96 The Heart of a Young Maiden

Inside the Hall, Jun Mo Xie smiled brightly. Clasping his hands together, he started to bow at the audience while laughing boisterously, "Thank you! Thank you, everybody, for your support of the Magnificent Jewel Hall. I am extremely grateful and honored to share the moment with everyone today. May I hereby announce that the auction continues. Please feel free to bid. There is no need to be polite."

"What on earth are you? You speak as though you are a manager of the Magnificent Jewel Hall. You are absolutely incorrigible!" Everyone was cursing Jun Mo Xie under their breaths.

If the contemptuous glare directed at Jun Mo Xie could inflict harm on him, Jun Mo Xie would probably be sustaining thousands of wounds all over his body by now!

The mysterious voice was no longer heard again. However, another voice sounded out clearly after some time, "Li Zhen's bid for the Blazing Heart Meridian has been deemed invalid as he was unable to produce the amount he bid for. The auction shall continue with the last price!"

"There were two people indeed!" Jun Mo Xie thought and smiled. "There must have been a disagreement between the two of them. I guess the latter person must have been more powerful than the previous one."

The expression of the purple-robed auctioneer on stage changed to one of frustration. He continued, "The Blazing Heart Meridian was previously bid on by Tang Yuan for 300,000 taels of silver. I had called the price twice. Is there anyone who is willing to offer more than 300,000?"

Despite asking repeatedly, nobody responded. Not to mention the events that happened earlier, who would dare to offend the fearless and audacious Jun Mo Xie and the fearsome grandfather of Tang Yuan who doted on his grandson?

"300,000 taels of silver, going thrice! Sold!"

When the purple-robed auctioneer slammed the hammer down, he was feeling extremely disturbed and uncomfortable. He had been hosting auctions for decades but he had never felt so depressed before. Because of two incorrigible youngsters, the auction process had been completely overturned! This item could have easily reached the price of 1,000,000 taels of silver but in the end, it was being sold for a mere 300,000! After taking into account the cost of procuring the Blazing Heart Meridian, this was akin to giving it away!

Fatty Tang was momentarily overjoyed even though did not understand what was actually going on half of the time. Fortunately, Jun Mo Xie was able to keep calm and return this shameless man a few tight slaps on his face!

Sitting across them, Dugu Xiaoyi curled her lips before saying angrily, "There is simply no justice here! This guy actually succeeded in obtaining the rare herb at such a low price! It is truly repulsive! I hate this!" While her words seemed spiteful, her big beautiful eyes actually transformed into two crescent moons. She seemed to be laughing happily from the bottom of her heart as though there was not the faintest hint of revulsion in her.

Princess Ling Meng looked suspiciously at Dugu Xiaoyi who suddenly seemed to be in high spirits. With her lips pursed, Dugu Xiaoyi was staring fondly at Jun Mo Xie as he unleashed his plots. Dugu Xiaoyi no longer had the look of disgust that hung on her face in the past but instead, she was filled with appreciation and admiration! What was happening?

Suddenly, a bizarre thought struck Princess Ling Meng. She could not help but ask in shock, "Xiaoyi, you… you… did you actually take a fancy to this prodigal man?"

Hearing this, Dugu Xiaoyi's face flushed deeply as she stuck out her tongue. Undoubtedly blushing, she denied desperately, "Did I? How can I take fancy to a prodigal man like him? I can't wait to hang him in my room and strike him with a whip. How dare he steal my meteorite iron? He is too bold! If I don't teach him a lesson, how can I vent the frustration in my heart? I will teach him a lesson the moment I found the right opportunity!" As she said this, she lifted her eyebrow fiercely and clenched her jaws tightly.

Princess Ling Meng was completely helpless when she heard these words. Being a close confidant of Dugu Xiaoyi for so many years, how could she not see through her internal thoughts? Xiaoyi was clearly euphoric but was simply trying to feign anger. Her inner thoughts were so obvious that anyone could have seen it instantly.

Thinking back, Princess Ling Meng remembered that Dugu Xiaoyi had been depressed previously. However, she suddenly seemed to turn lively and energetic upon hearing Jun Mo Xie's voice! All of these were self-evident and it could only lead to one possibility! This possibility was so inconceivable that it was tantamount to a nightmare!

"Sister Dugu Xiaoyi! Oh my…" After forcing a stern look for an ephemeral moment, Dugu Xiaoyi broke into an uncontrollable smile, causing Princess Ling Meng to become even more worried. "Xiaoyi, you… you… He is such a hooligan, how could you… how could you have fallen for him just like this?"

Dugu Xiaoyi blinked her big pretty eyes twice and hummed happily before saying, "Because he is such a hooligan, all he needs is a good lesson. I shall let him know how powerful I am. Hehe…" As she finished, Dugu Xiaoyi could not help but laugh. Her eyes were full of longing, seemingly thinking about how she would go about teaching Jun Mo Xie a lesson.

Princess Ling Meng grew increasingly worried about this issue. "This is no trivial matter! Even though Dugu Xiaoyi only herself has herself to blame, General Dugu Wudi must know about this as soon as possible!"

Dugu Xiaoyi is the sole daughter of the Dugu Family who was doted upon and well-liked by everyone! To match her with the good-for-nothing son of the Jun Family would be akin to sticking a lovely flower in a pile of cow dung! It would be an utter degradation of such a precious and lovely being!

"From the political perspective, matching the only grandson of the Jun Family's Third Generation and the granddaughter of the Dugu Family would be an undesirable outcome that would inevitably trigger a severe political turmoil! Therefore, I must stop this! I must never let Dugu Xiaoyi fall into the hands of Jun Mo Xie!" As the complicated thoughts ran through Princess Ling Meng, she cast Dugu Xiaoyi and Jun Mo Xie a glance before finally making up her mind silently.

Jun Mo Xie was extremely excited to have obtained the Blazing Heart Meridian at such a low price but at the same time, he had also grown solemn upon the rare appearance of the two masters at the Magnificent Jewel Hall. "I am not strong enough to fight these strong opponents yet. I may have to just remain patient and clown around for now."

Afterwards, Tang Yuan easily bought the item requested by Grandfather Tang. It was a scroll about the Sacred Wind Sword Art! Jun Mo Xie took a quick glance at it before handing it back to Tang Yuan apathetically. His heart was filled with condescension. He could not believe such inferior sword art manual could even be auctioned, and Tang Yuan actually spent 2,000,000 taels of silver to acquire it!

Suddenly, something alarmed Jun Mo Xie. A look of surprise was cast over his face!

After obtaining the Blazing Heart Meridian, he had sent out his spiritual awareness out to monitor the two princes' boxes in which the six suspicious people had entered. However, he was surprised to find out that both boxes were completely empty at the moment! There was absolutely no one in them but no one had walked out of the doors either. It seemed as if the inhabitants had vanished! However, Jun Mo Xie was certain that these six people did not leave the Magnificent Jewel Hall. Could it be possible that there were secret underground passageways beneath those two boxes?"

The next moment, Jun Mo Xie detected a trace of lingering spiritual energy blended in the crowded mass below. Looking in the direction, he realized that those people had completely changed their clothes and their facial appearances! Even if one were to scrutinize their faces, it would be impossible to relate them to the earlier six people who had entered the two boxes!

Three of them gathered in the middle of the hall while the other three stationed on the opposite side of the hall. It was as though a distinct dichotomy existed between the two factions. They all appeared like wealthy businessmen, but their twitching eyes easily allowed Jun Mo Xie to read the anxiety and desire burning in their hearts.

It seemed that the object which they had anticipated for was about to appear on auction! But among all the items auctioned, what could actually be valuable enough to grab the attention of these two teams of assassins, to the extent that even both Princes are involved?

Jun Mo Xie took the auction list from Fatty Tang and started scanning the items that were being auctioned. After going through the entire list, his eyes finally landed on the last item in the list. It was 30 strips of tendons from a rank 6 Xuan Beast, the White-Horned Bull!

Xuan Beast's tendons!

They must be after this item! Apart from this item, the rest of the items on the list were merely luxurious decorations and other small collectables that did not have much practical value. None of these items seemed to be of interest to these killers. They probably needed something formidable and life-threatening.

The Xuan Beast's tendons seemed to meet such requirements! "But why do they need so many tendons? They can't be thinking of using whips as their weapons, can they?"

"Or are they trying to build even more powerful bows?"

At this point in time, Jun Mo Xie's heart started to race.

If the tendons of a rank 6 Xuan Beast were used to build bows, then the arrows released from such bows would have twice the power of those released from usual bows! However, such bows and arrows would be incredibly powerful for one to wield. Even a rank 9 Xuan cultivator would not have sufficient strength to draw the bow!

However, if the wielders were Silver or Gold Xuan experts, such a weapon would become an absolutely lethal weapon! Even a Jade Xuan expert might meet his end at the hands of such a powerful bow user if he was caught by surprise! Furthermore, a group consisting of more than ten such bow users would surely have the capacity to pose a threat to Sky Xuan masters!

It seemed like this was what they were thinking!

Sure enough, the moment the Xuan Beast's tendon appeared, the groups belonging to the two princes immediately began to bid aggressively against each other! It culminated in a fierce competition between the two factions! Prices continued to soar and before long it reached a whopping 5,000,000 taels of silver! At this price, most of the competitors had already given up and backed out of this bidding war. However, with just the two factions remaining, neither party was willing to concede at all!

After a long bidding process, the price of the 30 strips of Xuan Beast's tendons eventually rose to an exorbitant price of 13,000,000 taels of silver! It was eventually obtained by one of the Princes' killer group! This price can be considered one of the highest prices in all the auctions at the Magnificent Jewel Hall in recent years!

"Jun Mo Xie, as you can see, this is just the tendons of a rank 6 Xuan Beast. If it were 30 pieces of rank 6 Xuan Pill, I'm afraid the price would have been a few times higher. Jun Mo Xie, do you realize how important was the item lost by my family now?" Tang Yuan whined, "It is simply priceless!"

"Oh." Jun Mo Xie replied indifferently. His attention was fixated on the three men who had rushed frantically out of the dispersing crowd upon receiving the Xuan Beast's tendons. Since the assassination attempt Jun Mo Xie encountered with these people, he knew that they probably dared to face off his grandfather, a Sky Xuan realm master, if they ever needed to. However, he knew that despite being a Sky Xuan master, his grandfather would probably face life-threatening danger when fighting against these powerful bow users.

"Let's go!" Jun Mo Xie stood up, still deep in thoughts. "If I can track these people, I may be able to find out whose hands these items would end up in. Perhaps, that would be more ideal."