Liu Li caught the look Li Xingluo gave him and awkwardly flashed a grin.
Finding a treasure without knowing what it was had been unexpected. The three of them continued wandering, turning around a corner in the marketplace.
"Please, the three of you, wait."
The sudden call made the three of them freeze. They looked toward the voice and saw an elderly man in a blue robe, his beard already streaked with gray, standing conspicuously before them.
"Y-you mean us?"
Liu Li pointed at himself. The old man gave a slight nod, but his gaze passed over Liu Li and settled on Li Xingluo.
Li Xingluo's eyes narrowed slightly, and wariness stirred in his heart. The old man's seemingly kind face gave him a bad feeling.
"May I ask what you want?"
The old man's sharp gaze fixed on the Storage Ring in Li Xingluo's hand. Following his line of sight, Li Xingluo naturally noticed.
The old man slowly approached the three of them. Liu Li unconsciously stepped behind Li Xingluo; that single look from the old man had left him feeling uneasy.
Li Xingluo gestured for Xiao Yi Xian not to move. The old man stopped just a step away.
"Would you be willing to part with that thing? This old man is willing to pay three times the price."
The old man's words left them puzzled. Liu Li could only shrug in response to Xiao Yi Xian's confused look.
Li Xingluo's thoughts raced. He was certain this was the first time he had ever seen the old man.
So there was only one thing the old man could be after: the Bronze Fragment he had bought earlier.
Seeing that Li Xingluo still hadn't answered, the old man assumed his offer wasn't high enough to tempt him, and named an even higher price.
Xiao Yi Xian and Liu Li were even more confused. They had no idea what the old man wanted.
"I'm sorry, but I won't sell it."
The black ring had guided him to buy it, but he'd still had doubts. He couldn't understand how this seemingly worthless Bronze Fragment could be anything special.
But now, judging by the old man's attitude, Li Xingluo had a feeling the fragment was no ordinary object. In particular, when he said he wouldn't sell it, he sensed the old man's murderous intent to seize the treasure.
The moment was brief, but the bone-deep chill he felt was real.
"That thing is inauspicious. Keeping it may bring you a deadly calamity."
The old man left him with those words and turned to go, without pressing the matter further.
Xiao Yi Xian and Liu Li were even more baffled. They couldn't make sense of the brief exchange. Li Xingluo watched the old man's retreating figure as a few beads of cold sweat seeped from his forehead.
Li Xingluo didn't linger in the marketplace. Xiao Yi Xian and Liu Li were confused, but neither asked any questions. They followed him back to the Aus Auction House.
Back at his residence, Li Xingluo hurried straight into his room. Only then did he let out a long breath. Xiao Yi Xian was puzzled and wanted to ask what had happened, but she raised her hand and then stopped herself from knocking.
Remembering everything that had happened in the marketplace, Li Xingluo took out the Bronze Fragment and examined it closely. The patterns engraved on it seemed to follow no discernible order.
Thinking back to the strange old man who had suddenly appeared and what he'd said, Li Xingluo was sure the fragment held a secret unknown to others. He just couldn't understand why such a strange person would come after him.
Was it because he'd bought it first? Or had the old man seen him buying it from nearby? Too many questions crowded his mind.
Before he knew it, night had fallen. Li Xingluo stared blankly at the Bronze Fragment in his hand, still no closer to uncovering its secrets.
Just then, the room door was forced open by a surge of Dou Qi. Li Xingluo, ever vigilant, put away the Bronze Fragment and turned to ask, "Who's there?"
In the courtyard, two long shadows stretched beneath the lamplight.
An old man and a young man entered the room. Li Xingluo instinctively tucked one hand behind his back, his sharp gaze fixed on the newcomers.
Then he recognized the young man as Yan Gui, the one who had competed with him for the Bronze Fragment that day. Given what Liu Li had said about Yan Gui, the old man beside him could only be Yan Yun.
Seeing Li Xingluo stand as if facing a formidable enemy, Yan Gui was unbearably smug.
"Oh, I thought you were some great expert. Turns out you're just a pretty boy."
Hearing Yan Gui's words, Li Xingluo realized he'd been so engrossed in his thoughts that he'd taken off his hat and revealed his true face.
Compared to a spoiled heir like Liu Li, Li Xingluo had no liking for Yan Gui at all.
Yan Yun entered the room with an air of self-importance, glancing at the young Li Xingluo.
"I heard from Gui'er that you took something from him today?"
Li Xingluo wasn't surprised. He could imagine exactly what Yan Gui had told Yan Yun.
He looked at one of them wearing a smug grin and the other putting on airs of seniority, neither of whom showed him the slightest regard.
"That's not quite right."
"Uh, what's not right?"
"To be precise, it was your Gui'er..." Li Xingluo had wanted to add one more word, but as a civilized person, he held his tongue.
"He tried to take my things. I didn't take his."
With Yan Yun backing him, Yan Gui was no longer as timid as before. Remembering how Li Xingluo had made him look foolish earlier, and how he'd lost face in front of Liu Li, he was seething with anger.
"You clearly used your cultivation to bully me and take my things. In the marketplace, the highest bidder gets the goods."
"You're right about that. I offered more than you did, so how could I have taken it from you?"
Li Xingluo seized on the flaw in Yan Gui's argument and smoothly took over the exchange.
Yan Gui was momentarily at a loss for words. The argument he'd prepared vanished from his mind, and he stood there awkwardly, a beat too slow.
Yan Yun glanced at Yan Gui, his eyes full of exasperation. How could he be so...
"Gui'er said you used your cultivation to suppress him, forcing him to give up the item. How do you explain that?"
At those words, Yan Gui perked up as if he'd been injected with stimulants.
"Grandfather, that's exactly what he did. Otherwise, why would I have let such a good thing slip away?"
Yan Gui was certainly skilled at embellishing the truth. Li Xingluo couldn't help but admire such shamelessness.
He also knew Yan Yun would naturally believe Yan Gui and wouldn't listen to an outsider like him.
"Boy, don't think that just because Liu Yuntian values you, you can run wild at the Aus Auction House. I'll give you two choices."
"Uh, I'd be interested to hear what they are."
Yan Yun stood up with the swagger of a man in charge and paced to a spot three steps from Li Xingluo.
"First, return what you took from Gui'er, then kneel and apologize. After that, this matter is settled."
Li Xingluo's mouth twitched slightly, then quickly returned to normal. Yan Gui was delighted, even making a kneeling gesture with his hand.
"And the second?" Li Xingluo was curious what the other choice would be.
"The second choice won't be so pleasant."
"How am I supposed to choose if you don't tell me what it is?"
"The second choice is..." Yan Yun flicked his hand. A flash of blue light passed, and the stool beside him shattered into pieces.
Anyone could see that the second choice was for Yan Yun to crush Li Xingluo into submission.
Seeing that Li Xingluo neither answered nor moved, Yan Yun's lips curled upward.
"Well, boy, have you made up your mind?"
A sharp glint flashed in Li Xingluo's eyes. He answered coldly, "Sorry, I was born hard-boned. My knees don't bend."
Yan Yun hadn't expected Li Xingluo to answer that way. He had just released the pressure of his Dou Qi against him, so he already knew what level Li Xingluo's strength was at.
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