Time slips through your fingers like sand, vanishing before you even notice.
Miss Hua Jian hadn’t even registered the day, and yet the auction had arrived.
When Linglong knocked her out of her cultivation trance, she didn’t even realize what day it was.
Probably because she’d been too idle these past few days, pouring all her focus into refining her spiritual techniques, to the point of losing track of time.
“Counting the days, after the auction finishes, the young lady’s reply should be here, and the secret behind the medicinal herbs should finally be uncovered.” Hua Jian awkwardly laughed twice under Linglong’s intense, imposing gaze as she finally remembered what day it was, then swiftly changed the subject.
Seven days—that was exactly the timeframe Hua Jian had expected to receive Su Xiaoxiao’s reply.
If nothing unexpected happened, today would be a double blessing: acquiring the treasure she wanted at the auction and receiving Su Xiaoxiao’s letter.
Heh, solving two problems at once—what could be better?
“Alright, get ready. We’re heading to the auction together.” Linglong nodded with a cold expression.
She couldn’t exactly show any hint of happiness when Hua Jian referred to another woman so familiarly; she wasn’t about to be an incompetent senior sister.
“Fine. Will the medicinal herbs come with us?”
“Yes. If both of us aren’t here, it’s dangerous to leave her alone. Luckily, one token allows three people to enter. It’ll be safer at the auction.”
This auction was on a grand scale. Huiyue City had spared no effort on security, even the landlord personally came to oversee the event.
As long as a peak Ling Emperor didn’t attack, nothing could disrupt the auction.
But then again, Huiyue City had few enemies, and peak Ling Emperors weren’t cheap commodities—how could one possibly show up here?
There were very few wild peak Ling Emperors in the entire Central Continent. Most were city lords or city protectors, respected individuals who wouldn’t stoop to such acts.
“From my experience, though, these are exactly the times when trouble is most likely to arise,” Hua Jian said seriously to Linglong.
It’s well known that troubles love to come in groups—like how, if you’re in a fight, suddenly everyone on the map comes over to break it up.
After such a long calm, this auction was bound to stir new variables.
Hua Jian was certain that their team—her and Linglong—were the undisputed protagonists, and protagonists always get into all sorts of trouble.
So when was trouble most likely to strike? At this very auction.
“We need to be ready for battle. Let’s assume the Magic Path will send someone to capture Yao Mei. We have to be prepared to face at least one Spirit King.”
“No problem. I’ll prepare my spirit tools.” Linglong nodded.
If the Magic Path attacked, her Lingwang Realm spirit tools would come out, making sure the careless magic cultivators understood the strength of the Golden Warrior.
As for Hua Jian, she had already tucked the Mist Array plate into her pocket.
If the Magic Path dared approach, she could unleash a mist maze combined with Corpse Qi to knock them unconscious.
Hmph, within three meters, my Corpse Qi is far stronger than your Spirit King power!
Spirit Power can’t block Corpse Qi, just like six layers of armor can’t protect your feet—once hit, it’s a death sentence!
……
There were no surprises during the auction’s entry process, and the three quickly arrived at their assigned private room.
For this auction, no one had to appear in person. Each token corresponded to a private room where cultivators could bid in secret.
To cater to certain tastes, the rooms were even equipped with Spirit Tools for communication, allowing participants to negotiate and intimidate competitors during bidding.
Everything was dialed up to the max, giving Hua Jian a strong sense of déjà vu.
This was practically a textbook example of an immortal cultivation world auction!
“Our target will appear in the middle phase of the auction. The early rounds are just trinkets, not worth much attention.” Hua Jian glanced at the product list in her hand.
Some items differed slightly from what Huan Rui had provided her earlier.
But the key items were exactly the same, so Huan Rui’s intel wasn’t too off.
The appetizer consisted of various ordinary materials and alchemy pills—small items meant to warm up the crowd, giving cultivators with smaller budgets a chance to participate instead of showing up empty-handed.
Many bid on these low-tier goods, quickly heating up the atmosphere.
The final item among these was brought to the stage—a large iron cage containing a snow-white spirit cat.
“This is the rare Shuanghua Lingmao from the Jihan Zhidi,” the host extolled dramatically, “I’m sure you’ve all heard of its name…”
Linglong watched the cat and the host with a critical eye.
“The Shuanghua Lingmao is extremely proud and almost impossible to be tamed. Look at this cat’s condition—emaciated, eyes dull, nearly on its last legs. Even if bought, it won’t survive long.”
Linglong pointed to the white cat on stage.
She had no grounds to criticize Huiyue City’s behavior; spirit beasts were not cultivators. Low-tier spirit beasts were little more than dangerous wild animals.
No one thought there was anything wrong with this, not even the spirit beasts themselves.
High-tier and low-tier spirit beasts were practically different species. High-tier beasts, truly intelligent, would never consider low-tier ones their kin.
Thus, the fate of this little white cat was all but sealed.
“Starting price: one thousand Spirit Stones, minimum increment ten Spirit Stones per bid…”
The host announced the bidding price for the cat.
Hua Jian gasped. Damn, that was expensive. A cat that couldn’t even survive would cost a thousand Spirit Stones?
This was outright highway robbery!
Yet some buyers bought into it. Hua Jian watched helplessly as the price soared to a number she couldn’t even comprehend.
Damn, so many rich people, she thought with a sigh.
Once the spirit cat sold, the auction moved into the materials phase—what ordinary cultivators cared more about.
This part was less lively. Bidders thought carefully before offering.
One by one, items sold successfully until a square, jade-white object about one meter on each side was brought to the stage—Hua Jian’s target.
“Jinling Yusui. Everyone’s probably heard of it. This is—”
The host raved about the jade marrow on stage as if it were a priceless treasure.
But those in the know understood just how useless this thing was.
When the host announced the starting price, nobody bid for a long time.
Looks like this Jinling Yusui truly was the infamous dud it was known to be.
Even the usually composed host was starting to lose patience. Such a large piece of Jinling Yusui, and no one wanted it?
Though it was indeed not very useful, it was big enough to fill a need—fine for entry-level forging practice.
After a while, a cautious voice timidly bid just above the starting price.
From the tone, that sucker had thought it over a long time before deciding—one could almost hear the faint sting of regret.
Other buyers had no interest in raising the price. For them, bidding was more trouble than it was worth—if they bid, they might end up stuck with the useless item.
If they were just a bit short of Spirit Stones to grab the better items later, that would be a terrible loss.
Better to let that sucker buy it and move on.
Seeing no further bids, the host quickly confirmed the sale.
After all, the Jinling Yusui fetched only a small sum; selling it was better than nothing.
……
“Does no one want this thing?”
Hearing the confirmation from the stage, Hua Jian finally relaxed.
No one competing with her meant she saved some Spirit Stones for food.
What surprised her more was that the Jinling Yusui really had no takers. Even the coldest items had bids before, but this one had zero interest.
She was the only one who bid right at the last moment at starting price, showing how poor the reputation of this item was in the cultivation world.
“It’s because it really is useless. You’re a special case.” Linglong nodded. Hua Jian had a special use for it, but others didn’t, so naturally they wouldn’t buy it.
It was a tasteless, dispensable, and useless item. Spirit Stones weren’t blowing in the wind—who’d buy this for no reason?
“Next up is the auction’s heavy hitter—a very ancient treasure map?” Hua Jian glanced at the catalog, murmuring curiously. “Do you think this treasure map is real?”
Yao Mei didn’t expect Hua Jian to ask such a question. She pondered for a few seconds.
Huiyue City probably wouldn’t do something self-sabotaging like faking it, “The treasure map is probably real; otherwise, the city lord wouldn’t have made it the finale.”
Linglong agreed. Whatever treasures were hidden, the map was definitely genuine.
“Supposedly, it points to an ancient Secret Realm full of countless treasures. I don’t really buy it.” Hua Jian shook her head, differing from Linglong and Yao Mei.
She thought the map was likely fake.
No way was her first auction going to hit a demon flame—oops, that’s crossing stories.
If she were rich enough to buy the map now, she might believe it was real. After all, she was a Chuan Yue Zhe (transmigrator), and strange things happened to people like her.
But since this treasure map definitely wouldn’t fall into her hands, the odds were it was a fake!
“Maybe?” Linglong responded noncommittally. No way to know yet.
While the three chatted, Linglong suddenly cleared her throat and looked up at the top of the auction hall.
She sensed an invisible pressure descend, sealing the venue off from the outside world.
The source was a formation set by the city lord of Huiyue City, and the activation of the formation was clear in its meaning.
“The Magic Path has begun its operation!”
……
Dark flames burned quietly on the water’s surface. They were silent, but everyone could feel the terrifying power contained within.
A threat—a silent threat.
“This is your so-called comrade loyalty? Ridiculous!” A red-clad woman hovered in midair, angrily shouting at the black-clad man opposite her.
“Woman, surrender or die!” The black-clad man had no intention of arguing with Hua Xin Yuan. He knew well that arguing with Wanhuagu cultivators was pointless.
Only strength could wrest what he wanted from Wanhuagu’s hands.
“Who the hell do you want? I don’t even know! If you want to cause trouble, just say so. Don’t come up with these lame excuses!”
Hua Xin Yuan was visibly annoyed. She didn’t know how she’d offended these people. They had coexisted peacefully—why start an internal conflict now?
Besides, the other party was also a Ling Emperor. If two Ling Emperors fought in Central Continent, the righteous side would surely intervene halfway.
“Then die!”
“Damn lunatic! You think I’m scared of you?”
Black flames surged. Hua Xin Yuan cursed and clasped her hands together. Countless red flowers flew out from behind her, blocking the oncoming black flames.
They fought while ascending toward the high sky, away from the city.
Even though the battle had started, both knew better than to fight openly inside the city.
They battled in the high sky outside the city. The city lord might not interfere there, but if they fought inside, he’d definitely come down and crush them immediately.
As the two Ling Emperors moved away, the Black Fire Linghuang’s juniors immediately pounced on the Boat Cluster, intent on turning it upside down.
From the start, the Black Fire Linghuang’s purpose was to lure away Hua Xin Yuan, the high-tier combatant.
Wanhuagu had only one Ling Emperor in Huiyue City; once this Ling Emperor was drawn away, the remaining low-tier battleground would be theirs to dominate.
Counting the three Ling King-level moles recalled from the Su Family, Tianmomen’s demonic cultivators had a total lineup of five Ling Kings—a formidable force.
Though three weren’t Magic Path but bought traitors, their strength remained impressive.
Now, with city security focused on the auction, their attacks faced little resistance.
“Handover or don’t blame us for being ruthless!” A demonic cultivator Ling King who had ambushed Hua Jian loudly threatened Wanhuagu’s lone Ling King.
The Wanhuagu Ling King stiffened, “You tell us who you want to hand over!”
They didn’t even know what Yao Mei looked like.
“Stop stalling! Looks like you want to force our hand! Search this place top to bottom! I don’t believe we can’t find her!”
“Unreasonable!” Wanhuagu’s Ling King growled angrily, grabbing a young woman’s collar nearby and retreating.
Resisting? Five against one? How could she resist? She wasn’t a deity.
Wanhuagu cultivators were agile; faced with this, she had no thought of fighting—fleeing with the juniors was the correct choice.
As for what happened to the Boat Cluster… why care? It wasn’t their property. Wanhuagu only used the place as cover, not owning it.
Even if Tianmomen burned all the boats, she wouldn’t care—at most, she’d grumble and say she’d find another place to work.
“She ran off. Whoever she took must be Yao Mei. Chase them!”
Seeing Wanhuagu Ling King’s fleeing back, Tianmomen immediately dispatched two Ling Kings in pursuit, while the other three began carpet-searching the Boat Cluster.
No matter who was taken by the Ling King, they had to try capturing a hostage!
Only by capturing one could they interrogate the true location of Yao Mei.
Was two Ling Kings enough? Absolutely.
Wanhuagu was never known for combat strength. When forced, it had no real resistance.
“Sir, news from the auction—city lord has been alerted, city guards are assembling…”
“That’s normal. They don’t have time for us now. Half an hour till the auction ends. We just need to resolve everything before then. Hurry and search!”
“Yes!”
……
“Damn it, why does this formation have such a function!” The Magic Path mole embedded in the auction ground grumbled, fiddling with a communication token that gave no response.
He’d just gotten crucial intel but hadn’t transmitted it.
To ensure the auction’s smooth progress, the city lord built an incredibly strong defense formation based on the venue, now activated and severing all inside-outside communication.
Shortly after activation, he was tasked with delivering an item to a client.
It was in that client’s room he discovered the mission’s target.
The faint floral scent lingering in the room revealed the occupant’s identity.