The heavy chemical smoke from the shattered synthetic seal was finally cleared by the ceiling exhaust fans.
On the central stage of the Hidden-Dragon Pavilion, the head auctioneer struck his bronze gong with trembling hands. His assistants carefully wheeled two heavy pedestals draped in black velvet to the front of the platform under twin spotlights. The armed guards stationed along the balconies shifted their stances, their knuckles white on their rifle grips as tension thickened in the cavernous theater.
“Distinguished collectors, underground financiers, and martial masters,” the auctioneer announced, his voice vibrating through the microphone. “We now present the twin grand finales of tonight’s underground heritage and medicine auction!”
The first velvet cloth was drawn back with great ceremony.
Resting on a carved rosewood stand was an ancient broad-bladed sabre. It was four feet long, forged from dark meteoric cold-iron that seemed to swallow the ambient light. A chilling frost mist clung to the serrated steel spine, radiating a heavy, bone-chilling weight of eighty pounds. Beside the weapon sat three sealed porcelain jars of ancient Bone-Tempering Dragon Salve.
“Lot Eleven: the Ancient Cold-Iron Heavy Sabre and Imperial Dragon Salve!” the auctioneer called out, his eyes gleaming. “Forged four centuries ago from deep-space meteoric iron. Standard steel blades shatter upon touching its edge. When combined with the Dragon Salve, it can temper a martial artist’s skeletal frame into impervious iron! A weapon fit only for a true external martial titan! Starting bid: eight million yuan!”
Before the crowd of five hundred collectors could react, the second velvet cloth was lifted.
In the balcony booths, three herbalist elders leaned over the brass railings, their eyes fixed on the crimson root inside the crystal case.
Resting on a bed of fresh mountain loam inside an airtight crystal vitrine was a magnificent root the size of a man’s forearm. The root was translucent ruby-red, branching into hundreds of delicate rootlets that mirrored the circulatory system of a living human body. Dense crimson spirit-qi curled around the glass, pulsating with a rhythmic vitality that warmed the chest of every person in the front three rows.
“Lot Twelve: the three-hundred-year Changbai Wild Blood-Ginseng!” the auctioneer shouted, his voice reaching a fever pitch. “Harvested from an ancient virgin crater forest on the northern frontier! It contains boundless pure life essence, capable of reviving failing bone marrow, restoring severed meridians, and extending vitality by thirty years! Starting bid: fifteen million yuan!”
Dr. Gu Qinghe leaned forward, his hands trembling as he stared at the crimson root.
“Chairman Lin,” Dr. Gu whispered in awe, his voice vibrating with medical conviction. “That wild blood-ginseng contains pure crimson vitality marrow. When combined with my grandfather’s Nine-Turn Gold Needles and boiled in the Han bronze cauldron, its essence can rewrite genetic marrow failure. It can cure the thirty pediatric leukemia children in our hospital without painful bone marrow transplants!”
Lin Mo nodded calmly, his eyes steady and resolute. “Then it belongs in our hospital, Dr. Gu.”
Across the front row, Chairman Zhao Kun leaped to his feet.
His purple silk robe was still stained with dried blood from his earlier fit of rage. Sweat poured down his temples, his bloodshot eyes fixed on the pulsating crimson root like a starved wolf stalking wounded prey.
“Hold the hammer!” Zhao Kun roared, slamming his palms against the felt railing. “Combine my personal checking account with Black-Tiger Hall’s emergency reserves! Huo, pool every single cent we have in the dock accounts right now!”
Hall Master Huo tapped rapidly on his encrypted bank terminal, his dark face contorting in panic. “Chairman Zhao, after that fake seal disaster, my hall can only scrape together ten million. With your remaining fifteen million, we have twenty-five million in total liquid cash!”
“Twenty-five million is more than enough!” Zhao Kun hissed frantically, flecks of foam spraying from his lips. “Nobody in this city has twenty-five million in liquid funds at midnight! I will take that blood-ginseng, refine it into life-extension pills, and sell them to provincial oligarchs for a hundred million! Black-Tiger Hall will control the medicine market forever!”
Zhao Kun raised his paddle high above his head, screaming into the auditorium with frantic desperation.
“Twenty-five million yuan for the blood-ginseng!” Zhao Kun yelled, his voice echoing across the vaulted ceiling. “Black-Tiger Hall backs this bid! Anyone who dares challenge Zhao Pharmaceutical will find their family floating in the river before dawn!”
The wealthy collectors in the upper tiers shrank back into their seats, intimidated by the open death threat. Several private bidders who had prepared their paddles quietly lowered them onto their laps.
The auctioneer looked nervously toward the VIP box. “Twenty-five million from Chairman Zhao Kun... twenty-five million going once—”
Lin Mo stood up slowly from his armchair.
He adjusted his dark cuffs, stepped down the central carpeted aisle, and walked directly toward the stage with calm, measured footsteps. Behind him, Tie Niu and Dr. Gu Qinghe walked with steady, unhurried posture.
Lin Mo stopped before the stage’s central verification pillar.
“Chairman Zhao,” Lin Mo spoke in a calm, deadpan voice that cut cleanly through the hall. “When you threaten people with the river, it usually means your bank card is running on fumes.”
Zhao Kun spun around, his teeth bared in a feral snarl. “Lin Mo! You already spent twenty million on old needles! You think you can compete with the combined wealth of my conglomerate and the Black-Tiger Hall?!”
Lin Mo didn’t even look at him.
He pulled out his matte Black-Gold Card and tapped it firmly against the emerald sensor of the VIP verification pillar.
“Forty million yuan,” Lin Mo announced calmly.
The digital display on the verification pillar lit up with blinding golden brilliance.
“Twenty-five million yuan for the three-hundred-year Changbai Wild Blood-Ginseng,” Lin Mo declared in a clear, resonant tone. “And fifteen million yuan for the Ancient Cold-Iron Heavy Sabre and all high-grade body-tempering salves in the auction reserves.”
The auctioneer’s jaw dropped. The wooden paddle slipped from his numb fingers, clattering loudly onto the stage floor.
“Forty... forty million?!” the auctioneer stammered in disbelief. “Instant liquid settlement for both lots?!”
The five hundred underground collectors erupted into chaotic murmurs.
“Forty million cash on the spot?!”
“That young man has already spent sixty million tonight without blinking an eye!”
“Who is he?! What family possesses such terrifying liquid wealth?!”
Zhao Kun lunged toward the stage steps, his eyes popping with mania. “That’s impossible! He’s bluffing! Run his card through the clearing network! It will decline! He is an orphan delivery boy!”
Su Wan stepped forward, tapping the master authorization code on her tablet: ¥40,000,000.00.
BEEP.
A magnificent, earth-shaking celestial chime resonated through Lin Mo’s entire body:
[Ding! Detected spending of ¥40,000,000.00 RMB on 300-Year Blood-Ginseng & Ancient Cold-Iron Heavy Sabre!]
[Beneficiaries: Dr. Gu Qinghe (Goodness: 96/100) & Commander Tie Niu (Goodness: 93/100)!]
[Target Integrity Verified: Saving 30 pediatric leukemia patients and arming righteous martial guardian of the people.]
[Triggered 100x Pure Benevolence System Refund!]
[Received Cash Refund: +¥4,000,000,000.00 RMB!]
[Funds deposited directly into Host Personal Liquid Vault!]
[Personal Liquid Vault: ¥73,000,000,000.00 RMB!]
[Personal Wealth Milestone Achieved: Liquid Vault Reaches ¥73,000,000,000.00 RMB!]
[Benevolence Merit Points: +4,000,000 BMP | Total BMP: 165,949,528 BMP!]
[Good People Network Expanded: 9,470 Verified Righteous Allies (+20: pediatric oncology nurses, hematologists, and traditional blacksmiths)!]
Four billion cash refund, Lin Mo thought, feeling his dantian pulse with pure, serene power. Spending forty million to arm my brother and heal thirty dying children, while gaining four billion in profit. Doing good is the most invincible sovereign force on earth.
On stage, the forty-foot screen flashed with emerald confirmation: [FUNDS CLEARED: ¥40,000,000.00 RMB].
Desperate and unhinged, Zhao Kun shoved his corporate black card into the stage reader, screaming like a lunatic: “Override the bid! Forty-one million! Charge it to my conglomerate line!”
BUZZ! BUZZ!
A harsh red alarm tone blasted from the stage speakers:
[TRANSACTION REJECTED: CARD OVERDRAWN! ZERO CREDIT REMAINING! OVERDRAFT DEFICIT: ¥16,000,000.00 RMB!]
The electronic rejection echoed through the auditorium.
“Sold to Chairman Lin Mo for forty million yuan!” the auctioneer shouted, striking the gong with all his strength.
CLANG!
Two burly stage hands carried the crystal vitrine containing the three-hundred-year wild blood-ginseng down the stairs.
Lin Mo received the vitrine and handed it directly to Dr. Gu Qinghe.
“Dr. Gu,” Lin Mo said warmly. “Take this blood-ginseng. Use its crimson essence to brew the marrow-regeneration draughts for the thirty pediatric leukemia children at our hospital.”
Dr. Gu cradled the crystal case with both arms, tears streaming down his face as he bowed from the depths of his soul. “Chairman Lin... with this root, thirty children who were given death sentences will walk out of our hospital completely cured! You are a living savior!”
Next, four attendants struggled under the weight of the Ancient Cold-Iron Heavy Sabre, carrying it on an iron rack alongside the three jars of Bone-Tempering Dragon Salve.
Lin Mo stepped back, nodding toward his Chief of Security. “Tie Niu, this blade and these salves belong to you.”
Tie Niu stepped forward. His callused right hand gripped the ray-skin hilt of the eighty-pound meteoric weapon.
With effortless grace, Tie Niu lifted the massive blade with one arm.
SHING!
A piercing metallic ring vibrated through the auditorium. Frost mist swirled around the dark blade, illuminating the serrated cold-iron spine. In Tie Niu’s massive hands, the eighty-pound weapon moved as lightly as an extension of his own arm.
Tie Niu swung the blade through a test slash, cutting the air with a deep, bass whistle that made nearby bodyguards step back in terror.
Tie Niu’s knuckles tingled as the cold-iron blade hummed against his palm, harmonizing with his Rank 1 Peak external marrow. He carefully tucked the three porcelain jars of Bone-Tempering Dragon Salve into his tactical coat pocket.
“With this sabre and the Dragon Salve,” Tie Niu muttered under his breath, his dark eyes glowing with fierce martial energy, “my physical strength will cross into Rank Two before tomorrow’s sunrise.”
Tie Niu lowered the blade, saluting Lin Mo with fierce, unbreakable loyalty.
“Chairman Lin,” Tie Niu rumbled softly, his eyes burning with devotion. “As long as Tie Niu draws breath, this blade will split any mountain that stands in your path.”
In the front row, Zhao Kun collapsed onto the floor, clutching his hair in sheer delirium. He had lost seventy-five million yuan in a single night. His personal accounts were ruined, his reputation was shattered, and both auction treasures had fallen into Lin Mo’s hands.
Beside him, Hall Master Huo’s face darkened with absolute murderous intent.
Huo reached inside his black martial tunic, his thumb pressing a concealed button on a small radio transmitter.
CLICK.
A silent encrypted frequency signaled the forty Black-Tiger elite fighters waiting outside.
Huo looked up at Lin Mo, his lips curling into a venomous, bloodthirsty snarl.
“Enjoy your treasures while you can, Lin Mo,” Huo hissed in a voice that carried only to Lin Mo’s ears. “You may have bought the blood-ginseng and the iron sabre inside these walls. But outside, the fog on the river docks is very thick. You won’t live to see the sunrise.”
Lin Mo looked at Huo with an expression of calm, deadpan amusement.
Through his 500-meter Rank 2 Qi Sense, Lin Mo had already detected the forty armed men positioning themselves along the wharf, as well as the two pirate speedboats idling in the river channel.
More importantly, his qi sense felt something else moving through the dense fog on the water: the heavy, steady thrum of steel hulls and diesel engines belonging to Old Captain Zheng’s armored river tugboats.
“A dead snake always hisses loudest before it is crushed,” Lin Mo remarked softly. “Tie Niu, Dr. Gu, Su Wan. Let us head to the docks. It is time to breathe some fresh river air.”
Lin Mo turned his back on the disgraced oligarch and walked toward the exit doors.
Outside, dense river fog rolled off the dark water, swallowing the wharf in cold, impenetrable silence.
Along the rusted shipping containers, forty armed figures stepped from the shadows, their machetes and iron chains glinting in the mist. Out on the river channel, two high-powered pirate speedboats idled their engines, completely cutting off any escape by water.
The trap had closed.