"Patriarch Zhou, hurry up and say something! You could get the original copy of the Qin family’s foundational Cultivation Technique without spending a single cent. An opportunity like this comes once in a hundred years."

"The Zhou family is one of the four great houses of the Imperial Capital, and their power is on par with the Qin family’s. They certainly wouldn’t be afraid of them. It would be best if the Zhou family placed a bid."

In a flash, countless families spoke up, pushing the Zhou family into the eye of the storm.

In truth, these families weren’t deliberately trying to bail out the Luo family. After thinking it over, they simply realized that the Zhou family had a much better chance of winning if they made a move.

In the Zhou family’s private room, Zhou Qingyu was utterly dumbfounded. He had only wanted to mess with Ye Xuan. How could he have predicted things would turn out this way?

He could only cast a pleading look toward his father, Zhou Huai, the Patriarch of the Zhou family.

Zhou Huai shot him a cold glance before addressing the crowd. "You all jest. The Zhou family’s interest in the Qin family’s foundational Cultivation Technique is merely average. Since the Luo family is unwilling to make a move, the Zhou family has no intention of getting involved."

Alas!

A wave of sighs and laments swept through the hall.

"Auctioneer, no one else is bidding! Hurry up and drop the hammer!"

Qin Feng said anxiously from the Qin family’s room. He feared that if this dragged on, something unexpected might happen.

In the end, the Heaven-Burning Fire Skill was sold for 160,000 Lower Grade Profound Stones.

"Heh heh. All those extra Profound Stones, and for nothing. I wonder if the Qin family’s hearts are bleeding from the pain." A satisfied smile spread across Ye Xuan’s face.

From the very beginning, he’d never had any intention of buying the Heaven-Burning Fire Skill.

"Kid, you really know how to play with fire. The Qin family must be furious enough to die." Master Lu Li’s voice reached him via a quiet transmission, his tone utterly exasperated.

"Hmph. The Qin family is out for our lives. Why should we be polite with them?" Ye Xuan sneered.

In the Qin family’s private room, Qin Feng and the others let out a long sigh of relief. Regardless of the cost, the clan’s foundational Cultivation Technique was finally back in their hands.

The price, however, made every member of the Qin family turn ashen-faced.

"The Luo family deserves to die a thousand deaths!" several elders roared, their voices choked with unshed tears.

For this annual auction, their Qin family had managed to scrape together just over 200,000 Lower Grade Profound Stones, planning to make a splash. They never imagined that before the main items were even up for bid, more than half of their funds would be gone—spent on the Heaven-Burning Fire Skill. To make matters worse, it was a technique the Qin family already owned. How could they not be furious and heartbroken?

"I will make sure the Luo family can never recover from this," Qin Feng ground out through gritted teeth. His cold gaze then shifted to the Third Elder. "Third Elder, what is the status of the matter I assigned you?"

The Third Elder gritted his teeth. "Patriarch, rest assured. Our Qin family can make its move as soon as the auction is over. I guarantee that within a month, the Luo family’s enterprises will be completely wiped from the Imperial Capital’s markets. They won’t even have a place to stand."

"Good. Very good." Qin Feng nodded in satisfaction. "And all those families who kicked us while we were down... I, Qin Feng, have now seen their true faces. When the time comes, I’ll be sure to make them pay."

"Patriarch." The Third Elder suddenly flashed a sinister smile. "Don’t forget, our Qin family also has an item up for auction in the finale, don’t we? The Yuan family will surely exhaust all their resources to acquire it. When they do, we’ll make them pay back what we lost on the Heaven-Burning Fire Skill."

Everyone’s eyes in the private room lit up.

"Heh heh." At the thought of that item, the previously enraged members of the Qin family broke into chilling, sinister smiles.

The auction continued.

The finale items were indeed astonishing. Next up for auction was a Profound Soldier.

A battle saber appeared before the crowd, radiating a startling aura and glinting with a piercing, cold light.

"Everyone, this Polar Cold Saber was obtained by our Heaven-Reaching Pavilion through a special channel. The blade itself was forged with some Tier Seven, Lord Level materials. Unfortunately, an accident seems to have occurred during the Artifact Refining process, causing it to fail. As a result, this Polar Cold Saber is only a Sixth Level Peak Profound Soldier. However, compared to ordinary Sixth Level Profound Soldiers, it is far superior in both power and durability."

A battle saber rested on the auction stage before the green-robed elder. As he whipped off the silk cloth covering it, a bone-chilling cold permeated the entire hall.

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, the elder gripped the hilt and channeled a stream of Profound Qi into the blade.

HUMMM!

A frigid saber aura suddenly erupted from the deep blue blade. The white, frosty energy it released seemed to nearly freeze the very air around it.

The sight sent a wave of gasps and murmurs through the stunned crowd.

"The Polar Cold Saber. The starting bid is five thousand Lower Grade Profound Stones, with a minimum increment of one hundred Lower Grade Profound Stones. Let the bidding begin!"

The green-robed elder said with a smile as he set the battle saber down.

"Six thousand Lower Grade Profound Stones."

"Six thousand five hundred Lower Grade Profound Stones."

"Eight thousand Lower Grade Profound Stones."

The bids came one after another, each higher than the last.

"Kid, don’t you need a weapon? What do you think of this Polar Cold Saber?"

Master Lu Li quietly sent to Ye Xuan via voice transmission.

Ye Xuan smiled faintly and transmitted back, "Master Lu Li, surely you’ve noticed? The main material for this Polar Cold Saber must be Thousand-Year Profound Ice Iron, which is indeed a Tier Seven material. However, an accident happened during the refinement process—it was likely struck by a powerful Fire Element force. This not only caused the refinement to fail but also altered the very structure of the Thousand-Year Profound Ice Iron."

"So, while this Polar Cold Saber is much tougher and more powerful than an ordinary Sixth Level Profound Soldier, it has a critical flaw. It could easily shatter if struck by a Fire Element energy attack. What use would I have for something like that?"

Master Lu Li was at a loss for words.

In truth, this was the very saber that he, Lu Li, had forged over a decade ago. He had failed to properly control the heat during the process, which damaged the materials. Because of this failure, he had never revealed its existence.

The saber had somehow found its way out into the world, and now, for reasons unknown, the Heaven-Reaching Pavilion had found it and put it up for auction.

Lu Li knew the saber’s flaw perfectly well. What he hadn’t expected was for Ye Xuan to have identified the Polar Cold Saber’s weakness so easily after just a few quick glances. It left Lu Li once again in awe of Ye Xuan’s mastery of Artifact Refining.

However, he didn’t quite agree with Ye Xuan’s conclusion.

"Kid, judging by your aura, you’re only a Tier Five Martial Sect. While the Polar Cold Saber has the flaw you mentioned, you would need the Fire Element power of a Tier Seven Martial King to actually shatter it. Even a Tier Seven Martial King couldn’t destroy it in just one or two strikes. For someone at your level, it’s more than sufficient, wouldn’t you say?"

In Lu Li’s eyes, Ye Xuan was just a Tier Five Martial Sect. No matter how powerful he was, he couldn’t possibly fight a Martial King. Therefore, the flaw he mentioned was completely negligible.

Ye Xuan suddenly glanced toward Master Lu Li’s private room, a strange expression on his face. He transmitted back, "Master Lu Li, you’re recommending this Polar Cold Saber so highly... Don’t tell me you’re the one who forged it? The Artifact Refining techniques used on it look somewhat familiar."

Inside his private room, Master Lu Li’s expression suddenly stiffened.

"Ahem! Why would I have forged such a piece of junk? If you don’t like it, then fine."

Master Lu Li flatly denied it.

But his tone lacked any real conviction.

Ye Xuan may have turned his nose up at it, but that didn’t mean others would.

The atmosphere in the auction hall grew more and more feverish, and the price of the Polar Cold Saber continued to climb.

In the end, the saber was sold to the Zhou family for fifty thousand Lower Grade Profound Stones.

The finale items certainly lived up to their name.

Following that, all sorts of treasures appeared one after another. There were Celestial Grade martial techniques, Sixth Grade Pills, and even Tier Seven materials would pop up from time to time.

The appearance of these treasures sent the auction into wave after wave of excitement, but none of the items fetched a price that could compare to the Heaven-Burning Fire Skill.

Ye Xuan didn’t make any bids, as none of the items particularly caught his interest.

The auction for another martial technique came to an end.

A jade bottle suddenly appeared before the green-robed elder.

"The next item up for auction is a Pill..."

As he said this, the green-robed elder instinctively glanced toward the Yuan family’s private room.

"This Pill is called the Clear Fire and Bright Heart Pill. It is a Sixth Grade Pill that can calm and nourish the heart, dispelling the after-effects caused by various types of Fire Element Profound Power. It can even cure ’heart-fire backlash’ from cultivation or full-blown Qi deviation. In other words, for any problem related to Fire Element damage or Qi deviation, this Clear Fire and Bright Heart Pill has a very high chance of providing a complete cure."

"The Clear Fire and Bright Heart Pill. The starting bid is five thousand Lower Grade Profound Stones, with a minimum increment of one hundred Lower Grade Profound Stones. Let the bidding begin!"

As soon as the green-robed elder finished speaking, the hall erupted into a frenzy once more.

What is the greatest taboo for a Martial Artist in their cultivation? Without a doubt, it is Qi deviation. If that happens, the lightest outcome is severe injury. A more serious case would result in the complete dispersal of one’s cultivation. In the worst-case scenario, one could perish on the spot. It was an incredibly perilous condition.

The stronger the Martial Artist, the more severe the consequences of Qi deviation. Therefore, a Pill capable of dispelling ’heart-fire’ was immensely attractive to any powerful practitioner.

"Ten thousand Lower Grade Profound Stones."

The bidding had barely begun when a bid came impatiently from one of the Earth-grade private rooms.

"Twenty thousand Lower Grade Profound Stones."

Not to be outdone, another Earth-grade private room nearby immediately raised the bid by ten thousand.

Luo Cheng was dumbfounded when he heard the price.

"Father, those should be the private rooms of the Wang and Gu families, shouldn’t they? Those two families have always been so tight-fisted. Since when were they so lavish?"

The Wang and Gu families were both vassals of the Qin family. They were also the families of Wang Jie and Gu Yun, the two who had argued with Ye Xuan at the entrance earlier.

These families’ power was comparable to that of the former Luo family, placing them among the top tier of the great houses.

What puzzled Luo Cheng wasn’t that they were bidding, but the sheer extravagance of it.

It wasn’t that the Wang and Gu families couldn’t afford it. It was just that ten or twenty thousand Lower Grade Profound Stones was no small sum, and the level of their extravagance far exceeded their usual spending habits.

Luo Min’s brow furrowed as he listened. "Those voices should be Wang Xuanxin and Gu Zhitang, but this isn’t their style. Could it be that someone in the Wang or Gu family has suffered from Qi deviation?"