Stranger Danger

Naturally, Ye Qing got to see the Calabash Celestial and Defeated as well.

Calabash Celestial was a sloven old man in his fifties or sixties. He had a red brandy nose and reeked of alcohol. The man looked like he had just crawled out of the bottom of the table and was nothing like a celestial.

Defeated was a wooden-looking middle-aged man with an ordinary appearance. Seemingly living in his own world, he sat quietly at a corner as soon as he entered the Popularity Tower. He did not fit in with the people around him at all.

Dang!

A bell was struck when every seat in the Popularity Table was filled. Then, the doors slammed shut with a loud bang.

A rotund, jubilant-looking man appeared at the center of the stage. He was none other than the Hill Carrier himself.

“Hahaha! Good day, everyone! I am Xi Duoduo, the host of this Treasure Appreciation Auction.”

“First, I would like to thank everyone for showing up at my humble hill despite your day-to-day. I am most honored to be graced by the presence of so many.”

Xi Duoduo was all smiles, and his eyes were narrowed into slits as he continued, “I’m sure you already know our rules and bidding method, so I shan’t repeat them and waste everyone’s time. I’ll just emphasize three points succinctly. One, you will not fight or disrupt the Treasure Appreciation Auction in any way. Amiability makes you rich, not violence. Two, please don’t bid over your ability to pay. We don’t accept takebacks, so please don’t do something that both of us are going to regret.”

“Finally, we accept both money and goods as payment, but not credit payment. My humble apologies, but my humble hill simply doesn’t make enough money to afford such a service.”

“That is all. Are there any questions?”

“Cut the bullshit and get started already!” Someone yelled impatiently.

“Haha… it looks like everyone’s eager for the Treasure Appreciation Auction to begin. Very well! I hereby declare that the auction is officially open!”

After Xi Duoduo was done, a lotus flower slowly grew out of the stage. It bloomed and swayed lightly to the wind.

A white, porcelain bowl appeared from the center of the lotus, and a huge, red cock was painted on its surface. It looked so lifelike and jubilant that it felt alive.

“This is the first item we’ll be auctioning today. It’s a Hatred-class Strange Artifact called the Cock Bowl.”

Xi Duoduo pointed at the bowl and began his introduction. “I’ll be the first to admit that this Strange Artifact has a lousy name, but as the saying goes, one should not judge a book by its cover. Any object you deposit in this bowl will become as crunchy and tasty as chicken.”

“You are all seasoned travelers, so I shouldn’t need to tell you about the harshness of the wilderness. Imagine spending months in the wild with only hard rations to eat, and cold water to drink. Your mouth feels so bland you almost feel like eating dirt sometimes. But if you have this Strange Artifact, then you can imbue even the blended ration with the delicious taste of chicken. What’s not to like?”

How about everything? Countless people thought and rolled their eyes at the same time.

It was one thing if the Cock Bowl could transform any object into chicken meat, but no, it simply gave it the taste of chicken. This might be useful for those with a special fondness of chicken or gluttonous people in general, but for a warrior, it was completely useless.

“The Cock Bowl is a must-have for any traveler. Why suffer the blandness in your mouth when you can have chicken?” Xi Duoduo ignored the crowd’s disdainful gazes and declared loudly, “The starting bid is one pearl. Begin!”

In the end, someone bought the Cock Bowl for two pearls. It was a lousy opener to say the least.

“Alright. The next item is quite the extraordinary object. It gets cold when it is scorched by fire, and it gets hot when it is chilled by ice. Warm during winter but cold during summer, it is rare even considering all the extraordinary treasures in this world.” Xi Duoduo kept the crowd in suspense. “Why don’t you try guessing what it is, dear customers? If you get it right, I have a mystery reward for you!”

“Mystery reward? What is it?” That piqued the crowd’s interest.

“Well, it’s called a mystery reward. I can’t reveal it until the time is right, can I?” Xi Duoduo smiled. “I can tell you that it is worth at least a thousand silver though!”

“Ah…”

If the offer simply piqued their interest, now it had their full attention. One thousand silver wasn’t a lot, but it was by no means a small number either; not for the majority of the crowd at least.

The early bird gets the worm, so the people did not hesitate to throw their best guesses at Xi Duoduo.

“It’s the Ice Soul Flower!”

“The Fire Rock Fish!”

“It’s gotta be the Winter Cicada, right?”

“The Sunset Bird!”

“The Burning Ice!”

“The Heatless Water!”

……

“Hahaha… unfortunately, none of you got it right so far. Keep guessing, everyone!” Xi Duoduo beamed.

“It gets cold when it is scorched by fire, hot when it is chilled by ice. It is also warm during winter and cold during summer…”

Ye Qing thought quietly as he rubbed his chin. “Could it be the legendary Reverse Cat?”

The Reverse Cat was a very unique Disaster-class Stranger that exuded the opposite qualities when it was subjected to a certain environment. For example, the Reverse Cat would burst into flames in a winter snowland, become encased in ice when it was exposed to the hot sun, turn pitch black at a bright place, and turn as bright as a torchfire in darkness.

Ye Qing didn’t think that was it though. The Reverse Cat fit the description of the mysterious tem fit to a certain extent, but it was hardly perfect.

Ye Qing wasn’t the only knowledgeable person in the room, and Ancestor Greenwood proved that by voicing out the exact same answer, “Is it the Reverse Cat?”

“Hahaha, no.” Xi Duoduo clarified, “The Reverse Cat does share similar characteristics to the object I just described, but as I said before, it is an item, not a Stranger. Please, try again.”

“Unfortunately, I can think of nothing else.” Ancestor Greenwood shook his head.

“Hehehe. How about I give y’all another hint? This item isn’t just rare, there is no one in the jianghu who hasn’t heard of it,” Xi Duoduo continued.

……

The guessing continued for a bit, but no one managed to get it right. In the end, someone finally lost their patience and yelled,

“How does that even make sense? Are you toying with us, Xi Duoduo?”

“Yeah! What the hell turns cold when it’s hot, and turns hot when it’s cold, and is known to everyone in the jianghu? It can’t possibly be the Wenliang Pearl, can it?”

“Hahaha! Congratulations, customer! It is the Wenliang Pearl!”

As soon as the guy finished talking, Xi Duoduo barked out a laugh and pointed a finger at him.

“W-What?”

For a second, the guesser looked completely baffled. I was just making a joke! It was actually the answer?!

“The Wenliang Pearl? Are you for real?” Everyone else was staring at Xi Duoduo with stunned faces, however. Some had even risen to their feet.

Even the disinterested Ancestor Greenwood, Weak Old Man and more subconsciously turned back at the stage with a hint of astonishment.