Competition

"Azure Dragon Wood Elixir!"

"White Tiger Metal Elixir!"

"Pure Yang Qi Replenishing Pill!"

"Hundred Refinements Profound Iron Sword!"

"..."

One lot after another streamed onto the stage, mostly weapons, armor, and pills produced by the Refining Blade Ship and Bao'an Hall.

Such armaments and life-saving items held immense strategic value. They were basically all snapped up by the great clans and noble families, as well as the various Rebel Kings and powerful bandits. After all, these factions ruled their own territories and proclaimed themselves kings; each and every one was flush with wealth, leaving ordinary people unable to compete.

From this alone, one could see the state of the world and the strength of its various powers.

The Li Clan, which had entered Guanzhong and crouched like a tiger over Chang'an, was the strongest of all, truly lavish in wealth.

Next came the Song Clan, secluded in Lingnan, followed by the Dugu Clan, which occupied Luoyang.

As for the Yuwen Clan... Yuwen Huaji had murdered the emperor and seized the throne, making them a target of the entire world. They were now overwhelmed by troubles and had not even been able to attend this grand event. Before long, they would likely be wiped out, root and branch.

Beyond the three great clans, aristocratic families such as the Five Surnames Seven Clans, along with the various Rebel Kings and powerful bandits, also displayed considerable strength.

Clearly, Dragon Contention across the world was in full swing. As for who would ultimately claim the prize, it was still too soon to tell.

Once the auctions for war supplies such as weapons, armor, and medicine had concluded, the noble clans, great families, Rebel Kings, and powerful bandits could finally breathe a sigh of relief. In their place, the sects, schools, and gangs of the martial world grew tense.

Why were they tense?

Naturally, because...

"Next, we begin the auction for Martial Arts Manuals!"

"The first lot—Ice Profound Force!"

"This is a secret hereditary art of the Yuwen Clan. It can be cultivated to the realm of Spirit Condensation Dao Integration, granting the strange force of Profound Ice Extreme Cold. It balances hardness and softness, shifts freely between substance and illusion, and is exceptionally effective against fire- and yang-aspected techniques. It also has miraculous effects on lightness skills and movement arts. Hidden within it is Cold Poison that invades the heart meridians—once it takes hold, even immortals cannot save you. Starting bid: fifty thousand taels!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

Hearing Jin Wuming's introduction, everyone below the stage fell silent.

Only after a long while did someone raise a bidding plaque. "Sixty thousand taels!"

Jin Wuming chuckled and called out, "This guest bids sixty thousand taels. Is there anyone—"

"Seventy thousand!"

Before he could finish, someone raised a hand and called out a price, shooting a cold look at his competitor.

"Hmph!"

Connecting to the base of the Iron Mountain, the other party gave a cold snort. Unwilling to be outdone, he raised his hand and shouted, "Eighty thousand!"

"Ninety thousand!"

"One hundred thousand!"

"One hundred and five thousand!"

"One hundred and ten thousand!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

As the two drove each other's bids ever higher, everyone remained silent, finding no amusement at all in watching tigers fight from the mountain.

Why?

Because they felt the same sorrow as a fox at the death of a rabbit!

Since last year, Golden Jade Full Hall had brazenly defied the world and done something that threw the martial world into chaos.

They had publicly auctioned all manner of Martial Arts Manuals—top-tier arts and core methods kept secret by every sect and school, even legendary divine manuals—directly shattering the habit of every faction cherishing its own broom as a treasure.

Was that not a good thing?

Not at all. At least, not for the martial sects and jianghu gangs that still existed!

Because it directly triggered a senseless war of attrition, plunging the entire martial world into a storm of blood and violence.

Take nothing else—just the two forces currently fighting over the Ice Profound Force manual.

Why were they competing?

Because they were enemies—mortal enemies, the sort who wanted nothing more than to grind one another's bones to dust and exterminate the other's entire family.

But because the two sides were evenly matched, fighting to the death would cost more than it gained, so they had barely managed to coexist.

Yet the appearance of this Ice Profound Force shattered that balance.

The techniques cultivated by those two families happened to be ice-aspected and fire-aspected. If the ice-aspected family obtained the Ice Profound Force, their strength would inevitably soar, directly threatening the survival of their enemies.

For that reason, the family that cultivated fire-aspected arts could only desperately compete with them, trying to snatch the Ice Profound Force manual.

The ice-aspected family could not allow this either, for they cultivated ice-aspected arts and stood directly opposed to their enemies.

If their enemies acquired Ice Profound Force and also cultivated an ice-aspected art to Spirit Condensation Dao Integration, their advantage would vanish completely. They would fall into the passive position of "the enemy has what I lack; the enemy grows while I diminish."

Thus, they too could not relax and let the manual fall into their opponent's hands.

And so, vicious competition emerged.

With their families and lives at stake, neither side gave an inch, driving the auction price higher and higher. In the end, only Golden Jade Full Hall profited, while both sides suffered grievous losses and faced greater threats.

And these were merely ordinary enemies, two forces locked in a stalemate.

For those sole survivors whose entire families had been exterminated, it was even worse. They would spare no expense, staking the last remnants of their family fortune just to obtain a profound martial art and cultivate it for revenge.

Not long ago, there had been a rumor that a small Escort Agency had offended a major gang and been wiped out overnight. Only its young chief escort, who had been away from home, had narrowly escaped disaster.

Afterward, that young chief escort carried off his family assets and went to Golden Jade Full Hall, where he bought a sinister martial art that could be mastered quickly. At the price of becoming neither human nor ghost, he cultivated qi force and began hunting down that gang in revenge.

That gang's strength had been nothing special. They simply could not withstand that sole survivor who had cultivated an evil art.

With no other choice, they could only go to Golden Jade Full Hall and buy the same manual to cultivate.

In the end, both sides cultivated the same evil art, both becoming neither human nor ghost, neither yin nor yang. They fought a bloody deathmatch until they were reduced to ashes together, and neither met a good end.

Thus came the storm of blood and violence!

Now, everyone in the martial world was in danger. Whenever Golden Jade Full Hall held an auction, every major martial sect and jianghu gang would certainly send people to watch their enemies and mortal foes.

The moment the other side purchased a martial art, they had to compete for it. If they could not win it away, they would have to strike first. Once the auction ended, they would immediately start killing, absolutely refusing to give their opponents the chance to master it.

With this single tactic, Golden Jade Full Hall had set the martial world and its sects into a race for martial arts, reaping staggering profits.

Thus arose the disputes of the martial world.

Thus began the turmoil of jianghu.

Had it been any other person or any other force, such conduct would have long since drawn the united attacks of every major sect.

But Golden Jade Full Hall...

Put simply, ever since they began auctioning manuals, people had continuously traveled to Xuzhou, seeking an audience with that Martial King, wanting to reason with him and force him to bow his head.

Then... there was no then. Golden Jade Full Hall continued conducting its business. Those who opposed them or sought trouble either shut their mouths, vanished without a trace, or simply had their entire families exterminated.

That Martial King had a very bad temper!

Some had also tried to invite Absolute Peak experts such as Ning Daoqi, or martial holy lands and leaders of the righteous path such as Cihang Jingzhai and Jingnian Zen Temple, to intervene and stop Golden Jade Full Hall, returning the martial world to its former peace.

But... Ning Daoqi was like a divine dragon whose head could be seen but never its tail. And those two so-called martial holy lands and leaders of the righteous path, Cihang Jingzhai and Pure Heart Zen Monastery, did not even let out a fart. Who knew what schemes they were plotting?

In short—there was no solution. They could not deal with them!

Left with no choice, everyone could only join in, pinching their noses as they attended these auctions.

"One hundred and fifty thousand taels!"

"Sold!"

"The Ice Profound Force manual goes to Guest Number Fifty-Six!"

The hammer fell, and the dust settled. In the end, the family cultivating ice-aspected martial arts secured the Ice Profound Force manual.

Although they had successfully obtained the manual, the master of that family looked extremely grim.

They were merely an ordinary martial world noble family, far less powerful than great clans like the Li, Song, and Dugu. One hundred and fifty thousand taels had already emptied their Family Fortune.

Not to mention that after the auction, their opponents might very well jump over the wall in desperation. A deadly struggle was inevitable.

If he had a choice, he truly would not have done this. It was wholly detrimental to his family's continuation and survival.

But he had no such choice. In the world as it was, in the jianghu as it was, there was only one word.

Fight!

Everyone was fighting. If you did not fight, you died!

Unless one was an overwhelmingly powerful force like the Song Clan, with an Absolute Peak grandmaster, no one could sit securely and wait for fish to bite.

"..."

"..."

"..."

Everyone remained silent, their hearts heavy.

Yet Jin Wuming on the stage did not care. Still smiling like Maitreya, he announced, "The second lot: Blazing Sun Marvelous Skill!"

"This marvelous art was created by one of the Three Grandmasters of the World, Martial Venerable Bi Xuan of the Western Regions. It is a blazing sun, fire-aspected technique, superior even to Ice Profound Force. However, the manual is incomplete and lacks the cultivation method for its final realm."

"Starting bid—fifty thousand taels of silver!"

"..."

"..."

"!!!"

The moment the second lot appeared, the two families that had just battled over Ice Profound Force, along with everyone who had yet to enter the bidding, were struck speechless.

"Can you have even a shred of shame?"

"You sell Ice Profound Force one moment, then put out Blazing Sun Skill the next?"

"Aren't you afraid someone will beat you to death for doing business like this?"

"I have never seen such a brazenly shameless person!"

"You bastards are even blacker than Kunlun slaves!"

Everyone cursed furiously in their hearts, wishing they could swallow Jin Wuming alive and tear him apart.

But hate was hate, and curses were curses—their hands moved without the slightest delay. The family that had just failed to win the Ice Profound Force immediately raised a plaque. "Eighty thousand!"

"One hundred thousand!"

"You just bought Ice Profound Force. Where did you get silver to compete with me? Are you faking your bid?"

"I have it, damn it! If you don't like it, don't bid!"

"Screw your mother! One hundred and twenty thousand taels!"

"..."

The air filled with the smoke of war. Like gamblers who had lost their eyes to red, everyone began desperately pitting themselves against their opponents.

"Golden Jade Full Hall..."

Li Xiuning watched from the sidelines, coldly observing the crowd fighting and bidding themselves into bloody competition. Then she looked at Jin Wuming, smiling like Maitreya atop the stage, and secretly frowned. "A fine tactic. I just wonder how long you can keep up this Frying Oil with Fierce Fire."

Song Hui beside her also remained quiet. "They have gone to such extremes, yet Cihang Jingzhai still has not stepped in to stop them. Could it be that they intend to place their piece in Xuzhou and choose that Martial King as emperor?"

"No. That man acts as though Only I Am Supreme—overbearing and tyrannical—and possesses extraordinary martial prowess himself. To Cihang Jingzhai, he is by no means the best choice."

As she spoke, her gaze shifted toward Li Xiuning beside her.

"The Li Clan!"

"Though its forces are many and it crouches like a tiger over Guanzhong, it has no supreme expert of its own. To suppress the martial world and truly unify the realm, it must rely upon the strength of Cihang Jingzhai and the Buddhist Sect, helping them secure their position as a martial holy land and leader of the righteous path."

"You rule the world; I rule the jianghu. You hold great power; I gather incense offerings."

"Only that would serve the interests of Cihang Jingzhai and the Buddhist Sect!"

"By the looks of it, they will soon meet with that Martial King."

After adjusting my schedule, updates will now be during the day. There will be another chapter later. Also, the book goes premium on Tuesday, so please give it plenty of support.