Fifth floor.
Mottled sunlight spilled across the platform like shifting shadows.
Hearing the words of the crowd below, Xia Wanqin smiled faintly.
"Do you all know that a cauldron is the supreme vessel?"
"The Nine-Five Exalted One—cauldrons are its symbol."
"One of the auction items to be sold shortly has, according to careful examination, been determined to be a fragment from a cauldron."
As her words fell.
Xia Wanqin lifted the red cloth from the tray.
A bronze fragment half the size of a palm rested upon the redwood tray, covered in mottled rust and stained with the color of earth.
"Tch~~" Someone below immediately said disdainfully, "Myriad Splendor Tower isn't being very honest, are they? Bringing out a scrap of broken bronze to fool us?"
Xia Wanqin seemed not to hear the murmurs below and continued her introduction on her own.
"This bronze fragment came from a cauldron in the Primordial Era. If watered with a Grandmaster's essence blood, purple qi will emerge. This is the qi of an emperor."
"Emperor? Other than His Majesty, where would another emperor come from?" someone below said.
Xia Wanqin smiled sweetly. "Since heaven and earth were opened, there has been more than one true emperor. Besides, that one can hardly be considered an emperor!"
The moment those words emerged, the entire hall fell silent.
Because Xia Wanqin's words were undoubtedly disparaging the king seated high in the imperial court.
If someone with ulterior motives reported it upward, anyone rashly involving themselves in this topic would inevitably be dragged into it.
"Alright!" Xia Wanqin said, continuing, "This item has been appraised by our tower as a fragment of a Primordial Era relic. It appears to contain the qi of an emperor!"
"Watering it with a Grandmaster's essence blood may reveal a phenomenon, but