The shopkeeper of the Phoenix Jade Store quickly arrived at the front door to greet the noble personage. He was a willowy man with greying hair but the smile on his face was exceptionally welcoming and harmless.
His sharp eyes took in the detail of the carriage. Although it was a plain carriage from a single glance, his discerning eyes could make out the Hornless Dragon Wood that was used to construct the carriage and the subtle formations that were carved onto it. Aside from the imperial family, afraid that only the dukes and marquis were able to afford such a luxurious carriage.
The shopkeeper sucked in a cold breath when a child wearing purple robes and white a mantle with a gold coronet on his head stepped out. Aside from the imperial family, no one else was allowed to wear a coronet in the Xi Dynasty.
But more than that, he was shocked by the child's beauty, especially those phoenix eyes of his.
Which prince is this? Could it be the legendary ninth prince?
The child was naturally Tianyi. He turned back and spoke to Daoyi.
"Junior sister, how about we pick a gift for my mother together? Mother doesn't receive many gifts so if she receives a gift from you, her newest disciple, I'm sure she will be happy." Tianyi said.
Daoyi shook her head. "I don't have much, I can't afford the items here."
Tianyi just laughed. "No worries, I'll foot the bill for now."
"But" Daoyi started to speak but Tianyi cut her off.
"The items here aren't that expensive. If you really don't want to owe me, just repay back when you receive your monthly stipend of spiritual stones. As for the quality of stuff here, it's the thought that matters. My mother has numerous treasures that could allow her to purchase the whole dynasty if she wanted. Just pick a gift with sincerity." Tianyi said.
Jiang Daoyi still looked reluctant but after Tianyi convinced her some more, she finally nodded and stepped down from the carriage.
"Shopkeeper, bring out your most beautiful jewelry. It doesn't have to be of high rank, it just needs to be beautiful."
The shopkeeper happily nodded as he heard this and led Tianyi and Daoyi along with eunuch Gao, who had changed into a regular servant robes to hide his identity, towards a private room.
Tianyi stopped momentarily as he looked around him.
"Your highness?" Daoyi asked confused as to why Tianyi suddenly stopped.
Tianyi didn't reply as he sent out his spiritual senses, only to find nothing. "It's nothing, I thought I felt killing intent for a moment. And junior sister, how many times do I have to tell you? Call me senior brother."
"This…I'm afraid that this isn't proper, I haven't officially been accepted as the Sword Empress's disciple yet." Daoyi said.
Tianyi just waved his hand. "It's only a matter of formality." He said as they were brought into a private room where four servants quickly brought some refreshments and snacks to Tianyi and Daoyi who sat down on chairs.
Very soon trays upon trays of all sorts of hairpins, bracelets, earrings, necklaces, and various other sorts of jewelry were brought up to Tianyi to browse while Daoyi sat on the side, trying to distance herself from purchasing anything.
"This is a jade hairpin made from Peacock Essence Jade and is a Foundation Establishment realm artifact, capable of blocking and deflecting attacks from Foundation Establishment realm experts and also able to heal minor wounds."
The shopkeeper said; he was rather proud of this piece of jewelry. Aside from their shop no other stores were able to sell Foundation Establishment realm artifacts.
Tianyi went into deep thought as he saw this. "Shopkeeper can this artifact be activated without qi?"
The shopkeeper paused, as Foundation Establishment realm cultivator himself and one filled with myriad of life experiences he was naturally able to put two and two together. "This one can't but we do have jewelry of the same rank and materials…just that it's not as beautiful."
Tianyi waved his hand. "Bring it out for me to see."
Very soon a azure colored jade bracelet was brought out, there were hints of white marbling throughout the delicate looking bracelet looking especially pleasing along with sculpted sparrows on it.
"This Peacock Essence Jade bracelet, doesn't need any qi to activate it and can block an attack from a Foundation Establishment realm expert but it does not have a healing effect."
Tianyi motioned for it to be brought up and once it was he directly held in his hand inspecting it. "Not bad, although it can only block the attacks of an average early Foundation Establishment realm expert. Speak your price."
The shopkeeper found himself shocked at how accurate Tianyi's analysis was but soon quickly recovered. Sure enough a prince, what good treasure hasn't he seen especially with a Nascent Soul realm emperor for a father.
"5000 low quality spiritual stones." The shopkeeper said.
"Deal." The shopkeeper was shocked at how quickly Tianyi agreed without even trying to barter but soon his insides were filled with delight. If he did well, the portion of spiritual stones that would belong to him will be much more than all the previous months combined.
Very soon even more jewelry was brought out. In the end Tianyi bought a silver buyao hairpin, the material was good but due to improper handling the artifact was stuck at the Qi Gathering realm.
"Honored guest, we do have one more treasure." The shopkeeper said, a bit disappointed that Tianyi had only bought two items.
"Oh? Then why have you not brought it out before?" Tianyi asked.
The shopkeeper smiled. "The hairpin is meticulously crafted and we used a lot of treasures just that…one of the materials is unidentifiable. Once the artifact was forged, the unknown material sucked away all the spiritual qi of the other materials."
Tianyi had his interest peaked. Mysterious materials meant a chance to strike gold while looking for coal, perhaps it might even be a treasure that might interest his mother. "Bring it forward."
The shopkeeper immediately ordered the servants to bring that artifact up. Very soon a servant boy in the Qi Gathering realm brought a tray where a gold buyao on a plush red cushion.
As soon as Tianyi saw it, he felt an incredible sense of familiarity and immediately shivered. My luck can be considered good right? I found another body fragment of the Dragon Emperor, but why can't I feel happy at all!?
Seeing Tianyi's black face the shopkeeper immediately thought he had done something wrong and ordered the servant boy to return the artifact.
"Stop." Tianyi ordered.
The Qi Gathering servant stopped and looked at the shopkeeper for instruction while the shopkeeper looked at Tianyi, who ordered the buyao to be brought up.
When Tianyi touched the buyao, it was made of gold but the mysterious material naturally wasn't the gold but the pearl like stones that dangled from it. Not just one but three of them, although all of them looked to be smaller than the fragment he bought at the Yi Auction House.
"How much?" Tianyi felt his throat become dry as he could already imagine the pain he would go through once more.
"This" The shopkeeper hesitated for a moment before he said. "50,000 low quality spiritual stones."
Tianyi nodded without even batting an eye and in the end he brought out mid quality spirits stones much to the joy and surprise of the shopkeeper. Tianyi even received a discount because he used mid quality spiritual stones. In the end Jiang Daoyi didn't select anything much to Tianyi's frustration.
"Junior sister, return to the palace first. I have something to do." Tianyi said.
Soon Daoyi and the carriage returned to the palace first while the eunuch followed Tianyi.
"What's the best place to buy instruments?" Tianyi asked.
Eunuch Gao immediately answered, as one of the emperor's trusted servants although he didn't know everything but how could he not know the famed stores within the capital? Eunuch Gao led Tianyi to Silent Meditation Tower, although it was a place for scholars to gather and socialize the owner was also one of the famed musical masters in the capital and thus high quality instruments were also sold here.
When Tianyi walked in he was greeted with the sight of many young masters and scholars being served by beautiful female servants with fairy-like elegance and a fox-like beauty on the center stage playing music.
He raised an eyebrow upward and looked at eunuch Gao.
"You sure this isn't a brothel or some other entertainment establishment?" Tianyi asked using voice transmission.
Eunuch Gao lightly coughed. "Your highness, this establishment is highly praised by many officials and as said to be one of the greatest places for scholars to gather."
Tianyi physically stopped himself from rolling his eyes. "Go get someone and tell them I want to buy their best instruments."
Eunuch Gao quickly summoned a servant and asked for a private room. Soon Tianyi was sitting in a private room on the third floor with a table full of side dishes, the room itself looked to be a private booth for a large gathering. It was needlessly large, but since eunuch Gao was the one who asked for it Tianyi didn't say anything.
"Bring me the best instruments you have of each type. I will pay in mid quality spiritual stones." Upon hearing this the servant there was shocked silly and looked up and stared at Tianyi before he quickly looked down once more.
"I'm sorry, I don't have enough authority. I'll call for the manager." The servant quickly left and soon a rather plump man with a jovial face appeared. His keen eye and intuition as a businessman called out to him immediately once he laid upon Tianyi.
"This young lord, you said that you want to buy the best instruments of each type?" The manager did not mention the matter of purchasing with mid quality spiritual stones.
Tianyi nodded and the manager immediately ordered for servants to bring out the best instruments.
Soon various instruments were brought into the room making the original large room quite cramp. Tianyi could see an erhu, guzheng, guqin, pipa, dizi, dulcimer, huqin, liuqin, hulus, xiao, suona, lusheng, sun, and chimes.
Tianyi wasn't a person who understood musical instruments but he could sense the spiritual qi that had seeped into these instruments, making them products of materials that were able to absorb spiritual qi. Compared to Daoyi's old erhu, the difference was like heaven and earth.
With a wave of his hand, Tianyi purchased every single one of them. This action even shocked the manager who had originally thought Tianyi might buy several types of instruments but not all of them. But it was a happy shock, so much that manager could feel his face cramping from smiling so much.
With his business done, Tianyi decided to leave the establishment before his mother somehow knew he was here and then cause some misunderstanding that would result in his mother pushing more troublesome things onto him.
"How dare you!"
Tianyi blinked when he heard those words, he looked onto the first floor where the shout came from. On the first floor near the front where the fox like beauty had been playing there were two youths glaring at each other.
"How dare I what? I simply stated the truth." Tianyi recognized him, how could Tianyi not. This was the youth that tried to assassinate him, there was no way Tianyi could mistake him for anyone else.
And the other person was a Qi Gathering realm cultivator who looked to be a young master of some family judging by his attire.
"Beauty Hu is a perfect match for me! She should be happy that I even deign to give her a fragment of my time! And who are you to intrude on this young master's pleasure!?" The beauty on the stage instantly had an ugly look on her face.
Tianyi held his chin as he watched in great interest.
"Who am I?" The youth sneered as he unsheathed his sword. "I am Lei Jingye, your granddaddy!" Without saying another word he slashed at the young master causing a gash on his arm and making the young master pale in the face as he rapidly retreated.
"Mu Ye! Beat the crap out of this bastard for me!"
A muscular guard behind the young master immediately drew his saber and clashed with Lei Jingye, his qi rippling out resembling the denseness of earth, a Spiritual Altar Foundation realm cultivator.
But Lei Jingye did not shrink back as he clashed head on against the saber with his own sword, his own qi resembling the vastness of ocean, a Spiritual Pillar Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Tianyi was surprised to see that the youth had already broken into the Foundation Establishment realm. Although he didn't see the exact reason for the fight, it should be two men fighting for the beauty right?
Tianyi then revealed a mischievous smile as he unsheathed the sword at his waist, greatly surprising eunuch Gao. Tianyi pushed a finger in front of his lips, gesturing eunuch Gao to stay silent.
Tianyi wasn't an assassin, nor was he skilled at sneaking around like a shadow so he just raised his sword and imbued it with his spiritual qi and covering the sword's surface with lightning. And then with the toothiest smirk he could muster, Tianyi leapt off of the floor towards Lei Jingye, his qi forming an illusion of heaven and earth.
"Whatever your surname is, I'll return the words you spoke to me before! Go to hell!"
Lei Jingye seemed shocked at the sudden turn of events that he only had time to place his sword in front of him like a shield, while the guard was too shocked to react.
Tianyi's sword pierced through Lei Jingye's sword, bifurcating it in two and making the edge clatter onto the ground while Tianyi's sword pierced into Lei Jingye's body and out of his back.
Lei Jingye had an uncomprehending look on his face as blood leaked from his mouth as he stared at Tianyi.
Tianyi, however, was also inwardly stunned. That's it? You should've died so easily right? You were able to dodge the senses of a Core Formation Master, although I did sneak attack you, you shouldn't have died so easily.
Tianyi pulled out the sword letting the stopped blood flow resume, making it dye Lei Jingye's clothes dark red and the dense smell of blood leaked out. "I didn't kill the wrong person did I? Is he an unrelated clone?" Tianyi muttered to himself.
Tianyi ignored the frivolous young master and the wary guard as well as the stunned customers as he poked at the still bleeding corpses with his sword.
"Your highness!" Eunuch Gao said as he followed Tianyi by jumping down from the third floor.
Tianyi looked at him and then pointed at the corpse. "Help me find any information related to him, his name should be Lei Jingye. Even if it's a false name you should be able to discover something right?"
Eunuch Gao stilled for a moment before he bowed. "Of course, your highness."
It was at this moment that the corpse on the ground began to change. The flesh began to bubble as it melted away revealing white bones. Tianyi had an "as expected expression" on his face.
"Tsk, is this a clone technique? How did he get a clone technique that works at the Foundation Establishment realm?" Tianyi muttered to himself.
Afterwards Tianyi compensated the Silent Meditation Tower for the trouble before he left with Eunuch Gao to return to the palace, but not before glancing at the white-faced young master behind his guard.
"Hmmm, even a small Qi Gathering cultivator has a guard. Why don't I have one?"