Chapter 145: Gathering Treasures Pavilion

  A middle-aged man has been working at the pawnshop for twenty or thirty years, starting as an apprentice from a young age. He doesn't know how many customers he's seen, including those foolish and ignorant young people who are muddle-headed.

  He thought his attitude was already very good, Jibao Pawnshop was one of the top five large shops in Yanyun, with business covering several surrounding states, and transactions of tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of spiritual jade were common. A stack of yellow symbols would be barely accepted by the smallest shop downstairs, let alone being put on the Heishan Grand Auction stage, which would be ridiculed by people.

  So in his heart, he regarded Qin Yun as an ungrateful person, and naturally spoke more viciously.

  Qin Yun furrowed his brow: "Since you understand the trade, why don't you take a look at my talismans? This is extreme."

  "Scram, scram!" The middle-aged man waved his hand impatiently and interrupted Qin Yun: "No matter what you say, we won't accept your talismans. If you don't leave now, don't blame me for being rude!"

  The two swordsmen behind him immediately stepped forward, their hands simultaneously pressing on the hilt of their swords, their intimidating stance speaking for itself.

  This naturally didn't intimidate Qin Yun, who reached out to take back the talisman and sneered: "The Aggregation Treasure Pavilion has such a big name, but it turns out they treat guests like this. Today I've gained some insight!"

  "What's going on?"

  At this moment, a majestic voice suddenly came from beside him.

  The middle-aged man turned his head and looked, the originally straight waist suddenly bent down, and a flattering smile was piled on his face: "It's Director Pang, how did you come?"

  The newcomer was an old man in brocade, tall and fat with a ruddy complexion, the flesh on his face folded into layers, his round right hand still fiddling with an iron gallnut, like the master of a wealthy family.

  "I heard the commotion over here, so I came to take a look." The voice of the old man in the brocade robe was very loud and clear. He looked at Qin Yun with a smile and said, "What are you and this young man arguing about?"

  A middle-aged man hastily explained: "Pang, he took a stack of yellow talismans and said he wanted to take pictures for me. I advised him to set up a stall to sell them, but he wouldn't give up!"

  "Hmm!" The old man in the brocade robe gazed at the talisman held by Qin Yun and smiled, asking: "Young man, can I take a look at your talisman?"

  "Of course," Qin Yun handed over the talisman without hesitation.

  He spent two thousand top-grade talismans in Yunshui Xiaozhu, half of which were given to Green Willow, and the remaining half were all brought here. He wanted to see if he could exchange them for spiritual jade at the Black Water Auction House. The large auction house was naturally the best choice.

  Although the middle-aged man's attitude made Qin Yun very annoyed, this brocade-robed old man was polite and courteous, and his temper had always been soft on the outside but hard on the inside, respecting others three points and being respected one foot.

  The old man in the brocade robe put away the iron gallbladder he was playing with in his hand, took over Qin Yun's token and looked at it carefully. A look of surprise immediately floated onto his chubby face.

  Seeing his expression, the middle-aged man next to him immediately had a bad feeling - could it be that this most ordinary yellow talisman still had some special place.

  Only the old man in brocade saw his coarse and round fingers quickly flipping through the talismans, his familiar movements making people's eyes dizzy. After a while, he stopped after flipping through half of them, and his originally narrowed eyes widened.

  He shook the talisman in his hand and asked, his tone becoming increasingly polite: "Excuse me, sir, are all of these top-quality?"

  Qin Yun nodded and replied: "Yes, these two stacks total one thousand Gathering Fire Talismans, all of which are top-grade!"

  Pfft! ~ The middle-aged man suddenly inhaled a mouthful of cold air.

  If it weren't for the verification of the Brocade Emperor, he would definitely loudly mock Qin Yun - even if it's Huang Fu, having a few dozen to over a hundred top-quality symbols is already extremely rare, having over a thousand top-quality symbol talismans, who is he trying to deceive?

  But now he knows that he has made a big mistake, judging people by their appearance and almost offending a customer with great potential.

  This doesn't mean that a thousand top-grade yellow talismans are extremely valuable, in fact, they would only be worth a few hundred spirit jade at an auction, which is nothing to the Treasure Pavilion.

  But what it represents is extremely significant, so many top-grade talismans can only be created by a powerful talisman master, offending Qin Yun means offending a truly brilliant talisman master.

  This is an error that no business can afford to make!

  The middle-aged man suddenly broke out in a cold sweat, hastily piling on a smiling face and saying to Qin Yun: "This young master is truly sorry, I have eyes but fail to recognize the mighty dragon mountain, please don't take offense."

  They say that a smiling face is hard to hit, and Qin Yun was not a narrow-minded person. Since the other party had apologized, he didn't intend to dwell on it too much, so he simply nodded coldly.

  The old man in the brocade robe smiled and said, "We've taken your talisman to the Treasure Gathering Pavilion. After appraisal, we'll try to get a good price for it at auction. My subordinate was rude just now; consider this VIP token an apology!"

  He took out a jade pendant from his pocket and handed it to Qin Yun: "With this token, you can participate in any auction held by our Gathering Treasures Auction House without paying a deposit, and enjoy a 10% discount at all our shops and workshops!"

  Since the other party was so polite, Qin Yun also accepted it without being polite: "Then thank you!"

  This noble emblem is about four inches long and three fingers wide, heavy and substantial, with fine jade texture and internal spiritual energy, which should be a high-quality spiritual jade material. The surface is engraved with countless complex patterns, as well as the mark of the聚宝斋 (Treasures Gathering Studio).

  Not mentioning its function, the jade itself is valuable, it's an extremely sincere gift.

  With the VIP token, Qin Yun can directly enter the auction venue to open his eyes and also see his own symbol being auctioned off. The feeling must be different.

  "Polite, polite!" The old man in the brocade robe smiled with his eyes narrowed to two slits: "I am Pong Tong, humbly serving as the manager of the Treasure Gathering Pavilion. I haven't had the pleasure of learning your esteemed name?"

  "Tiancheng Sword Sect, Qin Yun!"

  The middle-aged man was again covered in cold sweat. To say nothing of other things, just the identity of Qin Yun Tian Cheng's Sword Sect disciple alone was not something he could afford to be rude about.

  Although Ju Bao Zhai has a strong financial resources and great influence, in front of the truly powerful Tian Cheng Jian Zong, it really doesn't have much qualification to compete.

  However, the middle-aged man also felt a bit wronged in his heart. The disciples of Jianzong he had seen were either arrogant or dignified, but Qin Yun was unexpectedly unremarkable in appearance and ordinary in demeanor, so it was understandable that he had misjudged him.

  "Alright, welcome Qin Gongzi to attend our Treasure Gathering auction tonight. With this VIP token, you can take part in the auction and get a share of the proceeds." Pang Tong smiled and said: "I'm sure it won't disappoint you!"

  "Goodbye!" Qin Yun cupped his hands and bowed.

  Pang Tong watched Qin Yun leave, and after a long time, he finally let out a sigh and exclaimed: "Young people these days are really something!"

  The middle-aged man who had been standing respectfully beside him asked cautiously: "Mr. Pang, what you mean is..."

  "I don't care!" Pang Tong scolded with a frown: "You're also an old hand in the business, how could you still do something so stupid? I'll let you off this time, but if anything like this happens again, you can pack your bags and go back to your hometown yourself!"

  "Yes, yes, yes" The middle-aged man was sweating profusely, his head almost touching the ground.

  Qin Yun didn't know that he almost made a senior manager of a business firm go home to eat plain rice, and he was strolling around the stalls in the auction area, looking for something he needed.

  This is the most bustling and prosperous place in Hei Shan Fang Market, many businessmen use tents as shops, set up stalls at the door, and do business very well.

  Due to the numerous goods, Qin Yun didn't have to spend much effort and found many things he needed, all of which were materials required for refining Cloud Symbols.

  The real effort is still in haggling, and the businessmen who can occupy a place here are all astute individuals. They dare to blow up one or two silver things to ten taels, and if you don't know the skill of haggling, you really won't know when you're losing out.

  Qin Yun had no talent in this area, but he also bought a lot of materials, which were at least one-third cheaper than those in the shops of Xuanyuan City.

  He finally understood why people would travel hundreds of miles, taking risks to come to Hei Shan Fang Shi for trade. The low prices were an irresistible temptation.

  Those merchants saw that Qin Yun was inexperienced and tirelessly peddled him things like thousand-year-old lingzhi, ten-thousand-year-old cold iron, and even ancient cultivation methods, peerless sword manuals, and secret scriptures.

  Qin Yun just smiled and let it go, he didn't have much experience, but he was absolutely not a foolish and innocent person.

  As for the top-grade Fire Spirit Jade that Qin Yun desired most, there were also merchants selling it in the market, but the price was extremely high, with one piece requiring an exchange of seventy White Spirit Jades!

  Qin Yun's entire body wasn't even worth two hundred spirit jade, and three pieces weren't enough to exchange for it. The merchant stubbornly refused to budge on the price, so he could only reluctantly give up.

  After circling around, Qin Yun felt that he had gained a lot and was ready to find a nearby wine shop or restaurant to fill his stomach and rest for a while before coming back to the auction house to watch the excitement at night.

  He was walking to the street corner when he suddenly heard a faint voice beside his ear: "Grandpa, I'm so hungry"

  Qin Yun couldn't help but turn his head to look, and saw an old man in tattered clothes squatting at the corner of the street, with a girl who looked like she was eight or nine years old leaning against him.

  In front of the old man was laid out half a tattered cloth, on which were scattered some things, basically just some worthless herbs, roots, stems and animal bones.

  That little girl was very weak and thin, her small hands and face were covered with mud, and her big eyes looked pitiful.

  Upon hearing her plea, the old man helplessly stroked her hair and cooed: "Little Lan, be good, Grandpa will go get you a piece of dry pancake later, just bear with it for now."

  The little girl nodded obediently and didn't say anything else, but it was clear that she was really hungry.

  Such a scene evoked great sympathy in Qin Yun's heart.

  He took out two silver coins from his pocket and walked over, placing them on the old man's tattered cloth in front of him: "Take it to buy something for the kids to eat!"

  Each ingot weighs over 10 taels, and ordinary families can use it for more than half a year by being frugal, allowing the old and young to temporarily solve their food and clothing problems without any worries.

  Looking at the shiny silver coins on the ground, the old man rubbed his eyes in disbelief and was completely speechless.