Realms In The Firmament

Ye Xiao was a pretty smart man. He might be shocked for a while, but then he realized what it truly was. Only a few words from the fat shopkeeper and he knew how things went on. The Star Trace Iron might mean nothing to himself, but it truly was valuable, at least for the people in this market. It must be some wonderful material. Things were turned around, so he was now in a much higher position in this debate. He seemed to be calm and blank but was, in fact, arrogant like a lone wolf among some sheep. What a cunning person intoxicated by success!

As expected, that fat shopkeeper caved when Ye Xiao pretended this. The fat man shed more sweats on his forehead, and his clothes were soaked.

People around them all showed a complicated expression on the face. Everybody kept watching over, and some of them seemed to be gloating.

The fat shopkeeper stood straight a little, and said, “I was being stupid. I was stuck-up! I should have recognized how important you are! Big brother, please, could you come to my shop so we can have a talk? I can see how you must have traveled a long way. You must be tired and hungry after the long journey. Otherwise, how would you pay attention to my stupid steamed buns? How about this… I will make a full table of food and liquor for you, and you can take a good rest and enjoy the feast. Take it as my warm welcome…”

The fat shopkeeper looked at Ye Xiao with supplication in his eyes.

Some soldiers who were wearing armors were walking over to them. They were approaching.

As the soldiers walked closer, the fat shopkeeper seemed to be more anxious. He was sweating so bad.

Ye Xiao thought for a while and nodded. He accepted the fat shopkeeper’s invitation.

The fat shopkeeper didn’t say any words again, just dragged Ye Xiao back into the shop behind the steaming wok of steamed buns, and then he hurriedly pulled down the door of the shop. He didn’t even take his steamed buns back in…

“Oh heavens… It scared me to death out there.” The fat shopkeeper’s face turned gray, and he kept wiping the cold sweats on his forehead. It seemed he was still frightened.

“What is wrong with you?” Ye Xiao was surprised, so he asked.

The fat shopkeeper looked at Ye Xiao like he was an alien. He said, “What is wrong with me? Did you just ask me that? Brother, you have a piece of Star Trace Iron, yet you still came to this low-grade area of ours… You… You… You are totally setting us up!”

Ye Xiao was confused. “This is a block of Star Trace Iron… So what?”

The fat shopkeeper showed him a smile, which was uglier than a crying face. “Brother, please, is this your first day out in the martial world or what?”

Ye Xiao frankly said, “You have a pair of sharp eyes.”

The fat shopkeeper was shocked.

‘I have a pair of sharp eyes?’

‘What? Why? Do I? What does he mean…’

Then he widely opened both eyes, staring at Ye Xiao. “Do you mean… that this is truly the first day you come out to the martial world?”

Ye Xiao smiled bashfully and said, “That’s right… That is why I think you have a pair of sharp eyes…”

The fat shopkeeper almost blacked out.

“I see… No wonder…” The fat shopkeeper twisted his mouth. In a shaking voice, he said, “Your families should really care more about you… How could they just let you out like this… You even have to pay for two steamed buns with a piece of Star Trace Iron…”

In fact, he was thinking, ‘I see. So this is it. It makes sense now. This is the most reasonable explanation after all. This man here is new to the martial world… Damn… That scared the hell out of me.’

“You have no idea, my friend. They brought me here, and then threw me down from upon the clouds…” Ye Xiao didn’t even blink when he made up the story. “They said I needed to be trained in this place… Fine. I could do it. I accepted it. But they didn’t even prepare some money for me. For the last couple of days, I ate so many Cinnabar Fruits that I wanted to throw up because of the smell of it. I am so lucky today to finally see a small town here.”

After he returned from death, in the second life—Ye Xiao had been influenced a lot by the cunning Zuo Wuji. Now he was good at figuring out what others were thinking. When he said that he was new to the martial world, he noticed the change of the expression on the fat shopkeeper’s face.

There must be something the fat shopkeeper didn’t say or didn’t want to say. Whatever it was, it would benefit Ye Xiao a lot, so he decided to make use of it!

“Upon the clouds…” The fat shopkeeper shed cold sweats on the forehead again.

People who were able to throw people down from upon the clouds were all influential figures in the world… Ordinary people in this world could never do that!

The fat shopkeeper’s face was shaking.

‘This guy must be here to complete some super mission!’

“Didn’t your families tell you anything else about what you should do here?” The fat shopkeeper asked.

“Of course, they did! They kept repeating it again and again. They told me not to embarrass our ancestors…” Ye Xiao acted like he didn’t want to relive the memory. “If I don’t behave, they will take all my money away… That is going to kill me. How am I supposed to know how to not embarrass my ancestors? I can’t do this, or that… Oh, right! You have to admit that I did pay you with my Star Trace Iron when I bought the steamed buns from you. I didn’t rob, or steal anything. I wasn’t bullying anybody. I did not disgrace anybody… If someone asks you about that, you must tell them the truth. Otherwise, I will probably lose all my money. If that happens, I will not go easy with you… Be careful…”

The fat shopkeeper didn’t understand, but he wouldn’t dare to say no. “Yes, of course. What happened between us was a fair deal. I gave you my steamed buns and I did not want anything in return… The steamed buns are a gift that shows my respect… Well, I just don’t understand why money means that much to you? Even if they take away all your money, so what? Do you really have to be so upset about it?”

A young lord in a wealthy family would never care about some money. It just didn’t make sense!

Ye Xiao rolled up his eyes and said, “What do you know? My money is important! I need to play card with my pals! Who would play with me if I don’t have money? We card players only show respect to money, not to people! You have no money, you are out! I don’t really like that card game so much. I just can’t get humiliated! Do you understand?”

The fat shopkeeper told his wife to cook for Ye Xiao and then talked to him and said, “Young Master, may I ask about your money… Is it all in purple spirit coins? How many do you have?”

The man thought that he could finally know about how rich a young master of a wealthy family could be. He was always curious about the life of these young lords, so he figured he could learn something today.

“Purple spirit coins? I have no idea what it is.” Ye Xiao shook his head and said, “What is purple spirit coin?”

The fat shopkeeper was almost freaked out.

“Don’t you know about the purple spirit coin? What do you use as money then?”

Ye Xiao reached out one hand with a small pile of Star Trace Iron in it. He said, “Well, these little things. This is quite different from the coins you use in this place, but trust me, what I gave to you is definitely enough for two steamed buns…”

The fat shopkeeper’s two eyes nearly shot out of his eye frames. He was suddenly astounded.

“Oh, what does this mean? What is it? Don’t you agree? Fine. Let me show you more. You should at least recognize one of them, shouldn’t you?” Ye Xiao put away the Star Trace Iron, and then grabbed out several pieces of other metallic materials.

Some of them were full of gloss, some of them were shining lights, some of them were dark and dim, and the others were all different…

“Oh heavens…” The fat shopkeeper felt numb in the knees and nearly fell down. “Oh, my heavens…” He groaned.

‘This young master took out so many kinds of metals, and I don’t recognize them all. I can only recognize three of them.’

‘One is the Star Trace Iron, which he has shown me earlier, one is the humble Horizon Rock, and the last one is the Brocade Steel which was the most shining one. I have no idea what the others are.’

‘My question is…’

‘Any tiny piece of these materials is a priceless treasure.’

‘Even in the Human Realm Upon Heavens, such a high-grade realm in the universe, these materials are rare! Some of them only exist in the stories!’

‘This man here actually uses them in a card game? He wagers them on a card game?’

‘What kind of a great family clan is this? What kind of a great sect is it?’

‘You can’t be more extravagant, can you? This is so unbelievable…’

The fat shopkeeper truly had no idea how to think of it further!

When the fat shopkeeper heard that it was Ye Xiao’s first time to come out to the martial world, he did think about taking advantage of the young lord. However, now he did not have any thought of it anymore.

He was actually afraid that Ye Xiao might know about his secret thought!

‘That is such a big guy in the world… If I have done anything bad to him, I would be…’

‘It doesn’t matter if my little plan will go well or not, because messing with this guy will definitely ruin my future!’

‘I might get broken today.’

‘The entire town might get wiped out because of me.’

‘Those who are in high positions in this world always like to vent their anger towards innocent people. Living in the same place with their enemy is something unforgettable for them. How would they care about the lives of some ants? They won’t mind if we all die!’

As they were talking, the fat shopkeeper’s wife had already done cooking, and she was bringing up the foods and drinks to the table. The fat shopkeeper fawned on Ye Xiao smiled and said with a drink in the hand, “Young Master, come on. This is the fruit wine we made ourselves. Small things in a small place. Perhaps, you will find it interesting. I surely know that it is worthless, but it shows my respect to you.”

Ye Xiao didn’t hesitate, he just raised the cup and drank up the wine. Suddenly, he felt a wonderful scent blooming inside his mouth. He felt warm in the stomach. That was definitely the best liquor he had ever drunk in the Qing-Yun Realm. What an excellent liquor!

However, he pretended to frown and cough, and then said, “Well, such a wild thing indeed. It is full of cheap fruit flavor. However, it is interesting.”

The fat shopkeeper chuckled. He knew what this young lord meant. ‘Of course, you don’t like it. All you drink before is the best liquors in the world. How would you like this low-grade drinks in this small town?’ He chuckled and said, “Forgive me. This is the best we have. Hah hah…”

Ye Xiao nodded and then had another drink.

The fat shopkeeper stayed with him all night, serving him like a servant. He thought, ‘This young lord is so rich and generous. If I can connect to him, I may get the chance to leave this small place! That is one step to the top of the world!’

‘Even if I don’t get that lucky, it would be great to be somebody he remembers. Perhaps, my grandchildren will be benefited from this…’

Therefore, he served Ye Xiao even better.

“My friend… You mentioned that yellow spirit coin and purple spirit coin… What are they exactly? Is it the money you use here?” Ye Xiao asked while he was eating the tasty food.

“Ahem… Cough, cough…” The fat shopkeeper apparently believed it now.

He was sure that this man was a young lord from a great family clan who had no idea how the real world worked.

He believed Ye Xiao was strictly protected by his family clan.

That was the reason why the young lord had no idea what those coins meant.

“In the Human Realm Upon Heavens, there are four kinds of coins, which is known as money for us. The yellow spirit coin has the lowest denomination… Ahem. In fact, normal people, citizens in the world, all use yellow spirit coins for life. We use it to buy things, and we sell things to earn it. White spirit coin has a higher denomination. One white spirit coin is equal to one hundred yellow spirit coins. If people like us can earn about forty white spirit coins, we will be called a successful businessman. The next one with an even higher denomination is the black spirit coin. One black spirit coin is equal to one hundred white spirit coins. People use the black ones only when they are having a deal with big quantity. The purple spirit coin that I mentioned is rare. One purple spirit coin is equal to ten thousand black spirit coin…”

The fat shopkeeper took out a few coins and put them on the table when he explained how much each of them was.

(Author’s Note: Ahem. Take the Chinese Yuan that we use most as an example. If one yellow spirit coin means 1 CNY, then a white spirit coin is 100 CNY. A black spirit coin is 10000 CNY… A purple spirit coin? Well… Ahem… That’s 100000000 CNY… a hundred million.)

“Where is the purple spirit coin? Don’t you have a purple spirit coin?” Ye Xiao looked at the coins on the table and asked.

“Purple spirit coin… Please… How can I possibly have that…” The fat shopkeeper’s face turned red and he said, “Purple spirit coin is only used in some high-level transactions. It is a supreme level currency. I am just a small retailer… People like me will never be able to get even one purple spirit coin… I… I am just a man who sells steamed buns…”

“Oh. I am sorry. I should have never said that.” Ye Xiao grinned and apologized insincerely.

The wife of the fat shopkeeper made a sigh and squinted at the fat man. She said, “I guess I must have done something really terrible in the last life. Otherwise, how am I supposed to marry you, a bloody pauper? Half of my life is gone, and all we have is far less than one purple spirit coin…”

The fat shopkeeper blushed and he said, “How can you say that? Do you really think you have a choice? If you are really that beautiful, you would have married a rich guy, wouldn’t you? Look at you, a bloody troll with a terrible looking face. Of course, I know I am poor, but you are ugly…”

His wife turned furious all of a sudden, and she started to shout in a sharp voice, “What did you just say? You big fat bastard! I used to be gorgeous! How can you deny that? You bloody pauper… I had to live your pathetic life when I was pretty! I was busy working for you, you big fat rat! That is why I lost my beauty… How dare you call me a troll? Shame on you…”

The couple was going to have a fight.

Ye Xiao hurriedly coughed loudly to stop them.

The husband and wife immediately stopped, and both looked embarrassed.

“Ahem… What does this place belong to, by the way?” Ye Xiao asked.

“This is the East End of the East Sky…” The fat shopkeeper nearly broke down when he heard the question. ‘Come on, my lord… You are right here with me, and you actually don’t know where this place is? I don’t think people will believe it if I told them this! Oh, I believe you though!’

“What is the East Sky? I mean… What does it exactly mean? There must be some background stories about it, right?” Ye Xiao asked.

The fat shopkeeper staggered.

‘Did he just ask me what the East Sky is?’

…