The girl couldn't help but feel excited. She pursed her lips into a straight line, her hands clasped tightly together.

    "The starting bid is at ten stones," upon hearing this, Yi You couldn't help but smirk.

    She knew that her monthly allowance was only ten stones. One painting earning ten stones was equivalent to her entire month's allowance.

    However...

    Silence…

    People furrowed their brows, trying to scrutinize the painting with keen interest. Those in the special rooms even stepped out onto the balconies to get a clearer view.

    The painting is too far for them to see?

    Yi You wanted to grab a tofu block and knock some sense into herself.

    A beautiful painting unrecognized is one thing, but to have high expectations to the point of staring deathly for its unique qualities, which it did not possess, was another.

    Can't they see it's just a painting?

    But it’s actually really beautiful, though, right?

    It’s beautiful, don't you understand? It’s very beautiful.

    Yi You wanted to cry, but she had no tears. Next time she decided to sell a painting, she would request the manager to display it before the auction starts.

    "If there are no bidders..." the manager hadn't even finished speaking when a lady at the front raised her bid.

    She could see the painting clearly. Though it was just an ordinary painting, it was very beautiful.

    Everything appeared lifelike: every tree had minute details, the girl and the deer, including the fireflies, all seemed real.

    It was soothing to the eyes in an indescribable way.

    "Twenty stones," a clear, sweet voice echoed, drawing immediate attention.

    "Thirty," another lady not far away raised her bid as well.

    "Fifty stones," this time it was a man’s voice, and when she looked, it was the most dangerous man there.

    Master Second of the Liu clan.

    Seeing Cousin Second raise his bid, the corner of her eye twitched uncontrollably. If he knew she was the artist, her fate would not be pretty.

    "One hundred stones."

    "One hundred and fifty."

    The bids escalated steadily. Yi You sighed in relief, thinking the painting would have no bidders at all.

    Eventually, the bidding stopped at three hundred stones for the unnamed painting. She thought it was a good outcome and nodded in satisfaction.

    The bidders were all from the front rows. Those in the special rooms didn’t participate because they couldn’t see the painting clearly; they only saw a blur of orange from afar.

    After that, several other items were auctioned, such as a flying sword and a garment made from celestial silk, which fetched a high price. An elixir that was essential for foundation building that Liu Tai bought for Liu Ta Ji was also auctioned.

    What was particularly interesting was the seed box, which went for three hundred thousand stones, and a universal pouch sold for fifty thousand stones.

    These items, although useful, were irrelevant to someone who couldn't activate her Qi. Even if she had celestial meridians, it would be futile. So, the girl didn’t care much.

    Three Flame Pomegranate fruits were auctioned.

    The first fruit went for two million stones.

    The second for two and a half million stones.

    The last for two million three hundred thousand stones.

    This was because Flame Pomegranate fruits are exceedingly rare. Who would think that such plants would sprout in the middle of the Liu clan estate?

    Although one fruit could potentially produce three to ten doses of the Pulse-Piercing Elixir, there was also a chance of failure, depending on the alchemist’s skill.

    Normally, the auction house would take a twenty percent commission, but Elder Three covered this expense for her. Therefore, Yi You received the full three hundred and fifty thousand stones.

    This was the largest sum of money since she had awakened in this world, so she asked Elder Three to take her shopping for the herbs needed to treat Elder Five, spending almost all of it.

    Initially, she wanted to buy some seed packets, but Elder Three said she could just pick them up from the herb storage without buying them.

    The girl looked at the seven remaining stones in her hand and sighed deeply, carefully dropping them into her pouch. Just about a ke ago, she was a rich young lady; now she was poor again.

    Money is indeed ephemeral.

    "Little lady, there are Shaobing treats for sale. Would you like to try some?" Seeing her forlorn look, Elder Three couldn’t help but laugh and decided to cheer her up a bit.

    Her little eyes sparkled, looking at the elderly face with brightness. She nodded enthusiastically.

    "Sure, Grandpa Three, you're the sweetest," she cooed, and her head nuzzling into the palm of the elder made him laugh out loud, unable to resist. Thus, he led the cheerful little girl to buy some Shaobing treats.

    Truthfully, she didn't like Shaobing, but when an elder offer something, they expect to see joy in a child’s response. The more the child seems to enjoy what they offer, the happier the elder is.

    She simply showed the elder what he wanted to see, even if it was a bit of an exaggeration for her.

    Upon returning to the manor, Elder Three went to the main courtyard to meet with the Grand Elder.

    The girl headed back to her own quarters in Yi You House.

    As soon as she reached the front of her quarters, she noticed a cluster of night grass, a type of resilient plant, thriving near the window, while the rest of the area remained barren with only red soil.

    What on earth!

    She entered her quarters, looking for the troublesome worm but found no trace of it.

    "Little Worm…," she began, then shook her head, "Khainui, where are you?"

    "I’m outside here, by the window," came the reply.

    She walked to the window and leaned out to see a grey worm happily munching on the leaves of the night grass.

    "What are you doing?"

    The worm looked up at her as if she were foolish.

    "I’m a worm, I need to eat leaves, stop asking stupid questions," it said before turning back to its meal, clearly uninterested in her.

    "Aren’t you supposed to be a dragon?" she mocked, knowing full well it wouldn’t have boasted of being a dragon if she hadn’t provoked it. But it had been so arrogantly annoying that she couldn't resist teasing.

    "Ah, I certainly am a dragon," it responded, no longer caring for the leaves, and climbed back through the window. "Give me a sip of that spirit."

    Yi You glanced at it, unable to suppress a smirk.

    People can deceive others, but not themselves. Eventually, their true nature reveals itself, but she decided not to expose it further.

    "How about this? From now on, I'll call you Mau Tong, how does that sound?"

    "But I am a dragon..." it said weakly.

    "If you agree to be called Mau Tong, I’ll pour you some liquor from the calabash twice a day. Otherwise, forget it. You good with that?" she said, clearly holding the upper hand.

    The little worm looked at her with a pained expression, clearly visible even though it was a dragon, still being called Mau Tong. But then it eyed the calabash hanging from her waist and reluctantly nodded.

    Seeing this, Yi You turned to pour some spirit into the usual cup for the greedy worm when she heard it suggest something odd.

    "Just drop some blood on the calabash."

    Her face marked with a question.

    Seeing her confused look, the worm couldn’t help but elaborate.

    "Your father severed ownership of the calabash before he left. With just a drop of your blood, you can call it back to your hand even if it gets lost," it said before darting towards the cup of spirit, ignoring her further.

    Sure enough, the girl pricked her fingertip with a needle and quickly dropped blood into it. Despite fearing the pain, she was more afraid of losing the calabash.

    After that, she ignored the worm and headed for the library.

    The truth that she couldn't cultivate power like others did bother her a bit, so she picked several books that didn’t require any particular powers to practice and started reading. "Earth Swallowing Whale" was the book she most interested. Not knowing if it was her impatience or her brain processing too quickly, as soon as she started reading, the techniques seemed to seep into her mind swiftly. By the time she reached the last page, she had already achieved the first level.

    However, a warning on the last page stated:

    "Caution: Once you begin this technique, you must practice up to the sixth level. Otherwise, the practitioner will never know the word ‘full’ again."

    "???"

    1 ‘ke’ (Chinese time unit for 15 minutes)

    2 ‘Shaobing’ (Chinese deep-fried flour dessert)