Chapter 80: Auctioning the Manual
"Never thought even doing dailies would get me a Rare Token..."
Inside the Thieves' House, Yan Qing held the Bingzi Pepper Forest and completed the enfeoffment enchantment for Autumn Ink, then sent it back to Public Storage for 'Ye Si' to equip.
Both of Autumn Ink's powers were passive, increasing armor break and bleeding efficiency as attack counts rose. However, Jiang Ten needed to use the Golden Ring Blade to farm Vital Energy and Blood; switching weapons would reduce her efficiency. So, in truth, Ye Si was more suited to equip Autumn Ink.
Though Yan Qing had anticipated Jiang Ten's femme fatale nature, because Jie Yuanshao and Shang Xinlei had previously warded off the swarming suitors, he never truly grasped her allure. Yet now, only days after arriving at Pingcheng Military Camp, someone already rushed to gift her a Rare Token—and even took it out on Ye Si after being rejected by Jiang Ten.
Well then, it seemed staying at Pingcheng Military Camp was no longer viable.
He could only work overtime for the next few days, run a few more instances, and when the time came for a battle, fight his way out. After all, it was just a low-level instance—about time he farmed somewhere else anyway...
To Yan Qing, many matters that the Hundred-Ward Captains at Pingcheng Military Camp fretted over were mere trifles.
By comparison, another so-called trifle loomed large in his mind.
With a snap of his fingers, a Treasure-Hunting Token appeared in his hand. He pressed down firmly on the token, and the Market light screen instantly emerged before him.
Yan Qing picked up a bottle of Healing Pill from the table. He had thirty or forty of these on his desk—whenever exhausted from training, he’d pop one and instantly restore full stamina. But fearing bodily overuse, he limited himself to one per day.
As his thought shifted, a new listing appeared on the Market: "Healing Pill, Price: 100 Spirit Jade".
That was the highest price he could set. Healing Pills could drop from virtually any instance; no player would spend even 1 Spirit Jade on it, let alone 100. Listing it at 100 Spirit Jade was like treating buyers as fools.
Yet five seconds after posting, 70 pieces of Spirit Jade dropped onto his table—the Healing Pill had been sold.
Who was the fool that bought it?
These past two days, Yan Qing had been testing the mechanisms of the Treasure Pavilion. First, not everything could be listed—the only criterion was that he must have 'seen' the item in-game.
Just as he had to know all details of an item to store it in Public Storage, he needed the same knowledge to list it on the Treasure Pavilion. This heavily limited the utility of the Treasure-Hunting Token—Yan Qing had hoped he could list a good item he found on a mission for 999.9 billion Spirit Jade as a temporary storage.
Second, he found that no matter what he sold, someone would quickly buy it.
This deeply confused him. Could there be other players in this world besides him?
Or maybe not players—just other Messengers with a Treasure-Hunting Token. But in either case, why wasn’t the other party listing items? Too poor to sell? Or unwilling to reveal themselves?
Yan Qing waited and waited. When idle, he’d press the Treasure-Hunting Token to check the Market, but it was always empty.
Could it be a market recycle mechanism?
That thought suddenly came to him. He had once played a Tarkov-like game, scavenging maps and listing items in the auction house. But since no one could always buy player listings, the market would recycle goods priced below market value, helping players maintain cash flow.
That must be it. He couldn’t think of any other explanation. He opened Public Storage and, shortly after, ten copies of the Basic Blade Technique Mastery Manual appeared on his desk.
Basic manuals were different from pills or tokens. Other items might get consumed, but manuals only accumulated—unless Yan Qing created an Alternate Character. But even with an alt, he wouldn’t need that many manuals.
Sure, he could use an alt to peddle them to other factions, but he couldn’t explain their origin, and alts tended to die easily. If Jiang Ten stayed in Jiangnan and maintained good ties with Jie Yuanshao and Shang Xinlei, maybe he could have relied on them to fence the goods. But unfortunately, that path was currently blocked.
Anyway, these manuals would just gather dust in storage—it was better to list them on the Treasure Pavilion for some cash.
"List the Basic Blade Technique Mastery Manual? Price range: 10–1000 Spirit Jade (or player-specified item), with a 30% transaction fee."
"Since the maximum price ≥1000, you may opt for Auction Mode."
Auction Mode?
Yan Qing looked into it—it was simply a time-limited auction.
First, he had to set an auction duration. When the timer ended, the highest bidder would win the auction.
Then, he had to set a starting bid. The starting price couldn’t exceed one-tenth of the maximum price. For the Basic Blade Technique Mastery Manual, that meant no more than 100 Spirit Jade.
Lastly, he had to decide whether unsold items would return to storage or be relisted.
Yan Qing pondered briefly. Regular listings might get recycled by the market, but surely auctions wouldn’t be recycled, right? If someone placed a bid, it would confirm that a buyer truly existed in the Treasure Pavilion.
《Basic Blade Technique Mastery Manual》，Auction Mode, maximum auction duration: 4 hours, starting bid: 100 Spirit Jade, re-listed at 1000 Spirit Jade if unsold.
Ten manuals, all listed for auction! If no one bids, he would see whether the market would recycle them at the high price of 1000 Spirit Jade.
Even if someone won all ten manuals at the lowest price, Yan Qing wouldn’t mind—compared to that minor loss, confirming the existence of other Treasure-Hunting Token holders was far more important. He even worried that such a small bargain might not be enticing enough to lure out the hidden buyer.
After listing them, Yan Qing waited for a few seconds. No bids appeared. At that moment, Jiang Ten and the others were entering an instance, so Yan Qing pushed the matter aside and began farming inside the Secret Realm.
...
...
Chang'an County City—a luxurious carriage rolled down the bluestone road, flanked front and rear by four riders. Atop the carriage fluttered a banner bearing the character 'Jin'. Pedestrians scrambled out of the way; even in the county’s main roads, no one dared to question its passage.
Inside the carriage, Medicine Master Wen leaned against the seat, carving something with a small knife. Her fingers were long and strong—lacking feminine softness but full of power and wildness. Even as the carriage jolted violently, her hands remained as steady as a mountain. Shockingly, she wasn’t carving wood, but iron blocks.
Under her knife, the outline of a foolish-looking dog-headed man gradually emerged. Beside her were already finished carvings of a fox-faced figure, a snake-necked figure… each exquisitely lifelike, each incredibly foolish-looking.
"Princess, we’re approaching Golden Light Gate," the coachman reported.
Medicine Master Wen stopped carving and placed the dog-headed statue beside her. Then, she gathered the three sculptures with both hands and began pressing them together continuously. Her expression as relaxed as if she were squeezing an orange, while the iron statues in her hands emitted a tooth-grinding screech of distortion.
"Finally back."
A chill surfaced in her eyes. Yellow Dog, White Fox, Red Snake—you all thought I only got the worst prize, the Comprehension Pill. But that was exactly what I needed the most. Now that I’ve overcome the hardest bottleneck, the Thieves' House... is already within my grasp!
All the rewards of the Thieves' House are mine!
Everything you snatched from me, I will reclaim!
The speeding carriage suddenly halted. The coachman said, "Princess, the city gate is blocked."
Medicine Master Wen frowned in displeasure. "Even the city gate is blocked? What about the Shen Ce Army?"
"They’re inside, surrounded layer upon layer."
Medicine Master Wen stepped down and saw the coachman’s words were true—at the city gate, wide enough for four carriages, hundreds of people were jammed together. The Shen Ce Army appeared to be guarding something, forming a human wall to fend off the crowd, though some people still broke through their defense to touch the wall behind them.
"I have Spirit Jade! Let me in!"
"The Court has decreed—no one may—"
"The Court means nothing. Do you even know who I am?"
The speaker wore a face-covering scarf and barged past the Shen Ce Army to touch the wall. Though he was soon pushed back, he quickly squeezed in again. This was already the main city zone of Chang’an; no matter how strong the Shen Ce Army was, they couldn’t hurt him in the slightest.
Many had adopted the face-covering strategy. A few masked individuals could be singled out, but a whole crowd wearing them made it pointless to target anyone.
Medicine Master Wen furrowed her brows. She didn’t want to squeeze through this many people but was also curious about what was happening. She waved her hand, signaling the four riders to clear a path. When they squeezed to the Shen Ce Army’s front, Medicine Master Wen said, "I am Princess Zhaorou. Move aside." Without waiting for a response, she pushed past them and looked at the wall they were guarding.
At the city gate wall hung an enormous blackboard. There was never anything written on it, nor could anything leave a mark on it. Medicine Master Wen had seen it every time she left the city. When younger, she had ordered guards to chop at it, only to find no marks left. Later, she even tried burning or smearing filth on it, then lost interest.
Each gate and major thoroughfare in Chang’an had similar blackboards. Like the main city itself, they were rules left by the supreme gods.
But now, this blackboard, which should have remained forever blank, displayed ten lines of text, each line bearing similar content:
"《Basic Blade Technique Mastery Manual》 Starting Bid: 100 Spirit Jade, Auction Ends at: 11:15 AM, Current Highest Bid: 1200 Spirit Jade."
Other lines were similar, differing only in their highest bid amounts.
《Basic Blade Technique Mastery Manual》? Auction?
Many thoughts passed through Medicine Master Wen’s mind. Just then, someone squeezed beside her—a masked man. He scanned the board, pressed the bottom-most item, and its highest bid jumped from 1150 Spirit Jade to 1300 Spirit Jade.
After pressing, he gave Medicine Master Wen a mocking glance, as if to say, "Can you afford it, pauper?"
Medicine Master Wen chuckled from anger. She checked her money pouch, then reached out and touched the blackboard, pressing each line from top to bottom—instantly, all ten items’ highest bids changed to 1500 Spirit Jade.