Floating Immortal Order

Chapter 34: Using the Autumn Water

Lantern Festival

Su couldn’t repress the anger on his face. Just as he was about to speak up, Xu Disheng’s bright eyes turned to him, causing a shiver to run from his head to his toes. He couldn’t speak the words at the tip of his tongue.

.

Xu Disheng seemed to know what he was thinking, so he retracted his gaze and turned to look at the hall below. He transmitted his voice to Su’s ears. “What were you going to say just now?”

Su was still angry, but he hesitated. In the end, he still spoke his mind. “Senior Martial Brother Sheng, these girls are so pitiful. Can’t we save them?”

“Foolish!” Xu Disheng said in a cold voice. He looked back at him and saw the complex look of expectation on his face. He eased his tone and continued thoughtfully, “Although, if you really want to save them, we could just buy them.”

“Really, Senior Martial Brother Sheng?!” Su exclaimed, delighted. He turned to the attendant. “How much do these girls usually go for?”

The attendant turned a deaf ear to their conversation just now, and his expression was unchanged from before. He was quite prudent and qualified at his job. He responded respectfully, “Young sir, you will know shortly.”

The hall below gradually became more lively, and the private rooms on the 2nd and 3rd floors slowly filled up with people. Some of those private rooms were obscured with hanging screens, making it hard to make out the appearance of the people inside.

A girl in black clothes walked to the front of the hall and stood on the wide, empty stage. Revolving her Astral Qi, she projected her lovely voice throughout the entire hall. “Treasured guests, you all should already be aware of the rules of the Rising Fragrance Pavilion’s Lantern Festival. I am the host this time, Yi’er.”

Yi’er looked around at the audience’s enthusiastic reaction and smiled. She took out a list and began, “Lantern 1 is 17 years old with Grade 6 Dao Channels, at the 4th Rank of the Human Cauldron Martial Technique. Starting bid is 52 gold taels.”

When she finished speaking, a girl in red clothes walked in from the side entrance. Her features were beautiful and delicate, but her gaze was empty.

The people in the audience were all somewhat used to this, and they shouted out their bids, creating a fervent atmosphere.

“60 gold taels! This young lady’s skin is so fair, I definitely want her!” the son of a noble with a starchy face and oily skinhead called out loudly.

“This stunning of a young lady and you want to take her home for just 60 taels? I bid 80 gold taels!”

“100 gold taels!”

…

If you looked closely, you would find that the only ones calling the bids were those in the hall below, made up of officials, landowners, and those from small aristocratic families. There were no bids being made from the private rooms on the 2nd and 3rd floors.

Su was a bit anxious. “Senior Martial Brother Sheng, how could it be this expensive? The price that my older sister sold for at the time wasn’t even worth 2 gold taels.”

Xu Disheng ignored him. He used his Soul Force to probe the red-clothed girl, a little curious about the Human Cauldron Martial Technique. He slightly admired the Regional Lord of this place for being able to create a method like this. It was indeed impressive that he could find such a quick way of raising the Astral Qi in one’s body, which was also practical in making a complete, intact product chain of these girls for auction. It was such a creatively bizarre idea, how could he not find it praiseworthy?

Su had only brought several loose gold taels. If he wanted to win the auction for this ‘Lantern 1’, he needed way more money.

Seeing that Xu Disheng was ignoring him, he started getting a little worried. He gritted his teeth and took off a ring from his finger and handed it to the attendant who was standing by in the private room. “How many gold taels is this Martial Treasure worth?” Su asked.

When Su was taken in as a disciple, he received this protective Martial Treasure as a gift from Daoist Lord Shangyuan.

The indifferent look was wiped off the attendant’s face. The fact that this youth was able to take out an intact Martial Treasure so easily meant that his background was far from ordinary.

But in the Liu Province’s Jiujiang Region, there were quite a few Xiantian transcendents. This attendant was experienced and knowledgeable, with a good eye. He immediately replied, “If this Martial Treasure has protective powers, it could be converted into approximately 120 gold taels. If it has offensive powers, then it could be converted into approximately 200 gold taels. If you would like an exact estimate on the price, I can go report it to the manager, who can help you find a specialist to appraise it.”

As Su watched the bidding price continue to climb up to 130 gold taels, he started feeling even more anxious. “It does have an offensive power. Hurry up and have someone appraise it!”

The attendant bowed and said, “Then please wait just a moment, young sir.” Then he glanced at ‘Lantern 1’ in the hall below and said, “If young sir is in a hurry, then I can take the lead for the time being and state that you may use this Martial Treasure to call a bid up to 200 gold taels.”

With that, he took the ring and slowly withdrew from the room.

“200 gold taels!” Su immediately shouted, not hesitating in the slightest.

An utter silence fell upon the hall. The price for this red-clothed girl would be around 150 gold taels at the very most. After all, she only had Grade 6 Dao Channels and a cultivation at Rank 4 of her Martial Technique. Even if she was beautiful, the people present weren’t only here for their looks.

Yi’er looked up at the private room from which that voice came, and saw the vague form of a white-clothed youth standing within. His ink black hair was tied back behind his head, and his eyes were closed, but it was difficult to make out his expression.

However, the one who called out the bid wasn’t him, but the smaller youth behind him. His eyes contained a hint of anxiety as he looked at her.

Yi’er smiled sweetly as she said, “200 gold taels. If there aren’t any higher bids, then ‘Lantern 1’ will be auctioned off to these two young sirs.”

Countless gazes turned towards Xu Disheng and Su, but Xu Disheng was just cultivating in silence as if the events going on around him had nothing to do with him.

In another private room, someone commanded, “Go look into the backgrounds of these two people. There are no such people in the clans of the Jiujiang Region who can pull out 200 gold taels all at once like this!”

When Su saw that it was finalized, he let out a sigh of relief.

The door to the private room was pushed open, and the attendant returned, carrying a tray in his hands. “Young sir, the Martial Treasure was converted into 230 gold taels. Since ‘Lantern 1’ was sold for 200 gold taels, here are the remaining 30 gold taels and a copy of the Plucking Yin Martial Technique.”

Following behind the attendant was the beautiful red-clothed girl.

Su received the gold and put it down on the table. After looking at the girl, he said, “You can go home now.”

This time, a look of surprise showed up on the attendant’s face. The girl’s apathetic gaze shifted upwards, and she said in a melodious, but rather hoarse voice, “Young sir, how could you say such a thing? Could it be that you are making fun of me?”

Su shook his head. “The only reason I bought you was to save you. I just don’t want to see an innocent person become someone else’s tool for cultivation.”

In the girl’s melodic voice, there was a hint of weariness. “Young sir, please stop messing around. I have no home to return to. Now that young sir has bought me, I am now yours.”

In the hall below, Yi’er’s voice could be heard. “Our dear, treasured guests, Lantern 2 is 15 years old with Grade 5 Dao Channels, at the 5th Rank of the Human Cauldron Martial Technique. Starting bid is 180 gold taels.”

A girl in white walked out from the side entrance, her gaze detached and indifferent. 𝚋𝚎ｄｎｏｖ𝚎𝚕．𝚌ｏｍ

“200 gold taels!”

“230 gold taels!”

There were now plenty of bids coming from the private rooms on the 2nd floor. Possessing Grade 5 Dao Channels and the Astral Qi from cultivating up to Rank 5 of the Human Cauldron Martial Technique, this ‘Lantern 2’ was receiving a much greater reception than the red-clothed girl.

Su couldn’t do anything about the red-clothed girl for now, so he turned to Xu Disheng. “Senior Martial Brother Sheng, if you have any gold on you, could you please help save her?”

Xu Disheng opened his eyes, already feeling a bit unwilling to respond. But when he thought of Daoist Lord Shangyuan and Daoist Lord Qingxin, he forced himself to be patient. He replied gently, “Look into the eyes of the girl down there. She’s clearly already given up all hope. For these girls who were raised like this from childhood, it’s clear that becoming a tool for others’ cultivation is their final destination. They were already mentally prepared for this from the start.” He turned around and looked at the attendant. “Besides, judging by the scale and the fact that this is happening every year, the people behind-the-scenes at the Rising Fragrance House must be raising at least several hundred girls of different ages in the same manner. Do you really think you can save them all?”

Yet, there was still a look of expectation in Su’s eyes. “Senior Martial Brother Sheng. With how strong you are, I’m sure you could save them all.”

Xu Disheng lowered his head, “Ignorance. You don’t even know what you yourself should be doing. Remember this. As your Senior Martial Brother, this will be my first and last lesson I will give to you. Rules are meant to bind the weak. Although you can save people, you need to be strong enough to do it yourself. Do you understand?”

When his words sunk in, he unsheathed the meter-long sword from its scabbard. He revolved profound qi and poured it into the Autumn Water Sword, causing the sword light extending from it to grow to more than 7 meters in length. The wooden slat curtains covering the private room were ripped apart.

With a swipe of his hand, the 7 meter long sword light flew out, separating the massive wooden stage, along with Yi’er and ‘Lantern 2’ into two parts with a loud bang.

Xu Disheng spoke quietly, but in the deafening silence within the hall, his voice could be heard distinctly. “In three breath’s time, you will hand back that ring-type Martial Treasure.”