Desolate Devouring Art

Chapter 530 - Invitation

“Our young lady is hosting a gathering of poetry and songs tomorrow night at the Mooncave Lake. This is the invitation, and we sincerely hope you can attend.” Lady Yan took out an invitation from her pocket and placed it before Liu Wuxie.

She had come late in the evening to prepare the invitation. Mooncave Lake was only so large, and the gathering had to be exclusive. Not everyone was qualified to attend—only one thousand invitations had been issued, and the first was delivered to Liu Wuxie.

“Why invite me?” Liu Wuxie didn’t take a look at the invitation. He wasn’t very interested in this kind of social gathering. On the surface, he was neither a disciple of the three major sects nor a prodigy. His cultivation was only at the Heavenly Phase Realm, and it made no sense for him to be singled out.

“You’ll understand when you come. There are only a thousand invitations, and this is the first one. Please don’t refuse,” Lady Yan smiled, showing her two dimples, making it hard for anyone to refuse.

“Can I decline?” Liu Wuxie rubbed his nose, not wanting to get too close to House of Tea Art. Since he didn’t understand their background, it was best for them to be cautious.

“Young master, what are you worried about?” Lady Yan tilted her head in puzzlement. It was a dream opportunity for anyone to receive this invitation, and many people yearned to be favored by her young lady. So why was Liu Wuxie so indifferent?

“I prefer quiet!” This was a fitting reason because there were over a thousand people, and it was bound to be noisy.

“You don’t have to worry about it. It’s just a gathering for poetry and songs. It won’t be noisy, and you don’t have to worry about safety. With my young lady present, no one will dare to lay a hand on you,” Lady Yan said, seemingly understanding Liu Wuxie’s concerns.

She seemed to understand his concerns. Liu Wuxie had offended the Azure Crimson Gate earlier that afternoon, and trouble from them was expected. But with the House of Tea Art backing him, no one would dare make a move—at least not during the gathering tomorrow night.

“Give me a reason!” Liu Wuxie believed the House of Tea Art had that ability since even the three major sects couldn’t do anything to them. This meant they must have extraordinary means.

“My young lady wishes to meet you, that’s all,” Lady Yan said and stood up. It was getting late, and she didn’t want to disturb Liu Wuxie’s rest.

With how much had been said, Liu Wuxie would be ungrateful if he continued to refuse. After all, the House of Tea Art had helped him resolve the crisis that afternoon, and he naturally had to repay that favor in person.

“I’ll accept the invitation. I’ll come by if I have time tomorrow,” Liu Wuxie didn’t make any promises because there was an entire day left, and anything could happen.

“May I know your name?” Lady Yan smiled. Since Liu Wuxie had accepted the invitation, he had agreed to attend.

“Liu Wuxie!”

“I’ll await your arrival tomorrow. It’s getting late now, so I won’t disturb your rest any longer,” Lady Yan said and walked out.

After seeing her off, Liu Wuxie and the other two ladies returned to the hall.

“Brother Liu, are you going?” Chen Ruoyan asked, worried that Liu Wuxie might be walking into a trap.

Jian Xing’er said nothing, but her expression had already conveyed her doubts. After all, it made no sense why the House of Tea Art would invite Liu Wuxie when they had only arrived in Serene Sea City yesterday.

“They will surely come again tomorrow if I don’t go, and I also want to know what kind of people own the House of Tea Art.” Liu Wuxie knew their concerns, but it would seem too petty not to go when they had delivered an invitation. With how far the conversation had gone, Liu Wuxie didn’t have a reason to refuse.

“We’ll come with you then!” Jian Xing’er said after briefly pondering because they could look out for each other that way.

“You two stay at the inn. Only I’m invited, and I’ll be careful until I know their purpose.” Liu Wuxie shook his head. There were only a thousand spots, and the invitation didn’t include the two ladies.

The night passed quickly, and no one came to disturb them for the rest of the night. When dawn arrived, Liu Wuxie left the inn with the two women.

They wandered around the city and noticed someone following them, but Liu Wuxie did not see it as a threat. He was surprised because the one following them didn’t have ill intentions and only wanted to know his movements.

“Brother Liu, look over there!” Chen Ruoyan was like a happy bird chipping when she left the inn, and she never stopped talking.

Jian Xing’er was also captivated by what she saw. A crowd was gathered roughly a hundred meters away.

When Liu Wuxie extended his divine sense, he saw a few weird items on the floor: stones, wood, and crystals. Hundreds of items were displayed, but no one stepped forward despite the crowd.

There was an old man in the middle with two youths.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we brought these back from the barren land painstakingly. I guarantee that each item comes from the barren land, and we’ll compensate the buyer tenfold if there are any fake!” The youth on the right cupped his hands to the surroundings and pointed at the displayed items.

Items from the barren land held the most attraction in Serene Sea City. Everyone would go into a frenzy if they appeared.

After all, the barren land was too dangerous for everyone to venture there. Many people had gone there before, but most never returned.

Liu Wuxie was also curious about items from the barren land. As for the Dragon Gate Shop, he wasn’t interested because those were fake. He wanted to learn about ancient times and what happened in the True Martial Continent.

He wanted to know why so many items from the Celestial Realm could be found in the True Martial Continent. There was only one possibility: there were once immortals in this continent.

The two women squeezed into the crowd, driven by their curiosity. When they reached the center and saw the items on display, their excitement declined because each item was enveloped in a thick layer of desolate aura.

While the desolate aura wasn’t poisonous or fatal, it could cause irreversible damage to the body if one had prolonged exposure to it. This was why so few people were willing to venture into the barren land.

“These items are strange. My divine sense can’t penetrate them!” The layer of desolate aura blocked out Jian Xing’er’s divine sense, which was eerie.

“So was mine! My divine sense can’t detect what’s inside these items,” Liu Wuxie admitted, reflecting on the tales of treasures rumored to be hidden within the items from the barren land. However, he knew that many of these objects were often empty—finding true value was a matter of luck and intuition.

After many years of studying items from the barren land, Serene Sea City gave birth to many treasure appraisers. These appraisers could determine if there was anything of value inside a rock based on the patterns on the surface. The success rate was low, but it was better than choosing blindly.

Liu Wuxie wasn’t hurrying to try and wanted to observe first.

“Isn’t that the manor lord of the Xiang Clan Manor? Why are they selling their goods here?” Someone recognized the old man’s identity. It was the Xiang Clan’s manor lord, and they could be considered a decent-sized clan in Serene Sea City.

They would send disciples into the barren land each year and bring back many things.

“The Xiang Clan Manor hasn’t been doing well in recent years. They’ve lost many disciples, and they’ve declined,” the people beside Liu Wuxie began to discuss among themselves.

“That’s not the main issue. The three major sects have monopolized the trade of items from the barren land. The other shops can only pick up scraps. The Xiang Clan Manor probably resorted to this measure because they could barely get any business,” another person explained the Xiang Clan’s situation.

The three major sects had practically monopolized the barren land’s business, while the other shops could only sell fake items to fool travelers. This was why the Xiang Clan Manor found it hard to develop independently, and their business continued to decline yearly.

“Well, you can’t blame the Xiang Clan Manor for it. The success rate for finding treasures from items brought out by the three major sects is much higher. I heard the Xiang Clan Manor couldn’t find anything valuable items for the past three years. Would you buy from them if you’re a buyer?”

The conversation continued around Liu Wuxie, allowing him to understand the situation. The Xiang Clan Manor was struggling, so they could only try to sell on the street.

He swept his gaze through the items on display, and the most expensive stone was one million spirit stones. Then again, it would be worth it if spiritual essence could be found inside it. But if it were empty, the one million spirit stones would go down the drain.

In the cultivation world, there was a saying about gambling stones: "One cut to heaven, one to hell." It referred to the risk of opening a stone. One moment, you might find a fortune; the next, you could lose everything if the stone proved to be empty. Some people had gambled on ordinary stones and walked away with high-grade spiritual essence, making massive profits. But just as many had fallen from fortune to ruin.

Liu Wuxie shook his head when he saw the items on the ground. He had also experienced a gambling event when he was in the Celestial Realm, but only a few hundred out of tens of thousands contained spiritual essence.

The prices of those jade stones varied, but the higher prices didn’t always guarantee spiritual essence. On the contrary, some ordinary jade stones could contain high-grade spiritual essence.

Although the items on the ground weren’t jade stones, they were similar.

“Old Xiang, stop setting up your stall here. Your Xiang Clan Manor only brings out the garbage. Do you think anyone is going to buy them?” A group of people squeezed through the crowd and stood on the other side of Liu Wuxie, mocking the old man.

The Xiang Clan Manor hadn’t attracted anything of value in the past three years, and there were rumors that the Xiang Clan Manor only explored the outskirts of the barren land, excavating some ordinary stones to pass them off as genuine items.

The old man’s facial expression became sour at the sight of this group. When Li Wuxie followed the voice and saw the speaker, he frowned because it was someone he knew.

It was Cheng Chen and his group. They were furious after they were barred from the House of Tea Art and were looking for a way to cause trouble for Liu Wuxie. However, they hadn’t expected Liu Wuxie to leave the House of Tea Art so quickly.

When they had gone to the inn to look for Liu Wuxie, a spiritual array had blocked them all out.

“Young masters, our Xiang Clan is only a small business, and here’s a little token of my appreciation.” The old man walked over to Cheng Chen and shoved an interspatial pouch, hoping the other party could show mercy.

The Xiang Clan Manor naturally couldn’t afford to offend elite disciples of the Azure Crimson Gate.

Cheng Chen weighed the interspatial pouch briefly and was about to leave, but he noticed a familiar figure when he looked on the other side of the crowd.