Chapter 972: I Wanted to Hear a Certain Sound
“I want to kill him!” The dead fish-eyed Sun Ji gave the elder a look.
Elder Yang Long sent a voice transmission. “Don’t worry. Our people will naturally find him once we leave the Hub of Freedom.”
Only then did Sun Ji calm down a bit. He led his men inside as well.
…
When both sides entered, the Hub of Freedom’s guards gathered at the manager’s side. One asked, “Elder Wei, didn’t you give out that jade token a bit too easily? Even though that piece of chrysanthemum sapphire is precious, I don’t believe it’s enough for the Hub of Freedom to treat him that well.” They clearly found it a bit hard to understand. They had ended up offending someone important from Yi Commandery all because of an arrogant youngster.
The manager replied, “Just a chrysanthemum sapphire alone would naturally not be enough, but such gemstones only exist in the mysterious islands of the southern seas. That is the territory of the ocean races, a place ordinary people cannot possibly reach. I suspected that he might have an ocean race background, which was why I decided to make an exception and grant him a jade token in the hopes of starting a good relationship with the ocean races.”
The guard sighed and remarked, “So what if he’s from the ocean races? They might be superior in the sea, but they don’t have much influence on the continents. Now that he’s offended young master Sun, I fear that he might not be able to leave Yi Commandery alive.”
The manager recalled how arrogant Zu An’s words had been previously. He couldn't help but frown as well. “We have already done what we can. As for what will happen to him afterward, that is none of our Hub of Freedom’s business.”
…
Meanwhile, Zu An entered the gathering place. Attendants quickly moved to receive him. Their expressions immediately became more respectful when they saw his jade token, and they led him into a private room. One said, “Honored guest, when the auction starts later, please raise your jade token if you ever see anything of interest. Our men will be able to see it.”
Zu An gave the place a look. The layout was similar to that of a theater from his past world. The center of the place below was where everyone would gather. The staff members were busily moving around, preparing the things that were going to be auctioned off.
Many of the seats below had probably been prepared for ordinary guests. The highest level was made up of a row of private rooms, each containing a table and chairs made from precious wood. Soft sheep wool and cotton padding covered the chairs.
Sandalwood incense burned in the corner. The cups and other chinaware were all on par with those of the imperial palace. Zu An felt more and more surprised by the depth of the business’ background.
A servant asked with a smile, “Does the honored guest wish to drink tea or alcohol? We have all of the most popular beverages here.”
“I’ll take a pot of Sparrowtongue then.” Zu An recalled the secret signal Gao Ying had used before and randomly placed an order.
The servant nodded, then handed over another booklet. “Did the honored guest see any girls you liked on the second floor? If you have any needs, you can call them up to service you. Sir is a most distinguished jade token guest, so you can summon any of the second floor courtesans as you wish.”
Zu An took the booklet with a curious expression. He discovered that every single page was filled with pictures of stunning beauties. There were fresh and pure girls, and also lovely and charming girls. There were all sorts of beautiful women.
The artists of this world were different from Ancient China’s artists, who emphasized bold strokes rather than accurate details. The images of the girls were vivid and lifelike, almost like photos. No, compared to photos, they actually looked even more realistic.
Not only were the girls’ portraits present, it even included more detailed introductions and lists of their unique strengths; for example, if they were good at the Xiao or other musical instruments.
Zu An sighed in amazement. This place really did go the extra mile! The soapy massage places of his previous world would ask if one had a preferred masseur, but how the heck would one even know without even getting to see their face beforehand?
“There’s no need.” Zu An closed the booklet and returned it to the servant. He wasn’t too interested in prostitutes. Also, what if a girl was serving Pei You, but he accidentally called her up? That friendship would immediately be done for!
“If honored guest needs anything, please do not hesitate to contact me.” The servant didn’t say anything else. He took the booklet and slowly withdrew.
Zu An walked over to the windowside. He discovered that the design of the place was quite well thought out. He could see everything clearly, but it was really hard for anyone outside to see inside the room. It provided a different kind of private place within a public venue.
His expression became somewhat strange. No wonder the servant had said he could call over any courtesan queen from the second floor. There were probably some people who liked this kind of public stimulation.
He couldn't see the situation inside the box clearly. He scanned through the entire place and noticed that there were quite a few crouching tigers and hidden dragons present. There were many whose cultivation ranks were really high.
His gaze landed on a skinny man whose entire body was wrapped in black robes. That person seemed to have deliberately hidden his ki fluctuations, but with Zu An’s current cultivation, he could still detect some of it. That person was eighth ranked at the very least.
Apart from that, he even sensed a ninth ranked cultivator, but he couldn't figure out where that person was. It seems to be coming from behind me, so it’s probably a staff member of the Hub of Freedom. No wonder they’re able to control this type of place where crooks are mixed with honest folk.
Even though Zu An had met his fair share of master rank cultivators, that had been in a turbulent yet flourishing place like the capital. Where would anyone find master rank cultivators normally? The ninth rank was already the ceiling in the provincial regions. They could do whatever they wanted, wherever they went.
Soon afterward, a beautiful hostess walked to the center of the auction hall. She was dressed in a tight-fitting dress similar to a cheongsam, and the way she walked was graceful and elegant. Even though there were many guests who had seen many beauties before, they still couldn't help but give her a few more looks.
“This Hub of Freedom really knows what they’re doing…” Zu An chuckled. Even though he didn’t care too much about such girls, a beautiful girl was still something to be admired.
The beauty introduced some of the auction’s rules and the auction process with a sweet smile. A voice amplification system had probably been set up beforehand, because her normal speaking voice reached every corner of the room.
The first item’s auction quickly began. The hostess picked up an embroidered plate. She undid the silk cloth over it, revealing a beautiful sapphire. She introduced the item. “This top quality item comes from the mysterious islands of the southern seas…”
After hearing her flowery description, even the original owner Zu An wasa bit hesitant to sell it. He muttered,“This woman would be a crazy TV saleswoman in my previous world!”
Zu An hadn’t expected the first item to be sold to be his own. It seemed the Hub of Freedom valued the gemstone quite highly.
The starting bid was a hundred thousand taels of silver. Each bid had to be in increments of at least five thousand. Many offers were quickly made. Even though the gemstone wasn’t all that useful to cultivation, its lady-killing prowess was lethal. It would be extremely useful for courting girls.
But once the price reached a hundred and fifty thousand, the bids slowed down, eventually becoming a bidding war between just two or three people. After all, such a thing was useless for cultivation, and everyone had their own price estimates in mind.
Just then, a snide voice called out, “Two hundred thousand!”
Zu An frowned, because he could tell it was the voice of that dead fish-eyed man.
The entire place fell silent after that voice spoke up. This gemstone was precious, but two hundred thousand was clearly too high a price. Furthermore, there were quite a few people who knew the identity of the one who had made the bid, so they obviously didn’t dare to compete against him.
“Which lady is young master Sun buying this to pursue?”
“I heard young master Sun was pursuing an exceptional beauty surnamed Qiu. I wonder if he’s buying this for her…”
“It might not be; maybe he’s just doing this to vent his anger. Just now, by the entrance…”
Whispers quickly filled the air. What happened outside previously quickly spread through the crowd. So this was a battle between two jade token holders! Those present chewed on melon seeds with excited expressions as they watched the drama play out.
Sun Ji was already standing by the window, enjoying the admiration and shocked expressions of those present. He loved the limelight the most, which was why he didn’t mind revealing his identity even in a place like this, where everyone wore masks to maintain privacy.
Zu An thought to himself, Is this guy actually stupid? This guy doesn’t get along with me, but he’s giving me free money?
A servant quickly brought the sapphire to Sun Ji’s private room. Sun Ji fiddled around with the gemstone, then suddenly slammed it against the railing, instantly smashing it to pieces.
Those present cried out in alarm. Those from the Hub of Freedom also panicked and exclaimed, “Young master, what are you doing?”
Sun Ji replied, “It’s nothing; I bought it just to hear this sound. I’ll still pay the money I need to pay.”
Only when they heard that he was going to pay up did those from the Hub of Freedom sigh in relief. However, the onlookers were shocked. You spent two hundred thousand silver taels just to hear this sound? That’s a bit too much, no?
Those who didn’t know who Sun Ji was quickly began to ask around.
Even Elder Long frowned. He moved closer to Sun Ji and whispered quietly, “Young master, this might be too much of a waste. The master might be upset if he hears about this.”
“It’s fine; we’ll just get the money back from him once we leave the Hub of Freedom. I won’t lose anything, and I’ll be right in the limelight instead. Besides, that fellow definitely has a better one if he’s selling this one. He’s clearly a fat sheep waiting to be slaughtered, so I’ll just grab an even better one to give to Lady Qiu.” Sun Ji was honestly surprised at his own intelligence in this matter.
Yang Long had a surprised expression. He thought to himself that he had underestimated the young master. Even though the young master was normally arrogant and bossy, he knew who he could and couldn't offend well.
For example, this youngster was clearly not someone well known in Yi Commandery. Judging from the gemstone he had brought out, he was most likely from the southern seas. Even if he was a serpent from the ocean races, he would still have to kneel in Yi Commandery.
Yi Commandery’s people were tough. It had the Devil Sect and bandits everywhere, so stories of rich merchants being plundered were commonplace. That was something most of its inhabitants were aware of, but would never talk about. After all, living this kind of extravagant life wasn’t possible with just the court’s salary alone.
As such, Yang Long didn’t think too much about it and merely treated Zu An as a dead person.
Sun Ji was becoming more and more excited. He shot a provocative look in Zu An’s direction. “Someone seems to think a shoddy rock is enough to be on the same level as this young master. What a pity; your pride isn’t even worth mentioning to me.”
The onlookers had already realized that Sun Ji was purely acting out personal grudge. All of them were waiting to see how the guest in the other private room would respond. However, when they thought about the Sun clan’s authority, they all believed that person could only submit to the humiliation. It would already be quite good if he could leave the place peacefully.
But no one could have expected that the moment Sun Ji finished his sentence, a streak of dark light flew out, instantly smacking him in the face.
A loud and clear ‘Pah!’ filled the air. Then, Sun Ji screamed miserably and fell on his back. By the time he finally managed to crawl to his feet again with great difficulty, his entire mouth was bloody and quite a few of his teeth had fallen out.
Zu An reappeared at the entrance. He said with a smile, “Sorry, I wanted to hear a certain sound too.”