This chapter opens with a description of the auction house in Lanling, the capital of the Ming Empire. There are many people in the hall, and one man asks to see his shopkeeper. The shopkeeper tells him that the auction will take place seven days later, and that he can enter directly into the hall without waiting for a number. The man thanks the shopkeeper for his kind words, and the shopkeeper tells the man that there is an auction for his daughter's bottle of the top-grade energy elixir. This elixir is a life-saving elixir, which can be used by alchemists. The father tells his son that he must help his daughter get the elixir, because there is only a year before the university begins its enrollment process.