Can a forced melon be sweet

From atop the elevated platform, Tong Qiannian looked down at the countless faces below.

He did not lift the red cloth.

Instead, he took a step forward, reaching the very edge of the platform and exposing himself fully to everyone’s gaze.

“Everyone.”

He spoke once more, his voice carrying throughout the venue through the formation.

“I know that most of you did not come here for the Treasure Gathering Pavilion. Nor do you care in the slightest what becomes of my daughter, Tong Qiannian’s daughter.”

“You came for a sword.”

Before his voice had even faded, the crowd below erupted into an uproar.

“Boss Tong, stop keeping us in suspense and show us the goods!”

“Exactly! We’ve traveled thousands of miles for this very moment!”

Tong Qiannian raised a hand and pressed it down lightly.

The clamor gradually subsided.

“Before I reveal the item, there are a few words I would like to share with everyone.”

He swept his gaze across the venue before finally settling it on the direction of the Shu family’s private room on the second floor.

“Perhaps some of you are wondering why, after guarding this sword for ten thousand years, my Tong family has suddenly decided to hand it over today.”

He gave a self-mocking smile and pointed at his own chest.

“Because I, Tong Qiannian, am about to die.”

Boom!

His words exploded through the hall like a thunderclap.

The rumors that Tong Qiannian had suffered severe injuries and did not have long to live had circulated throughout Tianshui City for years, but they had remained nothing more than rumors.

Now that he had admitted it himself, the implications were entirely different.

“I damaged my Dao foundation in my youth. After that, I was assassinated by my enemies several times. Although the latest attempt failed, it still left me with more than ten wounds, both major and minor.”

“One could say that this life of mine has long been riddled with holes. For all these years, I have relied on heavenly treasures to keep myself hanging on by a thread. But now, my oil has run dry. My end is near.”

Tong Qiannian’s voice was calm, as though he were speaking of someone else entirely.

“I do not fear death. But I still have a daughter.”

His gaze slowly shifted toward the second-floor private room that had always stood empty under the Tong family’s name.

“My Tong family possesses wealth beyond measure. But in the world of cultivation, money is the most useless thing of all.”

“If I die, how can a weak woman protect such a fortune? How can she find a way to survive while surrounded by those hungry wolves?”

“So today, I, Tong Qiannian, have taken the liberty of borrowing the Treasure Gathering Pavilion’s stage, as well as the presence of Elder Fang Zheng of Imperial Court Mountain and the gathering of all the heroes and experts here…”

He drew a deep breath, then abruptly turned around and tore away the enormous red cloth!

The cloth billowed through the air.

But what it revealed was not some peerless divine weapon.

Instead, there was a bed covered in golden silk.

Tong Xiaoxiao sat quietly upon it in a plain dress.

Her eyes were tightly shut, and her face was as pale as a sheet of paper.

If not for the faint rise and fall of her chest, she would have looked like an exquisite yet lifeless porcelain doll.

At that instant, the entire Treasure Gathering Pavilion fell into deathly silence.

Everyone was so shocked by this unbelievable sight that they were rendered speechless.

What… did this mean?

“My Tong family is willing to offer our ancestral sword as Xiaoxiao’s dowry.”

Tong Qiannian’s voice echoed through the silent hall like a curse.

“Tonight, right here!”

“We will auction off the final item.”

“We are not auctioning a sword, nor are we auctioning wealth!”

He raised his hand and pointed at the young woman lying on the bed. His voice suddenly rose, carrying a trace of crazed fury.

“We are auctioning off my Tong family’s son-in-law!”

“Whoever can protect my daughter for the rest of her life…”

“Whoever can ensure that my Tong family’s bloodline does not die out…”

“I will offer this sword with both hands!”

“This is her… dowry!”

He’s gone mad!

Those were the only two words left in everyone’s minds.

Selling his daughter in exchange for a sword!

Tong Qiannian had truly lost his mind!

After a brief moment of silence, the entire Treasure Gathering Pavilion exploded.

“Absurd! I’ve never heard of anything so outrageous!”

“What does he think his own daughter is? Merchandise?”

The rogue cultivators in the main hall discussed the matter heatedly, their shock, disdain, envy, and countless other emotions intertwining.

But in the private rooms on the second floor, the reactions of the true powers present were entirely different.

The withered-faced man from the Puppet Heaven Sacred Land showed a flicker of understanding in his eyes before closing them again, as if he had no interest in this farce.

To people like them, women were nothing more than fleeting dust. Only puppets made from the materials within that sword, accompanying them at their side, could last forever.

On the other side, after a brief moment of astonishment, Shu Wanjuan threw his head back and laughed.

“Hahahaha! Good! Good! What a Tong Qiannian! What a masterful move to cut off every other option!”

He abruptly rose and walked to the window. His narrow eyes were filled with undisguised greed and fervor.

Originally, he had still been wondering how to seize the sword by fair means or foul, and how to obtain it while withstanding the pressure from Imperial Court Mountain.

But now, Tong Qiannian had personally paved a broad road straight to his goal!

What do you mean, seize it?

I’m marrying her properly!

My Shu family can afford this “betrothal gift”!

Above them, on the third floor, Fang Zheng’s brows had already twisted into a tight knot.

The young disciple behind him could not help but whisper, “Master, this… this is preposterous! It violates all human decency, and it also breaks the rules of the auction!”

“There have long been rules in this world forbidding people from being auctioned as slaves.”

Fang Zheng said nothing.

He merely looked at Tong Qiannian below, who appeared almost deranged, then glanced at Tong Xiaoxiao on the bed, who looked scarcely different from a corpse. His expression was complicated.

Rules?

When a father was willing to gamble everything for his daughter’s chance at survival, was it really appropriate to lecture him about rules?

Just as the atmosphere throughout the venue turned strange and Shu Wanjuan prepared to speak and seal the deal, more people could no longer restrain themselves and spoke before he did.

“Boss Tong, what exactly are you trying to do?”

After a brief silence, the rough voice of Wang Ba from the Iron Palm Sect rang out from a second-floor private room, filled with undisguised anger.

“We came here to bid on a sword, not to become your son-in-law! This was supposed to be an auction. What are you doing, setting up some martial arts tournament to choose a husband? Aren’t you afraid people will laugh themselves to death when word of this gets out?”

“Exactly!” The main hall immediately erupted with voices of agreement.

“It’s only a sword, yet you expect someone to take on a burden as well? Boss Tong, that’s a little too clever of a scheme, don’t you think?”

“Who doesn’t know that your Tong family offended the Shu family? You’re just trying to find some sucker to take the fall for you!”

“Whoever wants to be the son-in-law can do it. Count me out!”

The vulgar insults were unbearable to hear.

On the elevated platform, Tong Xiaoxiao’s delicate body trembled within the bed. Her already pale face had lost what little color remained.

Tong Qiannian listened to the piercing jeers below and watched his daughter being rejected and scorned. Yet not the slightest trace of anger appeared on his face.

He simply waited in silence, until the clamoring voices gradually died down.

Only then did he slowly speak, his voice neither loud nor forceful, yet possessing a strange penetrating quality.

“Please, everyone, remain calm.”

“I know as well as anyone that a forced marriage will never bring happiness.”

Tong Qiannian bowed deeply to the entire crowd, lowering himself as much as possible.