The Auction, Part 5

It was clearly the Cold Moon Carp Pearl she had purchased with a hefty sum, yet why did a black mist emerge from it? And this black mist even condensed into a black shadow in just a breath’s time!

Qi Liwei’s heart was filled with dread. Her hand trembled, and the Cold Moon Carp Pearl dropped to the ground, spreading a large area of ice flowers across the intricate floor covering.

She quickly retreated a step, her right hand pressing the spiritual sword at her waist, wanting to draw it from its sheath.

But the black shadow’s speed was even faster than hers.

A mass of black mist violently struck towards her face, with such force that it ruffled the wisps of hair framing Qi Liwei’s cheek, revealing her eyes, wide with terror.

The mass of black mist did not strike Qi Liwei.

Instead, it brushed past her cheek and crashed into the wall behind her.

The mist writhed, like a blob of ink, forcibly drawing out an unopened eye symbol from the wall.

The black mist, carrying that eye, flashed back, landing in a pale hand. It turned out that as Qi Liwei’s mind was in turmoil, the black shadow had already transformed into a humanoid figure.

This person floated amidst the black mist, her revealed face and skin extremely pale.

On her small, sharp face, her eyes occupied half of it. Most terrifyingly, she had no whites to her eyes; hollow, dark eyes filled her entire eye sockets, giving her a ghostly appearance.

If Su Qing were standing here, she would surely have shouted, “Senior Sister Cuiyue, why are you here?”

However, Qi Liwei rarely participated in the daily affairs of the Sword School, only focusing on Daozi.

Her thoughts and concerns were all for the Qi family. She wasn’t familiar with her classmates of the same grade; the number of people she recognized could be counted on one hand, let alone senior sisters from higher grades.

Qi Liwei’s heart was in her throat.

She drew her sword, holding it in front of her. A cold luster flowed on the blade. She said coldly, “Who are you?”

Wu Cuiyue lowered her eyelashes, looking at the golden eye as it seemed to sense danger, struggling desperately in her hand, wanting to open and investigate, but it was tightly entangled by black mist.

Wu Cuiyue curled her lips into a mocking smile. She clenched her hand fiercely, and the eye instantly burst into liquid, which was then completely devoured by the black mist.

“Teaching a master to paint.”

Deliberately displaying “eyes” in front of a Wu family member was akin to flogging a rotting wound with a brine-soaked whip. Such an obvious provocation, though base, was incredibly effective.

This ghost cultivator’s cultivation was unknown, but the vast difference in realms made Qi Liwei break out in a cold sweat in such a chilling environment.

As soon as she perceived the danger of this person, she wanted to flee, but she also knew that if she even harbored the slightest thought of escaping, the ghost cultivator would surely crush her to death, just as it crushed that golden eye.

This time, she traveled alone, with no one accompanying her except for a few body-protecting magical artifacts. The Qi family and Song family had an agreement. If Song Huiyi and the others could detect the anomaly here—

Qi Liwei stealthily took out a communication talisman from her storage space.

She intended to secretly crush it, but before she could, she felt a cold wind brush her face. The next second, she lost consciousness.

“She is indeed an excellent vessel.”

Wu Cuiyue calmly opened her eyes in Qi Liwei’s body. She inserted the spiritual sword into its sheath, then tidied the slightly disheveled corners of her robe. After that, she unhurriedly picked up the extremely Yin and cold carp pearl and placed it into the jade box.

The Song family party had scrutinized the bidders present, inspected the internal staff of the Nine Heavens Pavilion, and repeatedly used the purification charms embedded in the jade hammer to force her appearance.

They had never expected that the Cold Moon Carp Pearl, an ice-attributed spiritual item born in an icy pond and feeding on moon haze, such a Yin-cold object, would also be suitable for a ghost cultivator like her to hide in.

In fact, this carp pearl was precisely what she had arranged to be delivered through someone else’s hands. A long time ago, she had heard within the school that Qi Tian Ning’s core formation was unusual, and Qi Liwei, concerned, had specifically entrusted the Song family to search for ice-attributed spiritual items.

What could be more useful for conducting business here than the identity of a Qi family member?

The door to the inner VIP room was pushed open. The Nine Heavens Pavilion manager and guards respectfully stood outside, watching as this noble lady of a prominent family strolled out, detecting no abnormality whatsoever.

Something was watching her.

She was clearly in the bustling venue, surrounded by floating human voices. Every direction her gaze fell showed excited faces. Yet, inexplicably, Su Qing felt that ever since just now, something had been staring at her.

She closed her eyes. Her vision turned to black.

Her consciousness seemed to sink into an endless sea of consciousness.

The human voices in her ears drifted far away, becoming indistinct.

Only her spiritual platform became exceptionally clear.

Her divine sense overflowed from between her brows, flowing down and touching along her robes.

The figures of a thousand people around her all turned into various colored phantoms.

The spiritual light flickering within the phantoms indicated the excitement of their masters.

Everyone was focused on seizing treasures, with all their attention on observing the treasures on the display stand and competing in bids.

No one paid extra attention to an ordinary buyer like her.

No, the source of the gaze was not within the crowd.

‘Could it be the internal area?’

That was even less relevant; she hadn’t exposed any valuable treasures on her person.

Su Qing’s brow twitched heavily, realizing something was amiss.

Her divine sense, as it fell to the ground, touched an unfamiliar thread of spiritual energy.

She suddenly opened her eyes and probed beneath her seat.

She happened to encounter a golden eye symbol.

‘Someone was peeking at her? Why?’ Scenes from the auction flashed through her mind.

She shouldn’t have had time to offend anyone here. Her immortal bone was concealed by the Earth Mother, so it wouldn’t be exposed.

Moreover, this was the outer area; the people here weren’t valuable enough to be targeted.

Thinking this way, only two possibilities remained. One, this eye was specifically placed to watch her.

The fragments she just bid on had attracted the attention of some ill-intentioned individuals who wanted to kill her and seize her treasure.

The second was that something was about to happen here, and someone was observing the layout, and she was merely an incidental bystander.

However, it was only because her five senses were exceptionally keen that she discovered the clue.

Regardless of the possibility, since she had stumbled upon the scene, the person behind the scheme, even if they hadn’t originally intended to harm her, would inevitably become furious from embarrassment.

She had to strike first and make plans early.

The eye symbol was meltified in the intricate, spiritual energy-rich pattern of the carpet.

If one didn’t look carefully, they would definitely miss it. Seeing that someone had discovered itself, this eye suddenly flickered, attempting to vanish on the spot.

However, Su Qing’s movements, or rather her divine sense, were faster.

The divine sense, diligently cultivated in the dark, upon encountering the unfamiliar spiritual thread, pursued it instinctively like a predatory beast. Before the golden eye could disappear, she firmly captured it.

Above, the clamor of bidding continued, “Two million three hundred thousand!” “Get out of the way, two million five hundred thousand, it’s mine!” “Who says it’s yours? I can add more, wait, two million seven hundred thousand!”

And on the ground, a silent struggle unfolded. Insects devoured without a sound, but the battle for life was equally fierce.

In order not to damage this symbol, Su Qing had to be careful, meticulously wrapping it with threads of divine sense.

Control was far more difficult than destruction. Her temples bulged, and her eyes were bloodshot.

This leaf-shaped eye was rapidly deformed as if strangled by invisible divine sense threads. It couldn’t break free, and could only be slowly consumed.

Just as the last bit of golden light was consumed by her divine sense, Song Huiyi’s fingertip trembled.

She discovered that a Divine Eye Talisman stuck to the wall had inexplicably flipped over, facing the room.

The pair of golden eyes on the talisman paper opened, staring directly at her.

‘How could this be?’

‘Who could follow the meticulously laid spiritual thread traces and, in turn, use the Divine Eye Talisman to spy on her? Could it be that ghostly being mocking her?’

Song Huiyi was furious.

Her fingertips trembled, and the spiritual threads tautened into blades.

In an instant, a cross-shaped flower slashed through, grinding the rebellious talisman paper into countless specks of dust.

Song Huisi stood up, astonished and suspicious. “Sister, what’s wrong?”

Although the vision lasted only a brief moment, it was enough for Su Qing to imprint the furnishings of the room into her mind.

Although she didn’t know what the two sisters, Song Huiyi and Song Huisi, intended to do, it certainly wasn’t good.

Su Qing silently crushed the communication talisman she had prepared for Tian Ning in her sleeve.

There was a disturbance.