Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

The moment Ru Meng appeared, every eye in the hall turned to her.

She was simply too beautiful. Her gaze stirred the soul, and the slightest flutter of her lashes tugged at the heart. Every movement was alluring, driving many cultivators to instinctively circulate their vital force to suppress their surging blood qi.

Gu Li and Li Guanqi‌ remained clear-headed. Gu Li wouldn’t hesitate to tease a maidservant, but he knew better than to get involved with that kind of ice queen.

The young disciples attending their first auction were another matter. They lowered their heads, their faces flushed.

Ru Meng stood gracefully on the stage, the lighting outlining her elegant, enchanting figure. She took a few steps forward, her slender waist and wide hips swaying like willow branches in a spring breeze.

She waved a hand, and a sheathed longsword floated up before her, radiating a powerful sword intent. The projection screen in Li Guanqi’s private room displayed it as well.

Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes. With his keen vision, he could immediately tell that the longsword was no ordinary treasure.

Meng Jiangchu spoke up. “This is… the Cicada’s Breath Sword. Sword Sovereign Zhicheng’s personal blade?”

Gu Changsheng sighed. “So Xu Zhicheng really is dead. No wonder the Xu clan faded away. Someone from their younger generation must have put it up for sale.”

Li Guanqi hadn’t expected Meng Jiangchu to know the sword’s original owner. It had to be a rare spirit treasure. It already bore the beginnings of a sword spirit, along with sword intent belonging to the Sword Heart Realm. Whoever obtained it would gain not only a rare high-grade sword but a kind of inheritance, perhaps even the sword intent its previous owner had left behind. Ru Meng briefly described the sword’s origin, grade, and value. It was just as Li Guanqi had guessed, but the starting price alone was enough to give him pause.

Ru Meng raised a finger with a faint smile. She said softly, “The starting price is ten thousand high-grade spirit stones. Interested parties may begin bidding.”

A low murmur rose from below, but the bidding quickly turned fierce.

Before long, the Cicada’s Breath Sword had climbed to 9.5 million high-grade spirit stones. A top-tier ancient treasure usually sold for roughly three million, yet this sword had already soared past nine million.

At that figure, the entire first floor fell quiet. The price had passed beyond what most could afford.

The top bidder was an old, white-haired man seated toward the back of the first floor. A young man sat beside him, his face full of excitement.

Li Guanqi glanced over and smiled. It was Zhao Bin, the very man who had clashed with him before.

“9.5 million, going twice,” Ru Meng said softly. “If no one raises the bid, the Cicada’s Breath Sword goes to Guest No. 290.”

Zhao Bin’s face was flushed with tension, his palms drenched in sweat.

Then a cold, casual male voice drifted from a private room. “12 million.”

All eyes turned to the center of the second floor. The voice had come from the auction house’s largest private room.

Inside the room, a sweet-looking girl was tugging at a young man’s arm, laughing happily. “Hahaha, I knew it! Brother, you’re the best!”

The black-robed young man sitting in the chair smiled helplessly and shook his head, looking at his younger sister with affection. “Alright, stop buying things on a whim.”

Zhao Bin’s expression darkened, all his earlier excitement gone.

He turned to the old man beside him and pleaded, “Ancestor, let’s raise the bid one more time, please!”

The old man’s brow furrowed slightly.

“Don’t make me hit you in front of everyone,” he said, his expression calm. “Do you have any idea whose room that is? They’re from the Qin King’s Manor.”

Only then did Zhao Bin understand. His heart skipped a beat, and his face went pale as he turned stiffly toward the second floor.

A man in a black embroidered robe stood by the window of the private room. A faint smile curved his lips, giving him a refined air with just a hint of wickedness.

Zhao Bin lowered his head at once. The man was Qin Wushang, crown prince of Qin King City.

Seemingly sensing something, Li Guanqi stood up and walked to his own window to look out.

Qin Wushang happened to turn his head as well. Their gazes met, and he gave Li Guanqi a slight nod.

Li Guanqi returned the gesture, but inwardly, a storm was already raging. Strong. He’s strong.

That earlier sense of unease had been far too sharp. The man was almost certainly at the Combined Body Realm as well, but a single glance from him had sent a chill down Li Guanqi’s spine, making his scalp tingle.

Gu Li came over too and muttered, “Tch. As expected of the crown prince. That aura, that strength… seriously unsettling.”

Li Guanqi turned to him. “You know him?”

Gu Li smiled. “He’s Qin Wushang, the crown prince of Qin King City. Who doesn’t know him? They call him the foremost genius the Qin clan has produced in ten thousand years. Illusory Refinement Realm at eighteen, Combined Body Realm at twenty. He has a Saint Spirit Root and a sword body. They say no one in the younger generation has ever beaten him. This is my first time seeing him too.”

Li Guanqi nodded. For some reason, the man felt oddly familiar, though he wasn’t sure where he’d seen him before.

On the other hand, Qin Wushang’s lips curled slightly as he murmured, “He really does look like that old acquaintance…”

With the first item alone going for over ten million, the hall only grew more feverish.

Every subsequent item impressed Li Guanqi. Heavenly herbs and rare spirit plants, nearly impossible to find outside, appeared one after another alongside countless other treasures.

“One cun of Dragon Scale Divine Wood.”

Ru Meng held a small sealed barrier in her hand. Inside, a jade-green piece of divine wood, about a chi long in size, floated in midair. It appeared to be the core of a tree, completely emerald green and radiating dense vitality. Its surface seemed to be covered with fine dragon-like scales.

The hall reached a fever pitch as every gaze turned to the Dragon Scale Divine Wood. Refined into pills, it alone could extend the lifespan of Combined Body Realm old freaks by a thousand years, and its healing properties were remarkable as well.

Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes. Beside him, Gu Li chuckled. “You want this? What for? You just broke through. Oh! I get it. You’re buying it for Nine Heavens, aren’t you?”

Li Guanqi said nothing, but that was exactly what he’d been thinking.

Without hesitation, Gu Li produced three storage rings and pressed them into Li Guanqi’s hand. “Buy it. If it’s not enough, I’ve got more.”

Li Guanqi froze slightly. “What’s inside? Spirit stones?”

Gu Li shrugged. “Nope.”

“Then what is it?”

“Uh… about three hundred thousand talismans, give or take. Worth maybe thirty million?”

Gu Changsheng’s eyelid twitched. Meng Jiangchu simply smiled. “This kid’s as rich as ever.”

Li Guanqi swallowed hard and asked, “How many talismans do you actually have?”

Gu Li smiled mysteriously. “I don’t really know myself.”

Back on the stage, Ru Meng said, “Dragon Scale Divine Wood, starting price: six million high-grade spirit stones.”

Li Guanqi took a deep breath. “I’ll borrow them from you, then. Thanks.”