"Our next item is the Qi Imbuing Vase, from the Gu clan itself!" the auctioness said cheerfully.

At this point, Mei was only half-heartedly listening. Many item entries had gone by, but they were either irrelevant to her or too expensive. She did see an axe similar to the one she wielded, a woodcutting axe; it was actually within her budget, capping at 235 Jade.

While she was interested in it, how much use was it going to be of? From the looks of it, her sect was so peaceful that she didn't need a strong weapon anyway... she really didn't want to spend forever working to pay off a debt for something she would rarely use.

The projection of a bulbous vase appeared, standing on a black pedestal of sorts. The vase was made of green jade with vague hints of blue, the outside covered in engravings of hundreds of plants.

"These were originally designed to hold souls or grow special herbs, but since then, cultivators have used them for countless things!" Yu Yan said. "Let me give a demonstration."

She took out a piece of bluish ore and held it before the mouth. Despite it being twice the diameter of the small mouth, it easily fit, using the mechanics storage artefacts used.

The auctioness focused, making a powerful aura flow from her.

"Hah!"

She focused, making a huge amount of qi rush into the jar. The jar began to glow faintly, marks of blue tracing its engravings, which then turned silver after a few moments and finally, gold!

Yu Yan reached her hand into the vase and took out the ore, making the vase return to normal. The ore now shone with a brilliant violet hue and had a powerful aura.

"These vases collect qi naturally on their own, slowly imbuing it into anything that's put inside. But if you're impatient, you can forcefully inject huge amounts of qi into it, though the results won't be as good. The vases will turn gold when they can't hold any more qi."

She took out a seed, followed by a pill, a sword and a mooncake. All of them were seething with qi, clearly the result of being put in the vase. Mei widened her eyes. That meant if she bought stuff and put it inside, they would become way better just by leaving them alone and waiting!

"We have 10 of these vases, so the top 10 bidders will all get a jar of their own! The bid starts at 120 Jade!"

Beside the vase's projection, 10 rows of 150 appeared. Wait, so cheap? Her eyes lit up. She was definitely going to get one of these!

As the price slowly climbed, Mei nervously put her finger to the stone tablet before her, the device used to place bids.

2... 5... 0... (兩百五十) Mei carefully wrote. The tablet flashed a faint red, before flashing a row of text.

"Indecipherable! Please try again."

What?! She knew her handwriting wasn't the best, but it wasn't that bad! Stupid stone tablet...

She tried yet again, but yet again:

"Indecipherable!"

Filled with frustration, Mei decided to try to write as slowly and straightly as possible on it. She even swapped the "two" (兩) for 2 (二) to make it easier to write.

Just as she was about to activate it after writing the words, she realised the bottom line of 2 (二) was a bit... crooked. She didn't want a repeat of "stupid stone tablet", so she carefully drew a line over the bottom line. Better! The line now looked a bit fat, but that was a very clear 2 (二).

"Your bid of 350 (三百五十) has been put up!"

...

WHAT?!

How the heck does that look like 3 (三)?! It couldn't read her handwriting earlier, but now it registered those two lines that were pretty much overlapping as 2 separate lines? What?!

Look up at how her bid of 350 was at the top of the list with 260 at 2nd place, Mei was filled with grievances.

Eventually, her bid did drop to the 4th place, but even so, it was still painful. Dammit... she could have won with just 290 as her bid...

She turned to stare at her borrowed pouch, sighing. She could practically see the Jade flying away with little wings. Angrily, she hit the stone tablet.

Ow! Bad idea.

Now her hand really hurt. And the tablet was unharmed.

Mei sulked, closing her eyes, no longer wanting to watch the auction. Not like she was going to buy anything else anyway... Eventually, she drifted off.

A tremendous roar made torrents of air rush through the hall.

Mei woke up with a start, confused. She groggily looked up to see what was going on, then widened her eyes in shock. A massive cage around 100 metres wide floated in the air, a massive blue dragon trapped within!

The cage was too small for the dragon, forcing its serpentine body to be coiled up in a painful fashion where it couldn't move an inch. There was so little space, its whiskers, horns, and mane jutted out from the gaps in the metal. It's eyes were ablaze with hatred and killing intent.

"For centuries, I, Tian Di have protected and nurtured the Myriad Beast Sect! Without me, they would be nothing but a small sect, destined to be forgotten, worthless!" the dragon roared. "And what have they done? Now that they're in debt, they have caged me up as nothing but a slave to be sold!"

"If you wish to enslave me, so be it! But I must implore of you to use my power to enact vengeance on those ingrates! Otherwise-"

"Silence!"

It was a powerful bellow, full of authority, echoing through the entire hall several times. Mei could hardly believe the cheerful Yu Yan had now taken on such a fierce demeanour.

A restriction in the cage seemed to activate, silencing the dragon.

"I apologise for that incident. We have had... difficulties in silencing that dragon. There isn't a need to take heed to anything it says." the Yu Yan said, the cheerful look wiped from her face.

From the side, an emaciated old woman bound in chains was bought next to her. Her eyes were closed, and from the looks of it, she had long since given up.

"The dragon has a soul contract with this woman, an elder from the Myriad Beast Sect, Suo Ran. As long as you keep her hostage, the dragon would not dare to oppose your commands."

"The starting bid will be 1,000,000 Jade."

Mei was flabbergasted. How did things escalate so much while she was sleeping?