Chapter 666: The Handsome and Reticent Monk

"One million five hundred thousand!" Su Qian yelled in an icy tone, locking his cold gaze onto Daoist Xuan Lu.

Engaged in a fierce bidding war, the two men seemed to be fighting with the intensity of a real fight. The bidding price had once again reached an astronomical number. However, with Chu Liang's earlier bid of two million, the crowd wasn't as shocked this time.

Daoist Xuan Lu pondered for a moment, then he smiled and shook his head.

Seeing that there were no further bids, the elder from the Fog-Hidden Mountain of Immortals declared, "Then, this batch of Immortals' Rice Seeds will go to the imperial court."

Su Qian had won, but he didn't seem pleased.

He hadn't expected to encounter trouble like this at the banquet. Had he failed to secure the Immortal Rice, the emperor would surely be furious. Nevertheless, winning the bid at this price placed an equally heavy burden on the imperial court. If not for the Sixth Princess successfully managing the Immortals' Square, the imperial court would have struggled to gather such a large sum of spirit-stone coins.

This further confirmed Chu Liang's suspicions. The market in the world of immortality cultivators was currently dominated by three major competitors. Daoist Xuan Lu's actions were intended for draining the funds of the other two competitors, giving Taotie City the upper hand. It was like the saying, “A father's love is like a mountain.”[1]

When the three competitors initially spent lavishly to seize resources, Taotie City had the deepest reserves and greatest strength. Despite that, the alliance between the Immortals' Square and Red Cotton Peak led Taotie City to fall into a plight first. After this banquet, however, the two competitors might not stand a chance against Taotie City even with their alliance.

Once all the sects in the Divine Nine had taken their turn on the platform to auction off their items, Su Qian went up to the platform and faced the various immortal sects.

"By imperial decree, I bring forth a precious but damaged treasure from the palace—a relic known as the Celestial Cosmic Ring," Su Qian announced, revealing the small jade ring in his palm. A visible break marred the otherwise flawless ring. "Though damaged, it still contains immense spiritual qi. If it is restored, it will undoubtedly possess the power of a legendary artifact."

Most of the guests looked puzzled by the item's reveal, but those seated in the front rows—the delegations of the Divine Nine and Terrestrial Ten—reacted with astonished expressions.

It's the Celestial Cosmic Ring!

"It's that item..." Wang Xuanling muttered, glancing toward the Penglai Supreme Sect's delegation.

"What is that?" Chu Liang asked curiously.

"You've heard of Penglai's legendary artifact, right?" Wang Xuanling whispered. "This forms a set with the Chrono Wheel."

After Wang Xuanling's brief explanation, Chu Liang finally understood what was going on.

The legendary artifact that the Penglai Supreme Sect possessed was known as the East Sea Chrono Wheel. It was a top-tier enchanted tool capable of manipulating the Great Dao of Time. It ranked fourth in the Catalog of the Mortal World's Ten Thousand Treasures, just beneath the Divine Mirror of the Eight Trigrams.

However, the powerful East Sea Chrono Wheel was incomplete.

In ancient times, there was a pair of artifacts that were wielded by a husband and wife. As a set, the artifacts were called the Cosmic Ring and the Chrono Wheel. The husband controlled the Celestial Cosmic Ring, while the wife wielded the Cataclysmic Chrono Wheel. Together, they roamed the world, unmatched and invincible.

Later, the couple broke up for unknown reasons. The man retreated to the West Sea with the Celestial Cosmic Ring, while the woman remained in the East Sea with the Cataclysmic Chrono Wheel.

The woman later ascended to the ninth realm, the Profound Realm, and became the humans' Hallowed One—Hallowed Yang.[2]

After ascending to the Profound Realm, Hallowed Yang did not try to take back the Celestial Cosmic Ring. Instead, she utilized all of her profound knowledge of the world to upgrade the Cataclysmic Chrono Wheel, refining it into the mighty legendary artifact now known as the East Sea Chrono Wheel.

Perhaps she aimed to prove that she could be unrivaled even without her other half, regardless of whether it was her as a person or her legendary artifact.

Yet, the East Sea Chrono Wheel remained incomplete. Despite its power, it could only use the Great Dao of Time; it lacked the complementary Great Dao of Space that the Celestial Cosmic Ring used. Generations of the Penglai Supreme Sect's disciples had scoured the world for the Celestial Cosmic Ring, hoping to reunite the two artifacts.

If they were successful, the combined power of the two legendary artifacts would surpass even the legendary Seven-Star Sword. As for whether it could rival the Demon-Suppressing Pagoda, no one dared to make a guess.

Unfortunately, Hallowed Yang's ex-husband had vanished without a trace, and the Celestial Cosmic Ring had disappeared with him.

It was a huge surprise to find that it had been hidden in the imperial treasury all this time!

The ring was broken, but it was a glimmer of hope. What if it could be restored?

For that hope alone, the Penglai Supreme Sect would stop at nothing to acquire it.

Chu Liang glanced at Daoist Xuan Lu. Although he appeared calm, his pupils were now dilated.

On the platform, Su Qian gave a small smile and announced, "The starting bid is one hundred thousand Vermillion-Bird coins."

Someone raised their hand. "Two hundred thousand."

Daoist Xuan Lu glanced around but held back from putting in a bid. It seemed he did not want to draw attention to himself.

Chu Liang kept his eyes on Daoist Xuan Lu without saying a word.

After several rounds of bidding, the venue fell silent.

Aside from the Penglai Supreme Sect, there wasn't much point for the other sects to persist in purchasing this damaged artifact, as they did not possess the Chrono Wheel. The sects that had bid earlier likely intended to leverage the item in negotiations with the Penglai Supreme Sect. Nevertheless, they gradually lost interest as the price rose.

This was when Daoist Xuan Lu raised his hand unhurriedly, finally putting in his bid. "Four hundred thousand."

Chu Liang raised his hand without hesitation. "One million!"

"Young Hero Chu..." Daoist Xuan Lu immediately turned to look at him. "Do you even have the money? You're risking Mount Shu's reputation by making such a reckless bid."

"That isn't something for you to worry about, Esteemed Senior Xuan Lu," Chu Liang replied with a smile. "I may lack many things, but an abundance of spirit-stone coins is not one of them. I have so many spirit-stone coins at home that they've piled up into a mountain. Not having somewhere to store them is quite the headache."

Paired with that smile, his words made ninety-nine percent of the guests want to punch him.

Actually, even Chu Liang felt like punching himself. In truth, he had nowhere near that many spirit-stone coins left. He was just driving up the price to squeeze the Penglai Supreme Sect dry.

Considering the imperial court had dug up this relic from the depths of the imperial treasury, it was clear they wanted to use it to entrap the Penglai Supreme Sect. In that case, Chu Liang undoubtedly wanted a hand in that.

How could we let Penglai walk away with the artifact without first peeling off their oh-so-thick skin?

[3]

When Chu Liang proposed the charity auction to Pushan, he hadn't thought this far ahead. His real goal had simply been to promote the Circle of Immortal Friends. He hadn't expected the Penglai Supreme Sect and the imperial court to treat this as a battlefield for scheming against one another.

After six years away, Chu Liang's understanding of the grasp of the power struggles was clearly lacking.

There were turbulent waves of conflict surging through the nine provinces under the cover of peace. It had already reached a state where swords and bows were being drawn and strung. The days of maintaining a facade of harmony were long gone.

No one knew how long the imperial court had kept the Celestial Cosmic Ring in storage for, but it was obvious they had believed the ring to be beyond repair. Yet, even a sliver of hope was something the Penglai Supreme Sect could not abandon.

Chu Liang thought,

Daoist Xuan Lu has to obtain this damaged treasure.

This too is an open conspiracy.

Since everyone has come here brimming with malicious intent, there is little left to say.

If the imperial court wants to scheme against Penglai, then Mount Shu will gladly lend a hand.

"One million five hundred thousand!" Daoist Xuan Lu called out loudly. Then he quietly spoke to Chu Liang. "Bid any higher, and it's yours. If this broken artifact could actually be repaired, the imperial court wouldn't have put it up for auction."

"

Hah,

" Chu Liang laughed as he met Daoist Xuan Lu's gaze. Then he said loudly, "Two million!"

Daoist Xuan Lu flung out his sleeves in frustration and raised his voice again, though it was rather hoarse now. "Two million five hundred thousand!"

He never expected karma to strike so swiftly. Now, he fully understood how Chu Liang and Su Qian had felt just moments earlier.

Chu Liang seemed quite impressed and cupped his hands to show his respect. "Senior Xuan Lu, you have great determination."

Huyan Bin stared at Daoist Xuan Lu in shock.

With a trembling voice, Huyan Bin asked, "Senior Xuan Lu... can Penglai really afford this?"

Daoist Xuan Lu glared at him. "What do you think?"

"If you ask me... probably not?"

Huyan Bin looked like he was about to cry.

We acknowledged Penglai as our father so that you can protect us, not for you to squander our wealth... Even our ancestors never spent money like this!

Daoist Xuan Lu assured him. "Relax. We'll return whatever we borrow,"

Huyan Bin's expression remained grim, showing no signs of relief.

Over the past few years, the Penglai Supreme Sect had racked up quite a large debt to Taotie City, and not a single coin had been repaid. Now they were borrowing even more.

What's Daoist Xuan Lu planning to repay us with? His great-aunt's heirlooms??

...

[The Handsome and Reticent Monk]: "Oh heavens, oh heavens, it's the Celestial Cosmic Ring!"

[The Handsome and Reticent Monk]: "Chu Liang placed a bid!"

[The Handsome and Reticent Monk]: "Daoist Xuan Lu bid again!"

[The Handsome and Reticent Monk]: "250! He's actually a 250! Heavens! Daoist Xuan Lu yelled out a bid of 2,500,000 Vermillion-Bird coins!"[4]

As the bidding war for the Cataclysmic Cosmic Ring intensified, the Circle of Immortal Friends Tokens vibrated wildly. A user named "The Handsome and Reticent Monk" gave live commentary in a frenzied manner.

For those who were not at the banquet, his live commentary was pretty entertaining to see. However, most of the token users were attending the banquet. It had not been long since they received their tokens, and now they squirmed restlessly from the constant vibrations.

When they checked the Circle of Immortal Friends to see who was chatting, they found that their screens were flooded with messages from the same person. Those who were not acquainted with the person in question wondered who it was.

However, as soon as Chu Liang took a look, he figured out who it was straight away and let out a helpless sigh.

Why did I have to get soft-hearted and give him one of the tokens?

Won't this guy be disturbing everyone in the future?

I'm a fucking idiot...

While regretting his decision, Chu Liang made a mental note to ask Wen Yulong to develop a blacklist feature for members. They could probably make it a premium feature and earn extra revenue from that.

As he brooded over that headache, a different message suddenly slid onto the screen.

[The White Jade Fan of Mount Shu]: "Tsunami in the South Sea! Sea demons are wreaking havoc!"

1. Presumably referring to how Taotie City is now subordinate to the Penglai Supreme Sect, so the Penglai Supreme Sect is taking care of Taotie City. ☜

2. She became a Hallowed One four thousand years ago and established the human race's control over the continent of the nine provinces. ☜

3. Referring to their shamelessness. ☜

4. In Chinese, "250" is slang for "idiot", "stupid" etc. It originates from an autobiographical novel written in the late Qing Dynasty. It was an observation of a scholar who failed the civil service examination and gave a bribe of 250 taels of silver to get a job as a government official.

In this line, the 250 comes from Daoist Xuan Lu's bid, which in Chinese reads as 250 ten thousand. There's no character for hundred thousand in modern Chinese, so that's why it's 50 ten thousand, not five hundred thousand. ☜