The room they entered was pure austerity, void of all adornment. A single man stood within, looking through a glass window that overlooked the auction hall. He didn’t turn around as they entered.

  Liang Hu walked forward, bowing low behind the man’s back.

  “Father.” He said, remaining bowed. The man didn’t speak, staring down below, and enough time passed that Yu Chen began to feel awkward.

  “Son.” The man eventually said, without turning around, his tone giving no indication of what he was thinking. “I hear you ran into trouble.”

  A pregnant silence filled the room as Liang Hu didn’t reply right away.

  “You’ve heard.” The young merchant finally said, and to Yu Chen’s surprise the words sounded almost accusatory.

  “I have.” His father replied evenly as he observed the events below.

  “Of course you have.” Liang Hu stated them, bitterly. “You hear everything. Did you know they were waiting for me? You could have warned us, or sent help for me.”

  “I could have saved you, you mean.” His father corrected, his voice even and cold.

  “Yes!” Liang Hu spat out the words. “Why didn’t you?”

  Yu Chen began to feel out of place watching the family spat. He wasn’t the only one, as Sun Yuan shifted uncomfortably nearby.

  “You know why.” His father ground out the words as he spun around. “You call yourself a merchant, sailing up and down the river? You can’t even protect yourself, let alone your crew and your cargo.”

  Liang Hu didn’t speak, but his face flushed red.

  His father continued, ignoring his son’s obvious discomfort. “You think I didn’t look out for you? I ensured that there were no Golden Cores around, and you still lost to a single pirate with a busted Foundation.”

  “What have you lacked? Techniques? Pills?” His father asked, spitting the words out rhetorically. “Nothing! You’ve never lacked for anything, and that is your greatest problem.”

  The elder turned his gaze from his son, giving the four of them a glance, but his eyes lingered on Yu Chen.

  “You’re the one then?” The elder said with a snort. He raised a hand as Yu Chen opened his mouth, cutting him off before he could speak. “No, no need. I can feel it from here. It’s rare for one’s body to reach the level of Foundation Establishment before their qi, but it isn’t unheard of. Most impressive.”

  Yu Chen bowed low in reply, but he didn’t miss the flash of jealousy that crossed Liang Hu’s face at the words.

  “You have saved this worthless son of mine.” He said, looking at all four of them. “For that, I suppose you deserve my thanks.” The elder snorted, casting a gaze down at Liang Hu.

  Yu Chen cast a glance around him, but none of the others seemed inclined to reply. Serbo au Serbo was staring out the window in interest, seemingly oblivious to their conversation, while Sun Yuan stared at the ground, saying nothing at all. Yan Ziqi said nothing, but a slight frown crossed his face as he stared at the elder.

  “My son has already promised to pay your docking fees, but that’s hardly enough of a reward for saving the only son of Elder Liang. Accept this.” The man said. With a slight movement of his hand a sparkling key appeared, and he tossed it towards them.

  It flew towards Yu Chen, who stood in the middle. He caught it and looked down, giving it a quizzical look. The key was the length of his palm and shone with a deep, emerald luster, having been carved entirely from jade.

  “What is this?” Yu Chen asked, looking at it in interest.

  “An Auction Key.” The elder said, his voice tight. “What else could be worth the life of my son?”

  Yu Chen nodded in response, but he cast a slight glance to the side. Yan Ziqi seemed to take the hint.

  “What does it do?” The artificer asked, his tone containing a hint of deference despite his frown.

  “That key marks you as a favored member of the Auction Ship. With that, your docking and lodging will be free, for as long as you choose to stay with us. You’ll also receive access to a box on the third floor and enjoy a slight deduction in the cost of any goods and services aboard the ship.”

  Yu Chen’s eyes rose as the man rattled off the benefits.

  “Show it to the men outside, they’ll find a place for you to stay.” The elder said, turning his attention back towards his son. “Now, if you don’t mind, can you give me some time with this son of mine? We have some things to discuss.”

  It might have been framed as a question, but Yu Chen could tell a dismissal when he heard one. The elder was a Golden Core cultivator, at least, and his level of attainment was so great that Yu Chen couldn’t truly fathom it.

  They said their goodbyes to the young merchant as they left the room behind them, empty besides the two men within it, who couldn’t be further apart despite being so closely related.

  Would Liang Hu’s father truly have let him die? Yu Chen wondered, but the answer never came.

  They showed the key to the cultivators standing guard outside the door of Elder Hu’s room, before following one as he led them to a fancy suite with enough rooms for all four of them.

  It was ostentatious. The sitting room they entered contained lush couches and divans, suitable for cultivators with a good deal more status than they had.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  “I don’t like him.” Yan Ziqi said, casting a wary glance towards the door as it closed behind them.

  “Me either.” Sun Yuan agreed as he threw himself onto one of the soft couches.

  Serbo simply grunted, looking disinterested. “How long we stay here for?”

  “Not long.” Yu Chen replied. “We’ll take a look around, sell some stuff and then be on our way.”

  The others agreed, it seemed no one wanted to stay on the Auction Ship for long. Even Sun Yuan’s earlier enthusiasm had dampened after the meeting with the elder. The others began chatting amongst themselves as Yu Chen walked away, opening the doors as he looked through the suite.

  Most of them led off to large bedrooms that were as grand as everything else filling the ship, the floors were well carpeted, and the beds were covered in lavish bedding and soft linens. Steam flooded out of one of the rooms he opened, revealing a deep-set bath that covered the floor, and was filled to the brim with warm water.

  With nothing else left to do they eventually all fell asleep.

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  They split ways the next morning.

  The others headed off in different directions, exploring the Auction Ship on their own, but Yu Chen began by just wandering aimlessly, looking in interest at everything around. The hallways were mostly empty today, and the glass boxes were clear now that the auction had finished. There weren’t as many people either, but it was still lively, hosting the most concentrated force of cultivators Yu Chen had ever seen in his life.

  Hundreds of cultivators still remained on board, even after the auction concluded, and many of those he passed were a great deal more powerful than he was. Which made sense, given the third level floor they’d been assigned to was reserved for Golden Core Cultivators.

  He began to feel out of place in those rich halls, so he made his way down the ship, exploring the various shops and things he’d overlooked the day before.

  It turned out the Auction Ship hosted a number of other businesses, renting out space to others and giving them a place to sell their wares. Some of them offered inscription services, drawing talismans and glyphs for a price, while others sold cheap artifacts and amulets that offered questionable protection.

  Even alchemists had set up shop, although none had any wares close to what Sun Yuan’s Uncle Lu had offered.

  There wasn’t much of value in these places, at least not for him. Small shops like these simply offered a convenient place for cultivators to pick up the sundry goods they needed when traveling up and down the river. The true things of worth always ended up on the auction block.

  There were still two nights to go until the next auction would take place, so he’d made his way to the docks overlooking the river.

  Yu Chen found a bit of respite here, sitting on the edge of the ship and watching the yellow waters of the river flow by him. It was peaceful here, where he could see the sun shining down upon them, and feel the cool breeze floating through the air.

  It was so different from being within the bowels of the giant ship where time lost its meaning. Everything inside was bathed in the constant glow of charged spirit stones embedded in the walls at even intervals. They cast a soft light that spoke of neither light nor day, but rather of an ever-present now.

  No doubt it encouraged the cultivators inside to stay longer and spend more. Yu Chen himself had felt that urge well up within him, which was one of the reasons he’d come out to the docks, where he could touch water and ground himself.

  He looked over at Liang Hu’s ship that hung in dry dock nearby, a number of artificers swarming over its hull. Yet another service offered by the Auction Ship it seemed. Or perhaps the ship employed them for their own purposes, it no doubt took a small army of them to keep the ship intact.

  Time passed as he sat there watching the ships come and go up the river, but he eventually stood with a sigh as the sun rose high in the sky. There were still some things he had to do. After all, the Auction Key they’d been given was auspicious indeed, providing them with many different benefits, and there was still one that Yu Chen had yet to take advantage of.

  The auction of course.

  They’d agreed to put the seized pirate vessel up for sale, but Yu Chen carried a number of personal items as well, things he’d gathered through his short journey. Most of them were relatively simple, but there were more than a few that he could put up for auction, such as the Scarlet Lotuses he’d charged with fiery energy and the powerful beast bones he’d carried this far.

  Which was how he found himself ushered into a private room, sitting across from an auctioneer.

  In truth Yu Chen wanted to keep these things, as he never knew when they might come in handy. The bones in particular he’d grown fond of, using them as an assisted cultivation device. But between his new breathing technique and the spiritual array, he wasn’t sure if he’d still need them.

  However, when it came time to lay them out, he just couldn’t do it.

  He'd brought out the rest of his collection instead, most of them things that he’d gathered in the Secret Realm alongside Cang Wuji. The auctioneer’s eyebrows rose as the Scarlet Bloom Lotuses he’d found long ago hit the table, emitting a formidable energy, followed by the Moonroot Crystals they’d received after killing a Mirelurk.

  But it was the innocuous golden seedpods that made him adjust his glasses as he picked up one to examine it.

  “Sunveil pods!” The man exclaimed as he turned a seedpod over in his hand. “Unmistakable. You see this tiny golden vein running through them, darker than the rest?”

  Yu Chen gave a dubious nod as he looked over the seedpod the man held out. Truthfully, he thought it looked rather uniform, but he didn’t say that.

  “Quite a treasure you have here my boy, quite a treasure.” The man said as he carefully counted out the seedpods. “One of the Nine Eternal Stabilizers. These will fetch quite a price, I assure you.”

  “The nine what?” Yu Chen asked, leaning forward curiously. He’d carried them around for so long he’d nearly forgotten about them. He hadn’t expected they’d actually turn out to have some value.

  “The Nine Eternal Stabilizers. They are rare ingredients, sought after by alchemists everywhere. While spirit grass is fine for stabilizing the more common pills, you use something like this if you want to produce anything powerful.”

  The auctioneer said, adjusting his glasses.

  “Sunveil pods are among the more common ones, but then again, none of them are truly common, are they?”

  Yu Chen nodded, leaning back as the auctioneer went over the other goods.

  “These Moonroot crystals are only so-so, but these Scarlet Bloom Lotuses…” The man stared at them for a long while before speaking again. “They don’t normally go for very much, but these contain far more energy than normal…”

  The man steepled his fingers as he looked across at Yu Chen.

  “I will say that we attract cultivators from all over, and if a few of them happen to cultivate Fire qi… Well, they could sell for quite a bit, otherwise they’ll only fetch the typical amount. What would you like to do?”

  Yu Chen thought about it.

  No doubt he could sell them directly or trade them for something beneficial if he met someone who cultivated Fire qi and guarantee himself a good price. He didn’t really need to however, and besides, he’d seen how greedy the spirit vessel could be. If push came to shove, he’d rather have the cash to burn, than some amazing items burning a hole in his pocket.

  “I’ll put them up for Auction.” Yu Chen said.

  “Good.” The auctioneer gave a simple reply before tallying the goods and carefully separating them, arranging them in lots that would be placed up for auction in a few days.

  The Auction Ship typically took fifteen percent of whatever was sold, but after the bonus from the key was factored in, they kept less than ten.

  Yu Chen returned to his room after he’d finished handling his affairs, meeting up with the others. They spent the next few days relaxing and exploring the ship, finding there were always new things to see.

  It wasn't long before the night of the next auction arrived.