Zhao Ran wrinkled her nose charmingly and said smugly, "Of course. Brother Li Yang always keeps his word, so I'll wait for you."
Li Yang felt a wave of shame. The little girl's trust and admiration made him feel ashamed and pressured.
"No problem." Li Yang said goodbye to the girl next door.
But just as he reached his doorstep, he saw a vendor setting up a stall downstairs. Sure enough, Li Yang's eyesight wasn't deceiving him; it was an antique vendor, dressed in simple old-fashioned clothes, but his hair was styled quite well, and his expression seemed convincing—an expression that said, "I'm an expert, and everything I sell is genuine."
Seeing Li Yang listlessly pushing his cart over, his eyes lit up immediately, and he shouted, "Antiques, absolute antiques, family heirlooms..."
Chapter 2: The Super-Powerful Ring
Li Yang glanced at him helplessly, feeling a bit contemptuous. Dude, if that's an antique, I'd be the President of the Republic. Who are you trying to fool?
But as soon as he looked away, his eyes widened in surprise. Among the pile of broken copper and iron and counterfeit ancient coins, he saw a ring, which was jet black and shiny and had some quality.
"How much is the ring?" Li Yang asked casually.
"Young man, you have a good eye! This ring is the best quality of all my stuff. I wouldn't buy it for less than a thousand, but since you're a student, and I was a student once too, I know you don't have much money. Five hundred it will do!" The vendor spittle flew as he promoted the ring.
Li Yang chuckled inwardly, "You're really good at bluffing; you've really cut the price sharply."
"How about five yuan?" Li Yang said expressionlessly.
The vendor froze for a moment, then forced a smile and said, "Young man, are you trying to kill me? This is a family heirloom, how can you only give me five yuan?"
Li Yang laughed, stood up, and said with a not-so-interested expression, "I just find that ring pleasing to the eye. I'll give you five yuan, but since you're still setting up a stall in the middle of the day, how about this, three yuan or not?"
The vendor almost cried. This young man was truly unpredictable; he was a master at bargaining.
"Well... I'll just go with five yuan then," the vendor said finally, gritting his teeth.
"Five yuan? No way, four yuan at most!" Li Yang seemed to have the vendor completely under his thumb. After all, these kinds of street stall goods were obviously cheap handicrafts, and even five yuan was too much. If it weren't for the fact that the ring looked quite nice, and wearing rings was quite fashionable at the No. 1 Middle School these days, he wouldn't have bothered buying it.
"Alright... young man, consider this a friendly gesture. I've certainly seen something new today. Four yuan it is. Here you go!" The vendor, as if he'd suffered a great loss, placed the dark ring in Li Yang's hand. Li Yang casually put it on the index finger of his left hand. Holding it up in the sunlight, it was indeed very beautiful, and he couldn't help but feel a surge of joy.
"Here you go, don't forget to give me change," Li Yang said, handing the vendor a five-yuan note.
"Hey, young man, you're really something... Alright, here you go." The vendor reluctantly pulled out a coin and tossed it into Li Yang's hand.
Li Yang's mood instantly lifted. Although it was a bit much to bully this vendor, he was already in the business of deception. He would definitely make a profit if he was given four yuan, just a small one. Otherwise, he wouldn't be foolish enough to sell to Li Yang at a loss.
However, the thought of getting the coin down from 500 to 4 made Li Yang feel much better, sweeping away his earlier frustration. He pushed the broken cart with one hand, constantly tossing the coin high in the air and catching it with the other, as he walked towards his building.
"Ouch—damn it!" Li Yang's hand slipped, sending the coin flying high into the air. Just then, he walked into the stairwell, and the coin hit the top and bounced into the dark and messy stairwell below. Because he was in a hurry to catch the coin, Li Yang's bicycle wobbled and fell over in the stairwell. His hand also brushed against the debris, immediately cutting open and drawing bright red blood.
Li Yang jerked his hand away in pain, and blood flowed down the back of his hand onto his fingers and onto the black ring he had just bought.
"Damn, what bad luck!" Li Yang looked down at the dark stairwell, which was filled with clutter, and couldn't find the coin at all.
"Forget it, I don't want it. I'll just consider it a five-yuan purchase." Li Yang said speechlessly, leaving the broken-down bike behind and turning to walk out of the stairwell to go home.
He looked down at the wound on the back of his left hand and was surprised to find that the wound on his arm was bleeding continuously, and the blood was strangely flowing straight towards the black ring. The ring seemed to have a mouth and was sucking the blood in.
"Holy crap! This is... this is..." Li Yang's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. This was too bizarre; his mind went completely blank for a moment.
A moment later, a flash of black light appeared before Li Yang's eyes, and he felt his vision blur and he could see nothing.
"Hahaha... I, Gu Yuhan, have finally come out! You damned Yin Demon, you used such despicable means to seal me away! Watch me return to the Immortal Realm and restore my magic power, and I will beat you to a pulp, so that you will never be reincarnated..." A man's crazy voice suddenly burst into Li Yang's ears, startling Li Yang so much that he almost squatted down on the ground. What was going on?
"Hmm, you're the one who rescued me?" The authoritative male voice rang in Li Yang's ears once again, pulling him back to reality from his dizzy, blank mind and bringing him back to his senses.
Li Yang saw a majestic man floating in the air, dressed in ancient costume, with his hair in a bun and three long wisps of beard... Was this even human? Was this a movie shoot? Absolutely not, he was clearly in the stairwell downstairs in his own building.
Does this mean I'm going to die because of a cut on the back of my hand? Is this hell? But what was the meaning of that man's crazy shouting at the beginning?
What exactly is going on here?
"Did you give me the Ring?" the man asked again, but this time in a gentler tone.
"Yes, no... I don't know..." Li Yang really didn't know what had happened, let alone how to answer. When had he ever saved him? It seemed like he hadn't.
The man stared at Li Yang, a strange light flashing in his eyes. He nodded slightly and said, "That's right, it's you. You do indeed possess the rare Qilin blood. Only your blood can break the seal of this demonic ring and save me!"
"Qilin blood? Could it be that I have beast blood flowing through my veins? Damn it, that's absolutely impossible, I'm a genuine human!"
"What do you mean? I don't quite understand." Li Yang asked, trembling. He knew without a doubt that his face must look worse than a dead man's at this moment.
"Oh, right, it must be many years from now? Let me calculate carefully... Hmph, it seems that it has been ten thousand years since the sealing began. No wonder your demeanor is so strange. I am an immortal from the war between immortals and demons ten thousand years ago. Because of a moment of carelessness, I was sealed in the Demon Ring by the Demon Lord Yin. He used the blood of a Qilin to cast a curse on it, and only someone with the blood of a Qilin can drip their blood on it to break the seal."
However, there are far too few people in the world who possess Qilin blood. He knew this, which is why he sealed me with Qilin blood, a seal that has lasted for ten thousand years. The war between immortals and demons must have ended long ago, yet the mortal realm has undergone such changes. The spiritual energy is so thin, and my magical power is almost completely depleted, barely enough to ascend to the immortal realm…”
After listening to his long rambling, Li Yang finally understood the whole story. The "Qilin blood" this old monster was talking about was probably his own Rh-negative blood, right? That blood type could indeed be called Qilin blood, but these days people seem to call it Panda blood, right?
As for other things, he couldn't understand them for the time being. After all, although his grades weren't very good and he was extremely depressed, he hadn't reached the point of seeing through the illusions of the world and cultivating immortality. Therefore, he was still uninterested in the old monster's talk about the war between immortals and demons, and was only half-believing.
"Um, why haven't you ascended to the Immortal Realm yet?" Li Yang asked, puzzled.
"Mortal, you are indeed a kind-hearted person. I was planning to properly thank the person who rescued me. Tell me, what is your wish?" The dignified man looked at Li Yang with gentle eyes and said.
"I wish, I hope..." Li Yang was stunned. Such a good thing? Really or not?
"Yes. I can grant you one wish!" the man said with a nod of certainty.
"Well, I want to be both scholarly and martial, invincible under heaven!" Li Yang gritted his teeth, not caring whether it was true or not, he would give it a try.
"This... I've been sealed for too long, and the spiritual energy in the mortal realm is too thin, so I can't achieve it. However, if you only ask for one thing, I can do it. Do you want to be invincible in literature or invincible in martial arts?" The dignified man was in a dilemma. If he could really fulfill Li Yang's wish, the consumption of magical power would be too great, and he would not be able to ascend to the immortal realm.
Li Yang curled his lip. It was indeed a load of rubbish, a big con artist. But since he'd encountered such a bizarre situation, he figured he might as well believe it. So Li Yang thought about it carefully. In today's society, even the best martial arts skills are vulnerable to a kitchen knife. At most, someone's just a security guard or bodyguard. It's only those with a sharp mind who's truly impressive. Haven't you seen Bill Gates and Warren Buffett? Aren't they just ordinary people? Do they all make a living with their brains?