When You Live by the Sword, You Eventually Pay the Price

After the Wish-Fulfilling Long Qi, the Celestial Ship Merchant Guild kept a few rare curiosities for a closing auction, like the farewell performance after an opera ended.

Many bidders had broadened their horizons today. Seeing that the remaining items were expensive yet impractical, with little excitement to them, they packed up their belongings, collected the corresponding certificates for their lots, and left one after another.

"Can you manage the exchange alone?" Xu Zishuai peeled the last lychee from the table and popped it into his mouth.

"Whether I can or not, I'll have to try first."

"Junior Brother, you really won't bring General Xu along?" Xiang ChangSong asked. "This concerns Long Qi. Having a third party bear witness would save you some wrangling."

"Absolutely not!"

Liang Qu rejected the suggestion outright.

After all, Wei Lin was his immediate superior. Though they did not interact much in ordinary times, Liang Qu knew his temperament perfectly well.

A stubborn, headstrong sort.

He would harm himself by a thousand just to cost his enemy eight hundred.

He neither yielded to softness nor force. Mere Old Toad-style brainless flattery was useless; one had to find the crux of the matter.

Not everyone could be controlled with profit. Some people would explode the moment you tried to squeeze them. They recognized only their own dead logic and were difficult to handle.

Guan Congjian, Liang Qu's cheap grand-disciple, was one such person. He looked like a martial arts fanatic, but in truth, he did not care whether he won or lost—he only sought peace of mind.

Unfortunately, Wei Lin was the same.

That was why Liang Qu would rather risk the other party failing to secure it and wait until after the auction to raise the matter and propose the exchange.

If he had said it