Lauren couldn’t help thinking of Herbert—strong, arrogant, and short-lived. If he asked you to put something on his account, could you really say no?

  Tarot leaned back in his chair. “You really want that thing?”

  Lauren nodded. “It’s for my mother. If she takes it, she might have a chance to reach Core Formation.”

  Tarot blinked, then his expression softened slightly. He remembered she’d come from a small, humble family.

  Within moments, the bidding doubled to two hundred thousand.

  Lauren blinked in surprise. She hadn’t expected five different people to be fighting over a fruit that most experts would call obsolete.

  “Two hundred and ten thousand,” the auctioneer called. “Guest in Room Sixteen has offered two hundred and ten thousand. Any higher bids?”

  “Two hundred and twenty,” Lauren said calmly, feeding more stones into the slot.

  Almost instantly, the bidder across the hall countered: “Two hundred and thirty.”

  Lauren frowned and raised it to two-forty.

  Two-fifty came back just as fast.

  She sighed. “They’re definitely bidding against us on purpose.”

  Tarot chuckled, his eyes glinting. Without hesitation, he lifted his jade token. “Three hundred thousand.”

  A murmur of shock rippled through the hall below.

  “Three hundred thousand!” the auctioneer’s voice rang out. “Guest Number Eight has offered three hundred thousand! Any higher bids?”

  Lauren turned to him, wide-eyed. “Isn’t that too much?”

  “If you don’t raise it hard enough,” Tarot said coolly, “the other party will just keep matching you. Sometimes you have to punch through the ceiling right away to shut them up.”

  Lauren nodded slowly. A strategy of domination, huh?

  Meanwhile, across the street in another private room, Dante was practically clinging to Gerald’s arm.

  “Master, we can’t raise the bid again. Three hundred thousand is already way too much.”

  “It’s not expensive,” Gerald said calmly, eyes fixed on the glowing fruit projected on the mirror. “I brought enough spirit stones. It’s only three hundred thousand.”

  “But you can’t even eat it.”

  “The Kotobuki Genka is a rare treasure,” Gerald replied matter-of-factly. “If I can’t eat it, I’ll keep it. Maybe I’ll find a use for it someday.”

  “Master, you need to save those spirit stones for the Blood Qi Pills,” Dante said helplessly. “Just… endure it, alright?”

  Gerald froze mid-reach. The moment Dante mentioned the Blood Qi Pills, his burning desire to bid instantly defted.

  “…Fine, fine. I won’t buy it.”

  He grabbed his teacup and took a long, steadying sip, forcing his heart to calm down.

  A moment ter, the Kotobuki Genka sold to the bidder across the way. Gerald could only watch as the winner’s storage box glowed and the spirit stones inside vanished.

  Then the next item appeared—a massive Light Stone that shimmered like a small sun.

  “Starting price: two hundred thousand low-grade spirit stones.”

  Gerald immediately sat forward, his excitement reigniting. “Your junior brother has a Light Spiritual Root. Let’s buy it back for him!”

  The “junior brother” he mentioned was the child they’d found in the fishing vilge st time—an orphan with rare light affinity.

  Gerald wasn’t exaggerating when he said he had three thousand disciples. Between direct and inner disciples, the number truly exceeded that.

  Dante just sighed, defeated. This time, there was no stopping him. He could only watch as his master went head-to-head with another private room.

  .......

  In Room Eight, Lauren and Tarot watched the scene unfold through their crystal mirror.

  “There aren’t many cultivators with Light Spiritual Roots,” Lauren murmured. “One of those rooms must belong to Herbert. He’s probably buying it for Indiana.”

  Tarot smirked. “Then the other one has to be the Sect Leader.”

  Lauren blinked. “The Sect Leader? How do you know that?”

  “The Sect Leader took in a disciple with a Light Spiritual Root a few years ago,” Tarot said casually, sipping his tea.

  Lauren nodded in sudden understanding. “That kid’s with the Sect Leader, huh? Not bad.”

  “Brother,” she said, tilting her head, “do you know which one’s Herbert and which one’s the Sect Leader? If the Sect Leader loses, I’ll take the Light Stone—and crush it—so Indiana never gets it.”

  Tarot chuckled. “That’s easy. The one who wants everything? That’s definitely the Sect Leader.”

  Wants everything? Lauren thought, gncing at the other building. So the Sect Leader’s the one who fought with me over the Kotobuki Genka earlier?

  She couldn’t help but sigh. The man was thousands of years old—his old friends were probably long dead. Why in the world was he still fighting over longevity fruits?

  When the bidding hit five hundred thousand, the Sect Leader was finally forced to back down.

  Dante physically held him in pce, whispering frantically for him to save his funds for the Blood Qi Pills.

  Gerald groaned, clutching his chest in frustration. He even tried to open the window to reveal his identity—pnning to demand that the rival bidder “show some respect” and stop competing with him.

  Dante barely managed to stop him in time.

  Across the street, Lauren calmly slid a pouch of spirit stones into the storage box.

  “Five hundred and one thousand,” the auctioneer announced. “Guest in Room Eight offers five hundred and one thousand!”

  Herbert, sitting elsewhere, blinked in disbelief.

  Just as the Sect Leader finally stopped bidding, another challenger had appeared—from yet another room.

  He gritted his teeth. He’d come here mainly for the Blood Qi Pills, not for minor treasures like this. Still, seeing someone else snatch it up stung.

  After pushing the bid up to five hundred and fifty thousand, Herbert sighed and gave up.

  Moments ter, the auction staff arrived with the gleaming Light Stone, bowing respectfully as they pced it before Lauren.

  Lauren leaned closer, eyes bright. “It’s beautiful. It’s so bright—it’s like a little sun. If I put it on Starfell Summit, it could light up the entire mountain.”

  Tarot chuckled. “You sure you won’t get tired of the gre? You could use it as a ntern for your courtyard.”

  Lauren tilted her head, studying it. “How does something like this even form?”

  Tarot said, “Usually in regions close to the sun. They absorb light essence for thousands of years, and eventually... you get something like this.”

  Lauren quietly slipped the Light Stone into her storage bag.

  After a few more rounds, she still hadn’t managed to get what she wanted.

  It didn’t take long before she and Tarot realized that Room Thirty-Eight across the street was exactly as Tarot had predicted—whoever was inside wanted everything. No matter what item came up, he bid on it.

  At first, the audience was amused. Then they got annoyed.

  Someone finally shouted, “That bastard in Room Thirty-Eight keeps raising the price on everyone! He hasn’t bought a single damn thing—are you sure he’s not one of your shills?”

  In the other room, Dante’s face turned crimson. “Master, people are starting to think we’re working for the auction house. Could you please stop bidding against everyone? Remember, your target is the Blood Qi Pill.”