Don't Cause Trouble Chapter 47: Fragmented Scroll

In the end, the Lightning Dispelling Talisman was auctioned off to the Sword Sect for 150,000 high-grade spirit stones. The entire Yu Xiang Pavilion was filled with murmurs of amazement.

Ordinary sects couldn’t possibly afford that many high-grade spirit stones. Many people glanced toward the private room, curious to see who was inside, but the interior was completely hidden from view.

Someone knocked at the door. Zhou Yun handed over all the spirit stones from both herself and Xu Chengyu. In return, another person brought in the talisman, still encased in its protective shield.

"150,000 high-grade spirit stones for a single talisman... You could buy several Qianji Sects with that," Xia Er whispered as she leaned in close to Ye Su. "Senior Sister, hurry and learn to draw Lightning Dispelling Talismans so we can all get rich."

Ye Su put down her wine cup and chuckled. "I’ll try my best."

"Fellow Daoist Xu, can we have a look?" Lu Jiu stood up and pointed at the talisman inside the protective cover.

"Of course." Xu Chengyu removed the shield and placed the Lightning Dispelling Talisman, which was stored in a box, on the table so everyone could see it.

Lu Jiu only glanced at it briefly before immediately turning away. "Looking at it makes my head spin."

She wasn’t the only one—others felt the same. Staring at the talisman too long would damage the mind.

Ye Su stared a little longer. She didn’t feel dizzy, but she was trying to trace the lines of the talisman, hoping to reconstruct its pattern. But after only a few strokes in her mind, the entire talisman became a blurry mess in her vision.

As expected, a proprietary talisman wouldn’t be that easy to decipher.

"This thing is for use, not for study," Zhou Yun said.

Xu Chengyu put the Lightning Dispelling Talisman away and then looked toward Ye Su. "They’ll probably start auctioning talisman manuals next. Shouldn’t be too expensive."

Ye Su pulled out a pouch of spirit stones and took a quick look inside. This was the total amount she had planned to spend today.

Of course, even all of it combined didn’t equal a single high-grade spirit stone.

When it was time to auction off the manuals, a younger man took over as host. It was obvious the main event had already ended. Some people even got up and left. Those who stayed mostly talked about the talismans that had just been sold, especially the one that went for 150,000 spirit stones.

"This is a beginner-level talisman manual from Yangshan Sect," the auctioneer announced. "Starting bid is 1,000 mid-grade spirit stones. Minimum raise is 100."

After hearing about something that cost 150,000 high-grade spirit stones, this sounded like pocket change. In the private room, Ming Liu Sha commented slowly, "Cheap."

"One thousand," Ye Su bid.

The auctioneer glanced in her direction, lips twitching slightly. Wasn’t this the same private room that just dropped 150,000 high-grade spirit stones? Now they were acting stingy, unwilling to even raise the bid by 100?

But none of the other private rooms made a bid. Talisman experts had no interest in a low-level manual from a declining sect, and non-experts didn’t need it at all.

"One thousand once…" The host called three times in total, and since no one else responded, he concluded the sale. "One beginner talisman manual from Yangshan Sect, sold for 1,000 mid-grade spirit stones to the guest in the third-floor, fourth room on the left."

From then on, every time a talisman manual came up, Ye Su placed the lowest possible bid. Some people, knowing she came from the same room that bought the Lightning Dispelling Talisman, assumed the manuals might be valuable and tried to bid.

But Ye Su never raised her bid again. She let them outbid her, watching as the manuals were taken by others.

Eventually, people started thinking the guest in that private room was just bidding for fun.

"One thousand," Ye Su called out again. Hearing footsteps, she turned her head and saw You Fushi walking over from the cushioned bench in the back. He sat down beside her without hesitation.

He wore a disheveled purple robe, his long hair—once held back with a hairpin—now draped over his shoulders. His black eyes were hazy with sleep, laced with traces of drunkenness.

"What is this?" You Fushi looked at the manuals on the table and flipped through them, only to find them incomprehensible. "Worthless junk."

Ye Su replied calmly, "These might be the things that earn us money in the future."

The junior disciple hesitated for a moment, then gently smoothed out the cover of a manual he had just bent and pushed it back toward her. "Here, I’m returning it to you."

By now, he had a clear understanding of what he could or couldn’t eat—it all depended on Ye Su. She had money, so he could afford slightly better-tasting fasting pills.

Ye Su poured him a cup of hot tea. "You’re not supposed to drink alcohol. Don’t do it again."

You Fushi pretended not to hear. He finished the tea in one gulp and handed the cup back to her. "Ye Su," he said, motioning for her to pour more.

"Alright, three thousand five hundred spirit stones—sold."

While Ye Su poured another cup of hot tea for You Fushi, the talisman manual on the main floor had already been sold to someone else.

"The auction is nearing its end. There’s only one final item left," the host said, raising his hand to point at the display table. "Everyone, this is a fragment of a talisman scroll we retrieved from a small secret realm. We even invited an elder from the Wuxing Sect to examine it, but they couldn’t identify it either. Still, it might turn out to be something valuable—who knows, maybe there’s some hidden opportunity in it."

"Oh, please. It’s not like it came from some inheritance site. They’re just trying to fool rookie cultivators."

The people below weren’t buying it.

"Didn’t Quan Dian Auction House sell a supposedly ‘rare’ broken weapon a few years ago? Everyone thought it was a divine artifact—turns out it was just coated with a layer of hardened beast dung."

"Hahahaha!"

The crowd burst into laughter.

In the private room, Xi Yu asked curiously, "That really happened?"

"I’ve heard of it," Lu Jiu replied. "They nearly got into a fight at the auction. In the end, the Kunlun Sect bought it. Later they found out that the weapon was just covered in hardened beast dung. That’s why the appraiser from the Zhanjin Sect couldn’t identify it at first."

As one of the two major sects, the Sword Sect knew the details even better. Ma Congqiu couldn’t hold back a laugh. "Kunlun always acts so high and mighty—this was the first time they were made a complete joke."

The issue wasn’t even the spirit stones. The real sting was how the Kunlun Sect became the laughingstock of the cultivation world that year.

"The elder who bought that broken weapon was demoted to an administrative post," Xu Chengyu added. "For the next two years, Kunlun went on a beast-slaying spree to save face. The sects even issued an order forbidding their disciples from mentioning the incident."

Kunlun sword cultivators were known in the cultivation world as madmen—solving every problem with a blade, cutting down all injustice and defiance in their path.

"One thousand," Ye Su said as usual, calling the lowest possible bid.

"Fragments like this are usually just hype," Xu Chengyu tried to dissuade her. "This is most likely a waste of money."

"It’s fine. I just want to take a look," Ye Su said, her gaze fixed on the auction platform in the hall below.

Because it was a talisman scroll, the auctioneer flipped open a page to show the bidders a glimpse of its contents.

Ye Su stared at the page, filled with messy, unfamiliar markings. Her mind was drawn in unconsciously. She wanted to flip to the next page and see what came after.

"Two thousand."

Suddenly, a voice rang out from the Wuxing Sect’s private room—Cheng Huaian.

The entire Yu Xiang Pavilion fell silent. The Wuxing Sect was interested in the fragment? Could it really be something powerful?

Then the main hall erupted in chatter.

"Probably just a plant hired by the auction house. Didn’t the Wuxing Sect elder say earlier that they couldn’t tell what it was?"

"Even Kunlun can misjudge things. A mistake from the Wuxing Sect now and then is normal."

"Hahaha, true. At least this time it’s not covered in beast dung—might as well bid big!"

"Three thousand!"

"I’ll bid five thousand!"

People downstairs jumped in for the excitement, raising the price by a thousand at a time.

Ye Su frowned and glanced at her remaining spirit stones. She didn’t have much left.

She put her spirit Qiankun bag away—clearly not planning to bid further.

By now, the price had already risen to seven thousand mid-grade spirit stones.

"Why are they bidding on a broken scroll?" Lian Lian asked as she watched the noisy crowd below. "As soon as the Wuxing Sect joined, these people started hoping to pick up a bargain."

"That fragment looks a little interesting. I want to win it and see what’s on the later pages," Cheng Huaian replied. He didn’t particularly need the scroll—but after sitting here all night, he figured he should buy something so the trip wouldn’t feel wasted.

"One thousand high-grade spirit stones," Cheng Huaian suddenly called out, switching to high-grade bidding.

That shut down the crowd in the main hall. But now, other private rooms began to join in.

"Two thousand high-grade spirit stones."

"Three thousand high-grade spirit stones."

"Five thousand."

Lian Lian was tired of staying there. With a flick of her finger, she pushed open the window. "Everyone, this scroll isn’t anything special. My junior brother just wants to take a look. How about doing us a favor?"

The room fell quiet for a moment, then someone replied, "Cheng the Talisman Master wants it?"

"Today I haven’t bid on anything," Cheng Huaian said, walking to the window and speaking loudly. "I just thought I’d take this last item. No need for everyone to spend more spirit stones."

"If Talisman Master Cheng wants it, of course we won’t compete," the voice replied with a laugh.

Soon, other private rooms echoed the sentiment. After all, Cheng Huaian was one of the most outstanding disciples in the Wuxing Sect, likely to become a top talisman master in the future. Doing him a favor today might mean future benefits.

"Thank you all," Cheng Huaian cupped his hands respectfully. Then he looked down and said to the auction host, "Six thousand high-grade spirit stones."

"Alright, six thousand high-grade spirit stones, going once," the host called out, tapping the bell once, then again after a pause. "Six thousand high-grade spirit stones, going twice…"

"One ten thousand high-grade spirit stones," You Fushi suddenly said aloud.

Ye Su: "?"

The people from Qianji Sect gasped in unison: "!!!"

Even Xu Chengyu and Zhou Yun looked at You Fushi in shock. No one had expected him to speak up.

"You have ten thousand high-grade spirit stones?" Ye Su closed her eyes briefly, then reopened them and asked calmly.

You Fushi leaned on the edge of the table and said confidently, "No, I don’t."

Ye Su almost lost her balance. Just earlier tonight, she hadn’t even seen what a high-grade spirit stone looked like—now, she was about to owe ten thousand of them.

In the cultivation world, all auction bids are final. Once a price is spoken, there's no going back.

"You learn that. Make money," You Fushi said, pointing with his long, clean fingers at the fragment scroll on the auction platform.

Ye Su: "……"

The auction host froze for a second, surprised that someone would challenge the Wuxing Sect’s Cheng Huaian at this moment. But profit came first—he immediately rang the bell. "Ten thousand high-grade spirit stones, going once."

"Senior Sister, since the Wuxing Sect wanted to buy it, they’ll probably keep bidding," Ming Liu Sha said quickly, not as slow as usual.

"Let’s hope so," Ye Su muttered, her gaze falling on You Fushi, who was lounging casually. For the first time, she felt the strong urge to throw someone out.

"Anyone else want to bid?" the auction host asked loudly, eyes turning toward Cheng Huaian’s private room.

"Ten thousand high-grade spirit stones," Lian Lian muttered from inside. "Who are those people in the other room? Throwing money at a useless broken scroll like it's nothing."

"If fellow cultivator wants the scroll that badly, I won’t fight over it," Cheng Huaian said, pushing open the window again. He looked down at the host on the auction floor and added, "Please proceed."

The host snapped out of his daze. "Ten thousand high-grade spirit stones, going twice… going three times—sold!"

Everyone from Qianji Sect fell silent: "……"

It’s over!