Chapter 111: Bringing Along a Cheat

At the temple entrance.

The long, straight stone steps were right before their eyes, looking quite breathtaking, as if one false step would send you tumbling all the way down.

People were constantly hunching over as they climbed the mountain.

Chen Shu and the others, however, were heading down.

Taozi had already walked ahead; noticing they hadn't kept up, she turned back to look at them.

Chen Shu was holding up his mobile phone to take pictures.

"Click!"

The ancient stone steps that seemed to have no end, the dappled sunlight filtering through the treetops, the mountain covered in blooming peach blossoms, the young monk in moon-white robes patiently sweeping pine needles one step at a time, and the white cat looking back as it descended the mountain.

Chen Shu put away his mobile phone with satisfaction.

He then also turned his head to take a look.

Looking up from the mountain gate, a continuous stretch of classical palaces covered the entire mountaintop, and the golden roof of the White Tower at the very peak reflected the sunlight.

This scene had been obscured by fog in the morning.

Buddhist Practitioners are skilled at peering into the future, and Xinzheng Temple is the ancestral court of the Buddhist Sect; perhaps they had glimpsed something related to him. But thinking about it carefully, it wouldn't be anything that would surprise him much anyway.

Surprise is useless.

Better to take it in stride.

"Ah~~"

Chen Shu stretched his body long; just as his arms were spread at their widest, Qingqing happened to walk past him, so he took the opportunity to swing his hand and land a harmless punch on Qingqing's back.

Qingqing stopped in her tracks and looked at him expressionlessly, as if she thought he were an idiot.

Chen Shu walked ahead with a grin.

When he stepped away, Qingqing also turned her head to look; for that instant, her gaze was as cold as a deity's, but in less than half a second, she withdrew her gaze and continued walking down the mountain, one step at a time, one stone stair at a time.

The younger sister was following Chen Shu and had already walked far ahead.

Only Taozi was obediently squatting to the side waiting for her.

Looking down were the thousand-year-old stone steps with an endless stream of pilgrims; looking up was the vast Yujing Plain, with only a few feather-like clouds in the azure sky.

The White Tower also had the blue sky at its back.

The Calamity-Responding Bodhisattva stood on the top level, a wide monk's robe draped over his body; he looked down with a peaceful expression, as if admiring the scenery.

Judging by his appearance, this Bodhisattva was likely not what most people would imagine—he was tall and sturdy, at least two meters tall, but not the kind of sturdy with well-defined muscles; his lines were not that sharp, or to use a modern term, his body fat percentage was not low.

Described this way, it seemed the aura of an enlightened high monk vanished all at once.

But he truly did not look like the physique of a master in the public's imagination.

Even his facial features were quite ordinary, with thick brows and large eyes, faintly appearing somewhat ugly; if born on an ordinary person, it would inevitably carry a bit of a fierce look. But there was a natural peace in this Bodhisattva's demeanor that diluted this fierceness, making him look somewhat harmonious.

The Bodhisattva's eyes reflected the Yujing Plain, reflected the long path down the mountain, and also reflected those few figures slowly walking on the stone steps.

How young they are.

Below Xinzheng Temple lies an ancient town.

In ancient times, this was the only interface between the mountain and the world below, a place for the core cultivators of the Buddhist Sect to trade with mortals, Martial Artists, and ordinary Loose Cultivators from below.

The Buddhist Sect has been one of the strongest and largest cultivation systems since ancient times, and Xinzheng Temple was like its headquarters, gathering the core cultivators of the entire Buddhist Sect. Disciples on the mountain sometimes needed to come here to purchase daily necessities or medicinal herbs required by Martial Monks; if a cultivator found a rare treasure and wanted to sell it, selling it to these reputable, prestigious sects in that era was also a good choice. Sometimes Buddhist disciples would also sell some self-made items in exchange for money; for some Loose Cultivators lacking a background, or even cultivators from small sects, these items were each very precious.

Thus, under the lasting protection of Xinzheng Temple, Wangxi Ancient Town below the mountain became a well-known trading market for cultivators outside Yujing Cheng.

Coupled with the fact that it collected no taxes, had stable sources of goods and buyers, and didn't have many rules and regulations, it was passed down generation after generation, and its popularity among Loose Cultivators even exceeded that of the state-run trading markets within Yujing Cheng.

After all, for thousands of years, dynasties have changed several times, but the Buddhist Sect has remained the Buddhist Sect; it's really hard to say which was more stable.

Of course, these were limited to ancient times.

In modern times, it doesn't matter if you are at the foot of Xinzheng Temple or Yuan'an Temple; as long as you open a shop to do business, or even just set up a stall, you must obey Government management, accept market supervision, and abide by national laws.

Things that shouldn't be sold cannot be sold.

Earn how much money you earn, pay how much tax you owe.

However, with more modern tourists, Wangxi Ancient Town has started earning tourist money, becoming far more prosperous than in ancient times.

Especially the street of antiques and curios.

On this street, you can find all sorts of things, from ancient artifacts and Artifacts to Pills dug up from who knows where, to limited-edition albums of some celebrity from decades ago, and then to all sorts of messy rare treasures; there are more fakes than real ones, and whether you lose or gain depends on your own ability.

Chen Shu had never played with these, never once.

Chen Jiaoshou didn't play with these either.

A historian and an appraisal expert are actually two different things, and they don't even have much in common.

If an object is excavated from a tomb, Chen Shu naturally knows it is real. Based on its style, he can also roughly guess the dynasty it belongs to; if it is a relatively famous object, he might even be able to tell its origin story, but if you put a high-quality imitation in front of him and ask him to distinguish which is real and which is fake, he can't tell. If it's the kind of object from a previous dynasty imitating an even earlier one, he can't tell either.

It's estimated that Chen Jiaoshou wouldn't necessarily be able to tell either.

One focuses on written records, the other focuses on craftsmanship details.

They are different.

What's more, modern forgery craftsmanship is truly no joke; don't look at those so-called appraisal experts talking eloquently, they are actually the same as stock market experts—when they have to buy for themselves, you'll know; they aren't sure either.

However, Chen Shu still decided to come and join in the fun today.

First, to broaden his horizons, since he was idle anyway.

Second, he had a Secret Sect Practitioner with him; this thing can head straight to the wilderness outside the city and pick up a Storage Bracelet—isn't that more impressive than an appraisal expert?

Chen Shu walked into this street happily.

First, walk back and forth to see the things for sale, as well as those strange and peculiar rules.

Good heavens!

There really are quite a lot of rare things!

Zhu Fruit, which has been extinct for two thousand years, and the Yuanzhou Fangti that was only just unearthed last year—they've already appeared at the stalls this year!

The inner core of a High-Tier Demon Race; the stall owner says it's been too long and it no longer has any Spirit Power, but it's still fine to use for medicine... Don't doubt it, if there were even the slightest possibility of this thing being real, the stall owner would be locked up in jail right now.

Scales from some unknown strange beast, yet they insist on calling them Dragon Scale.

Seeing that Chen Shu was young, the stall owner tried hard to sell it to him, wanting him to spend twenty thousand yuan to buy it, saying that perhaps at some point he could obtain a great opportunity, such as accidentally having a Dragon Soul acknowledge him as its master, or opening a treasure left behind by the Shengzu, and so on.

Chen Shu was completely speechless.

There are no dragons in this world; he knows better than anyone how this thing came to be. Moreover, since the Great Xia, the depiction of dragons has changed with every dynasty. By the time of the Dayi, Chen Shu could barely even recognize the dragon embroidered on the Emperor's robes.

There are also all kinds of antiques, and who knows if they are even from last week. In any case, according to the boss, every single one is extraordinary—either used by some Emperor or Empress, or used by some famous historical figure. There are also guest appearances by various Ninth Stage Cultivators, and the ones with the most screen time are the fellow countrymen.

Cups, urinals, jewelry worn, and knives and Sword used by fellow countrymen—Chen Shu saw them all.

There were even Contraceptive Bead used by fellow countrymen.

Chen Shu found it all very strange.

There are legitimate things too, and quite a few of them.

The problem is that those legitimate things are all very expensive and almost all have fixed prices; you could completely go to a proper place to buy them, and it would be cheaper than here.

There are also some ancient Artifact.

Whether these things are actually ancient is unknown, but the Artifact are indeed Artifact; the Spirit Power and Talisman Array cannot be faked.

However, powerful Artifact are also controlled items and cannot be sold casually. Here, they only sell some low-performance, poor-quality functional trash Artifact, as well as some objects that have Spirit Power fluctuations but are mysterious and have no known use, and the stall owners ask for extremely high prices.

"Sigh..."

Chen Shu felt deeply disappointed and let out a sigh.

He then turned his head to look at Qingqing and asked, "How is it? My path to getting rich and prosperous depends entirely on you."

"Nothing."

"Not even one?" Chen Shu was a bit puzzled. "Such a big street, and you can't pick up a single one?"

"Picking up a bargain is unrealistic."

"I was even hoping to save up for your bride price."

"I don't want a bride price."

"Then is there a dowry?"

"What do you think?"

"Emmm..."

"You can go buy those things with fixed prices."

"Forget it, the quality is so poor and it's expensive." Chen Shu was thick-skinned. "I want to pick up a bargain and earn some easy money that falls from the sky."

"Everything exists in dreams."

"Sigh..."

"There are no bargains to be picked up, but there is one thing you might be interested in."

"What?"

"Remember that ring over there?"

"Which one?" Chen Shu was stunned, then recalled, "The one the stall owner bragged was a Space Artifact, but had a Forbidden Seal so it couldn't be identified?"

"That is indeed a Space Artifact, it just doesn't have a high value. If you can buy it at a lower price, it might bring you some convenience." Ning Qing glanced at him indifferently. "But it will also bring you a little trouble."

"Oh..."

Chen Shu nodded at length.

Actually, he had the Crystal, and the Crystal itself contained a super huge space. It was just that he was afraid of exposure, so he wouldn't easily use the Crystal to store items, and he had never used it in front of others, so in his daily life, the convenience the Crystal provided him was almost equal to zero.

If he had a Space Artifact, regardless of its size, it could at least be used as a cover.

It was a pity that Space Artifact were truly too expensive and were items with a price but no market, so Chen Shu hadn't thought about buying one before.

"Emmm..."

After a moment of thought, he asked:

"What kind of trouble?"

"A very small trouble."

"Take a guess."

"I can't guess that clearly. I can only know that it is indeed a Space Artifact, but its value is not high. However, if it is paired with you, there are some benefits. At the same time, it also comes with a bit of trouble, probably some counter-measures, curses, or something similar."

"Then I'll go give it a try."

"Its value is very low," Ning Qing reminded him again. "And the stall owner is asking for a high price. If you can't buy it at a low price, it might not necessarily be a gain."

"Hey! They ask for the sky, and I offer on the ground—who doesn't inflate their prices to the heavens?" Chen Shu walked back nonchalantly. "It just so happens I saw something I was quite interested in earlier, I'll go back and take another look."

Ning Qing followed silently behind him.

The little girl was holding Taozi, who was tired from walking, and didn't interrupt at all. When her sister and brother-in-law were talking, she just stood silently behind them, curiously looking at the stalls on both sides. Once her sister and brother-in-law started walking forward, she would automatically take steps to follow.