misunderstood …” You XiaoMo swallowed, his eyeballs turning round and round as he tried his hardest to find a way out.

“What did I misunderstand?” Ling Xiao narrowed his eyes.

You XiaoMo’s eyes turned round and round as he said nervously, “What I meant by like, is actually…actually means appreciate. That’s right. I mean appreciate. Just now you also saw. That attendant dressed so revealingly, to the point of indecency, offending the eyes. This type of woman, no one will like them. So, one that is rather innocent is better. At least it won’t get out of hand …”

Ling Xiao raised his brows and looked at him for a long time, narrowing his eyes, “Is that right?”

You XiaoMo wiped a handful of sweat off his forehead as he nodded his head in affirmation, “Of course.”

How could he dare to say that was not it? If he were to really shake his head and say that, Ling Xiao would strike him dead. His budding life was just about to blossom and he didn’t want to die so soon!

“There is indeed some truth in your words …” Ling Xiao put away his threatening look, his handsome face finally recovering his original fake gentleness. He pat him lightly on the shoulder and beamed while saying, “I’ll let you go this time.”

You XiaoMo sniffed tragically, almost overwhelmed with gratitude. Heaven knew that the amount of cold sweat dripping down at that moment was equal to the sum of all other previous days.

The two of them walked into the secret room that the attendant pointed out to them. You XiaoMo immediately closed the door eagerly. The door of the secret room was made out of iron. It was very thick, able to block out sound, preventing people from eavesdropping on the outside.

The secret room was not big and right in the middle was an old grey-haired man who was standing there dressed in black robes. His face was covered with deep wrinkles but his eyes were gleaming shrewdly. Right now his penetrating stare was sizing them up.

You XiaoMo discovered that this old man seemed to be a mage. As for why he knew, it was because he could feel the latter’s soul was rather strong and practitioners were not mages. They had no way to train the soul so their souls were a little weaker when compared to mages.

“Please take a seat.” The old man pointed to the two chairs in front of the table. After sitting down, he said calmly, “The treasure that the two sirs would like to have appraised, you can take it out now.”

You XiaoMo sat down and then took out a block of ice that was the size of a head from his magic bag, and put it on the table.

The old man expected them to bring out magic pills and the like. Suddenly what looked like a block of ice appeared so he couldn’t help but narrow his eyes. Although he was a little surprised, it was not uncommon since things that could be auctioned would usually be quite extraordinary. When his soul force sensed the block of ice, his body shivered fiercely. Immediately his eyes widened, “This is …”

The old man brought the block of ice under his nose and sniffed. His face changed, “This is spiritual liquid?”

Spiritual liquid was a type of treasure that was an extremely rare thing on the Long Xiang Continent. Since it could immediately renew the spiritual strength of practitioners, if in the midst of battle, this type of thing was equivalent to a life saving magic pill. It was something practitioners craved so much that they even dreamed about it. It had always been something that was priceless yet no one wanted to sell.

You XiaoMo nodded, “This is only a small piece. Please take a look and determine what price it can be auctioned at.”

The old man calmed down the excitement on his face and took another careful look. He pondered for a bit before saying, “This is indeed spiritual liquid. But it is not pure. There are a quite a bit of impurities inside. It needs to be refined before using. But like this, this size will only result in one drop of actual spiritual liquid. According to the estimation guidelines of HunJi city, one drop of spiritual liquid is at least one hundred thousand.”

You XiaoMo immediately felt a myriad of different things.

A block of this size could only yield one drop of actual spiritual liquid. But what gave him comfort was that the price of one drop was a hundred thousand. This sum exceeded his expectation since he thought that it would be ten thousand at the most.