The girl, who appeared to be fourteen to fifteen years of age and wore a red martial dress, was petulantly swinging the hand of a middle-aged cultivator. "Father, buy it for me."
"Mei'er, don't you already have several hammers at home?" The middle-aged man, the girl's father, said with a helpless expression.
"That's different. That hammer is unique, I have to have it. Didn't you promise me that I can purchase any one item I wanted?" The girl retorted.
The middle-aged man coughed and said, "I said any armor. Mei'er, you already have many hammers. You can't ignore the armor. Either..."
"What's wrong?" Fenghua asked as she jumped onto Leng Junfeng's shoulder to see what he was looking at.
"Oho? Love at first sight? Well, she is quite cute." Fenghua said as she smirked at Leng Jufeng.
"Ah, no! That's the girl I was telling you about, my former fiance." Leng Junfeng quickly denied it.
"But you didn't deny that she was cute." Fenghua teased further, pulling her lips back to reveal a foxy smile full of teeth.
"Ahem," Leng Junfeng looked away with a flushed face, not denying Fenghua's words.
"So, how about you buy that hammer the girl wants? It'll increase your brownie points with her." Fenghua suggested.
"Buy the hammer?" Leng Junfeng looked at the weapon up for auction. "Didn't you say that I should waste my money?"
Fenghua smacked Leng Junfeng with her tail with an expression of hating iron not becoming steel. "I said waste, but this is an investment. You can purchase the item and gift it to her while revealing yourself. You can woo her then."
"Woo her?" Leng Junfeng gave a bitter smile. "I'd rather not."
"Why, isn't she your type? You seem to have a good impression of her, so why don't you go for her? I know you were a cultivation cripple, but that's only because the martial cultivation method of this realm is too trashy." Fenghua asked while tilting her head in confusion.
"Teacher, have you forgotten? Someone who is strong enough to exterminate the Leng Clan is after me. Meilin's father is only a martial master. How can I endanger them because of me?" Leng Junfeng asked.
"You make a good point," Fenghua nodded and yawned, losing interest. "By the way, what is their status? According to you, being a friend of your father should not be something anyone can do."
Leng Junfeng happily explained to Fenghua.
Wang Ming was a rather well-known martial master, a peak body transformation acolyte, in the Li Dynasty. He was only fifty, but he had a relatively high chance of entering the Acupoint Opening Realm, extending his lifespan to a maximum of six hundred years.
Fifty, that's way too old. Wait, this is a lower realm, so fifty might actually be pretty fast? Fenghua thought.
However, he was more famous for another thing: being sworn brothers with the patriarch of the Leng Clan. Some say that he only rose to prominence because of that connection. It's not like there weren't any other martial masters with a chance of entering the Acupoint Opening Realm, but Wang Ming still stood out.
On a side note, after his daughter, Wang Meilin's, engagement was canceled, she received many proposals from noble clans and even the imperial clan of the Li Dynasty.
Leng Junfeng recounted that he did remember his father being rather generous with Wang Ming, gifting him with many gifts whenever he came. Their relationship was so good that Wang Ming still occasionally visited even after the engagement was canceled.
After explaining, Leng Junfeng continued to watch the auction. Only his attention would be occasionally drawn towards Wang Ming and Meilin on the second floor.
As more and more auction items were placed on display, the attendees began to grow more heated as the bids kept rising and rising until Leng Junfeng's physique-transforming fruit was put up.
Immediately, a silence descended.
"Hey, is that true, is it really true?" Someone shouted from the first floor.
Not just him, but other attendees were voicing their disbelief. Such a fruit seemed too heaven-defying to them. A fruit that allowed an ordinary mortal to become a cultivator was too rare and unheard of.
"You better not be lying, if we find out you fabricated the effect—"The person never finished as the beautiful auctioneer's voice cut him off.
"Dear guests, the Shanxi Auction House will guarantee the effects. If the winner buys it and the fruit does not exhibit the effects we have described, rest assured, the Shanxi House will definitely investigate the matter." The auctioneer's voice was neither loud nor quiet, but everyone in the room could hear it.
She was obviously threatening them. Cases of people buying an auction item only to complain that it was fake or defective were not in the few. Not even the Shanxi Auction House was exempt from these scammers, but anyone who dared would face their retaliation. The auctioneer was simply reminding them of that, but it was enough to dispel the doubt and quiet all the troublemakers.
"Now, the fruit is so rare that the Shanxi Auction House can't guarantee when another similar item will be available. As such, the starting price will be fifty thousand taels of gold!"
At the price spoken by the auctioneer, the attendees on the first and second floor descended into complete silence. Before, if they had any illusion of getting lucky, it was dispelled. Fifty thousand taels of gold was an absurd amount of money to purchase a fruit able to make a regular mortal capable of cultivating.
"Father, buy it!"
Leng Junfeng's attention was caught by Wang Meilin again. He turned his head, wondering why Meilin wanted the physique-transforming fruit. He wasn't the only one. Meiling's father, Wang Ming, was also curious.
"Duh, it's for Brother Junfeng," Meilin said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Huh?" Wang Ming froze but quickly smiled. "Why do you want to buy it for Brother Junfeng? His life is pretty good. Just because you like to cultivate doesn't me he also does."
Meilin gave a look that screamed, "you're an idiot." "Of course, Brother Junfeng wants to cultivate. Have you even talked to him? He may pretend he's not, but I can tell."
Meilin puffed her chest up in a proud manner.
Wang Ming froze once more but quickly forced a smile on his face. "Mei'er, Brother Junfeng won't need it anymore. Even if we buy it, he won't use it."
"Huh, really?" Meilin asked suspiciously.
Wang Ming nodded confidently. "Brother Junfeng can't use it."
Up above, Leng Junfeng's expression darkened before he smiled helplessly. Uncle Ming probably knows the Leng Clan was exterminated, so he thinks I'm dead. I guess he didn't want Sister Meilin to know."
The interaction only reinforced Leng Junfeng's previous decision of distancing himself from the two to avoid bringing trouble to them.
When the bidding for the physique-transforming fruit ended, the price was almost a million taels of gold. Deducting the commission, Leng Junfeng would receive around eight hundred thousand taels of gold. So much money made him giddy with excitement.
He even thought about purchasing the Martial Body Formation Pearl for Wang Ming, but he realized he was too naive. The final bid for the Martial Body Formation Pearl was nearly two million taels.
Wang Ming had also bid for the Martial Body Formation Pearl, but his maximum funds were one and a half million taels of gold.
As for the final item, the aqua eagle bone, it had the astonishing final bid of five million and two hundred taels of gold.
After the auction, Leng Junfeng waited for the servants to bring him his cut of the profits. After that, he waited until the Wang father and daughter left before he left. Days later, he continued to wait at the mansion allotted to him until the Shanxi House could fully investigate the perpetrators behind the Leng Clan's fall.
The sole survivor of the Leng Clan did not have to wait long as another week later, the report was delivered to him.
"Du Family!" Leng Junfeng's eyes were burning with the flames of hatred, and his gums were bleeding from how hard he was gnashing his teeth together.
The Du Family was a marquis household of the Li Dynasty. Although they were rather prominent years ago, the modern Du Family was not as prominent as their yesteryears. For a falling maquis household to kill the Leng Clan was absurd. Someone was obviously backing them.
But they were the main force to carry out the operation.
I'll pry the truth out of their mouth! Leng Junfeng thought. The Shanxi House had already narrowed down several suspects, those they couldn't investigate easily.
The main suspect was the Li Imperial Family. Not just the Li Imperial Family, but other empires and kingdoms such as the Gu Dynasty did not like the Ten Great Clans. No country liked a force outside of their control. However, not many forces could easily act in the Li Dynasty, so the Li Imperial Family became the biggest suspect.
According to the Shanxi House's intelligence agency, the true mastermind should be a powerful force from Chang'an, the center of the nation. Although the Li Imperial Family was the master of the country, they still faced opposition, chief of which was the Teng Shifeng, the Prime Minister.
Aside from them, there were the remaining Ten Great Clans. The disciples of Ancestor Realmfist may have cohabitated peacefully, but through the passage of time, the Ten Great Clans have long set sight upon the fist arts from the other clans passed down.
After calming down from the blood rushing to his head, Leng Junfeng read the rest of the report. Since they couldn't find the true mastermind, they gave Leng Junfeng a detailed intelligence report on the Du Family instead.
The Du Family was rumored to have a grandmaster cultivating in seclusion, but no one had seen him for over two hundred years, so the veracity of that rumor was unknown. Aside from the possible grandmaster, the Du Family had twenty masters, but they had an additional fifteen hidden in the dark.
Fenghua, who read this, confirmed Leng Junfeng's suspicions that the Du Family couldn't have been the only perpetrator. She had killed over fifty masters during the months that Leng Junfeng had stayed on the mountain, after all.
Aside from the Du Family, the Shanxi House also included an intelligence report on the Li Imperial Family, Teng Family, and the two ducal houses of worth.
"Teacher, let's leave." Leng Junfeng immediately said the next day.
"To the capital?" Fenghua asked.
"Yes," Leng Junfeng said as he packed his new belongings into a knapsack and slung it over his shoulder.
"What do you plan to do? Directly kill your way to the Du Family?" Fenghua asked. Normally she would not question the teenager's intelligence, but hatred made people do stupid things.
"Of course not, I'm not strong enough yet. I plan to establish myself in the capital first." Leng Junfeng said with an unnaturally calm voice.
"Oh, how do you plan that?" Fenghua asked as she circled the avenger.
"I don't have a concrete plan yet, I need to see the situation in the capital first." Leng Junfeng began. "After I see the situation, then I'll see which force to join. The Li Imperial Family and Teng Family are out. As the strongest force in the country, those two have the greatest suspicion. I'm thinking of joining one of the two ducal households."
"As long as hatred isn't clouding your eyes," Fenghua said. She did not mind Leng Junfeng thrusting himself into the heart of his enemies. Not to mention that going to Chang'an would aid in her recovery.
What place had a larger concentration of human emotions than an imperial capital?
Before Leng Junfeng bid farewell, the curator met him one last time.
"This is a token of our Shanxi House. As long as you take this out, you will be treated as an honored guest at any of our locations." The curator said as he handed Leng Junfeng a silver token, shocking Leng Junfeng.
"Why? Our transaction is already over. There should be no reason to give me this," said Leng Junfeng
The curator gave an apologetic smile. "It's just a small matter. We couldn't fully complete our end of the bargain. Take it as compensation from us."
Seeing that the curator wasn't willing to reveal why Leng Junfeng smiled and accepted it. No matter the reason, it was another resource he could utilize. He was just one person. It would be horribly shortsighted of him to believe that he could take down his enemy with just himself.
After saluting the curator and bidding farewell, Leng Jufeng left on a carriage towards the capital.
Of course, he didn't directly leave. He hid himself for a few days and changed his features again before paying the coachman for the ride. As Luoyang was one of the main cities, it had a healthy business of ferrying people between the city and Chang'an.
"You do realize that no matter how you change your face, people can track you by virtue of me, right?" Fenghua asked before he boarded the carriage, causing Leng Junfeng to smack his head.
Leng Junfeng looked at Fenghua, unsure of what to say.
Fenghua rolled her eyes. "I'll secretly follow you guys."
"Thank you, Teacher." Leng Junfeng said with gratefulness.
Fenghua waved her paws in an unconcerned manner and immediately made herself scarce. No matter how hard Leng Junfeng tried, he could not discover any trace of Fenghua. It was to the point that he wondered if Fenghua got bored of him and secretly ditched him.
With an unsettled heart, Leng Junfeng boarded the carriage. To Leng Junfeng's surprise, just as the carriage was about to leave, someone had boarded it at the last minute. The newest addition was Wang Meilin. Although she had a cloak that covered hair, Leng Junfeng could not mistake her. Not to mention the giant hammer that she brought aboard.
If Fenghua were here, she would have an urge to give her even more bludgeon-type weapons.