“Pop!” The drumming and the proliferation of the five-colored waves came hand in hand.
Next, the conch loosened up and the rock fell onto Li Qiye’s palm. He then casually tossed the conch over to Yang Ling while he focused on the rock.
“Young Master?” The perplexed girl stared at the conch.
“This is what I wanted to buy.” Li Qiye smiled and put the rock away.
“You didn’t want to buy this conch?” She didn’t expect this answer and wanted to take a better look at the rock. Unfortunately, he has already put it away.
“So what is it?” Curiosity got the best of her so she asked. She thought that the rock was only a place for the conch to rest, nothing more.
Now, it became obvious that he offered a sky-high price for the rock, not the conch. What was so special about the thing to warrant the price?
In fact, the manager and the ancestor felt the same way. They thought that Li Qiye was buying a wooden box and returning the pearls inside. [1]
In reality, the rock’s value far exceeded the conch.
The two exchanged glances. This conch was found by them deep in the ocean. It was already sucking the rock at that point.
They simply focused on the conch’s value and didn’t pay attention to the rock. Plus, what was there to look at? Now, Li Qiye made them regret not paying closer attention to the rock. Alas, it was too late since they had gifted it to him.
“Young, Young Master, what should I do with this?” Yang Ling asked, confused.
“As you please.” Li Qiye said: “Boiling is fine, the same with broiling. Just need a good cook to make it a fine meal.”
“…” Yang Ling became startled. How could she eat something that cost 1,000,000 Grand Heavenly Sovereign Stones?
“I mustn’t…” Her first reaction was refusal. Eating a treasure like this was too wasteful, akin to burning zithers and cooking cranes.
“Then you can do whatever you want.” Li Qiye smiled and shrugged.
“Are you giving it to me?” She was both happy and afraid due to the value of the conch.
Li Qiye nodded, not making a big deal out of it.
“I’ll take care of it then.” Yang Ling happily said: “Maybe one day, it’ll become our clan’s guardian deity.”
“It’s not that easy.” Li Qiye smiled and shook his head: “It requires years and years of accumulation to become a guardian deity. It’s not an overnight thing.”
“That’s okay, I’ll take good care of it.” Yang Ling didn’t think that far ahead and was more than content with this extravagant gift. Just having this conch was already amazing enough for her. She gladly put the conch away.
“Young Master, about our matter…” The Xiong Ancestor spoke next.
“You may speak after showing plenty of courtesy.” Li Qiye glanced at him.
“Young Master, do you think that we can still pull up that place?” He took a deep breath and no longer cared about the rock.
“Yes, nothing is impossible with the right method.” Li Qiye responded.
“Thank you, Young Master.” The emotional ancestor got on his knees, nearly performing a full kowtow.
“Don’t be so quick, there’s no free lunch in this world.” Li Qiye shook his head.
“This lowly one understands.” The ancestor took a deep breath and solemnly said: “We have an item that might pique your interest.”
“That depends on the item, we’ll see if I want it.” Li Qiye said.
The ancestor knew that Li Qiye wasn’t putting up an act. Only a truly valuable item would be able to tempt him.
However, what’s valuable to the world might not be to Li Qiye. It was a completely different concept.
“We got this item from the deep sea.” The ancestor paused for a bit before adding: “During the great calamity.”
“The calamity?” Li Qiye’s eyes shifted slightly.
The ancestor knew that he had a chance after seeing Li Qiye’s reaction. He nodded and said: “Right, our ancestors found this deep in the sea after the calamity, I don’t know the exact time.”
He paused for a moment before continuing: “Back then, the worlds shattered along with the myriad laws. Our ancestors came across this thing by accident. They saw wondrous immortal lights before they got close. It was as if an immortal had descended, truly a fascinating scene…”
“It’s that amazing? This is an immortal item?” Yang Ling was skeptical and thought that the old man was exaggerating.
“I don’t know because I’ve never seen its true form. It’s sealed.” The ancestor said: “We spent all of our resources to get it. The group consisted of more than a hundred experts. Five Heavenly Sovereigns died.”
“Five sovereigns died? What?!” Yang Ling was shocked. Just how powerful was this clan?
“Our clan was renowned back then.” The ancestor said with pride.
That point was their golden era, becoming one of the strongest clans in the nine worlds.
Pride turned into sadness. After this event, their clan started declining, no longer as prestigious as before. This was why they needed to open an aquatic store.
“Let’s take a look.” Li Qiye wasn’t interested in the clan’s glorious history.
“Got it.” The old man immediately ordered the manager. The latter hurriedly left.
A bit after, eight more ancestors walked in while carrying a treasure chest. They all had a serious expression. They were extremely powerful but this chest still gave the impression of being quite heavy.
“So serious?” Yang Ling saw eight ancestors carrying one trunk.
“We’re not trying to be mysterious. This item has always been in a sealed state, the old ancestors said to not open it and we listened. We added another seal in order to prevent unnecessary trouble.” The first ancestor smiled wryly.
Yang Ling realized how important this item was to their clan now. However, they still wanted to make a deal with Li Qiye? This meant that they truly needed Li Qiye’s assistance.
1. Idiom – to show poor judgment