Stranger Danger

The Wenliang Pearl pushed the Treasure Appreciation Auction to a climax. Many people weren’t expecting it, but it successfully elevated everyone’s expectations for the next item.

Unfortunately, the next couple items were exceedingly boring. They weren’t bad per se—in fact, they were all useful high quality items. For example, a Spirit Master Magia martial arts manual, the “Thunderclap of Nine Heavens”, was auctioned. It was a demon subjugating thunder art originating from the Heavenly Master Monastery of Dragon Tiger Mountain. Overwhelming and grand, it was a powerful offensive-type Magia that excelled at killing one’s enemies.

A Five Senses Talisman was also on sale. If someone were to plaster it to their eyes, then they could view everything within hundreds of kilometers of them. If they plastered it to their ears, then they could hear everything within hundreds of kilometers. If they plastered it to their mouth, then they could consume metal and wood of the Five Phases. If they plastered it to their tongue, then they could taste anything down to the finest details. And if they plastered it to their forehead, then they could stretch their senses much, much further than usual and perceive everything. It was a talisman with a broad range of applications.

If the Five Senses Talisman had one flaw, it was the fact that it could only be used once. Ye Qing found it useful and managed to win it for himself.

Some of the auction items were quite strange and peculiar as well. For example, there was a red paper with the word “Happiness” written on its surface. It was called Red Happiness. The Red Happiness was a Strange Artifact created from the undying feelings of a pair of eloping lovers after they died in the name of love. Imbued with the sincerest blessing of the two lovers, any couple who plastered this red paper on the wall during their wedding ceremony were guaranteed to enjoy a blissful marital life until the end of their lives.

Of course, there was no such thing as a Strange Artifact that could be used without a cost. Red Happiness was no exception. If one of the couple grew unfaithful and betrayed their sworn partner, or if they did something that was deemed unforgivable for a couple, then they would put on their wedding clothes during nighttime and commit suicide.

The Ghost Comb was a peachwood comb with strange powers. If someone were to comb their hair using the Ghost Comb in front of a mirror during midnight, a ghost would appear and answer the comber’s questions.

The more difficult the questions were, the bigger the price they must pay. A trivial question would cause them to be invaded by yin qi and fall ill for three to five days, whereas a serious question might result in them being possessed by the ghost.

The Brush of Literature was a brush that could compose poems, songs, essays and more on its own. It was said to be the possession of a late Grand Secretary. It gradually turned into a Strange Artifact due to constant exposure to the Grand Secretary’s talent and literary air.

Its usage was very simple. One simply needed to place the brush on a Xuan paper, and it would automatically compose a poem, a song, or an essay of outstanding quality.

The price was the user’s own talent and literary air. Even the most literarily talented scholar would devolve into an ordinary person if they kept using the brush.

The feather of a Sweet Voice Bird could produce sweet voices if it made contact with the wind.

The Beautiful Maggot was a maggot with a beautiful woman’s body. Eating it would grant the eater the body of a devil, but also a face only a mother could love.

The Beauty Portrait was a portrait of a gorgeous beauty. Simply serve it an incense stick during the morning and the night, and the woman in the painting would appear in one’s dreams and fulfill their wildest fantasies. The price was the dreamer’s own health.

……

The items were all unusual and interesting in their own right. It certainly broadened Ye Qing’s horizons.

Objectively speaking though, none of the items could hold a candle to the Wenliang Pearl, which was a bit of a letdown.

Thankfully, two items successfully pushed the Treasure Appreciation Auction to the climax once more.

The first was the Root of Health Ancestor Greenwood had brought up, and the second was the Taisui Flesh Weak Old Man mentioned.

The Root of Health was a type of plant that could only grow underground. It would wither away and die if it was ever exposed to sunlight.

Despite being born in darkness and silence, it possessed a heart that yearned for the light. Its vitality could cure all sorts of difficult ailments, chronic conditions and grave injuries. It was as rare as it was valuable.

The Root of Health was obviously Weak Old Man’s primary goal. Knowing this, someone intentionally upped the bid price all the way to five thousand pearls to make the old man miserable.

Although the Root of Health was rare and valuable, its range of application was actually quite narrow and useless to most warriors. At most, it was worth over a thousand pearls. However, this unknown bidder had raised it five times over its expected value. Weak Old Man was so pissed he nearly fainted on the spot.

The identity of this unknown bidder was quite obvious to Ye Qing. Only powerful warriors such as Ancestor Greenwood, Amorous Mother, Red Calabash Celestial, The Defeated and more would dare to butt heads with Weak Old Man, and the only one with a grudge against Weak Old Man—as far as he was aware—was Ancestor Greenwood.

If he could put two and two together, then of course Weak Old Man could do the same. This was doubly true for Xi Duoduo as evident by the fact that he had purposefully auctioned the Taisui Flesh right after the Root of Health. He was all too happy to pit the duo against each other for profit.

The Taisui was also nicknamed the Flesh Lingzhi. It was because it looked like a lingzhi and fleshlike. It had a head and a tail and was considered a living creature despite being attached to a rock. A red Flesh Lingzhi looked like coral, a white Flesh Lingzhi looked like fat, a black Flesh Lingzhi looked like sun spurge, a green Flesh Lingzhi looked like a green peacock’s feather, and a yellow Flesh Lingzhi looked like purple gold.

Regardless of their color, all Flesh Lingzhis looked translucent and see-through like solid ice.

A Flesh Lingzhi took a century to take form, a thousand years to take shape, and several thousand years to gain sentience. Only then could they be called Taisui.

In other words, all Flesh Lingzhis that were several thousand years old and evolved into a Stranger could be called Taisui.

According to the “Herbal Classics”, those who consumed Taisui would become “young in body and age like celestials”. To put it in more secular terms, it meant that the Taisui was a pinnacle treasure that could restore one’s youth and increase their lifespan.

In terms of its ability to extend one’s lifespan, it was easily ten times more potent than Ye Qing’s Nature’s Water. It was practically a miracle to those who were almost out of lifespan.

But of course, the Taisui Flesh wasn’t perfect. Although the Taisui could rewind the time of a human body and increase their lifespan, its efficacy would nosedive after consecutive consumptions. Not only that, the eater’s consciousness would slowly disintegrate into nothing, and their body would gradually transform into a lingzhi.

A human who had transformed into a lingzhi was called a Human Taisui. Not only did it possess the exact same healing and deaging properties as a Taisui, it was better and more potent in every way.

It was why some ruthless, heartless monsters purposely nurtured Human Taisuis to increase their lifespan.

Xi Duoduo wasn’t auctioning the flesh of a Human Taisui or a complete Taisui. He was simply auctioning a chunk of flesh that was cut from a Taisui. That was why it was called the Taisui Flesh.

Although it was just a small chunk, Xi Duoduo claimed that it could extend one’s lifespan by fifteen years.

The Taisui Flesh was Ancestor Greenwood’s primary goal. He might look young on the outside, but Ye Qing could sense an overwhelming amount of death inside his body. It was clear that he was nearing the end of his lifespan, and this Taisui Flesh was the one thing that could save him. Of course he was going to go after it with everything he got.

And so, Ancestor Greenwood received his karmic retribution. He screwed Weak Old Man over earlier, and despite his moniker Weak Old Man wasn’t one to take it lying down. He did not hesitate to up the bid price again, and again, and again.

The Taisui Flesh was a valuable treasure that could increase one’s lifespan. Anyone—even an ordinary person—would lust for such an item. Combined with Weak Old Man’s efforts, and the bid price was increased to six thousand pearls in just the blink of an eye.

Ancestor Greenwood knew that payback was coming, but he wasn’t expecting it to appear so fast and furious. He was so furious that his face turned as green as his moniker.

In the end, Ancestor Greenwood secretly came to an agreement with Weak Old Man. Only then the latter stopped his antics and allowed Ancestor Greenwood to win the Taisui Flesh at the price of seven thousand pearls.

The hype returned to normal after the two items. Ye Qing had taken part in several biddings as well. Then, Xi Duoduo hit him with the unexpected statement.

“Hahaha… with this, the auction has come to an end.”

What? That can’t be right. The finish is so weak it doesn’t match the hype at all! Ye Qing raised a puzzled eyebrow. Many people in the main hall seemed confused as well.

It was at this moment Ye Qing noticed that Ancestor Greenwood, Weak Old Man, Red Calabash Celestial and more did not take their leave. It would seem that the Treasure Appreciation Auction wasn’t over yet.

As expected, Xi Duoduo followed up with this: “The auction may be over, but the Treasure Appreciation Auction has just begun.”