While the common districts sank into quiet slumber, the central commercial district remained ablaze with light, vibrant sound, and endless activity. Carriages crafted from rare scented spirit-wood and pulled by magnificent, fiery-maned beasts lined the wide, cobblestone avenues leading directly toward the Golden Pavilion.
Tonight was the opening of the Grand Capital Auction, an event held only once every three years by the Su Merchant Association.
Li-Wen walked casually along the crowded boulevard. He wore a simple, spotless dark-grey robe with broad sleeves, his aura completely suppressed to that of an ordinary, unremarkable youth. His calm, deep eyes observed the swirling crowds around him with cold detachment.
As he reached the grand entrance of the Golden Pavilion, he noticed two separate entry gates.
The left gate was crammed with hundreds of wealthy merchants, mercenary leaders, and low-tier cultivators queueing under strict guard inspection. The right gate, however, was paved with an exquisite red carpet, lined with beautiful female attendants in gold-trimmed silk, and guarded by four heavy-armored experts at the Peak Earth-Realm.
Without hesitation, Li-Wen stepped toward the right gate.
"Halt!"
Before he could reach the carpet, a sharp, arrogant voice reverberated from behind him.
A lavish, black-and-gold carriage drawn by two Third-Tier Thunder-Horns came to a sudden stop. The carriage door swung open, and a young man dressed in opulent purple silk robes embroidered with a silver sword emblem stepped out. His face was pale, his posture extraordinarily proud, and his breath radiated the sharp pressure of the Third Stage of the Earth-Realm.
Flanking him were two old men in dark robes, their faces withered, but their eyes shining with terrifying, cold light—genuine Late Earth-Realm Elders!
The young man in purple looked down at Li-Wen's plain grey robes, his lips curling into a sneer of utter contempt.
"Where did this rural peasant come from?" the young man scoffed, fanning himself with a jade fan. "Do you not know that the VIP Imperial Lane is reserved strictly for core members of the Three Great Clans and Imperial Officials? A nameless bug like you attempting to walk here is an insult to our presence!"
Li-Wen paused, turning his head slightly. His dark, golden-flecked eyes swept over the young man with absolute indifference, as if looking at a piece of roadside stone.
"Are you speaking to me?" Li-Wen asked, his voice smooth and devoid of any emotion.
"Insolent brat!" one of the dark-robed elders behind the young man stepped forward, his eyes flaring with cold anger. "How dare you speak to Young Master Lin Feng of the Lin Clan with such disrespect! Kneel down and slap your own face three times, or this elder will break your legs right here!"
The surrounding cultivators in the queue turned their heads, whispering in low, terrified tones.
"That's Lin Feng! The famous young genius of the Lin Clan!"
"He achieved the Third Stage of the Earth-Realm at just nineteen years old! He's one of the favorites for the upcoming Imperial Academy Selection!"
"That poor grey-robed kid is dead... To offend the Lin Clan right at the doors of the auction!"
Li-Wen didn't raise his voice, nor did he pull a weapon. He simply reached into his broad sleeve, pulling out the VIP Gold-Feather Token and holding it up casually.
The shimmering violet crystal at the center of the dark gold token caught the ambient lantern light, casting an exquisite, radiant feather silhouette onto the red carpet.
The dark-robed elder's threatening words instantly choked in his throat.
Lin Feng's arrogant sneer froze completely, his jade fan slipping from his hand and clattering onto the stone floor. His eyes widened to the size of saucers, filled with pure, unadulterated shock.
A VIP Gold-Feather Token!
That was a supreme token that even the Patriarch of the Lin Clan had to request months in advance to obtain temporary access to! How could a plain, nameless youth in cheap grey robes possess an authentic, permanent Gold-Feather Token?!
Before Lin Feng or his elders could process their horror, the head manager of the Golden Pavilion, an old man in luxurious golden robes, came rushing out of the main doors with sweat pouring down his forehead.
"Honored Guest!" the head manager shouted frantically, bowing so low his nose almost touched Li-Wen's boots. "Please forgive our grave disrespect! We did not know Young Master Wu had arrived! Manager Su Qing-Er has already prepared the supreme Sky-Grade Private Suite for you on the top floor!"
Li-Wen slowly slid the token back into his sleeve, stepping past the frozen Lin Feng without giving him a second glance.
"Clean up the trash at your front gate," Li-Wen said coolly to the head manager as he walked inside. "It stinks."
"Y-Yes, Young Master! At once!" the manager trembled, immediately turning his head toward Lin Feng and his elders with a cold, stern expression. "Young Master Lin, please enter through the standard VIP gate. Do not cause disturbance to our supreme guest, or the Su Association will permanently revoke the Lin Clan's auction privileges!"
Lin Feng's face turned bright red, then pale white with deep, burning humiliation. He tightly clenched his fists until his fingernails bit into his palms, staring at Li-Wen's departing back with venomous hatred.
"Check his background!" Lin Feng hissed through gritted teeth to the elder beside him. "Find out who that bastard is! No one humiliated Lin Feng in Azure Sky City and lived to tell the tale!"
Inside the Golden Pavilion, the sheer grandiosity of the main auction hall was breathtaking.
Built like an ancient Roman colosseum, three tiers of audience seats encircled a massive, illuminated white jade stage at the center. Thousands of wealthy cultivators packed the lower seating areas, while the upper balconies featured fortified, arrays-shielded private suites reserved exclusively for the province's top factions.
Li-Wen was ushered into the highest, most luxurious private suite—the Sky-Grade Suite.
The room was carpeted with soft spirit-beast fur, furnished with ancient sandalwood tables, and equipped with a massive crystal wall that offered an unobstructed, panoramic view of the entire auction stage below, while shielding the occupants from any external divine sense probing.
Su Qing-Er stood waiting inside the suite, wearing an exquisite black gown that highlighted her delicate skin. She poured a cup of steaming, high-grade spirit tea for Li-Wen as he took his seat on the central armchair.
"I apologize if the fools outside disturbed Young Master," Su Qing-Er said softly, her eyes glinting with a sharp, intelligent light. "Lin Feng is arrogant due to his clan's standing, but his talent is mediocre compared to the true monsters of the capital."
"A minor fly," Li-Wen replied impassively, taking a slow sip of tea. "It is not worth my breath. Let the auction begin."
GONG—!
A heavy, reverberating bronze gong resonated through the vast hall, signaling the start of the event.
The bright lanterns around the audience tiers dimmed, leaving a brilliant beam of golden light focused directly on the center of the white jade stage. An elderly man with a crisp silver beard and a radiant smile stepped forward—Auctioneer Gu, a renowned veteran of the Su Association.
"Welcome, noble guests, renowned clan leaders, and young geniuses from across the province!" Auctioneer Gu's voice, amplified by a sound-array, echoed clearly into every corner of the hall. "Tonight, the Su Merchant Association brings you thirty-two rare, invaluable treasures gathered from ancient ruins, deep wildernesses, and secret realms! Without further ado, let us reveal the first item!"
A beautiful female attendant stepped onto the stage, holding a silver tray covered by a crimson silk cloth.
When the cloth was pulled back, a surge of intense, icy spiritual mist erupted into the air, instantly dropping the temperature of the entire hall by several degrees! Resting on the tray was a delicate, lotus flower crafted entirely from translucent blue ice, pulsing with deep, rhythmic vitality—the Three-Hundred-Year Ice-Heart Lotus!
The audience burst into an uproar!
"An Ice-Heart Lotus! And it's three hundred years old!"
"That is a supreme herb for stabilizing meridians during cultivation breakthroughs!"
"It can even suppress heart-demons and internal fire!"
Up in the Sky-Grade Suite, Li-Wen's golden pupils narrowed slightly.
"My Divine Spiritual Core is currently expanding rapidly," Li-Wen analyzed silently. "While the Void Sovereign Technique ensures absolute foundation purity, the physical meridians still undergo immense pressure during rapid stage jumps. Refinement of this Ice-Heart Lotus will cool my channels, allowing me to push toward the Third Stage of the Earth-Realm without a single flaw."
Down on the stage, Auctioneer Gu raised his hand, smiling widely. "The starting bid for the Three-Hundred-Year Ice-Heart Lotus is fifty thousand High-Grade Spirit Stones! Each increment must not be less than five thousand!"
"Sixty thousand!" a regional sect leader shouted instantly from the second tier.
"Seventy thousand!"
"Eighty-five thousand!"
The price skyrocketed within seconds, quickly blowing past the hundred-thousand barrier. The lower-tier audience could only watch in awe as wealthy merchants and noble representatives threw out vast fortunes without blinking.
"One hundred and fifty thousand!" Lin Feng's arrogant voice rang out from his private balcony on the second tier. He leaned over the railing, looking around with a smug, triumphant smirk. "The Lin Clan claims this lotus! I advise others to save their stones!"
Many independent cultivators gritted their teeth, backing down out of fear of offending the Lin Clan.
Auctioneer Gu nodded slightly. "One hundred and fifty thousand from Young Master Lin! Is there any higher bid?"
Just as Auctioneer Gu prepared to strike his gavel—
"Two hundred thousand."
A calm, indifferent voice echoed softly from the highest Sky-Grade Suite, passing effortlessly through the crystal array.
The entire hall went completely dead silent!
Everyone gasped, turning their heads toward the highest balcony. Bidding two hundred thousand spirit stones for a single lotus was already an exorbitant price, but more importantly—the bidder was the mysterious guest inside the legendary Sky-Grade Suite!
Lin Feng's face twisted into an ugly, furious scowl as he recognized the calm voice. It was the same grey-robed peasant who had humiliated him at the front gate!
"Two hundred and ten thousand!" Lin Feng roared furiously, slamming his hand onto his balcony railing.
"Three hundred thousand," Li-Wen quoted immediately, his voice completely unhurried, as if he were bidding pocket copper coins rather than an absolute fortune.
GASP!
Three hundred thousand High-Grade Spirit Stones! That was equivalent to half a year's entire revenue for a medium-sized noble clan!
Lin Feng's breathing became heavy and ragged. His veins bulged on his forehead as he glared at the Sky-Grade Suite. "You... bastard! Are you deliberately going against my Lin Clan?!"
"Young Master Lin," Auctioneer Gu's voice suddenly turned stern, a powerful aura emanating from his aged frame. "This is the Golden Pavilion. Disrupting the auction or threatening guests will result in immediate expulsion."
Lin Feng gritted his teeth so hard they nearly bled. Three hundred thousand was far beyond his personal budget for tonight; his primary target was the final mystery item.
"Fine!" Lin Feng spat venomously, collapsing back into his chair. "Let that rural dog have it! We shall see if he has the life to enjoy it after leaving this pavilion!"
"Three hundred thousand going once... twice... SOLD to the honored guest in the Sky-Grade Suite!" Auctioneer Gu announced, striking his golden gavel.
A few minutes later, an attendant delivered the Ice-Heart Lotus in an insulated jade box to Li-Wen's suite. Li-Wen casually handed over a high-grade spatial pouch containing spirit stones provided by Su Qing-Er's association credit, placing the rare herb into his sleeve.
The auction continued at a rapid, exhilarating pace. High-grade earth-tier martial manuals, defensive armor forged from rare iron, and Fourth-Tier beast cores were sold off one by one for staggering sums.
Finally, after two hours of intense bidding, the hall darkened once more.
Auctioneer Gu stepped back to the center of the stage, his expression becoming exceptionally solemn and mysterious. Two heavy-armored guards carried a heavy iron chest onto the stage, placing it down with a thunderous CRASH.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Auctioneer Gu said, his voice dropping to a low, thrilling whisper. "We have arrived at the grand finale of tonight's auction! This item was recovered from the outer perimeter of the ancient Sovereign Night Ruins!"
He stepped forward, unlocking the heavy iron chest and pulling out a dark, jagged metallic object about the size of a human skull.
It was an unpolished, pitch-black meteorite fragment. It looked rough and unremarkable on the surface, but the moment the light hit it, subtle, abyssal dark-purple runes pulsed deep within its metallic core, absorbing all surrounding thermal light into its body.
"The Abyssal Meteorite Core!" Auctioneer Gu proclaimed dramatically. "Its true origin and grade remain unknown, but its physical density is so extreme that even a Peak Earth-Realm weapon cannot leave a single scratch upon its surface! The starting bid is two hundred thousand High-Grade Spirit Stones!"
The crowd whispered in confusion. A mystery material was a gamble; if no smith could refine it, it was nothing more than an expensive paperweight.
However, the moment Li-Wen's golden pupils locked onto the black meteorite, a profound, electric shock shuddered through his soul!
His Divine Spiritual Core inside his Dantian vibrated violently, reacting with an intense, ancient resonance to the dark runes within the stone!
"That is not a simple meteorite..." Li-Wen's eyes flared with unprecedented, divine light, his ancient memories unlocking in a flash. "...That is a fragment of a Primordial Void Star! An extinct cosmic ore from the Higher Realms!"
In his past life as a God Emperor, Li-Wen had searched across cosmic galaxies for Primordial Void Stars to forge his supreme divine weapon. Containing the raw, heavy laws of spatial destruction, a single grain of this ore was worth more than an entire mortal continent! To find a skull-sized piece in this backwater mortal realm was an unfathomable stroke of divine luck!
"Five hundred thousand!" Lin Feng's voice immediately shouted from his balcony, his eyes burning with intense greed. His clan elders had specifically instructed him to bring this relic back for their Grand Ancestor to study!
"Six hundred thousand!" a representative from another major capital clan bid.
"Eight hundred thousand!" Lin Feng barked back instantly.
Down on the stage, Auctioneer Gu smiled brightly as the price rapidly climbed.
Inside the Sky-Grade Suite, Li-Wen slowly stood up from his armchair. His dark eyes were fixed entirely on the black stone, a cold, unyielding ambition radiating from his posture.
"One million," Li-Wen stated calmly, his voice ringing across the quieted hall like a striking bell.
BOOM!
The entire auction hall erupted into absolute chaos!
One million High-Grade Spirit Stones! That was a astronomical figure capable of buying an entire secondary city!
Lin Feng leaped up from his seat, his face contorted in pure, hysterical rage. "One million?! You nameless rat, do you even possess one million spirit stones, or are you deliberately inflating the price to mock my Lin Clan?!"
Li-Wen didn't even bother looking at Lin Feng. He looked down at Auctioneer Gu on the stage.
"Is my bid valid?" Li-Wen asked coolly.
Su Qing-Er immediately stepped out onto the balcony of the Sky-Grade Suite, her voice clear and commanding as it echoed through the hall. "The Su Merchant Association guarantees the honored guest's bid with our entire enterprise reputation! Any further doubts will be treated as a direct challenge to our association!"
Lin Feng's breath caught in his throat. With the Su Association personally backing the bid, he had zero grounds to contest it. He did not possess one million stones, nor did the entire Lin Clan have that much liquid capital available on short notice!
"One million going once... twice... SOLD to the honored guest in the Sky-Grade Suite!" Auctioneer Gu shouted at the top of his lungs, slamming his golden gavel down with maximum force!
Down in his private room, Lin Feng smashed his mahogany table into splinters with a wild, furious strike of Ki.
"Elder!" Lin Feng turned toward the dark-robed old man beside him, his eyes completely bloodshot with murderous intent. "Gather the elite shadow guards of the clan! Block every exit from Azure Sky City! The moment that bastard steps out of the Golden Pavilion... I want his body torn into ten thousand pieces and that meteorite brought to me!"
"Understood, Young Master," the elder bowed, a sinister, bloodthirsty grin creeping across his withered face. "He will not live to see tomorrow's sunrise."
Up in the Sky-Grade Suite, Li-Wen held the heavy, pitch-black Abyssal Meteorite Core in his hands.
The moment his skin touched the dark metal, a trace of supreme cosmic Ki entered his body, nourishing his Divine Core and causing his Jade-Bone Foundation to hum with pleasure.
"Shadows are gathering outside," Su Qing-Er said, looking out the window with a trace of worry in her eyes. "Lin Feng has deployed the Lin Clan's elite shadow guards around the perimeter. Young Master, you can stay inside the pavilion as long as you wish; they dare not breach our domain."
Li-Wen gently slid the primordial cosmic ore into his spatial ring, a cold, terrifying smile touching the corner of his lips.
"Stay inside?" Li-Wen murmured softly, his golden pupils flaring with supreme, ancient murder. "Why should I hide from ants walking into their own graves? They wish to hunt me... then let them learn what true despair looks like."
Without another word, Li-Wen turned around, his light-grey robes fluttering as he walked calmly toward the exit, stepping straight into the dark, rain-swept night of Azure Sky City.
See you in next chapter...