It was already past midnight. Shi Yao sent off the visibly worried Sang Wenzhou. “Father, I’m fine. Senior Sister Sang surely didn’t do it intentionally.”
Sang Wenzhou’s expression was icy. “Since she’s not dead, why hasn’t she returned to the Sword Sect? And now she’s mingling with the Beast King and even dared to hurt you like this!”
Out of his sight, Shi Yao’s face darkened.
Her lowered hand clenched tightly, and her beautiful eyes brimmed with malicious intent.
“Father, please leave for now. I want to rest.”
She responded lazily to Sang Wenzhou’s concerns and immediately shut the door after seeing him off.
As soon as the door closed, the sound of a porcelain bottle shattering rang out, and the area around the table became a complete mess.
A spiritual crane emerged from the inner hall. When it saw her furious expression, the previously delicate and graceful face now exuded a murderous aura.
The spiritual crane shook its feathers and transformed into a tall, striking youth with vivid features and a robe of intertwined blue and red.
Leisurely, he waved his hand, collecting the fragments of porcelain from the ground.
“Tsk, what’s got you so worked up?”
“Sang Dai isn’t dead. Did you know that? She’s alive!”
Bi Fang nodded nonchalantly. “Yeah, I know.”
Shi Yao couldn’t understand why he remained so composed. She raised her hand, revealing the bandage on her wrist. “Not only is she alive, but she also took the Tianyu Stone. That stone contains pure Guixu spiritual energy. She must not come into contact with Guixu spiritual energy!”
Bi Fang said nothing, standing with his hands behind his back.
“If Sang Dai comes into contact with Guixu spiritual energy, she will eventually remember everything that happened back then.”
As if realizing something, Shi Yao’s pupils constricted. “No, she must die. Only if she’s dead can you and I survive.”
Shi Yao suddenly looked up. “Bi Fang, go kill her. You’re an ancient divine beast!”
Bi Fang replied indifferently, “The Nine-Tailed Fox Clan is also an ancient divine beast.”
With just one sentence, he rendered her speechless.
Shi Yao suddenly realized that Sang Dai was no longer alone—Su Xuan was by her side.
A Nine-Tailed Fox with pure bloodline, an awakened Heaven-grade spiritual root, and even a Grand Ascension-stage demon cultivator.
As long as Su Xuan was around, Bi Fang could not kill Sang Dai.
“…Impossible. How could Sang Dai still be alive?”
Shi Yao couldn’t understand.
“At this point in time, she should already be dead. And Su Xuan hasn’t exited seclusion so early. Why has everything changed?”
“If she comes into contact with Guixu spiritual energy again and remembers everything… Why? Why has it all changed?”
Shi Yao mumbled in confusion, panic growing in her heart.
After a long time, as her emotions slightly stabilized, the silent Bi Fang finally spoke.
“Sang Dai and Su Xuan have come this time for the Immortal Velvet Grass and the Heaven-grade spiritual root. These things cannot fall into their hands. Sang Dai must die. Eldest Miss, you know what to do.”
Shi Yao calmed down, her hand resting on the table slowly clenching.
She was clever—though her emotions were volatile, her mind was undoubtedly sharp.
“Of course, there are more people in the Four Realms who want her dead than just us.” Shi Yao curved her lips into a smile, raising her hand to stroke Bi Fang’s face, her voice soft. “How many in the Immortal Realm hope for Sang Dai’s death? Those people have lived in fear for years, terrified that Sang Dai might remember something.”
Bi Fang smiled in response. “That’s why, Eldest Miss, you’re the true victor.”
She didn’t need to act herself.
She only needed to give a little push, and Sang Dai would become the target of everyone, walking the same path as Ying Heng.
Hunted to death, her reputation ruined.
“Eldest Miss, just letting her remember a little is enough to make her abandoned by everyone.”
“Bi Fang, come with me to see someone.”
“Naturally.”
—
The Bairen Alley Auction, held once every ten years, was hosted by Fu You, a man with a love for wealth. The auction was just another way for him to amass riches. Here, anything could be bought and sold—immortal herbs and spiritual pills long thought extinct, rare and precious artifacts, and talismans of exceptional quality.
Three months before the Bairen Alley Auction began, sellers from all over presented their treasures to Bairen Alley. Fu You personally reviewed and graded each item before setting a base price. Of course, this base price was only the starting point. Buyers bid against each other, with the highest bidder taking the treasure. The profits were split 80-20, with Fu You taking 20%. However, his set base prices were already far beyond what ordinary people could afford, and the final transaction prices often soared high, earning him a significant amount of spirit stones.
Sang Dai had changed her clothes, and when she stepped out, Su Xuan was already waiting for her.
He approached and cast a concealing spell, hiding her original appearance.
The auction was bound to draw countless attendees. If Sang Dai were recognized, especially in her current state without spiritual energy, it would place her in great danger.
“Let’s go.”
“Alright.”
Fu You resided on a mountain within Bairen Alley. The city lord’s mansion was merely for show, and he seldom visited it.
His residence was vast, encompassing half the mountain. Thus, every Bairen Alley Auction was held there.
As Su Xuan and Sang Dai arrived, they immediately spotted a figure in red approaching them.
It was Liu Lixue.
“Sovereign Lord, Miss Sang.”
Liu Lixue greeted them with a nod.
Sang Dai nodded in return. “Young Master Liu.”
Before leaving, Liu Lixue had been sent by Su Xuan to handle some aftermath in the Beast Realm. He had arrived a day later than them and came directly to the auction today, where they encountered each other.
Liu Lixue followed closely behind Su Xuan and whispered, “Sang Wenzhou is here as well. I just saw him.”
As he said this, he glanced at Sang Dai, lowering his voice as though worried she might overthink it.
Sang Dai’s expression remained calm, as if she didn’t know who Sang Wenzhou was at all.
Su Xuan deftly grabbed her wrist and led her inside, completely ignoring Liu Lixue.
Liu Lixue: “…”
Fine, it seemed like neither of them cared much. Perhaps he was overthinking it.
This Bairen Alley Auction had drawn quite a crowd—among them, five of the three major sects and six factions of the Immortal Realm had sent representatives.
Many might not recognize Su Xuan, as he rarely showed his face, but almost everyone of significance in the Immortal Realm had encountered him.
Why? Su Xuan had a habit of frequenting the Immortal Realm.
A Beast King who often roamed the Immortal Realm—especially the Sword Sect—while being a Heaven-grade spiritual root cultivator, was impossible to ignore.
Sang Dai noticed many familiar faces among the crowd. As the former eldest miss of the Sword Sect, she had needed to be well-acquainted with the elders of the Immortal Alliance.
Now, however, with Su Xuan concealing her appearance, none of them recognized her.
Su Xuan led Sang Dai to a seat in the corner. Sitting diagonally across from them was someone she knew well.
Ji Cang, the Demon Lord, a peak Nascent Soul cultivator and a Heaven-grade spiritual root awakener.
Sang Dai had fought him many times.
Ji Cang’s body was faintly surrounded by demonic energy. He was tall and straight, with a face so ordinary it blended into the crowd—too plain to stand out. But Sang Dai knew it wasn’t his real appearance.
Ji Cang had never revealed his true face in the Four Realms. Every time they met, he had a different face, which was rather novel. Yet, his demonic energy always gave away his identity.
Sensing her gaze, Ji Cang turned to look at her with a playful smile.
He winked at her.
Sang Dai’s vision darkened.
Expressionless, she withdrew her gaze and picked up her tea, downing it in one gulp to steady her nerves.
Su Xuan and Ji Cang exchanged a brief glance, Su Xuan’s warning unmistakable.
Ji Cang, a master of disguise, could easily tell that the female cultivator by Su Xuan’s side was also in disguise.
As for who she truly was beneath the facade, it wasn’t hard to guess.
Ji Cang lazily leaned back in his chair, letting a servant behind him knead his shoulders. He looked as though he were on vacation.
Finally, after the hall filled with attendees, the host of the Bairen Alley Auction made a belated entrance.
Fu You was easy to spot. As a malevolent ghost, his complexion was perpetually pale as snow, yet his features were strikingly handsome—a kind of delicate beauty that lent him an air of ethereal elegance.
Even arriving late, he remained at ease, standing on the high platform and looking cheerfully at the crowded hall below.
“Well, well, what a turnout we have for this Bairen Alley Auction.”
The Demon Lord was here, the Beast King was here, and even…
Fu You’s gaze landed on Sang Dai. His eyes curved in a slight smile.
She was here too.
Sang Dai felt a chill run down her spine, an indescribable sensation, as if a snake had coiled itself around her.
Su Xuan glanced at Fu You, and only then did the latter leisurely retract his gaze.
The news of the Immortal Velvet Grass and the Heaven-grade spiritual root being included in this auction had spread across the Four Realms. Many people were aware, making this Bairen Alley Auction far more crowded than any in the past.
Fu You sat in the city lord’s seat, legs crossed, tapping idly on the armrest. With each tap, ghostly flames flickered to life and extinguished.
“Such a warm turnout to support my Bairen Alley. I’m truly grateful,” he said.
What followed was a series of perfunctory remarks—words Fu You recited every year without so much as changing a syllable, leaving one to suspect he had written a script long ago to save effort, repeating it annually.
Sang Dai drank several cups of tea before Fu You finally finished speaking.
He cleared his throat, and just as the crowd thought he was about to begin the main event, Fu You suddenly smiled.
“Previous auctions have been rather dull, so this year, I’d like to try something new,” he announced.
The crowd immediately sensed trouble.
Sure enough, Fu You continued the next second: “Why don’t we change the venue and the auction method? Talking about money is so vulgar. This time, we won’t use spirit stones.”
An auction without spirit stones?
He elaborated, “In Bairen Alley, there is a place called the Burning Heaven Realm. For this auction, I’ve placed all the items within the Burning Heaven Realm. Let’s see who has the skill to retrieve them. How about it?”
At this, the expressions of the crowd shifted, and Sang Dai set down her teacup.
The Burning Heaven Realm—its name alone suggested it was far from a pleasant place, and indeed, it wasn’t.
The Netherworld had countless ghost cultivators, and among them, malevolent ghosts were particularly common.
The most vile, those with deep obsessions or heavy sins, often couldn’t enter the cycle of reincarnation after death. They became ghost cultivators, and many even turned into malevolent ghosts.
Malevolent ghosts differed from regular ghost cultivators in that they didn’t focus on cultivation. Instead, they thrived on slaughter.
Be they human, demon, beast, or ghost, malevolent ghosts killed indiscriminately, driven by bloodlust, devoid of compassion or morality.
The Burning Heaven Realm imprisoned countless malevolent ghosts, most of whom had been captured by the other three realms. Because malevolent ghosts were notoriously difficult to kill, requiring forty-nine days of hellfire to burn them completely, they were handed over to Fu You, a fellow ghost lord.
But Fu You was lazy. Too lazy to set up a hellfire array, he simply threw the captured malevolent ghosts into the Burning Heaven Realm, where his restrictions kept them suppressed.
Now, he had placed the auction items within the Burning Heaven Realm, forcing the participants to enter a ghost-infested domain to retrieve them.
“Madman!” someone cursed.
A chorus of angry voices erupted.