Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
As soon as this guqin appeared, all in attendance of this auction could not stay still. Wu Qingzi asked, “This is the Guqin of the Great Saint’s Heritage Tune.” With the accumulation of the Taishang Daoist Sect, a treasure like this is genuinely rare to find.
Besides him, everyone else had the same question.
The Guqin of Great Saint’s Heritage Tune was made by the Ancient Fuxi, considered as the guqin of Saints. Fuxi the Great Saint was once a Saint of the demons. He eventually became king of the humans, which was quite a rare feat for the ancient times where all gods emerged.
If this guqin was really the one left behind by Fuxi the Great Saint, its value would be so colossal it would be difficult to put a price to it.
Xuantong Demon Queen giggled, “Of course not.”
Everyone could not help but felt slightly disappointed, but even more relieved. If Xuantong Demon Queen would even sell the Guqin of the Great Saint’s Heritage Tune, she would be both filthy and crudely rich, or she had lost her mind.
Shen Lian still locked his eyes on the guqin which showcased an aged feel. Even though it was not the authentic thing, it would still have its great origin story.
Xuantong Demon Queen’s strong aura brushed through the strings, forming more intricate aura, cut through the water flow, a sight that opened his eyes.
The structure of the strong aura was so unique. It could cut through the water, temporarily separating the molecules, unable to fuse back.
Such minute abstruseness was definitely eye-opening.
Xuantong Demon Queen continued on, “However this was an imitation made by Zhenren Jinye who got hold of the material of the real guqin. It may not be as good as the real thing, but it had gained spirituality. If you here know music, practice day and night, who knows this could be on your list of instruments when you achieve immortality.”
At the mention of Zhenren Jinye, Shen Lian could hold the tug in his heart. Zhenren Jinye was a music saint recognized from the past generations. He was one of the royal musicians of the king in the mortal world, well versed in Daoism scriptures, and a self-proclaimed Daoist. This man was very talented, one of his kind. He actually managed to realize the Dao formula to achieve immortality by studying the Daoist scriptures himself. That was not even the most amazing feat he has done in his life, for his real love in life was not cultivation but music.
For him to solely focus on his path of music, he blinded his own eyes at the age of twenty. Using his ears as his eyes, focused on the path of music, and finally surpassed godliness.
Shen Lian understood him because Zhenren Jinye used to visit Qing Xuan, welcomed by the then Chief Master, and played in front of Taiwei Pavilion. He once saw the records from a literature:
“Play it once, two mystical flamingos walked in. Play it again, the birds stood side by side. Play it three times, they stretched their necks and sang, spread their wings to dance; Then he played “Qing Jiao”. Subsequently, a mystical cloud rose from the north-west side, riding in with wind and rain, split open the tents, break all utensils, and shatter all roof tiles. What a stimulating performance.”
This shows that the way Zhenren Jinye could fuse music with Daoism fascinated even the elders of Qing Xuan.
As for the ability of Zhenren Jinye to fabricate an imitate guqin of the Great Saint’s Heritage, did not shock Shen Lian at all. Zhenren Jinye himself was from the bloodline of Fuxi the Great Saint, which was slightly diluted after many years of inheritance.
Not many people knew this secret.
It was not known then how much the others knew about Zhenren Jinye. However most people simply thought that regardless of how good the item was, days and nights of practice required so much energy, moreover, it was not authentic, so its effect could not be guaranteed.
Zhenren Jinye could be a little famous, but this was nothing more than a short thunder in their ears. He even had very few fights with others, as most arguments ended up in showcasing his path of music.
Zhenren Jinye was better known for his act of blinding his eyes for the sake of pursuing Daoism. This was often referenced by many cultivators, reminding themselves of his tenacity and focus.
Be it the pursuit of music, or pursuit of Daoism, one would naturally succeed with this piece of attitude.
There were still some people interested in this imitation of the Guqin of the Grand Saint’s Heritage Tune.
Xuantong Demon Queen did not make any base bid, letting them appraise its price themselves.
Wu Qingzi made the first bid, a large offer of fifty thousand Yiyuan Elixir.
When the fifty thousand bid was made, the girl in green dress stuck out her tongue, “This man is such a rich vulgar”.
Third Senior Apprentice-Brother said, “That man is one of the disciples of the Taishang Daoist Sect. People of his sort are not that bothered with fifty thousand Yiyuan Elixir.
The girl in green dress was not clueless too. She knew clearly what Taishang Daoist Sect meant. One of the four grand sects, placed high above the field of cultivation. No outsider knew for sure how much resources they possessed. They only knew that amongst the four main sects, even the youngest sect – Xuantian Sect had trained more than fifteen immortal Zhenrens. So there must be an abundance of mystical treasures from their generations of collection.
She whispered, “With all these wealthy people here, can we even get anything from here, Third Senior Apprentice-Brother?”
Third Senior Apprentice-Brother muttered, “The subsequent treasures will all be traded item to item. If someone has their eye on this item that master ordered us to prepare, we will still succeed without comparing our wealth.”
Qing Huanger saw Wu Qingzi’s bid and shouted without hesitation, “Sixty thousand”.
Wu Qingzi snorted, “You are just a walking beast. You know nothing about music. One hundred thousand.”
He stacked up forty thousand in one go while having a tease on Qing Huanger.
Being as ruthless as he was, Qing Huanger knew that Wu Qingzi was from the Taishang Daoist Sect, yet he replied fearlessly, “What are you pretending about here? You were already rejected before, yet you still had your heart disrupted. I will play this crazy game with you until the end.”
Both their resonance conversed with great power, splashing up the water pond that was initially calm, creating many water wave, as if they were blowing up.
The box of the girl in green was isolated, hence they could not hear any of the resonance, which frustrated them.
Then, the Third Senior Apprentice-Brother took out a piece of talisman, pasted on his junior apprentices respectively, subsequently, a gleam of light passed through and protected their bodies, keep them away from the disruption.
Shen Lian caught a glimpse of this and recognized that was the Celestial Master Talisman from the Zhengyi Sect.
Zhengyi Sect was one of its kind in the Xuanmen, where most of them studied talismans, even their Huandan was talisman seeds that condensate. They were especially skillful in casting spells. One spell could manipulate the weather and turn beans into armies.
The most significant one was the talisman seed of the Nine-Worded Truth. Once it was formed, its power surpasses anything imaginable, not any worse than nine transformations of Huandan.
However, it had been a long time since someone was heard casting this talisman seed, but now the Celestial Master of the Zhengyi Sect was also in the ranks of land immortals, not a force to be looked down on.
The girl in green dress noticed Shen Lian looking over, she could not help blushing as she thought that Shen Lian was looking at her. As cultivators of talisman, though they were required to have a peaceful heart and mind, they were unlike the Dao cultivators who have to cut off all emotional ties. They would blend in well in the mortal world and make many close ties with most countries.
Some countries were even filled with Celestial Master Temple.
Fifth Senior Apprentice-Brother noticed, “He is not looking at you.”
Girl in green said blushingly, “None of your business.”
This conflict between Wu Qingzi and Qing Huanger, was all because Wu Qingzi was a self-proclaimed noble who could not get along with a rude beast of this sort. Even the Taishang Sect did not care about the Great Saint’s bloodline from these demons.
Taishang Daoist Sect was proud to be the inheritor of the Taishang Daoist Master, and the Daoist Master reared a demon beast as his mount.
Daoist Masters, Buddha were realms, and also achievements. However, among all Daoist Masters of Taishang, there was this Taishang Daoist Master, the only one, who once roamed around the mortal world in disguise and educate the people. It was said that the when the heavenly gods created the heaven and earth, even the Taiyi Daoist Master and Buddha seek his Daoist advice before.
Somebody once deduced that even the most extreme of gods and Buddha would not match up to Taishang Daoist Master, but this comparison could not be envisioned by anyone.
Soon enough, both of them had reached a bidding price of two hundred thousand.
This was when both of them became cautious. Though the currency of Yiyuan Elixirs was not much of a value to them, at this magnitude, it would still hurt them to take this amount out. With this amount, they would need to exchange it with one of their own mystical instruments.
A cultivator would not care much about external belongings during cultivation, but to survive in this world, every mystical instrument is an extremely important assistant with great value.
If they could not even protect their own lives, they would not be able to cultivate anything at all.
This was when Shen Lian subtly chipped in, “Three hundred thousand”.
His cultivation was so deep that his resonance was so loud, resonating the whole floating pavilion. It was very obvious, but not piercingly loud to the ears, very soft like it was from the bottom of the heart, and gave an effect of soothing one’s messy emotion.
As Wu Qingzi heard Shen Lian, he stopped arguing, because in his eyes Shen Lian was a bold character, filled with the charm of a Daoist, much pleasant looking than the beast.
Qing Huanger was silently astonished by Shen Lian’s mana. He stared towards Shen Lian, and saw Shen Lian’s visions as clear as a lake. No matter how fierce he looked, there was not a single ripple.
Those eyes were filled with emptiness and loneliness, with a formless film, and some warmth leaking out as a sign of great spiritual strength.
Qing Huanger may be vindictive, but he would not want to make enemies everywhere, plus Shen Lian offered up to three hundred thousand, a sign of his determination to get this treasure. He would not want to put up a fight for a faux guqin.
Moreover, he only cared about what will be put on the table later. The Water Repelling Pearl and the imitated product of Great Saint’s Heritage Tune Guqin would not be of any use to the people of their cultivation level.
The reason Qing Huanger bidded for this Water Repelling Pearl was also because his species was not good in the water, so this Water Repelling Pearl could be put to some use in the future.
Now, Shen Lian had gotten some attention from the others, who were all wondering who this big spending youngster was.
Shen Lian’s name was quite well known in the field of cultivation, but there were very few who saw him personally, so no one actually recognized him.
After all, not everyone had the knowledge and exposure as much as Xuantong Demon Queen.
As soon as Xuantong Demon Queen saw Shen Lian bidded this guqin, she smiled, “My Daoist friend is so magnanimous and bold. This will suit him the most.”
