Chapter 212: A Bunch of Prodigals

Translated by tracy

By the time they managed to squeeze pass the crowd, the auction for seats were selling like hotcakes. Due to the price climbing higher and higher, out of most people’s budgets, all those left were a few patrons with thicker purses, still competing for the prize.

You XiaoMo glanced at the group of people participating in the auction – some people’s faces were gaining a purple hue, while others spoke calmly as if the price was nowhere near their limit. Of the latter category there was an extravagantly-dressed young master holding a fan, with an expression of contempt indicating his absolute certainty at winning the auction.

The young master raised the hand in which his fan was held, and said with a haughty tone: “I bid fifty thousand for all five rooms.”

Finished, he cast a smug look at his competitors.

Even adding in his followers, there were still only three people in total. The young master obviously had no use for buying all five rooms; the move’s sole purpose was to be provocative, with a generous dose of arrogance to boot.

Traces of anger appeared on his competitors’ expressions. One of them, the strongest-looking man, walked over with an air of silk hiding steel. “You brat, impatient for death, are you? Don’t think you’re so much better just because you have some gold coins.”

The young master didn’t show a trace of panic, seemingly completely unaffected by the man’s imposing aura and instead replied with more vigour than before: “Hmph, this young master just has more gold coins and just is so much better than you. What are you going to do about it?”

A flash of fury passed over the man’s face before he dropped all pretences and released his aura. The young master’s strength looked no more than a Moon level six star; if he were to clash directly with the man’s aura, then he’d only be eating dust.

However, the man didn’t have the chance to confront the young master head-on. Behind him, a follower lashed out, exuding a more powerful and overbearing aura. A series of bangs sounded as the two auras clashed.

The man backed away a few steps with an expression of horror. “A Spiritual level warrior?”

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, the surrounding people whipped around to look at the young master and his followers in shock. A Spiritual level warrior as a mere follower? This young master must be an important figure, most likely a disciple of some esteemed family out to gain life experience.

With this realisation, the man, along with all the others, immediately showed fear on their faces as they regarded the young master.

The Hei Yin Village has always had plenty of outsiders who passed through, but the Hei Marsh nearby was by far its most famous aspect. With its air pungent with poison gas and an abundance of monsters, the marsh had a danger level of above average, making it the perfect place for disciples to train. This is why, occasionally, one might see some fancily-dressed noble with a string of followers constantly on their heels.

Regarding people like this, most wandering practitioners with neither background nor support from a powerful family chose to avoid them altogether.

The man could only leave, bitterly spitting curses as he went.

The young master didn’t command his followers to pursue the retreating figure, instead choosing to stand in place, scoffing: “Overconfident fool.”

“I bid sixty thousand for one room.”

At this, the young master immediately turned around. The only person who could have spoken was a boy that looked to be, at most, seventeen or eighteen years old, standing in front of his master.

The one who spoke was You XiaoMo, and he especially made sure to cut in before Ling Xiao could do so. Ling Xiao tended to not hold back with his spending; although there was still at least ten million gold coins in his storage bag, there was no way of knowing how much of that they’d need in the future. In order to save some money, You XiaoMo decided to take charge of their budget.

In saying that, You XiaoMo also spoke up because he wasn’t impressed with the young master’s arrogance. Each room had more than two seats though, so he only needed one.

The young master sneered, huffing: “I bid one hundred thousand.”

This sent the crowd that had accumulated around them into an uproar; as expected of a disciple of a powerful family, blowing money on such a petty matter so freely. A lot of people shook their heads, but still cast expectant looks at You XiaoMo in hopes of someone who could knock the young master down a few pegs.

You motherfucker, You XiaoMo swore inwardly. He just wanted a room, was there a point to this skyrocketing price? The idea of waiting another three days didn’t appeal him; time is money, after all, and who knows what unforeseen event might occur between now and then. Besides, this person is really asking for it with that attitude of his.

“One hundred and fifty thousand,” You XiaoMo said, living up to the crowd’s expectations.

The young master’s face darkened. “Two hundred thousand. If there’s one thing I have, it’s money. I dare you to keep bidding.” With this, his two followers stood up, arms crossed, opening the floodgates to their auras.

You XiaoMo pushed up his sleeves at once and jumped behind Ling Xiao, pointing at the perpetrators and furiously saying: “Ling Xiao, you’re up!”

Ling Xiao was terribly amused with You XiaoMo’s antics. He had thought that You XiaoMo was going to release SheQiu or MaoQiu on them, but occasionally playing the role of bodyguard wasn’t bad.

To be honest, everyone had already noticed Ling Xiao’s presence and assumed the young man to be his servant or something of the kind. However, they soon realised that this was not the case because what kind of servant calls his master by his name?

Ling Xiao lightly glanced at the young master, stating bluntly, “Twenty-one hundred thousand, bid more if you dare.”

The young master was furious but before he could retort, his follower pulled him back and spoke softly into one ear: “Young master, this person is a force to be reckoned with.”

Some strong people dislike portraying themselves as being too overbearing, so most will keep a tight hold on their auras. It was still possible, however, to detect, so despite Ling Xiao’s overall presentation, the two followers could still recognise his power. Furthermore, only the truly strong ones would dare to provoke them, knowing full well that they were Spiritual level warriors.

The young master’s complexion turned cold as he stared at Ling Xiao in surprise. There were as many experts in Long Xiao Dalu as there were clouds in the sky, and it was thus not impossible for them to run into someone stronger than them. However, he had never thought that he’d have run into a wall here, and this, coupled with the fact that he was rather prideful, made it hard for him to back down.

The followers knew that their young master was too proud to do anything, and decided to take matters into their own hands. One of them stepped forwards, fist clasped: “Apologies, our young master is too stubborn, please forgive us.”

You XiaoMo peeked his head out from behind Ling Xiao, his gaze darting around. “We’ll forgive you, seeing as you’re so sincere. But… But you’re not going to try and take our one room away, are you?”

Hearing his emphasis on the word ‘one’, the follower quickly replied, “We won’t, you have our gratitude.”

You XiaoMo let out a relieved sigh; as expected, it feels good to stop throwing money away. He turned to Ling Xiao and said bitterly: “I’d have thrown you out in front from the start if I knew it’d be so effective. Then we wouldn’t have spent a hundred and something thousand dollars on nothing.”

“Weren’t you complaining that I don’t hold back with my spending?” Ling Xiao replied, smiling.

You XiaoMo looked at him in disgust. “You spend too much anyway, what a barbaric world. Evidently, fists rule over civility here.” He thought for a moment, then continued: “Next time something like this happens, you can stand at the front and I’ll talk.”

The young master and his two followers all had on expressions of indignation at how the two of them talked as if they were alone.

Seeing that the flurry of activity at his auction has been brought to a close, the organiser immediately scrambled for someone to take You XiaoMo and Ling Xiao to their room. Soon, an enormous Firebird rose before them.

Just like Ling Xiao said, a grown Firebird could reach heights of up to hundreds of meters, like a huge wall of flesh. On its back was a building not unlike an airplane cabin – a fantasy version of an airplane, in fact.

Due to the quickly approaching departure time, crowds of ticket-holders started to board the Firebird. There were two aisles to this process; as ticket-holders of box rooms, they alone could enjoy one of the aisles. Compared to the other more supported one, this aisle was clearly more spacious.

Walking through the door that was wide open, You XiaoMo could see the interior design of the cabin.

Perhaps, in consideration of the Firebird’s limits, the cabin was solely built out of light redwood. Various pretty trinkets and expensive jewellery were hung about the room, single-handedly transforming the space into an alluring one.

The big cabin was split into two parts, and the first-class box rooms were situated beneath the Firebird’s neck. There were ten box rooms available; the mid-to-lower-class rooms were spread out from the middle to tail of the Firebird, lower prices owing to the less ideal view.

Fifteen minutes later, the time to depart had finally come. You XiaoMo, who was sitting inside his room, felt tremors in the floor beneath his feet. Looking out of the window, the Firebird had already spread out its two wings, which almost seemed longer than its body. Soon after, the ground was assaulted by a strong gust of wind, the Firebird propelling itself towards the clouds with breathtaking speed. It was a wonder how none of the occupants had felt so much as a bump.

Gazing away from the window, You XiaoMo looked back to find Ling Xiao lying on the bed with his eyes closed in peaceful rest, and opted to not disturb him. He sat down on a vacant spot on the ground and took out his Enlightened Golden Cauldron from the dimension after a short break.

He may be situated within the bottleneck, but that can’t stop him from doing alchemy.