The Indomitable Martial God

Li Yuan

Ling fought back the urge to relax his body on the sofa rest, he could feel the comfort softening his muscles and he wanted more than anything to leave there and get back to training. He looked at her then to the curtains then back at there before speaking.

"Is this place private enough?" He asked in a low, calculated tone.

Li Yuan nodded gently and gestured to the curtains. "These are high quality soundproof curtains, we may not be the biggest in the village now but we use quality protection. This is needed since auction houses sell items of great rarity or perhaps stolen property of great worth. You can speak fifth young lord."

He hesitated for a few seconds and studied her, she did not seem like a complicated person despite playing the part. He dug his hand into one of his pockets and took out a bright green emerald the size of a thumb, she held it up where she could see and said. "Are you interested now miss Yuan? I trust you know what this is."

Li Yuan's eyes widened for a few seconds as she looked at what he had in her hand, she could recognise it from it's glimmer alone. The small emerald gem was, "Soul gem, might I examine it."

Ling was against giving something of great worth to her and it took all of his willpower to let hand it to her. He watched her examine it under the light like an excited wild dog.

Soul gems were crystals that were not rare but also not easy to acquire, they could be used and refined to make pills that would be needed for those wanting to break into the spirit rank. This rank was just above the sky rank, it was a rank where one's would and chi would begin to harmonise. Ling had found this in one of the pockets of Chu's clothes after he had taken them, he recognised what they were immediately and knew it's worth especially in their part of the world where it was not common. Since Chu was still too weak for it to be useful to him, Ling decided to discard it for him.

Yaun finished examining the rock and placed it on the table without saying a word. From her face Ling could tell she was confused, he prayed she would not say it was face and have him get thrown out of the building, now that would be embarrassing. Instead she reached out to the drink and popped it open, a few seconds later foam rose to the brim of both their cups as she poured in the drink.

Ling saw this as a green flag, words were not spoken afterwards. They both reached for their cups slowly and took it to their mouth, Ling could feel the thick smell from the saké enter his nostrils, the both downed it in a a few gulps. Ling was an occasional drinker so he was at least pleased that he got to try a good drink for free.

But not to get pulled by this reverie he went straight to business. "So how much will it sell for?"

Li Yuan sighed as she set the cup back on the table and then faced him with a more softened gaze. "I don't pry into the private life of my clients or how they got their items since it is the rule of the trade. But I will satisfy myself the curiosity of this question." Ling expected her to ask how he had gotten such a valuable item his instead she asked something much different. "Why did you choose the weeping shallows to host your valuable?"

Ling took only a few seconds to answer, in a cold manner. "The Weeping Shallows has never turned me down in the first place, besides I hear my mother had a special relationship with this place. But enough of that I need to sell this item now."

He could have sworn that he had seen a smile on Li Yuan's face but a second later she was already talking. "Patience young lord, we could use a day to gather more wealthy pockets that is if you want to maximise profit. If you rush it today you might not get a desirable result."

Ling bowed his head in thought, maximizing his profit was delightful to his ears but it would work against his agenda. He needed the money to purchase the resources he would need to get stronger as soon as he could, if he waited a day for her to do some publicity it would risk his actions getting out to queen Tasha and that would put a bigger target on his back. He had no backing so he could be easily disposed of at any time.

Another reason he wanted to train as quickly as he could was due to the fact that whoever tried to kill him before could send those two thugs back to finish the job, his life was on the line and no illusion of maximizing his profit would blind his decision.

"I can't hold on till tomorrow, what are the terms?" He said boldly.

Li Yuan nodded as if expecting this reply from him and said. "60-40 with the majority going to you of course. If things go well we might get a million for the item."

Now it was Ling's turn to second guess his options. "70-30."

The mistress of the auction house gave a stuffed laugh that put Ling out of place. "I don't hink you understand dear, just because you brought something of great value does not mean you get to set the terms for the business. Remember you need to sell this at the soonest, I doubt the other auction houses will be as understanding. From the way I see it we are you last option, I might be desperate but you are three times as much."

Ling was the at the edge of his rope, the original offer she proposed might have been beneficial to him but he needed to maximise all of his effort if he was to face the challenges that would soon come his way.

He exhaled and turned to face her, his eyes darkening as his tone deepened. "I have a proposal."

"I'm listening." She said with delight in her voice.