Immortal Without Blemish

Wang Hao sat within the first palace.

His face was expressionless.

The silver-haired youth stood behind him.

In a low voice, he said:

“Master.”

“Let’s just kill our way out.”

Wang Hao said:

“Wait a little longer.”

“Three eighth-realm materials.”

A hoarse voice rang out

from the seventh palace.

“Four.”

The ninth palace followed immediately after.

Iron Abacus swept his gaze around the hall.

“Four eighth-realm materials.”

“Any higher bids?”

Wang Hao raised the ownerless merchant contract in his hand.

“One ninth-realm material.”

The entire auction house

fell silent in an instant.

All the various factions

turned to look toward the first palace.

A smile appeared on Iron Abacus’s face.

“Our honored guest bids one ninth-realm material.”

“Any higher bids?”

No one continued bidding.

One ninth-realm material

was already far beyond the value of the Greenwood World.

Iron Abacus brought down his gavel.

“Sold.”

The soul imprint of Heavenly Lord of the Scales

appeared on the surface of the ownerless merchant contract.

Ownership of the Greenwood World

was transferred accordingly.

Wang Hao glanced at the elderly Ministry of Revenue official.

The old official immediately stamped his seal.

“The Greenwood World

is hereby placed under the protection of Great Xia.”

“The slave brands of the Merchant Alliance

are hereby nullified in accordance with the law.”

Within the vessel,

the slave brands on countless living beings

vanished at the same time.

Wang Hao raised his hand again.

“Next item.”

The auction continued.

The second lot

was an ocean world.

Wang Hao bid

two ninth-realm materials.

The third lot:

three hundred million demon slaves.

Wang Hao bid

five ninth-realm materials.

The fourth lot.

The fifth lot.

The tenth lot.

No matter what Iron Abacus brought out,

Wang Hao doubled the price for every item.

The twelve ancient powers

went from initial puzzlement

to mounting shock,

before finally falling completely silent.

They had lived for countless years,

yet this was the first time they had seen

an auction conducted in such a manner.

He did not consider value.

He did not ask about the purpose.

As long as something appeared,

he bought it.

The smile on Iron Abacus’s face

grew increasingly brilliant.

“The final lot.”

“The accumulated assets of the Nineteenth Branch Treasury over the past three thousand years.”

“Including 4.763 billion slaves.”

“Sixty-seven minor worlds.”

“One hundred and eight eighth-realm materials.”

“Seven thousand three hundred merchant vessels.”

“And the entire Myriad Worlds Auction House.”

“All sold as a package.”

“The opening bid:

ten ninth-realm materials.”

An ancient voice

came from the twelfth palace.

“Eleven.”

Wang Hao said calmly:

“The full credit of the Wusheng Merchant Alliance.”

The auction house

fell silent once more.

The auction gavel in Iron Abacus’s hand

nearly slipped from his grasp.

“Honored guest,”

“what did you say?”

Wang Hao raised the ownerless merchant contract.

The soul imprint of Heavenly Lord of the Scales

appeared clearly upon it.

“Heavenly Lord of the Scales, the First Vice Alliance Leader,

guarantees it with the full credit of the Wusheng Merchant Alliance.”

“To purchase all assets of the Nineteenth Branch Treasury.”

Inside the Thunder Abyss Demon-Suppressing Tower,

Heavenly Lord of the Scales let out a despairing roar.

“I never did that!”

“I never said such a thing!”

But the auction house formation

had already recognized his soul imprint.

【Guarantee valid.】

【Credit limit: Unlimited.】

Iron Abacus’s breathing grew rapid.

The credit of the entire Wusheng Merchant Alliance

naturally far exceeded ten ninth-realm materials.

He brought down his gavel heavily.

“Sold!”

Boom!

The ownerless merchant contract

shot into the sky.

All slave brands of the Nineteenth Branch Treasury,

all formations,

all warehouses,

became linked to the merchant contract.

The final buyer’s authority

fell into Wang Hao’s hands.

Wang Hao rose to his feet.

He stepped out of the palace.

“Ministry of Revenue.”

“Freeze the seller’s assets.”

Iron Abacus’s smile froze.

“What?”

The elderly Ministry of Revenue official

took out the alliance headquarters’ account ledger

and stamped it heavily.

“The nineteenth branch treasury.”

“Suspected of illegally trading living beings.”

“Suspected of trafficking worlds.”

“By law, all auction proceeds are hereby frozen.”

Iron Abacus’s eyes widened.

“But you just bought everything!”

The old official replied,

“The buyer was Heavenly Lord of the Scales.”

“The one freezing your assets is Great Xia.”

“They are not the same person.”

Inside the Demon-Suppressing Tower of Thunder Abyss.

Heavenly Lord of the Scales’s soul slammed frantically against the tower walls.

“Wang Hao!”

“You used this old man’s money to buy everything!”

“Then froze the money the Merchant Alliance received!”

“What kind of logic is that?”

Wang Hao said,

“There is now.”

Iron Abacus finally understood.

“You’re the Emperor of Great Xia!”

“Kill him!”

A terrifying aura erupted simultaneously from within the twelve palaces.

Wang Hao raised his right hand.

“Have you forgotten?”

“This place has already been sold to me.”

He clenched his five fingers.

Every formation within the Myriad Worlds Auction House shifted direction at once.

Three thousand black-gold palaces

sealed shut with a thunderous crash.

All the experts from the twelve factions

were trapped inside the palaces.

Behind Iron Abacus, a massive abacus

came crashing down toward Wang Hao.

The power of a late-stage Martial God

shattered the million-mile auction platform inch by inch.

“The Merchant Alliance’s property

is not something you can take just because you want to!”

Wang Hao took a single step forward.

The aura of the second level of the Transcendent Realm

erupted without restraint.

“Heaven-Imprisoning Earth-Overturning Palm.”

“First palm.”

A golden palm imprint descended.

The massive abacus

sank violently.

“Second palm.”

Iron Abacus’s arms exploded.

“Third palm.”

His Martial God Dharma Form had only just risen

when its head was smashed apart.

“Fourth palm.”

Every black-gold chain across the million-mile auction platform

snapped at once.

“Fifth palm.”

Within the three thousand palaces,

the slave marks on forty-seven billion beings

all ignited together.

“Sixth palm.”

Sixty-seven small worlds

flew out from their transparent vessels

and returned to the true starry sky.

“Seventh palm.”

The palaces belonging to the twelve ancient factions

exploded simultaneously.

One expert after another

was forced to their knees beneath the crushing golden palm.

“Eighth palm.”

Wang Hao’s Imperial Soul

covered the entire auction house.

At that moment,

the breaths of forty-seven billion people

merged into a single roaring tide.

Iron Abacus’s face turned utterly pale.

“This old man surrenders!”

Wang Hao said,

“Too late.”

The eighth palm

came crashing down.

Iron Abacus’s body,

his Martial God Dharma Form,

and his enormous abacus

were all pressed deep beneath the auction grounds.

Only his head

remained exposed above the surface.

The silver-haired youth rushed over.

He looked at the head.

“Master.”

“How should we price this one?”

Wang Hao said,

“Count him as a live captive.”

Iron Abacus roared,

“This old man isn’t dead yet!”

The old official from the Ministry of Revenue crouched beside him,

making careful notes.

“One late-stage Martial God captive.”

“Poor condition.”

“Only the head is still above ground.”

Iron Abacus nearly fainted from rage.

Wang Hao paid him no further attention.

He entered the settlement hall.

At the center of the hall,

forty-seven billion slave marks floated in the air.

Every mark

was linked to a life.

Some of the slave marks were newly branded.

Others

had been passed down for hundreds of generations.

When parents were slaves,

their children were born

with slave marks automatically branded into their souls.

Wang Hao raised the new Son of Heaven Sword.

“Open-Heaven Nine Swords.”

“First sword.”

“Sever the Pact.”

The silver blade fell.

All slave marks

split apart down the middle.

Within the Myriad Worlds Auction House,

forty-seven billion living beings

regained their freedom at once.

A little girl locked inside a cage

looked up at Wang Hao.

A Merchant Alliance price tag

still hung from her neck.

Three low-grade spirit stones.

The girl asked timidly:

“You bought me?”

Wang Hao said,

“I did.”

The girl’s face went pale.

“What do you want me to do?”

Wang Hao raised a hand.

He removed the price tag from around her neck.

“For the next three years,”

“live well.”

The girl froze.

“What about after three years?”

“Once you come of age,”

“pay taxes according to the law.”

The girl did not understand what taxes were.

But she understood living.

She clutched the corner of Wang Hao’s robe.

Tears streamed down her face.

“I’m very cheap.”

“They said…”

“I’m only worth three low-grade spirit stones.”

Wang Hao said,

“They set the price wrong.”

“Then how much am I worth?”

Wang Hao looked at her.

Then he looked toward the three thousand palaces.

At the countless terrified, restless beings within.

“In Great Xia,”

“people may not be bought or sold.”

“So they are priceless.”

Boom!

The emotions of 4.7 billion people

erupted completely at that very moment.

Crying.

Laughter.

Roars.

They gathered into boundless power of aspiration.

The Imperial Dao River

surged up from beneath the Myriad Worlds Auction House.

Sixty-seven small worlds,

like sixty-seven pearls,

floated along both banks of the river.

Within Wang Hao’s Imperial Soul,

the third shackle of transcendence

suddenly emerged.

Second level of Transcendence:

breaking free of the soul’s barrier.

Third level of Transcendence:

shattering the shackles of Heaven and Earth.

From this realm onward,

Heaven and Earth were no longer a martial artist’s prison.

One step could cross worlds.

One thought could draw upon the galaxy.

The resources accumulated over countless years in the branch vaults,

the aspirations of the people from eighteen worlds,

and the will to survive of 4.7 billion rescued beings

all crashed against the third shackle at once.

Crack!

The first fissure appeared.

Then,

the entire shackle

exploded into fragments.

The Imperial Dao River

expanded to a width of one million li.

Wang Hao’s aura

rose once more.

Third level of Transcendence!

Around the Myriad Worlds Auction House,

countless dead stars

were lit up simultaneously by golden radiance.

The Dragon-Slayer stood in the distance.

He looked at Wang Hao’s back,

his expression complicated.

“Taking a dynasty as the path,”

“and the masses as the steps…”

“This path to transcendence”

“has never been seen before.”

The Crone of Hundred Burial Mountain said,

“That may not be a good thing.”

“The more people one bears upon one’s shoulders,”

“the less one can afford to fall.”

The Dragon-Slayer said,

“Would he be afraid?”

The crone looked at Wang Hao.

“Of course he is afraid.”

“A person truly unafraid of death”

“would not calculate an escape route every single time.”

“But afraid as he may be,”

“he has never retreated.”

An elderly Ministry of Revenue official

came hurrying over,

clutching the ledger of the nineteenth branch vault.

“Your Majesty,”

“the accounts are wrong.”

Wang Hao asked,

“How much is missing?”

“It isn’t missing.”

“There is an extra entry.”

The old official turned to the final page.

Upon it was only a single line of ancient writing.

“Immortal Path Maintenance Fee.”

“For the past three thousand years, the nineteenth branch vault”

“has, once every hundred years,”

“transported three ninth-realm materials”

“and one hundred million living beings”

“to the sixty-second branch vault.”

Wang Hao’s gaze sharpened.

“What were they used for?”

The old official shook his head.

“The ledger does not say.”

“It contains only two words.”

“Welcome the Immortals.”

Above the Imperial Dao River,

the lights that had only just been kindled

suddenly flickered softly.

From the depths of the starry sky,

it seemed that something

was looking over—

across innumerable worlds.

“Welcome the Immortals.”

Those two words

seemed to be some ancient taboo.

The moment the elderly Ministry of Revenue official spoke them,

a faint, indistinct chant arose around the Myriad Worlds Auction House.

The sound came from impossibly far away,

yet seemed pressed against every person’s ear.

“The immortals are without stain.”

“The immortals are undying.”

“The immortals dwell beyond the shore.”

“Whoever sees an immortal gains eternal life.”

A Ministry of Revenue official

unconsciously raised his head.

In his eyes

was reflected a pristine white immortal gate.

Beyond that gate,

countless indistinct figures

were beckoning to him.

The next moment.

A hand

covered his eyes.

Wang Hao stood before him.

Imperial Dao Golden Flame

poured from his palm into the man’s soul.

Sizzle!

A wisp of black smoke

rose from the official’s eye socket.

The smoke fell to the ground

and writhed like a worm.

The silver-haired youth stomped down on it.

The black smoke did not disperse.

Instead, it crawled up the sole of his shoe

and burrowed toward the new Son of Heaven Sword.

“What is that thing?”

The silver-haired youth lifted his foot.

Sword qi erupted,

slicing the black smoke into dozens of pieces.

Yet every fragment of smoke

turned into an even smaller worm

and continued crawling toward him.

The Crone of Hundred Burial Mountain’s expression changed slightly.

“Don’t touch it!”

She waved her bone staff.

Dozens of corpses

surrounded the black smoke.

The instant the smoke touched the remains,

the eye sockets of those long-dead skeletons

lit up with white light.

They turned their heads in unison,

looking toward the same point in the starry sky.

From their mouths came a hoarse chant.

“The Immortal is without stain.”

“The Immortal does not perish.”

“The Immortal...”

Boom!

Wang Hao struck with his palm.

All the skeletons,

together with the black smoke, turned to ash.

The silver-haired youth looked down at the sole of his shoe

and silently took a step back.

“Master,

that thing just now...

if it had gotten into the sword,

who would pay for the repairs?”

Wang Hao said,

“You.”

The silver-haired youth’s face darkened.

“This time, it wasn’t damage incurred in the line of duty.

It was an enemy intrusion.”

Wang Hao said,

“Improper safekeeping.

Still your responsibility.”

The silver-haired youth fell silent.

He began carefully wiping his shoe

with the hem of his clothes.

The Dragon-Slayer looked into the depths of the starry sky.

“Merely speaking two words

was enough to corrupt the soul.

Warehouse Branch Sixty-Two

is probably no ordinary place.”

Wang Hao said,

“That is precisely why we must go.”

The Dragon-Slayer asked,

“Shouldn’t we rest first?

Of the sixty-three branch vaults of the Wusheng Merchant Alliance,

we have only taken nineteen so far.

The longer we delay,

the more likely the remaining branches are to destroy the evidence.”

Wang Hao raised a hand.

Forty-two golden realm gates

rose simultaneously from the Imperial Dao River.

“Pass on the decree.

The six fleets

are to continue the seizures.

Branch Vaults Twenty through Sixty-One—

take them all

within three days.”

The silver-haired youth looked up.

“Three days?

In such a rush?”

Wang Hao said,

“Every day we delay

may mean one fewer treasury.”