Chapter 10: Intervention

The auction hostess suddenly fell silent, as hundreds of murmurs rippled through the rows behind.

-He even outbid Lan Zhao?...impossible!

-He even offered more money, for wrapping it up...but who is that guy?

-I don't know...but he's looking for death if he goes against someone of Lan's.....

Similar comments went through the rows of people watching as Tian Shuangmen seemed naturally relaxed, before Lan Zhao's look of displeasure overflowed.

-Could it be that you wanted to humiliate this young master?" he grunted, sensing part of the truth, for he too had focused on him, but not because he found him so incredible, but because there was literally .... no one weaker than him in the room!

Precisely because he had been watching him, he had even taken it for granted that Tian Shuangmen would not be able to bid even for the initial amount, someone so weak with so much money... it was almost impossible.

And yet there he was, bidding more aggressively than he did.

-Humiliate you?...don't be ridiculous, do you think he thinks so much of you?...it's not like I care what you do or say, I just want to buy that china, is there some law that I broke by bidding more than you?

The Wangs, both the old man and the boy, looked at Tian Shuangmen with confusion, they had both noticed the weakest person in the room...in fact, it was likely that no one had overlooked him, but even so he had outbid Lan Zhao and in fact treated him with such deference, didn't this guy know his place in the food chain?

Wang Yi had noticed his look earlier, he knew that he was probably doing this because he sympathized with their motives, that is, he had taken pity on them, but he couldn't help but feel ashamed.

An Aperture cultivator worrying about them was enough to make him lose face, and he could even feel the looks of pity and ridicule from the people around him.

-You little piece of trash...you take advantage of the fact that you know this one can't make trouble in the Qi Pavilion and so you dare to answer me?...Lan Zhao shouted as he circulated some of his profound strength out of pure anger.

With his cultivation really high, few had dared to boldly score a goal on him, it was unlikely that someone with a lower cultivation base would do so and more deliberately, basically, Tian Shuangmen was signing his death warrant with every word he spoke.

Nevertheless, Sebastian still smiled enigmatically, as if he had some sympathy for Lan Zhao.

-Big brother Zhao...there is no need to be hostile to each other right?...it's just an auction, 125 thousand gold coins is too much for you?...and you get so angry because it turns out that you wanted this earthenware so much?...he smiled as he said, "Alright, today I am feeling generous, I can buy this earthenware for 125 thousand coins and when I have learned the recipe I can give you this stone as a gift, will you?

Lan Zhao reddened with anger as he clenched his fists in anger, if there was one thing this man would not tolerate it was to be pitied by a poor piece of trash, that would be the same as losing face, not just him, everyone watching the scene before his eyes felt that the only reason Tian Shuangmen dared to be so rampant was because they were in Lord Qi's Pavilion, how much more he could pull the rope without it being dangerous was a real mystery.

To make matters worse, Tian Shuangmen could not be called a liar, even when he spoke, he maintained an endless pious expression, as if he really pitied Lan Zhao's "poverty".

-Cut your shit! I don't need pity on a poor piece of rubbish..." he roared under his breath as he turned his steely gaze towards the girl on the stage, "130 thousand coins!

The young auction representative shivered a little as she felt Lan Zhao accept the tacit competition for the stone ware and smiled a little nervously.

-We have a ceiling of 130 thousand gold coins, for Lord Lan .... Someone bids...

-135 thousand gold coins ...." Tian Shuangmen commented as if it was nothing, interrupting the girl's sentence.

At this point, many of those present bit their tongues and tied wrists to prevent the boy from being silenced or beaten for his answer.

Even if you had money, you didn't have to slap him in the face with it like that!

Everyone now knew that Tian Shuangmen was deliberately trying to taunt Lan Zhao with his seemingly huge amount of money!

Although it was laudable on the one hand to give the Lan family's boy a mild reprimand, many thought that the boy was perhaps pushing his luck too far, at some point he would have to leave Lord Qi's ward, would he be so tenacious then?

-You..." Lan Zhao hissed from his posture, "You think I don't know what you're doing?

-I have no idea what you're talking about... you've already run out of money," Tian Shuangmen replied languidly as he laughed a little reservedly, looking at the auction girl, "If that's the case, can I take my stone ware and pay that lady for her fine work?

A vein stood out in the neck of the temperamental Lan Zhao.

-You want to see who can do more?...all right, let's play, but then you can forget about having a full body at all!...- he grunted under his breath as he regained some more composure - I offer 140 thousand gold coins!

-145,000..." Sebastian went up again without any shame.

-150 thousand!" said Lan Zhao...irritated he was about to explode.

-200 thousand coins .... -completely laughed Tian Shuangmen- I can be like this all day long, you know?

An unstable aura finally burst out of Lan Zhao's control, demonstrating the shallow impacting power of his cultivation, impressing everyone a bit.

-You...who the hell do you think you are to take the piss out of me?!...at this point, can you really afford the figures you're throwing around?!....

At that moment an intense murmur settled in the place, while now everyone present was asking themselves the same question...

And the fact is that apart from the protective families and the wealthiest families of the city, there were not many people who could afford to spend 200 thousand gold coins in the city of the emerald sunset, and added to that, even fewer believed that this stone ware was worth so much...

So many eyes closed around the young man in front of Lan Zhao, while he remained silent... until another person spoke... one of the crowd...

-I recognise him!..." exclaimed a slightly older and overweight person as he spoke and his big belly trembled... "He is the disciple of the White Physician, Zhou Xuzi!

Tian Shuanmeng smiled a little embarrassed.

-Aiya, Apothecary Yuan, there's no need to expose myself like that...don't you see we were in the middle of an important bidding?

The round man in a jade-green robe smiled as he touched his belly.

-Young Tian, don't blame this one for being surprised to see you in these parts!...how is your venerable master?

-Well well...he enjoys life although he is cultivating behind closed doors, it was impossible for him to continue with his work...I beg your pardon...-commented the boy waving, cupping his fists.

Sebastian, almost could not believe his good luck, he was about to lose his impeccable facade of having all the money he was throwing as offers for the stoneware, but the arrival of that apothecary he used to supply when he worked for Zhou Xuzi basically pulled him out of the frying pan he had fallen into for wanting to keep that lantern.

No one in the city knew that Zhou Xuzi had died, only Mu Huanzhi and those of the Mu family who had been made aware of it, but even so they were forced to keep it a secret, for the rest, the powerful cultivator and physician was still alive and with it the backing of Tian Shuangmen....

Therefore, Sebastian could afford to continue the charade, since even the leading families were very careful about how they treated Zhou Xuzi or those connected with him.

In fact, looking at Lan Zhao out of the corner of his eye, as he spoke to the Yuan apothecary, he delighted in his complicated expression, clenching his fists as he tried to swallow the news.

Even as one of the wealthy families of the city, he knew that his income could not compare to the earnings of a white Physician like Zhou Xuzi, and to make matters worse... he had heard how that round man had called the boy as a "disciple" of the cultivator... On his own, even if he was a weakling, a physician was terribly prized by the clans and great powers all over the world, but if it was one who made medicine, with these new things in play, to say that Tian Shuangmen could unburden himself of up to half a million gold coins might not be out of the question.

But still, he looked stubbornly at Tian Shuangmen.

-Last offer! 300,000 gold coins!" he shouted, reluctant to lose face in front of someone he was finally beginning to see as worthy of being an obstacle in his path.

All Lan Zhao's determination led him to make such an aggressive bet, determined not to lose to Sebastian.

However, Tian Shuangmen's next words almost made him vomit blood.

-Oh right...I'm retiring..." he commented languidly as he said goodbye to the apothecary and began to walk out of the place at a slow pace, humming a song.

-Sold... to Mr. Lan, for 300 thousand gold coins..." he commented in a soft voice, after a few moments in which silence settled in the place.

Tian Shuangmen was already satisfied, he had given that arrogant young master his due with nothing more than a little play on his pride and Lan Zhao ended up spending so much money on a thing like that chinaware.

-Y-You...you...say...you say you're backing out?!" articulated Lan's young man with an enormous overexertion, while his originally white skin flushed as if about to burst, his whole body was about to twist in bitterness, because at this point, he more or less understood Sebastian's game.

Tian Shuangmen laughed and turned on the spot with a cat-like smile.

-Aiya young master of Lan, this one is a bit of a fool and ended up trying to bid so much for that china, this little me found out the moment you bid 300 thousand coins that it is not so much as to stand in the way of Big Brother Zhao..." he commented, but still with an immense amount of derision in his voice... at this point, everyone on the site had the revelation of what had happened.

Tian Shuangmen had cajoled Lan's young master and on the basis of his pride ended up making him bid so much for a thing he had never had any interest in buying.

The words that ran through everyone's heads, even if they agreed on the young man's methods of teaching Lan's young master a lesson, were without a doubt

Absolutely shameless!

-You!...you're courting death, you scum!" exclaimed Lan Zhao as his voice echoed throughout the place, "You think you can get away with pulling my leg?

It almost looked as if Lan Zhao would step forward to tear him apart, but it was then that the woman on the stage, who was leading the auction, finally regained her composure.

-One moment please, young men, you know the rules of Lord Qi's Pavilion, fights are absolutely not allowed. .... As for this conflict, the things presented to us here are dubious..." The girl looked at Tian Shuangmen... "Fellow, if the things that have been said here and hinted at are true, you are committing fraud, which is terribly punished by Lord Qi himself...".

Although the atmosphere dropped and sank like a stone, and although even the people moved a step away from Tian Shuangmen at the mention of Lord Qi, the young man stood with a radiant smile.

-I haven't been lying at all, why would I myself lie...although it certainly seems the opposite, given that I ended up pushing brother Zhao so much, but still one thing is certain, I didn't force him at any time to keep bidding right...everyone sees that he even possesses a higher cultivation than me, how could I force his arm to keep making him bid?

People evaluated what he said and made sense of it, there was no way such a person could force Lan Zhao to bid so much, not by force, as for wit, who had commanded him to keep bidding for the earthenware?

If Lan Zhao had given up, which could have been at any time, Tian Shuangmen would have had to pay the sums that the stone ware with the recipe had fetched, that was certain, and that the confidence that was seen in him at all times left little doubt that he could not do so.

His identity as a disciple of Zhou Xuzi also played a big part...

-Aiya... but there is nothing to be done, I really should take responsibility for Lan Zhao's poverty I see..." he commented with an inherent contemptuous tone, before tossing a ring into the auctioneer's hands... "It is a small token for any inconvenience I may have caused...".

Those were clearly the 30 thousand gold coins he had received from Mu Huanzhi, for Tian Shuangmen, to offer that money as proof that he "had money" and to substantiate his words in front of the woman, could not have been better invested, he really had no greed in his heart, and the way they were handed over, so confidently and so freely, did nothing but another good bluff that the other people fell for and fell cleanly.

The lady auctioneer received the ring and after reviewing the sum of money, smiled musically.

-This is enough voucher for your trouble young man," she laughed before turning her attention to Lan Zhao, who was staring coldly at Tian Shuangmen's back... "Young master of Lan... are you ready to make payment?

With the woman's question, Lan Zhao's face took on an ashen hue.

With the events of less than 30 minutes, he had lost his face, his dignity, his composure and 300,000 gold coins, all at the hands of a brat younger and much weaker than himself.

As the only son of the Lan family, he was known to be born with a high status within his own family, destined to be the future master of the house, he had simply been born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and having his cultivation and talent prominent, his pride had only been fattened by the longer he lived.

Just the morning he wanted to show off and bid 100,000 gold coins, it turned out to be the same as shooting himself in the foot and he ended up losing twice as much as he planned to spend.

Why had things turned out this way?...the answer that it was his own pride, an answer he knew in his heart of hearts, only added salt to the wound...

-Young man?

The shame, the sorrow and all the feelings that he felt and that were even more heightened at the sight of those present, had basically sealed his ears.

How could Lan's young master have to live with the shame of having been played by a brat of the 3rd level of the Aperture realm?!

What happened next can only be blamed on his own pride and wounded dignity.

The power at the second level of the Auge burst to its limits as Lan Zhao surged forward in residual images towards Tian Shuangmen, concentrating all his strength in his left hand, ready to strike his back with incomparable murderous intent, ready to crush his heart with the shockwave, as determinedly as one who wants to erase a stain from a blank sheet of paper.

Things had happened so fast that it would have been difficult to stop him or even to observe him clearly, because, given that no one would dare to use violence in Lord Qi's Pavilion, no one would have imagined such a reaction.

Tian Shuangmen felt his heart racing because it would be the first fight he would have with someone other than old Feng, however, as he prepared to defend himself against the attack, he found that he didn't need to.

A shadow spiralled out from Tian Shuangmen's shadow and took the blow that was heading towards his back firmly, smoothly parrying it completely, as if all of Lan Zhao's strength had been dissipated...

By the time they were able to look, they discovered one of the Pavilion's tenebrous maidservants, holding Lan Zhao and his blow...

The woman's attitude couldn't have been more relaxed, even on her lips a faint smile could be seen, as if she was happy that someone had broken the rules of the trade entity.

-Lan Zhao's expression froze, and her previous fury turned into an overwhelming terror....

-Master Lan Zhao...why were you looking for trouble in our Lord Qi Pavilion?...didn't you know the rules?...asked the maidservant in a languid voice, still smiling in that gloomy manner...she didn't even seem to want to let go of Lan's young master's fist....

As for Tiang Shuangmen, he watched the white-clad maid's actions carefully, that heavy feeling of discomfort in the end was what allowed him to avoid moving more than necessary as soon as Lan Zhao had attacked him, the current maid seemed unpleasantly happy that the man had broken the rules of the Pavilion and he was sure that if she had seen him get into a fight with Lan Zhao, she would be giving him the same smile and would probably take care of them both, making them "disappear".

Needless to say, with the appearance of the maid, even the employees in charge of the auction showed an inconceivable fear... that's how big was the dread she inspired in them, not to mention those who until then were only observing the event, practically all of them went up in smoke sooner or later.

Lan Zhao, for his part, didn't know where to put himself, his whole fist was shaking as he tried to free himself from the maid's cold grip.

-This fool I had eyes but did not appreciate the mount tai and was blinded for a brief moment, I really did not mean to insult the great institution and its lord with my complete lack...please spare me, I will not appear here again," exclaimed Lan Zhao pathetically, as he pulled desperately and desperately to get out, leaving no trace of that haughty and proud attitude from before.

It was then when the servant girl folded the fingers of her free hand and then, Lan's young man still maintaining the desperate expression stood up straight and ended up remaining static and silent in the place where he was, although his eyes denoted a terrible and terrible desperation.

-Lord Qi will personally deal with your fault, Young Zhao, it is not for this one to spare you or punish you," the woman commented slowly as she turned slowly to Tian Shuangmen and tilted her head to one side. .... On behalf of my lord, we regret that you had room for this disgraceful episode.

Sebastian smiled somewhat nervously and relieved himself with his hands.

-There is no need to apologise, to be honest I think young Lan has learnt his lesson and there is no need to...

-Lan Zhao and everyone in this city of the Emerald Dusk knows about the politics of Lord Qi's pavilion, if he still decided to attack him, it means that he doesn't put us in his eyes... how could we allow such rudeness..." interrupted the servant in a quick tone...

Tian Shuangmen decided not to interfere any more because of this...Lan Zhao could fuck off now....

-All right...

The servant smiled, who knows if she was amused by the boy's resignation in front of her or thought something else strange as she stood in silence for a few moments and then waved a sleeve, before the stone slab landed in Tian Shuangmen's hand...

-This is...?

-A compensation for the bad occasion...I understand that you already handed over 30 thousand gold coins as proof of funds when Lan Zhao caused all this trouble...so this thing should suffice as a gift to make us a little better in your eyes...we hope you will return to Lord Qi's pavilion...-commented the woman, before wrapping herself in her white cloak together with the terrified Lan Zhao and disappearing into thin air...

Tian Shuangmen looked at the tablet in her eyes...and almost wept in his heart....

He felt like screaming for his gold coins back!...what use was that stone to him now?