Meanwhile, at Shrek Academy.
In Huo Yuhao's Sea of Consciousness, Electrolux seemed to have sensed something. His aged voice suddenly grew urgent. "Little fellow, get that carving knife! It'll be of enormous benefit to both you and me."
"Elder Yi?" Huo Yuhao wondered. "But the curse on this knife..."
"You needn't worry. I have a way to deal with it," Electrolux said with certainty.
Hearing that, Huo Yuhao stopped hesitating and decisively raised his paddle. "One hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins!"
"Ah! All right, distinguished guest number three hundred and thirty-three has bid one hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins! Is there anyone else willing to raise the price?" Qingya immediately called out.
Despite Qingya's repeated prompts, the audience remained utterly silent. No one was willing to bid on this murderous blade, because everyone knew that once they opened their mouths, they would likely have to take it home.
"One hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins, going once." With no other choice, Qingya began the final call.
"One hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins, going twice."
"One hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins, going thrice. Sold!"
Bang. The auction hammer came down hard, announcing that this peerless, murderous blade had temporarily fallen into Shrek's hands.
With the last few Soul Tools sold, the auction finally came to an end, and the distinguished guests began filing out.
"Heh heh heh. Shrek, huh? I've never robbed Shrek before." Xiao Jinchen gazed toward the direction in which the Shrek group had left, his expression somewhere between a smile and a sneer.
"Bing'er, get ready to move." Xiao Jinchen turned to remind Ice Empress, then stood up.
At his words, Ice Empress's orange-gold eyes suddenly lit up. She said excitedly, "I've been waiting forever. Just looking at those Shrek people makes my hands itch!"
"Let's go." Xiao Jinchen's thoughts stirred as he sensed the Soul Imprint he'd left on the carving knife, quickly pinpointing its location. A meaningful curve formed at the corner of his mouth. "We'll strike while they're making the exchange."
"All right!" Ice Empress nodded.
The two instantly blurred into afterimages. Xiao Jinchen quietly released his sixth Soul Skill, Mental Field, and invisible ripples of spiritual power spread like waves, enveloping the entire auction hall.
Under this perfect concealment, their figures vanished completely into nothingness. No matter how thoroughly the guards searched, they couldn't detect even the slightest trace.
Meanwhile, Wang Yan had sent the others from Shrek back to the hotel first. He stayed behind to handle payment and collect their items, and followed Qingya to the transaction hall backstage.
"Teacher Wang, these are all the items you won at today's auction." Qingya picked up the items from a maid's tray and set them on the table, a professional, charming smile on her face.
"Thank you, Miss Qingya." Wang Yan put all the items on the table into his Storage Soul Tool.
Qingya covered her mouth with a light laugh and asked, "Is this your first time in Star Luo City, Teacher Wang?"
Wang Yan shook his head. "I've been here before, but every time, I've come and gone in a hurry."
"Shrek Academy must keep you very busy," Qingya continued.
"Mm, I'm quite busy. Hand over all the things."
Just as Wang Yan was about to reply, a somewhat abrupt voice suddenly rang through the silent room.
Wang Yan and Qingya turned their eyes toward the direction of the voice.
The disguised Xiao Jinchen and Ice Empress had appeared inside the transaction hall without a sound. No one knew when they had arrived.
Their disguises completely concealed both their auras and their appearances, leaving not a single flaw.
Xiao Jinchen had deliberately altered his build, making himself look rather bulky and burly.
Ice Empress's distinctive long, emerald-green hair had also been transformed into a fiery crimson.
"Y-you... Who are you?" Seeing the two appear out of nowhere, Qingya turned pale with fright. She hurried to the other side of the table and reached for the emergency alarm button.
"I'll say it again. Hand over the things." Xiao Jinchen looked at Wang Yan, his tone icy.
"Hm?" Seeing that Qingya still dared to move, Xiao Jinchen raised an eyebrow.
A streak of green flame shot from his fingertip and landed precisely on Qingya.
"Ah!"
The green flame ignited the instant it touched her, swallowing her whole. With a brief scream, she vanished into thin air, without even leaving behind a speck of ash.
"Y-you... Who are you people? I'm a teacher at Shrek Academy!" Having witnessed Qingya burned to nothing in an instant, Wang Yan felt intense fear spread through him.
Wang Yan clenched his hand. A flash of light appeared, and a pitch-black Coiling Dragon Staff, radiating an ancient aura, materialized in his grasp.
A surge of Soul Power swept out from Wang Yan as five Spirit Rings rose around him: yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black.
Gripping the Coiling Dragon Staff tightly, Wang Yan stared at Xiao Jinchen and Ice Empress as if facing a formidable enemy. He sensed an extremely deadly danger from the pair.
"Why are you humans always like this? Ah Chen tells you something, and you never listen." Ice Empress raised her right hand in annoyance and pointed lightly with a jade-white finger. Terrifying cold swept toward Wang Yan.
"Who exactly are you—"
Before Wang Yan could finish speaking, he was frozen into an ice sculpture. Through the ice, his frozen expression of terror could still be seen clearly.
"You could've lived, but you just had to keep talking." Xiao Jinchen shook his head helplessly, walked over to the ice sculpture, and pulled the Storage Soul Tool from Wang Yan's finger, taking the finger with it.
Xiao Jinchen casually burned Wang Yan's finger to ash, then sent his spiritual power into the Storage Soul Tool. After confirming that the Spirit Devouring Carving Knife was inside, he put the tool directly into his Storage Ring.
"Let me at least let you die knowing why." Xiao Jinchen smiled faintly and raised his hand, removing the disguises from both of them.
When Wang Yan, trapped inside the ice sculpture, saw Xiao Jinchen's face, his pupils abruptly contracted. Unfortunately, he was frozen solid and couldn't make a sound.
Seeing the disbelief in Wang Yan's eyes, Xiao Jinchen smiled with satisfaction.
Then he flicked a finger, and a wisp of Emperor Flame's Core Flame drifted silently down from his fingertip.
Whoosh!
In an instant, violent flames surged from where the Core Flame had landed, and the transaction hall was engulfed by terrifying Heavenly Flames.
Wang Yan, still trapped in the ice, bore the brunt of it. Under Emperor Flame's terrifying heat, he vaporized before he could even melt. The terror on his face was erased along with him, without leaving behind a single speck of ash.
"Shrek? What's so great about it?" Xiao Jinchen gave the blazing inferno before him a disdainful smile, casually opened a spatial rift leading to Exotic Flame Space, took Ice Empress's jade-white hand, and stepped inside.
The spatial rift slowly sealed shut, and the two disappeared, leaving behind only the transaction hall, utterly consumed by the Heavenly Flames.
Not long after Xiao Jinchen and Ice Empress stepped into Exotic Flame Space, a series of frantic shouts came from outside the transaction hall.
"Fire! Quick, put it out!"
"Quick, quick! There's a fire! Go get the manager!"