The voice came from the Ice Orchid Chamber. It was Zhu Qinglan.

  Young Master Gu's laughter abruptly stopped, as if cut off by a spiritual sword. He turned to Zhu Qinglan, who sat gracefully beside him, her light gray eyes fixed on the stage, completely ignoring Gu.

  "Holy Maiden?" Gu was stunned. "W-why are you bidding? I thought you were only targeting the Heart-Nourishing Jade Dew?"

  Zhi Xuan from below smiled faintly behind his composure. He had not expected Zhu Qinglan's move or... Her own motives were what ultimately helped Zhi Xuan teach Young Master Gu a lesson.

  'Arrogant girl, you are indeed interesting,' Zhi Xuan thought in his heart.

  Zhu Qinglan sipped her tea, her movement slow and elegant. "The Five Elements Scroll is an ancient item from the Southern Continent, Young Master Gu. I came all this way to ensure this scroll is not misused. I do not care about pills or poison. I only care about foundation. Six million Spiritual Jade Coins. Is there any higher bid?"

  Young Master Gu's face, previously red with triumph, now turned pale. Six million coins! That was two million more coins than he had offered. Gu had just spent two million five hundred thousand on a Scarlet Lotus he did not really need, leaving his first interspatial ring almost empty.

  Gu stared at his second ring. It contained four million Spiritual Jade Coins. He had to bid. He could not lose. Not in front of Zhu Qinglan.

  "Six million one hundred thousand!" Gu shouted, his voice slightly hoarse, forcing control.

  "Seven million," Zhu Qinglan countered, her tone flat and indifferent.

  Gu gasped. Seven million! That was most of the wealth he had saved. He stared into Zhu Qinglan's eyes, looking for a sign of a joke, but there was only absolute indifference. Zhu Qinglan did not care. She only cared about the Five Elements Scroll.

  Zhi Xuan, sitting below, watched this power play with his calm sapphire blue eyes. He had succeeded in making Gu spend two million five hundred thousand coins. Now, Zhu Qinglan was draining Gu.

  'She is cruel,' Zhi Xuan thought, feeling cold. 'She is making Gu spend money, just to show dominance. That Five Elements Scroll must be very important to her.'

  In the Ice Orchid Chamber, Gu was on the verge of financial ruin. "Seven million one hundred thousand!" he shouted, draining almost all the coins in his second ring.

  "Eight million Spiritual Jade Coins," Zhu Qinglan cut in, emotionlessly.

  Young Master Gu collapsed back onto his seat, his face completely pale. Eight million coins! He had lost. He had gambled all his wealth in this auction and lost to the woman he intended to marry.

  "Eight million Spiritual Jade Coins! The Ancient Five Elements Scroll goes to the Ice Orchid Chamber! Holy Maiden Zhu!" Wei Hua exclaimed, shocked and delighted.

  Zhi Xuan closed his eyes. The Five Elements Scroll had passed. The Poison Sect had lost. Young Master Gu was ruined. And he himself still had his full spiritual jade coins and was capable of buying at least one useful item.

  'Now, Monkey. Now,' Ruo Xianxue mocked. 'What is your plan?' Ruo Xianxue's hiss, now sounding more like concern than mockery, spun in Zhi Xuan's Sea of Consciousness.

  "The plan is going according to plan," Zhi Xuan countered, without opening his eyes, his voice tinged with genuine exhaustion. "Gu has been drained, the Poison Sect has been broken. Now, it is just me."

  Zhi Xuan opened his sapphire blue eyes, staring at the jade chest containing the Five Elements Scroll, before the chest was lifted and carried away by two black-suited guards. Young Master Gu, who had just been humiliated by the woman he considered his, now sat in deadly silence on the upper level, his aura radiating dark resentment.

  In the Ice Orchid Chamber, Zhu Qinglan ignored Gu completely. Ling'er quickly served new tea, ensuring there were no crushed spiritual fruit pieces near Gu.

  "Young Master Gu, you look... displeased," Zhu Qinglan remarked, her tone cold and unsympathetic. "You should be happy. Eight million Spiritual Jade Coins has won the Five Elements Scroll. Your foundation will be stronger when you learn it from us."

  "Our foundation?" Gu hissed, his face twitching. "You destroyed me! That was the wealth I accumulated over a hundred years! All to show your dominance, Holy Maiden?"

  Zhu Qinglan laughed softly, a beautiful but piercing laugh. "Dominance? Young Master Gu, you overestimate yourself. I bought what I needed. Are we not partners? You will also benefit, won't you?" She completely disregarded Gu's financial ruin.

  Zhi Xuan, feeling the tremor of Gu's anger piercing the isolation formation, smiled slightly. He had achieved his initial goal, without losing his life.

  On the podium, Wei Hua took a deep breath, savoring the silence created by the fantastic price.

  "Very well, distinguished guests," Wei Hua exclaimed, her voice regaining its enthusiasm. "After witnessing such astonishing wealth in the Scroll Phase, we now enter the Final Phase, Spiritual Artifacts and Sealed Treasures!"

  The stage was cleared. Several ancient sandalwood boxes and iron chests were placed on the podium. This time, the aura was even older and more oppressive. Zhi Xuan straightened his body. This was his last chance.

  The first artifact auctioned was the Lotus Soul Mirror—a defensive artifact capable of reflecting three Consciousness Transformation attacks. The mirror sparked a fight between noble families from outside Shoutuo City, and was sold for three million Spiritual Jade Coins.

  'You cannot possibly buy anything here, Monkey. We have to get out of here,' Ruo Xianxue said.

  'Silence, Ruo,' Zhi Xuan countered. 'I still have three hundred thousand spiritual jade coins. I only need one item that no one understands the value of.'

  The second artifact was a badly rusted Heavenly Sword, emitting a very faint ancient sword aura, but the host claimed it was a relic left by an Immortal cultivator. The sword was sold for five hundred thousand Spiritual Jade Coins to a curious cultivator from the Eastern Continent.

  The third artifact was lifted. It was a flying sword, purely made of Wind Gold—a fast and light artifact, ideal for Divine Wheel cultivators who wanted to escape or travel. The sword was immediately bought by the Poison Sect Emissaries for two hundred twenty thousand coins, securing their escape route.

  Wei Hua, seeing the disappointment in the hall, smiled, "Very well. We move to the next item. This item is... unique. We do not know much about it, but we found it at the bottom of a ravine shrouded in demon fog, specifically in the Demon Fire Abyss located in Zhao Kingdom."

  A guard carried a light, seemingly simple, and even slightly worn coffin onto the podium. The coffin could not be opened, was stained with dry mud, and covered by a faint, almost invisible, spiritual layer. Another guard stepped onto the stage carrying a severely broken furnace, leaving only half the body of the furnace. The furnace emitted no aura, and looked more like an ancient bronze furnace that would easily rust.

  Wei Hua, calmly and with a beaming smile, displayed the two unique items for all auction participants to see. However, the reaction was the opposite of the artifacts' origins.

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  In the auction hall, a thick silence enveloped. The Consciousness Transformation and Divine Wheel cultivators who had just witnessed the Eight Million Spiritual Jade Coins transaction suddenly stared at the last items with genuine confusion.

  The small, worn, mud-stained coffin the size of an adolescent, and the half-body of the broken bronze furnace, did not emit any significant spiritual aura. They looked more like mortal trash pulled from an ancient tomb than a fate-determining treasure.

  "What the hell is this?" a cultivator in the front row whispered, his tone filled with contempt. "Is the Silver Moon Auction selling mortal trash?"

  "The Demon Fire Abyss," one of the Consciousness Transformation cultivators said. "That is a Abyss that holds the souls of the dead and remnants of concentrated demon essence!"

  "Yes, is it not a cursed object or just some mortal spiritual trash?" another cultivator chimed in, shaking his head. "I would rather buy ten bottles of spiritual wine than that dirty coffin."

  "Wait, does that bronze furnace not look completely destroyed? Why is the Silver Moon Auction selling an incomplete item?" a merchant sitting in the middle area asked, his expression confused.

  In the Ice Orchid Chamber, Young Master Gu, still radiating a dark aura of resentment after his financial ruin, snorted. "Trash. They are trying to sell garbage to cover the auction's emptiness. This is a joke!"

  Gu glanced at Zhu Qinglan. The Holy Maiden, who was usually indifferent, now focused her eyes on the small coffin. Her light gray eyes shone with a sharp analytical light, but with a slight frown—a rare sign of confusion.

  "Zhao Kingdom's Demon Fire Abyss," Zhu Qinglan whispered. "A place shrouded in demon fog and soul fire. Items found there... are rarely worthless."

  Mei, her personal maidservant, immediately approached. "Holy Maiden, our records say that coffin cannot be opened by formations of even a Five Element cultivator from Zhao Kingdom, but there is no aura inside. We suspect it is an ancient demon formation."

  Zhu Qinglan ignored her. She did not care about the coffin. Her gaze now shifted to the broken bronze furnace. The furnace looked ordinary, even slightly rusted. However, she sensed a very old energy fluctuation, but it was too faint, as if the item had been completely drained.

  In the back row of the middle area, Zhi Xuan's sapphire blue eyes were fixed on the broken bronze furnace. Suddenly, his heart pounded violently. It was not because of a dense spiritual aura—quite the opposite. The furnace had absolutely no aura.

  'Monkey, I do not sense anything,' Ruo Xianxue hissed, her voice filled with doubt. 'It is just the remains of a broken bronze furnace. Maybe a mortal tool that fell into the abyss.'

  Zhi Xuan ignored Ruo Xianxue. His instincts, honed by life-and-death experience in the river and the arena, screamed. Amidst the dry mud and rust on the body of the shattered furnace, he saw a pattern. A very faint, almost invisible pattern.

  'That pattern...' Zhi Xuan whispered as if it were familiar, he had seen a similar pattern. A pattern depicting ancient motifs with faint black embroidery, then red embroidery that had turned green but was faintly visible. And the most noticeable, was the eclipse symbol that had completely faded, but left behind a familiar pattern mark.

  'It is like the pattern on my baby basket,' Zhi Xuan thought to himself. 'I once saw Grandpa Wu show me my baby basket, when I was found in the village river at that time.'

  Zhi Xuan immediately channeled his primitive divine sense, refining his vision despite being one-eyed blind. The divine sense focused his gaze on the almost disappearing pattern. The ancient motif with faded black and red embroidery was now combined with the mark of a Full Moon Eclipse pattern.

  It was a very ancient pattern, rarely spoken of, but it was the symbol Grandpa Wu had seen on the rotten cloth in his baby basket: the emblem of the extinct Sky Clan—a clan that might be related to his origins, and perhaps, to the Nine Heavens Bead that sealed the Ancient Demon Monument residing in his sea of consciousness.

  Ruo Xianxue, sensing the extremely subtle Taiyin Essence fluctuation, snorted softly. 'What are you looking for? It might just be an ordinary furnace. Do not waste your time examining a fragile mortal artifact.'

  'That pattern,' Zhi Xuan pressed in his heart, ignoring Ruo Xianxue's question about its shape. 'Is it a clan emblem?'

  Zhi Xuan did not let Ruo Xianxue finish. The price of this furnace and the coffin beside it, which looked like trash, would surely be very low. This was his chance.

  Wei Hua, seeing the atmosphere grow tense, quickly tried to save the situation. "Very well, distinguished guests! We begin with the small, mud-shrouded coffin! We do not guarantee its contents, but we guarantee its sealing formation! Starting price: twenty thousand Spiritual Jade Coins!"

  There was no answer. All cultivators considered it an unnecessary risk. Twenty thousand jade coins, though small, were precious capital for an unlucky Divine Wheel cultivator.

  In the Ice Orchid Chamber, Young Master Gu laughed cynically, his laughter harsh. "Twenty thousand? I would not bid two coins for that garbage coffin. Who wants to die from an ancient demon curse? Holy Maiden, you are not interested in such items, are you?"

  Zhu Qinglan did not respond to Gu. Her light gray eyes narrowed slightly as she stared at the coffin, then shifted to the shattered furnace beside it. She sensed a very old energy fluctuation, but it was too faint, as if the item had been completely drained.

  "Wait, Young Master Gu," Zhu Qinglan whispered. "I will take the coffin. Fifty thousand Spiritual Jade Coins."

  Gu was shocked. "Fifty thousand? Holy Maiden, why are you wasting your money on a cursed garbage box?"

  "It is from the Demon Fire Abyss. Its value lies in its location, not its aura. Fifty thousand jade coins is a reasonable price for an ancient mystery," Zhu Qinglan countered coldly, disregarding Gu.

  Zhi Xuan, holding his jade pouch tightly, flinched. Zhu Qinglan was trying to win the coffin. The coffin was not important, but Zhi Xuan feared Zhu Qinglan would turn her gaze to the shattered furnace, which held the secret of the Sky Clan.

  Zhi Xuan had no time to bid one by one. He had to secure the furnace.

  Zhi Xuan, with solidified determination, raised his hand. His voice, although hoarse and cold, echoed with an absolute finality, cutting off Zhu Qinglan's offer, and creating a deeper silence than the Scarlet Lotus silence.

  "Three hundred fifty thousand, I bid for both items."

  All eyes, including Young Master Gu's bulging eyes and Zhu Qinglan's light gray eyes, turned to Zhi Xuan's figure in the back row—the same figure who had humiliated Gu at the beginning of the auction.

  Three hundred fifty thousand Spiritual Jade Coins. That was all the wealth remaining from his arena victory. He spent it all on a cursed coffin and a shattered bronze furnace.

  Young Master Gu, his anger surging, stood up from his seat in the Ice Orchid Chamber. "What?! You rat! You bought that mortal trash with all your money! You are insane!"

  In the back row, Zhi Xuan sat upright, his sapphire blue gaze defiant. "I am not insane, Young Master Gu. I bought what I needed. Do you want to bid higher for this mortal trash?"

  Zhi Xuan knew Gu would not do it. Gu did not have a single coin left to gamble, and he would not take the risk of bidding on an item he had deemed garbage.

  Zhu Qinglan, beside Gu, tilted her head slightly. A subtle pink blush appeared on her cheeks again. She stared at Zhi Xuan; the silence in her eyes spoke more than his shouts. She understood. The youth had drained Gu, and now, he invested all his capital into something he believed held hidden value.

  Wei Hua, the host, flinched and immediately recovered. "Three hundred fifty thousand Spiritual Jade Coins! From Lord Ming Xu in the middle area! Is there any higher bid?!"

  Silence. No one dared to bid against a madman who spent all his wealth on mortal items.

  "Three hundred fifty thousand... sold to Lord Ming Xu!" Wei Hua exclaimed, her jade hammer hitting the podium with a loud bang.

  Zhi Xuan let out a nearly inaudible sigh. He had lost all his money, but he had obtained the furnace.

  Young Master Gu, with thundering anger, screamed, "Rat! You will regret this! I will make sure you never leave this city alive!"

  Zhi Xuan ignored Gu's threat. He rose from his seat, heading towards the stage, ready to claim his coffin and shattered furnace. He walked in his black-red robe, his steps cold and steady, his aura radiating quiet satisfaction. He released the Divine Wheel pressure which had entered the Sanctum phase, now ready to step into the First Ember.

  Zhi Xuan walked in his black-red robe, his steps cold and steady. His long black hair flowed like the night wind, his steps calm like the demon itself walking amidst a cluster of deities, like a demon retrieving the remnants of its own extinction.

  The Divine Wheel and Consciousness Transformation cultivators attending the Auction were immediately shocked; whispers filled with pure surprise as they realized that Ming Xu was the Black-Haired Devil, Zhi Xuan.

  "That! That is the Black-Haired Devil!" A shout from a Consciousness Transformation cultivator in the middle area broke the silence that enveloped the hall.

  "Look at his left eye! There is no mistake, he is the one-eyed blind youth who defeated fifty mortals in the Dragon Fang Fighting Arena!"

  The noise immediately spread like wildfire. Voices previously suppressed by auction etiquette now exploded in hysterical whispers and uncontrollable surprise.

  "Ming Xu? That is the Black-Haired Devil! He is the freed slave from the Dragon Fang Fighting Arena!"

  "My gosh, he dared to come here! And he spent all his wealth, which he won from Young Master Gu's arena, on those two pieces of mortal trash!"

  "He is crazy. Absolutely crazy. He humiliated Young Master Gu with the ridiculous Scarlet Lotus bid, and now he is throwing all his capital on a furnace and a coffin! Is this an act of desperation?"

  "But... look at his aura. He is only Divine Wheel, but the pressure he emits as he walks... that is not the pressure of a slave. It is an aura of cruelty and deadly calm. He just went through a brutal healing."

  Some cultivators who participated in the betting in the Shadow Market were immediately stunned. They had seen him severely injured just hours ago. They could not believe that he not only managed to heal himself but also dared to face Young Master Gu and Zhu Qinglan at the auction.