Xiao Yan withdrew his gaze — still carrying a trace of coldness — without bothering to trade insults with the other party. His ten fingers curled slightly out of habit, and the strange suction-and-blow force pulsed in his palms with a steady, breathing-like rhythm.
After over a year of rigorous practice, Xiao Yan's transition between Suction Palm and Blow-Flame Palm was not quite at the level of perfection, but it had become thoroughly proficient. In an actual fight, he could guarantee a swift switch between the two Dou Techniques without sacrificing speed — striking with lethal effect.
"Brother Xiao Yan, that fellow seems much stronger than before," Xun'er murmured, casting a sidelong glance at Jie Lie'ao, who sat not far away. A soft laugh accompanied her words.
Xiao Yan gave a slight nod, his tone even. "His father purchased a high-grade Heaven-tier wind-attribute cultivation technique at the last auction. Jie Lie'ao is also wind-attribute. A full year is more than enough time for him to convert his old Dou Qi into the new technique's power. Naturally, he's stronger than he was before."
"Oh? No wonder he's so full of himself. Are high-grade Heaven-tier techniques really that rare?" Xun'er's smile was radiant, and a flicker of pale gold flame danced in her autumn-water eyes.
Xiao Yan shook his head with a grin. "For a rich little lady like you, who pulls out a Heaven-tier technique as easily as breathing — of course they're not rare."
Xun'er's delicate nose wrinkled at the teasing, and she shot him a look of mock reproach. "Even if they're rare, Brother Xiao Yan still wouldn't give them a second glance, would he?"
Xiao Yan gave an awkward laugh and quickly tilted his chin toward the elevated platform. "The auction's starting..."
Watching him deliberately change the subject, Xun'er could only shake her head and turn her gaze toward the auction stage, where the lights had suddenly flared to life.
Under the weight of countless staring eyes, Ya Fei ascended the stage with the graceful, mincing steps of a lotus gliding across water. Clad in a crimson cheongsam that hugged every generous curve of her voluptuous figure, she instantly set several pairs of eyes in the audience blazing with heat.
A seductive smile adorned her lovely face as she covered her lips with one hand and addressed the crowd with a few coquettish words. Her mature allure — the kind that ignited a slow fire in a man's lower belly — easily whipped the atmosphere in the hall into a fever pitch.
Watching the mood shift around him, Xiao Yan clicked his tongue in reluctant admiration. The chief auctioneer of the Mitel Auction House certainly earned her title. With just a few sentences, she had transformed every man with weak self-control into a hot-blooded creature governed by impulse. At this moment, if Ya Fei held up a cheap trinket from a roadside stall, half the men below would snatch it up like a priceless treasure.
Satisfied with the heated response, Ya Fei allowed herself a small, private moment of triumph. Years of experience had taught her exactly how powerful her beauty was in commanding male attention. Her crimson lips curved into a faint smile as her gaze swept across the front rows. When her eyes passed over the young man sitting behind Xiao Zhan, she paused almost imperceptibly.
Although the boy appeared to be looking toward the stage, the restless wandering of his dark eyes told her something different — he seemed entirely unmoved by her appearance. Her elegant brows rose in mild surprise.
Without lingering on Xiao Yan, she shifted her gaze away with practiced subtlety and clapped her hands lightly, her smile as radiant as ever. "Ladies and gentlemen, Ya Fei knows exactly why you're all here today. So we'll be skipping the usual appetizers — the main course comes straight out."
With a graceful sweep of her arm, the stage lights dimmed. She leaned forward slightly and retrieved a small jade plate from the table. Atop it sat a diminutive white jade bottle.
The moment that tiny bottle appeared, the audience's gaze turned incandescent with desire. Fists clenched, palms rubbed together — everyone prepared to claim it.
"This batch of Foundation Liquid was crafted by the same hand as the last. The potency, the grade — identical. Moreover, it has been personally appraised by our auction house's Master Gu Ni, so you may bid with complete confidence." Ya Fei smiled, then turned her gaze directly toward Xiao Yan in the front row, her expression at once coquettish and captivating. "The previous batch of Foundation Liquid was purchased by Patriarch Xiao. Afterward, young Master Xiao Yan leaped from third-stage Dou Power to eighth-stage within a single year. Whether the Foundation Liquid had anything to do with that..." Her eyes sparkled with cunning. "Well, even Ya Fei couldn't say for certain."
The moment these words left her lips, every eye in the hall swiveled to the still-bewildered Xiao Yan in the front row. Murmurs of astonishment rippled through the crowd. Although the rumor of Xiao Yan's terrifying cultivation speed had already spread across Wutan City, most people had never witnessed it firsthand. Now, with the chance to see living proof, exclamations of wonder were inevitable — and with them, a deepened resolve to secure the Foundation Liquid at any cost.
A short distance away, Jie Lie'ao watched Xiao Yan become the center of attention and tugged the corner of his mouth into a cold, contemptuous sneer.
Being scrutinized by so many pairs of eyes, Xiao Yan shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Inwardly, he could only laugh at the absurdity of it all — this woman was far too shrewd. She had turned him into a free living advertisement. With his results as proof, the bidding prices for those bottles of Foundation Liquid would likely soar by twenty or thirty percent.
*Sigh... this woman. She'd be wasting her talents if she didn't go into business.*
Shaking his head helplessly, Xiao Yan felt a prickle of irritation from the weight of so many stares, but the thought that the items on the podium were his softened the annoyance. He could only glare — with all the ferocity he could muster — at the gracefully smiling Ya Fei on the stage.
Rather than intimidated, Ya Fei met his glare with a bold, alluring smile dripping with mature feminine charm, causing the men seated behind Xiao Yan to swallow hard in unison.
"First bottle of Foundation Liquid — opening bid: fifteen thousand gold coins!"
The smiling Ya Fei opened with a lion's maw, nearly doubling the price of the Foundation Liquid in a single breath.
*Vicious...* Below the stage, Xiao Yan's lips twitched at the number. Women really were the most ruthless creatures of all.
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