Lord Kitty thus appeased, Mo Tianliao asked the attendant to bring him some food.
The food at the inn didn’t match its high price, but this was the only inn in Ruyi Town. Mo Xiaozhao poked the fish meat in the bowl then pushed it aside disdainfully. Mo Tianliao ignored it; he would go out later to buy some fresh fish for the cat. He picked up his chopsticks and ate the food bit by bit.
Before he started cultivating in his previous life, he was born into a poor family. After the death of his family, he often did not have enough to eat. He could eat anything unless it was really too disgusting.
Mo Xiaozhao crouched at his side with his eyes fixed on him, then bowed his head and slowly started to eat the fish in the bowl. He had also endured hunger, but after seeing Mo Tianliao again, he had unconsciously reverted into a picky eater.
When Mo Tianliao turned around and saw the little furball slowly eating the fish, he felt a bit distressed. In the past, when they had lived in his Mo Palace, Lord Kitty only ate the spiritual fish grown in the waters of an icy spring.
“Don’t eat if you don’t want to. I’ll buy you something else later.”
The white furball looked up at him, shook his tail, and resolutely pushed the jade bowl aside.
Mo Tianliao pursed his lips, got up resignedly, and told the cat to behave himself. As soon as he walked out the door, he felt uneasy, turned back, and put the cat inside his clothes before going back outside.
The sun had set, and lanterns were shining in Ruyi Town. Unlike ordinary people’s towns, cultivators’ cities didn’t care whether it was day or night. After all, some treasures could only be properly appraised at night.
The stores were all closed but there was a marketplace made of stalls in the square. Liuli utensils, Falling Star gauze, luminous cups – Ruyi Town was filled with all kinds of treasures. From afar, it looked just like the Heavenly Street.
Mo Tianliao bought a bag of fried fish, ate one himself, then fed one to the furry mouth peeking out from his cloak.
“This Liuli hairpin is really beautiful, shixiong. I’ll give it to you, so please wear it.”
A voluptuous-looking female cultivator held a simply-carved hairpin and gesticulated toward the man behind her.
The big and tall man blushed a little when he heard his shimei speak. Although he wanted to accept very much, the translucent Liuli was not suitable for him. If he put it on, the other disciples might laugh at him.
“You’re right. In this world, only that person can be worthy of such a hairpin…”
The female cultivator held the hairpin and whispered to herself. That man had had a preference for Liuli Crystal, and whenever he tied his hair, the hairpin had to be made of this material.
The man was a little unhappy. He raised his hand to grab the hairpin and threw it back to the stall.
“How long has that man been dead? What use is remembering him?”
The woman looked up at him and was about to say something when she suddenly stopped.
“How much for this Liuli Crystal hairpin?”
A deep and melodious voice, with a somewhat unruly tone, reverberated in her ears like thunder.
“Fifteen pieces of low-grade lingshi,” the stall owner immediately replied.
“Although the Liuli Crystal has good colour and lustre, the simple and crude craftsmanship ruins the material.”
Long fingers thrust out of the cloak, twisting and turning the translucent hairpin. It was carved with the simple design of a drifting cloud chasing the moon. The technique was subpar.
“Five low-grade lingshi.”
“That won’t do. I spent eight on the Liuli Crystal alone,” the cultivator refused.
“I would have given you ten lingshi if you’d sold the Liuli Crystal directly.”
The cultivator who set up the stall was dismayed.
“Milord…” The woman standing next to him called out in a daze.
The man in the cloak did not respond and continued to haggle with the stall owner. Finally, he bought the hairpin for eight low-grade lingshi and walked away without looking back.
Mo Tianliao returned to the inn. Hairpin in hand, he took out a small carving knife and casually started to decorate the rough-looking object.
The woman just now, if he wasn’t mistaken, should be his former forge worker. He couldn’t remember which demonic sect had sent her, but it seemed that the woman had returned to her own sect after his Mo Palace fell. Only… this was Woyun Sect’s territory, how can someone from a demonic sect be here?
“Xiaozhao, do you remember which sect sent me that woman?” Mo Tianliao asked the furball licking its paws as he blew off the shavings.
The kitten looked up at him, slowly narrowed his eyes, and suddenly gave him a scratch.
Mo Tianliao was shocked. The blow used spiritual power; it’d surely draw blood. He was so scared that he retracted his divine soul from his arm!
The sound of scraping on wood reached his ears. Looking down, he saw that his forearm had turned into wood. Furry claws had torn his sleeve and left four white marks on the wood.
He could move his arms and fingers, and the parts that had turned into wood still had feeling in them, just slightly muted when compared to flesh and blood.
The kitten also widened its eyes and pressed against the wood with its pink fleshy paw pads. It was hard, covered with a layer of pale green bark. Xiaozhao stood up and stabbed, pricked, and scratched at it for a while. He found it very amusing, so he took hold of the arm and began to scratch and bite.
Mo Tianliao stared blankly for a moment. He slowly pulled his divine soul away from his fingertip, and the finger gradually turned into wood. Then he let his divine soul flow back, and it turned back to flesh and blood. Mo Tianliao felt very conflicted about his ability to become “not human” at any time. He picked up the furball, which was still enjoying sharpening its claws, laid on the bed, closed his eyes, and slept.
The next day, Mo Tianliao returned to the auction house in his cloak. Cultivators who sold things on consignment entered using a wooden plaque, while those who were not selling had to pay an entrance fee of five low-grade lingshi. Mo Tianliao put away the wooden plaque, put five lingshi in the tray by the door, walked in, and found a humble corner to sit down. The people holding wooden plaques were invited into special seats by the attendants.
The hall, which was not very large, was soon filled with people. The lights dimmed, and a smiling Foundation Stage cultivator came to the stage.
“Welcome to Ruyi Auction House. We thank you for your continued patronage. There are several rare treasures today, which we invite all of you fellow cultivators and seniors to enjoy…”
The auction process was roughly introduced. The treasures were placed on the stage with red cloth covering them, and would be uncovered one by one. The highest bidder won. The auction house was manned by experts, so there was no need to worry about someone killing someone else to steal their treasure.
Mo Tianliao laughed derisively; naturally, everything would be fine in the auction house, but once you left the building, that was another story.
“The first treasure is Thousand Year Guiyuan Grass. The cultivator on the stage pulled back the red cloth on the first tray to reveal a greenish-yellow spirit grass lying quietly in a cold jade box.
“The starting bid is four hundred and fifty pieces of low-grade lingshi.”
Guiyuan Grass was the base material for refining Soul Soothing pills. At one hundred years old, it can produce Soul Soothing pills; at five hundred years old, it can produce Soul Awakening pills; and at one thousand years old, it can produce Soul Condensation pills.
Soul Condensation pills were very expensive because not only could they appease an unstable soul, but it was also the only kind of medicine that could repair an injured soul even a little.
As soon as the grass appeared, it was immediately fought over by many alchemists and was finally taken away for eighty pieces of mid-grade lingshi.
Mo Tianliao had no interest in the first three items, which were merely spiritual grasses and pills. He took out a bag of fried fish and fed the cat in his cloak.
“This fourth treasure is a rare set of magical weapons.” the Foundation Stage cultivator on the stage lifted the red cloth, took out the Thousand Year Submerged Wood box, and slowly opened it, revealing the densely packed wooden thorns inside.
“Forty-nine Submerged Wood thorns, black iron tips, exquisite workmanship, top-grade magical weapons. Starting at fifty pieces of mid-grade lingshi. ”
“Submerged Wood thorns? They should have been made into a spiritual weapon. What’s the use of a mere magical weapon?”
The audience was whispering. So many small objects, if they couldn’t be controlled with the soul, they would be useless for throwing.
The person on the stage seemed to have anticipated this and picked up a wooden thorn.
“You might as well see the power of this magical weapon before making a decision.”
After that, someone brought out a three-foot Diamantine Stone and put it on the stage. This rock’s strength was comparable to the physical strength of a Golden Core cultivator. A wooden thorn charged with spiritual power cut straight through the Diamantine Stone without any difficulty.
The public was in an uproar. Submerged Wood was very suitable for concealed weapons, but it was the first time they saw it working so well. Though it was not a spiritual weapon, throwing out a few when fighting and stabbing a few bloody holes in the enemy’s body might quickly reverse a bad situation.
The price quickly reached eighty pieces, and the bidding gradually slowed down, with the price only increasing by one lingshi at a time.
“Ninety!” A woman’s voice sounded with some assurance of victory.
The crowd was silent. Although this magic weapon was good, it was not cost-effective to spend more than one hundred lingshi on it.
“Ninety-five,” a lazy voice came from the corner.
The woman looked back and froze when she saw just the tip of a chin sticking out of a black hood. When the big and tall man saw someone trying to snatch something from his shimei, he was immediately displeased.
“One hundred and one,” Mo Tianliao spoke unhurriedly while feeding Lord Kitty fried fish.
“One hundred and five!” The man challenged swiftly.
Mo Tianliao kept languidly pushing up the price.
“One hundred and thirty!” After several rounds, the demonic cultivator shouted out a high price and looked triumphant. The price far exceeded the value of the magical weapon. If the cloaked man wanted it so much, let’s see how much he was willing to pay.
Mo Tianliao packed up his fried fish, clapped his hands, and stopped bidding.
“Sold!” The Foundation Stage cultivator on the stage smiled from ear to ear, “Congratulations to this fellow cultivator!”
The big demonic cultivator was dumbfounded. He looked at the wooden box and at the grateful face of his shimei. He could only grit his teeth and pay!
“The last treasure is exceptionally rare. And you must remember that if you buy it, you must make it recognize you as its master before you leave this auction house.” The Foundation Stage cultivator paused. Something that needed to acknowledge a master; it was either a spiritual tool that could nourish the Dantian or an immeasurably precious Demonic Beast. Either way, it was unbelievable.
The kitten leaning against his breast slowly climbed up and squeezed his head out of a small hole in his cloak. Mo Tianliao looked around. The room was dim, and people should not be able to see this fluffy little head, so he let it go.
Only when everyone’s appetite was whetted did the red cloth on stage slowly lift, revealing an iron cage inside of which was a young leopard with a frightened face. Being suddenly exposed to the strong light, it let out a weak cry.
“No matter how many lingshi it costs, I want it!”
“Quick, tell us how much!”
The hall erupted. The cat gripping the cloak suddenly tightened its claws. With a stab, he opened a big hole.
Carpenter: I’m not a human anymore, I’m crushed.
Xiaozhao: It’s all right. No matter what you become, it’ll never change how I see you in my heart.
Carpenter: (touched) How do you see me?
Xiaozhao: A scratching post.
Carpenter: …Suddenly I feel even worse.