Old Man, Do You Have Any Money on You

“You walked away without a care, but my Tong family is facing a catastrophe.”

“I can’t afford to lose on this deal.”

Su Ji fell silent for a moment.

He had to admit, this girl might not have much talent for cultivation, but her mind was certainly sharper than that spoiled fool who knew nothing but how to shout.

“Interesting.”

Su Ji smiled. His laughter came through the mask with a muffled undertone. “So what do you plan to do?”

“I don’t plan to do anything.”

Tong Xiaoxiao shook her head. She used the railing to pull herself upright, sweeping her gaze over Shu Yufeng on the floor before looking back at Su Ji.

“Since Young Master Shu wants it, and you want it too—and there are countless others in Skywater City keeping an eye on that sword…”

“Why don’t we…”

Tong Xiaoxiao drew a deep breath. Her voice rose several notches, clear and bright as jade beads falling onto a plate.

She circulated what little spiritual energy she possessed, sending her voice throughout the entire pleasure boat.

“Seven days from now, in Skywater City, the Tong family will hold an auction.”

“That ancestral ancient sword will be auctioned publicly!”

“The highest bidder gets it!”

Boom!

The moment those words left her mouth, the people who had been pretending to be unconscious could no longer keep their heads down. They all looked up, their eyes filled with shock.

Had Young Miss Tong gone mad?

A public auction?

That was a divine sword passed down for tens of thousands of years…

The mere fact that it had not been eroded by the passage of time was enough to reveal just how extraordinary it was.

Shu Yufeng, still sprawled on the floor, was so furious that he nearly spat up another mouthful of blood. He struggled to sit up.

“Tong Xiaoxiao! How dare you! That is—”

“What can’t I dare?”

At that moment, Tong Xiaoxiao seemed to have become an entirely different person.

“If my Tong family can’t protect it, then we’ll sell it to someone who can! It’s true that your Shu family rules Skywater City with an iron fist, but this city isn’t without other powerful outsiders!”

“Within the territory governed by Imperial Mountain, there are rules!”

“A public auction, payment and goods exchanged on the spot. Let’s see who dares break the rules in front of everyone!”

With that, she turned to Su Ji, a trace of pleading in her eyes.

“Since you want it, Young Master, come to the auction in seven days.”

“As long as you can afford the price, the sword will be yours.”

As Su Ji listened, he couldn’t help but whistle inwardly.

What a clever move—driving away the tiger by borrowing the wolf’s power, and diverting the disaster elsewhere.

This girl was treating him as a blade to intimidate Shu Yufeng, while using the auction as a shield to protect the Tong family.

“Tsk.”

Su Ji rubbed his chin. “You’ve certainly thought this through.”

“You flatter me.” Tong Xiaoxiao gave a slight bow. Though her face remained pale, her back was perfectly straight. “This little woman is only trying to stay alive.”

Su Ji looked at her.

“Fine.”

Su Ji nodded and turned to leave. His decisiveness left even Tong Xiaoxiao momentarily stunned.

“Seven days from now, right?”

With his back to everyone, he waved a hand.

“I hope your auction can start on time.”

“And one more thing…”

Su Ji paused and glanced over his shoulder. Beneath the mask, his eyes swept coldly over Shu Yufeng, who had just managed to get back on his feet.

“Go back and tell your father.”

“I’ve already claimed this sword.”

“If he dares to try anything underhanded before the auction…”

Su Ji snapped his fingers.

Crack.

Shu Yufeng’s knees suddenly gave way. An invisible burst of force instantly shattered the protective spiritual energy he had just condensed, and he dropped to his knees once more with a heavy thud.

This time, he fell even harder. The crisp sound of his kneecaps breaking rang out.

“Ahhh!”

His shriek tore through the night sky.

“I don’t know whether I’ll die, but you’ll definitely die before I do.”

With that, Su Ji’s figure blurred. He jumped straight off the terrace and vanished into the vast darkness.

…

Su Jiu was waiting below with a pile of snacks in her arms. When she saw Su Ji come down, she hurriedly held out a skewer of candied hawthorn.

“Senior Brother, here! This one’s delicious!”

Su Ji took the skewer and bit into it. The sourness made his teeth ache.

“Let’s go.”

“Did you get what you wanted?” Su Jiu asked curiously. Although she didn’t know exactly what Su Ji had been after, she could more or less guess.

“No.”

Su Ji chewed the hawthorn and spoke indistinctly. “They wouldn’t give it to me. They insisted on holding some auction.”

“Huh?” Su Jiu blinked. “So are we going to steal it?”

“Steal my ass. We’re respectable people.” Su Ji rolled his eyes. “We’re going to attend the auction.”

The Old Emperor was clearly dissatisfied with Su Ji’s approach.

“Brat, why make things so complicated? We have to wait seven days, and then compete with others over the price?”

“Do you even have that kind of money?”

“Let’s talk while we walk.”

…

Su Ji led Su Jiu through the maze of alleys, his figure darting through them like a ghost.

The noise along the Skywater River was left far behind.

Only after confirming that no one was following them did he stop atop the bell tower in a secluded area.

“So why didn’t we just kill everyone back there?”

“Old Fossil, did sleeping for so long turn your brain to mush?”

Su Ji casually removed his mask and tossed it into his storage ring. As he straightened his slightly disheveled robes, he replied coldly within his sea of consciousness.

“That spoiled brat crushed a jade talisman the moment he was beaten. It was obviously a distress signal. Skywater City is the Shu family’s territory. If I had stayed for even half a tea’s time, the people who came wouldn’t have been a few guards. They would have been some old monster.”

“And what if one came?” the Old Emperor said disdainfully. “With a trace of my power, even an old monster would be no more than a slap away.”

“And then what?” Su Ji rolled his eyes. “Kill the young ones, and the old ones come. Kill the old ones, and even older ones come. How many times can this body of mine withstand that kind of strain? Do you want me to hand over my life in Skywater City before I even reach Imperial Mountain?”

The Old Emperor was silent for a moment. He seemed to admit that Su Ji had a point, but his mouth remained as sharp as ever.

“I think you’re just a coward.”

Su Ji ignored the provocation and turned his gaze toward the brightly lit pleasure boat in the distance.

“Besides, that little girl from the Tong family isn’t simple either.”

Su Ji narrowed his eyes. “I could sense an obscure aura hidden in the darkness, locked onto the pleasure boat the entire time. It might have been some kind of hidden trump card. Whoever it was didn’t act when Shu Yufeng was pressuring her. But the moment I appeared, that aura became even more threatening.”

“They were watching.”

“If I had tried to take the sword by force, I’m afraid what would have greeted me would have been a joint attack from the Tong and Shu families.”

The Old Emperor sneered. “Hmph. Back in my day, I simply crushed everything in my path. Where did all these pointless complications come from?”

Su Ji shook his head, a complicated look flashing through his eyes.

That sword had been the Fallen Dragon’s weapon in his early years. Since the Tong family had been able to obtain it, they must have had countless ties to that person.

Su Ji snatched a somewhat stale osmanthus cake from Su Jiu’s hands and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing slowly.

Now that he had accepted that favor and inherited that person’s legacy, he couldn’t turn around and exterminate the descendants of an old friend merely for the sake of a sword.

He simply couldn’t do such a thing.

It wasn’t that Su Ji was especially noble.

His bottom line was flexible—he could stretch it like a rubber band—but it could not cease to exist.

If he cultivated only for profit, killed everyone he met, and treated everything as a matter of calculating the optimal solution, then by the end of his path, he would have become a heartless demon.

If that was what immortality required, then he would rather do without it.

After a long while, the Old Emperor finally grumbled a curse.

“Womanly compassion.”

Though he continued to curse, the disdain in his tone had faded considerably.

Su Ji smiled and did not argue further.

“Enough. No more pointless talk.”

“Since you agreed to attend the auction, we have to follow the rules.”

“Old Fossil, do you have any money on you?”

The Old Emperor: “…”

“I’m a dignified Immortal Emperor, wealthy enough to possess the world. Why would I need to carry around something as vulgar as money? If I take a fancy to something, who would dare ask me to pay?”

“If I take something from them, that’s me doing them the honor.”

“So you don’t have any.”

Su Ji sighed, wearing an expression that said, I knew it. “What a penniless wretch.”

The Old Emperor exploded in outrage. “Who are you calling a penniless wretch, you brat?! Back in my day, I—”

Su Ji simply blocked him out of his sea of consciousness.

……