Part 25
/*unedited*/
Inside a large hall where many shelves can be seen lays hundreds and thousands of fake and real antiques mixed together. Only those with discerning eyes and great luck can obtain a precious antique.
In this place, many people within the middle and the upper walk of life are crowding together. And many art enthusiasts would always visit this place. This place is called the Dragon Antique Garden.
Since this place started to sell antique hundreds of years ago until now, they maintain a high and great prestige of being honest and fair to their customers. And none dared to be unbridled and haughty in this place. This is because it is humored that the Dragon Antique Garden is a place with many experts hidden. And once you offend them, it would be the end for you no matter how powerful your background is.
Even the head of the state would not be unbridled in this place.
But of course, there are still those people who didn't know the immensity of the heavens and dared challenge them, which of course causes them to bleed or at worst would lose their lives. Hence, those in the upper echelon would always warn their children no to cause trouble in this place.
When Joe Wang and his group enter this antique market, Vincent Lee and Ju Gidong have already warned them about this. Joe Wang became curious about those experts and wanted to test the water, however, since he is with Melissa Krin and Angel Mei Ong he decided to not do anything. Although he is curious he is not that stupid to provoke a sleeping dragon.
"Wow, this place is truly awesome!" exclaimed Melissa Krin as her eyes are all over the place.
Meanwhile, Joe Wang's eyes are already set in a particular direction.
When he enters this place, he already felt that there is a strong fluctuation of Qi and mana in a particular direction. So without a second thought, he immediately walks towards a location where there are many ancient vases and teapots.
In a corner, he saw a small thumb-sized bead made of agarwood which emits a strong mysterious aura. As Joe Wang slowly closes in on the bead, he noticed that beside it are also similar beads from a broken Taoist prayer bracelet.
Because his concentration is on the bead, he unknowingly found himself in front of a small tea table with four old and middle-aged men sitting around it. They were all looking at Joe Wang with an incredulous look combined with confusion in their eyes.
This is because the four men are talking when they noticed a young boy approaching their table while he is looking unblinkingly at the broken beads on a small plate. Due to curiosity, they didn't stop the young boy and just observe him.
Suddenly one of them cleared his throat.
"Ahem, ahem…"
When Joe Wang heard this, he was suddenly jolted back to reality.
Then he saw four men looking at him curiously.
"Hello, young lad… It seems that you are distracted. How can we help you?" an old man with white hair and a white long beard smiled at him.
The old man is wearing a blue eastern tunic, which is like cheongsam from China on earth.
When Joe Wang turned his gaze towards all the people in the room, they seem to wear the same clothes. This means that the group belongs to a faction or a clan. Because the men didn't show any animosity and contempt at Joe Wang, he felt that these people are well-mannered men. So he also showed them his respect.
Although he can be considered as older than them, yet his current body belongs to a young boy at the age of 17. Hence he should show them their due respect as what they showed him.
"Sorry, elders. This humble was truly distracted and unknowingly intrudes your conversation. Please pardon my rudeness." He said while cupping his hand in a salute.
When the men saw Joe Wang's action, their complexion immediately changed. They have not seen any young people greet someone like this. Only they and those old monsters would use this as their greetings.
"This young lad has a deep background I presumed." One of the middle-aged men thought as he scrutinized Joe Wang.
"Elders if I may be presumptuous… This prayer beads… can I buy them?" Joe Wang didn't want to beat around the bush and directly convey his purpose.
When the men in the room heard this, they showed an interesting expression. They all saw how the young man looks at the bead and so they are interested why.
"By the way, I am Joe Wang. May I know the esteemed elders' names?" he added.
With a smile, the men in the room look at each other and with a knowing nod, they let the elder with the white hair do the introduction.
"Haha… truly polite. I like your attitude young one. This old man is happy. At least I can see that even at this age, there is still a child who knows how to respect our old bones. Haha…"
"Before I introduce my name, I would first like to ask… why do you want to buy these broken beads? In fact, I own them and wanted to give it to the antique shop of my friend here to keep." The old man said while pointing at a middle-aged looking man.
Upon hearing the explanation, Joe Wang knitted his brow and thinks for a while. Then he lifted his head and calmly scrutinized the old man. His actions which seem to be random confused the group.
"Umm… well, I can see that your body is affected by strong karma energy." Joe Wang said while thinking deeply.
"Do you find it hard to sleep at night and would always wake up short of breath? And then I think you fell from the stairs and broke these prayer beads 2 days ago, right?" Joe Wang added.
When they heard his words, everyone showed disbelief in their eyes.
The old man shook and could not control his body while unconsciously pointing at Joe Wang with his trembling thin fingers.
"You… you… how, did you know that? You're not spying on me are you?" the old man said with his eyes wide open.
Joe Wang just smiles at him and extended his right hand grasping the old man's thin arms.
When the old man saw this he wanted to take his hand back but to no avail. Although Joe Wang's grip is steady and strong, it didn't cause pain to the old bones of the old man.
"Don't misunderstand me, elder. It's because of this..." Joe Wang said while carefully flipping the wrist of the old man showing the pulse side.
Then from his pulse, everyone can see a small greenish dark spot half the size of a thumb.
"This is a karma mark. That prayer bead contains strong karma energy of both good and bad karmas. However, your body is not strong enough to contain such energy hence you are feeling unwell…"
Suddenly and anxious voice interrupted Joe Wang.
"Are you… are you sure? Then… then how can it be removed? I mean who can we get rid of that energy?" one of the middle-aged men whom Joe Wang noticed to have a similar face with the old man asked.
"This seems to be the son or the nephew of the old guy." Joe Wang thought as he smiled.
"Well… You have nothing to worry about. Just keep him away from this bead, and senior's anxiety would be removed little by little. But… as long as the bead is not refined, then it would always come back, as long as this mark is not removed." Joe Wang pointed at the small mark on the old man's wrists.
"Little brother, please… help my father remove that mark on him. We will pay you any amount of money as long as my father gets well." The middle-aged man said with a pleading voice.
Everyone was silent because this is actually what they are discussing a while ago.
The old man's name is Jimin Tang, the second grand elder of the main Tang family from the capital city. He went here to visit his youngest son, Xiao Tang, and his grandchildren. This is because he felt that his body has been weak lately and didn't want to waste his time anymore in any trivial matters.
And so while staying with his youngest son, the series of accidents happened which led them to the breaking of his old prayer beads.
Actually it has been a long time since he has doubts with the beads. But because it was a gift from his eldest son last year, he didn't want to part with it. But now, upon hearing the words of the young man, his doubts are now doubled.
And then the old man Tang remembers the weird actions of his eldest son making his forehead darkened with anger.
"That unfilial son…" Jimin Tang thought as he clenched his fist.
"I can actually help you and you don't need to pay. All I wanted is are the beads." Joe Wang said with a smile.
He is confident that he can absorb the chaotic karma energy inside the old man's body and refined it as his own. But of course, he also needs to make them watch a nice show.
"I need a vacant room." Joe Wang requested.
Suddenly, one of the old men in the room interrupted.
"Young man, it is not that we don't trust you. It's just that, I… I am Chou Nangong. I am a doctor of internal medicine both modern and ancient. I would like to watch this procedure if you don't mind?" the old man asked.
When Joe Wang heard this, he actually smiled deep in his heart. Although it is good to hide his powers, however, sooner or later, many would still know about it, so why bother?
It is better to gain some friends and benefits through it so that he can access more materials for his cultivation. That way he would become strong faster and then enjoy his new life without worries.
Joe Wang turns his gaze towards the other people in the room and asked.
"Do all of you have the same request?"
With a nod of their heads, everyone confirmed.
Then Joe Wang didn't waste any more time and didn't even need to sit on the chair. He just grabs one random bead from the plate and the wrist of Jimin Tang.
"Elder Tang, you will feel a hot and tingling sensation in your body, I urge you to not resist and accept it." Joe Wang said as he begins.
When he started channeling the energy from the old man, the spheres inside his dantian began absorbing them like a hungry ghosts.
However, Joe Wang regulates the absorption so that he would not harm the old man. Because of this, a low glow suddenly appears on the old man's wrist which made the people around them gasp in disbelief.