The female chief steward looked towards Lanling with a questioning expression.
This scent was very similar to the legendary Nirvana Blood, but she did not dare to be certain.
She had served as the chief steward of Heaven and Earth Pavilion for more than ten years. She had seen countless rare treasures, including the Flowing Years Pill, which could no longer be refined by anyone.
However, she had never actually seen Nirvana Blood. She had only heard her father speak of it. Even her father had never seen it himself, he had only heard about it from his own father.
“T, this… Is this the legendary Nirvana Blood? The Nirvana Blood from the Ancient Era?” the female chief steward asked. “The legendary Nirvana Blood that can change a person’s bloodline talent?”
Lanling nodded.
At once, the female chief steward became extremely excited. Her fair face flushed red, followed by a fit of coughing.
Soon, her eyes filled with bloodshot veins.
She was simply too excited, causing her blood to surge.
As the chief steward of Heaven and Earth Pavilion, she had no other ambition. Her only wish was to see peerless treasures pass through her hands.
The rarity and uniqueness of this Nirvana Blood were unmatched. It would become the greatest highlight of her career.
“I’m sorry, I lost my composure…” the female chief steward said. “Although I completely trust your character, I still need to invite someone to verify it, someone who has actually seen Nirvana Blood before.”
“Please do,” Lanling replied.
The female chief steward hurried away.
Although she already believed the bottle of Nirvana Blood was genuine, she still needed an expert to confirm it.
Lanling quietly waited in the room.
He waited for about an hour before hearing the cry of a bird.
Only then did he realise that the person the female chief steward had invited had arrived on a flying mount.
The door opened.
The female chief steward respectfully stepped aside.
“Master Youda, please.”
A small figure slowly entered.
The man was very short, only about one and a half metres tall.
However, he was not naturally short. He was simply so old that his body had become completely bent and hunched.
Lanling had never seen such an elderly person.
His body consisted of little more than bones covered by a thin layer of skin.
Most elderly people at least had a head full of white hair.
This extremely aged man did not even have hair anymore.
Even the skin on his body had folded into countless layers.
His eyes resembled cloudy crystals and could no longer see anything.
As a result, his unusually large head stood out even more.
It seemed that Youda was a Shaman Priest.
Leaning on his walking stick, he slowly entered.
Although his eyes were blind, he moved effortlessly, because he had long since replaced sight with his spiritual power to perceive the world.
“Young man, I heard you have a bottle of Nirvana Blood?” Master Youda asked.
His voice was peculiar.
It was neither sharp nor feminine, neither gentle nor overly imposing.
Yet hearing it made one feel an instinctive urge to bow in reverence.
Lanling had been able to roughly gauge the cultivation of the female chief steward earlier.
But before Master Youda, he could sense almost nothing at all.
The old man felt like a bottomless abyss.
“Yes, Master,” Lanling answered.
“No need to be so respectful. I’m merely an old relic who’s lived too long without dying.” Master Youda chuckled. “Young man, may I have a look?”
“Of course.”
Lanling respectfully handed over the bottle of Nirvana Blood.
The old man placed his walking stick on the table, accepted the bottle with both hands, opened it, and gently inhaled its scent.
Instantly, confusion and nostalgia appeared on his weathered face.
He remained silent for a long time.
“Master?” the female chief steward softly called.
“Sigh…”
Master Youda let out a long sigh.
“It has stirred up memories from long ago. After nearly two hundred years, I’ve finally smelled this scent again. Even if I die now, I will have no regrets.”
Reluctantly, Master Youda took another deep breath before sealing the bottle and returning it to Lanling.
He never stated whether it was genuine.
The female chief steward did not ask either.
At this moment, questioning its authenticity would have been almost disrespectful.
“Young man, about one hundred and ninety three years ago, I was born into a prestigious family. My brothers and sisters were all exceptionally talented. I alone was a worthless failure. No matter how hard I tried, it was useless because my bloodline talent determined everything.”
“I lost everything, my parents’ love, the respect of my brothers and sisters, my family’s status, and even my beloved fiancée. In the Barbarian World, strength is everything.”
“Then one day, someone delivered me a bottle of something that completely changed my destiny.”
“I transformed from a useless waste into a genius.”
“For some people, Nirvana Blood truly determines the course of an entire lifetime.”
“I’m leaving.”
After speaking, Master Youda picked up his walking stick and slowly walked outside.
“I’ll escort you,” the female chief steward offered.
“No need,” Master Youda replied. “You’re far too young and beautiful. If we’re seen walking together, people might start rumours.”
He then walked onto the balcony, mounted a white crane, and flew away.
His final remark left Lanling momentarily stunned.
Despite his incredible age, the old master had quite a sense of humour.
The female chief steward was probably already in her fifties or sixties, yet in his eyes she was still “far too young”.
“May I ask your name?” the female chief steward asked.
“Ning Xue,” Lanling replied, making up a false name.
“Sir Ning Xue, I sincerely hope you’ll allow us to auction this bottle of Nirvana Blood through Heaven and Earth Pavilion.”
Lanling asked, “The auction is only three days away. What if it doesn’t sell?”
Nirvana Blood was an ancient treasure.
To certain people, it could completely change their fate, almost like being reborn. They would willingly pay any price for it.
But to most people, it was practically worthless.
“Please don’t worry. Even families that have no immediate need for it will purchase it at any cost, simply to have it in reserve.” the female chief steward explained.
“Owning Nirvana Blood means possessing another opportunity, an opportunity to defy fate.”
“As for how much your bottle will ultimately sell for, that depends entirely on fortune.”
“Of course, even if it fails to sell, Heaven and Earth Pavilion is willing to purchase it ourselves at a price that satisfies you.”
Lanling said, “However, I’ll need money to bid for the Brilliant Star Tear.”
“You may use your three treasures as collateral. Heaven and Earth Pavilion can prepare an advance fund of one hundred and fifty thousand gold coins for you.”
“Once your treasures are sold, we’ll simply deduct that amount from the proceeds. What do you think?”
“Agreed,” Lanling replied.
“Please wait a moment while I seek the owner’s approval. It won’t take long.”
True to her word, she returned in only fifteen minutes, carrying a thick stack of gold notes.
Lanling then discovered something surprising.
The gold notes of the Barbarian World were actually made of real gold.
Each note was roughly the same size as a modern banknote, about half a millimetre thick, and fairly flexible.
Their surfaces were covered with intricate embossed patterns.
At a glance, Lanling identified three separate anti counterfeiting measures.
One was the embossed engraving.
Another was a hidden security thread.
The most important was a special crystalline powder fused into the note itself, releasing a unique energy signature.
Lanling was genuinely astonished.
The anti forgery technology of these gold notes surpassed even that of the Human Kingdom.
He wondered what kind of genius had designed them.
At the centre of every note was the embossed portrait of a handsome man.
If Lanling was not mistaken, it was the current Rakshasa King.
Each gold note was worth one thousand gold coins.
One hundred and fifty thousand gold coins meant exactly one hundred and fifty notes.
“We’ll keep your three treasures in our care for the time being. Is that acceptable?” the female chief steward asked.
“We’ve already prepared our finest residence for you, along with five male servants and five maidservants. Two of the maidservants are virgins, and you may summon them whenever you wish.”
“Of course I’ll leave them in your care,” Lanling replied.
After all, the one hundred and fifty thousand gold coins were already in his possession.
“Excellent. I’ll personally escort you to the guest residence. During these next few days, you’ll be our most honoured guest.”
“If you wish to leave the premises, simply inform me. I’ll assign our strongest warriors to protect you.”
Lanling had originally intended to spend one hundred and thirty thousand gold coins immediately to purchase the Ghost King’s Eye, since time was limited.
However, doing so might raise unnecessary suspicion.
Besides, three days was not particularly long.
He would still have plenty of time to prepare afterwards.
So Lanling settled into Heaven and Earth Pavilion and waited for the auction three days later.
…
Time rewound to two years earlier.
Zhuang Zhixuan and Yan Nai’er were completely surrounded by Huai Bingyi and the Sky Holy Knights.
Ignoring Huai Bingyi, Nai’er fixed her beautiful eyes on Princess Zhiyan.
“Why?”
Princess Zhiyan replied, “Because, in my heart, the kingdom is more important than Suolun.”
Nai’er asked, “You killed your own husband with your own hands?”
“Yes,” Zhiyan answered.
Nai’er said, “You’ll receive your punishment one day. But before that happens, please kill me as well. Then I can go and be with him.”
“He killed so many people that he’ll probably end up in hell.”
“I’ll go to hell with him.”
“And then I’ll laugh at how blind he was for marrying someone like you.”
“I’ll make him divorce you.”
“That way, I’ll become his only wife.”
Zhiyan remained silent.
She had never imagined that, even at this moment, this was what Yan Nai’er cared about.
Yet she could never truly understand the innocence and purity in Nai’er’s heart.
Nai’er continued,
“To be honest, I didn’t care if he flirted with other women. I couldn’t stop him anyway.”
“I only wanted him to marry me.”
“But instead of marrying only me, he married you as well.”
“Although I agreed and acted generous on the surface, I actually cared very much.”
“Several times I wanted to leave home and never speak to him again.”
Zhiyan asked, “Then why didn’t you leave? If you had, perhaps you wouldn’t have to die today.”
Nai’er smiled bitterly.
“If I ran away and he didn’t come looking for me, my heart would ache so badly that I’d rather die.”
“If he did come looking for me, used a few shameless tricks, and whispered a few sweet words, do you really think I’d be able to resist?”
“I’d only end up obediently following him home again.”
“So I decided not to run away in the first place.”
Then Nai’er looked up at the sky, her eyes filled with sweetness and confusion.
“You don’t understand.”
“When you truly love a man, before he even teases you, before his hand has even touched your chest or your bottom, your whole body already goes weak and numb.”
“That feeling…”
“I’ll never experience it again.”
She fell silent, allowing tears to roll down her face.
Hearing her words, Huai Bingyi’s eyelids twitched slightly.
Perhaps this was the most touching declaration of love he had ever heard from a woman.
“Zhiyan, the other women can be taken back to the Divine Dragon Temple.”
“But this woman must die.”
“My teacher once gave her a protection token.”
“And now Suolun has been revealed as the World Destroying Demon Emperor.”
“If she remains alive, people will forever remember the mistake my teacher and I once made.”
Zhiyan said nothing.
Zhuang Zhixuan stepped forward.
“Sir Huai Bingyi, giving Lady Nai’er that protection token could easily be interpreted as remarkable foresight.”
“You could claim that you had already suspected Suolun was the World Destroying Demon Emperor all along.”
“That you deliberately laid a trap without alerting him.”
“Arresting Lady Nai’er now would simply prove how wise your actions were.”
Zhuang Zhixuan did not want Nai’er to die.
She believed Nai’er was the sweetest and kindest woman in the world.
She did not deserve such a fate.
Moreover, as Suolun’s personal bodyguard, she had failed to protect him.
She believed she should now use her own life to protect his wife.
“Heh…”
Huai Bingyi merely sneered.
The greatest contribution to exposing the World Destroying Demon Emperor had come from Suolun’s mother, Fu Lingxi.
That achievement belonged to the Evil Lineage faction, or perhaps the Demon Star Pavilion.
Huai Bingyi, Ji Xiuning, and their teacher all belonged to the Light faction.
Within the Divine Dragon Temple, political conflict was fierce.
Any mistake could become a weapon used by rival factions.
Therefore, Yan Nai’er had to die.
If she were taken alive to the Divine Dragon Temple, the Evil faction might one day use her against the Light faction, especially by exploiting the demon blood within her.
Once someone fell into the Divine Dragon Temple’s hands, they no longer controlled what they were made to say.
Every word that came from her mouth could become a weapon against the Light faction.
Therefore, Yan Nai’er had to die.
Huai Bingyi asked,
“Zhiyan, will you kill her, or shall I?”
“You do it,” Zhiyan replied.
Zhuang Zhixuan drew her sword and stood in front of Yan Nai’er.
“If you want to kill Lady Nai’er, you’ll have to step over my corpse first.”
Her martial arts were exceptional.
She could defeat almost ten Dragon Warriors by herself.
However, Huai Bingyi merely waved his hand through the air.
Zhuang Zhixuan’s delicate body was instantly thrown backwards.
She spat out a mouthful of blood in mid air before crashing to the ground, her life and death uncertain.
Huai Bingyi walked over to Yan Nai’er.
He gazed with pity at her beautiful yet pale face and her stunning figure.
“You’re the loveliest woman I’ve ever met.”
“It’s just a pity that you chose the wrong man.”
“You’ve got that backwards,” Yan Nai’er replied.
“I’m sorry…”
Huai Bingyi said softly.
“You have to die.”
He gently drew the Dragon Gold Sword of the Divine Dragon Temple across Yan Nai’er’s neck.
Bright red blood immediately sprayed from her fair neck, forming a crimson mist that arced through the air like a rainbow.