Dao of the Deal

The Thousand Treasures Hall was an auction house. It wasn’t the largest in the capital, but the auctions it carried out were the richest. It had carefully cultivated its reputation for pulling in record prices for exotic and valuable items. That attracted sellers in droves, which in turn had led to a reputation for carrying out the most interesting auctions in the capital, attracting wealthy customers by the carriage-ful. Muchen could only tip his hat in admiration of their business model. The locals might not know about the idea of brand identity, but they understood the value of a good reputation quite well indeed.

The Thousand Treasure Hall wasn’t far from the Golden Mountain Pavilion. After all, they catered to the same sort of people, albeit in different circumstances. Rich and noble families who were short of money would visit the Golden Mountain Pavillion and part with family treasures in order to get their hands on much needed silver. Conversely, when they were flush with cash they would head for the auction hall to add new treasures to their family’s collection.

The appraisers working for the Thousand Treasures Hall might not be the world’s greatest experts in spirit tools, but if Muchen ranked them second he wasn’t sure who would dare to claim first place. If he could hire one of them to look for the artifacts that had been crafted from Xinyi’s cultivation base, he could consider the job half done.

He frowned as a thought occurred to him. He pulled his mule cart over to the side of the road, giving the auction house ahead of him a contemplative look.

“I should ask,” he said, “how is your recovery going?”

“It will go a lot faster if we get our hands on another one of those spiritual tools,” Xinyi said. A touch of impatience had entered her voice.

“What I mean is,” Muchen said, “would we be in any danger if the Cloudy Peaks Sect were to find you right now?”

“Not immediately,” she said.

Muchen stayed silent. It was hard for anybody to admit weakness, much less a high level cultivator. He wouldn’t have brought up the subject if he hadn’t noticed how careful she was being now that they were in the capital. Seeing Xinyi behave as if there were limits to what she could handle was enough for him to be cautious.

“Why does it matter?” she asked.

“The appraisers at the Thousand Treasures Hall would be a great help in tracking down what we’re looking for,” he said. “But I worry that giving them such a task would leave traces that the Cloudy Peak Sect could use to find us.”

The Cloudy Peak Sect, after all, knew which items they had made using Xinyi’s involuntary assistance. They might not know for certain that she would be able to heal herself by retrieving those items, but they would have to suspect. Once they discovered that she had escaped, tracking down those items would be an obvious first step towards finding Xinyi’s location.

Beyond that, looking for anybody looking for those items would also point them in her direction. Muchen didn’t want to fall into a paranoid spiral and live a life of fearful inaction, but at the same time he didn’t want to leave any obvious clues to their whereabouts when he didn't have to. If asking the experts at the Thousand Treasures Hall was an obvious idea to him, he had to assume that the experts at the Cloudy Peaks Sect could think of the same thing.

“A single Golden Core expert wouldn’t be a problem,” she said. “If they sent more than one, or one of their Nascent Soul cultivators made a move, things would get tricky.”

Muchen raised an eyebrow. Any sect that boasted a Golden Core cultivator was a force to be reckoned with. All of the examples that he could think of offhand were Guardian Sects, second only to the five hegemons in terms of power and prestige. He'd fallen into the habit of thinking of Xinyi as a protective talisman of sorts, but he found he'd underestimated just how much protection she was providing.

Of course, even she would have trouble if he led the Cloudy Peaks Sect straight to them. It looked like he wouldn't just be able to hand the job off to an expert and rest assured. Fortunately, he'd never been afraid of a little hard work.

“I will drown them in blood for inflicting this humiliation on me,” Xinyi continued.

"We just have to be a little careful until we gather up those spirit tools," Muchen said, smiling as he guided the cart back in the flow of traffic. "Even the Cloudy Peaks Sect won't lightly mobilize multiple Golden Core cultivators."

Xinyi didn't respond by the time they reached the auction house. Muchen knew that the idea of laying low wasn't something that came easy to her.

He dusted himself off and straightened up his clothes after pulling his cart into the Thousand Treasure Hall's front courtyard. He hesitated before tying Huichen's reins to the hitching post. The usually humble item was made of beautifully polished hardwood. He hated to think of the cost of repairs should Huichen manage to damage the thing. He shook his head and did his best to make his way inside without gawking at the rich decoration of the auction house's front facade.

He was greeted at the door by a beautiful receptionist wearing a professional outfit and a professional smile. “Welcome to the Thousand Treasures Hall. How may I help you today?”

Muchen cleared his throat and made sure to regain his composure before he spoke. “I’m looking to find some information.”

Auction houses were to some extent putting their own reputation on the line any time they put something on the auction block. Accordingly, they had to provide a professional appraisal of every item for sale. No mortal business truly specialized in selling spiritual items, but the Thousand Treasures Hall at least had enough experience in the area that they should employ an expert on the subject.

Getting them to part with the information Muchen needed would be tricky, but Muchen would figure out how to cross that bridge once he came to it.

“The Long family estate auction will take place in three weeks, once the government has completed its review,” she said, leading him towards a side table. “The items that have been released to us are described here. The newest items are towards the end of the book.”

A book was chained to the table. The words “Long Family Estate Auction” were written on the cover. Five other such tables were scattered around the room, one of which was occupied by a middle aged man who was engrossed in the book in front of him.

Muchen hadn’t had any particular interest in the Long family’s property when he walked in the door, but now that he had the opportunity to be nosy he couldn’t help but feel a little curious. Anyways, the day was young. He could flip through the book to see if anything caught his eye and still have plenty of time to do research for Xinyi.

He nodded gratefully to the receptionist and began reading through the book. Fortunately, while the book was thick enough to be used as a doorstop, it wasn’t filled with densely packed text. Instead, each page had data presented in table format, listing items by lot number along with a basic description, reserve price, estimated value, and often a little sketch.

If these were the belongings of a noble house on the decline, Muchen shuddered to think how wealthy they must have been at the height of their power. He skimmed past page after page describing real estate holdings, buildings, and furniture until he reached the items he might be able to fit in his cart. There he was treated to page after page of luxury goods, a good half of which had expected values exceeding a hundred taels. If he was looking for inventory to start up a jewelry shop, the auction would be a great opportunity. In terms of hunting for bargains though, he sure didn’t see any.

He also didn’t see any spiritual tools for sale. There were a few cultivation aids, but only the very basic sort that were readily available at the market. Still expensive, to be sure, but not quite up to what Muchen had imagined when he pictured the legacy of an ancient family. It would have been too much to hope for them to have any of the turtle shell-themed items he was looking for, but he was surprised that there were no spiritual tools listed at all.

Then he remembered what the receptionist had told him. These items were being given to the auction house after the government’s review. Obviously, that review went beyond a mere search for contraband or for information related to whatever trumped up charge had been used to condemn the long family. They’d auction off enough to make the final tally look reasonable to their superiors, but it was only natural that they’d keep the choicest bits for themselves.

Muchen shook his head as he closed the book. He might attend the auction just to see if he could spike a lucky bargain when the time came, but there was nothing worth targeting, not as far as he could tell. He tracked down the receptionist who had welcomed him into the auction house, finding her resting off to the side of the lobby.

“I have a few questions that aren't related to the Long family,” Muchen said. “I wonder if I could speak to the appraiser who specializes in spiritual tools.”

She hesitated for a moment. “I’m afraid he’s quite busy.”

It seemed that her professional courtesy had its limits. Even if the Thousand Treasures Hall did its best not to judge by appearances, Muchen's current outfit didn't merit the VIP treatment.

“Naturally, I’m willing to pay a consultation fee,” Muchen said. In the Qianzhan Empire, information was a precious resource. He couldn’t expect to chat with a knowledgeable expert for free. It was enough to make him feel regretful that he hadn’t taken much advantage of having a whole world-wide network of information available at his fingertips back on Earth. As the thought crossed his mind, he could almost feel a phantom vibration from where his cell phone used to rest in his pocket.

“Please wait here for a moment.”

He nodded and waited as directed while the receptionist made her way to a back room. Muchen felt a bit of heartache at the thought of the silver that was about to fly out of his pockets, but at the end of the day this was the safest method he could think of to try to find what he needed. He wasn’t foolish enough to try to save money by sneaking into a sect’s book repository.

He didn’t have to wait long before the receptionist returned. She greeted him with a polite smile. “For a basic consultation, five taels of silver will suffice.”

Muchen kept smiling as he pulled an ingot from his money pouch and handed it over, not surprised at how the prospect of earning some quick silver had cleared up the appraiser’s schedule. The Thousand Treasures Hall no doubt paid well, but nobody ever thought they had too much money.

The receptionist accepted the payment and bid him follow her. She led him out of the entry hall and down a narrow corridor to a small warren of private offices. Muchen would have been hard pressed to retrace their steps, but the receptionist showed no hesitation as she led him directly towards one office door in particular.

She gave the door a gentle knock. “Master Huang? The young man I mentioned to you is here.”

“Come in, come in,” came the response from inside. It was the voice of a vigorous old man, an impression that was confirmed as Muchen followed the receptionist inside and found Master Huang sitting behind a desk.

There was a healthy dash of gray at his temples and some smile lines by his eyes, but otherwise time had left little mark on his face. He welcomed Muchen into his office with an enthusiasm that belied the fact that Muchen had needed to pay him in order to gain access.

The office itself was more or less what Muchen expected the workplace of an item appraiser to look like. The walls were packed with bookshelves stuffed near to bursting with reference books. Pieces of parchment were scattered across Master Huang's desk. A cleared space in the middle likely indicated where the item he was currently appraising had stood before he hid it away on Muchen’s entrance. Either that or he’d caught the old man in the middle of his lunch break.

With the introduction complete, the receptionist bowed and excused herself from the room. Muchen waited for the door to close behind her before he approached Master Huang's desk.

“I’ve been asked to identify a spiritual tool,” he said. “I figured that consulting with an expert would be the best way to get started.”

Master Huang gave him a neutral smile. "How could I dare to call myself an expert? This is the imperial capital, where crouching tigers and hidden dragons lurk around every corner."

"Still, you must be knowledgeable to work at the Thousand Treasures Pavilion," Muchen said, before getting to the true heart of the matter. "Of course, I could hardly expect you to help me out for free."

"I do handle the occasional private consultation," Master Huang said. "What is it you are looking for?"

"It's a little awkward to say," Muchen replied.

"Do you want my help or not?" Master Huang asked.

"I was hoping you would let me look through your records myself," Muchen said. "After all, my client wants me to keep their secrets."

It wasn't just for Xinyi's sake that he didn't want the information getting out there that somebody was searching for this particular set of spiritual tools. Muchen appreciated the help that she had given him so far, but he had no intention of becoming collateral damage in a fight between top level powerhouses.

"It's good that you value secrets," Master Huang said, "but what about our secrets? I can hardly let an outsider access to the Thousand Treasure Hall's internal documents."

"I'd only be interested in the records of spiritual tools on the Qianzhan Continent," Muchen said. "Nothing that touches on any secrets."

He leaned forward with a smile. "I understand that it was a hard and painstaking process to gather all of that information. I hardly expect you to share it with me for free."

Master Huang studied him for a moment. "Two taels per hour. You can sit here with me and read the books that I give you."

"I'll need to take notes," Muchen said.

"I can hardly let you copy our records," Master Huang said.

"Do I look like a scribe?" Muchen asked. "I won't take more than a page of notes a day."

"Very well," Master Huang said, before turning his attention to the shelf behind him. "Shall we begin?"

"Better to start tomorrow," Muchen said. "I still have some matters to arrange for today."

Master Huang nodded. "I won't see you out."

Muchen raised an eyebrow as he stood and left. He'd hoped to buy a bit of courtesy and goodwill with all the silver he was promising. Well, maybe this meant the old man wasn't treating him as an outsider.

He felt some reluctance in his heart as he made his way back to the Wang residence. At two taels an hour he'd wipe out all of his profits from the trip to the capital in just a few days. He could easily end up spending fifty taels of silver before he was done.

Muchen sighed. Ultimately, human feelings weren't a matter of calculating profit and loss. There was no need for an abacus when he was deciding whether to spend money for a friend.

Besides, numerically speaking, having Xinyi around had been worth far more than fifty taels of silver so far.