The Crimson Moon Auction hall was a theater of vanity. Dimly lit by floating lanterns of ghost-fire, the room was packed with the sect's elite. Lin Xuer sat beside Li Feng in a shadowed corner, her breath coming out in faint, icy mists.
"The Foundation Seed is the final item," she whispered, her eyes scanning the room. "The heavy hitters are in the front row. That's Senior Brother Mo, a 7th Level monster. If he wants it, he'll take it by force if the stones aren't enough."
Li Feng leaned back, his violet eyes half-lidded. "Let him try. I've always found that the more Qi someone has, the more... flammable it is."
[System: Target 'Senior Brother Mo' locked. Potential Karma Capacity: Extreme.]
[Warning: A 7th Level breakthrough backlash could level this room. Proceed with caution.]
The Auction Begins
The Auctioneer, a withered man with a voice like grinding gravel, held up a glowing, azure pill. "The Foundation Seed. Refined from the marrow of a Thousand-Year Frost Beast. Starting bid: 5,000 Mid-grade Spirit Stones."
"6,000!" Mo shouted instantly, his voice booming with the authority of his cultivation.
"7,000," Lin Xuer countered, her voice calm but sharp.
Mo turned around, his gaze landing on the two of them. He sneered, a wave of 7th Level pressure rolling off him like a physical tide. "Lin Xuer, you're dreaming. And you—" he pointed at Li Feng, "—the little rat from the Blood Pit. You think you belong here?"
Li Feng didn't flinch. He didn't even look angry. He simply met Mo's eyes and held the gaze for exactly three seconds.
[Initiating: Gaze of the Damned.]
[Current Activity: Host is mentally simulating a chaotic 'Qi Deviation' breakthrough.]
[Transferring 'Mental Fracturing' and 'Qi Turbulence' to Target: Mo.]
The Descent
Mo was about to shout another bid when his face suddenly went pale. He felt a phantom itch at the base of his skull. It's just the excitement, he thought, shaking it off.
"8,000 stones!" Mo yelled, but his voice cracked.
Inside Mo's dantian, the Qi—usually a smooth, flowing river—began to boil. The "Gaze" had planted a seed of madness. Every time Mo tried to assert his dominance, he was actually feeding the displacement link Li Feng had established.
"9,000," Li Feng said quietly. The room went silent. A Level 2 disciple outbidding the strongest man in the room? It was suicide.
Mo roared, standing up. "10,000! I'll kill anyone who—"
Suddenly, Mo's eyes turned blood-red. Blood began to leak from his ears. To the onlookers, it looked like the classic symptoms of Cultivation Deviation—his own power was turning against him.
"Argh! My Qi! It's flowing backward!" Mo screamed. He tried to suppress the fire in his veins, but the more he fought, the more Li Feng "meditated" on the most painful techniques he knew.
Li Feng was currently "practicing" the Internal Flame Burning Sutra in his mind at 10x speed. The side effects—the sensation of his blood turning into lava—were being dumped directly into Mo's struggling system.
The Masterpiece
Mo collapsed to his knees, his robes beginning to smoke. The Auctioneer stepped back in terror. "Senior Brother Mo! Control your heart fire!"
"I... I can't!" Mo gasped, his skin bubbling. In a final, desperate surge of madness, Mo's Qi exploded outward in a chaotic shockwave. He had suffered a total collapse of his Foundation.
Li Feng watched with a look of pure, innocent concern. "Oh dear. It seems Senior Brother Mo pushed himself too hard for the auction. How tragic."
Under the cover of the chaos, Li Feng whispered to the System. "System, finish the link. Take his remaining vitality to fuel my breakthrough."
[Ding! Target 'Mo' has suffered Total Cultivation Deviation.]
[Siphoning 7th Level Qi remnants...]
[Host Progress to Foundation Establishment: 45%.]
The Auctioneer, wanting the cursed event over, pointed at Li Feng. "Sold to the... the young man in the back for 9,000 stones! Just take it and go!"
Li Feng stood up, his handsome face glowing in the ghost-fire. He walked past the twitching, ruined body of Mo, leaning down for a second.
"You should have looked away, Brother Mo," Li Feng whispered.
Lin Xuer followed him out, her face pale. She looked at Li Feng as if seeing a monster for the first time. "You... you didn't even touch him. How?"
Li Feng pocketed the Foundation Seed pill and glanced at her. His violet eyes were swirling with a dark, satisfied hunger.
"I told you, Sister. I don't bid with stones. I bid with misfortune. And right now, the market is very, very cheap."