Tianlan College.
"So you're saying that he may have entered the auction house?" Qi Shaorong looked at Zhuang Hao, and asked with a somber expression.
Zhuang Hao nodded and said, "Yes."
"We can't buy him out in advance?" Qi Shaorong asked.
Zhuang Hao shook his head and said, "I've already tried negotiating with them, but they refused."
Qi Shaorong said with surprise, "They won't even give the Zhuang Family any face?"
Zhuang Hao shook his head and said, "No, you probably don't know much about the Tianyun Auction House, but they have a lot of power and influence. Although the authority of the Emperor is the most respected in our country, there are still many forces beneath him that aren't any less than the Imperial power. Even the Emperor won't rashly offend those forces for no reason, an example being this Tianyun Auction House."
"The Tianyun Auction House consists of a business alliance. They've set up stores in many countries, and our country only serves as a base or operations for them. Rumour has it that at the headquarters for this auction house, there are three saint-level masters."
"The Tianyun Auction House is currently preparing for their annual large-scale auction, and the person we suspect is Mu Tingxuan has already been added to the auction list. There's nothing we can do now."
Qi Shaorong frowned and said, "It looks like we can only wait until the auction starts and bid on him in order to get him back."
Qi Shaorong held his forehead. Mu Tingxuan has a wood-spirit body, and this rare physique could be used as a cultivation furnace for many mages and martial artists [1].
"Zhuang Hao, you said that he was sent to the auction house by the Mohe Mercenary Corps? Qi Shaorong asked.
Zhuang Hao nodded and said, "Yes."
"What if all the people from the Mohe Mercenary Corps die before the auction starts?" Qi Shaorong asked, tilting his head, with his hands lightly clasped together on the table.
Zhuang Hao frowned, he glanced at Qi Shaorong, and said, "When the people from the Mohe Mercenary Corps hand over their items to the auction house, they'll obtain a token from the auction house, which acts as a voucher [2]."
"The auction house will only recognize the token, not the people. If the people from the Mohe Mercenary Corps all die, as long as you have possession of that stamp, you can receive the gold coins earned from the auction house. If no one goes over to retrieve the money before the deadline, then the money will belong to the auction house."
Qi Shaorong smiled and said, "They only recognize the token, not the people. I like this rule."
Zhuang Hao: " … "
"What's the cultivation level of the leader of the Mohe Mercenary Corps?" Qi Shaorong asked languidly.
"The leader is at level seven, and the two deputy leaders are also level seven." Zhuang Hao said.
Qi Shaorong smiled and said, "Really? Three level sevens, that sure is troublesome!"
Zhuang Hao looked at Qi Shaorong, only to feel that there was a hint of a strange smile inside Qi Shaorong's eyes.
"Just what exactly are you planning?" Zhuang Hao asked.
Qi Shaorong shook his head and said, "What, nothing! I'm not planning anything!"
"Anyway, Young Master Zhuang, would you be interested in practicing fighting with me?" Qi Shaorong asked.
Zhuang Hao heard this and said, "Of course!"
"My cultivation isn't high enough, so I hope that, Young Master Zhuang, you can suppress your cultivation level down to the sixth level?" Qi Shaorong asked.
Qi Shaorong rolled his eyes. Hu Feng said that he had already reached the threshold of breaking through from the sixth level to the seventh, it's just that if he wanted to advance the level, he needed to experience real combat.
"Of course I can." Zhuang Hao said excitedly.
Zhuang Hao couldn't help but look forward to it. Previously inside the secret dimension, he had already fought a strong match against Qi Shaorong, and the means that Qi Shaorong used back then weren��t very mainstream either. However, he hasn't actually had a taste of Qi Shaorong's true strength yet.
"The two magical elements of light and darkness are completely incompatible. It probably wasn't easy for you to combine the two elements in one body." Zhuang Hao asked.
Qi Shaorong nodded and said, "It really wasn't easy. I had to let the two light and dark elements form a cycle and circulate around in my body. As long as the balance between the two magic elements is maintained, there won't be any problems."
"What if they go out of balance?" Zhuang Hao asked.
Qi Shaorong shook his head and said, "I don't know, maybe I'll self-destruct."
"Aren't you afraid?" Zhuang Hao said, frowning.
Qi Shaorong turned to look at Zhuang Hao, tilted his head and gave a light smile like a breeze, "Young Master Zhuang, don't you know what this world is like? Without strength and power, your life wouldn't even be comparable to that of a dog's. If you want to be someone above all others, what does it matter if you take a few risks?"
Zhuang Hao's expression tightened, and he didn't speak, but his heart felt a little heavier.
"Principal, Qi Shaorong and Zhuang Hao are fighting." Li Hong rushed into Hu Feng's office excitedly.
Hu Feng's eyes widened in surprise and he said, "Fighting, those two guys started fighting? What happened!"
"I don't know, I think that they're just doing it for training. Many students skipped class to go watch the excitement." Li Hong thought to himself: The students these days were really too impudent, in some classes, even the entire classroom was completely empty because so many students had skipped. The teachers these days were also too insolent, some of them were even the first ones in the class to leave.
Hu Feng stood up and said, "These students are really too much, they went to watch some excitement and didn't even call this Principal over." Hu Feng waved his arm and beckoned at Li Hong, saying, "Come on, take my chair, let's go too."
Li Hong notified several teachers, took Hu Feng's chair with him, and excitedly rushed to the competition grounds.
The competition grounds of the college was surrounded by a circle of spectators.
The two people on the platform were fighting head-on with each other, and all kinds of magic elements were flying through the air. They were evenly matched.
"The Principal has come, why aren't you making way yet." Li Hong shouted, and the crowd gave way to them. Hu Feng easily grabbed a superior viewing spot.
"They really are fighting!" Hu Feng said.
"Light under the heavens." Qi Shaorong cast out this magic technique, and his whole body became shrouded in golden light, slightly giving off the appearance of an immortal descending down to the human realm.
Looking at Qi Shaorong, Li Hong couldn't help but say admiringly, "I didn't expect that Student Qi's light magic abilities were also this refined."
"My disciple being this powerful is only natural." Hu Feng was practically glowing as he said this.
"Principle, Zhuang Hao suppressed his strength down to the sixth level. Who do you think will win?" Li Hong asked, moving close to Hu Feng's side.
"That's hard to say! Both those two kids aren't simple people!" Hu Feng narrowed his eyes and couldn't help touching his beard, "That guy Zhuang Hao has combined the magics of metal, wood, fire, earth, along with wind and lightning, for a total of seven types, altogether in perfect harmony. The power generated from that will far surpass that of a single magic attack."
"The burst power generated from the properties of Student Qi's opposing magics is also very amazing!" Li Hong said.
Hu Feng's head slightly hurt and he said, "Right!" He had finally managed to snag a good disciple after going through so much trouble, but his disciple actually cultivated both light and dark magic. For many problems and questions, Qi Shaorong would have to figure them out on his own, and Hu Feng wouldn't be able to help him.
Magic of various colours was flying all around, causing the students around them to cry out in excitement and surprise.
Hu Feng looked at the two people on the competition grounds and said, "Those two guys' casting speeds and magic power levels are enough to make people speechless!"
"Right!" Li Hong agreed. Just looking at casting speed alone, Qi Shaorong this level six mage has already exceeded the abilities of many of the level eight mages and teachers at the school.
"Classmate Qi is really handsome!"
"Zhuang Hao is also handsome."
"But it's still Classmate Qi who's even more handsome!"
Hu Feng looked at the several female students who were arguing next to him, and he couldn't help but hate iron for not becoming steel [3]. Such an intense magic battle, yet these female students only knew how to look at their faces.
Zhuang Family.
"You're back?" Zhuang Renquan looked at Zhuang Hao and said.
Zhuang Hao nodded and said, "Yes!"
"Your complexion looks pretty good!" Zhuang Renquan said.
Zhuang Hao scratched his head and said a little embarrassedly, "Really?"
"I heard that you and Qi Shaorong fought a match against each other and you tied." Zhuang Renquan said.
"We were only swapping pointers, it wasn't a fight-to-the-death, there wasn't any need to overdo it," said Zhuang Hao.
Zhuang Renquan looked at Zhuang Hao and said, "You threw the match, right!"
"No, I suppressed my strength down to the sixth level, so if I didn't go all out, I would've lost very badly." Zhuang Hao said.
Zhuang Renquan nodded and said, "Not losing intentionally is also good, if you're always getting beaten down by others, that would be way too shameful."
Zhuang Hao: "…"
"I have some news you may be interested in. The Mohe Mercenary Corps has been completely destroyed!" Zhuang Renquan said lightly.
Zhuang Hao raised his head abruptly and said, "What happened?"
Zhuang Renquan shook his head and said, "I don���t know, those people were stationed outside the city, and then they just all died."
"When did this happen?" Zhuang Hao asked.
"Today."
"I was with Qi Shaorong all day today, so he couldn't have had the chance to make a move." Zhuang Hao said.
Zhuang Renquan smiled and said, "You seem to be very moved!"
Zhuang Hao choked a little and wiped the look from his face, "How did the people from the mercenary group die?"
"Death by poisoning, the entire mercenary group was poisoned to death. They were all killed silently." Zhuang Renquan said.
"Poison refiner?" Zhuang Hao said, his eyes widening.
Zhuang Renquan nodded and said, "Yep!"
Poison refiners were both feared and revered by people. They might not be very strong physically, but a superior poison refiner would very easily be able to kill a strong individual at the eighth-level. Some difficulties would arise, however, against someone at the ninth level. Generally speaking, many people at the ninth level were immune to various toxins.
"Was it him?" Zhuang Hao couldn't help but whisper.
Zhuang Renquan looked at Zhuang Hao and said, "Who are you suspecting?"
Zhuang Hao shook his head and said, "It's nothing?"
"Before, didn't you want to know the relationship between that wood mage and the Mohe Mercenary Group? I checked, and it turned out that Mu Tingxuan and the mercenary group were in a cooperative relationship. Later on, a problem occurred with Mu Tingxuan's team, and the mercenary group betrayed them at the last moment. Several of the people by Mu Tingxuan's side were killed, and Mu Tingxuan was sold to the auction house." Zhuang Renquan said, shaking his head.
"Looking at it this way, that group of people more than deserved to die [4]!" Zhuang Hao said.
"Even so, there wasn't a single survivor left, it was really too ruthless." Zhuang Renquan said.
"Third Uncle, I also asked you to investigate Qian Mian, have you found out anything?" Zhuang Hao asked.
Zhuang Renquan nodded and said, "After Qian Mian revealed his talent at the Hundred Schools Competition, many people were interested in his identity. Our Zhuang Family also investigated him before, and the identity of Qian Mian should be forged. He entered the school three years ago, and he lives in seclusion there, without much of a sense of existence. Many people don't really understand him very well."
Zhuang Hao touched his chin and said, "Forget it, when it's the right time I'll know about it eventually. If Qi Shaorong finds out that I've been investigating the people around him, I'm afraid he won't be happy about it. "
Zhuang Renquan smiled and said, "What, are you afraid of him?"
Zhuang Hao smiled awkwardly and said, "No, why would I be afraid of him? "
Zhuang Renquan patted Zhuang Hao's shoulder and didn't say anything.
Footnotes:
Cultivation furnace: You've probably heard of this word before when reading cultivation novels and stuff, but to be honest, I'm not really sure what it is. I've always been confused about it, like when someone uses another person as like a human furnace for cultivation, what do they do, eat them or something? Lol I don't think it's really important, so you just need to know that it's bad and the person involved will probably die.
Stamp Token: It's more like a small rectangular plate, probably made out of wood and with some engravings on it that are unique to the auction house. I'm imagining it's in the shape of like a car license plate but much smaller and ancient-themed. "Stamp" was the best that I could come up with, but I don't really like it, so let me know if you think of a better word to describe it. (I changed it to token!)
Hate iron for not becoming steel: Can't remember if I've said this before, but it just means to hate someone or something for not living up to expectations and being anxious for it to improve.
Deserved to die: Original was "their crimes were so bad that even death isn't enough of a punishment for them", it's an idiom.