Xiao Shentian

Xiao Lei and Jiang Ye entered an auction house, as the latter took a moment to marvel about the scene in front of him. He could see many chairs being sat by nobles, and most of them were young masters and members of the eight major clans of the Black Dust Domain.

"Truly an amazing place," Jiang Ye muttered. The inside of the auction house was extremely huge, having an estimated maximum capacity of 500 people. There were even rooms placed in an elevated area, Jiang Ye decided they were private rooms.

"We should go and rent one room," Xiao Lei suddenly said to which Jiang Ye nodded in agreement. "We don't want others to see through your disguise."

After saying that, Xiao Lei stared walking. Jiang Ye followed him again. However, after a few seconds of walking, a group of people led by a young man in an exquisite scholarly robe stopped in front of them, looking at Xiao Lei with cold expression.

Jiang Ye noticed that Xiao Lei's expression turned dark when he saw this person, which means those two probably have some feud in the past. This was not good at all. He did not want Xiao Lei to get involved with trouble right now, at such a crucial initial phase of his plan. However, his options were severely limited right now as he opt to act like a servant. And so, he just remained behind Xiao Lei, hoping that this young master was smart enough to not bring any trouble toward their way.

"How are you, Little Lei?" The young master first said, his voice still extremely cold.

"Brother…" Xiao Lei gritted his teeth as he clenched his fist.

Jiang Ye's eyes suddenly widened in surprise. This was his brother? I really hope they won't fight.

"You have been out of our Xiao Clan Estate for more than two days already," Xiao Lei's brother stated. "You should go back now, father is getting angry—"

"Never!" Xiao Lei angrily interrupted. "There is no way I am going back to that place!"

The cold older brother narrowed his eyes, as he said again, his voice becoming colder, "You don't want to make him angry too much. You are our father's son, a young scion of Xiao Clan. You are to bend in the rule of Xiao Clan, whether you like it or not."

"Is that so? Well, I'm not going there back!" Xiao Lei sneered. "Why bother with a trash like me, brother? You should go back in cultivating and sucking up to father because that was the only thing you are good at!"

Jiang Ye was becoming worried as time passed by. He still needed Xiao Lei's connections as the young master of one of the eight great major clans of Black Dusk Domain. What he was currently doing right now was accelerating his way to the path of self-destruction. Things were already getting awry before his plan could even start. Jiang Ye was now starting to have doubt if his judgement about Xiao Lei being his pawn was a mistake.

However, he had no way of stopping him right now. So he just watched, hoping that maybe, maybe Xiao Lei would realize his actions right now would hinder his plan.

"I see," Xiao Lei's brother did not react that much from what his younger brother said. It was as though he did not care at all what he thinks of him. "Whatever, but you are still the member a Xiao Clan. Feel free to go back whenever you want."

After that , Xiao Lei's older brother and the group of people behind him started walking past them. Jiang Ye looked at the older brother, he felt a faint aura of something powerful being emitted from him. If they fought, Jiang Ye would surely lose.

"That was dangerous," Jiang Ye whispered after leaning slightly to him.

However, Xiao Lei did not reply and just stared at the empty space where his brother was originally at when they were talking. After few moments of silence, Xiao Lei's lips then moved.

"That was the Third Young Master of Xiao Clan, Xiao Shentian. He was only one year older than me but the gap between our cultivation level was truly high."

"What was his cultivation level right now?" Jiang Ye asked. He wanted to know the strengths of his potential enemies, of course. From time to time, while in the shadows hiding, he will try to collect information about the nobles, especially their cultivation levels and Martial Art.

"I don't know the specifics, however, there were rumors that he was now preparing to advance into Meridian Opening Stage," Xiao Lei replied. "That would give him a whole new level of strength, and once his meridians opened, he would be able to execute his Martial Arts easily and more efficiently."

Jiang Ye nodded his head as he listened to this. He was currently at just the Tier 4 of Flesh Fefinement and Xiao Shentian being at the peak of Flesh Refinement. No wonder he felt that staggering aura surrounding him that made him realize the gap in cultivation between them.

However, Jiang Ye, ever the genius he self proclaimed as, was still confident that by giving him few more months, he would be able to out-cultivate him and destroy him in battle. For now, he should just silently and calmly lay out his plans. After all, the final boss he has to defeat was not the Xiao Clan or any of the other eight major clans, but the Domain Lord Liang Shuyue.

"I'm going to rent a room for two people."

A few moments later, Xiao Lei was in front of the counter and putting a small sack of Spirit Stones on the table. After getting the key, Jiang Ye followed Xiao Lei through the hallway and entered a private room. Here, they could see the stage in the front clearly, and they could not be seen here too, as this was a one way mirror. The only thing people outside could see was the reflection of themselves.

This was a good thing. He could make a conversation with Xiao Lei without the others noticing.

After few minutes of waiting, the host entered the stage with products on carts were being pushed by the servants, lining them in the stage.

"Welcome everyone," the auction host said. "This would be the 27th month of our Eight-Clans Trading Auction. I won't say anymore bullshit, let's start."

And so, the auction started.