Immortality Starts With Generosity

Five-Gold Market. Noon.

The golden words vanished from the Golden Lily Token, and Chen Haoran put it away.

He heaved out a sigh. “Daytime, huh?”

It made sense. With Stonebirdge's curfew, it would be much more suspicious for people to move around at night. He stopped training and went inside to gather his things. Laid out on the table was a stack of golden banknotes. He counted all 200 hundred thousand taels of his accrued funds and placed the banknotes in his storage bag. It was a paltry sum compared to some of the items up for auction today, but it was more than respectable for a month’s work. Well… not that he was the one working.

When he went back outside, Phelps landed on his back, and Chen Haoran stumbled.

“Damn, you’ve gotten heavier.”

Phelps squealed.

Not just heavier. He grew bigger too. The arms wrapped around his neck were corded with muscles he didn’t think a sloth should have, and even his claws seemed sharper somehow.

Chen Haoran poked Phelps on the nose. “If you still want to ride on my back, you need should stop growing.” He didn’t want to try carrying an SUV sizes sloth anytime soon.

Phelps squealed in annoyance, and Chen Haoran felt a slight wave of qi escape him. It was a lapse of control he didn’t often see from Phelps. He could feel the warmth of Phelps’s new Ninth-Layer cultivation through his back. Feeding Phelps, the 300-year-old Moonflower from Chanchu had seen Phelps finally break the limit and soar ahead into the new Layer. Although it seemed the only thing that really advanced was the sloth’s stomach. Like the gluttonous little trooper he was, Phelps ate every spirit herb Chen Haoran could stuff him with and then asked for seconds.

“Thanks for all the hard work, bud,” Chen Haoran said, scratching Phelps under his chin. “I’ll get you something nice from today’s auction. I’m gonna need you to get off now, though.”

He waited.

Phelps didn’t move.

He shook Phelps’s arms. “Bud?”

Phelps yawned, but he still didn’t move.

He tried nudging Phelps with his elbow but only got an irritated squeal directly in his ear.

Right. The hard way it was then.

What followed was an exercise in futility. Chen Haoran laid on his side. He sat down. He flipped into a handstand. He spun. He did jumping jacks. He hugged the willow tree. All to no avail. Eventually, he was able to pry off Phelps’s arms through superior cultivation. Chen Haoran’s joy only lasted for a moment before Phelps activated his floating power and, like a snake, twisted around and grabbed Chen Haoran from the front instead. Phelps’s head nuzzled his chin.

Chen Haoran looked up to the sky in despair. “Phelps, I have somewhere to be. I really can’t take you with me.”

He didn’t want to leave Phelps behind, but bringing him along would be too recognizable. It wasn’t like there was anyone else going around with a sloth on their back. It was why he didn’t bring Phelps with him when he was buying spirit herbs. Perhaps that was the issue? He’d been spending a lot of time apart from Phelps recently. For all that Phelps had adjusted well to leaving the Spa Cavern, he was still being dragged from one unfamiliar place to another.

Chen Haoran sighed. “Let’s do it like this, then.”

“That’s not what I think it is, is it?” Jiang Lei asked. He looked dubiously at Chen Haoran’s bulging cloak.

He met up with Jiang Lei and Wang Xiao and they made their way over to the Five-Gold Market. Chen Haoran didn’t bother answering his question. Unfortunately, the subject of his question popped his furry head out of Chen Haoran’s cloak. Phelps swung his head around. When he saw Jiang Lei, he squealed. When he saw Wang Xiao, he hissed.

Chen Haoran pushed his head back down. “Back inside.”

Jiang Lie huffed. “Dare I ask why?”

“When you take in a pet, you have a responsibility,” Chen Haoran said.

“How illuminating,” Jiang Lei chuckled.

Wang Xiao clicked his tongue in annoyance. “I don’t even know why I’m here.”

“Ask your Senior Brother,” Chen Haoran said.

Jiang Lei blinked in confusion. “I didn’t ask you to bring him. You’re the one who offered.”

“I knew you’d want to bring him along.”

“I appreciate the thought, but if you didn’t want my Junior Brother to come, I wouldn’t have forced the issue,” Jiang Lei said.

So he underestimated how considerate Jiang Lei was and was paying the price for it. Chen Haoran sighed. He couldn’t just shoo Wang Xiao away now, either. That would be too rude…

Chen Haoran frowned. Why did he care about being rude? He looked at Wang Xiao. “Shoo.”

Wang Xiao impressively went through five different stages of disbelief before settling his face into a sneer. “I will be accompanying my Senior Brother.”

“Damnit.”

“So,” Jiang Lei interrupted. “Where is that attendant from last time?”

“I don’t know. Give me a minute,” Chen Haoran said. He pulled out the Golden Lily Token. Golden words burned.

Red carriage. Lion.

“It’s a red carriage,” he said, looking around the bustling market.

“There,” Jiang Lei said, pointing.

Chen Haoran followed where was point and found the carriage sitting at the entrance of an alley. The sides were painted with bright silver lions.

“Game face, gentlemen.” He pulled on his mask and soothed Phelps. “…and Wang Xiao.”

Wang Xiao grumbled something under his breath as he and Jiang Lei put on cloth masks. When they arrived at the carriage, the door swung open on its own. Dreamwater was already inside and bowed as they entered.

“It’s nice to see you again, honored guest.”

The door closed automatically when they sat down, and the carriage was immediately isolated from the outside world. The only thing that even indicated they were moving was the occasional bump in the road.

“You wouldn’t happen to be tracking me through this token? This level of preparedness is a bit scary.” He didn’t think they did. Lan Fen would have made him get rid of the token were that the case.

Dreamwater laughed. “Of course not. With how varied and talented our clientele is, it would only be a matter of time before such a thing was discovered. The Golden Lily Association has no reason to ruin its own reputation like that. The tokens are strictly one-way communication.”

“So, what’s the situation with the Moonflower.”

“It has been accepted, of course,” Dreamwater said. “Would you like to know the price now, or would you prefer to wait until we arrive?”

“I have a question before that. When the Moonflower is sold, can I use that money to buy other items?”

Dreamwater nodded. “You may. As a Gold Token holder, you are afforded certain liberties the Association wouldn’t give others.”

That was good. It did mean the time he spent collecting funds was a bit wasted, but he could always use the money for something else.

On the topic of those liberties, your escape route has been prepared.” She pulled a slip of paper with a golden pattern drawn on it from her sleeve. “This talisman will be your key. I will lead you to the exit whenever you desire.”

Chen Haoran took the talisman. “I don’t suppose I can still give you things to auction?”

“While the Golden Lily Association appreciates your business, I’m afraid it is too late.”

“I figured.” Not that he had anything else to auction anyway. Nothing else came close to the Moonflower in value. “So about the Moonflower-”

The carriage ground to a halt.

Dreamwater gracefully rose, and the door opened. “We are here, honored guest.”

Already? It hadn’t been that long since they were picked up. When he stepped out of the carriage, there were naturally no details of where they were. A fabric tunnel had been set up to isolate him. All he could tell was that wherever they were was much cooler than outside.

“The Golden Lily Association’s thoroughness lives up to its reputation,” Jiang Lei said.

“Thank you for the compliment, sir. Have you done business with us before?”

“No, I’m beginning to regret that.” Jiang Lei’s tone sounded regretful, at least. “The last auction I went to, I got ambushed.”

“The Association offered Ambush Insurance if you are interested.”

What the hell?contemporary romance

“I will have to decline,” Jiang Lei demurred. He smiled at Chen Haoran. “I already have someone who will reimburse me anyway.”

“The hell you do.”

Dreamwater led them through an environment carefully obscured with sheets and portions to allow not even the tiniest detail to be exposed. It was a familiar sight for Chen Haoran. What wasn’t familiar was when Dreamwater brought them to a box instead of a tent like his last auction. Three plush chairs were lined up, facing a large window. Two small tables were placed between the chairs, and another table laden with pitchers and platters of fruit and small snacks sat on the side. Three stands with a blue crystal for bidding stood before each chair. The space outside the window was dark save for lines of light down below that illuminated tents much like the one he stayed in during his first auction.

“Your catalog, honored guest.” Dreamwater handed over the pamphlet he had flipped through last time. Chen Haoran passed with to Jiang Lei without another glance.

In the time it took for them to sit down and Dreamwater to present them with drinks, the space before them was lit with spotlights centered on a large stage. It was a theater, Chen Haoran realized, albeit one far large than he’d ever seen back on Earth.

On the stage was a cloaked figure, and beside him was a large table with a small jade box atop it.

“Welcome, honored guests,” the cloaked figure said with a monotonous, almost robotic voice. “We will now be beginning today’s auction.” He waved his hand over the jade box and opened it. A bright blue flower bloomed out and spread a thick blue mist over the table. “30-thousand-year-old Moonflower. The bidding will begin at 7 million gold taels.”

“About the Moonflower,” Dreamwater said in the ensuing silence. The damn woman sounded cheeky. “We did eventually figure out a price.”

done.co