Chapter 243: Private Auction (I)

A gentle breeze drifted through the forest as mottled sunlight poured through the gaps in the leaves.

After an intense battle, Li Mengqi's body bore several gashes from blades, revealing hideous scars and pale skin beneath her tattered azure robe. She was a remarkably beautiful woman, no less stunning than Li Lingyun, whom Lin Zheyu had once seen at the Li Family auction. In fact, because of her unique temperament, Lin Zheyu even thought Li Mengqi might be more beautiful.

"Miss Li, your clothes are rather torn. If you do not mind, I can lend you this robe," Lin Zheyu said after a brief thought.

Li Mengqi clearly had no spare clothes with her. Though her azure robe was in tatters, exposing much of her fair skin, she had no way to change.

"Thank you, Young Master Yu." Li Mengqi accepted the robe without hesitation and thanked him softly.

Once she was done tidying herself, the two set off again.

"From your accent, Young Master Yu, you don't sound like a native of Wuling City. Did you also come here for the saber intent atop Heavenly Blade Peak?" Li Mengqi asked softly.

Her question was indirect, carrying a hint of caution. The sudden appearance of this savior felt a little too coincidental. She feared he might share the same goal as the black-clad men.

"I hail from a small village outside Beirong City in the northern lands. My progress in martial cultivation has reached a bottleneck, so I came to the Central Plains to travel and broaden my horizons. Not long after arriving, I heard about the astonishing saber intent on Heavenly Blade Peak and came to see it for myself. If fortune favors me and I can grasp even a trace of it, perhaps I can comprehend my own intent and advance to the Force Transformation Realm," Lin Zheyu said with a light smile.

He had deliberately chosen a northern village whose accent resembled his own and practiced it for some time to make his disguise believable.

"That saber intent truly is extraordinary. Anyone who can comprehend their own intent from it will have limitless potential in the future," Li Mengqi said with quiet admiration.

She had visited Heavenly Blade Peak many times, yet had gained little insight from it. Each martial artist had a different technique, experience, and belief that shaped their martial conviction. The saber intent contained meaning very different from her own, so she could only take it as a reference and found it hard to grasp its essence.

"Young Master Yu, since you're new to Wuling City, why not stay a few more days? I can show you around," Li Mengqi said with a smile. When she smiled, two small dimples appeared on her cheeks, brightening her face.

"Then I shall trouble Miss Li when the time comes," Lin Zheyu replied.

Li Mengqi was far gentler than he had imagined, nothing like the cold, lethal figure she had been in battle. Before he even asked, she had spoken the very words he had hoped to hear. Through her introductions, he could meet more scions of esteemed families and enter their social circles, which would be of great help to his future path in martial cultivation.

The two continued toward Wuling City. Along the way, Lin Zheyu remained vigilant, watching their surroundings carefully in case the black-clad men returned. He wanted to ask why those men had attacked Li Mengqi, why she had been alone in the mountains, and what it was they demanded from her.

But clearly, Li Mengqi neither wished nor intended to speak of it, and asking would only provoke her suspicion.

They were deep in the mountains, far from Wuling City. Li Mengqi's injuries had drained her strength; even though she had taken medicinal pills to recover, healing would not come so quickly. Their pace slowed considerably. If Lin Zheyu had traveled alone, he would have reached Heavenly Blade Peak by dusk, but for her sake, he had no choice but to slow down.

Crackle.

The campfire rose steadily into the night. As darkness fell, the two found a place to rest. Lin Zheyu hunted a nearby beast and roasted it, the rich aroma of meat spreading through the air.

"Want some?"

Lin Zheyu handed over a piece of freshly roasted meat.

Once they stopped to rest, Li Mengqi sat cross-legged and began circulating her technique to heal her injuries.

"No need, but thank you."

Li Mengqi opened her eyes briefly, smiled as she declined, and then closed them again to continue resting.

Lin Zheyu shrugged and kept roasting. After traveling together for some time, he had come to understand her a little. She was a proud woman, gentle and kind on the surface, yet distant in manner. If not for the fact that he had saved her life, they likely would never have spoken. He realized that her politeness toward him was born mostly from gratitude.

The night passed without conversation. Lin Zheyu didn't sleep at all, spending the whole night roasting meat and eating his fill. Rarely did he get such a chance, so he thought that he might as well show a bit more goodwill so that she would owe him a little more.

"Thank you," Li Mengqi opened her eyes and said softly.

After a night of recovery, her complexion looked much better, and her wounds had mostly healed.

"You're too polite, Miss Li. Let's get going," Lin Zheyu said with a smile, taking the lead into the forest.

By the time they reached Heavenly Blade Peak, it was nearly noon.

"The Li Family has a place here. Once we arrive, there'll be no need to trouble you further, Young Master Yu. Right now, the saber intent atop Heavenly Blade Peak is at its strongest, so you should go experience it. After some days, once you have finished your comprehension, you may take this jade token and come find me at Spirit River Tower," said Li Mengqi as she took out a palm-sized jade token from her bosom and handed it over.

The jade token felt cool to the touch, its surface smooth and pleasingly warm.

"This jade token is a token of the Li Family. With it, you can enter our private auction. There are many rare items within—things that are not found on the open market. I believe they will please you," Li Mengqi said.

A private auction?

Lin Zheyu was slightly surprised. From the sound of it, there had to be many treasures.

Curious, he asked, "Would there happen to be any complete true techniques at the auction?"

"True techniques are exceedingly rare and seldom sold. They don't appear at every auction. But if you wish, I can have someone keep an eye out for you," Li Mengqi replied.

There really are!

Lin Zheyu was greatly astonished.

He had attended a Li Family auction once before through an invitation from Wang Jing. The techniques sold there were not particularly valuable, and even the so-called true technique was incomplete. He had never expected that the jade token Li Mengqi gave him would grant access to a hidden Li Family auction where even true techniques could be sold. The revelation caught him off guard.

"Thank you, Miss Li." Lin Zheyu accepted the jade token and expressed his gratitude sincerely.

With this jade token, he now had a way to purchase true techniques. If he could obtain a complete cultivation method for the Blood Qi Realm, he wouldn't have to endure the agony that training the Primordial Origin Technique {Modified} brought.

"You're too polite, Young Master Yu. While this jade token is rare, anyone with sufficient strength or the right family or sect background can obtain one. With your talent and skill, you may be too old for the top sects, but joining one of the secondary ones would be quite easy," Li Mengqi said.

To her, the jade token was nothing special, as it was merely a membership pass for the Li Family's secret auction. Whatever one wished to obtain had to be bought with coin.

***

𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

At the foot of Heavenly Blade Peak.

A hundred-meter-long phantom saber hung suspended in the sky, pouring down terrifying saber intent. The beasts within had long fled. Every martial artist who entered Heavenly Blade Peak felt as if the heavens themselves had fixed their gaze upon them, the overwhelming dominance of the saber intent striking straight at the soul. Those with weak will collapsed to their knees on the spot.

"Ning Hui! Do you dare to compete with me? Let's see who climbs higher!" a martial artist below Heavenly Blade Peak said with a grin to his companion.

The higher one climbed Heavenly Blade Peak, the more terrifying the saber intent became. Few martial artists could withstand its crushing pressure before reaching the summit, and those who did were all prodigies or fearsome powerhouses.

"Fine, let's do it. You think I'm afraid of you? The loser kneels and kowtows three times, calling the winner grandfather. How about that?" Ning Hui said disdainfully.

"Deal! I'll acknowledge you as my grandson today!" The man laughed confidently and strode toward Heavenly Blade Peak first.

At the foot of Heavenly Blade Peak, countless martial artists gathered to watch and cheer.

"Has your third uncle found that man yet?" Lu Junyu glanced at the martial artists climbing Heavenly Blade Peak, then turned to ask Tang Ziqiu. They had been searching around the mountain's base for days but still hadn't found the owner of that Ink Fox.

"No. My third uncle went deep into the mountains, following the traces left by my fourth uncle, and searched for several days, but found no one. That man has likely already left Wuling City and fled elsewhere." Tang Ziqiu sighed and shook his head helplessly.

The opponent was extremely cunning. After killing his fourth uncle, he had immediately fled, using the poisonous mists and dense fog of the mountains to conceal every trace of his trail.

"Then what are we still doing here? If we're not climbing Heavenly Blade Peak, why not just go back to Wuling City?" Ji Qiming asked in exasperation.

So after all this time searching at the foot of Heavenly Blade Peak, it turned out their efforts had been in vain.

"I'm not going back. If I do, my father will scold me every single day."

Tang Ziqiu shook his head, his face dark. His fourth uncle's death had something to do with him, and he felt like a criminal every time he returned home.

"By the way, where's your third uncle? Didn't he come back after failing to find the man? Why isn't he climbing Heavenly Blade Peak?" Lu Junyu asked curiously.

Tang Ziqiu's third uncle, Tang Weizhong, came to climb Heavenly Blade Peak almost every year to comprehend its saber intent. The momentum he cultivated shared a faint resemblance to the saber intent on the peak. If he could grasp even a trace of its essence, it would greatly benefit his future strength.

"Third Uncle is resting at the stronghold. He spent several days and nights searching in the deep mountains, consuming a great deal of essence, qi, and spirit. He plans to recover to his peak state before attempting to climb Heavenly Blade Peak," Tang Ziqiu explained.

The act of climbing Heavenly Blade Peak itself was a process of comprehending saber intent and tempering one's martial cultivation and spirit. As the saying went, momentum was strongest at the first surge, weakened on the second, and faded by the third. The first climb always yielded the best results, as every martial artist would condition their essence, qi, and spirit to their peak before beginning.

"When the saber intent weakens in a few days, let's climb it too. I'd like to see the view from the summit," Ji Qiming suggested, reclining lazily on a tree branch while gazing toward Heavenly Blade Peak.

"Eh? Ziqiu, isn't that your third uncle? Looks like he's in a fight with someone!" Lu Junyu suddenly exclaimed, pointing into the distance.

At his words, Tang Ziqiu turned to look and froze in surprise. "That woman... isn't she Li Mengqi from the Li Family?"

"It really is!" Ji Qiming leapt down from the tree and rushed toward the scene as he said, "Come on, let's take a look!"