Chapter 35 – Not-So-Grand Invitational

  “Greetings guests, welcome to my Infinite Wealth Auction House. I am Leng Ji,” said the woman on stage. She was the owner of the auction house and was a level 3 Spiritweave cultivator. She had her hands clasped before her and a good many jewelries adorned on her arms. But all that would not detract from the attention elsewhere.

  While she wore a form fitted outfit, the bottom half of her robes had the sides cut up high above her thighs. The decorative shorts underneath rode higher and formed more against her skin than other women in the city. With her legs essentially bare, Diyuan was hit with the desire to leer, and was almost grateful that Owner Leng Ji was the host of the auction, since it allowed him to stare without worry about being considered a…

  Diyuan saw one of the men on the bottom floor, his eyes wide to drink in the same sight. It broke Diyuan’s own frenzy after seeing such untamed behavior. Diyuan sighed, placing his face into his palm. What a dangerous world to live in. Feng Xueying gave him a curious look at his side, to which he only shook his head. He must keep himself separate from the lecherous desires.

  Overall, she was a different kind of beauty over someone like Auntie Mei Yi. If he had to use a single word for both, Auntie would be refined and Owner Leng Ji would be ferocious.

  “There are many distinguished guests here. The Young Master of the Strongbow style. The Niu family—congratulations on your breakthrough, Patriarch. You are looking dashing. The Virtuous Wind Sect.” Owner Leng Ji paused while looking at the veiled two people. “Some with unknown origins, but with great means. Continuing, we have the immortals from Yelan city, including the Earthen Brothers. And we greet those from the Green Hat Trading House—ah, apologies, the accurate name is Green Mat Trading House,” she corrected. A ripple of laughter spread throughout. “They are known for their prized mats. Not hats. A good cultivation mat is a useful tool.”

  [Except the mats are often used to earn a hat,] Yao Luchen added as context to Diyuan.

  Diyuan didn’t understand any of it.

  Several lower level Spiritweave cultivators stood up on his side of the room. They wore green robes and a black hat with a green stripe through it. They smiled, partaking in what was apparently an insult, or maybe not? Based on the sound transmission sent between those men, they apparently ended up earning more business when their mats were purchased as a joke gift between friends. And the mat was apparently decent quality, so it worked as a real gift as well.

  Owner Leng Ji continued her greetings of the major players who sat in the balcony. She had gone around the room and finally reached their trio’s location.

  “The Yao family. Congratulations on your breakthrough, Patriarch Yao Luchen. To be young and an immortal requires a great deal of responsibility.” Owner Leng Ji bowed her head towards him. “Sometimes those decisions can be difficult.”

  Yao Luchen shifted uncomfortably in his seat at the attention.

  So Owner Leng Ji was also pushing Yao Luchen to stab Diyuan in the back when the time came. He did wonder what “evidence” the Golden Alliance had regarding his apparent demonic cultivation.

  “My rival in beauty, Madam Mei Yi of the Sunset Garden. You have a mighty man on each arm, as expected. No one understands the power of women quite like us. And lastly…” Owner Leng Ji finally looked up at him, “the one who caused a stir recently. We greet the Black Brigade leader, Yuhan Diyuan. Or should we be calling you Tyrant Yuhan Diyuan? It is a bit amusing, I’ll admit, to hear a mortal call themselves a tyrant.”

  Multiple sound transmissions went out at once. Sorting through them was a bit of a task.

  [So that’s the target.]

  [He really isn’t an immortal. Why do immortals follow him?]

  [How does someone like him have a storage ring?]

  They want to show everyone who their target is, Diyuan realized. He may as well get something out of this.

  As Owner Leng Ji looked like she was about to continue, he stood and interrupted her by saluting them all. “I am Yuhan Diyuan. I have quite a long-life expectancy. We are quite friendly so do please visit. And you’ve seen my Auntie Mei Yi, maybe I can put in a good word for you; she’s been wanting a partner recently I feel. We also revamped our market stalls to be competitive with any other place in the city. And, lastly, we support justice. Don’t be stupid and no problems will come to you.”

  Diyuan bowed and listened in on the multiple sound transmission conversations that popped up once again. He strained to focus only one the ones that seemed relevant to him.

  The Green Mat Trading House made a comment about how the Yao family would regret becoming allies with the Black Brigade after they visited them tomorrow night.

  The Young Master of the Strongbow style, the man with the fan who sat across the room from Diyuan with his female companion, sent a message to his woman about how he was only going to help remove the leaders of the Sunset Garden, not to play around with women as she’s the only one for him.

  Someone made a comment about the Black Brigade markets not existing after tomorrow, but no specifics as to the size of the force that would be attacking it.

  And lastly, the Virtuous Wind Sect spoke.

  [He talks about justice?] Youzhi sounded like he wanted to spit. [After killing so many people in just a month?]

  [Senior Youzhi, remember that Senior Sister says we should always listen to both sides before reaching any conclusion,] Xiaoya said.

  [Do you really think so many rumors and smoke about a demonic cultivator can surrounded one man without there being a fire? Even the neutral Infinite Wealth Auction House is intervening,] Youzhi said. [And Junior Min, how many more people must die before you remember the Virtuous Wind Sect is virtuous?]

  [Senior!] Min huffed. [It’s very bad to accuse someone of something so serious without evidence. Sister Xiaoya and I saw him fight; there was no demonic energy.]

  [And the women just happened to disappear after Yuhan Diyuan came into the city? And they all happened to be people who were supposed to ally with the Niu faction? If they weren’t confident in their evidence, they wouldn’t have asked us to watch and only intervene when he’s proven to be a demonic cultivator.]

  Missing women? Diyuan though back on everything he had heard since he entered the city. He recalled the rumors of women who had had gone missing, perhaps runaways from their marriages or something, but that was some time ago and no one mentioned it much since. Seemed like that was being pinned on him now.

  Min defiantly crossed her arms. [Hmph! I remember what Senior Sister says: the lotus blooms pure, though mud surrounds it. You think I wouldn’t remember that after needing to kneel for three days? And I only gained a fake magic artifact for all that.]

  [If we don’t unite in this, then it’ll be hard to say if this is the official Virtuous Wind Sect’s stance,] Youzhi said. [And Brother Wuxuan recently lost his uncle during the tyrant’s Red Massacre. If you don’t help him now, you better believe the Discipline Hall will be rough with you.]

  Min turned her head away in spite. Xiaoya didn’t say anything to Youzhi, but she did privately send a message to Min.

  [If the Discipline Hall tries to break the rules, then we’ll just cry to Senior Sister,] Xiaoya said.

  That made Min break into a smile.

  The sound transmissions died down. There were other immortals who also spoke, but the plans they revealed were more the same as others. The two veiled people didn’t say anything, so it was hard to know if they had any part in the Golden Alliance.

  Overall, there would be four main battlefields. The main Black Brigade area would get the full brunt of it. The Sunset Garden and the Yao family were expected to be attacked each. And lastly, there would be random battles in the streets of their alliance territory.

  Diyuan kept the information to himself for now. He would brief his allies once the Golden Auction was done. He had no concern on their victory.

  The only outlier would be the veiled people. He didn’t know their cultivation level.

  The first item of the auction was brought forth. It started out with some low-grade Body Cleansing Pills, which only those who sat on the first floor bid on. The minimum bid started with gold coins, which made true the Golden Auction name. According to someone’s sound transmission, there was an expectation that a mid-grade Body Cleansing Pill would be brought forth later. Yao Luchen looked eager to get his hands on the low-grade one until Diyuan told him about his insider information.

  The next few items were a higher quality version of the resources found in the immortal market. They were considered higher quality, but they would still be mediocre compared to what Diyuan had in his storage ring. Throughout these random items, Diyuan noted that there wasn’t a single perfect pill among the miscellaneous things sold.

  The next item was a special woven band of cloth made out of some demonic beast material, which helped prevent detection of someone’s spirit senses when adding spiritual energy into it.

  [Want to see something fun?] Strongbow Young Master said to his woman, who had to reply back verbally since she wasn’t a Spiritweave cultivator. [Whoever bids on this, I will outbid them twice, just to drive up the price.]

  “Oh, Young Master, you’re so dirty!” The woman leaned into him and fed him a fruit.

  Diyuan decided to play.

  “250 spirit stones,” Diyuan said.

  “300 spirit stones,” Strongbow responded.

  “500 spirit stones. I very much desire this cloth,” Diyuan said with a smile.

  Strongbow licked the woman’s fingers as he smirked. “Truly? I’ll bid 505 spirit stones.”

  Diyuan saluted the man. “You got me. I can’t go further after such a big jump in stones.”

  Strongbow froze. His eye started to twitch. He hid his mouth with his fan. “Big…? Junior, surely you can solve 5 spirit stones?”

  “If I sold my property, perhaps. But I would like to be on good terms with this Young Master, so please take it.” Diyuan saluted once more, a bit more vigorously.

  Strongbow acted like this was what he wanted, and gave a motion of thanks, albeit stiffly. But he couldn’t hide his fuming when his woman giggled.

  Owner Leng Ji circled the tall and thin circular table which held the box of the cloth. “505 spirit stones for the Sense Striking Cloth going once…twice…sold to the Young Master of the Strongbow style.”

  The next item was an Alpha demonic beast core, which Owner Leng Ji reminded everyone that it could be used for increasing the potency of pills during alchemy refinement, perhaps even advancing it a grade.

  Using demonic beast cores to advance a pill grade was archaic and something only unskilled alchemists did. Then again, in the Tribulation Shroud, an alchemist couldn’t really be called an alchemist until they graduated and started making perfect pills regularly. That allowed cores to be used for other more useful things.

  Not many people bid on the core, as they would also need to hire an alchemist after winning it. Xiaoya from the Virtuous Wind Sect ended up winning the bid, to Min’s confusion. Xiaoya had to explain that while they could expect to gain more Alpha demonic beast cores from the demonic beast wave, the wave itself was still early and the Golden Auction had brought in immortals who might feel like it was their duty to help with the wave. The overall chance of getting cores was less likely as a result, so Xiaoya wanted to gain some of her own contribution points after Min “stole” them all.

  [I didn’t steal! I asked nicely. Why don’t you ask the mortal for pills yourself. Just be bold about it. If he thinks you’re pretty like me, maybe he’ll give you one.]

  [Unfortunately, we probably shouldn’t interact with him anymore until this situation calms down.]

  The next item was a limited use feather, which came from a demonic beast. It was known as the White River Feather, granting the owner the ability to jump great heights. It still had several more uses left. A good way to navigate and escape battle if needed during the demonic beast wave.

  There wasn’t much bidding on that item. Some non-cultivators below commented on how it helped someone jump, but it didn’t help them land. It was an item Diyuan hadn’t seen before so he placed a bid on it and won it. More of a curiosity thing than anything.

  Next up was the mid-grade Body Cleansing Pill. Yao Luchen and others were very interested in this, including Niu Wuxuan.

  “With this mid-grade tier two Body Cleansing Pill, you will remove the waste from your body and give yourself a greater chance to break past the Early Spiritweave Stage. Without removing the waste, you will have no chance to breakthrough,” Owner Leng Ji explained, similarly as she had done with the low-grade pill. “It is said that each grade gives you an additional chance to succeed in fully removing all the waste. With this mid-grade pill, even if you don’t expel all the waste, it will still bring you closer to perfecting your body. But if fortune smiles on you, you’ll only need one pill. The bidding will start with one thousand spirit stones.”

  “So high?” someone blurted out.

  Diyuan had to remind himself that his view on wealth was a bit skewed lately. He had gotten his hands on millions of spirit stones and remained in the millions for several years now. Before he became rich, five thousand spirit stones would have been a large chunk of his wealth. That would be an even bigger chunk on this side of the Shroud, where 50 spirit stones equaled to one gold coin.

  Nearly all the balcony immortals started bidding on the Body Cleansing Pill. The price started to go up to five thousand spirit stones, where the Yao family wasn’t willing to outbid.

  Youzhi made a bid of his own.

  [Why are you bidding?] Xiaoya asked. [You can buy the mid-grade Body Cleansing Pill with contribution points.]

  [It’s easier to get spirit stones than it is to get contribution points,] Youzhi said.

  Diyuan was about to make a bid of his own when Auntie Mei Yi noticed and sent a sound transmission.

  [Nephew, I know you are an excellent alchemist. Do you not have the Body Cleansing Pill recipe?] she asked.

  [I do not.]

  [The recipe was added as one of the auction items, if you were interested in taking that instead.]

  Diyuan would follow her advice. If he won the recipe, then he could simply make a perfect version of the pill and give it to Yao Luchen. It would also be good to have in general, especially in a world where it was difficult to advance to level 4 Spiritweave without external aide.

  But his reluctance to bid was viewed as his unwillingness to go against the Virtuous Wind Sect since Youzhi was the last bidder.

  A big item came up next.

  “I present to you now a Spiritweave jade tablet,” Owner Leng Ji announced. “There is only one use on it, but anyone on the balcony may find interest in it. This arte gives the ability to form a clone-like ally to assist you in combat. But most of you already know of this arte. It is Phantom Soul Twin, the arte that made the Phantom Swordsman well known in the region.”

  Yao Luchen leaned forward. “Five thousand spirit stones.”

  Owner Leng Ji smiled. “There seems to be a misunderstanding, Patriarch Yao Luchen. Your family was the one who put it up for auction. You cannot bid on it.”

  “Wha…?” Yao Luchen turned to both of his family members next to him. They seemed to have been unaware of this rule as well.

  [Look at him bumbling about,] Niu Bolin said to the Yao traitor next to him. Yao Luchen’s grand uncle scoffed. [Such inexperience put on display for all to see.]

  It appeared that Auntie Mei Yi was unknowingly in agreement with the Niu patriarch. [Keep your composure. We’ll just buy it on your behalf and you can provide the funds after.]

  [Oh, right.]

  Auntie Mei Yi raised her hand. “Five thousand spirit stones.”

  “Seven thousand,” Niu Bolin countered.

  “Eight thousand,” Auntie Mei Yi said after confirming what the max was that the Yao family had.

  But there were other people bidding.

  “Ten thousand,” the Green Mat cultivators called out. When Niu Bolin asked them why they were interested in the arte, they answered. [We might have the support of the big families when we’ll attack the Yao family, but that doesn’t mean I want to risk our lives because we failed to outbid them.]

  Another piece of information for Diyuan. How kind of them to share that the big families of the city were also part of the attack plan.

  The price kept going up. It reached 15,000, the highest that the Yao family could go.

  Then an unexpected bidder.

  “20,000,” Youzhi of the Virtuous Wind Sect said.

  Yao Luchen couldn’t bid anymore. Niu Bolin was content as long as someone else was receiving the arte. Owner Leng Ji seemed satisfied with the outcome.

  [Why did you bid?] Xiaoya asked.

  [Same reason as before. It’s a Spiritweave arte. There’s a good chance I’ll get a decent amount of contribution points from it.]

  The bidding died down. Despite what Youzhi had said earlier, nobody wanted to be the one to bid against the Virtuous Wind Sect. That, and Yao Luchen couldn’t keep the bidding going with his own funds.

  Yao Luchen gritted his teeth. [Senior Brother,] he said to Diyuan privately. [I hate to ask…]

  [I never intended for anyone else to get it in the first place,] Diyuan said immediately. He stood up and walked over to the edge of the balcony. Eyes were on him, expecting him to put on another show. He looked down at the hostess of the Golden Auction. “You said this arte was put on bid by the Yao family, correct? Then that means the Yao patriarch himself, and not anyone else in the Yao family, will receive the winning bid funds, yes?”

  Owner Leng Ji kept her smile, but he could see her eye twitch.

  Diyuan knew this game well. It was very similar to gambits or the treaty back in the Tribulation Shroud. Word play. She set it up so the Yao family couldn’t bid on the jade tablet, but she never claimed they would receive the funds; it was, after all, the traitor grand uncle who put the arte up for bid. But by calling her out publicly, she would have no choice but concede the bid results to the patriarch of the Yao family: Yao Luchen.

  [Just claim that it’ll go to the person who put it up for bid,] Deacon Hu said from behind her.

  [Fool. He’ll just counter and say it was the patriarch’s seat that put it up for bid, not any individual. And I cannot say otherwise. I already declared the entire family as a whole couldn’t bid.] Owner Leng Ji bowed slightly in acknowledgement. But to Diyuan, that was her submitting.

  “Since the funds will go to the Yao family, I don’t need to play around with this bidding war. I’ll take the arte. 100,000 spirit stones.”

  Audible gasps echoed throughout the auction room. All the Spiritweave cultivators readjusted in their seat to get a better glimpse at him.

  Even Youzhi scrunched his face in confusion. “You, a mortal, have that many spirit stones?”

  Diyuan motioned to Owner Leng Ji. “Just ask her if they’ve ever seen evidence of that amount. Though, I should specify that it was Deacon Hu that had seen it. It cost him a hand back then, but I’m sure he learned his lesson well. There won’t be another chance again after that.”

  People whispered and gossiped about.

  “Lost his hand?”

  “Don’t thieves get their hands cut off if they get caught?”

  “Wasn’t this back when he attacked the Black Brigade?”

  Deacon Hu’s face reddened as he rubbed the wrist of his reattached hand. [Let me cut off his hand tomorrow! I will repay this humiliation tenfold!]

  And with that, the bid for the Phantom Soul Twin had been won.

  [A manly show of wealth, Nephew. Though I assume you know that the Infinite Wealth Auction House takes some percent as commission?]

  Nope, he didn’t know that. [Of course I knew that.]

  The smile she gave showed that she didn’t believe him.

  The woman with the Strongbow Young Master giggled. “Darling, it seems like he could have bought the cloth from you after all.”

  “Quiet, woman,” the man hissed silently.

  She responded with another giggle and leaned in to kiss his cheek.

  As Diyuan sat down he listened to the sound transmissions that were flying about. He was picking up on pieces of the upcoming battleplan.

  But it was the conversation in the distance that got his attention.

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  [Silent Wolfy, isn’t he the guy everyone wonders is a demonic cultivator or not?] The veiled hat young girl swung her legs back and forth from her chair.

  [Yes. He is Yuhan Diyuan.]

  [How about you check if he’s actually a demonic cultivator or not?] she asked.

  Something was off when he was listening in on their sound transmission. It took him a second to put a finger on why.

  She’s using sound transmission!?

  That little girl was even younger than Yao Luchen—yet she was using sound transmission? She was a Spiritweave cultivator? When she only looked to be 14 years old? Her background must not be simple.

  He tried to make sense of it. One way to reach that cultivation level would be an overzealous use of pills and spirit plants. Her energy would be incredibly unstable if that was the case. But there were plenty of other pills, like that consolidation pill, that could potentially offset that. In a world where everyone was weak beyond belief, it was sort of refreshing to see something that surprised him.

  [Princess Zimei, I’ve already said I won’t put you in any position of danger,] Silent Wolfy said bluntly.

  [I never said do anything about it. I just want to know. That’s part of experiencing the world you said! Remember, we can take and do whatever we want as long as it doesn’t steal from someone else’s opportunity.]

  Princess Zimei… Was she a princess in reality or was that just a cutesy nickname like Silent Wolfy?

  Silent Wolfy sent out a sighed resignation, which showed that she was in a higher standing than him.

  Diyuan was curious to know how Silent Wolfy was going to check if he was a demonic cultivator or not. He wouldn’t have to wait long to find out the results.

  ***

  Wuyin, who had been cutely nicknamed as Silent Wolfy by his charge, sat in this outskirt’s “Golden Auction,” as they had called it. Hardly appropriate, seeing the type of items being sold. But since Princess Zimei wanted to witness an auction after they toured to see the Great Divide, here they were.

  The two of them did not belong on this side of the world. They hid their identities through their special veiled hats. No one would be able to guess or sense who they were. And when it came to cultivation levels, Wuyin was the highest out of everyone. Even if someone higher came, it wouldn’t matter; their family name would be enough to frighten everyone.

  The ask to check if Yuhan Diyuan was a demonic cultivator or not was simple enough. To be a demonic cultivator it required draining someone using their profane techniques. Often times, the victim would end up dying. They would need to die for Wuyin to check by using his special eye.

  One of his eyes were false. It had been replaced by a magic artifact: the Death’s Door Eye. With it, he was capable of doing two things. The first was to simply gain information based on what the eye saw. The second was to see parts of what the eye saw itself. He could put strain on his body and take a look at the events that led up to his target’s previous kills.

  There were limitations, of course. The further back he went, the harder it would be to pinpoint and see the event. As well, the magic artifact would skip over any spoken word or dialogue, rendering it difficult to act as a spy tool. Wuyin often used the tool to confirm the combat style of a potential opponent, but it wouldn’t cover everything since many artes required its name to be called out. If that happened, the entire arte would be skipped over in the vision.

  But no matter, he just needed to see if the man was a demonic cultivator or not.

  Wuyin closed his real eye and focused the magic artifact eye on Yuhan Diyuan. The artifact activated, giving information to him about the recent kills the young man had done.

  It worked backwards from the most recent. His last kills were from about a week ago. Before even seeing the scene, he could sense that over a dozen were killed and they ranged from the Flow Shaping Stage to the Great Tempering Stage. An impressive feat for someone so young.

  He could activate the second part of the Death’s Door Eye, to view the battle itself. However, he decided to not do that. This event was something Wuyin was already aware of. In fact, it would be more difficult to not be aware of it, considering how often the Red Massacre had been brought up to various visitors who came to the city. These deaths would not confirm whether the young man was a demonic cultivator.

  Despite only using part of the magic artifact’s abilities, he began to feel the string on half of his face. Death’s Door Eye began to heat up already.

  He went back further in time. The death of a single Early Spiritweave Stage immortal. He looked into the scene, causing the auction house to dim and his mind’s eye to replace his vision with something else. The scene that appeared was rather short. Wuyin stood on a street as a spectator, where he saw a masked hooded man stand in the middle of the street before two Early Stage immortals, one of whom was the same man standing on the auction house’s stage. But the scene ended abruptly. Likely a conversation took place while the death happened.

  It didn’t disprove the demonic cultivator notion, but it did answer the rumors as to who the masked man was, as he was the one who killed the immortal from the Infinite Wealth Auction House. That was another one of those rumors that were spreading after Yuhan Diyuan declared himself to be the Mortal Tyrant.

  Next, he went back even further in time once more. It was closer to a month ago now. This one had about a dozen deaths as well, but it was harder to tell since the information of the magic artifact was straining hard due to the time difference. There appeared to be one Perfect Harmony Stage expert among the deaths and several Great Tempering Stage experts. The second function of the eye activated, bringing Wuyin to a random moment of those deaths.

  He was brought to the main hall of a building. Yuhan Diyuan held an axe by its sharp end. The Perfect Harmony Stage expert had staggered back, wounded from a backlash. Yuhan Diyuan threw the axe, ending the man’s life. The scene blurred, likely due to someone shouting something, and it came back with him stabbing the other two elders in the main hall at once with a black sword.

  The scene blurred again. Now, an alleyway. An older man was already dead on the ground with a dagger in his head. The others weren’t moving as Yuhan Diyuan cut them freely. A stun-type arte? Another blur, the final person who had been left alive was now falling to the ground. Wuyin couldn’t see how the kill happened as the scene skipped it, but the evidence of a cut mark revealed that none of them died due to demonic cultivation.

  The scene ended. A sharp burn on half of Wuyin’s face caused him to wince. The skin stiffened and pulled. It would take a few hours for it to disappear already, but there were more deaths only shortly before then.

  The Death’s Door Eye detected the deaths of three Spawn rank demonic beasts only a few days prior to the last event. Wuyin jumped in to check. He was suddenly surrounded by two jagged earthen walls. He recognized it as the Burnt Lands. A group of escort guards and a one-person carriage was on the ground level. The men were looking up in awe. Wuyin looked up and saw Yuhan Diyuan battling the Lionsmane Stalkers by jumping from wall-to-wall, deflecting and expertly stabbing and slicing his opponents.

  Wuyin pulled out of the vision as that wasn’t evidence either. He felt a creeping headache start to form, which meant tonight was going to be an annoying one of pain. Not ideal. At this point in time, Yuhan Diyuan had not even arrived at Fengpo so any claims of demonic cultivation activity could not be proven.

  Before he deactivated his Death’s Door Eye, it had continued going back in time to gain more death information. He thought nothing of it until it gave him the information of what it identified.

  Dharma immortals.

  The Death’s Door Eye saw the deaths of well over a dozen Dharma immortals. Some were even Middle Dharma Stage immortals.

  Wuyin froze.

  There was also the death of a Lord rank demonic beast. The timing of these deaths blurred together and would be harder to accurately pinpoint and land in any one particular death. The magic artifact was confirming if he wanted to see the event or to deactivate. If he didn’t respond, it would continue to go back further in time, though it would start to take even longer and put an even greater amount of strain on him.

  He decided to take a look. Multiple Dharma immortals died? Something must be off. Wuyin didn’t detect any immortal energy from Yuhan Diyuan so something else must be at play.

  His mind’s eye was brought to a castle-like structure. A small haze of green fog filled the area, but not thick enough to obstruct the view; at least, not inside the castle courtyard itself. Yuhan Diyuan stood with his black sword in hand. On the other side was a woman with an eyepatch. A strange transparent blade or object extended from each hand, long enough to drag across the ground as she walked forward. They each looked like a horn of sorts. She had tattoos visible on her sleeveless upper arms.

  Wuyin’s magic artifact detected her to be a Middle Dharma Stage immortal. He thought he knew all the most powerful Dharma immortals in the world, but hidden masters could always be a thing. Despite her being in the Dharma great realm, Yuhan Diyuan did not look particularly concerned.

  The scene blurred. It was no longer a castle. The same two were now fighting…in the stars!? Wuyin looked around, unsure what to make of the scene he was witnessing. There was no ground, no planet, no nothing. They were now in the darkness beyond the moon, where the stars sprinkled across the night. Debris of rock and something more round filled the area. The woman used the horn extension from her hand to form a connection to two of the round objects, which Wuyin now knew to be small comets. She would chuck them at Yuhan Diyuan, who was stuck out in open space and was unable to dodge.

  Both hits struck him, exploding in a wave of power that contained a unique extermination-like energy, which had the sole purpose of annihilation. A cosmic rend. Wuyin also sensed that this strange zone disabled wings to uselessness, so anyone who could form wings at the Late Spiritweave Stage would still be as helpless as a Foundation expert.

  Wuyin watched, curious to see how Yuhan Diyuan could survive such a double hit. Wuyin wasn’t sure how he himself would survive, let alone the person who wasn’t showing any immortal energy.

  But once the area cleared, Yuhan Diyuan remained, unbroken.

  The scene blurred a bit. Still fighting among the stars, Yuhan Diyuan teleported and struck at the woman. He teleported again and struck. And again, and again. It was like there was no restriction to his teleportation capabilities. His eyes glowed white with each teleportation.

  The scene blurred again. A giant toad demonic beast spat out a liquid acid, hitting Yuhan Diyuan in the arm and melting the clothes into his skin. The young man grimaced, but charged forward all the same. This was a Lord rank demonic beast—something that was capable of bringing forth a calamity in any region if left unchecked; capable of commanding lower ranked demonic beasts and starting a demonic beast wave.

  The scene blurred again, becoming harder to control. Yuhan Diyuan now stood in the castle’s courtyard once again. This time he was facing off against multiple Dharma immortals. Some had strange demonic beast characteristics, such as claws for hands or wings on their backs. Wuyin had never seen a combination like that before. Not even demonic cultivation did that.

  Before he could witness how the young man killed all of them, he was forcefully kicked out of the vision. Wuyin’s head throbbed with sharp pain. He could feel the muscles spasm on half of his face. The burning sensation for using the magic artifact this long and that far back was going to last half a day.

  [Well? Did you see him kill anyone as a demonic cultivator with your eye?] Princess Zimei asked, kicking her feet back and forth without a care in the world.

  Wuyin reached up and rubbed the stiff part of his face to try and soothe what he could. He said nothing yet as the sounds of the auction house started to come back to him. He still wasn’t sure of what he had just seen. The vision area was unfamiliar, and outright strange with the seemingly-cosmic battle that had happened. Perhaps a small world? That would be what made the most sense. But even if a small world restricted an immortal’s cultivation level, his Death’s Door Eye would still pick up and identify that restriction. There was no such restriction. Admittedly, there were artes and other special things that could trick his artifact, but they were few and far in-between.

  Even with that in mind, Dharma immortals would not die so easily.

  There was one major problem with what he had seen. The world did not have many Dharma immortals. If an event took place where so many gathered in one spot, it would be a global event that everyone spoke of. But for so many to gather and die in such an event would be even more shocking and sensational. Wuyin heard of no such event.

  The question of if Yuhan Diyuan was a demonic cultivator wasn’t answered, but seemed unlikely. Only more questions existed now as a result.

  Wuyin had been certain of his and Princess Zimei’s safety no matter who showed up. After all, once they revealed their family name, who would dare attack? But now that there was someone else walking around in secret like them, the last thing they needed to do was draw that man’s attention. He must make Princess Zimei listen and back off.

  [Listen to me carefully, Princess Zimei,] Wuyin started, [you must not, under any circumstance, offend the man known as Yuhan Diyuan.]

  [Huh?] She turned, swinging the veil of her hat with the shift. [Is he a real demonic cultivator, then?]

  [I didn’t see evidence of it.] Wuyin decided he was going to avoid mentioning how the young man had killed multiple Dharma cultivators—assuming his magic artifact sensed things properly. So he was going to approach the topic it slightly different to make her lose interest. [But I assume he’s like us: hiding his true identity to avoid people’s worship.]

  [A secret identity?] Lady Zimei returned her attention back to the auction, checking to see what made people go ooh.

  [Whatever his identity, it wouldn’t be as important as us being the Zhuge family,] Wuyin said.

  He looked over at Yuhan Diyuan. The man’s eyes were looking off at the distance, like he was thinking about something or was simply daydreaming. Whatever the case may be, Wuyin planned to report what he had seen to the family once he returned. The more he thought about it, the more he speculated how his magic artifact got tricked. Perhaps Yuhan Diyuan was a Young Master in some prestigious family and his opponents were simply sparring, not fighting to the death. Perhaps he was fighting inside a special formation that messed up the artifact, reporting a false positive.

  But since he had to protect Princess Zimei, it was better to be safe just in case.

  ***

  Diyuan had no idea what Silent Wolfy had done. The veiled girl had asked if he had seen Diyuan kill anyone as a demonic cultivator using his eye, which meant he had a means to check while sitting here in the auction house. Somewhere along the way, Silent Wolfy ended up thinking Diyuan was hiding his identity.

  But he gained at least a little bit of information from that. Those two veiled people were not participating in the plot against the Yuhan Alliance. Diyuan didn’t know who the Zhuge family were, but he would find out later as it wasn’t relevant to the immediate problems now.

  The next item up for auction was the pill recipe that Auntie had told him about, the Body Cleansing Pill. There wasn’t a high interest in it, just some small bidders with the intent to resell in another city, so Diyuan won it.

  [And so our first item sold like you wanted,] the veiled girl said.

  Auntie Mei Yi won some silk thread. Other items came up that people bid on. As time passed, the people became more restless and excited. Diyuan thought that maybe they were coming close to the end, but it turned out there were eight perfect tier two pills up for auction.

  The Beautification Pill.

  Feng Xueying crossed her arms, displeased.

  Owner Leng Ji hushed the crowd. “We will deal with these the same way we always do. A single Beautification Pill is not something to bid on, but something you gain with the bid to the contract involving it. You can buy out the contract at the set price, of course, or you can redeem the cost through the various options listed.”

  [And those options contain a marriage arrangement with certain families,] Feng Xueying said with some venom in her tone.

  It turned out the Beautification Pills were “pre-owned” already. The highest bidder of the contract would take the pill and marry into the owner’s family. Not all contracts were equal, as some families had a better reputation than others. More surprisingly were how many people on the first floor participated in this bid.

  [Silent Wolfy, how come I’ve never heard of these pills before?]

  [There are all sorts of alchemists that make their own pills that we don’t know about.]

  That was all Silent Wolfy said about the topic, but it made Diyuan think back on what he knew. These pills were either made by the Infinite Wealth Auction House or some alchemist provided it. The source of it was a big secret that had never been revealed even now. Yet, out of everything Diyuan saw in the immortal market and what was put up for auction, he would have never guessed there was an alchemist of such a level in the area.

  In fact, that was the biggest oddity, wasn’t it? The immortal market had garbage for pills, but somehow there were eight perfect tier two pills up on stage now? In an auction house where mid-grade pills were deemed worthy?

  Was a demonic beast core used to force its level? Or was there yet another method to increase the pill’s grade that he wasn’t aware of?

  During the bid for the eight pills, Owner Leng Ji backed away and let another female hostess handle things. Deacon Hu had stayed silent the whole time on stage until he saw her approach him.

  [Are you concerned about something?] Deacon Hu asked her.

  Owner Leng Ji kept a serene face. [Niu Bolin reached the Spiritweave great realm and appears to have cut his age in half. If you include the news of his son’s accomplishments in the Sect, I worry his appetite may be too great. When the attack happens on the Black Brigade, I want our documents moved to a failsafe location. Everyone will be too busy to notice our movement. In this, we still have a card against him.] Owner Leng Ji stood comfortably and smiled at the crowd when one of the contracts had been won.

  [Who will move it? They are expecting me to be at the Black Brigade property and our other Juniors to attack the Yao family. None of our other members know about our transactions.]

  [Hmm… I will do it alone, then.]

  What an interesting conversation. Would be a shame if they had an unexpected visitor during the transit of these precious documents. Diyuan would need to inform Auntie Mei Yi and they can decide who would be best for it.

  Once all eight contracts have finalized their bids, the second to last item was to be revealed. Owner Leng Ji took command of the auction house once more and took out a small box that contained the item in question.

  “A recent addition to the Golden Auction added just today. Let’s see what it is together, shall we?” Owner Leng Ji opened it and nodded in satisfaction. “A high-grade Spiritweave Breakthrough Pill.”

  “A high-grade breakthrough pill?” someone below called out. “Anyone at the Perfect Harmony Stage could become an immortal, then!”

  “Ten thousand stones,” Niu Bolin said promptly.

  “15,000,” the Green Mat immortals bid.

  “20,000 spirit stones!” Min shouted from her Virtuous Wind Sect booth.

  [Oh? Weren’t you reprimanding me for buying things for contribution points?] Youzhi teased.

  [Are you kidding me!? All our Juniors save contribution points to buy the Spiritweave Breakthrough Pill! This will give me more than everything else I got from this trip alone!] Min said with an air of disbelief.

  Xiaoya looked like she was interested in the pill as well, but didn’t bid for her friend’s sake. Diyuan watched as the other immortals didn’t bid. Someone from the first floor raised his hand to bid, but a neighboring friend slapping his hand down, hushing him and saying that they should let the Virtuous Wind Sect win.

  Princess Zhuge Zimei was in disbelief. [Am I going crazy? Why is no one bidding? That’s definitely better than anything else we’ve seen so far. Was it from the same alchemist that made those beauty pills? Silent Wolfy, I want it! Buy it for me!]

  [No.]

  The veiled girl whined, but the man didn’t relent.

  Once again, no one wanted to offend the Virtuous Wind Sect. Which made sense--if such a sect came to protect Fengpo city from the potential demonic beast wave, but then there was a person who took the breakthrough pill the Sect wanted, how would everyone view such a person?

  But the sound transmissions between people mentioned the profits they would receive for being part of the Golden Auction, spoken like it would soothe the ache of not winning the breakthrough pill. And with that, Diyuan was able to identify everyone who had joined forces with the Niu family and the auction house. Some had already revealed themselves throughout the auction, but now those that had been silent earlier revealed themselves through sound transmission. The board was set.

  Knowing how they’ll commit to the simultaneous attack made it easier to distribute the defensive forces. With the Sunset Garden’s unexpected power growth, Diyuan would not need to worry about any attack except the one that was coming for his Black Brigade directly.

  Min, surprised by her good fortune, won the breakthrough pill for a cheap amount of spirit stones. She jumped for joy, embarrassing the other two Virtuous Wind Sect members in her booth.

  Diyuan stood and drew Min’s attention. He saluted to her and sat back down.

  [Huh? What was that about?] Min asked.

  Xiaoya scrunched her face in thought. [If I didn’t know better, I’d say he was taking credit for you winning the bid.]

  [I won it using my own spirit stones. I’m not going to be grateful to him just because he didn’t bid!]

  [No, I mean I think it was his breakthrough pill that you won,] Xiaoya said.

  [Oh.]

  But that made Youzhi frown. [We don’t know the source of that pill. Do nothing with it until we can identify the source of Yuhan Diyuan’s wealth.]

  Min didn’t reply but she rolled her eyes and mockingly mouthed the exact words Youzhi had said, but behind him so he wouldn’t see.

  Then it was time for the final item. Diyuan was hoping for a spirit artifact so that he could feed Di Guilin when it hatched from the egg, but it turned out to be something significantly better.

  [Finally, our special item is up,] Princess Zhuge Zimei said.

  Five red flags were revealed. More specifically, formation flags.

  “For our last item, we have a grand finale that anyone would want. The Boundless Expanse Flag Formation.” Owner Leng Ji waited for the oohs and ahhs to die down. “If a formation master can set these flags down for you, spiritual energy will gather and thicken much like the renown sects and powerful families of the world. Cultivation would be made easier. Breathing would be made easier. But be warned: this item will be coveted, so if you do not have the strength to protect it, you will likely not only lose the flags, but your life as well. The starting bid for this will be ten thousand spirit stones.”

  Anyone who had the wealth would want these flags. In a world of thin spiritual air, breathing exercises had to be limited in order to not create a weak Foundation core. Things like the barrier formation that was being set up at the Black Brigade, which would require spirit stones for upkeep, could be kept up permanently if the flag formation was set there as well. Higher level alchemy refinement could probably be done properly without using spirit stones.

  A proper amount of spirit energy was necessary for any cultivator. Diyuan intended to win it no matter what.

  The bid had already reached 40,000 by various immortals, but the Niu family was currently the top bidder.

  “50,000,” Diyuan said.

  “60,000,” Niu Bolin said and narrowed his eyes.

  “75,000,” Diyuan countered.

  [Be mindful,] Owner Leng Ji said privately to Niu Bolin. [We can always take the flags after his death.]

  Niu Bolin grunted. [You forget that he now also owns your barrier formation. With that flag in place, the barrier will be much sturdier. The last thing we need is the Virtuous Wind Sect to leave and find out that it isn’t the Black Brigade attacking the mortals during our siege.]

  [He couldn’t have much more than 200,000 spirit stones in total that he brought here,] Owner Leng Ji said. [He had his original 100,000 and then the valued amount of 100,000 that we compensated him, though most of that probably wasn’t liquidated. He’s reaching the end of his total bid value.]

  “85,000,” Niu Bolin called out.

  “100,000.” Diyuan crossed his leg and rested his cheek on his fist.

  Princess Zhuge Zimei let out a soft giggle. [I bet these people have no idea just how strong our formation is. By the way, Silent Wolfy, whose formation is stronger: ours or the Virtuous Wind’s Sect?]

  [Ours.]

  Now that got Diyuan’s attention. He had heard about the Virtuous Wind’s Sect fog that surrounded their location, which kept the spirit energy rich. It was wide enough to cover their entire mountain area. So this flag formation was supposed to be better?

  [They will feel silly for not bidding on it,] she said.

  [It’d be bad for us if they took it. Our goal is to give others opportunities to grow.]

  [Yup. We want as many Holy candidates as possible. I know.]

  “120,000,” Niu Bolin said. [I did not bring much else with me tonight.]

  Owner Leng Ji gave an ever-slight nod. [I will spot whatever you need. Just keep delivering the Beautification Pills as always and you’ll never be poor.]

  Once again Diyuan learned a nice bit of information through his sound transmission snooping. The Niu family were providing the Beautification Pills? Perfect tier two pills? Not once had there been word that the Niu family had an alchemist of any great skill. How odd.

  “150,000,” Diyuan bid.

  “200,000,” Niu Bolin said.

  “300,000.”

  Owner Leng Ji clenched her jaw. [You can go up to 800,000 spirit stones, Patriarch Niu Bolin.]

  But it wasn’t only the owner who was giving instructions and advice. Yao Luchen spoke to Diyuan and the others of the alliance.

  [Do you really need to bid on it? Can’t we just take it like you did the barrier formation after everything is done?]

  [He cannot; or rather, it is advised that he wins it here and now,] Auntie Mei Yi said. [If this formation is of any great use as they had said, then first ownership will prevent much headache later on. If we take ownership without winning it, then it opens justification to other powers that strength determines its owner.]

  Feng Xueying chipped in her bit of knowledge. [I have heard how the Virtuous Wind Sect once took an item of importance in Yelan city because everyone kept killing each other over it. If we don’t win it now…]

  [They can conjure justification in taking it,] Auntie Mei Yi finished. [But by winning the bid, then all who come will do so without justification.]

  [What? They did that?] Yao Luchen said with a frown. [So they aren’t virtuous?]

  Feng Xueying mentioned how the common people were thanking the Virtuous Wind Sect for stopping the bloodshed, so they kept their virtuous titles while still gaining an opportunity for whatever it was they had taken.

  “Half a million spirit stones,” Niu Bolin said to everyone’s shock. The room held their breath, thinking the bidding war was over.

  [Of course, we’d need to have the spirit stones to win in the first place,] Auntie Mei Yi continued. [In this case, we’ll just have to deal with the consequences later after taking it. Even if I combined my spirit stones reserve to help pay, I’m not sure I can match.]

  She said that since she didn’t know of his wealth. Diyuan wasn’t done. He stood up and walked to the edge to get everyone’s attention. Several people squinted, wondering how he would top that last bid.

  “One million spirit stones,” Diyuan said.

  He could hear the gasps from his own alliance. Auntie Mei Yi practically choked on the air she swallowed.

  Traitor Gaoshe stood up. “Don’t be ridiculous. No mortal can have so many spirit stones!”

  “Why is that so hard to achieve?” Diyuan said with a shrug. “Everyone here witnessed my Spiritweave Breakthrough Pill sell for 20,000 spirit stones—which, I will say, is extremely cheap compared to what it should have gone for. Did I not make two other breakthrough pills for these two you see before you?” He motioned to Feng Xueying and Yao Luchen. “It’s not a secret that I’m an alchemist. It’s not me who’s rich; it’s you who’s poor.”

  The Zhuge girl with the veil hat laughed, but caught herself and stifled it.

  Owner Leng Ji looked up at Diyuan, her composure professional. “For such an amount, we will of course need to verify you have it. You must have the spirit stones here and now.”

  “I’ll prove it, but how about I prove it to the owners of those flags?” Diyuan took out one of his spare storage rings and transferred a million spirit stones into it. It put him just under three million spirit stones now. He looked over at the veiled hat Zhuge people and flicked the storage ring.

  Silent Wolfy caught the ring and looked at it.

  [Whoops,] Princess Zhuge Zimei said. [Guess people found out it was from us after all.]

  Everyone watched every tiny movement of the veiled hat man.

  “One million,” Silent Wolfy confirmed.

  Princess Zhuge Zimei stood up. “Hey! Can we keep the storage ring? I don’t have one yet!”

  [Princess—]

  “Sure, a gift from me to you,” Diyuan said as he saluted.

  “Yipee! Do you have a second one that I can—ah!” She was pulled down back to her seat by Silent Wolfy.

  Diyuan stepped on the ledge of the booth and jumped towards the stage. Deacon Hu ran up, prepared to intercept him before he landed, but Diyuan double jumped in the air and landed just in front of Owner Leng Ji, startling her.

  The maneuver caused some commotion, where people asked how a mortal could do that. But the most interesting one was what Silent Wolfy said privately, almost by accident it seemed like.

  [That’s the same step he used when fighting in the stars…]

  [Huh? Stars?] Princess Zhuge Zimei turned to him. [What do you mean by that? Tell me. Tell meee.]

  Diyuan held up his storage ring hand and made the Boundless Expanse Flag Formation disappear into it.

  Owner Leng Ji looked up at the balcony and at the Niu family.

  [It doesn’t matter,] Niu Bolin said to her. The patriarch was keeping his temper in check. [If you have any special devices that can break barriers, be sure to bring them tomorrow.]

  Diyuan, standing on stage, turned to those in attendance and looked upon them. Deacon Hu and Owner Leng Ji watched and waited for him to leave or do something else. Everyone watched; some with curiosity or wonder, others with hostility, especially from those on the balcony.

  Since he had everyone’s attention, he may as well send them an invitation.

  “Dear Golden Auction guests,” Diyuan started, gesturing with his hands outward as if to welcome them. This invitational wasn’t going to be as grand as the last one and wasn’t going to be sent to every city in the world, but he should send it all the same. “You have heard me give a million spirit stones in a single sitting. You may be wondering if I have more.” He paused and flashed them his smile. “Maybe I do. Maybe I don’t. It would be a shame if I died and my wealth fell into the wrong hands.

  “So, be you a robber or a man of self-proclaimed justice, whatever your motives, I welcome you. But know this: while it is no crime to be deceived, that won’t shield you from the consequences. If you come, be prepared to leave your lives. Do not think to threaten me with the names of your factions or alliances. I care not for them. Some of you have called me a demonic cultivator, but I also care not for that; I have seen how you treat your neighbors.” Diyuan paused to look around the balcony, then saluted to his enemies. “Consider this my Grand Invitational. I will see you soon.”