"I have ten of these Kireina Kami mixtures, and my master can make more provided you can get him the right ingredients, what do you think?" Ash said while laying on the best pillow he's experienced in his new and old life. Big sister Ling Xiaojie looks down with a mix of frustration and acceptance, kids will be kids after all.

"I will put this up and we'll see, for now how about we take you to the auction hall?" big sister Xiaojie said. Ash turns over and hugs her tight, no way!

"But I've been alone my whole life, let me stay with big sister a little longer," Ash pleads.

Xiaojie doesn't know what to think. On one hand, the way this child is holding onto her is adorable, on the other... something feels off about his intentions and situation. This potion he's peddling is no simple mixture, the means by which he acquired them must be no simple matter either. His master's connections either run incredibly deep, or he's powerful enough to have no qualms with offending powerful individuals or families. To think he'd send a defenseless fat kid to do his dirty work, this must be a test to see if he can trust their auction house. Ten bottles must just be the tip of the iceberg. It's true she can run circles around this child, and peddle his goods without so much as giving him a cent, but that would come at steep business costs in the future. There is no other way of examining the situation. The only other explanation is that a five year old came to her alone, with this incredible mixture he made or stole, bluffing about a fake master and/or the ability to make more. It's laughable how unlikely that is. A complete nonsense scenario. She has to ensure this child has only good things to report after this transaction, charming him a little will help accomplish that goal.

She rubs his head and he squeezes her waist. Such clinginess, he must really be alone. His nefarious master probably fattened up with many forms of disgusting, experimental foods. That master of his lacks any and all morals. Her pupils enlarge as she runs her fingers through Ash's thick black hair. This poor boy's life could not have been easy. She's probably the first instance of warmth he's gotten since being held as a baby. He deserves to hold on a little longer, but often life refuses to give people what they deserve, for good and for bad. Though her heart bleeds for him, this is just the sad reality of the underground market. The simple truth is that it's better he's being used in this manner, than harvested for organs and blood after many years of cruel experimentation.

That life may still be in the cards for him.

Though his master currently has better uses for this child, he's still a disgusting individual for exposing a kid to this environment. Chances are that these potions are all stolen, but on the off chance she can acquire a steady stream of this mixture, it's better to play it safe. If another auction house gets a steady stream of these potions, Auction Master Ling Jie will have her head for the loss of business. It's unfortunate, but that master's trash intentions won't be changing anything about what she should be doing in this situation. Her job now is to simply auction, not question and interrogate a child. What happens outside this auction house is none of her business. Even though there's definitely something fishy going on, it's fine. It's not uncommon whatsoever for people to hide their intentions in an underground establishment such as this. Regardless, she has work to do.

"I'm sorry little Ash, but I have work I must attend to," she said. Ash rubs his head on her lap once more before pulling himself up. The tears in his eyes as real as they come, it almost tore Xiaojie's heart apart. All good things must come to an end, unfortunately that includes this moment.

"I understand," he said with a sniff, "but can I come visit big sister again?"

"Of course, and bring your master along too," she said.

Who? Oh right, I almost forgot.

"Only if he's satisfied with the way things are handled, I hope you understand," Ash said with a polite bow.

"Of course, I hope the same, now please follow me," she said as she led Ash to a wide hall, where rows of people come with their assortments of snacks and drinks. There is a thunderhoof leg up for sale, can't be worth that much. A man with an incredibly long blue and red colored mustache raises his card.

"1000," he said.

"Sold!"

Ash has no idea what the value of a thunderhoof is compared to other things, or what a thousand even buys. What standard is the money even tied to, a name or an object maybe? In his old world, there were naturally forming stones rich with energy, for any cultivator they'd be worth more than gold because the energy can be used to strengthen the body. Strong body can gather strong materials which can be sold for more energy stones. Or maybe the strong materials can instead be used to get even stronger, so that even stronger materials can potentially be gathered. So long as the cultivator survives and seeks growth, they repeat the process over and over again. A perfect gathering storm which fuels the economy of cultivators by playing into all their needs simultaneously. Spirit stones however are completely useless for people who don't know how to use energy. Taking energy without knowing energy is like filling up a trash bag before learning what trash is. It's aimless effort, and maybe by some freak coincidence someone could throw out the right things, but it won't be consistent and they might throw out something incredibly useful in the process.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

There is a natural order of operations which leads a person into valuing energy stones for what they can do. Many people due to their circumstances opt to not walk the cultivator path. It may be the better choice; It's a proven statistic that cultivators have some of the highest mortality rates in the world. For these reasons, the common person in his old world opts to use normal currency. The way which it works, Ash knows very little about. In this world, if energy rock type currency were to exist, it should be similar to his old world. He just needs to feel out how it works for qi. The real question then is whether this is cultivator currency, or normal currency. For now though, a simple question should help him see what he's dealing with. Ash grabs a breaded shrimp. The macros are poor, but it's what the situation calls for. Xiaojie smiles at him as he takes a bite and his eyes light up. His first piece of fried food in two lives, turns out it's incredibly delicious.

"It's like you've never had it before."

"I haven't, I want more!"

Xiaojie pokes him in the stomach.

Wow that's really firm... is he wearing armor? No... his fat folds must be reinforced because of his master's experiments. Maybe he doesn't have it as bad as I think.

"Well, it'd look bad if you go eat them all, how about I tell the chef to whip you up a basket."

Ash pulls on sister Xiaojie's dress, it's softer than silk, must be quite expensive.

"Sister Xiaojie I would like that very much, how much for the trouble?"

Is he trying to gauge prices? Obviously it's for free, unless... he's trying to tip the chef. I can't take money out the good chef's hands nor can I overcharge this child. This is probably another test from his master, one discreet effort to gauge who I really am under all the fake smiles. Well I won't fall for it! I'll be fair and noble by giving the standard price.

"Ten Gillards. Don't worry about paying we will just subtract it from your earnings. Just take a seat here and I'll have someone bring it for you right away"

"Thanks Sister Xiaojie," Ash said with a hug. His arms only come up to her thighs, but he knew that. She rubs his head once more, good thing he's so short or people would see. There are many men here who's advances she's rejected, a petty noble may just lynch this child for subjecting their petty eyes to Xiaojie getting a hug. Most of them can't harm her, a qi expert, but there were a couple instances of assassins coming for her because she humiliated a noble. Such fragile egos. Killing those nobles were no simple matter, but often such belligerent egotistic people find themselves having many enemies. A few of those enemies to her became formidable allies. Maybe this child's master could become a formidable ally, best then to pry his pawn off before he gets himself killed.

Ash scoots up on the table, barely tall enough to see what's being auctioned below. A raised platform dominates the space below, the walls are adorned with velvet drapes and dazzling chandeliers. Sister Xiaojie barks out rapid fire prices in response to eager bids. Wait, that's not sister xiaojie at all. Ash wipes his eyes. Besides the orange color, her hair is the exact same style and length of sister Xiaojie. It's the same with her tight dark orange dress which leaves very little of her voluptuous figure to his imagination. It's really as though sister Xiaojie got an orange color swap. But sister Xiaojie just left to get him fried shrimp for ten Gillards.

Turns out thunderhoof legs are worth one hundred plates of fried shrimp. Orange Xiaojie is waving her hands around a glowing rock. It's about the size of a bowling ball.

"Spirit stone! Everyone knows what it does, it makes you stronger! We only selling the one, opening bid 10,000 Gillards."

"20,000!" said a man with a dirty black suit, top hat and a lion mask.

"20,000!" Orange sister Xiaojie echoes.

"50,000!" said a long haired blonde woman with an elegant blue dress and a swan mask.

"50,000!" Orange sister Xiaojie echoes again.

"100,000!" said a man in a white suit, top hat, with an incredibly long red and blue twirly mustache and a gold peacock mask. The room falls silent, even orange sister Xiaojie.

Well... that escalated quickly. Turns out spirit stones are real. That man doesn't seem like a cultivator, why does he pay so much for this chunk?

Sister Xiaojie counts down and slams her podium.

"Sold!"

Ash strokes his chin and runs the numbers. This is fantastic information. A spirit stone chunk goes for about a hundred thunderhoof legs, or ten thousand plates of shrimp. A shard would be worth about ten legs or a thousand shrimp plates.

Honestly if the rest of the thunderhoof sells like the legs do, two or three kills would be enough for a shard. I wonder how the bottles will compare.

It's a good thing Ash can do basic conversions. He's not sure if it's normal to use basic mathematics at his age, but with cultivation, anything is possible. As the spirit stone goes behind the velvety red curtains, an intricately carved glass bottle takes it's place. Ash smiles.

It's time.

Orange sister Xiaojie's orange eyes widen as she opens the bottle. The smell is as magnificent as they said. Qi pulses through her finger, disrupting and exciting the mixture. Droplets rise from the surface, raise, and expand into a massive bubble. This may be unprofessional but it's the only way to show everyone exactly what it is that's being sold here.

The bubble bursts and everyone around takes a whiff, including Ash. It's a good thing he didn't apply any before coming here. The strength of the mixture currently on him doesn't compare in potency. It's so washed out that it can only be smelled by getting in close.

He really outdid himself with this recent batch, even without using qi, the coconut aroma has increased twenty percent. There's no doubt about it, awakening qi must have enhanced his body significantly.

If only there was a decent sparring partner to limit test with. Instead he got those lousy Sar brothers.

"Opening bid, one thousand Gillards for ten bottles."

Wait what?

"ten thousand!" said a man with a dirty black suit, top hat and a lion mask.