Ko Wenlu began sweating profusely, turning around to see that Ko Furen was nowhere to be found, his breathing growing fast and unstable as he didn’t know what to do, his vision growing narrow and jumping from one corner of the hall to another in a more and more erratic way.

Unbeknownst to him, and anyone else, two invisible carps were swimming inside the private balcony, right under the ceiling, ripples from their movement spreading like invisible waves and currents of ’water’.

"60 million!!!", Wei Yuanjie raised the bid for the painting once again.

"100 million!!!", Bao Family’s member grinned, instantly raising the stakes.

Another anonymous bid, 200 million.

The whole room went into an uproar since it was the first time tonight the price went up that far, and the most shocked was the Right Guardian who didn’t make that bid.

"220 million!", Wei Yuanjie relentlessly pursued it.

"T-... 240!", Wei Liheng gulped, as this price was now cutting into his ability to compete for the main prize.

Another anonymous bid from the Right Guardian for 270 million.

"300!", Bao Family member wasn’t about to be left behind, though he couldn’t shake off the feeling like that earlier anonymous bid of 200 million to his 100 million, was some kind of warning. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

"400!", Wei Liheng threw caution to the wind, as well as all hopes of winning the main prize, his gut telling him this was even more important.

"1 billion Wei Dynasty gold", at this point, Wei Yuanjie stood up, holding his sign high in the air, causing another uproar.

This time, neither the Silverleaf Trade Hall, nor the Right Guardian, not even Wei Liheng made any rash moves, as this clearly showed that Wei Yuanjie was willing to break his entire finances out for this, which meant this truly would be a final showdown for him.

"Wait!!", but as the countdown began, and it already looked like it could be Wei Yuanjie’s win from the short pause of the other competitors, a shout came from an unexpected place - the private balcony of the City Lord’s Manor, where Ko Wenlu stood with a disheveled, slightly feverish look, breathing rapidly and covered in sweat, "T-that painting... i-it is not for sale!"

The entire auction hall exploded with gasps and murmurs, as shocked looks appeared on all faces.

"Dear customer...", Kwon Qianhong began with a polite tone, but was cut off by Ko Wenlu.

"This item was submitted to the auction by our City Lord’s Manor, and is rightfully our property. We have the right to pull it, and are willing to pay the penalty fee", Ko Wenlu rapidly spoke.

Wu Long, standing in the mask of Talisman Master on the auction stage, widened his smile, ’Yin’er will be happy, it’s her first attempt and it’s a remarkable success already’

The door behind Ko Wenlu burst open the next moment with Ko Furen standing in there, a shocked look on his face, along with being out of breath as he hurried back in as soon as he made contact with their father, only to hear the statements made by his older brother as he was rushing through the hallway, activating the sound protection of the private balcony and rushing in while closing the door, he shouted at the top of his lungs, "You idiot!!! What did you do?!"

"I... I...", Ko Wenlu turned around with crazed eyes, clearly in full panic, disoriented by the whole situation, as well as shocked beyond measure at the outburst of this usually calm and peaceful younger brother of his.

"Are you completely insane?! I’m asking, are you out of your mind?! Do you realize what you just did?!", Ko Furen, however, couldn’t gather enough strength to compose himself, shaking with rage, frustration and deep anxiety, as well as welling up intense fear,.

"I... stopped it, it was about...", Ko Wenlu stammered in a barely recognizable speech pattern.

Ko Furen, however, didn’t even try to listen or understand what he tried to mutter, continuing to shout, "You just announced to everyone that treasure, which everyone is fighting over, is ours!!! Do you have any idea in that idiotic empty head of yours what that means?! Of course you don’t! It means thousands of greedy eyes you fucking moronic invertebrate imbecile!!! So what if we manage to stop if from being sold and take it back! The whole damn continent knows where it will be if we do it!"

Ko Wenlu paled as he belatedly began realizing what his little brother was saying was true, "T-then we’ll just sell it..."

His brother spat out with vicious fury, "It doesn’t fucking matter! Whatever happens to this painting now, even if we go through with the sale and everyone knows it’s not in our possession. Are you really so damn naive?! ’Who knows, they might have more where that came from’, is what everyone thinks in such cases! You just invited ten thousand greedy looks from cultivators onto our City Lord’s Manor!"

Ko Wenlu gulped, desperate for air, "Y-you were not here... and it was about to be sold... and... and... and I ehm~..."

He was stuttering and stumbling over his words, out of breath, and talking in a higher pitch voice than usual, looking completely lost as he constantly turned his entire body back and forth, to face Ko Furen, or to point behind him to the auction hall.

"Not here? Of course I was not here! I told you I was going to contact Father!", Ko Furen finally stopped raising his voice, speaking in a steely tone as he struggled to calm down, remembering that he was now acting extremely out of character for his usual demeanor.

"Wh-when? You... I.. you were no~ not here...", Ko Wenlu’s eyes became round as he struggled to recollect ever hearing anything like that, but then his throat got dry as his mind became preoccupied by a single question, "W-What did he say? What eh~ what did Father say...?"

"Hah", Ko Furen covered his face with his hand, a helpless chuckle coming out of him on its own, "What he told me? He told me to handle it quietly through the Trading Company. To just put a message through the staff that we want to pull the treasure. Not announce it to the whole fucking world, that’s what he told me, Brother"