From Celestial Official to Great Celestial Venerable

Chapter 5 Stone Lion
"Things from the Great Zhou?"

Qin Chuan squatted down, a faint smile playing on his lips, while his fingers subtly traced each of the "antiques" on the stall.

"Hey, listen carefully! This is a genuine bronze ram-shaped censer from the Zhou Dynasty, an elegant object admired by nobles, an antique that's tens of thousands of years old!"

The stall owner rolled up his sleeves and spoke with great seriousness.

Qin Chuan remained noncommittal.

Tens of thousands of years?
The Great Zhou Dynasty was indeed another glorious era of the Heavenly Court ten thousand years ago, and it was one of the four ancient Heavenly Courts in the myriad worlds.

But on this stall, let alone ancient artifacts, even a genuine item that is more than ten years old is worth taking a second look at.

He got up to leave.

"Take care, it doesn't matter if you don't like what you see. Next time you come, I'll definitely save the good stuff for you!"

Seeing that Qin Chuan had no intention of buying, the stall owner was not annoyed. He maintained his smiling demeanor, tucked his sleeves back into place, and waited for the next customer.

In this industry, it's common to go three years without business, then make enough to live off for three years once you have business. Building up a customer base is a regular occurrence.

Qin Chuan led the horse-drawn carriage, lingering at the small stalls in the alleys and streets, appreciating the so-called "antiques" one by one.

A full half hour passed.

He thought to himself:
"Sure enough, antique markets throughout history and across the world are generally the same. Genuine items are few and far between, and they are mostly imitations. If you want to find a bargain, I'm afraid you're just daydreaming."

Many things, let alone triggering the Heavenly Essence Furnace's response, even he himself found them ridiculously fake upon a cursory glance.

But he did not leave.

Thinking that his third uncle had not yet returned and that there was still plenty of time, he decided to make the best of it and patiently continued to rummage through the stalls, handling each item one by one.

[The stone lions used to guard the house contain profound spiritual meaning...]

The words that suddenly appeared in Qin Chuan's mind from the Heavenly Furnace made his eyelids twitch slightly.

He remained outwardly calm, and instead of lingering over the slightly damaged stone lion, which was about a foot tall, he continued to rummage through the stall, looking for something else.

Only after picking up a small dish did he ask, "How much is this?"

The stall owner with the big ears saw Qin Chuan leading a carriage and assumed he was a wealthy customer. He squinted and smiled, "An old thing from the blessed land of Lishan, a two-thousand-year-old artifact. If you really want it, you can take it for five spirit yuan."

Qin Chuan frowned: "So expensive?"

The stall owner seemed unfazed and laughed, "You think it's too expensive? Why don't you take a look at something else? I have plenty of good stuff here."

Qin Chuan casually picked out a few more items and asked about their prices. He casually inquired about the price of the stone lion and learned that it was priced at "one spirit yuan".

He deliberately showed some interest in the plate and asked, "Can you make this plate cheaper?"

The stall owner sighed, "Seeing that you are young but have good taste, I'll give you a 20% discount and consider this a good deal."

Qin Chuan remained expressionless:

"I'll take this plate and the stone lion for half a string of cash."

"Alright! Let's celebrate today's opening and have some good luck. Here you go!" the stall owner replied readily.

"..."

Qin Chuan's face tightened slightly, and he cursed himself inwardly:
"You gave too much."

I was worried that the stall owner would recognize the goods, but I was overthinking it.

After loading the stone lion and the "bonus" dish onto the carriage, he wandered around for a while longer but found nothing else. Knowing he had to return to wait for his third uncle, he glanced at the stone lion on the carriage, pondered for a moment, then carefully wrapped it in cloth and stuffed it into a basket containing bedding and daily necessities—the secret of the Heavenly Furnace must never be known to outsiders, not even his third uncle.

As the sun began to set and the heat reached its peak, my third uncle finally returned.

"The house I found for you is at the south end of Jianchun Gate, which is outside the ward. It's about three miles from my house and about four miles from the Nongling Temple where you work. It's a bit far, but the rent is cheap. The spiritual energy in that area is among the best outside the ward, enough for you to cultivate to the first level of Qi Refining."

Qin Li came over and took the reins of the carriage, glanced inside, and nodded:

"Good, all sold off? How much did you get?"

“A little over five strings of cash. Third Uncle, how much did you spend on rent?” Qin Chuan asked.

He knew when he arrived that his third uncle's monthly salary, including various subsidies, amounted to no more than ten spirit coins.

"The monthly rent is one guan, with a deposit of one month's rent and three months' rent paid in advance, totaling four spirit yuan."

Seeing Qin Chuan reach for his money, Qin Li waved his hand:

“You’re new here, and you’ll need money for many things. I’ll cover your rent for three months in advance. Don’t worry about paying it back right away; we can talk about it when your salary is more comfortable in the future.”

Qin Chuan noted it down in his mind, said nothing more, and simply nodded in agreement.

The uncle and nephew drove their carriage for another half an hour before arriving at Jianchun Gate.

This place is obviously much quieter than Sifu Street, and the houses are mostly private residences with small courtyards.

Although Qin Chuan had lived in the countryside for a long time, he knew that the city was divided into inner and outer wards. The prosperous area inside the city was divided into seven wards, while the area outside the wards was close to the border between urban and rural areas, mostly residential, but still under the jurisdiction of the county.

The carriage stopped in front of a small courtyard.

At the courtyard gate, a refined-looking middle-aged man was chopping wood with an axe. Upon seeing the carriage arrive, he stopped his work, bowed to Qin Li, and then his gaze fell on Qin Chuan inside the carriage.
"Officer Qin, this must be your nephew who graduated from the Nongling Temple? He is indeed a handsome man."

Qin Li nodded with a smile and introduced Qin Chuan: "This is the landlord, Mr. He Ruifeng. His son, He Xingchen, also became a Taoist priest last year and now works at Langyin Pavilion. You can associate with him more often in the future; they are all young Taoist priests, so you'll have plenty to talk about."

Qin Chuan was filled with awe, realizing that they were from a Taoist family.

"It's all thanks to the children's own hard work."

Mr. He smiled at Qin Chuan and said:

"Officer Qin is right. You young people should visit each other more often. By the way, my family has specially prepared a Mystic Mirror for the purpose of managing the stars. After you finish your duties, you may come and sit down often and watch the programs on it together. In particular, the 'New Writings of Dongsheng' and 'Writings of Jiuchuan County' every night are very beneficial to you Taoists. Listening to the teachings in them will greatly benefit your future development."

The Langyin Pavilion is in charge of broadcasting the audio recording jade talisman and the Xuan Guang Mirror, as well as printing the official gazette. It is the mouthpiece of the Eastern Victory Heavenly Court for propagating its doctrines.

Both the sound recording talisman and the Xuan Guang Mirror are extremely expensive. A single sound recording talisman costs two thousand spirit coins, and those who can use it are all extraordinary figures in Jiuchuan County.

Although the Xuan Guang Mirror is cheaper, it still costs sixty spirit coins per mirror, which is still beyond the reach of ordinary families.

The fact that this person could afford one shows how wealthy he is.

Qin Chuan clasped his hands in thanks: "Thank you, Mr. He."

"Please come inside, everything is ready."

After Mr. He finished speaking, he called out towards the courtyard:
"Qingxuan, come out and help this brother move some things. We have a new member in our courtyard."

As the sound faded, a girl with a ponytail, wearing a light green blouse, peeked out from inside the courtyard gate. She looked about fifteen or sixteen years old.

She spotted the handsome young man standing before the carriage outside the door, and her bright eyes suddenly lit up:
"You must be the new Taoist brother? Hello, my name is He Qingxuan."

"Hello, I am Qin Chuan."

(End of this chapter)