Realms In The Firmament

Chapter 10 – The Supreme Dan?

“This egg... Could it be some mythical creature’s egg? What if it hatches... heh heh heh...”

All of a sudden, Ye Xiao’s eyes filled with an endless desire.

Such happiness!

“Hahahahahaha... How could I’ve ever thought that anything inside this quirky place would be ordinary?!

Only a super mythical creature, would be able to brazenly leave its egg here, wouldn’t it?

Look at the table... Hmm, obviously all the qi in this space is gathering here to feed this egg. Only a fraction of the qi arriving at this egg got rejected and was thrown back out after entering the egg...”

“It turns out that all the purple qi I was using for cultivation is actually the inferior qi which this egg doesn’t care about...” Ye Xiao was left speechless.

“I wonder when this egg will hatch...” After some imagination, Ye Xiao checked around the purple table carefully, expecting some other surprises to show up.

It must have been his lucky day because yet another surprise dawned upon him.

There was a small delicate purple box under the table. Inside this box, there were about a dozen round beady pills with the size of soybeans. They were all enveloped by a weak white halo of light.

“This is Pei-Yuan Dan [1].” Ye Xiao was knowledgeable and clear-sighted. How could he not know this stuff?

However, Pei-Yuan Dan was nothing extraordinary in the Qing-Yun realm...

But these Pei-Yuan Dan were at a very high level – they could very well be of the highest quality. When they were made, there wasn’t any efficacy lost due to it being restrained by spiritual energy. They had almost broken through the limit of dan!

Anyway, Ye Xiao had never been able to produce something at such a high level in his prior life.

However... even if it was of the highest level, it was still just Pei-Yuan Dan.

The cheapest of the dans!

“And this is the only benefits I can get?” Ye Xiao felt speechless as he put the Pei-Yuan Dan beads into a jade bottle and left the space with a loud sigh and a groan.

“The qi I get is the discarded qi from that strange egg and the extra profit I get are actually some cheap dan beads. I really can’t think of a word to say!”

......

“Steward, how much money do we have in the family? How much can I use?” Ye Xiao asked the steward.

“Uhh... Well...” The steward seemed to feel awkward, “The money in this family naturally all belongs to you my lord, but the salary of the general and the spoils of war are all for some certain uses. As for those left for you to use, they are... are all in your own closet.”

What he meant was obvious: For those given by the general, he could use them freely; those that wasn’t given to him, he’d better not plan on touching them.

Ye Xiao stared, and then he sighed feebly.

He knew about his father. General Ye was really an uncommonly/extremely nice boss to the soldiers. Most of his incomes were used to pension the relatives of the soldiers who had sacrificed themselves in battles, as well as those left disabled after wars...

This family really didn’t have much money left for their own use...

Thanks to the departed Lord Ye Xiao, who had saved some gold and silver by acting recklessly. However, it was only about 500 gold bars [2]. Last time when he lent some to Zuo Wu Ji, it had taken him 250 gold bars already.

He also took another 500 gold bars from Lan Lang-Lang by blackmailing him...

“Poor! Truly poor!” Ye Xiao was struggling.

“Forget it. Go on with your own business. Just leave me alone.” Ye Xiao waved his hand instructing the steward to move away.

Ye Xiao collected his thoughts for a long time and eventually decided to change his appearance. For him, who used to be the world-renowned Xiao Monarch, it was child’s play to change his appearance by transferring his spiritual power. Besides, now he was... an expert of the Grade of Diyuan.

Although the Pei-Yuan Dan wasn’t good stuff in Ye Xiao’s eyes, it should still be considered one of a kind of tonics in this mortal world... So it would be better not to be found out that he was the one who released them to the public...

Otherwise, there would be endless troubles for him.

A face with a dark and rough look, whiskers that seemed to have been growing for over 30 years and an extremely muscular body.

That was exactly what Ye Xiao looked like after disguising himself. After checking himself out in the mirror over and over, he eventually nodded with satisfaction and then put on a bamboo hat as an extra form of insurance to keep his true identity hidden.

“The Ling-Bao Hall Salesroom!”

Ye Xiao was standing in front of the biggest salesroom in town. It was where tomorrow’s auction was scheduled to be held. It was already bustling with people concerning themselves with decorating this salesroom in preparation for the auction that would take place the following day.

What Zuo Wu-Ji wanted, would appear at this auction...

“Well the name of the salesroom... is truly decent.” Ye Xiao was looking at the busy staff and thinking deeply, murmured in his head, “Wasn’t there a Heaven Attaining Salesroom in... I wonder if all these salesrooms are connected to each other, perhaps they’re just branches?”

He threw his thoughts aside for now and stepped through the door.

“Please hold on, warrior.” A man with a goatee from the salesroom came up to him and smiled fawningly, “The auction will not start till tomorrow...”

It was an obvious statement: Don’t come before tomorrow.

“I come bringing business.” With a raucous voice, Ye Xiao talked chillily, “How can I not know that the date for the auction is tomorrow? That is exactly why I am here today. Go fetch me your boss. Ask him if he wants some supreme dan on his auction. If you don’t do this quickly, I will turn around and leave!”

“Supreme dan?” The man with the goatee frowned lightly.

In the Land of Han-Yang, there would only be one in every one thousand people capable of making drugs. For a drug-maker to be able to reach such a level that he can create a dan, not even one in ten thousand drug-makers would reach such a level! As for dan, it was a wonderful thing that even an unfathomable cultivator couldn’t easily obtain!

Moreover, it was the supreme dan!

But this guy...

“If you don’t mind me asking sir, the dan you are talking about... Could you show it to me?” This goatee-beard man changed the term of address at once, from warrior to sir.

Ye Xiao let out an annoyed grumble and without further ado shook the bottle in his hand, before taking its lid off.

Suddenly, a dense wave of wonderful scent was released.

The governor could only manage to get a measly sniff of it before Ye Xiao had decided to reseal the bottle. Even so, with just a sniff, the governor felt his entire body relax and a comfortable feeling entered his heart.

“Please follow me. I will bring you to our most capable connoisseur immediately.” Only with a sniff, the governor could judge: This supreme dan was very likely genuine!

As the governor of the salesroom, he was naturally well informed, but today was still the first time that he got to appreciate this wonderful scent.

All the ordinary tonics, even other valuable materials that were nearly upper-grade, were unable to be as precious as this!

Ye Xiao sat on a fauteuil as if he was a warrior carrying a golden sword and riding a giant horse. He tasted the tea unhurriedly with a certain calm and confidence showing on his face.

In front of him, the governor had returned in haste, “Sir, Master Guan from our salesroom is here. Master Guan is the number one connoisseur in our Heaven Attaining Salesroom! He’ll definitely be able to tell, if the dans you’re intending to sell are authentic or not.”

Behind him, there was a white-bearded old man radiating vigor.

“May I have your noble name please?” The white-bearded Master Guan smiled gently, “And your title?”

Ye Xiao smiled flatly, “Old gentleman, are you considering... the possibility that there is a dan-maker in this kingdom? Or should we say... That there hasn’t been a dan-maker of such a high level for many years in this kingdom??”

Master Guan laughed, “I didn’t say that. There is always a smarter person and there is always a higher heaven. There is always what we cannot imagine, but nothing that can not be done... However, I have been staying here in the Chen-Xing City for 20 years. If you, sir, have actually brought some real dan... it would only be the third time that I would have the opportunity to auction dan in these 20 years! That is not only a great honor for the salesroom, but also for me!”

Ye Xiao was deeply shocked by his words!

He had still underestimated the value of dan in this mortal world!

Although dan was something ordinary and common in the cultivation field, that was when it was in the Qing-Yun Realm!

A dan with the efficacies of fortifying and nourishing the body was almost the same as rubbish in the Qing-Yun Realm. Who of all those elite cultivators in the Qing-Yun Realm would need such a thing? They wouldn’t even have bothered to bend over and pick it from the ground!

But in the mortal world, a dan like this was enough to be called the immortal dan!

Only one portion could cure hundreds of illnesses!

Only one portion could bring fitness!

Only one portion could heal all wounds!

Moreover, the Pei-Yuan Dan brought by Ye Xiao was actually the top-quality supreme dan!

“Here I congratulate you on having such great luck today. You can be sure that this is your third time to auction dan.” Ye Xiao said flatly, “Besides... If I can get a good deal this time, maybe you will... have the fourth and the fifth great honors like this one!”

Master Guan trembled as he stroked his white beard and started to observe Ye Xiao. He carefully went over Ye Xiao’s characteristics, his dark skin and the bamboo hat which he had worn despite being indoors, and then he said solemnly, “I am Guan Wan-Shan. I dare ask how I should called your honor?”

Ye Xiao smiled, “I am... Feng Zhi-Ling.”

“Greetings, brother Feng.” Guan Wan-Shan nodded and smiled with a fist and palm salute. [3]

Ye Xiao calmly nodded while retaining his previous posture. He would have never thought that the false name he had just now casually picked would turn out to become world-famous and universe-renowned... Many, many years later, it would become a legend in this world: The most honorable, the most handsome, the most unrestrained, the most elegant and the most magnanimous... The perfect-five [4] dan-maker in the world. (Eh-hem, let me play the role... I should be handsome and unrestrained somehow...— words from the author)

“However, I should still see the dan first.” Master Guan straightened his clothes and sat properly. His words might be mannerly, but what he meant was unavoidable.

Ye Xiao wasn’t surprised. He took out the jade bottle from his clothes and casually put it on the table.

Guan Wan-Shan looked surprised. “If it is really supreme dan, how can he keep them in such an inferior bottle?” He suddenly started to question the authenticity of these dan. But the next moment, when he took over the bottle and opened it, a dense stream of qi flowed out, which made Guan Wan-Shan’s expression change instantly!

His hands were shaking vigorously as he tried to seal the bottle very cautiously. It seemed as if he was afraid to let the scent flow away even just a little bit!

Guan Wan-Shan took a deep breath to calm his fast beating heart down. When the dense scent had only barely reached his nostrils and he had felt the qi of life [5] which was the most potent qi he had ever seen in a dan, he realized...

As of now, even the thought of suspecting or disdaining the items taken out by this man in front of him had turned into a massive joke.

This was the most valuable dan he had ever come across in his entire life!

The very next moment he started giving a quick sequence of orders, “Somebody, anybody, quick! Bring me my Purple Crystal Plate quick, and my Purple Jade Bottle... Bring me my Dan-Yang Mirror, hurry!. Quick quick quick...” Then he turned around and asked Ye Xiao in a straightforward manner, “Brother Feng... The urh... How many pieces of this kind of high quality dan are you looking to sell? Just one? Or maybe two? Or...”

His voice was quivering. A 50, maybe 60 years old man, had his face reddened all over and his eyes filled with earnest eagerness and even a little craze.

—————

[1] Dan: One kind of medicine, mostly with miracle efficacy. Pellet-shape pills.

[2] Gold bars: we have decided to change the monetary system from kilograms to bars. 1 bar of gold = 1 kg of gold. We will make changes in the earlier chapters soon.

[3] Fist and palm salute: To cup one’s hands in obeisance or greeting. The right hand is clenched in a fist. The left hand thumb is bent, and the four fingers are stacked and straight. The palm of the left hand is placed over the fist.

[4] Perfect-five: Used to describe Ye Xiao because he has five qualities maxed out- The most honorable, the most handsome, the most unrestrained, the most elegant and the most magnanimous

[5] Qi of life: A form of qi which is found in all living beings.