Moonlit Jade

"What do you mean we can't enter the auction!"

Lou Lan angrily stomped his foot on the ground while speaking to the sentry of the auction house.

The auction house was a subsidiary of the hunter's guild. It was a huge source of income for them and where most hunters would sell strange materials or treasures they'd find when our in mission or in private.

Currently, Xue Chang and the others were brought over to the auction house because of Lou Lan.

He explained to Xue Chang a bit of his situation. How he had obtained the privilege of practicing a unique cultivation technique. How he had came to this city in order to train this technique. And how in order to practice it, he would need a large amount of condensed earth fire.

"That's... quite the expensive technique you're practicing." Listening to his story, while the three of them had many comments in it, their first thought was the fact that he needed earth fire to practice cultivation.

Condensed earth fire!

That meant that every time he went into seclusion, a mountain of gold would disappear with him. This wasn't something most people could afford to do.

In fact, currently the only other people whose cultivation were just as extravagant as Lou Lan was probably Tian Hai, Tian Kai.

As Lou Lan was explaining all of that, Xue Chang looked over toward Lou Ning calmly. For a while now he felt that she seemed familiar, but he just couldn't remember why she seemed so.

It was an odd feeling.

Noticing his stares directed toward her, Lou Ning set her sights on Xue Chang.

She wasn't usually the type of person who cared about other people staring at her, but something about Xue Chang's gaze just seemed so... nostalgic.

Of course if Xue Chang knew their true relationship, he wouldn't be as calm as he was right now.

Having someone who knew him since he was young was a dangerous thing, especially as news of his illness hadn't been spread around.

If the truth was revealed, who knows what crazy maniac who wanted to live forever would do to him knowing he had an eternal body.

Even if there was a terrible draw back to it, there was no doubt his body was immortal. As long as his soul could be strengthened, he would never die.

And just as he was about to ask Lou Ning if they've met before, Lou Lan's exclamation sounded out in the air.

"Sir, our auction house has a membership system. Generally speaking, unless given a letter of recommendation, the only people who can participate in the auction here are our members. Most of the people who came to this city for this event already have their recommendations set up, unfortunately you don't have such a thing."

He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Lou Lan felt like he was a poor man who had chest full of gold placed down in front of him, but he was too weak to pick it up.

After all this time he had finally found a lead on how to obtain earth fire, and yet he was stopped right at the door!

Lou Lan wanted to just barge passed the guard and enter in through the door, but he knew he would be unable to do this.

While the sentry himself was not a cultivator, Lou Lan was sure that cultivators just as strong or even stronger than him were hiding nearby somewhere.

An auction house this big would undoubtedly be able to hire such types of people.

"So if I came back here with a letter of recommendation, I'll be able to enter?"

"That's right, but who are you going to get a letter from right now? You do know the auction starts in just a few hours right? By the time you come back, everything might just get sold out."

Although Lou Lan knew that the guard's words were probably right, he was confident that if he was quick enough, Zhao Wei would make one for him. Although he couldn't use his familial connections, personal ones should be okay.

But just before he was about to leave to obtain a letter, the young child whose house he was staying at took a step forward with a bright smile on his face.

Lou Lan didn't know what the kid was planning, but he got a little worried. What was he to do if the kid said something offensive and got the guard angry.

Yet to his surprised, the child held out something toward the guard instead.

And after one glance, the guard gave off a surprised expression and quickly took in bow in subservience.

"I did not know such a prestigious member would be coming to visit, please come in with all of your guests."

Immediately the gate behind the sentry opened up as his personality took a complete one-eighty and he stepped aside and welcomed them into the building.

Lou Lan completely froze in place, unable to comprehend what was going on. And Xue Chang just stepped through the door and smiled back at him cheekily, "Well, are you coming?"

Lou Lan did not need to be told twice before running forward into the building.

"Hey, how did you do that?" The guard had been so determined to keep him away before, but with a single move from Xue Chang they were being treated with so much respect out of nowhere.

Without saying a word, he held out what he had shown the guard toward Lou Lan. It was a membership card belonging to the auction house itself, and not only that but it was a V.I.P card as well!

Zhao Wei had given him this card long ago in case he was ever interested in buying anything special, but he never really needed it until today.

it was quite a convenient little card. Now he didn't have to keep going all over the place with Lou Lan and could sit here and rest while his two guests bid for what they needed.

as they entered, Tian Hai, Tian Kai, Lou Lan, and Lou Ning were each given a pearly white mask to wear.

Auction houses, while protected on the inside, wouldn't help you at all on the outside. So many people tended to hide their identity so that if they purchased something another person desired, they wouldn't be attacked for it.

While the others put in their masks, Xue Chang was given a pitch black veil instead.

When he placed it on, his already weak presence was weakened even further. If Lou Lan wasn't directly looking at Xue Chang, he wouldn't have noticed this person was right beside him.

"This veil is a special treasure for V.I.P guests, it is made from feeding a nightmare silkworm a large amount of black oak leaves. Once they produce a cocoon and we can extract silk out of it, we use it to make this veil which can block one's presence from anyone under the third stage." One of the attendants stepped forward and explained clearly what was happening.

Hearing the description of its effects, Lou Lan sucked in a cold breath of surprise.

Such a rare treasure yet they allowed their V.I.P guests to use it just like that?

As if reading his mind, the attendant also stated, "While it might seem strange to just give the special guests this veil to use, we do not fear that these guests will attempt to steal them from us. This is because the V.I.P membership can only be obtained by very special people. And these people would have no need to steal from us."

Looking over at Xue Chang slightly, the attendant then smiled as she backed out of the room.

Once they were all left alone, Xue Chang turned to face everyone and in a jovial tone he spoke to them, "Well, let's go and see what they have here!"