Chapter 18: The Auction

An auction? As Ou Xiaolu listened to Charles’s introduction, he felt today’s outing plan was somewhat unreliable.

After witnessing Charles’s lack of preparation last night, Ou Xiaolu had intended to buy himself a suitable weapon. He had it all figured out—he’d visit a martial arts school in Chinatown and see if any swords or knives were for sale.

He hadn’t expected that, upon hearing his plans to go shopping, Charles would enthusiastically volunteer to arrange everything—and that the destination would turn out to be a small auction.

“Rhino-Tiger, trust me, I’ve heard that this auction has a two…handed…sword from the German Crusaders.”

Before Ou Xiaolu could throttle him, Charles quickly corrected himself, “And there’s also a Damascus scimitar. I think you’ll really like this blade.”

“Alright, is it a weapons auction?” Looking at the entrance of the auction house, Ou Xiaolu thought, since they’d come this far, he might as well take a look.

But Charles’s next words made him stop in his tracks.

“No, today it’s an antiques auction.”

“Maybe I misunderstand what antiques are,” Ou Xiaolu said, patting his forehead. “I have a feeling I can’t afford anything here. Thanks anyway—taxi!”

Charles hurriedly grabbed Ou Xiaolu’s arm and said loudly, “Rhino-Tiger, I swear, there will definitely be something here you want.”

“Fine,” Ou Xiaolu said somewhat helplessly. “Let’s at least see what damned antiques they have.”

Charles immediately took the lead, guiding the way. Yet, his preparations still fell short; when they reached the entrance, the two were stopped by security and couldn’t get in.

Glancing at the black-suited guards, Ou Xiaolu said, “This time, it’s not my fault. It’s not that I don’t want to go in—we just can’t.”

Charles shrugged helplessly and was about to leave with Ou Xiaolu when a voice called out from behind, “Ah, it’s you two.”

Ou Xiaolu turned and saw it was one of the bodyguards who had accompanied the man in the suit last night. Blinking, Ou Xiaolu couldn’t help but think the city was so small he kept running into familiar faces.

Since he’d been called out, he couldn’t just walk away. He went over and greeted the man, “Hey, what brings you here?”

“You didn’t know? This auction is organized by the Holy Blood Council.”

“So this is my first time hearing about it,” Ou Xiaolu replied, shooting Charles a sidelong glance.

“As an affiliated member of the council, you’re eligible to attend the auction. But I’ll warn you, the items here are expensive. That ten thousand dollars from last night won’t buy you much here,” the bodyguard said, piquing Ou Xiaolu’s interest. He presented his affiliated member ID and was promptly ushered into the auction hall.

Inside, Ou Xiaolu found it was no different from any other auction. The guests were all immaculately dressed in suits; there wasn’t a trace of the mysterious atmosphere one might expect from a secret society auction. Forget hooded robes and concealed faces—there weren’t even any masks.

The bodyguard discreetly introduced some of the important figures in the hall, finally whispering, “Whatever you do, don’t mention your connection to Mr. Lick.”

“Mr. Lick?” Ou Xiaolu asked, then recalled the pretentious man in the suit from the previous night.

Although he had a good idea of the man’s fate, Ou Xiaolu still asked, “Didn’t you say I could use his name here?”

“Mr. Lick ran into trouble last night,” the bodyguard said mysteriously. “Rumor is, he fought a powerful evil spirit and was devoured, body and soul.”

“Last night?” Ou Xiaolu thought for a moment. That didn’t add up. He’d received the death reward for that man only this morning.

“That’s the official story. We don’t know the exact time. After we parted ways with you last night, Mr. Lick insisted on staying behind alone. By the time we realized something was off, it was already the middle of the night.”

“Don’t you usually keep track of where your employer goes?”

“You don’t know these Holy Blood Council types. They’re always shrouded in secrecy, sometimes disappearing for a day or two. We can never find them.”

As they talked, two men approached from the side. One, apparently in his forties, had slicked-back hair and a rosy, smiling face.

“Welcome to the auction. I’m Milu, tonight’s host. Feel free to come to me for anything. Here’s the catalogue of items up for bidding. Please, take a look.”

Ou Xiaolu browsed the catalogue and found that most items were marked as once belonging to various emperors or kings.

“Rest assured, everything here is genuine and can yield Holy Blood. If you’re lucky, you might even extract the power of a sacred spirit,” Milu said.

Ou Xiaolu hesitated. “I came today just to buy a sword.”

“There is one,” Milu replied eagerly. “You’ve come at the perfect time. We have a two-handed sword from the Crusades, a Damascus steel blade said to have belonged to an Ottoman Sultan, and a short sword rumored to have slain an evil spirit.”

“However, the short sword is cursed. No one who has obtained it has met a good end. It’s been auctioned here three times already—not to mention other auctions.”

“A cursed sword?” Ou Xiaolu’s interest was piqued.

Seeing this, Milu quickly flipped through his catalogue. “Here it is—lot number 31.”

Ou Xiaolu looked and couldn’t help but exclaim softly. It was a katana, its blade decorated with delicate chrysanthemum patterns.

He nodded. “Got it. Anything else worth seeing?”

“Well…” Milu hesitated, then lowered his voice. “There are a few exceptional items that have circulated among our internal members, but the prices are quite high. I assure you, though, they’re extraordinary.”

With that, Milu secretly flipped to the back of the catalogue. There, Ou Xiaolu saw several glass vials, each filled with blue or green liquid.

“This is refined Holy Blood. With one of these, you’ll immediately gain extraordinary power.”

“What kind of power?” Ou Xiaolu asked.

“That I can’t say,” Milu shook his head. “You know the activation is random. It’s all up to luck.”

“If I knew those secrets, I wouldn’t just be an affiliated member,” Ou Xiaolu said. “I’ll keep looking.”

“No problem, sir,” Milu replied with a smile. “But these vials are few, and many affiliated members have their eyes on them. If you fail to secure one, you’ll have to try extracting power from the bloodline antiques. You know how low the success rate is.”

With that, Milu departed.

Watching the host’s retreating figure, Ou Xiaolu couldn’t help but smile. The Holy Blood Council’s path to power was certainly… interesting.

He leafed through the auction catalogue Milu had given him, skimming idly—until his gaze froze. There, on the page, he spotted something truly extraordinary.

He was just about to find someone to ask about it when he realized the bodyguard who had brought him in was already gone from the hall.