Chapter 33 Confession (1/2)
”Ying'er! Meet me at the third floor of Xianfu Teahouse in the south. I have lots to tell you, so please do wait for me there and don't go without meeting me!” Although Lyu Liang was not fully aware of what went wrong, he just felt something was amiss. When he saw Shangguan Ying ran down the stairs, he could only say those words directly from his heart without carefully thinking through them!
Lyu Liang had discoverd Xianfu Teahouse the first time he was walking around the market place. At that time, he was trying to look for a place where he could gather some information and seeing that the teahouse was filled with people going in and out, he decided to go in. Apart from Tianshui Pavilion, Xianfu Teahouse was about the only other place he had an impression on.
Shangguan Ying obviously paused for a second on the stairs, then continued down in a hurry. This and Lyu Liang feel even more anxious, now he was not sure if she would really wait for him at the teahouse.
Aunt Green sighed and shook her head, she thought to teach this lad a lesson, however she thought the better of it when she saw the look of yearning in Lyu Liang's eyes as he watched Shangguan Ying's back.
”Sigh, forget it. Let the younger generation handle their own problems,” Aunt Green thought, as she also descended the stairs afterwards.
By this time, Lyu Liang had somehow calmed down a little bit. He weighed the situation and finally decided to settle his purchases instead of running after Shangguan Ying. He would proceed to the teahouse within the next hour. If Shangguan Ying had made up her mind not to bother about meeting him, there would be no point running after her now.
”What's happened to me? Wasn't it only an upper grade Primordial Stones? Why am I feeling so happy? Why did I feel so disgusted when Senior Brother Li offered to buy me gifts?” Lyu Xinyun pondered. She was feeling both elated and perplexed simultaneously.
”I'm gone through these items and they are as per our requests. Have you counted the Premordial Stones to make sure I've given you the right amount? Ok, so we are good. How about the complementary magic treasure for Premordial Qi or Devil Qi? Don't you have something like that in Tianshui Pavilion?” Lyu Liang had not given up enquiring about it even though it was not among the items the shopkeeper brought to him in the sack.
”Ha ha, don't you be anxious! I will explain to you now. Look at this!” said the shopkeeper as he reached into his robe and took out three soot black bamboo sheets.
”You have come at the right time, my distinguished guests. You have just made it to Tianshui Pavilion's once-in-three-months' auction. The time for the auction will be tomorrow noon. Here are three invitation cards for you to participate in the auction. It will be at the sixth floor,” the shopkeeper pointed towards the sixth floor and reached into his coat again to take out three scrolls. He continued, ”The complementary magic treasure you were inquiring about will be one of the auction items. You may have these three scrolls. In them are the information about the magic treasures on auction tomorrow.” The shopkeeper held out the three scrolls to Lyu Liang and his companions.
Delighted, Lyu Liang thought he had not made this trip in vain! He quickly kept the scroll. He planned to find a place to sit down and look through them carefully later.
”My distinguished guest, I suppose you will be participating in the auction? There are ten floors to our building and from the seventh floor up, there are rooms for our distinguished guests to stay over. If you have purchased our items from the forth or fifth floor, you are considered our distinguished guest. You may take a room upstairs to rest if you each pay one mid grade Premordial Stone!” The shopkeeper's offer was just what Lyu Liang and his companions needed.
”Alright! Here are three mid grade Premordial Stones, please bring us upstairs!” After handing three mid grade Premordial Stones to the shopkeeper, the three followed him up to the seventh floor.
When they reached the seventh floor, three of them were amazed when they felt that the place was filled with a high concentration of Premordial Qi. Lyu Liang truly admired the founder of Tianshui Pavilion for being so thoughtful in the design of the Pavilion.
A housekeeper approached them and communicated with the shopkeeper with their Divine Sense. From there, the housekeeper took over to bring Lyu Liang and his companions into their designated room.
After they entered the room, the housekeeper handed Zhang Ran a golden ball and explained, ”Dear guest, this is your room and this ball is a prohibition ball. Once in the room, you may stimulate its prohibiting effect using your Premordial Qi. In this way, the people outside the room will not be able to use their Divine Sense to sense what's going inside side the room, neither can they enter your room without your permission.”
Zhang Ran could not wait to attempt his breakthrough in cultivation. When he was back in the hills, he had reached the bottleneck before acheiving the Early-stage of Foundation Establishment. At this moment when there was a much higher concentration of Primordial Qi, what better time to try to breakthrought?
The housekeeper led Lyu Liang and Lyu Xinyun further down the corridor until they reached the end where there was a much larger room than that which Zhang Ran had. The shopkeeper took out another prohibition ball and handed it to Lyu Liang. Smiling, he said, ”This is the best room on the seventh floor and coincidental it is not occupied at the moment. You two may use it.” After giving these instructions, the shopkeeper turned to leave.
”Wait, are two of us sharing one room?” Lyu Liang thought it was not an appropriate arrangement.
”Of course! Are you thinking of having separate rooms?” the shopkeeper had come across many guests and he could sense that these two were not regular co-disciples.
Lyu Xinyun was blushing badly by now. She had bowed her head so low and was keeping very quiet. She did not know why she did not try to explain herself, because even with Yu Jun or Qi Lin, she would definitely make things clear if there was any misunderstanding. However, she was even feeling a bit of elation. She chose to remain silent before she could clarify her own sentiments.
”So this was crux of the problem! No wonder Shangguan Ying ran away when she saw us, but it goes to show she... ”Finally Lyu Liang understood what Shangguan Ying's reaction meant and he was thrilled at this revelation!
”Erm, I think you misunderstood it, Mr. shop-keeper. We two are blood brother and sister. I will let my sister have this room while you prepare another one for me please.” Lyu Liang handed the prohibition ball to Lyu Xinyun and looked at the shopkeeper expectantly.
”Oops I'm sorry, no wonder. I could feel that you have very similar aura that complement each other! So you are siblings! Alright, please follow me!” the housekeeper was all smiles again after he a short moment of hesitation.
While Lyu Xinyun was relieved at Lyu Liang's clarification, she felt a sense of loss at the same time. In that instant, she called to mind Shangguan Ying's beautiful face and Lyu Liang smitten look. Suddenly she had the urge to clarify this matter with Lyu Liang.
At this time, Lyu Liang was setting out with the housekeeper on the way to the other room. In desperation, Lyu Xinyun blurted out, ”Senior brother! What is your relationship with the Fairy in red?” However, she regretted immediately, thinking that it was none of her business regardless of Lyu Liang's relationship with that girl!
”Ah? Oh, haven't you heard about what was going around in Immortal Palace? The story about how I exposed the ploy of the Great Dmon beast? In fact, this fairy and I went through that incident together and on that occasion she actually saved my life, but we were actually acquinted before that. There was no time for me to express my gratitude properly, so I will make it up to her later,” Lyu Liang said. What he said was the truth, except he had left out the part about his feeling of admiration for her.
Although Lyu Xinyun felt uneasy knowing that Lyu Liang was going to meet up with Shangguan Ying later, she did not say anything but went back to her room.