Martial arts had star ratings too?

After Luo Feixuan finished speaking, many people looked at Yu Bu'e with keen interest.

Uncle Zhao gazed at Yu Bu'e, realization dawning on him. "So that's how it is... young man, what's your name?"

"My name is Yu Bu'e. Nice to meet you, Uncle Zhao." Though somewhat bewildered, Yu Bu'e still responded very politely.

After all, if he behaved improperly, it would be Luo Feixuan who lost face.

"Excellent! So young and accomplished! Haha, Yu, here's my business card. If you ever need my help in Fish City, don't hesitate to ask!"

"Yu, here's my card! Come over for dinner with little Luo when you have time!"

"Yu, do you have any more of those Meridian-Opening Pills? Get me one sometime! Haha!"

Still thoroughly confused, Yu Bu'e found his hands stuffed with business cards before he knew it.

Just then, a boy of fourteen or fifteen squeezed through the crowd and came up to Yu Bu'e.

"Yu Bu'e! Are you Yu Bu'e?"

Yu Bu'e looked at the unfamiliar boy before him, feeling rather lost.

He was certain he had never met him, yet for some reason, the boy looked a little familiar.

Chen Sinian's arrival cleared up his confusion.

"Yu, this is my younger brother, Chen Sui. The Meridian-Opening Pill I bought from you was for him," Chen Sinian said with a smile, resting a hand on his brother's shoulder.

Looking at the strong resemblance between the brothers, Yu Bu'e understood.

With clear, bright eyes, Chen Sui grabbed Yu Bu'e's hand and shook it vigorously.

"Brother Yu, thank you for your Meridian-Opening Pill! After taking it, my back stopped aching, my legs stopped hurting, and I could climb five floors without stopping!"

Yu Bu'e: "..."

Chen Sinian reached out and gave his brother a smack on the head. "Talk properly."

Chen Sui rubbed his nose and chuckled. "Your Meridian-Opening Pill was amazing! It took me from seven spirit meridians to ten!"

At these words, the people around them looked at Yu Bu'e with even greater eagerness.

Chen Sui's eyes sparkled. "I'm sure I'll open my eleventh spirit meridian before long!"

His enthusiasm left Yu Bu'e a little embarrassed.

He had sold that Meridian-Opening Pill to Chen Sinian for nine hundred thousand.

Yet listening to Chen Sui's endless thanks, anyone who didn't know better would think he had given it away...

Throughout this, Luo Feixuan simply stood to the side, smiling with her lips gently pressed together.

Only when melodious music drifted through the auction hall did the others begin finding their seats.

"The auction is starting!"

"Brother Yu, let's add each other on WeChat first. We can talk later!" Chen Sui took out his phone.

"Sure..."

"Let me add you too!"

"Haha, me as well!"

Some had wanted to exchange contact information with Yu Bu'e earlier, but everyone present had a certain standing, and they had felt too embarrassed to ask.

Now that Chen Sui had taken the lead, they felt no such pressure.

Watching from the sidelines, Xu Xiu, Brother Shan, and the others exchanged bewildered looks.

"Didn't Young Master Zhai say that guy was just a pretty boy living off a woman?"

"Yeah, he sure doesn't look like it! And are his Meridian-Opening Pills really that amazing?"

These young people were deeply curious about Yu Bu'e's background.

Crack!

Xu Xiu and the others turned to see that Zhai Zhili had crushed the wineglass in his hand.

The look in his eyes was downright frightening.

Brother Shan reacted fastest, hastily clearing his throat. "It's just a Meridian-Opening Pill. It's really no big deal. None of us need one, right?"

"Exactly! No matter how good a Meridian-Opening Pill is, how impressive can it really be?"

"If you ask me, those people are only being nice out of respect for Miss Luo. Otherwise, who would bother with him?"

Though that was what they said aloud, inwardly they were considering whether to find an opportunity to get acquainted with him later.

By now, quite a few people were curious about Yu Bu'e.

As he sat on the spacious sofa, a staff member in a qipao brought Yu Bu'e another cup of tea and softly asked whether he needed anything else.

Onstage.

Manager Wang, still in his immaculate suit, was serving as the host for the occasion.

After a brief opening speech, Zhang Qiaosheng, the head of the Brilliant Star Pavilion's operations in Fish City, took the stage.

Dressed in a traditional Tang-style jacket, with a jade plaque hanging around his neck, the man pressed his palms together and bowed to everyone present.

Then came the usual pleasantries, mostly thanking the guests for their continued support of the Brilliant Star Pavilion.

About ten minutes later, the auction officially began.

Those qualified to attend the Brilliant Star Pavilion's private auction were all people of status, and none wanted to waste their valuable time on such formalities.

Zhang Qiaosheng knew better than to drag things out.

A professional auctioneer wearing white gloves took the stage. She looked about thirty and wore a women's suit, with an approachable smile and a clear, carrying voice.

"We have ten lots tonight: four sets of martial arts manuals, three spirit artifacts, two spirit talismans, and one spirit pill!"

Yu Bu'e's eyes lit up.

"Spirit artifacts, spirit talismans, and even a spirit pill? The Brilliant Star Pavilion really has plenty of good stuff!"

Magic artifacts, talismans, and medicinal pills were all divided into nine ranks. Ranks seven, eight, and nine were mortal grade; ranks four, five, and six were spirit grade; and ranks one, two, and three were immortal grade.

Over the past few years, rumors had circulated of a divine grade above rank one, but most were merely hearsay.

After all, every so often, someone would pop up spreading news, either claiming to have refined a divine artifact or saying that strange phenomena somewhere meant someone had produced a divine pill...

Truth and falsehood mingled amid the chatter, little more than gossip to pass the time after a meal.

"Now, our first lot of the evening!"

A tall hostess walked up the stairs on the right carrying a tray. Beneath its glass cover lay a jade plaque roughly the size of a palm.

"This is a storage spirit artifact, jointly crafted by two masters: sixth-rank Artifact Refiner An Yihe and fifth-rank Formation Master Bian Ziling. It contains one cubic meter of space..."

Yu Bu'e gazed at the jade plaque onstage and let out an exclamation of wonder.

"Such a tiny jade plaque can hold a whole cubic meter... that's incredible!"

"What do you think? Interested?" Luo Feixuan asked.

Yu Bu'e asked quietly, "How much do you think that thing costs?"

Before Luo Feixuan could answer, the auctioneer spoke.

"The starting bid is three million, with minimum increments of five hundred thousand!"

Hearing that, Yu Bu'e immediately calmed down.

"I'm suddenly not curious anymore."

Luo Feixuan smiled. "The final price for this Storage Jade Plaque shouldn't be too high. I'd estimate under ten million. A storage bracelet or ring would be worth more."

The final result was fairly close to Luo Feixuan's prediction: it sold for twelve million.

The second lot was a martial arts manual.

"Mountain-Crushing Saber, rated as a four-star martial art by the Brilliant Star Pavilion! It is also currently classified as restricted. The starting bid is three million!"

Yu Bu'e was puzzled.

"Four stars? Martial arts have ratings too?"

"That's the Brilliant Star Pavilion's own rating system. Normally, they don't," Luo Feixuan explained. "It's an advisory rating based on several factors, including a martial art's difficulty and content."

Yu Bu'e nodded.

He had no questions about the auctioneer's mention of its "restricted" classification.

In Great Xia, strict copyright protections existed to encourage powerful martial artists to create more martial arts techniques.

This also protected the creators' rights.

If a martial artist created a new martial art, they could submit it to the Martial Arts Bureau.

The Martial Arts Bureau's review was extremely rigorous. First, it assessed the proportion of original content in the new martial art. Next, it verified that the art would not cause irreversible harm to its practitioners. Finally, it evaluated its practical effectiveness.

Only after passing every review would it be classified as a "new martial art" and entered into the database, with a certificate and registration number issued to its creator.

For a new martial art classified as "restricted," no one except its creator could distribute it, even if they had paid to purchase it.

Whether posting it online or privately teaching it to others, distributing it was a serious violation of the law.

Offenders faced not only enormous compensation payments to the creator, but also five to ten years in prison...