Chapter 285: Retiring to a Farm
Jia Xueqin would have much preferred to finish his tea rather than spending his limited time smoothing things over with an offended powerful cultivator, but while his position as the head manager of the Premiere Jade Treasures Auction House was often cushy and paid quite well, there were times when he had to earn that large salary. He sighed and rose from his chair.
The first decision he had to make was whether or not to bring Yan Chunhua with him to meet with the cultivator. Sometimes, having the object of the offended party’s ire in the room stirred their thirst for inflicting punishment themselves. With others, seeing the underling suitably chastised by their boss smoothed things over nicely. It all depended on the particular person.
“Follow me,” he told her.
She winced but obeyed his command.
When he reached the door to the receiving chamber, he said, “Stay here out of sight but pay attention. If I call for you, come immediately, head hung low. Fearful.”
She cupped her hands. From her appearance, she definitely wouldn’t have to fake that last part.
After taking a deep breath to center himself, he opened the door to face the wrath of the cultivator. The first things he saw were two dozen swords hovering in the air. As he stepped inside the room and shut the door behind him, the blades rearranged themselves to point at him.
He swallowed hard.
The young man, who didn’t appear to be older than his early twenties, was well groomed with a cleanly shaven face and close cropped hair, but the robe he wore screamed homeless to Jia Xueqin’s sensibilities. He could easily understand why his clerk might have been somewhat less than polite. No one with strong backing was likely to appear in their establishment wearing such rags.
But the young man’s appearance wasn’t the biggest mystery. Jia Xueqin was in the middle realm of Golden Core, and considering that his specialty was appraising, he’d honed his spiritual sense more than any other aspect of his cultivation. As far as he could tell, the man was a mere mortal.
But he couldn’t be a mortal. Streams of finely controlled qi directed each of the blades. Jia Xueqin was positive he couldn’t perform the same feat even if he’d mastered a technique for the purpose.
Clearly, the young man was not so simple.