Five Years Gone By

"Let's look around some more!"

As Xiao Wu spoke, she ran ahead again.

Tang San followed to pay, his gaze inadvertently sweeping across one side of the street and settling on a shop with a sword and hammer pictured on its sign.

The storefront was small and dimly lit, and its dusty windows obscured the interior.

"Xiao Wu, look at that shop."

Xiao Wu followed his gaze and noticed it too. "Oh, is there something you want, Xiao San? I'll buy it for you."

Tang San took out money to pay the vendor as he said, speechless, "Wouldn't I still be the one paying?"

"Hehe, don't fuss over that. It's all the same whoever pays. It's the thought that counts~"

Without giving him a say, Xiao Wu dragged him into the shop.

The shop was very dim, with only a yellowish oil lamp behind the counter. A middle-aged man sat there and spoke without even looking up when he heard someone enter. "Look around. If you want anything, just pay for it."

Tang San looked around. Several rust-spotted iron swords hung on the walls, and oddly shaped metal objects lay scattered across the counter. None of them looked new.

Xiao Wu picked up a small bronze bell beside her and shook it. "Huh, Xiao San, do you feel those strange Soul Power fluctuations?"

Tang San sensed them too. He quieted his mind to feel them carefully, his gaze sweeping over the objects in the shop. "If I'm not mistaken, everything this shop sells should be Soul Tools."

"Teacher said the art of making Soul Tools has already been lost. Rather than a tool shop, this is more of an antique shop."

Xiao Wu set down the bronze bell and looked around curiously. "Soul Tools... wouldn't that mean all these things are worth a lot?"

Tang San shook his head. "Not necessarily. Unless you test them with Soul Power, there's no way to tell their actual effects. Soul Tools have Soul Power fluctuations. If no one has bound them with Soul Power, their Soul Power will radiate outward."

As he spoke, he continued looking around. His gaze passed over the counter and landed on a dusty wooden box in a corner.

The wooden box was half open, revealing a translucent golden crystal about the size of a palm, glowing with a soft, gentle light in the gloom.

Tang San's gaze sharpened. He walked over and gently picked up the crystal.

"Shopkeeper, how much is this?"

The middle-aged man glanced up at the crystal in Tang San's hand, his face expressionless. "Not expensive. One hundred Gold Soul Coins."

"What?!"

Xiao Wu immediately objected, snatching the crystal from Tang San's hand and turning it over to inspect it.

"You want a hundred Gold Soul Coins for this piece of junk? The quality is awful, and the color isn't even clear, yet you have the nerve to ask that much? You might as well rob someone!"

"That's not expensive. I'll take it."

As though he hadn't heard Xiao Wu, Tang San took a money pouch from Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges, weighed it in his hand, and was about to set it down.

But the middle-aged man held up two fingers, his tone utterly flat. "That was before. Now it's two hundred Gold Soul Coins."

"What?!"

Xiao Wu was furious, her almond-shaped eyes widening.

"You're raising the price on the spot!"

She turned to pull Tang San away.

"Xiao San, we're not buying it. Let's go, let's go. What a lousy shop."

"Wait."

Tang San held Xiao Wu back and looked earnestly at the middle-aged man.

"Since that's your final decision, then two hundred Gold Soul Coins it is."

Still unwilling to give up, he took another money pouch from Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges.

However, the middle-aged man stood up, his rocking chair creaking.

With his back to the two of them, he spoke unhurriedly. "No, my final decision is five hundred Gold Soul Coins."

He turned around, revealing a gaunt face in the dim light. "To someone who can use it, even ten thousand Gold Soul Coins would be cheap. Pay now and take it, or please leave."

Xiao Wu folded her arms and curled her lip. "Crooked merchant! Who sells things like that? No wonder business is so bad."

Hearing this, Tang San smiled helplessly.

He looked down at the crystal in his hand, then at Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges around his waist. There were no longer five hundred coins inside.

"Forget it. We won't take it. We don't have that much money."

Tang San put the two money pouches he had taken out back into his belt.

The middle-aged man's gaze suddenly sharpened, settling on the silver belt inlaid with purple crystals around Tang San's waist.

After two breaths of silence, he spoke. "Where did you get that belt?"

Tang San paused in surprise. "My teacher gave it to me."

Flender stared at the belt for a long moment, then suddenly sat back down in his rocking chair and waved a hand. "You can have the crystal. It's nothing valuable anyway."

Before Tang San could react, Xiao Wu had already snatched up the wooden box and hugged it to her chest. "I heard that! It's free! You can't take it back!"

"Xiao Wu!"

Tang San looked at her helplessly.

"How can we just take someone else's things?"

"He said it was free. We'd be fools not to take it!"

Holding the wooden box, Xiao Wu backed toward the door.

"Let's go, let's go, before someone changes his mind!"

With that, she grabbed the still-dazed Tang San and ran outside.

Dragged through the door by her, Tang San glanced back into the shop and tossed a money pouch toward the counter. "Thank you, sir. I appreciate the gesture!"

Flender raised one hand and caught it firmly, looking at the heavy pouch of Gold Soul Coins in his hand.

"He really has taken in a good disciple..."

Out on the street, Xiao Wu kept complaining as she ran. "What a crooked merchant. First a hundred, then five hundred, and in the end he actually found his conscience and gave it to you. But honestly, you too-why did you insist on buying such a lousy crystal?"

After being dragged along the whole way, Tang San finally pulled his arm free and took the golden crystal from inside his clothes to examine it in the sunlight.

Under the light, the cloudy streaks within the crystal instead took on a peculiar sense of movement.

"Actually, I already paid."

He smiled and put the crystal away again.

"You paid?"

Tang San nodded.

Xiao Wu planted her hands on her hips and snorted. "That crooked merchant must be laughing to himself, making two hundred Gold Soul Coins off a lousy rock."

Tang San smiled and shook his head.

"You'll understand later."

He patted Xiao Wu's head.

"So mysterious."

Xiao Wu didn't pursue it and forgot about the matter as soon as she turned her head.

"All right, let's go find somewhere to spend the night."

A short while later.

The two stood outside a hotel. Tang San looked up at the lavishly pink building before him. Its entire exterior was painted rose pink, flowers made of silk hung from the windowsills, and the sign above the entrance read "Rose Hotel."

"Hehe, you think this place is nice too, right, Xiao San?"

Tang San opened his mouth. "Hm? Ah... Xiao Wu, how about we find somewhere else?"

"Oh, this place is so nice. Stop dawdling. Come on, come on!"

Without giving him a say, Xiao Wu pulled him inside.

The lobby's decor was even more overwhelmingly pink. Rose-patterned wallpaper covered the walls, and a faint rose fragrance drifted through the air.

Behind the front desk stood a young woman in a pink qipao, her makeup exquisite. Seeing the two enter, she came forward with a bright smile. "Hello, how may I help you?"