Emperor’s Domination

Xu Yiyun followed behind Li Qiye and winked: “Is there anything that you need in particular, Young Noble? What are your hobbies? Let me know and I’ll come up with the right place to visit.” 

“You sound like a madam right now.” He glanced at her.

“Young Noble, that’s improper. I’m not a madam, I don’t participate in this trade.” She turned red and let out an awkward smile.

“No need to try and figure me out, feel free to lead the way since you’re familiar with this place.” He said.

Yiyun was surprised at how easygoing he was. She liked this type of personality and gently flipped her ponytail then said: “I know a rather interesting store on this street. Would you like to take a look?”

“Why not?” He chuckled since he had no particular goal in coming here anyway. 

Xu Yiyun led the way. This area was quite complicated with numerous alleys and smaller streets.

Fortunately, she has been here long enough to be familiar with this labyrinth. After numerous turns, they entered an alley and stopped at a small store.

It was quite old with an advertising sign made out of cloth with the characters, ”Tie’s Antique Shop”. The cloth seemed worn enough to tear apart from one touch.

She was familiar and came inside to greet the person sitting behind the counter: “Uncle, look, I found you a customer.”

This was a middle-aged man who appeared to be the shopkeeper. However, he didn’t have a merchant robe on.

His complexion was yellow - a sign of malnourishment. He seemed to be stricken with illness and lacked spirit.

However, he wore a tight robe that outlined his impressive figure, perhaps from doing hard labor for many years.

He coughed and knew who it was without looking up: “You’re running errands again. Why, when you have such a bright future ahead?”

“It’s not a bad thing to work hard. I’m not affecting my clan’s reputation.” Yiyun had a smile as bright as the sun.

Though she wasn’t a kingdom-toppling beauty that could put the swans and fish to shame, she was attractive in her own way.

A cultivator like her was a rare breed. Given her talents, any clan would do everything possible to groom her. There was no need for her to work yet she still chose to do so.

Some would say that this was disgraceful and unbecoming of a genius. However, she ignored the negative comments.

“Why did you bring a guest here today?” He smiled and shook his head before looking up.

Contrary to his sickly appearance, his eyes were black and discerning, seemingly made from precious onyx.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that all of his vitality and essence have been focused on his eyes. Thus, they brimmed with life and energy.

He scanned the scene and skipped Li Qiye right away. However, he trembled the moment he saw Lu Qi.

“Lady…” He immediately stood up and asked respectfully.

“I am here to accompany the young noble, is there anything interesting here?” Lu Qi calmly said.

Xu Yiyun was surprised to see these two know each other.

“Oh, acquaintances, I see.” Li Qiye smiled.

“We had the pleasure of meeting once before.” Lu Qi answered Li Qiye before turning towards the middle-aged man: “Fellow Daoist Tie Jian, this is our young noble. Miss Xu recommended that we come here to take a look.”

The man named Tie Jian stared at Li Qiye and couldn’t come up with an identity. He knew that Lu Qi was a big deal.

If Lu Qi was here, then their lord must be here as well. Normally, Lu Qi always accompanied the lord and rarely showed up alone in public. Why was she here with this man instead of the lord? 

Most importantly, Lu Qi was playing the role of a servant? In his eyes, Li Qiye looked like a lazy youth.

The yin yang realm wasn’t bad for the average sect. However, for the behemoths, it meant nothing.

“Am I not welcomed here?” Li Qiye joked.

“Please take a look, our little store only has old and cheap items but you might fancy something.” The man calmed down and hurriedly replied.

Li Qiye entered the store and saw that it was indeed old. Both the shelves and merchandise have been here for a while. Some had a thin layer of dust covering them.

The uncle was right. The store primarily had antiques and broken treasures. There wasn’t anything worthwhile.

For example, broken arrows, cracked shields, damaged stones… They were clearly taken from ruins.

“Uncle’s store is special in that he sells items from the ancient eras. One might be able to find something interesting among them.” Xu Yiyun smiled.

“Is that so?” Li Qiye glanced at them and said.

“This is a test of knowledge and insight. Some of the items here have a frightening background. I wouldn’t have guessed if Uncle didn’t tell me.” She added.

Li Qiye stopped in front of a shelf. It had an item resembling a jade plate. There were strange lines on it, perhaps cracks on the base. Taking it down for a look might result in breaking it.

“I believe a clan pawned this plate to Uncle.” Yiyun introduced the item.

“White Jade Plate of the Wang. Add water and it’ll create a special dew, add medicine and it’ll create various affinities. Not bad, it’s a shame that the base is broken.”

“You recognize it?” Yiyun found it surprising that Li Qiye understood the item and its effects right away.

Tie Jian felt the same way. The items in the store were personally excavated or purchased by him. Though they were old and damaged, they all had an amazing background.

“I’ve read a few scrolls, that’s all.” Li Qiye smiled.

Yiyun became increasingly curious. Everything Li Qiye said so far displayed nothing but confidence.

“What about this thing?” She picked something else on the shelf. This resembled a dagger yet wasn’t. It lacked a sharp tip along with a hilt. Moreover, a corner was missing.

“This is the Magnificent Mirror from Magnificent School, its heirloom. Unfortunately, that sect is gone and this mirror is finished. Repairing it is difficult.” He glanced at it.

“How about this one?” She was unconvinced and picked up a rusty helmet. It had a hole from being pierced before by a sharp weapon.

He became sentimental and patted the helm to the group’s astonishment. It seemed to have a special significance to him.

“It does not belong to this epoch.” He said while placing it back on the shelf.