The taxi reached the outer ring of the street. No vehicles were allowed inside, so after paying the driver, Shunya and Ji Yuying got out.
In front of them was a bustling market. Both sides of the street were lined with hawkers and small stalls, each one loudly promoting their wares.
This was Tianan Antique Street—though more accurately, it was the Antique Market of City Lin.
"Do you want something from here, Yinyin?" Shunya asked curiously. He still didn't understand why his little wife had chosen to come here instead of going home.
He had taken the entire day off for Ji Yuying's hospital check-up, which meant he wouldn't be earning today's wage.
But he didn't mind. His wife's wellbeing always came first.
As they walked through the crowd, vendor shouts echoed on all sides, trying to lure customers with exaggerated claims. Even in the late afternoon, the street was packed—proof of how lucrative the antique business could be.
Ji Yuying scanned the surroundings. One stall displayed a messy collection of goods: ancient jewelry, agarwood, ebony carvings, porcelain, red onyx, calligraphy, scroll paintings, and more.
She didn't even need to use her divine sense to assess them. Her refined perception alone told her—most of these were fakes.
That was the tricky part of the antique trade. Thanks to an unspoken "anti-counterfeit" rule, all deals were final. No refunds, no returns. If someone bought a fake at a high price, they simply had to accept the loss.
Much like stone gambling, antique dealing was a high-risk, high-reward game. One lucky find could make someone rich overnight—or leave them penniless.
Just once, Ji Yuying released her divine sense to sweep the area. Shunya suddenly felt a strange wave pass over him. It gave him the odd feeling that someone was watching him.
He turned his head, scanning the crowd, confused and slightly on edge. He looked for the "stalker" he thought he felt.
Meanwhile, Ji Yuying had spotted a small jade trinket with a trace amount of Spiritual Qi. Just as she turned back, she noticed Shunya's restless expression.
"What are you looking for?" she asked, raising a brow.
Shunya glanced at his pretty wife, then shook his head. "Nothing. Did you find something good?"
He chose not to bother her with his odd feeling.
Although she called herself a cultivator—like Lin Xin from Heaven's Fairy Fall, his favorite Wuxia show—he didn't quite understand what cultivation truly meant.
Ji Yuying had said she would explain it all later. She had also very clearly emphasized that she was not like those TV characters. The way she glared at him made sure he remembered that.
Ji Yuying didn't respond to his question. She simply stopped in front of a nearby stall.
"Welcome, welcome! Wow, you're so beautiful!" exclaimed the middle-aged man running the stall. His grin stretched wide, revealing yellowed teeth. His eyes squinted as he smiled, giving him an odd, slightly creepy appearance.
"Wow, you have really yellow teeth," Shunya said innocently.
The vendor gave an awkward chuckle. "Haha, just an old issue," he said, trying to brush it off. Inwardly, though, he was cursing Shunya to his seventh generation.
'Has this guy never heard of a razor or a mirror in his life?'
Shaking off his irritation, the vendor picked up a porcelain bottle and showed it to Ji Yuying. "This is a perfume sniffer, found in the tomb of an empress from the Ming Dynasty," he said enthusiastically.
To sell a fake, one had to first sell a story.
He rambled on about Empress Wang—her luxurious life, her refined taste, and her secret hobby of collecting the finest artifacts.
Shunya, with wide-eyed innocence, believed every word and listened with rapt attention. Ji Yuying, meanwhile, ignored the rambling toad of a salesman.
Only someone with Shunya's level of innocence could take this man seriously.
She reached directly for a bracelet that had caught her attention earlier and cut the vendor off mid-speech.
"Your story would be more convincing if you hid the 'Made in Huaxia' tag stuck to the bottle," Ji Yuying said flatly. "How much for the bracelet?"
The vendor flushed in embarrassment, caught off guard. "Uh... give me whatever you think is fair."
The bracelet had actually been fished out of a trash bin. It didn't even look that old. Flustered by being exposed, the vendor blurted the truth.
Realizing his slip, he quickly tried to recover. "Actually, that bracelet is also an ancient relic. I found it in—"
"Two hundred," Ji Yuying interrupted calmly.
"You're killing me here! That's way too low," the vendor whined, clearly irritated and embarrassed at the same time.
"Then 150," Ji Yuying replied coolly, placing the bracelet back on the counter.
The vendor opened his mouth to negotiate again, but when he saw her indifferent gaze, he sighed.
"Okay, okay! Two hundred it is," he agreed reluctantly.
Ji Yuying frowned faintly. The man had declined before, yet came crawling back once she turned to leave.
"Fifty!" Shunya suddenly chimed in.
The vendor looked at him like he was the dumbest creature on earth.
"Why don't you just rob me instead?" the man snapped sarcastically.
Shunya blinked, confused. "Why would we rob you for a broken item? Look—it's leaking gas," he said, pointing at the bracelet with a serious face.
The vendor stared at him blankly. Was this guy really stupid enough to think bracelets could leak gas… or was he the idiot for entertaining them?
Finally, gritting his teeth, the man sold the bracelet for 150 yuan.
As they walked away, Ji Yuying glanced sideways at Shunya—her expression caught between amazement and shock.
Unlike the clueless vendor, she knew exactly what Shunya had noticed.
There was faint spiritual Qi surrounding the bracelet—and Shunya had sensed it.
Without any cultivation.
Without any divine sense.