Bai Feiyao sat sprawled amid the thorny brambles, taking a long while to recover his senses. This woman had actually… he hadn’t even seen clearly how she’d produced those wind blades!

Hadn’t she relied on the Wuzheng zither before?

How… how had she managed to unleash wind blades with her bare hands? And those wind blades were clearly beyond anything any Gu family disciple could produce! Perhaps only Patriarch Gu, back in his prime, could have rivaled such power!

Bai Feiyao immediately shot a furious glare at Gu Suying and Jiang Chen, both of whom were already too guilt-ridden to lift their heads.

“Elders of Qinse Valley, shall we call it settled here?” Ziqing asked flatly.

The two elders looked as though they’d discovered a new continent, nodding eagerly and delightedly in unison—compared to Bai Feiyao, Han Ziqing was the true genius here!

She would surely become the youngest master of her generation on Liuxian Island, and likely the only female master as well!

“Indeed, Han Ziqing, you’ve won.” Elder Se, usually a man of few words, immediately announced the result.

Elder Qin quickly added, “Young master Bai, a debt owed must be paid—you can’t go back on your word.”

Bai Feiyao was so furious he looked ready to explode, but still refused to lose face. He climbed to his feet, shot Ziqing a disdainful glance, and casually tossed the seed to her, saying with contemptuous scorn, “If you want it that badly, then just take it.”

Even having lost publicly, even though he deeply regretted parting with this seed, even not knowing how he’d explain this to his father when he returned, he still had to maintain his composure and deliver one last arrogant insult on his way out!

“Much obliged!” Ziqing, entirely unbothered, happily accepted it. A wave of whispers immediately spread through the crowd, and among them, Jun Beiyue’s handsome brows drew tight—no matter how precious a thing was, if she wanted it, he would find a way to get it for her. His woman had never been one to casually accept things from others.

Let alone accept such an arrogant, condescending handout!

He was just about to speak up when, unexpectedly, Ziqing suddenly turned, raising the glass vial in her hand with a flourish, and called out loudly, “Elders of Qinse Valley, my husband, the Prince, is unwell and unable to attend in person. He has specially sent me, Ziqing, to convey his regards to you both. Since I’ve come into possession of this treasure, I shall, on the Prince’s behalf, auction it off here on this zither platform, to add some excitement to the gathering, as a gesture of the Prince’s apologies. What do the two of you think?”

At these words, the entire arena fell into instant, dead silence.

Had Han Ziqing lost her mind? Had they heard correctly?

An auction? She actually intended to auction off something so precious?

Was this woman insane?

Seeing that no one had recovered yet, Ziqing continued loudly, “Elders of Qinse Valley, what do you say?”

The Fusang tree seed was indeed precious, but her own pride, her own dignity, was far more precious still—she had no interest in this thing at all!

Before the two elders could even respond, the entire arena suddenly erupted into astonished cries, the noise nearly shaking the heavens—and this was no exaggeration at all.

Bai Feiyao was so furious he spat a mouthful of blood directly at Ziqing, pointing at her, but for a long moment unable to speak.

Ziqing didn’t spare him a glance, gesturing for silence, and the crowd truly did fall quiet at once.

Only then did Ziqing carefully examine the seed within the glass vial, taking a long moment before speaking. “This is the first time I’ve ever seen such a thing, the first time I’ve even heard of it. I have no idea what it’s truly worth, so why don’t we do this—we’ll start the bidding at a single copper coin, and whoever bids highest takes it. How does that sound?”

Hearing the words “a single copper coin,” Bai Feiyao immediately spat out a second mouthful of blood, while the entire arena erupted in unanimous agreement, the sound thunderous enough to shake the earth itself!

Soon, bids came flooding in from every direction—the various clans of Liuxian Island, the various factions from the Longyuan continent, even Master Situ and his wife, even the two elders of Qinse Valley couldn’t resist joining the bidding. In an instant, the entire area around the great zither platform buzzed with excitement!

Ziqing stood at the center of the platform, facing the scene as it teetered on the edge of chaos, holding the glass vial aloft, her expression proud and radiant, brows raised—like an ice goddess surveying the countless faces below her, dignified and untouchable!

If one wondered what true arrogance looked like, this was it!

Everyone present couldn’t help but feel themselves diminished before her. Bai Feiyao lay sprawled helplessly on his back among the thorns, never having imagined that he, who had always stood atop the loudest, most attention-grabbing spotlight since childhood, would one day find himself utterly drowned out by the very noise around him!

Jun Beiyue watched Ziqing in silence, the corners of his lips unable to help curving upward, thinking that in this moment, Ziqing was breathtakingly beautiful, radiant beyond compare.

But then, suddenly, as he turned his head without thinking, he found himself meeting a pair of eyes gazing at Ziqing with the very same burning intensity as his own!

Xuanyuan Lige!

At that same moment, Xuanyuan Lige seemed to sense something as well, turning his head to look back at him.

Their eyes met, and in that instant, a spark of killing intent passed between them!

“Ten thousand taels!”

Suddenly Xuanyuan Lige raised his hand high, and instantly, the entire arena fell silent.

Ten thousand taels?

One had to consider—before him, the head of the Yu family had bid a mere five thousand taels! Xuanyuan Lige had directly doubled it!

“Thirty thousand!” Jun Beiyue immediately followed, doubling the bid and adding more.

Xuanyuan Lige refused to yield ground. “Ninety thousand!”

“One million!” Jun Beiyue declared, utterly commanding.

A true auction, in truth, could have ended in just a few short exchanges. Xuanyuan Lige hesitated, not immediately following up.

Ziqing glanced at Xuanyuan Lige, then at the black-clad, masked Jun Beiyue, a complicated look flashing through her eyes, but she still called out loudly, “One million taels, going once! Any further bids?”

Plenty of people wanted to raise the bid, but none of them could afford it!

One million taels—what a staggering sum, equivalent to three years of Liuxian Island’s entire income!

Though Da Zhou wasn’t the strongest nation on the Longyuan continent, it was without question the wealthiest. Who could possibly match Jun Beiyue’s resources?

His treasury was, after all, none other than Da Zhou’s own national coffers!

“One million taels, going twice!”

Ziqing called out a second time, her usually cold little face betraying a faint hint of suppressed amusement—this was, after all, being auctioned off in Jun Beiyue’s name, and he really wasn’t being very considerate about it, was he!

Still, she quite liked it.

With one million taels called twice, murmurs began spreading through the crowd once more, but no one dared speak up. Xuanyuan Lige gazed silently at the glass vial in Ziqing’s hand, his expression giving no indication of whether he’d given up, or was still hesitating.

Finally, Ziqing raised her hand a third time. “One million taels, going third…”

But before she could finish, a slow, unhurried yet unmistakably commanding voice suddenly cut through the crowd. “Wait… just a moment!”

Who was that?

Everyone turned toward the sound, but couldn’t locate the speaker—no one could tell where the voice had come from.

Yet up on the platform, Ziqing’s expression changed dramatically. She recognized that voice the instant she heard it!

“As the ancients say, a divine tree must not be violated, must not be disrespected. Such a tree stands above, touching the heavens; below, rooted firmly in the earth. Ten years to grow a tree, a hundred years to cultivate a person, a thousand years to cultivate a god!”

The refined, scholarly voice finally allowed everyone to locate its source. Following the sound, they saw the man seated in the very last row of the viewing platform, dressed in scholar’s robes, wearing a tall, square-cornered scholar’s cap, holding a folding fan—as graceful as a full silver moon, as bright as the morning star, refined yet not pedantic, at ease yet not frivolous.

Allowing the entire arena to fix its gaze upon him, he casually waved his fan and continued, “Such a divine tree—how could it possibly be worth a mere million taels?”

…