Five Years of Feudalism, Three Years of Rebellion

Li Xingluo turned her head, thoughtful as she asked, "Aunt, do you know him?"

The beautiful woman gave a languid smile. "Qin Kaijiang's son—how could I not know him?"

"That is true."

Li Xingluo offered a faint smile, turned her head away, and fell silent.

The "knowing" the two spoke of was not the same thing.

But since her aunt was playing dumb, it was best she didn't ask.

After all, someone who had nominally been under house arrest for over a decade shouldn't know anything about the outside world.

Yet...

Li Xingluo turned back, curious. "Aunt, I recall you spent a fortune purchasing a Profound Gate puppet just last month. Why are you looking to buy a new one today?"

"Profound Gate? Hmph..."

Li Runyue gave a light scoff. "Calling it a Profound Gate puppet is an insult to firewood. Your Imperial Father is truly senile; he considers any wandering charlatan to be a practitioner of the orthodox Profound Gate."

Li Xingluo was lost in thought.

The person who crafted that puppet was certainly no charlatan. When she helped Li Runyue purchase it, she had personally tested it; it was capable of exerting the strength of a Fourth-Rank expert.

The puppet's spirit core contained several exquisite sword techniques. One only needed to divert a sliver of consciousness to control it, allowing the puppet to execute formations on its own, with consumption far lower than other puppets.

Yet, such a puppet was considered worse than firewood in Li Runyue's eyes.

She wondered what kind of puppet her aunt was actually looking for.

There was a puppet from the Ghost Region Kingdom in today's auction; she wondered if it would meet her standards.

Never mind.

She was only helping her find a puppet, after all.

Whether she found one or not, the favor had already been bought.

Li Xingluo glanced at the auction list and frowned slightly; it seemed the puppet was still a long way from appearing.

In another private room.

"Brother Shen is generous!"

Yu Shanjun held the box containing the inner core, his smile so wide it looked like his mouth might split. The feeling of recovering what was lost was truly wonderful!

Shen Jin felt as if his heart were bleeding. A mere broken inner core had cost him two hundred high-grade spirit stones.

The god-forsaken bandits had to choose his flower boat to kidnap people.

They kidnapped the guests and vanished, leaving the victims to extort him. Not only did they extort him, but they also extorted all his other guests, and in the end, he had to foot the bill to keep his "boat of friendship" afloat.

He forced a smile. "What is yours will not run away! Remember your promise. I see the little flood dragon from the West Sea has a good relationship with you; bring him to the flower boat for an introduction another day."

"Him? He is obsessed with cultivation; he may not be willing to come!"

"Hmm?"

"I will try!"

Having taken the man's gifts, Yu Shanjun had no choice but to agree.

Just then, a woman with a willow-thin waist wrapped her arms around Shen Jin's. "Brother Shen Jin, I have a good relationship with that vixen from Green Hill. Why don't you bid for my poison sac as well?"

"Fine, fine, fine!"

Shen Jin chuckled and gave her waist a squeeze.

She giggled and squeezed him back several times.

Seeing the poison sac also sell for a high price, Bai Yuji's lips curled into a smile. "It looks like we'll be collecting quite a bit of money today! The gifts you received today were all bought by that private room—that must be Shen Jin, right?"

Qin Muye curled his lip. "Who else could it be? This bastard is truly willing to spend to buy people's hearts!"

Bai Yuji was thoughtful. "Actually, I have never understood something. Shen Kui has held the position of Chancellor for so long that few in the court dare to offend him, yet he still allows his youngest son to curry favor with the young talents of the Demon Race in every way possible. The world knows the Emperor and his minister are in harmony, but surely not to this extent?"

"Who knows?"

Qin Muye dismissed it indifferently, seemingly unconcerned with the matter.

But in truth, he harbored these same questions. The Emperor's tolerance for Shen Kui seemed exceptionally high, and Shen Kui's tolerance for his own absurd son was also ridiculously high.

He had been on that flower boat; although Shen Jin had deliberately cleaned it up, the air was still thick with a lewd scent, and the decor was filled with an incredibly ambiguous atmosphere.

He had always assumed that these people played quite wildly when he wasn't around.

But today at the birthday banquet, he glanced at those Demon Race wastrels, and his brain instantly crashed.

Because these people, whom he viewed as Demon Race trash, would eventually become the great heroes who led the demons and various tribes to overthrow the Great Gan after the new monarch ascended the throne.

It was just absurd!

Could it be that while I was away, they weren't holding an impart at all?

Were they actually together doing "Five Years of Feudalism, Three Years of Rebellion"?

That's way too self-disciplined, isn't it?

Qin Muye didn't understand, but he was deeply shocked.

However, that matter was too far off; he was more concerned with something else.

He glanced at Bai Yuji and shoved an apple into her hand: "We're likely to have a bumper harvest today. If we convert the spirit stones, we should get at least forty thousand taels of silver. I'll add another five thousand taels for you; why don't you tell me who the person who harmed me is?"

Bai Yuji: "..."

Five thousand taels!?

She couldn't help but glare at Qin Muye. This scoundrel knew full well she couldn't sell out her teammates, yet he deliberately offered a price to tempt her.

His intentions were truly malicious!

She gave a soft huff and simply refused to look at him.

Qin Muye pursed his lips and didn't press the issue. After all, this was an internal matter for them. Even if they had played countless dirty tricks on each other, the Nanzhao remnants led by Bai Yuji were bona fide outsiders. If they wanted to stir up trouble in the Capital City, they couldn't do it without the support of that local bigwig.

Forget it, keep watching.

He leaned against the window to continue watching the auction. The window was inscribed with a one-way light-transmitting array; one could see outside clearly from within, but those outside couldn't see in at all, so there was no need to worry about being watched.

As the consigned items were auctioned off one by one, the smile on his face never faded.

Although those young Demon Race members were treated well in the Capital City, they were just a bunch of peasants without an organization to earn money behind them. Once they were blackmailed, they all brought out their marriage savings. If it weren't for Shen Jin, their cultivation progress would have been delayed.

Shen Jin was also righteous; he used all the money to win people over, while his own collections that had been looted were all auctioned off by others.

Once all the consigned items were sold, Qin Muye stretched his back, intending to sit back and rest for a while.

But before he could move a step, he heard the auctioneer's excited voice: "The next item up for auction is a puppet personally crafted by the head of the Gongshu Clan, forged entirely from black iron.

It contains forty-nine secret attack techniques, with the spirit core inscribed by seven experts. Driven by a spirit stone array, even someone with no cultivation at all can wield it to unleash the strength of a quasi-grandmaster."

Whoa!

The Gongshu Clan!

This was a major family with a heritage in puppetry.

Qin Muye became interested because the greatest strength of the Thread-Crafter was its ability to encompass all things, allowing it to integrate any external puppetry techniques.

This puppet was personally crafted by the head of the Gongshu Clan, so it must be the pinnacle of the Gongshu Clan's craftsmanship. If he could win it and take it apart properly, he would certainly benefit immensely.

Bai Yuji looked at him in surprise: "You want it?"

Qin Muye put on an excited expression: "This is a masterpiece by the head of the Gongshu Clan, driven by a spirit stone array, with a massive reserve of combat techniques in its spirit core, and it's forged entirely from black iron..."

The auctioneer's voice rang out from outside: "Starting bid is one thousand spirit stones, with each increment no less than one hundred spirit stones."

Qin Muye became even more excited: "And yet it can only unleash the strength of a quasi-grandmaster. What kind of bullshit quasi-grandmaster is that? Isn't it just a fourth-rank? A pile of good materials wasted on such a piece of junk. It's truly a heap of trash; only a brain-damaged idiot would buy it."

Bai Yuji: "..."

"Pfft!"

She couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Money can turn people into enemies.