In the middle of the night, someone touched the barrier on the door and Mo Tianliao suddenly opened his eyes. The person outside realized that they had touched the barrier and did not do anything else. They left quickly, it was probably a guard on their nightly rounds or something like that.
He turned to look at Lord Kitty, who was lying on his side facing him. His slender body was slightly curled up, his eyes were closed tightly and he was in no danger at all of waking up.
There was a snowy mountain near Bahuang City, so it was a little cold at night. Mo Tianliao slowly raised his hand and tucked Master into his quilt. When Qingtong, who slept soundly, was touched by him, he instinctively moved closer. His slender hands rested on Mo Tianliao’s chest, lightly gripping the front of his clothes, his head moved closer to lay on his shoulder; he continued to sleep.
Clearly, he was at the Half-Immortal stage and his cultivation was higher, his ears were also better, yet he still slept so heavily. Was it because he was sleeping beside him? Such thoughts made Mo Tianliao unable to suppress a smile, he slowly leaned closer. He contemplated his incomparably lovely face under the light of the moon and gently dropped a kiss on top of his soft hair. Sleep well. Even if the sky falls down, I’ll be here.
The next day, when Mo Tianliao opened his eyes the beauty that had been beside him was already gone. There was a small lump under the quilt on his chest, he unwrapped it slowly. He saw the little snow-coloured furball, who had climbed on at some point, sleeping soundly, a fluffy paw stuck into his undershirt.
Master, does this count as sexual harassment of your disciple? Mo Tianliao smirked, stretched out his hand and scratched the cat’s head.
“Mew…” The white kitten purred, held down the fondling finger, yawned and slowly opened his eyes. Those pale Luli eyes looked even more glittering and translucent in the morning light. He stood up, stretched himself gracefully, paced closer, and stood with one paw pressing down on Mo Tianliao’s chin.
It was such a warm and early morning, Mo Tianliao really wanted to continue sleeping. He reached out his hand to smooth Lord Kitty’s fur but was rewarded with a slap. Wicked disciple, get up quickly, don’t you still want to buy that piece of trash?
He went to inquire if Lord Shi Di had returned yet and was surprised to learn that he had returned last night and was waiting for him in the main hall; Mo Tianliao felt it was rather strange. When he arrived at the main hall, he looked at Shi Di ecstatically. Could it be that this tool had a problem with his tool?
“The fox was dying last night, and Hei Yanshi made a scene until we came back,” Shi Di saw Mo Tianliao and immediately opened his mouth to explain but he just ended up looking like he had something to hide.
Mo Tianliao gave a meaningful nod, a “you don’t have to say anything, I understand” expression on his face. Instantly, Shi Di became livid; he yanked on the mane of the big lion resting at his feet.
“Roaaaar” Hei Yanshi turned to shout at him unhappily, “You’re blaming me again?!”
Even when their group of people went to Bahuang City’s auction house, the pair of one man and one lion kept fighting.
Bahuang City was in a basin surrounded by mountains. The auction house was located in the centre of the city. It was underground, with a second entrance after a spiral staircase. A scarlet carpet winded all the way to the end of the flight of stairs, and bright Sunlight Stone was embedded in the walls of the spiralling tunnel.
Inside it was dim, making it hard to see clearly. When the attendant saw Shi Di, he led him directly to his exclusive private room without a word. The demonic path was hierarchical, big auction houses like the one in Bahuang had private rooms for each Demonic Lord. The one in the middle, facing Shi Di’s room, belonged to the Supreme Demonic Lord. Mo Tianliao covered his face with his hood and gave it a seemingly casual glance.
The room of the Supreme Demonic Lord was the largest, its door was painted cyan and the word “Ming” was written on it. The room next to it was painted a brilliant red, with the word “Xiang” written on it. Mo Tianliao frowned slightly, the word “Duan” used to be written on this second door, it used to be his.
Mo Tianliao had had a dual earth and fire root; among the Demonic Lords, his strength had been just average. However, because his creations were in such high demand, he was invariably the second most important Demonic Lord. Now he had been replaced, but who the hell was this “Xiang”? He had never heard of any Demonic Lord called “Xiang”. He suddenly remembered the eagle head symbol in the Hundred Rumours Pavilion. Was there a connection?
Shi Di saw that the light was on in the Supreme Demonic Lord’s room, so he stopped and asked an attendant in a low voice, “Is Lord Ming Yan here today?”
“Yes,” The attendant replied respectfully.
“You go ahead, I have to go greet the boss.” Shi Di waved his attendants and guards into his private room and turned to Mo Tianliao. “Dear nephew, why don’t you accompany me to see your uncle Ming?”
Mo Tianliao, hidden in the shadow of his hood, sneered. He said, “This worthless nephew is very thankful for uncle’s kindness. However, my cultivation is low right now. If I let uncle rashly introduce me, the Supreme Lord may be offended.”
The origins of the Supreme Lord were forgotten to time. When Mo Tianliao first became known, he already occupied the Supreme Lord position. His strength was unfathomable. They said that he had arrived at the Ascension stage long ago, it was only because he had some difficult to overcome internal demons that he had been unable to ascend so far. Mo Tianliao hadn’t had much acquaintance with this man in his previous life, but if this Ascension stage Half-Immortal saw him and became suspicious, he would be in trouble.
Shi Di instantly agreed that it was best to be polite. He also didn’t intend to introduce the craftsman who could complete the divine weapon to someone else. If Ming Yan ended up wanting to steal him, he would not be able to do anything but stand there and stare. Shi Di’s room had the same style as his Mo Palace. It wanted to look elegant but ended up being gaudy and tacky.
Inside the room lay a big cushion; Hei Yanshi jumped inside and rolled on it. The white kitten emerged from Mo Tianliao’s clothes and pawed at him, wanting to go down and play.
Mo Tianliao looked around. The room had a strong barrier and was very safe. The maids brought from the Mo Palace were only at the Qi Refining stage, they were nothing to be afraid of, and the powerful guards were kept outside the door. Feeling a little relieved, Mo Tianliao let go of the kitten and let him play on the cushion.
The kitten jumped down from the palm of Mo Tianliao’s hand and landed with precision on the lion’s head. He dived into the thick mane around its neck, which still had a bloody scent. The kitten sniffed around and memorized the smell of the white fox.
The big lion turned his head to look at the kitten, but could not see it, so he twisted his head even harder, and the rest of his body followed. He turned three times in place, but he still could not see the kitten. When the kitten jumped down and rolled on the cushion, the big lion rushed at it excitedly and was slapped on the nose.
“Roaaar” The big lion was blown away and rolled to the other end of the cushion.
When Shi Di came back, he saw Mo Tianliao leisurely sitting on one side drinking tea, his kitten obediently sitting on the cushion licking its paws and his big lion idiotically lying on his back beside the cat, showing his belly. He also saw his beautiful and elegant maids, their mouths inelegantly open; they seemed to have recently witnessed something unbelievable.
The auctions of the demonic path were not as conservative as those of the righteous path. Absolutely anything could be sold.
Beautiful people to use as furnaces, rare cultivation methods, Demonic Beasts obtained through extreme measures, medicines for dubious purposes and viciously underhanded spiritual weapons, anything. Because of this, there were also many from the righteous path who also came to these auctions. They came in order to find things that the hypocrites were too embarrassed to buy or sell.
The auctioneers were a man and a woman, one was eloquent, the other beautiful. The atmosphere was very lively.
“This ninth treasure is the dream of many male cultivators,” the female auctioneer smiled suggestively and took out a small white jade bottle. “Heavenly grade Silk Tree Nectar, male cultivators, if your partner is a man, you can’t miss this chance.” With this remark, she removed the bottle stopper, took out a jade stick as thick as a chopstick, dipped it in, then slowly lifted it.
It was a crystal-clear liquid with an indistinct fragrance. Silk Tree Nectar was an elixir needed by two male practitioners for dual cultivation. In theory, in accordance with the harmony between heaven and earth and yin and yang, dual cultivation was most suitable between men and women. However, cultivating to immortality took a very long time, there were always some people who preferred being unorthodox. This Silk Tree Nectar was developed so that men could practice dual cultivation together. This was why the procuress of Xiaoyao Building had also recommended male furnaces.
Heavenly grade Silk Tree Nectar was said to be made from a thousand-year-old spiritual plant. Using this, not only would prevent harm to the dual-cultivation couple, but it could also prevent spiritual force backlash due to disparate cultivation levels, preventing your partner from becoming a furnace.
“There are quite a few people like your father nowadays,” Shi Di said with a click of the tongue, then he took a sip of spirit wine and looked down at the bidding which was by now in full swing.
Mo Tianliao raised his eyebrows. What did this have to do with him?
“Your father he… didn’t like women.” Shi Di shook his head.
Mo Tianliao choked on a mouthful of tea. He used to throw the beautiful girls he received to the forges but didn’t he also do the same with the good-looking boys? Where did this stupid tool get the idea that he likes men? A scene from last night suddenly flashed in his mind; he saw the peerlessly beautiful face under the light of the moon, those slender fingers gently clasping his lapels. Unaccountably, he felt a little guilty.
He unconsciously directed his gaze at Master, the white kitten was pouncing directly at the big lion’s head, while the lion obediently lay on the cushion and let himself be jumped on.
There were 18 bottles of Heavenly grade Silk Tree Nectar, which were sold a bottle at a time. When they were all sold, an attendant came in with a tray and put down a small white jade bottle, it was precisely a bottle of Silk Tree Nectar.
The lion lifted his head and looked at his Master like he had grown a second head.
Shi Di removed his hand from the bidding crystal, picked up the small jade bottle, and threw it at Mo Tianliao. “In a few days, it will be the anniversary of your father’s death, burn it for me.”
“…” Mo Tianliao caught the jade bottle and was speechless for a long while. He finally squeezed out a sentence between gnashing teeth, “I thank Milord for his kindness on behalf of my father.”
Shi Di waved his hand carelessly, seeming to indicate that thanks were unnecessary.
The price of the following auction items became higher and higher, several Demonic Beasts were sold for exorbitant sums. Spiritual Beasts born from a Beast that had already formed a blood pact would be influenced by that blood pact, they could only be used by people who were blood-related to the original Spiritual Beast owner, anyone else would not be able to make a blood pact with them, which was also the reason why ownerless Demonic Beasts were becoming rarer and rarer.
In a place like Xiaoyao Auction House, there must be someone behind the scenes who raised ownerless Demonic Beasts so that they could be bred and sold.
“Next is our final treasure,” both auctioneers solemnly said. “Three hundred years ago, Lord Duantian, the master craftsman, had the fortune of refining a magic weapon capable of triggering astronomical phenomena. This treasure was something that surpassed all existing immortal weapons, something unseen since the ancient Great War between gods and demons, a divine weapon!”
“The last one?” Inside the private room adorned with the “Ming” character, a man dressed in cyan robes with wide sleeves was holding a grey jade cup in his bony hands, slowly swirling the amber wine inside it.
“The shape-shifted Beast cultivator escaped last night.” Xiaoyao Auction House’s owner stood to the side and bowed, afraid to lift his head.
“Escaped where?” the cold voice carried with it a murderous intent.
“T-to Xiaoyao building, it was stolen by Lord Shi Di.” The owner did not dare prevaricate and hurriedly gave an account of the situation.
There was silence in the auction room, everyone held their breath waiting for the divine weapon, which had caused the death of countless powerful people from both the righteous and demonic paths. Legend had it that the blood that had flowed from the Absolute Death Valley in those days had become a whole sea. The stone of Mount Yanhuo was still red to this day. Three Lords from both the demonic and righteous path had died, several Demonic Sects had suffered heavy losses and the forces of the righteous path had been reordered in the aftermath.
“A divine weapon, something used by the ancient gods. Rumour has it that just one move from it can shake the entire world,” the auctioneer said in an almost musical rhythm. “At the time, the Absolute Death Valley was filled with top-grade immortal weapons, one can well imagine that this divine weapon, which surpassed all those immortal weapons is strong enough to destroy both heaven and earth!”
The white cat jumped back on Mo Tianliao’s leg and looked him in the eye. Mo Tianliao gave a dry cough and took the kitten into his arms.
Someone brought out an extremely beautiful knife rest, it was carved out of extremely expensive dark sea-blue jade and had the shape of a peng spreading its wings, it looked very magnificent. The top of the knife rest was covered with a dark blue brocade made of alpine snow thread.
Shi Di also clutched the armrests next to him, even he had never actually seen the divine weapon before.
“Look carefully, everyone!” The two auctioneers each grabbed a corner of the brocade at the same time. The dark blue brocade suddenly slipped off like a flowing mountain waterfall.
“Oohhh” They hadn’t even seen it clearly yet, but they couldn’t help but exclaim in wonder. After the brocade fell and the divine weapon was revealed, the whole place suddenly plunged into dead silence.
They saw the dark sapphire-blue jade knife rest shaped like a Dapeng spreading its wings and, sitting neatly on top of it, there it was… Its whole body pitch black, glittering like bitter frost, it was one chi long, with a smooth design—a pig-killing knife!
Sledgehammer: This is the divine weapon, are you kidding me?
Sledgehammer: How could the divine weapon be a pig-killing knife?
Carpenter: If it’s so tough for you to accept, you could also use it for killing cows
Unedited, please point out any mistakes
MTL’s idiosyncratic design style strikes again!
This has got to be one of my favourite chapters so far, it’s hilarious.
Thank you so much for the ko-fi, J! the next one gets an extra chapter