Fortunately, the basic voice-transmission spells were still usable. The cultivators quickly contacted one another using the techniques unique to their respective sects, and before long everyone had found their companions.
The Li clan was one of the few groups that had not left anyone outside.
In the eyes of outsiders, they and the Lingxian Sect were locusts tied to the same rope. As for Li Zhanying himself, he had watched the Lingxian Sect’s actions over the years and naturally did not believe that the sect was harboring any ill intentions.
The Qinghe Sect had not left anyone outside either.
Regardless of what the other factions had done, the Qinghe Sect had already pledged allegiance to the Lingxian Sect. If they left people outside now, it would make them look like they were wavering and trying to have it both ways.
Seeing that everyone had entered safely and that nothing unexpected had happened, Liu Yunan quietly let out a sigh of relief.
Although Brother Xiao had carefully analyzed the current state of the mortal world’s sects and imperial families for him the previous night, assuring him that nothing would go wrong, and although they had made all sorts of contingency plans to guard against unforeseen incidents, Liu Yunan still felt somewhat uneasy. After all, this was the first time their sect was formally handling affairs before the outside world.
Fortunately, everything had gone smoothly so far.
“Everyone, this is the auction house’s largest auction hall. It is designated as Hall One. The smaller halls along both sides of the street, whose doors are currently closed, are where the smaller auctions will be held in the future.” Liu Yunan pointed to the open doors of Hall One behind him, then gestured toward the smaller halls lining both sides of the street as he explained.
He continued, “Today’s opening auction in Xiushui City will be held in Hall One. Please, everyone.”
The space here was isolated from the outside world, but the visitors had yet to discover anything unusual. The representatives from the sects and imperial families unfamiliar with the Lingxian Sect finally relaxed their guard a little and followed Liu Yunan into Hall One.
The hall was brightly lit. Once they entered, people dressed in matching gray uniforms came forward to lead them to their private rooms.
Venerable Xunfang sized up the person assigned to guide the Chixiao Sect. At first glance, the man looked utterly unremarkable, no different from an ordinary shop assistant among the mortals outside. He was respectful and courteous toward them without going overboard.
But Venerable Xunfang had lived for several centuries and had long since developed a keen eye for judging people. What was more, the man before him was not particularly skilled at pretending to be calm.
Venerable Xunfang could see the fear hidden deep in his eyes.
It was not the reverence of a low-level cultivator toward a powerful one. Rather, it was—
The look of a mortal gazing at a cultivator.
Although no one could see through the cultivation levels of the people here—or even determine whether they possessed cultivation at all—Venerable Xunfang was completely certain that the guide before him was a mortal.
A mortal!
Setting aside whether this auction was genuine, why would the Lingxian Sect use mortals to receive them at such an important event? What did it mean?
Venerable Xunfang followed the mortal to the private room arranged for the Chixiao Sect, pondering this question all the while.
Venerable Xunfang was not the only one who realized that these “shop assistants” were mortals. Many of the more experienced elders from the various sects and imperial families had noticed it as well.
They were all deeply puzzled.
After all, cultivators and mortals had always maintained a tacit understanding of keeping out of each other’s affairs.
Some even wondered whether using mortals to receive them on such an occasion was an invisible show of force from the Lingxian Sect.
While the cultivators silently speculated about the Lingxian Sect’s intentions, they had no idea that the villagers guiding them were also trembling with nerves.
Du Changsheng was one of them.
He carefully led the immortals from the Qinglian Sect into their private room and said with a respectful, courteous smile, “Please rest here for a while. There are some snacks on the table to help pass the time. The auction will begin shortly. If you require anything, simply ring this bell and I will come over.”
Afterward, he quickly went over his words in his head twice, making sure that his tone, choice of words, and everything else were in keeping with the standards Brother Yunan had emphasized during their training: courteous, polite, and respectful, but without groveling.
Once he was certain that he had not made any major mistakes, he smiled and nodded at the immortals in the room, then withdrew and gently closed the door behind him.
The guide from the neighboring room had just come out as well.
Du Changsheng turned his head and saw that it was Old Third Hu from the Hu family in the village.
The two exchanged a glance, then let out a long breath at the same time and shared a silent, relieved smile.
Who could have known how shocked they had been a few days earlier when Du Changsheng’s father, Village Chief Du, had suddenly gathered the young and able-bodied men of the village and announced that he needed to select people to receive the immortal guests traveling from all over to Xiushui Village?
How could a bunch of country bumpkins like them possibly receive those immortals of profound cultivation?
But Village Chief Du had sighed and told them:
“Do you think Brother Xiao and the others are willing to trouble us, sending us to stand before those immortals with our hearts in our throats? The truth is, they need to put on a grand enough spectacle to intimidate the immortals who’ve come from outside. The Lingxian Sect simply doesn’t have enough disciples to spare, so they had no choice but to come to your old man here. It’s the first time they’ve ever asked me for help, asking whether we could lend them a hand.”
Before the village chief could continue, the young men of Xiushui Village had already thrown off their earlier shock and timidity. One after another, they thumped their chests and stepped forward.
“I’ll go! So what if they’re immortals? I’m going to receive guests on behalf of our Lingxian Sect. What’s there to be scared of? I’m not scared!”
“Neither am I!”
“I’ll go!”
“I’ll go too!”
…
And so, after Xiushui Village selected as many people as the Lingxian Sect required, Liu Yunan personally took time from his busy schedule to train them for several days. That was how they came to be here.
In Hall One, once all the cultivators had been led into their private rooms, the lights illuminating the center of the hall suddenly went out. The villagers from Xiushui Village who had been serving as guides also quickly left and returned to their designated rest area.
The entire hall remained orderly, without the slightest confusion.
The lights in each private room remained bright. The rooms were not large, containing only a round table in the middle and several chairs around it. Directly opposite the table was a large window overlooking the center of the hall. Presumably, someone would soon appear there to host the auction.
However, all the lights outside had just gone out, and the view beyond the windows was now nothing but darkness.
The windows had no panes. Quite a few cultivators reached a hand toward the opening, only to discover that they could not extend it beyond the window. It was as though an invisible barrier stood there.
Through the barrier, they could see none of the bright lights that should have shone from the other private rooms. Clearly, it was not simply that only their own room remained lit. The barrier could also block their view.
“I wonder whether this barrier can block sound as well,” Jiang Sisi remarked.
Qiu Junsong, the head of the Qinglian Sect, stroked his snow-white beard and chuckled. “Can we hear anything from outside?”
Jiang Sisi suddenly understood. “So it can block sound too. Who would have thought the Lingxian Sect possessed such profound foundations? Everything we’ve seen and heard here today has truly… gone far beyond anything I’ve witnessed in my hundred-plus years.”
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
lity and could only live as an ordinary mortal. He only wished to live a peaceful life. Yet he didn't know— The dog he adopted, because it ate his food, became a legendary demon king. The kitchen knife he casually forged became a peerless divine weapon, causing numerous experts to fight desperately for it. The young disciple he took in became an immortal lord that led an era, due to cultivating the techniques Ye Feng taught him. Even the skeletons he looked down on the most were ominous demon kings that suppressed countless worlds. Many years later, looking at the void shattered with a punch, Ye Feng murmured to himself: It turns out the peerless kings were myself all along...
e vast world of cultivation, where he becomes the master of the Heavenly Ruins Sacred Hall, a dying old man with barely a tenth of his former cultivation remaining. He is immediately confronted with a deadly crisis: his subordinates have rebelled, and his protectors are forcing him to abdicate. At the critical moment, the system descends from the heavens: [Ding! The host has been detected facing a life-or-death crisis. The system is now officially activated!] [As a gift, you have received the Supreme Beginner’s Pack and awakened the ultimate cheat: ten thousand years of pure cultivation essence every second!] Yin Tianjue: “Wait… ten thousand years of cultivation every second? That’s six hundred thousand years a minute, and in one day… I can’t even calculate it. Either way, I’m already invincible!” You’re a peerless prodigy rarely seen in ten thousand years? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re an undying ancestor who has guarded a sacred land for countless ages? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re the strongest chosen one, blessed with heaven-defying destiny? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. From this day forth, I have only one thing to say: “I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. Now, how exactly are you supposed to deal with that?”
