Return to Before the Villain’s Corruption

As the auction reached its latter half, after several similar situations, Qiu Shi listlessly returned to her seat. She sat in the chair to Qin Donglin’s left, absentmindedly sipping from her teacup in small, delicate gulps. After shooting him a few glances that he ignored, she couldn’t help but mutter under her breath, “You and Luo Ying already discussed things privately—why bother telling me to bid on whatever I like?”

Her voice was naturally pleasant, and though every word carried a note of complaint, it somehow sounded like a coquettish whine. With such an innate tone, it was easy for others to lower their guard and unwittingly yield to her whims.

The auction was in full swing, the clamor of bids rising and falling like crashing waves. Inside the private booth, Song Yunhe and Wu Fei had opened their eyes at some point, their gazes fixed on the auction stage with varying degrees of attentiveness.

Qin Donglin leaned forward slightly, his long, well-defined fingers resting on the table. After catching every word of her muttering, the corner of his lips twitched. “What would I have to discuss with him?”

“Exactly,” Qiu Shi said, bringing her face—as lovely as a blooming lotus—closer to Qin Donglin’s. “I was wondering when the two of you even started getting along.”

When it came to the tensions between the Heavenly Clan and the Demon Clan, the grievances between Qin Donglin and Luo Ying could take three days and nights to untangle.

Ever since the great upheaval of the Primordial Era, the world had undergone drastic changes, and the Six Realms had fractured. The Heavenly Clan, relying on the insights left behind by their three ancestral masters, had produced several Saints, forcefully suppressing the other races.

Even now, the Heavenly Clan held a subtle dominance among the Six Realms, with the Demon Clan following closely behind.

Moreover, thanks to the Heavenly Clan’s Hall of Enlightenment, their younger generation was exceptionally talented. Each era produced outstanding prodigies, all of them extraordinary, capable of standing on their own. The three Little Immortal Kings led the charge, firmly occupying the top three spots on the Six Realms’ Power Rankings.

That is, until Qin Donglin emerged.

During the Six Realms Tournament, he successively defeated Mo Changheng, the Heavenly Clan’s Crown Prince, and Yun Xuan, one of the Little Immortal Kings. If not for Luo Ying’s sudden appearance, resulting in a draw with Qin Donglin, the top spot on the Power Rankings would have officially belonged to Liugi Mountain of the Demon Clan.

This was unprecedented.

From then on, the relationship between the two top-ranked powerhouses mirrored the hostility between their respective races—tense, volatile, and fraught with veiled barbs. To make matters worse, sandwiched between them were Song Qiushi and Mo Ruanruan.

Neither Qin Donglin nor Luo Ying were the type to flaunt their words. Every encounter between them was like sparks meeting lightning, crackling with tension and confrontation, often dragging bystanders into the crossfire. Anyone with eyes could see how poorly they got along.

Yet, in this matter, they had somehow reached an eerie, unspoken agreement.

Qin Donglin’s dark eyes remained utterly unreadable as he glanced at Qiu Shi. “I told you to bid on what you like, not to recklessly throw money away for others.”

He had gone to great lengths to find treasures for her, only for her to spend without a second thought.

And he couldn’t even scold her.

The moment he did, she’d act as if she’d been wronged.

After hearing him out, Qiu Shi slowly replied with an “Oh,” musing that this was just how swordsmen were—their blades always came first. In the future, her place in Qin Donglin’s heart would inevitably drop to second.

First and second were not the same. A decline in treatment was only natural.

According to the spirit of the Demonic Moon Zither, the spirit of the Posa Sword could devour dragon cores like candy, chewing through twenty in one go without pause. Even someone as wealthy as Qin Donglin couldn’t sustain such an exorbitant expense.

When she had brought her entire fortune, she had intended to use spirit stones to atone for her past mistakes—bidding on high-quality treasures for the Posa Sword Spirit to consume, hoping to please Qin Donglin. There was no need to compete with someone as naive and free-spending as Mo Ruanruan.

For the rest of the auction, Qiu Shi was like a different person, sitting quietly in her chair, sipping tea in small, measured sips—a stark contrast to her earlier behavior, so obedient it was almost unbelievable.

Wu Fei shot her an amused glance. “Why were you splurging on useless things earlier, but now that something actually valuable has appeared, you’ve turned into a well-behaved young lady?”

Qiu Shi propped her chin on her hand, the dazzling array of differently sized and styled spatial rings on her slender fingers nearly blinding. She effortlessly threw his earlier words back at him: “Now I know the value of money. Is that so wrong?”

Wu Fei raised his brows in exaggerated surprise, clicking his tongue. “Rare to see you so enlightened. If you’d been like this all along, the spirit stones you saved over the years could’ve filled the main city’s treasury.”

Qiu Shi didn’t want to listen to his nagging. She slowly shifted to rest her head on the table from another angle, her eyes narrowed to slits like tiny crescents, reflecting half of Qin Donglin’s face.

Curled up like a dozing cat, she had a habit of watching Qin Donglin—one so ingrained it had become subconscious.

For someone as sharp-tempered and thorny as Qin Donglin, he had somehow developed an immunity to her gaze.

For the next half-hour, Qiu Shi didn’t bid on a single item.

Until they brought out the treasures from the undersea secret realm.

To emphasize their importance, the previous auctioneer was replaced by an elder from the Fuyu Pavilion. After a brief introduction, he clapped his hands, signaling for the graceful auction attendants to bring out the next item, veiled in black cloth.

“As many of you may have heard, our Fuyu Pavilion recently discovered a secret realm beneath the sea. Many of our guests today have come specifically for the treasures within.”

The elder smiled, raising a hand to quiet the murmuring crowd. “What follows is the highlight of today’s auction—the long-awaited treasures from the Luyuan Secret Realm.”

“After repeated appraisals by our elders, the next item is exceptionally rare: a Melodic Sound Tree that has grown in the undersea secret realm for twenty thousand years.”

The moment he spoke, the hall erupted in gasps.

Song Yunhe and Wu Fei immediately turned to Qiu Shi, whose eyelashes fluttered slightly.

The Melodic Sound Tree was a sacred treasure coveted by all music cultivators. Its leaves helped them enter a meditative state faster, and its fruits were invaluable for breaking through bottlenecks.

But what truly captivated hearts was the fact that, the moment a Melodic Sound Tree withered, it would transform into a bowl-sized flower. If plucked and consumed within its three-day bloom, the benefits would last a lifetime.

And the maximum lifespan of a Melodic Sound Tree was only twenty-three to twenty-five thousand years.

This one, sealed and miniaturized within a crystal, had already existed for twenty thousand years—meaning it would bloom into a Melodic Sound Flower in at most five thousand years.

While undeniably precious, its usefulness was limited to music cultivators, and its starting price was steep. Compared to other universally applicable treasures, fewer bidders raised their placards.

Qiu Shi was the only music cultivator among them. In the past, she would’ve started bidding the moment the auctioneer finished speaking.

But now, she hesitated—if only for a brief moment.

Qiu Shi’s finger swiftly landed on the bidding button, as if she had no patience for a drawn-out tug-of-war with the others below. Without hesitation, she doubled the previous bidder’s offer, setting a price so exorbitant it made others balk.

By all logic, the bidding should have ended there.

Leaning her elbow on the table, Qiu Shi idly toyed with the spirit fruits in the bowl—round and hard as pearls—listening to their crisp, clinking sounds. Her expression wasn’t tense; instead, she seemed to be quietly anticipating something.

When she wasn’t bidding, the private chamber labeled "Celestial Room Ten" remained silent. But the moment she placed her offer, Mo Ruanruan’s voice immediately echoed through the auction hall, soft yet stubbornly insistent: "Thirteen million."

A slow smile curved Qiu Shi’s lips as she countered without missing a beat, her tone lazy yet brimming with unshakable confidence: "Twenty million!"

From thirteen million to twenty million in a single leap—a staggering seven million spirit stones, tossed out as casually as a flick of her tongue.

"Xiao Shi."

The jump was too drastic—seven million was enough to buy a top-tier spiritual treasure. As her elder brother, Song Yunhe couldn’t stand by and watch. Frowning, he chided, "Stop fooling around."

Wu Fei nudged Qin Donglin with his elbow and muttered just two words: "Control her."

If this reckless spending continued unchecked, by the time the auction ended, even if Qiu Shi emptied every space ring she owned, it still might not cover the bill.

Qin Donglin, his spine straight against the chair, gradually relaxed his posture. His expression was one of detached amusement, as if the matter had nothing to do with him.

Qiu Shi tapped her fingertip lightly against the table, producing a soft, rhythmic *tap-tap*. Her lashes lowered slightly, as if counting or patiently waiting for something.

"Twenty million, once!"

"Twenty million, twice!"

Just before the auctioneer’s gavel could strike, another voice rang out from Celestial Room Ten: "Twenty-one million!"

The entire auction hall fell into stunned silence at the figure.

Qiu Shi chuckled, leaning forward slightly. The long, thin black braid at her temple swayed as she leaned toward the voice-transmitting button. Her tongue brushed against the sharp point of a canine tooth, her voice light and cheerful: "If you want it that badly, I’ll let you have it."

With that, she didn’t place another bid.

When the auctioneer’s gavel finally fell, sealing the deal, Qiu Shi’s eyes sparkled with delight. She grinned triumphantly: "Spending twenty-one million spirit stones on something utterly useless—do you think Mo Ruanruan will be furious to death?"

"You never actually wanted the Melodic Sound Tree to begin with?"

Wu Fei perked up, asking, "You suddenly raised the bid by seven million, making Mo Ruanruan think you were dead set on it, when your real goal was just to drive up the price?"

"That was too risky."

Wu Fei shook his head. "What if Mo Ruanruan decided the Melodic Sound Tree was useless to her and refused to follow?"

Qiu Shi smiled sweetly. "Then that would’ve been fine too. I’d have gotten what I wanted *and* openly outbid Mo Ruanruan—two birds with one stone."

"Because it’s the Melodic Sound Tree, and because I’m a music cultivator, that thick-headed little pig Mo Ruanruan would never even consider that I *wouldn’t* fight for it. She’d just keep stubbornly competing, never thinking beyond that."

Qiu Shi lifted her chin proudly. "This is what they call ‘know your enemy, know yourself, and you’ll never be defeated.’"

"Mo Ruanruan must be fuming right now, while Yun Xuan and Luo Ying are choking on their anger but still have to patiently comfort her."

Then, as if seeking validation, she turned to Qin Donglin and asked, "Was my prediction spot-on or what?"

Qin Donglin was likely the only one in the room who had seen through her scheme midway. He glanced at Qiu Shi’s face—finally flushed with excitement rather than its usual pallor—and lazily quirked the corner of his mouth. "Mm."

"Come sit properly," he said. "From here on out, they won’t be so easily fooled."

If there really was a map to the Luyuan Secret Realm’s ruins, neither their side nor the Celestial Clan’s faction would back down.

A much tougher battle lay ahead.