WBICDPH Chapter 50

Chapter 50 — A Butterfly’s Wingbeat

“Honored guests, welcome to the Supreme Treasure Pavilion. The Treasure Fair will begin shortly. Please allow me a moment to explain the rules.”

A sultry female voice echoed throughout the auction hall:

“There are nineteen items up for auction today. If you see something you like, simply light up your access token and write down your bid. The highest bidder wins.

“One more reminder: here at the Pavilion, payment and goods are exchanged simultaneously. Once a deal is made, no returns or refunds will be accepted for any reason. If you win a bid but cannot pay, we will evaluate your person and take an item of equal value ourselves.

“Once, a young cultivator made a maliciously high bid but couldn’t pay. After evaluation, the most valuable thing on him turned out to be… his golden core.

“Truthfully, it wasn’t even worth the price he offered—but it was the best he had.”

The woman chuckled softly. “So please bid responsibly—and don’t try anything foolish.”

Her sweet laughter paired with such chilling words made everyone shudder.

If they took someone’s golden core for nonpayment, that cultivator would lose all their cultivation—perhaps even their life.

Lin Jin inhaled deeply and turned to Hua Nanzhi.
“Miss… I’m not doubting your wealth, but… do you actually have enough money?”

She rolled her eyes so hard it practically spelled out Are you kidding me?
“It’s just a tiny treasure fair. How expensive could it be? Do you know who funded this building? Do you know who sold them the gold decorating these walls? Do you know whose collection stocked the very first Golden Scale auction? Forget one item—if you wanted all nineteen today, I could still pay. Relax. Nobody’s digging out your golden core.”

She bit into a pastry fiercely and shrugged.
“Actually, you don’t even have a golden core for them to dig out. Go sit somewhere quiet.”

Lin Jin wisely fell silent.

After the announcement ended, the lights dimmed, leaving only the circular stage illuminated. A drumbeat thundered, music filled the hall, and eight masked dancers leapt onto the stage, their flowing scarves painting colorful arcs in the air.

When the dance ended, a masked auctioneer appeared beside a floating formation array. As it lit up, the first item appeared—not as a physical object but as a holographic projection.

It was a long strip of dull black metal—unremarkable, like a piece of charred scrap iron.

Yet Lin Jin’s eyes widened slightly. He glanced at Han Ao.
“Han… is it this?”

Han Ao straightened, peering closely. After a moment, he nodded. “That’s it.”

The auctioneer described its mysterious origin from a secret realm, but most guests were unimpressed. It looked worthless; its only selling point was its supposed origin.

But appearances were deceiving. This ugly lump was exactly what Lin Jin and Han Ao had come for.

In the original story, the male protagonist’s greatest advantage wasn’t luck or magical items but the plain iron sword he carried from childhood. That sword—later revealed as the divine weapon Breaking Boundaries—would reshape the cultivation world.

And the ugly piece of metal before them was its long-lost scabbard.

Back in the original plot, the protagonist stumbled upon it during an errand and purchased it after sensing a strange resonance. That event also introduced one of the novel’s five female leads—Han Xiao, the demonic clan’s top assassin.

In this timeline, however, some details had changed. Han Ao had already dealt with the senior brothers who bullied him, and he came here by choice rather than obligation—but the major events still seemed to follow their original course.

Onstage, the starting bid was announced. Han Ao immediately lit up his token.

“Yazi Mo-Zhen Suite bids fifty top-grade spirit stones!” the auctioneer called.

Hua Nanzhi, who had been snacking, nearly choked. She confirmed their room number and kicked Han Ao.
“Don’t be so eager just because the starting price is low! Why buy this junk? The good stuff comes later!”

Before she finished speaking, another voice rang out:
“Songzi Mo-Zhen Suite bids one hundred spirit stones!”

She stared across the hall in disbelief. “Someone’s actually competing for that scrap? Must be another rich idiot.”

Lin Jin sighed inwardly. That “idiot” was Han Xiao herself.

In the original story, after several rounds of bidding, the protagonist won the scabbard when she withdrew, deciding it wasn’t worth the price—only to later ambush him and attempt to steal it.

Meanwhile, Han Ao continued raising his bids cautiously.

“Yazi Suite: one hundred and five!”
“Songzi Suite: one hundred and ten!”

In the original plot, the scabbard sold for two hundred spirit stones. But Hua Nanzhi grew impatient watching their penny-pinching. She snatched the token.

“Yazi Suite bids five hundred!”

She tossed the token back. “Stop being stingy. At this rate, the auction will last until morning.”

Han Ao nearly collapsed. “Miss! I only have two hundred stones! They’ll harvest my organs!”

“What organs?” she scoffed. “I’m paying. I promised each of you one item—if you like this ugly iron lump, it’s yours.”

Han Ao blinked, suddenly remembering.

He glanced at Lin Jin, asking silently if this would affect the story’s course. Lin Jin hesitated—so much had already changed that this detail felt minor.

“…It should be fine,” he said cautiously.

Relieved, Han Ao leaned back happily. Across the hall, Han Xiao indeed stopped bidding.

In her suite, an attendant asked if she wanted to continue.

“No,” she replied calmly. “It’s nothing special.”

When another subordinate suggested stealing it afterward, she scoffed. “Fool. Mo-Zhen token holders aren’t people you provoke lightly. Causing unnecessary enemies for the Supreme Lord would be your death sentence.”

Then, after a moment’s thought, she murmured,
“A Mo-Zhen token… accompanied by people from Misty Rain Mountain… That must be Hua Nanzhi, daughter of the Lord of Red Glow City.”