Chapter 10: Auction starts

Roughly 30 minutes after the incident involving Qin Qianyu and some idiot fellow in a mask made of porcelain, an announcement went out relating to the commencement of the auction.

The man, Qin Qianyu had dispatched had awoken and come to as all the guest were making their way towards the staged area where the auction would take place.

He turned his head looking around for someone and soon spotted the fox masked woman that had sent him to lala land.

His face started to scowl towards her and Qin Qianyu picked up on the creepy stare. She turned her head and was surprised to properly see the man she had kicked. She realised that he was an idol, a very popular one at that. The man she kick went by the stage name Owen Xi.

"Nice to meet you Mr Xi,"

Qin Qianyu whispered as she walked pass him. He was about to reply when he noticed that a staff member had approached her and her master and led them towards the VVIP area.

Seeing this startled him some. As he was only granted a place within the standing zone. He was starting to wander just who in the hell he had been made to provoke.

What made it worse was the fact that she now knew his identity, if she's here and even has the capability and right to entered the VVIP booths then if she wants a satisfactory answer to why he troubled her what could he possibly do about it.

"The risk I've taken, clearly out weights the benefits I've been given! Why the hell did I accept it!?"

He thought about it no more and left in the opposite direction of the crowd.

Everyone was seated in either their allocated spots on the ground floor or in the private VVIP booths like Qin Qianyu and Grandpa Wú.

"Master what are you hoping to purchase here?"

"It's something for you,"

"For me?"

"Mhm,"

"Oh! Don't tell me! Say, could it be the Silver Phoenix Talon?"

Qin Qianyu showed a surprised expression to which grandpa Wú gave a knowing smile and eventually a slight nod. He was hoping to find it here, his contacts had eluded to this fact which was why he had Qin Qianyu come along with him.

Once he has it in his possession, his disciple would then have the full set. For the last 9 years he had been on the look out for this single needle and now, right after gaining Qin Qianyu as his disciple word of the needle reached his ears.

He was determined to obtain it for Qin Qianyu at all cost.

"I just hope I have what the seller needs to obtain the needle."

"What do you mean master?"

"I mean, not all transactions for the items here involve money. Look around you, how many of these people do you think lack riches?"

"Oh! . . Well besides me, I don't see anyone."

Qin Qianyu stated matter of factly. Grandpa Wú looked over at his disciple, he couldn't see nor sense any sort of envy or wanting from her nor any shame or guilt about the fact that she and her family weren't wealthy. It seemed that there were things more precious and of more value than money to her, which he liked very much.

"Mhm, that's only for now, who says that you can't have the same riches or more than these people here, hmm!? Let me tell you now, since you are my one and only disciple, your path to greatness is assured. Just this alone will propel you to greater heights. What you really want to achieve at that SIC competition and even you wanting to graduate from Zhishi is only 0.1% of what you're destined for in this life."

Grandpa Wú held a proud and majestic aura as he finished speaking only to see his disciple frowning with her lips,

"Master, if you gloat too much you might find yourself laid out on the floor like that porcelain mask guy. In fact, we should all practice to be more humble in ones life, if we all over do it, in the end, people would then find fault, complain and assume that we were all raised wrongly."

" . . . "

"Humble yourself and your head!"

Grandpa Wú muttered under his breath. He sounded mad but he actually wasn't, he liked this about Qin Qianyu, he liked her honesty and character very much that he actually had thoughts about wanting to marry her granny Liu so that she would actually be his own granddaughter.

"Oh master look! It's about to start! Hehe! This is so exciting."

"Mhm, time to get comfortable,"

After saying so, grandpa Wú tapped his seat's armrest and it moved into a recliner. He then reached down into the recliners side pouch and pulled out a tablet.

Qin Qianyu watched on the side, and marvelled at what the old man was doing.

He quickly started up the tablet and entered a few details on a login screen that unlocked it and allowed him to be able to bid and sort through the items being auctioned.

"Master I'm surprised that you're tech savvy, I thought people from your era were only use to newspapers and magazines!?"

" . . . "

"Tell me honestly, do you have a wink account? How many women have you swiped into your eye candy list?"

"When will your nonsense stop!? Tell me honestly!"

Grandpa Wú grumbled in response, to which his little disciple's laugh rang out inside the private booth. He started pouting then said in a low gravely voice,

"You're only 15!"

"And?"

"And if you don't want to see how your 16th birthday is going to turn out, then don't keep quiet!"

"Heh! You're no fun, why couldn't you be a grandma, if you were then you'd understand my silly humour is just a way to help calm my nerves. Hmph!"

Grandpa Wú was beside himself, he found that there was actually no winning against this verbally persuasive disciple of his.

He found that she was only like this around familiar people close to her, everyone else would either get a single word response or nothing at all. That's just how she was.

Even in her former life she was like this, she wanted to change her character and attitude a little but found she always reverted back to her old ways and self.

Instead of forcing it she decided to run with it.

The auction started out with a bang, the first item up was an ancient scroll from a certain dynasty. It was part of trilogy and all three together would lead to some sort of amazing discovery.

No one had any interest in this seeing that it was one of three, unless you had the other two then this scroll would only become expensive toilet paper.

The following items were displayed, bid upon and won by various people, there wasn't really anything that caught Qin Qianyu's interest, she was only waiting to see the Silver Phoenix Talon.

Soon, the first item that required a bid of something other than money made it to the podium.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this next item needs a special presentation in order for you to appreciate its true value. What the seller is looking for in exchange can be found in the tablet for all those serious bidders only. Please let me remind you all, Law of one shall apply,"

"Law of one?"

Qin Qianyu muttered and looked to grandpa Wú for an explanation.

"Like I said earlier, sometimes it's not just money that you would need in order to bid on certain items, this is one of them. When law of one is applied you are then bound to pay the required price if you can't, you'll lose your life. That is the law of one. Your one life."

"Wow how mysterious,"

"Mhm, you have to be careful when the law of one comes into play, there have been some real unsettling requirements for these types of items. There was once an item that was sold and the seller wanted 5 litres of blood from a virgin born on a certain Luna date."

"What! That's almost, if not all, the blood in a persons body!"

"Mhm, there have been many weird requests or requirements for items. So in the future if you come here and require an item that has such conditions with law of one applied, steel your heart or find an alternative."

Qin Qianyu stayed silent but nodded seriously to what she was just told. She glanced over and saw what the item up for auction was. The name of the item was Rejuvenation Holy Pill.

The Rejuvenation Holy Pill is as its name implies, it has the ability to rejuvenate the users body by 20 years when taken.

"This pill, master I know of this pill!"

"You do?"

Yes! But from what I know, this pill couldn't have possibly been made recently as the seller has claimed."

"Why is that?"

"Because the main ingredient doesn't exist anymore, anywhere, on this planet and it hasn't existed for thousands of years."

"So, are you saying that this pill is a fake?"

"Not a fake, rather, this pill isn't a genuine rejuvenation holy pill at all."

"So are you saying that they may have found an alternate working subsistence for this pill?"

"Mhm,"

Qin Qianyu was confident in her summation based on the contents and information given to the bidders on the tablet and what she had gained from her understanding of the apothecary book grandpa Wú had gifted her.

"This is the main ingredient needed for the pill as you can see master, there's no way that this pill is genuinely made."

"Well it's not like we're the ones that are going to buy it, besides, the people here would have checked the pill a dozen times over when it went in for appraisal."

"But master, even though we aren't the ones buying it, this will soon be let loose on the world, if you buy a pork bun but the main ingredient, pork, was replaced with an unknown alternative is it still a pork bun?"

"So do you find fault in its name dear disciple?

Qin Qianyu said nothing more. She soon found herself being less enthusiastic about this pill and auction as a whole now.

She glanced over at the tablet and started fuming again when she spotted the "fee" for the pill. What the seller wanted in return was 20 young girls aged between 13 and 16.

Shock and disgust took over Qin Qianyu's mind and body. Grandpa Wú saw this and tried to comfort her as much as he could.

"Disciple, don't overthink it, you'll soon over complicate your own mind, we don't know the reason why the seller wants 20 young girls, but it wouldn't be nefarious. This auction doesn't work like that."

"Not nefarious!? Then what about that guy that wanted 5 litres of virgin blood Huh!?"

"Who said that the blood needed to be taken in a single sitting, all at once? And who said it was a man that wanted it?"

" . . . "

Grandpa Wú then swiped the tablet a few times and brought up a news article then showed it to Qin Qianyu.

It was a piece about a nomadic tribe on the fringes of the country that had 20 of their young women taken hostage by an unknown group.

"Master are you saying that this person wants the buyer to launch a rescue and the payment will be this pill?"

"Who knows, it's one possibility out of many, I can't offer a definite answer but it's better than what your little mind was thinking,"

Cough cough!

"Master, I wasn't thinking much. Honestly!"

Soon the bid for the pill started, it was between two people at the moment, Qin Qianyu found that rather than it being an auction it was more of a boardroom negotiation conference.

She quickly scanned the people and found the locations of the two bidders. One bidder wore a Greek theatre mask, it was the one that was both happy and sad.

The other bidder had a silver wolf mask on his face and sat inside a private booth much like her own.

In the end it was the silver wolf that won. Qin Qianyu glanced over at the booth and saw who she believe to be the seller come inside the booth and handed over a small wooden box to the wolf. After he gave the seller a small nod and had the seller join them inside the booth for the duration of the auction.

Hours went by and soon the item that the master and disciple pair were waiting for arrived. Qin Qianyu had been praying that they could purchase the needle with money rather than some weird request like virgin blood or a set amount of girls.

Alas, all of Qin Qianyu's hopes were dashed when the auctioneer made the announcement.

"Master I'm willing to forgo the needle, let's not involve ourselves in the sellers unreasonable request fee."

"Calm down, we don't even know what it is yet, don't worry I'll definitely complete the jade capped silver needle set for you."

"Master . . "