Chapter 219

As soon as the auction ended, the flow of customers at Qizhen Pavilion returned to normal. So much had happened today that the shopkeeper simply had someone hang a sign at the door announcing the closing of business and returned to sort out the accounts for the day.

Although under the banner of touching immortality, most of the items sold at this auction were just odds and ends, barely enough for cultivators in the Qi Condensation Stage, but very useless for those who broke through to the Foundation Establishment Stage... Although there was not even one person present who had just started practicing Qi.

Shopkeeper Yin knew a few cultivators, but their friendships weren't close; some weren't even close. She'd once asked how to get started in cultivation. The casual cultivators told her that taking a moderate amount of spiritual herbs would gradually accumulate spiritual energy within the body, eventually leading to enlightenment. The orthodox cultivators, on the other hand, said the latter was a completely unconventional practice with a low success rate and potentially negative effects on the body. It was safer to practice a method and accumulate spiritual energy step by step.

Of course, Shopkeeper Yin also wanted to choose a safe method, but the martial arts method was so rare that even laymen knew it. She currently only planned to run the Qizhen Pavilion well and consider this matter again after accumulating more wealth.

"Shopkeeper, here is another letter..."

"Put it in the box by the door." Shopkeeper Yin rubbed his eyes, put down his brush, propped up his chin, looked out the window, and sneered. "Back when business was slow, there were few customers, but now that we've held an auction, these guys are coming again." Just now, when the event was over, someone asked me to buy the Foundation Establishment Pill, saying it would instantly elevate them to immortality. What kind of immortal cultivation do they take for granted? If the Foundation Establishment Pill could jump from mortal to the Foundation Establishment stage, I would have become an immortal long ago. How could you get your turn... No, perhaps even I wouldn't get my turn by then. Power, oh, it's a wonderful thing.

While Manager Yin was still busy in Qizhen Pavilion, the clerk had already gone home and, with the tacit consent of the manager, told his relatives and friends that Qizhen Pavilion was temporarily short of miscellaneous staff.

Although working as a handyman in Qizhen Pavilion doesn't earn much more than working as a handyman in other places, the environment here is not dirty, and durable work clothes are distributed every year. In addition, two free meals a day are provided. Such conditions are a good place for those who have no ability to support a family and need to find connections to get in.

Customers didn't mind the affairs of Qizhen Pavilion. After snapping up items they thought they'd need, they rushed home to discuss how to use their expensive purchases. The man in green robes, who had bought the fasting pills, rode his horse home at full speed, but instead of finding his sister, who was supposed to be resting in the room, he saw an uninvited guest waiting inside.

"How did you get in? Where's my sister?"

"Give me the fasting pills." The man didn't bother to be polite and just extended his hand to him.

"Is this the reason why you climbed over my wall in the middle of the night and let my servants run all over the yard?" The young man named Sun, who was called by the man in green robe, picked up his sister and handed her to his mother who was also woken up: "You didn't ask your sister's servants, your parents, or your gatekeeper, and you just ran here without knowing anything?" If this kind of behavior was put into a storybook, it would basically not survive more than three chapters and would also implicate other people, do you know?

The man in green robe moved his lips and scratched his hair embarrassedly.

"And then you came to my house, not through the front door but climbing over the wall, causing my servants to chase you for ages?" This was the most puzzling and infuriating thing for the young man. "My servants all knew your face. Couldn't you have just told them you were looking for me? Why didn't you just say a word when they were chasing you around? Why make such a fuss?"

He ran vigorously on his own, but the noise he made almost woke up the entire family. If his parents hadn't rushed out in time to stop him, his grandparents, who had just slept, would have been woken up too. Elderly people don't sleep much to begin with, and if they were woken up again, it would be difficult for them to fall asleep again.

"I climbed over the wall to avoid being discovered. What if someone wants to deal with me? If I come to your house like this, wouldn't that bring trouble to your family too..." The man in the green robe lost his confidence at the end. He was making quite a commotion, and it probably alerted several nearby families. In comparison, knocking on the door would make less noise.

"You've already caused me a lot of trouble, and you broke all these things in the middle of the night. I can make a list for you right now." The boy yawned. "To make a long story short, why did you come to me?"

"Someone wants to steal my fasting pills!"

"Oh, who is that? Where are the others?"

"It's that kid Yan Xi. I don't know where he is now. When I left, he was still in my sister's room."

"What about the Bigu Pill?"

"It's here with me... Hey? Where did it go? I clearly had it with me!" The man in the green robe sat down on the ground in a panic and began to roll up his sleeves, pulling out a bunch of messy things.

Young man: “…” When he ran away from home as a child, he forgot to bring his bag, and now he has lost his fasting pill. This kid really hasn’t made any progress at all.

When the green-robed man asked the young man for help, Bei Qiao was making her way around Zhuyue City. After leaving the shopkeeper's private room, she encountered many people trying to get to know her. After playing Tai Chi to fool them and leaving, some even tried to follow her and find out where she was.

Bei Qiao certainly wouldn't let these people follow her back to the inn. Before the auction ended, she tried to post a limited-time quest at the Chamber of Commerce, hiring players currently active in Zhuyue City to appear masked after the Qizhen Pavilion auction and then leave in separate, dramatic ways, drawing attention and disrupting their thinking. There were no restrictions on how they could act, but their appearances had to last at least a minute. They could leave at any time, but they had to stay close to the person who posted the quest, not too far away. The quest reward was cash, and the number of people who could accept the quest was limited to ten.

There was no official Chamber of Commerce in Zhuyue City. Bei Qiao had initially assumed that this impromptu quest wouldn't attract many takers, but she was surprised to find it filled up almost immediately. Someone in the system-generated quest group asked if they could add more members. She had a dress she'd kept in the back of her closet and wanted to show off. She didn't need the quest reward, but if that wasn't enough, she could even pay a small fee to join.

Bei Qiao: ...That’s not necessary.

Bei Qiao rejected the offer of paying, but the group still had plenty of bored night owls. Thinking more people would be more intimidating, Bei Qiao finally announced that others were welcome to participate, but there would be no additional rewards. He also urged everyone to keep a low profile and strictly prohibited any abstractions.

Players trying to join in the fun: That's a must! I just want to look cool, nothing else! Isn't it just about being understatedly gorgeous, understatedly powerful, and understatedly demonstrative? I get it all!

Other players: I can show off without showing my face. It seems like fun. I want to join in too!

After confirming the mission was complete, Bei Qiao closed the forum and focused on the concert. Unbeknownst to her, the original ten-person team rapidly grew in size within the group chat. After the auction ended and Bei Qiao had fooled a bunch of old foxes, she reached the entrance of the Rare Treasure Pavilion and, just as she was shaking her fan to signal the start of the mission, a whoosh of a voice suddenly appeared before her, nearly twenty people appearing before her. She was so startled that she almost lost her composure.

Seeing the far larger-than-expected number of people before him, Bei Qiao gained a deeper understanding of the player's night owl and slippery nature. No wonder the system kept preventing players from becoming too involved in the secular world and denying them the right to take power in the Otherworld. If players could enter politics in the Otherworld, given China's strength and tolerance, it was hard to say what the Otherworld would become.

It was night, and for easier evacuation, most players wore night clothes. Others, at best, wore black or something close to black. But there was one player who stood out. Though he stood there with a serious demeanor, his attire was as garish as a nighttime multicolored light, as conspicuous as a pheasant dropped into a pile of coals.

The first player who requested to participate in the task without any reward in the group: No one knows how to be low-key better than me. As long as I am high-profile enough, everyone around me will become low-key!

The natives quickly gathered to watch the excitement: "Wow, who is this guy so showy? Come and see him, so I can brag to my family when I get home."

Bei Qiao understood the pheasant's intentions, resisting the urge to take a deep breath and fanning himself. Without even saying hello, he turned and walked off in a random direction. Players lined up according to their missions, then gradually disappeared from view before the natives, as if lurking in the shadows. What puzzled the natives was that the group kept shrinking and growing along the way, its numbers constantly fluctuating, as if it had no stable size.

Bei Qiao was also puzzled: Although I sent the detour route I planned to take to the group to prevent accidents, but... there is obviously no task reward, and these people did not arrive at the door of Qizhen Pavilion at the designated time, so why did they still join in the fun halfway?

The sect leader, who had previously maliciously helped Bei Qiao build momentum, also witnessed this scene from afar. The disciples thought the sect leader's help was in vain, and quickly shifted their gaze to the other side, pretending not to notice. However, the sect leader discovered that this group of people seemed unfamiliar with Bei Qiao, yet they had an inexplicable sense of understanding with each other, as if...

"Rather than subordinates, they are more like a group of strangers... friends?" The head of the sect put down the cold teacup in his hand: "That's interesting. I wonder if this young man would be willing to have another friend regardless of age difference?" With such skills, even if the disciples can learn a little bit from this person, it will be enough for them to walk safely in the world.