In Yinmen City stood a big mansion, almost as big as the one of the city lord. There were many courtyards separating several pavilions. Their roofs were covered in red tiles, and a 2-storied pagoda was erected in the middle of the residence. All the buildings and gardens were organized around it. Some servants were busy when one of them started disturbing the peace by dashing through the corridors. He almost collided with a couple of people. Quickly he arrived before a huge door decorated with gold and red, featuring the shape of a fiery phoenix, the emblem of the Huang family. A fiery phoenix was a kind of mythical high fenghuang.
He did not even knock at door before entering. The servant was a middle-aged man, with a tired face and an unkempt short beard. His clothes were also a mess. Clearly, he was woken up. Indeed, it was very early in the morning but as soon as he got a certain piece of news, he knew he had to give it to his mistress at once. Behind the door was an office in which a pretty young girl was working. On her wooden desk, hundreds of papers were piled on. With a severe look on her face, she suddenly looked up toward the intruder.
The man quickly locked the door behind her.
"Bao Zhong, what are doing?"
"Young mistress, please excuse this old man, but you have to hear this immediately!"
"Is this so urgent as to disturb my... wait! Is this about my brother?" She finally realized this possibility and almost jumped from her chair. In a flash, she was holding the old servant and her grip was a little too strong. Despite her young age, her cultivation was already at the 2nd-grade of Mortal and the old man was only a servant who never broke out of the 1st grade.
"Yes, young mistress." The old servant, Bao Zhong, dared not delay the news and endured the pain. "The guards saw Feng Yingyue enter the city less than an hour ago."
"She's alive?!" The young woman's eyes got lost in her thoughts. Many scenarios flashed before her eyes in an instant and she came back to reality. "Was she alone?"
"No, she was accompanied by an unknown boy. From the reports, he should be around 16 or 17. Both of them were pretty worn-out."
"And no news concerning my brother?"
"I am sorry, young mistress. But I knew you would want to know the news as soon as possible."
"You were right, Bao Zhong!" The young mistress realized at last that she was hurting the old man and let go of his shoulders. "Have your men follow them."
"I already did, young mistress. They should both be going to the auction hall right now. The boy is probably a hunter in need of selling some parts. I also arranged for trusted employees to take care of their demands."
"Good, very good! You're as reliable as ever."
"This lowly one dares not accept your compliment, young mistress."
The young mistress he was talking to began to walk mindlessly in the room. Bao Zhong let her do for an incense stick*.
"Once they are done, immediately call Elder Gu from the auction hall in my study. For the time being, I will go talk to father. You've done well, Bao Zhong, accept this, without any complaint."
As she finished her sentence, a red pill appeared in her palm and she gave it to the servant.
"A Lava Gathering Lotus pill! Its rank is 3-star Earth! Thank you, Young mistress."
The old servant cupped his fists and bowed before leaving the room quietly.
The young woman took some time to get herself ready. She was going to talk to her father, the head of the Huang family. Such an audience required to be well dressed. The girl put on a imperial dress in the color of the family, red and gold. She called two women servants to do her hair. They tied them high on her head, adorned with golden hairpins and some peacock feathers, another symbol of the fiery phoenix. As for all members of the Huang family, her hair were pure white.
This woman was Huang Cixi, the 15-year-old daughter of the Huang side family in Yinmen City. For more than two months now, she had been worried about her older brother Huang Lixin. Her father, under the suggestion of the oldest brother Huang Longwei, had sent him on a mission to assassinate the young alchemist Feng Yingyue in the woods. Huang Cixi knew her brother. He was a righteous man and hated this assignment but he could not disobey their father. The true culprit was Huang Longwei. She knew he was jealous of the achievements of his little brother, far more talented in his cultivation. At 24, he was only a 6th-rank Mortal, which was not bad but pretty average.
Huang Cixi despised this first brother of hers. He was cruel and cunning without being too smart.
-
The young woman knocked on the huge door of the biggest pavilion.
"Huang Cixi seeks an audience with the Patriarch Huang Mingze."
The door opened and the woman's smile froze when she saw Huang Longwei kneeling before her father.
"Come in, little sister. I was just talking with father about the Alchemy Conference. What's bringing you here this early?"
"First brother, it's good to see you. I fear the matter I have to talk about is bad omen. I sincerely hope it will not disturb your pleasantries." Behind the sweet smile of his sister, Huang Longwei felt her anger. Only their father was oblivious to this tension. "Father, I have news of Feng Yingyue."
The face of Huang Mingze lit up. "Huang Lixin is back?!"
"No, Father." As her head dropped, Huang Cixi suppressed a tinge of worry in her voice. The faces of both men became dark. "Feng Yingyue is back in town... safe."
"Hmph, he could not kill the beauty."
Hearing the low murmur of his son, Huang Mingze erupted. "Silence! You will not insult your brother. I did not forget that you insisted on him leading the mission."
Huang Longwei lowered his head and tried to kneel even lower.
"Little Cixi, gather all the information you can and report to me at once."
"Father, she went into the auction hall with an unknown boy. I already asked for Elder Gu to come to my study as soon as they're done. I will be thorough, father. No matter what happened to second brother, I will know for sure, I swear."
"Good. Good." Huang Mingze paused for a little bit. "Xixi, I am sorry... If I had not asked your second brother..."
"Father is not to blame." Her eyes darted toward Huang Longwei. "And we still don't know whether second brother is safe or not. Let us not lose hope until the very end."
Huang Cixi left the room with a bow. Huang Mingze cupped his head in his hands.
"Longwei, I am tired now. We will speak of your affairs later. Leave!"
Huang Longwei did not dare oppose his father and left politely, if not bitterly.
-
As all this turmoil overtook the Huang mansion, Cao Yun and Feng Yingyue were already inside the auction hall. This was the best place to sell cores and parts of demonic beasts. This was the small Yinmen branch of the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall, the biggest union of tradesmen in the entire Hongchen Kingdom. Amongst other activities, they bought ingredients from hunters and gatherers to sell them, either in shops or in auctions. Feng Yingyue was used to trading with the Yinmen Auction Hall. She sold her pills and herbs in her own shop but she also needed to sell more refined products to the auction hall if there was no suitable client in town. Sometimes, she also was in need of rare ingredients she could not find herself for special orders.
She knew that most of the clerks in the auction hall, and the elder in charge himself, were under the Huang's control. They did not make her business too hard, for they were still serving the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. However, in the limit of what they could lawfully do to her without endangering their reputation, they made her life pretty difficult.
"Chen Guo, let's go there." Feng Yingyue pointed toward a man in the corner. "He's not affiliated with the Huang family and pretty easy to work with."
Cao Yun nodded and they both went toward the counter she pointed to. The man behind it was wearing a distinctive black robe with cherry blossoms embroidered at the bottom and in the back. Such a robe was of course the uniform of the Myriad Hall, hence its name, the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall.
Before they could make their way to him, another man interrupted them.
"Dear customers, how may I help you?"
Feng Yingyue instantly recognized the man. He was a nasty fellow who would do everything to humiliate her.
"Are you in need of alchemical ingredients? I am afraid our establishment has a pretty high standard in terms of payment. Dear customers, are you sure you're ready to pay for what you want?"
"Gu Ouyang... !"
Before Feng Yingyue could even lose her composure, Cao Yun answered matter-of-factly.
"We're here to sell demonic beasts parts and cores."
"Oh?!" The man started laughing. "Once again, our establishment has harsh standards. I fear your sorry ingredients can not get into our eyes."
"Can you really take this decision before examining our offer?"
Cao Yun stayed calm and it annoyed this Gu Ouyang who decided to become even more nasty.
"Our Yinmen auction hall has a perfect reputation! It's obvious two beggars like you do not have anything of interest for us. In our great goodness, we're ready to extend an olive branch to you, but you would rather spit such arrogance... It seems we are really misunderstood... If you have nothing of value to sell, please do not mock our noble establishment." Gu Ouyang was very proud of himself. He wanted to humiliate this little girl in front of the crowd to gain favor from the Huang family. Even to the onlookers, it was obvious to the point of being painful.
"You're so prompt to lick your master's boots that you would tarnish the name of the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall? Are you able to pay the price for this insult? By insulting honest customers, you insult the Hall."
"How dare you?!"
"You're just a buffoon getting worked up over nothing." Cao Yun then decided to get louder. "Let everyone here be witness. We came in good faith to sell the product of our hunt for which we risked our very lives, and the Hall sent us away without even looking at what we were selling. Is it fair? Is it the way the great Myriad Hall conducts business?"
"You dare sully the name of our Hall?!" Gu Ouyang lost all facade. A sword appeared in his hand and he was ready to strike down the boy.
"Enough!" A loud voice came from the top floor. The building had five stories and the yell resounded throughout them all. An old man wearing the same black robe with cherry blossoms appeared. At a glance, it was obvious he was a very high Mortal, 8th or maybe 9th grade. He had gray hair and beard and was a little fat. "What sort of business is this? Gu Ouyang, do you think your life would be enough to compensate the face of the Myriad Hall?"
As the voice erupted, Gu Ouyang fell on his knees before the old man.
"This lowly one would never dare to threaten the Hall's great reputation. These people..."
"Enough of this! Do you even know what they have to sell?!"
"This lowly one... does not..."
"Dear customers, please, state your business." The old man directly addressed Cao Yun and Feng Yingyue.
Cao Yun took out some ingredients from his pouches made from the skin of several demonic beasts. He made sure to take out the most impressive ones first. There were 2-cores and 1-cores from various demonic beasts in high quantity, several precious parts from demonic beasts of the same level. That alone was impressive by the quantity but what really subjugated everyone were parts from the Muddy bashe. There were scales, bottles of poison, bottles of blood, some parts of organs and a teeth.
"Are our materials enough to trade with this auction hall?"
The old man sent an angry look to his employee. In a flash, he smiled toward the two youths.
"Of course, of course. We welcome hunters with such bounty! That servant will get ten lashes for his insult."
"Ten lashes?!"
"Isn't it enough?! Twenty then! And apologize!"
Gu Ouyang lowered his head.
"This lowly one had eyes but could not see Mount Tai."
The old man dismissed him and sent the customers to the counter where they initially wanted to go.
"Ye Zhiyun! Take good care of these patrons." He then looked back to the youths and spoke loudly. "As an excuse for this ridicule, and to show our fairness, we'll give you this black card." He then took out a piece of paper, entirely black with one cherry blossom painted on it and handed it over to Cao Yun.
Cao Yun naturally knew what this meant. His family have had dealings with the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. This black card with one cherry blossom was the proof of a trusted customer. It could help smooth out the relations between the holder and any hall under the jurisdiction of the Myriad Hall. The number of cherry blossoms indicated the level of trust and importance. For more precious clients, the card would also give many benefits. This one only proved that you had had past deals with the Hall and you could be trusted.
Usually, one would not get such a card before many deals, but the old man really wanted to save the face of the Myriad Hall and he knew Feng Yingyue who was a regular.
He quickly left, and met with this Gu Ouyang.
"Moron! Never drag the Hall with your petty quarrels!"
"But, grandfather..."
The old man slapped him violently and Gu Ouyang even lost a tooth.
"Do not talk back to me! The Huang family expressly wanted us to extract information from these two and you had to go out there and antagonize them?! And worse, you use your position in the Hall?! If the Myriad Hall learns that our employees behave this way, we could lose their support! Would your miserable life be enough to repay such a catastrophe?!"
Gu Ouyang started to shake and his legs gave way under him.
"If you understand your mistake, go ask for your twenty lashes! I will also ask your father to discipline you and teach you how to conduct business more thoroughly!"
*1 incense stick = around 5 min