As his vision rippled, Zhang Yuanqing arrived at the black market. The former flea-market layout of stalls had been completely overhauled, replaced by a proper auction hall. The auction block was a collapsible, telescoping metal platform standing over three meters tall, covered in a red carpet and hung with a banner that read: "Wanbao House Auction."
Below it sat dozens of high-backed chairs, each accompanied by a simple side table set with Spirit Realm-grown fruits and tea. Yet the auction hall was completely empty, with not a single guest seated.
Twenty minutes still remained before the auction started, and all the guests had gathered at the octagonal cage to the south to watch a ring fight.
Inside the massive cage, twenty meters in diameter, two Transcendents were locked in fierce combat—one a Gu Sorcerer, the other a Wood Monster.
Cheers and applause echoed through the air.
Generally speaking, Saints rarely entered the ring for life-and-death bouts unless facing sworn enemies or drawn by extraordinarily lavish prize money. Most of the time, the contenders in the ring were Transcendents, predominantly unaffiliated rogue practitioners.
The Gu Sorcerer, having assumed his gu-transformation form, was clearly in the lead, suppressing the Wood Monster throughout the fight. However, because the Wood Monster was agile, possessed great strength, and could neutralize toxins, he managed to hang on bitterly without being killed.
Zhang Yuanqing only needed a few glances to know that the Wood Monster's defeat and death were merely a matter of time.
Evil classes were inherently stronger than the orthodox ones, and in such a cramped, straightforward arena, a Wood Monster was no match for a Gu Sorcerer in close-quarters physical combat.
A Scout could best a Gu Sorcerer in martial arts, but they would inevitably succumb to the gu poison first, resulting in certain death.
Only a Fire Master could overcome a Gu Sorcerer in an octagonal cage, relying on raging flames to incinerate the gu poison and gu bugs, trading injury for injury and life for life.
Sure enough, after struggling to hold out for fifteen minutes, the Wood Monster was slammed into the iron cage by the Gu Sorcerer. Before he could hit the ground, a thick, whip-like stinger drove straight through his chest, injecting lethal venom.
The Gu Sorcerer retracted his stinger. Without sparing another glance at his opponent's limp corpse dropping to the floor, he raised his fist toward the surrounding crowd.
Applause and cheers erupted from all sides.
Black market staff unlocked the cage and presented the prize on a tray draped in red cloth.
At that moment, the melodious, resonant chime of a bell echoed out. The auction was about to begin.
The Spirit Realm walkers who had paid for seats filed in orderly fashion. Zhang Yuanqing glanced at the chain attached to his numbered tag, which was engraved with: A9.
—The rightmost seat in the very last row.
After taking his seat, he watched Lian Sanyue climb the steps of the auction stage with firm strides, dressed in a black leather jacket, leather pants, a black tube top, and leather combat boots.
"Thank you all for coming. The Wanbao House auction now begins. Our first item is a Mechanism Legion, consisting of a Swordsman Automaton, a Heavy-Armor Automaton, a Flying Automaton, a Reconnaissance Automaton, and an Archer Automaton. Integrating melee, ranged attack, defense, and scouting, each puppet matches the strength of Level 3."
Lian Sanyue opened her inventory and summoned five clockwork automatons.
The Swordsman Automaton was a humanoid figure crafted from steel and timber, gripping a keen alloy blade. The Heavy-Armor Automaton was a half-man-tall greatshield mounted on rolling casters.
The Flying Automaton and Reconnaissance Automaton formed an integrated set, appearing as a bird with a two-meter wingspan, while the Archer Automaton was a humanoid archer.
"The five puppets possess mutual sensory links and share data. The Flying and Reconnaissance Automatons can act as target-locking devices for the Archer Automaton. The Swordsman Automaton can also combine with the Heavy-Armor Automaton at the expense of high mobility and agility. The benefit is that before its power reserves are depleted, very few Transcendents can defeat it," Lian Sanyue explained fluidly. "The starting bid for this Mechanism Legion is twenty million, with minimum increments of five hundred thousand."
As soon as she finished speaking, paddles rose across the floor amid a wave of competing bids.
After several rounds of bidding, the legion of automatons climbed to a steep thirty million before being won by an avid bidder wearing a monkey mask.
*Damn, thirty million just like that? For Transcendent-tier mechanism weapons, I remember none sold to the Five Elements Alliance ever exceeded ten million. Bulk orders even got a discount...* Zhang Yuanqing felt an ache in his chest.
Yet recalling how the mechanism weapons had accounted for half the credit when Songhai's Spirit Realm walkers quickly repelled and slew evil classes during the loss of Morality Points, he let it go.
On the stage, Lian Sanyue smiled and said, "Those who didn't win, don't worry. We still have plenty of high-grade mechanism weapons..."
The second round began. For this auction, the Mechanism Technology Company had provided sixty automatons, the highest reaching Level 4.
Following the mechanism weapons came the Source Fluid of Life supplied by the Palace of Halting Slaughter. As a resource monopolized by the authorities, the Source Fluid of Life was just as sought after as the mechanism weapons.
Bids rolled in wave after wave, and forty vials of diluted Source Fluid of Life quickly sold out.
Finally, after auctioning off a batch of crafting materials, Lian Sanyue raised her voice:
"Distinguished guests and friends, next is our final auction lot, and the goal for several of our guests today."
Under the expectant gazes of many bidders, she produced a bead flickering with icy-blue flames and declared:
"The Fire Stealer Orb. Fire Master class, Dominator-tier item. Quality appraisal: Low-grade."
A Dominator-tier item—even a low-grade one was still Dominator quality.
Behind their masks, pairs of eyes gleamed with undisguised greed and longing. Even within official organizations, Dominator-tier items were strictly non-saleable goods, permanently kept for internal distribution.
Only the Scholar clans sold a few Dominator items each year, but those were almost entirely bought up by official bodies and never made it to the outside world.
Lian Sanyue placed the bead into a box, set it on the table, and announced loudly:
"Starting bid: any two Dominator-grade materials. Minimum bid increment: five million."
Bids followed in quick succession. After an intense battle, only four contenders remained locked in competition.
*Almost time. If there isn't an Illusionist among these four, I'll pick a target from the Illusionists in the audience...* Zhang Yuanqing closed his eyes and sensed the emotions of the four bidders.
Cloaked in loose black robes and masked, their classes could not be deduced from posture or build alone. But as a Nihility Master, Zhang Yuanqing possessed means to single out an Illusionist in a crowd.
It was simple: by sensing the audience's emotions, whoever possessed the most stable emotions and the strongest mental fortitude was either an Illusionist or a Scout.
As for distinguishing between an Illusionist and a Scout, he only needed to attempt influencing their emotions and judge by the feedback.
When facing mental manipulation, an Illusionist displayed formidable resilience and immunity, whereas a Scout's mental power felt like an unyielding rock. The "feel" was entirely different.
Before long, Zhang Yuanqing sensed that one of the four was an Illusionist, clad in voluminous black robes and wearing a fanged, green-faced ghost mask.
He watched quietly from the sidelines as the four continued to bid. After three consecutive rounds of bidding, this Illusionist's spirit fluctuated slightly: irritation, fury, killing intent.
*Running out of funds and getting angry?* Zhang Yuanqing thought.
He checked the other three bidders. Two showed slight nervousness, signaling their funds were wearing thin, though they could still hold out for a few more rounds. The last bidder was brimming with confidence, emotions steady.
*When it comes to financial power, the evil faction can never beat the government. Let me give you a hand...* Zhang Yuanqing expanded his mental power, subtly manipulating the emotions of the other three bidders, magnifying their inclination to back down.
As the fourth round concluded, the Illusionist managed to rein in his irritation and raised his paddle one last time:
"Two Dominator-grade materials, ninety million."
This was his limit. If the other three kept raising, he would give up and report his failure to the elder to await punishment.
Although he could employ underhanded tactics to manipulate his opponents' emotions and make them withdraw voluntarily, he could influence at most one person at a time, not three Saints at once.
Furthermore, once the emotional manipulation wore off, the victim would immediately sense something was amiss. The best outcome then would be expulsion from the black market by the master of Wanbao House.
The worst outcome would be getting killed on the spot.
As these thoughts raced through his mind, he suddenly realized his competitors had not made another bid. Looking around in confusion, he saw that all three had set their paddles on their tables.
*They gave up?* A surge of wild joy welled inside the ghost-masked Illusionist, immediately followed by suspicion.
Judging by the emotional feedback from the three competitors, they shouldn't have given up.
Yet as soon as the doubt surfaced, it was displaced by relief and arrogance. He instinctively concluded that luck was simply on his side, as it should be.
"Ninety million going once, ninety million going twice, ninety million going three times..." Lian Sanyue brought down the gavel. "Sold!"
The auction concluded.
Under Lian Sanyue's direction, the winning bidders collected their items in an orderly manner.
The owner of the fanged ghost mask was the first to take the stage. Lian Sanyue lit a lady's cigarette and handed him the black box, smiling amid curling wisps of blue smoke.
"You'd better store it in your inventory and complete the bond before inspecting its attributes. Heh, unless you want to turn into an ice sculpture on the spot, in which case, pretend I said nothing."
The fanged-mask Illusionist obediently stored the box into his inventory, retrieved it, and opened the lid to inspect the bead's properties. Confirming it was indeed a Dominator-tier item, he gave a quiet chuckle.
"Right now, both the official bodies and the Freedom faction are doing everything they can to spend cash and convert it into items, materials, consumables, and any other resources, yet you are doing the exact opposite. May I ask why?"
Even low-level Spirit Realm walkers could sense a major upheaval looming. Once order collapsed, paper currency in human society would become worthless waste paper.
While money still retained purchasing power, trading it for tangible resources was the rational move for anyone with good sense.
Lian Sanyue answered with a smile, "Do you think you have the right to ask?"
The Illusionist chuckled, asking no further. "Send me out."
Lian Sanyue waved her hand, and the fanged-mask Illusionist vanished from the black market.
A second later, he appeared inside the corner convenience store. Casting a glance at the shelves stocked with materials and items, he curbed his greed. Deep swirls formed in his pupils.
A handful of faint dreamscapes appeared in his vision. He leaped into one of the kaleidoscopic dreamscapes and vanished from Wanbao House.
***
On the seventh day, inside a bedroom at his maternal grandparents' home.
Zhang Yuanqing sat by the desk, compiling intelligence gathered from various sources.
Through Human Blood Mantou's network and connections, Kou Beiyue had pinpointed an Illusionist belonging to the Southern Sect active in a prefecture-level city in Jiangnan Province.
During the Morality Points incident, that Illusionist had controlled the staff of a local bank and emptied the vault of all its gold and cash. Recently, he had been on a shopping spree in the black market, purchasing a considerable amount of expensive materials and consumables.
Kou Beiyue and Human Blood Mantou had tracked down the residential compound where the Illusionist lived, but fearing they might alert their target, they hadn't dared to verify the exact apartment number.
With the assistance of Elder Dog through official channels, Lady JoJo had pinpointed the locations of two Illusionists and one Dream Master.
The Demon Eye Heavenly King had captured a Dream Master, reportedly a subordinate of the Southern Sect's Third Elder.
As for the Dream Master Zhang Yuanqing had baited at the auction, through dream observation, activity analysis, and cross-referencing with official databases, Zhang Yuanqing had confirmed him to be a subordinate of the Southern Sect's Ninth Elder.
*Kou Beiyue is a member of the Wuhen Hotel and is tied to Ling Tuo by cause and effect. The Illusionist he found can be dismissed...*
The essence of Stargazing lay in predicting the world's grand trends and foreseeing future developments along the river of fate shared by all things.
When it came to "micro-management," Stargazing could glimpse a specific individual's destiny, but there was a limitation: the stargazer had to share a deep karmic entanglement with the target.
Otherwise, with billions of living beings in the world, how could anyone peer through each and every creature?
Even a demigod's brain would fry.
Ling Tuo had orchestrated the trap to kill Master Wuhen and presided over the destruction of the Wuhen Hotel, binding Kou Beiyue and Xiao Yuan to him through cause and effect. Ling Tuo could perceive their futures to a certain degree.
For safety's sake, the target Kou Beiyue had tracked was best ignored—or used to mislead the enemy.
By the same token, Yuanshi Tianzun and Ling Tuo also shared heavy karmic ties; Ling Tuo could observe his actions as well.
Yet that was fine. The plan to hunt senior figures of the Southern Sect was still only an idea, not yet set into motion, and the targets hadn't even been located until now.
Under such circumstances, the future revealed in the river of destiny was blurry and indistinct. Even a demigod could not see it clearly, because human thoughts were generated every second of every day.
For example, if Zhang Yuanqing saw the pretty young wife downstairs in the morning and thought she looked very attractive and appealing, a wanton thought would sprout in his mind. By noon, seeing the mature aunt upstairs still brimming with charm and looking ready for romance, another wanton thought would emerge.
Yet neither thought might ever be acted upon, meaning the future would never record Zhang Yuanqing carrying on an affair.
Thus, fleeting ideas that were not yet executed did not count as the future and could not be observed.
However, the moment Zhang Yuanqing began formulating a concrete plan, Ling Tuo would definitely perceive it.
Zhang Yuanqing had anticipated this long ago and prepared a countermeasure.
He opened his inventory, retrieved the Companion Spirit Moon, and affixed it to his forehead. In an instant, vine-like markings spread across his entire body, transforming him into a Day Wanderer who specialized primarily in Taiyin.
Next, he activated Night Patrol, slipping into invisibility.
In this state, the Night Patrol ability carried a concealing shroud. Whatever he thought, reasoned, or planned would leave no reflection in the river of destiny.
At least Ling Tuo would not see it, because Ling Tuo was the Lord of Taiyin, not the Lord of the Stars.
Having entered Night Patrol, Zhang Yuanqing picked up a pen and paper to draft his plan.
"Targets: Third Elder, Ninth Elder.
"The Third Elder is a Level 8 Nihility Master, while the Ninth Elder is Level 7. Given the habits of Southern Sect executives, they are most likely holed up within dream spaces they had woven themselves. With sufficient combat strength on our side, there is no need to spend months or years working slowly toward the goal. As long as we infiltrate the dream spaces and expel them into reality, we can mount an ambush to eliminate them.
"Expelling them from a dream is something only I can do, and I can create a clone using the Yata no Kagami... The Third Elder will be handled by me, Lady JoJo, Deng Jingguo, and the Dominator from the Relief Society.
"The Ninth Elder will be handled by my clone, the Palace Master, Demon Eye, and Xiao Yuan. Apart from me, the other three share karmic ties with Ling Tuo, meaning their movements might be observed by him. Being observed is fine, too; it will draw Ling Tuo's attention to lay a patient trap on the Ninth Elder's side. When the time comes, I'll have Uncle and the Grand Marshal keep watch to ensure the safety of the three."
Chapter 821