Within the market area of Lyon City lay the island holding the renowned "Lyon and Turnbull Auction House." The slow sunrise fell upon the island and the ever-still lake blessed by the rain of the night before, barely revealing the mystical fruits and flowers of the trees abound in the various groves. The branches of each tree were spread out as if in pride of the bounty they brought. It was a party of colors, of chaos and order, of a beauty that sprung from simple seeds blessed with mud and rain.

But if you glanced at the island at a certain moment, with the perfect lighting you would be able to see the slightest glimpse of a powerful, awe-inspiring formation dome, that lay threateningly, almost as a warning to all would-be criminals and those unfortunate enough to get on the bad side of the Auction House. But just as you see it, it would be hidden again... like a crouching tiger or a hidden dragon...

Within the protection of this formation, inside the highest floor of a majestic pagoda of weaving balustrades and silver luster, second only to the main golden pagoda of the auction house, was a bull-like man. He was dressed in a majestic but dark black robe emanating a powerful aura while laughing joyfully. His eyes were on a small but mystical silver platter of water placed on a table. The water was still as it revealed the familiar figures of Zhen Shi and William O'Dale in battle; revealing Zhen Shi struggling to deal with the invisible presence of Wiliam.

The man chuckled while clapping his hands joyfully as he spoke out in celebration, "This was a true stroke of luck, a series of coincidences in our favor! To think that the freak of the O'Dales would be attracted to those disciples due to their own music and even pick a fight due to a small misunderstanding. Especially when I was just about to tamper forcefully! Will O'Dale truly is as hotblooded and wilful as they say!" while twidling a small crystal adorned with the barely visible carving of a serpent.

He grinned further as he spoke, "Shu Yi continue the report please."

The familiar elder Shu Yi in his black robe nodded curtly as he continued his paused task, "Yes, Lord Turnbull. The salesmen reported back to us that the two senior disciples are very skilled in their respective fields of herbology and mineralogy, based simply on their familiarity with ingredients and curt dealings of the staff. In fact, we concluded that they were planning on teaching alchemy and blacksmithing to the other disciple."

This caused a slight frown to appear on Lord Turnbull's face as he muttered, "Since they are even talented enough to teach their fellow disciple, it will be impossible to ensure a clean victory of the competition, despite the skilled friend that I invited for our side. But the Turnbulls only deal with certainties!"

But the frown was replaced by a very satisfied grin as he continued, "And the only way to be certain of the victory of the appraisal competition is by getting rid of those annoying fellow disciples while allowing the blame to be graciously accepted by that poor O'Dale kid."

His grin grew wider as he continued, "Even the gods are on the side of our Turnbull family. This is an opportunity from the heavens. If I tamper further by using this divine curse totem we can ensure that the competition will be completely out of the game. I don't believe that a few nascent soul disciples will be able to hold down an enraged Will O'Dale!" while happily eyeing the serpent crystal in his hands.

Lord Turnbull continued to speak in a celebrating tone while watching the battle, "But, of course, once the battle is over and the O'Dale freak loses control and beats those disciples to near-death, make sure to send over some healers. After all, we can't be too harsh on these fellow disciples, especially since they helped us gain the competing chance by putting that imbecile son of mine into the hold of the kingdom guard!" and ended with joyful laughter.

Elder Shu Yi lightly nodded his head while laughing himself and spoke out, "As you wish, Lord Turnbull."

With his eyes calmly observing the battle on the platter Lord Turnbull spoke out in a disgruntled manner, "Shu Yi, I can't believe that this new kid is almost fighting toe-to-toe with the O'Dale freak! The O'Dale kid's swordsmanship and concealing skills are top-grade... And as for this Zhen Shi, he is using self-created formations superbly despite being only a grade 1 formation master. His archery skills have reached a high level as well. Too bad we couldn't get him to join our side..." with a hint of regret, causing Shu Yi to visibly grimace.

Shu Yi laughed lightly and spoke up reassuringly, "Yes, but no matter how talented this Zhen Shi is, the winner will undoubtedly be our William. After all, he is able to wield that 'scarlet' energy to fight against even divine blessed geniuses. He is even considered to be one of the potential tabooed!"

Lord Turnbull turned his head towards Shu Yi and spoke with a disappointed look, "Shu Yi, I admit that your words are correct. But you're being too short-sighted. I am well aware that the O'Dale freak is in your employ. But how long do you think the divine organizations will let a possible taboo and aberrant exist right under their noses? Especially since the O'Dales are in a downward spiral of losing power, in my opinion, the O'Dales, and this William kid will be very short-lived!"

Shu Yi frowned in displeasure at the possible loss of one of his subordinates but could find no words to rebuke Lord Turnbull.

Ignoring Shu Yi, Lord Turnbull turned back to the battle and spoke out with a malicious smile, "Forget that and enjoy this fight. As expected of two geniuses, both of them are using strategy even in the midst of the all-out brawl. And despite struggling, this Zhen Shi is holding out. And both of them have yet to bring out their trump cards," while continuing to handle that serpent crystal in his hand.

But suddenly the scene in the silver platter showed the battle turning around in a single instant...

Shu Yi's eyes widened into genuine disappointment and displeasure.

Lord Turnbull took it the worst as hurriedly stood up from his seat and shouted out, "Shit! I can't believe that this kid used the furnace spirits to figure out Will's location. That is too under-handed!"

He frowned in visible disappointment as he shouted, "It's now time to use the divine curse totem. Shu Yi, you do it. I believe your familiarity with him will strengthen the transfer."

Shu Yi was surprised as he had not expected this turn of events. Ultimately, he grimaced at this order but could only obey under the unforgiving gaze of Lord Turnbull. He hurriedly walked closer as he took the serpent crystal from Lord Turnbull's outstretched hand.

Noticing that he was stalling, Lord Turnbull growled out, "Shu Yi! I am well aware that the totem lets the holder know what to do... Are you going to disobey my orders?"

Shu Yi flinched under the sudden command but could only accede. As such, he lifted the crystal right on to the top of the silver platter showing the image of Will O'Dale being thrown away by the furnace spirits.

He gulped in fear expecting a last moment change, but seeing the rising anger of Lord Turnbull he gritted his teeth and shouted out a single word, "Apep!"

Immediately, a terrifying amount of qi was dragged out of his body on to the crystal causing his body to almost shrivel visibly. He seemed to age an entire decade as he dropped down on to the floor with damaged meridians and qi paths, while the gathered energy slowly formed into a dark red serpent, identical to the engraving, surrounding the crystal. The serpent stayed in place above the silver platter while giving out a powerful and undeniable aura...

Lord Turnbull spared no glance to the collapsed and injured Shu Yi as he lightly stroked the serpent and whispered, "May the serpent lead the way to a deadly battle." He watched on in trepidation as the serpent turned to look at him for a moment.

Lord Turnbull couldn't help but shiver and take back his hand reflexively under the serpent's gaze. But the dark red serpent proceeded to dive into the water on the silver platter. Strangely enough, there were no ripples as the serpent disappeared... But Lord Turnbull felt that he saw several streamless colorless energy streams reaching out to Zhen Shi and William O'Dale, but at the same time, he felt as if he might've imagined them...

But as he continued to watch the battle in the silver platter, he suddenly started laughing uproariously saying, "Heavens are in my favor! I can't believe that Zhen Shi would cause those furnace spirits to mercilessly attack the O'Dale brat... or is that a result of the divine curse?" and was confused for a moment.

But he couldn't help but forget it, as he continued to watch his plan leading to success, as Zhen Shi and Will O'Dale threw aside all semblances of sparring and threw themselves at each other like angered beasts in blood lust.

Lord Turnbull's eyes glowed as he noticed the powerful energy around Zhen Shi as he muttered, "Is that his divine blessing? But didn't he obtain the blessing from God Caishen? How could his power increase even rival that of the O'Dale freak?"

But fortunately, he was unable to sense any bestial nature since Zhen Shi had hidden it well enough.

Nevertheless, Lord Turnbull continued to watch excitedly until suddenly... he began shouting out in great rage, "No! How? ...I wasted the divine curse totem for nothing!"

He rushed out of the room while shouting to the guard on duty by his door, "Order every free and idle guard to surround the main guest pavilion!"

The guard was frozen in place by the sudden order but spoke out slowly and respectfully, "But Lord Turnbull, Lord Lyon would not be happy with any orders performed in his absence. Especially since he specified to protec--"

But the poor guard spoke no more as Lord Turnbull immediately punched him in the chest. A light wave of qi blasted out as the guard was thrown on to the wall with blood seeping from his mouth.

Lord Turnbull turned to the other soldier and spoke out seething in rage while emphasizing his bloodied fist, "What about you?"

That soldier immediately understood his situation as he bowed in acceptance and ran away to carry out the order. Lord Turnbull paused for a moment and spoke out to some servants that had been nearby while flicking away the blood on his fist, "And you... bring healers and take care of the 'unfortunately' injured..." The servants nodded as they too ran away to carry his bidding.

With those matters taken care of, Lord Turnbull dashed out of the pavilion with enraged eyes...

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Zhen Shi and Will O'Dale were dashing towards each other. A dual-sword wielder wielding bloodlust itself and an archer with a trapped beast ready for a hunt...

However, William O'Dale had completely lost himself within the crimson murderous intent as he brandished his swords with the desire to dye them in red blood.

Zhen Shi, on the other hand, was barely aware of his own actions as he growled like a demonic creature and brandished his bow to descend upon the unsuspecting.

And just as they were moments away from colliding...

BANG!

A sudden explosion went out in the very middle of their collision course. It was followed by a powerful white light causing them to involuntarily close their eyes, especially under the lessened intellect and bloodlust.

But a familiar blue flame flickered amidst the blinding white light slowly revealing a familiar figure.

But along with his appearance, the blue cool flames formed into an ephemeral formless dome surrounding him and cleanly separating Zhen Shi and William O'Dale. Zhen Shi could vaguely sense that the energy forming the dome was a large number of formation talismans... but was in no state of mind to get an accurate count.

CLANG!

Two separate waves of qi and air blasted off of the sides of the spherical dome formation. The two scarlet swords, the silent arrow, along with William O'Dale and Zhen Shi seemed to strike a metal plate, as their attacks simply bounced off the impenetrable dome.

Both William and Zhen Shi were thrown back by the sudden jarring collision. The dome dimmed lightly revealing the familiar figure of an uncomfortably grinning Myne cloaked in blue flames.

Noticing that Zhen Shi and William were still acting with bloodlust and killing intent he gracefully flicked both of his hands. Instantly the dome followed one flick as it wrapped around Will O'Dale and subdued him, while his blue flame passed seamlessly through the demonic Zhen Shi, simultaneously. As the blue flames passed through Zhen Shi the bloodlust gradually receded. When the blue flames came back outside they showed a dark tint of crimson within them, almost as if the bloodlust had been dragged out, before flickering away.

Myne left the bloodlust induced Will O'Dale who was still hopelessly struggling against the formation that was binding him and his cultivation and walked to Zhen Shi who was now shaking off the after-effects of going full-on bestial.

Under Zhen Shi's glowering gaze Myne sauntered by and casually spoke out, "So, I see that your training was a resounding success! Didn't I tell you that you'd have a hard time mastering anything without my help?"

Zhen Shi had had a thousand complaints to give out but was instantly caught speechless by this shameless answer.

But he wasn't going to be beaten either and so spoke out, "Actually my training was a resounding success. I refined ten Grade 2 healing pills and a Grade 2 knife with NO HOLES in it, and even combined your Dream Engraving skill with pill refining," finishing with confidence.

Myne was caught speechless. SHIT! What is wrong with this kid? Becoming an alchemist and a blacksmith with the application of grade improvement skills, overnight?

Despite his desire to enjoy this moment, Zhen Shi hurriedly spouted out the main question that had been burning within his mind this entire time, "Why did you stop our battle? I was winning! Besides this Will O'Dale started it... and your furnace spirits made things worse."

Myne grimaced at his reply but spoke out with a mischievous grin, "Oh, sorry. I was just running interference!" but continued more seriously, "Kid I think it would've been more likely for the both of you to have been critically injured, especially since you weren't even using that ability at full."

Zhen Shi grimaced but could only silently agree as he himself was not sure of what would've happened if Myne hadn't interfered.

Nevertheless, he continued to ask with interest, "So how did you know that you should 'run interference'?"

Myne grinned proudly as he spoke out with confidence, "I was watching the entire fight from beginning to end. Loved how it was entirely due to a series of wacky mistakes by the way," struggling to hold his laughter. But, under Zhen Shi's scowling face, he continued speaking, "I decided to interfere only if things got really bad. Besides, I figured it was the perfect chance for you to battle some actual genius cultivators, especially since you haven't had a proper battle."

Zhen Shi nodded in agreement at this, nevertheless frowned as he asked in honest confusion, "Okay... But Myne why was this more difficult than the battle with Vivienne when she was at the Law Holder stage?"

Myne grinned happily as he answered, "Well, let Master Myne explain. I believe Vivienne was actually holding back in that battle! I'm not sure exactly why... maybe, possibly to use you as a hostage, she hadn't had any intention of going all out and had always attacked with a fair amount of control. But... Now that I think of it... It was pretty weird. For what strange reason could she have exercised control even when under the divine curse?" ending with a playful face of himself being in deep contemplation.

Zhen Shi could only grimace as he realized the reason... That shameless skill!

Myne continued speaking, quite happy at having put down Zhen Shi by a peg, "But of course the most important thing is that the red guy is fairly innocent. At the last moment, he was influenced by a divine curse causing him to completely lose his rational sense! That is why I can't calm him down as I did for you..."

Zhen Shi frowned in thought but looked at Myne curiously as this brought up a few questions. He immediately asked them, "So you can now sense divine curses?" Myne shook his head regretfully speaking, "I wish... this was only a minor level divine curse from, possibly, a single-use divine totem originating from a far-away source. As a result, I could easily sense the influence of the divine will."

But, Myne suddenly grinned as he spoke out, "While the red guy," pointing at the struggling and bound Will O'Dale, "needed a divine curse to go crazy... you," pointing at Zhen Shi, "did it all by yourself!"

Zhen Shi grimaced as he spoke out, "Fuck off! You know it's the fault of the beast skill." Myne shook his head in disagreement, "No, no. It is your weak mind's fault."

Zhen Shi spoke out in defiance, "Fine then. You show me how you can control both a dragon and a vermillion bird at the same time. Go ahead... show me!"

Myne was caught speechless. Wha--How? I don't have any of those bloodlines to do that!

Zhen Shi grinned victoriously as he patted his chest proudly and spoke wisely, "Yeah. That's what I thought. People easily complain but only realize the truth when they try to do it themselves!"

Myne scowled in displeasure as he spoke out, "Either way, we should realize that someone used the divine curse for some purpose. Most possibly to take you out of commission. Or maybe even all three of us... if the culprit had enough confidence in this Will O'Dale," while turning to him who was still struggling against the bounds while seething with blood lust.

Zhen Shi paused in thought for a moment, but couldn't decide on any particular person who could be an enemy with access to divine curse totems and even exert their power within the Market Island from the people he had met or insulted.

Myne suddenly grinned as he looked at Zhen Shi and spoke, "Oh don't worry about their identity. It appears the problem will soon be solved."

Zhen Shi was about to ask for a more thorough explanation when the entire pavilion was suddenly laid siege by the sounds of marching soldiers, drum beats, clanking weapons. These sounds slowly grew louder as the presence of the soldiers grew stronger and the pavilion area was surrounded by guards moving with formations.

Myne's grin grew wider as he turned to Zhen Shi and said, "What'd I tell you? They're already here!" Noticing Zhen Shi's slightly worried look he even sagely spoke out, "Enemies in the open are better than those in the dark!"