Yan Ruyu, the Slave Up for Auction

The auction house's dome stood a full ten zhang high. Gilded patterns flowed with a cold gleam beneath the refracted light of crystal lamps, as though an entire river of stars had been embedded overhead.

The first-floor hall spread out in a fan shape, ebony benches rising tier upon tier from south to north, more than a hundred rows in all. At this moment, eighty percent of the seats were occupied.

Darkly gleaming bronze emblems were set into the chair backs, and a palm-sized black-crystal bidding device was embedded on the right side of every armrest. A touch of the fingertip would make it glow with a faint blue light.

At the southernmost end, the auction platform had been cut from a single block of obsidian, nearly three zhang on each side. Gilded Suanni crouched at its four corners, Night-shining Pearls clamped in their mouths, illuminating the stage as brightly as day.

A seven-zhang-tall water-curtain screen hung behind the platform, its cloud-and-mist patterns shifting. The faint shadows of people moving backstage could vaguely be seen through it.

The second-floor private rooms formed a circular corridor. Thirty-six carved pearwood compartments faced the hall, their latticed windows veiled in merfolk silk, allowing guests to see the activity below while concealing their faces.

Different beast-head bronze plaques hung outside every room, from Black Bird to White Tiger University, secretly corresponding to the directions of the Five Elements.

The bidding devices inside the compartments were jade discs embedded in rosewood tables. When turned, they emitted a clear, melodious jade chime.

There were only nine VIP rooms on the third floor, hidden in lofts beneath the dome and connected to the second floor solely by nine gilded hanging stairways.

Armored guards stood at the stair entrances. The doors to the private rooms were carved from