Chapter 35: Ten-Star Main Quest

“Twenty thousand gold coins!” The principal of Feiyang Academy cried out in shock, his regret gnawing at him. He cursed himself for lacking the foresight of Luo Yuan—why hadn’t he put a high-grade martial art up for auction as well?

Everyone in the auction hall turned toward the direction of the voice, but the bidder was seated in a private VIP room, their identity a mystery to all.

“Who’s in that private room?”

“No idea! All the prominent figures in Jiuyang City have their own designated VIP rooms, but as for who’s inside that one, nobody knows!”

“Sis, doesn’t that voice sound a bit familiar?” Meng Chuchu whispered.

Meng Linglong also felt the voice rang a distant bell, but she couldn’t quite place it.

The crowd buzzed with speculation. Ouyang Feiyun hesitated for a moment before raising his bid, “Twenty-one thousand gold coins!”

“Twenty-five thousand gold coins!” The mysterious voice called out again, with unwavering decisiveness.

Now Ouyang Feiyun truly faltered. The price had already more than doubled the original estimate; if he kept bidding, even if he won, it would be a hollow victory.

“Twenty-six thousand gold coins!” This time, it wasn’t Ouyang Feiyun bidding, but the city lord himself, Ouyang Tianfeng.

“Thirty thousand gold coins!”

Though the city lord Ouyang Tianfeng was bidding on behalf of Shengyang Academy, the voice in the VIP room showed him no deference, raising the price to thirty thousand gold coins without hesitation.

“Who in the world is in that room?” Ouyang Tianfeng wondered, glancing at the VIP box where Xin Lang was seated. He ordered his trusted attendant, “Go, find out exactly who’s in there!”

Fatty Gu cried out in astonishment, “Thirty thousand gold coins? Boss, with a bit more, we could nearly buy a small academy like Feiyang! Even if we have plenty of money now, we can’t just throw it away like this!”

Though Fatty Gu was exaggerating, thirty thousand gold coins for a low-tier earth-grade martial art was indeed extravagance bordering on madness!

Xin Lang’s heart ached at the thought of spending thirty thousand gold coins, but chances to buy experience points didn’t come often. For the sake of those ten points, he gritted his teeth and resolved to spend the money.

“Thirty thousand gold coins, going once!”

“Thirty thousand gold coins, going twice!”

“Thirty thousand gold coins, going three times!”

Bang! The old auctioneer Fatty Gu slammed his gavel down on the table.

“Thirty thousand gold coins, sold!” the auctioneer announced in a booming voice.

“Heavens! Thirty thousand gold coins—for a low-tier earth-grade martial art!” The principal of Feiyang Academy cried out, torn between jealousy and envy.

Luo Yuan was no less excited, muttering to himself, “Thirty thousand gold coins… Thirty thousand gold coins… This time, I must make Luoyang Academy one of Jiuyang City’s top martial arts schools!”

As the gavel fell, the level-up device notified Xin Lang that his quest was complete, rewarding him with ten experience points. Now, Xin Lang’s experience had risen to eighty-three.

Xin Lang’s heart surged with excitement. “Now I have the earth-grade martial art. Only seventeen more experience points, and I can ascend to the rank of martial artist!”

But just as he was basking in triumph, a notification window abruptly popped up on the level-up device. Below the quest description shone ten dazzling stars.

“What? A ten-star quest! And it’s a main quest!” Xin Lang gasped in shock.

He had just been flushed with the thrill of approaching a breakthrough, but at the sight of a ten-star main quest, his spirits plummeted into the abyss.

A ten-star main quest!

Even the previous five-star main quest had proved a formidable challenge. If Xin Lang hadn’t secured a fifty-thousand gold coin loan from the Gu family’s “Guangfa” Bank, he’d never have completed it so easily.

But now, what kind of difficulty would this ten-star main quest entail?

“Boss, what’s wrong? Why do you look so gloomy?” Fatty Gu asked, concerned.

Xin Lang calmed himself and replied, “Nothing. In a bit, help me arrange an exit. The Ouyang family will surely want to find out who snatched the earth-grade martial art from under them, and I’d rather not have my identity as an apothecary exposed.”

Fatty Gu, thinking this was his only worry, pounded his chest and vowed, “Don’t worry, boss! As long as I keep my mouth shut, not a soul in Jiuyang City will learn what happened today!”

Xin Lang added, “By the way, I want to exchange all these gold notes for coins. Is that possible with your family?”

“What? Exchange two hundred thousand gold notes for actual coins? That’s so much gold—how are you going to carry it all, boss?” Fatty Gu asked in surprise.

“Don’t worry about that. I have my ways,” Xin Lang replied.

“Two hundred thousand gold coins… Even the Fearsome Auction House can’t pull together that much cash at once!” Fatty Gu exclaimed.

“Then exchange as much as you can for now,” said Xin Lang.

“All right, I’ll make arrangements. Boss, wait here—I'll come back to help you leave discreetly, so no one discovers your identity.” With that, Fatty Gu left Xin Lang’s VIP room.

The Gu family’s gold notes weren’t accepted everywhere in the Great Xia Empire, and their denominations were so large as to be unwieldy. Gold coins, on the other hand, could be spent anywhere in the empire, or even across the entire continent of Jiuzhou.

For most people, carrying so much gold would be unmanageable. But Xin Lang had the level-up device: now that his “pack” function had unlocked ten storage slots, he could easily carry even a million gold coins without issue.

After Fatty Gu left, Xin Lang opened the quest log on his device and carefully examined the details of the ten-star main quest.

Ten-Star Main Quest: Achieve the rank of first-level martial artist within three months, without using the level-up device. Quest reward: 100 experience points. Quest failure: Level-up device usage rights will be revoked.

“What! Reach first-level martial artist in three months!” Reading the quest, Xin Lang broke into a cold sweat.

He had thought that with the level-up device, the path of cultivation would be smooth and effortless—as long as he had experience points, he could advance at will. He hadn’t expected the device to issue such a challenge for a ten-star main quest.

Breaking through from level ten martial disciple to martial artist was a formidable barrier in the path of cultivation; some people spent over a decade unable to cross it. Take Shi Lang, the martial arts instructor at Luoyang Academy, for example—he had been stuck at level ten for years without breaking through.

Xin Lang was acutely aware of the difficulty, and with his unique physique and blocked meridians, the hope of reaching martial artist rank in three months seemed as remote as a grain of sand in the vast ocean.