Chapter 25: Be Wary of Everyone

After Meng Yingxing quietly departed from the Li family’s medical clinic, he, quite coincidentally and luckily, found a massive auction house not far away.

“Nanling Auction House.”

Looking at the auction house’s name engraved on the utterly luxurious, pure gold plaque, Xiu Qingcheng read it out, word for word.

Xiu Qingcheng had heard from Meng Yingxing that this auction house was apparently quite famous.

It was one of the few neutral powers in the cultivation world, respected by both the righteous and demonic paths.

No matter how suspicious the origin of an item, it could be circulated through this auction house.

“With a place like this, why didn’t you come earlier? You nearly lost your life!” Xiu Qingcheng harshly criticized Meng Yingxing.

However, she wasn’t truly trying to criticize him; it was simply because he had nearly been killed.

“I had only heard of this auction house; I didn’t expect there to be a branch in Yongning City,” Meng Yingxing stated, refusing to take the blame.

Then he asked tentatively, “But Master, are you worried about me?”

Xiu Qingcheng didn’t know what was up with this kid.

He seemed incredibly dense, yet at times he was exceptionally sharp.

Just like right now; Xiu Qingcheng was indeed a little worried about Meng Yingxing.

‘As a master, it’s perfectly reasonable to worry about my poor disciple, right!?’

Even so, not just her words were hard, Xiu Qingcheng’s entire body was hard, and she let out a contrary snort: “Don’t read too much into it! I was really just criticizing you.”

The simple blockhead Meng Yingxing believed Xiu Qingcheng’s nonsense and silently nodded, admitting his mistake.

“But this can also serve as a lesson for you. When you’re out and about, you must always be vigilant. Be wary of everyone!”

Although she didn’t really understand how to teach and raise a person, Xiu Qingcheng took this opportunity to properly educate Meng Yingxing.

‘So young, this lad!’

“Everyone?”

Meng Yingxing repeated Xiu Qingcheng’s words.

“Everyone!”

Xiu Qingcheng vowed solemnly.

“Including you, Master?”

Meng Yingxing was skeptical.

Xiu Qingcheng thought for a moment, then said firmly, “Including me! Even the people you’re most familiar with might stab you in the back one day! As you walk through this world, the only person you can truly trust is yourself!”

“Then I still won’t doubt you, Master.”

Meng Yingxing shook his head, “I can be wary of everyone else, but with you, Master, I will always entrust my back to you without reservation.”

Xiu Qingcheng was speechless.

“Aren’t you suspicious that I took you as a disciple for ulterior motives?” Xiu Qingcheng asked.

Meng Yingxing replied, “That is also something I should do as your disciple. Without you, Master, I would have died twice already. This life of mine already belongs to you, Master!”

“Who wants your life!” Xiu Qingcheng’s voice rose a few notches, seemingly dissatisfied with Meng Yingxing’s statement.

Originally, Xiu Qingcheng had taken Meng Yingxing as her disciple merely as a measure of convenience to gain freedom, just for fun.

She never expected her disciple to trust her so completely already.

‘Thinking about it now, I’m really the worst! To actually have ulterior motives towards such a sincere disciple!’

The Ting Tian Sword trembled slightly on Meng Yingxing’s back. It was unclear whether Xiu Qingcheng was agitated or feeling guilty.

However, just hearing Meng Yingxing’s words deeply moved Xiu Qingcheng’s heart.

Being trusted so unconditionally by someone else, a faint warmth and an inexplicable emotion welled up from the bottom of her heart.

This was a rare emotional fluctuation that came from the depths of her soul in all the time since she entered the Divine Weapon Pavilion.

It was like a stone being thrown into a pool of stagnant water.

Countless ripples spread and echoed, the disturbance lingering for a long time.

Xiu Qingcheng was silent for a moment before pushing Meng Yingxing forward into the Nanling Auction House with force.

“Enough nonsense! Since you say this auction house is so legitimate, hurry up and sell that damn rock!”

Because the Condensing Jade Crystal had nearly gotten her disciple killed, Xiu Qingcheng’s name for it had now completely changed to “that damn rock.”

If the Condensing Jade Crystal had consciousness, it would definitely say:

“Insolence! Which rock!?”

Pushed by Xiu Qingcheng, Meng Yingxing entered the auction house.

Inside, he saw many other Tianfeng Sect disciples who had also come down the mountain, including senior brothers who were already official disciples and candidate disciples from the same batch as him.

It made sense. As disciples of a major sect like Tianfeng Sect, it was normal to come to a place like this to procure needed items.

Instead, it was Meng Yingxing who felt out of place here.

Meng Yingxing raised his hand to pull his hood down and also pulled his long hair forward, trying his best to cover most of his face to prevent people from his sect from recognizing him and causing more trouble.

“My dear disciple, there’s something I’ve been wanting to say since I first met you.”

After Meng Yingxing’s series of simple and unadorned attempts to conceal his identity, Xiu Qingcheng spoke up.

As Meng Yingxing walked further into the auction house, he replied to Xiu Qingcheng.

“Go ahead, Master.”

“Your bangs are so long. Aren’t you going to trim them?”

Before, they were just strangers, so Xiu Qingcheng felt it wasn’t her place to say anything.

Now that she was his master, and a master was half a parent to a disciple, Xiu Qingcheng could finally speak her mind.

In her past life, Xiu Qingcheng had been an apprentice to a stylist for a period after graduating.

Right now, it was simply a bit of her old occupational habit acting up.

“…No,” Meng Yingxing refused.

“I’ll trim them for you when we get back,” Xiu Qingcheng said, pretending not to have heard him.

In reality, Xiu Qingcheng was terrible at cutting hair; she had never even touched the clippers during her apprenticeship.

But that wasn’t important to the Xiu Qingcheng of the past.

Right now, she was just having fun.

After a long period of solitude, the long-awaited freedom meant indulging in her whims.

It was Meng Yingxing’s first time in such a place, and he wandered around the auction house like a headless fly.

Eventually, a hostess at the auction house noticed this fly and gave the inexperienced young man an explanation.

In short, according to the hostess, there were two options for selling an item.

The first was to auction it, which could yield a considerable profit but required time.

The second was to sell it directly to the auction house. The auction house would offer a relatively reasonable price, but it would certainly be less than what an auction would bring. The advantage was that it was convenient and fast.

Without a second thought, Meng Yingxing sold it directly to the auction house.

In the end, he received two thousand three hundred taels in spirit silver notes.

This is what you call getting rich overnight.

For Meng Yingxing, this was getting rich overnight.

Two thousand three hundred! He had never even dared to dream of such a sum before!

With money, cultivation materials and tools would no longer be out of his reach.

Ever since this person got money, he walked with his back straighter, the very picture of success and confidence.

“Youths will be youths.”

Xiu Qingcheng remarked with an amused sigh.

Then, as soon as he stepped out of the auction house, Meng Yingxing, who was walking on air, was immediately apprehended by Liu Chenxin, who happened to be right outside.

Meng Yingxing hadn’t been floating for long before he came crashing back down to earth.

He had almost forgotten about his appointment with Liu Chenxin.

Or rather, he had long forgotten.