This melon that was forced to be picked is also too sweet.

“So it’s called a dowry, but I’m not actually asking you to marry her. All you need to do is promise to keep my daughter safe.”

“As for whether you truly have such intentions…” He paused, his voice growing even hoarser. “A proper marriage would be fine, taking her as a concubine would be fine. Or even… if some kind-hearted fellow Daoist doesn’t wish to be entangled in worldly affairs, you could find my daughter a safe place to spend the rest of her life.”

“I, Tong, will have no objections whatsoever.”

Those words could hardly have been more humble.

Yet the response from below remained cold.

“Keep her safe? How? And for how long? Who has the time to oppose a behemoth like the Shu family?”

“Exactly! We came here seeking wealth and opportunities, not to serve as babysitters!”

On the second floor, Shu Wanjuan leaned back in his chair. He lifted his teacup, a smug, confident smile curling at the corners of his mouth.

This was exactly the effect he wanted.

He would turn Tong Xiaoxiao into a hot potato, a burden no one would be willing to take on.

In the end, besides the Shu family, who would dare—or be willing—to step forward?

On the elevated platform, Tong Qiannian watched the countless expressions below, taking in every ugly face.

Then he suddenly smiled.

“Everyone is right.”

He nodded, as though he fully agreed with them.

“I, Tong, am merely a common man. The things I think about are common matters as well.”

“So…”

Tong Qiannian suddenly seemed to remember something. He slapped his own forehead, his face taking on an apologetic expression.

“Look at my memory. I got so caught up in discussing the sword that I forgot to mention another worldly possession in the dowry.”

“My Tong family has nothing particularly refined to offer.”

“We can only prepare a little… travel money for my daughter.”

He raised one finger.

“Not much.”

“Only…”

Tong Qiannian cleared his throat and spoke each word distinctly:

“One hundred and thirty-eight billion, six hundred million… top-grade spirit stones.”

“…”

“…”

“…”

It was as if the air had been sucked out of the room in an instant.

The entire Treasure-gathering Pavilion fell utterly silent. Thousands of cultivators and hundreds of private rooms could hear nothing but the heavy breathing of men who sounded like bellows, along with the gulping of countless throats.

How… how much?

In the main hall on the first floor, a rogue cultivator who had been shouting moments earlier stared wide-eyed and instinctively dug at his ears, convinced that he had misheard.

In a private room on the second floor, the hand holding the teacup belonging to Wang Ba, leader of the Iron Palm Sect, violently trembled. Scalding tea spilled all over him, yet he remained completely oblivious.

The yellow-faced man from the Heaven Puppet Sacred Ground abruptly opened his eyes, which had been closed the entire time. Terrifying brilliance erupted from them.

Even Elder Fang Zheng, who had remained as unmoving as an ancient well on the third floor, tightened his grip on the window frame until his knuckles faintly whitened.

One hundred and thirty-eight billion, six hundred million?

Top-grade spirit stones?

Every person present, without exception—even Shu Wanjuan, an Immortal King—could perhaps scrape together that amount if he sold his entire fortune, along with every inch of land in Skywater City.

But asking him to produce such a terrifying amount of liquid spirit-stone wealth?

He would not even dare dream of doing such a thing!

And now, behind that number, there was another ten-thousand-fold unit?!

What kind of fortune was this?

Could they gather that much by excavating every spirit vein within several thousand li of Skywater City?

“Hiss—”

Even Li Yunzhi, who had been sitting back and watching the show, could not help drawing in a sharp breath. Beside him, his page, Old Ce, tumbled straight out of the bookmark and crashed to the floor, where he lay for quite some time without managing to get back up.

Madness!

Tong Qiannian was truly insane!

If the ancient sword had previously attracted a pack of wolves eager to snatch a share of the spoils,

then this wealth, enough to make even an Immortal Emperor envious, would attract a doomsday tide capable of overturning the entire Canghuang Realm!

A burden?

What burden?

Forget taking Tong Xiaoxiao along—even if they brought her entire ancestral line of eighteen generations, it would still be a fortune beyond imagination!

At that moment, the way everyone looked at the figure reclining on the couch atop the platform changed completely.

She was no longer a troublemaker or a burden.

She was a walking… supreme treasure vault!

On the elevated platform, Tong Qiannian was very satisfied with everyone’s reaction.

He waited for a long while, until the chaotic clamoring had gradually been replaced by suppressed, ragged breathing. Only then did he continue.

“By now, I imagine everyone has developed a new opinion of this ‘auction.’”

His voice had returned to normal, yet it carried a strange power that seemed to control the entire hall.

“The rules are simple as well.”

Tong Qiannian waved a hand toward the people behind him.

Rumble—

The floor at the center of the Treasure-gathering Pavilion slowly split apart. A massive arena forged from a single block of black iron rose from beneath the ground and settled firmly before the crowd.

“I, Tong, have already prepared the arena.”

“Tonight, we will not consider one’s background, cultivation, age, or gender.”

“Whoever can stand alone upon this arena for the time it takes an incense stick to burn…”

Tong Qiannian paused, his gaze sweeping across the entire hall. In those murky eyes burned the final spark of madness.

“Whoever does so will obtain my token and my family’s ancestral sword!”

“Afterward, if that person leaves Skywater City with the token and goes to Emperor Court Mountain to find Elder Fang Zheng—and if Elder Fang Zheng verifies that the token is genuine and my daughter is in good condition—then all those spirit stones will belong to that person!”

“When claiming the spirit stones, only the token and my daughter will be recognized, not the person!”

“Of course…”

Tong Qiannian pointed toward the third floor.

“To ensure fairness, and to put everyone at ease…”

“Before the victor has been decided, the spirit stones and the sword will be entrusted to Elder Fang Zheng of Emperor Court Mountain for safekeeping!”

The moment his voice fell, the entire Treasure-gathering Pavilion erupted!

“I’ll do it!”

“Get lost! I’m going first!”

“Hahaha! What Heaven grants, one must not refuse, lest one suffer for it! I, Wang Ba, will accept this generous gift from the Tong family!”

In the second-floor private rooms, Wang Ba, leader of the Iron Palm Sect, was the first to lose patience. With a booming laugh, his massive body leaped from the room and crashed onto the arena, making the entire Treasure-gathering Pavilion tremble three times.

His upper body was bare, his bronze muscles seeming to have been cast from molten iron. He slammed his fists together, producing a ringing clash of metal. The terrifying aura of a late-stage Dao Integration cultivator erupted without restraint.

“Who dares fight me?!”

His voice rang out like a great bell as he looked down arrogantly upon the entire hall.

However, the response was dozens of equally formidable auras.

“Wang Ba, what are you supposed to be? You think you can swallow this opportunity all by yourself?”

“The Wind-Thunder Valley requests a match!”

“And the Black Mountain Sect!”

Inside the Shu family’s private room, Shu Wanjuan’s expression had already darkened so much that it seemed capable of dripping water.

He stared fixedly at the arena, murderous intent flashing in his eyes.

What a Tong Qiannian!

What a brilliant scheme!

He intended to turn Skywater City into a bloody grinding mill!

In a corner of the main hall, Su Jiu nervously gripped Su Ji’s sleeve and whispered, “Senior Brother, they… they’ve all gone mad.”

Su Ji, however, leisurely lifted his teacup and blew across the nonexistent foam on its surface.

Why was he moving so leisurely?

Because his hand was trembling too…