“Hold on,” Wu Jian suddenly said.

Huǒ Shuchang had been seconds away from marching up to the guarded front door, but he paused and turned to Wu Jian, a single eyebrow lifted.

“What’s up?”

“I need a disguise.”

“A disguise? Why?”

“You don’t need to know that. Just hold on a second while I get a suitable disguise.”

Wu Jian turned around and left the auction house. Huǒ Shuchang sighed as he followed the younger man. He quickly caught up with Wu Jian. The two of them marched side by side through the crowded streets.

“If you want to remain anonymous, you should consider getting a hood and a mask,” Huǒ Shuchang said. “But I should warn you that just disguising your features won’t be enough to keep people from remembering you. The Zhou Clan has many people with powerful senses. They’ll remember you by your unique chi.”

A person’s chi was like their thumbprint. Everyone’s was unique. Most people didn’t have the aptitude to find someone based on their chi alone, but there were special people called Sensors, who had the unique talent of locating people. Skilled sensors could even remember someone based on their chi.

The Zhou Clan had many skilled Sensors.

“It’s fine. I just need to disguise my features,” Wu Jian said.

Huǒ Shuchang shrugged and just followed the black-haired young man as he wandered several shops, looking for a suitable disguise. He eventually went with something simple. A long cloak that went over his training gi and had a hood, along with a nondescript white mask. They would hide his appearance and prevent anyone from possibly recognizing him.

He bought several just in case one broke.

“And you’re not going to tell me why you need to hide your appearance?” asked Huǒ Shuchang as they made their way back to the auction house.

“I’m not,” Wu Jian confirmed.

Huǒ Shuchang sighed. “You’re so secretive.”

They stopped in front of the door. The two guards eyed them suspiciously, but Huǒ Shuchang stepped forward and smiled amiably at the pair as he pressed his right fist into his left palm and bowed slightly at the waist.

“Good morning. I’m here to have some items auctioned off. Might I speak with one of your appraisers?”

The two guards glanced at each other as though having a silent conversation. Wu Jian stood back like a silent bodyguard, wondering if they would let them in.

Finally…

“Very well. You may go inside. Head right up to the reception desk and ask for Zhou Mān. He will appraise your items for you,” the guard on the left said as the one on the right opened the door.

The interior was every bit as ostentatious and imposing as the exterior. There were qilin statues everywhere. Wu Jian followed behind Huǒ Shuchang as they walked up to the reception desk, where a pretty young woman stood with her hands clasped before her.

She smiled as they walked up. “Good day to you, young master. How might I be of assistance?”

Wu Jian bristled a little at being ignored, but then he remembered he was acting like Huǒ Shuchang’s bodyguard. It was only natural she wouldn’t pay attention to him. He quietly shifted on his feet but remained otherwise silent.

“I have some items I would like to sell at your auction house. I was told to speak with Zhou Mān to have them appraised,” Huǒ Shuchang said.

“Very well. Please wait one moment while I get Master Zhou Mān.”

The young woman left. Wu Jian studied the reception hall some more. The high ceiling above them was painted similar to the Zhou Clan estate in Zahn City. It was a beautiful painting that must have cost a fortune, especially since valuable gemstones were being used to enhance the painting’s luster.

The young woman soon returned with an old man following behind her. He had long white hair, a white beard, and skin as pale as snow. Long silver robes hid his figure as he walked, but Wu Jian didn’t doubt this man was in better shape than he looked. He could feel the power radiating from this man.

He must at least be at the Asura Realm if not the Human Limit Realm…

“Welcome to the Zhou Clan’s auction house, young man. How might I address you?” asked Zhou Mān, moving into a traditional bow.

Huǒ Shuchang bowed as well. “You may call me Huǒ Shuchang, honored appraiser.”

“Huǒ Shuchang, eh. If I am not mistaken, your name means Being of Fire. A good name.”

“Thank you.”

“Now, then, if you’d please follow me, we shall have your items appraised. Your bodyguard is welcome to come too.”

Huǒ Shuchang cast Wu Jian a smug grin before turning back to Zhou Mān. “Yes, my bodyguard has all the items I wish to auction in his possession.”

Wu Jian quietly clicked his tongue as he followed several steps behind Huǒ Shuchang. He was going to get back at the man for treating him like a mere bodyguard.

They soon came upon a hallway, which had a series of rooms. Zhou Mān informed them that these were all appraisal rooms. Each Zhou Clan auction house had several appraisers. As the largest auction house in the Ming Dynasty, this particular one had over a dozen appraisers, and they were always appraising items day and night.

The appraisal room they were led to lacked the poshness of the reception hall. It was a simple room with a polished wood floor. A single table with two chairs sat in the center. It was the table that Zhou Mān directed Huǒ Shuchang to sit. Wu Jian stood behind his “young master.”

“What items would you like me to appraise?” asked Zhou Mān.

“I have two items. The first is a spirit weapon I happened upon,” Huǒ Shuchang gestured to Wu Jian, who barely withheld his irritable sigh as he removed the weapon in question from his storage ring. It was the dual axes that Mao Yuhan had used.

Zhou Mān’s eyes gleamed as Wu Jian handed him the axes for appraisal. Power flowed through the man’s fingers and into the axe as though coating it in a thin layer of film. Several moments of silence past before he set the axes on the table and smiled.

“These are good weapons. They’re medium-grade profound earth spirit weapons. If we sell them as a set, I can make the starting price one thousand spirit coins. You’ll earn no less than five thousand, however, since weapons like this are highly sought after,” Zhou Mān said.

Wu Jian almost gulped. One thousand spirit coins was almost the entire yearly income of the Wu Clan… back when they were still around. That was a lot of money. A lot of money.

“What is the second item?” asked Zhou Mān.

Huǒ Shuchang glanced at Wu Jian, who summoned the Yang Fire Flower and presented it to Zhou Mān, whose eyes lit up even more than when he saw the axes.

“This is a Yang Fire Flower! And it has spirit veins! That means it is at least two thousand years old! This is quite the find!”

“Two thousand? I thought it was one thousand,” Huǒ Shuchang muttered.

Zhou Mān chuckled. “That’s an easy mistake to make if you don’t know what to look for. See these veins along the leaves? It takes one thousand years to make this many leaves, and it takes another thousand for those leaves to form spirit veins. Spirit veins are like meridians for a plant. And plants with spirit veins make the best alchemy ingredients. The Yang Fire Flower is used in the Breaking Heaven and Earth Pill, which can help Human Limit Realm Cultivators break through to the Deva Realm. Those axes you showed me are great, but this flower will fetch a price of no less than fifty thousand spirit coins.”

“Fifty thousand…?” Wu Jian thought he was going to faint. He’d never even seen fifty thousand spirit coins before.

“Oh? That’s not bad.” Huǒ Shuchang nodded several times, causing Wu Jian to nearly palm his face. Did this man not care? This was fifty thousand spirit coins they were talking about! “I’ll leave these in your possession. I assume the Zhou Clan still takes a thirty percent cut of the profits?”

“It seems you have worked with our clan before. That is correct. We’ll take thirty percent of whatever is made from the auction and give you the rest.”

“Very well. Then it looks like our business is concluded.” Huǒ Shuchang stood up.

Zhou Mān followed suit. “Do you already have one of our spirit cards? If not, I can give you one right now so you can watch the auction from one of our VIP booths.”

“Don’t worry. I already have one,” Huǒ Shuchang said. Then he paused. “Oh, but maybe you should give one to my bodyguard here. He is the one who actually acquired both the axe and flower. We’re temporarily journeying together, so it will be good for him to have his own card for when we part ways.”

“Very well.” Zhou Mān held out his hand and a gold card appeared within it. “Our cards have four levels of clearance. Bronze, silver, gold, and platinum. Each card is like a way to determine your worth to the Zhou Clan and will let others know how much we value you. This gold card will be enough to grant you access to the VIP booth of any auction house on the continent.”

“Thank you,” Wu Jian said as he accepted the card. He stored it inside his storage ring.

“The auction will take place one week from now. I’ll need to adjust the list of items to include what you brought me, but here is the list of all the current items we have. You may feel free to bid on any of these items if you’d like. However, you cannot bid on items you brought yourself. Remember that,” Zhou Mān warned.

“We’ll be sure to follow the rules,” said Huǒ Shuchang.

They left the auction house and traveled through the streets. Since they had an entire week’s worth of time to kill, they decided to spend the next several days enjoying the sights. There was a lot to see here.

One of the places Wu Jian wanted to see was the Endless Abyss, so they took a carriage all the way to the other side of the city. This place was quite vast. The city must have been at least one hundred lȋ across. It took several hours just to get from one side to the other.

“So this is the Endless Abyss,” Wu Jian murmured.

They stood on a balcony that had been built overlooking the Endless Abyss. A small wall sectioned off this area from the unfathomably deep drop below. A much larger wall blocked off the balcony from the rest of the world.

He and Huǒ Shuchang were not the only people present. Several women sat in a lotus position, eyes closed as they cultivated. Some of them wore the same uniforms, but there were also many rogue cultivators, marked by their disparate clothing. Most of these women were somewhere at the Anima Realm.

“I’ve heard that cultivating here can grant many benefits to Anima Realm cultivators--well, to women at least. Most men wouldn’t dare cultivate in a place with such strong yin chi,” Huǒ Shuchang said.

“So do only women at the Anima Realm benefit from cultivating here?” asked Wu Jian.

Huǒ Shuchang nodded as he crossed his arms. “The yin chi here is strong, but it’s not strong enough to affect a cultivator at higher realms. Once someone reaches the Asura Realm, the benefits here become miniscule. I always think of cultivating as pouring water into a bucket. Someone at the Anima Realm has a bucket that can hold several gallons of water, but someone at the Asura Realm has a bucket that can hold dozens of gallons. This place can fill up the bucket of an Anima Realm cultivator quite easily. The same cannot be said for the Asura Realm cultivator’s bucket.”

“Makes sense,” Wu Jian nodded.

“Well, we have now seen the Endless Abyss. It’s quite late, so let’s go back to the inn and get something to eat. I’m famished.”

Wu Jian shrugged. “Sure. By the way…”

“Hmmm?”

Wu Jian’s foot appeared before Huǒ Shuchang. The older man leapt over the foot as though he had expected it, but then Wu Jian’s hand appeared behind his head and smacked into him. Huǒ Shuchang tumbled end over end before landing on his back with his legs over his head.

“That was for calling me your bodyguard,” Wu Jian said with a grin.

“… Bastard,” Huǒ Shuchang muttered from his awkward position.