Chapter 866: Uninvited Guest (1/2, Requesting Moon Tickets)

Aside from Fang Yue and Ni Dongmei's cries of shock, everyone else in the room fell into dead silence.

Everyone stared dumbly at the jester sect master lying on the ground, now a corpse, and at the tail—casually dismissing everyone as if none of them mattered—leaving them all stunned.

The tail… is she the Supreme Sect Master of the Extreme Ice Sect, Qi Ba Jiu?

And she just instantly killed one of the Four Sect Masters of Juan Niao Lou?

What the hell is going on here?

Panic spread like a plague.

"Dead! The jester sect master is dead! Help! Help! Someone's gone mad here!"

"The Extreme Ice Sect dares to kill the jester sect master!"

"The Extreme Ice Sect is finished—absolutely finished! With the jester sect master dead, the Fourth Prince's faction will never let them off!"

When someone finally snapped out of it, the crowd scrambled to their feet and screamed as they bolted for the exits.

But Qi Ba Jiu Daren merely waved her hand, and the entrance and exit of the auction hall instantly froze into thick walls of ice, blocking all escape.

"I didn't say you could leave."

The girl on stage spoke with a lazy tone, yet it sent chills through everyone present, as if they'd been plunged into an ice pit.

They all launched attacks against the ice wall blocking the door—but not a single scratch remained; the wall's strength was on an entirely different level from ordinary frost!

"How could this happen… how could this happen! Weren't you captured and put up for auction by Juan Niao Lou? Why didn't they set any restraints on your power? Why could you just appear like this?! You bastard!!"

The Sixth Elder of the Flame Sect turned ashen-faced.

He had thought he'd acquire the tail here, thereby turning the tide, ending the long struggle with the Extreme Ice Sect, and securing final victory.

Instead, it was all an illusion—reality was that he might die here.

But Qi Ba Jiu Daren, facing the Sixth Elder's frantic outburst, merely replied with a faintly displeased murmur: "Only one Elder came? That's not what was agreed upon."

Though her voice was soft, Qi Ba Jiu Daren had already become the center of attention; no detail she uttered could be missed—especially not by the Sixth Elder of the Flame Sect.

So when the Sixth Elder heard those words, his mind went blank with a deafening buzz.

This woman… this woman was deliberately captured?!

What is going on here? What is all of this…

The Sixth Elder of the Flame Sect's mind was a chaotic mess—he couldn't fathom who had betrayed him, or who was aiding Qi Ba Jiu.

The struggle between the Flame Sect and the Extreme Ice Sect had dragged on for a very long time, and outsiders were never allowed to interfere.

But this time, things seemed different.

"Never mind. Eliminating the Sixth Elder, who handles most of the Flame Sect's finances, and the factions backing them, is barely enough to achieve this mission's goal."

As if speaking to herself, when Qi Ba Jiu Daren finished speaking—

Tssssssss!

Dozens of ice spikes erupted simultaneously from the floor, each piercing through the body of an audience member.

One of them was unmistakably the Sixth Elder of the Flame Sect, eyes wide, face frozen in terror.

He had come to buy the Demonic Spirit Flame, yet never imagined he'd die at an auction—so simply, so humiliatingly.

The Sixth Elder of the Flame Sect was roughly equal in strength to Ni Dongmei, but compared to Qi Ba Jiu Daren, the difference was like heaven and earth.

The others who died were either local faction leaders secretly funding the Flame Sect, or openly affiliated supporters of the Flame Sect.

Qi Ba Jiu Daren didn't harm the innocent—her target had clearly been only these people.

"Qi Ba Jiu Daren, why did you do something so dangerous without consulting us! Do you know how worried I and the Sect Master and Elders have been these past days?!"

"Qi Ba Jiu Daren, what exactly is going on?"

Fang Yue had now brought Ni Dongmei to Qi Ba Jiu Daren's side and asked.

Everything had happened too fast—he was still dazed.

After calming Ni Dongmei, Qi Ba Jiu Daren told Fang Yue: "Nothing much. I made a 'deal' with a friend. She helped me enter the Black Bird Auction, gathering the Extreme Ice Sect's enemies in one place so I could strike. In return, I had to eliminate one person for her."

"Who?"

"The one lying on the ground."

Fang Yue froze—he followed Qi Ba Jiu Daren's pointing finger and realized: the person she meant to kill was the jester sect master, one of the Four Sect Masters!

That meant the mission was complete!

Then what comes next…

"Prepare to retreat. The Yu-level warrior responsible for Juan Niao Lou's security today has surely received word and is already on the way."

She paused, glancing at Fang Yue.

"Yese Liming, your appearance at this moment is terribly inconvenient."

The tail refuses to contact you, refuses to drag you into this."

"The struggle between the Extreme Ice Sect and the Flame Sect has reached its boiling point—every move draws massive trouble. Just now, both I and the Extreme Ice Sect have become thorns in the eyes of the Four Princes, and we've been marked for elimination by Juan Niao Lou."

"And you… you had no business getting entangled in such a mess."

Fang Yue smiled—he had plenty of troubles already; more debt wouldn't crush him.

But one question troubled him deeply.

If the Black Bird Auction didn't sell Chenqing and Tian Ruichi, then where are they now?

Fang Yue sighed inwardly—this wasn't the time to think about it. He dove into the crowd, grabbed Ming, who was cowering in the corner with his head in his hands.

"Take Jing Yan to Qi Huang Fu, and I'll let you leave first."

"Deal!"

After a single instant of thought, Ming agreed without hesitation.

Fang Yue went to the backstage, retrieved the unconscious Jing Yan, handed him to Ming, then had Qi Ba Jiu Daren melt the ice wall so they could exit.

After finishing all this, Fang Yue turned back to look at Qi Ba Jiu Daren.

"Qi Ba Jiu Daren, why go to such lengths? With your strength, wiping out the Flame Fire Sect should be easy—why go through all this trouble to lure the enemies together, risking yourself like this?"

"It's simple: my tail is still too weak to sustain my prolonged manifestation, let alone let me wield my power freely. I can only unleash short bursts—right now, for instance, my tail is already nearing its limit."

As Qi Ba Jiu Daren casually raised a hand toward the roof, ice spikes erupted from the ground, piercing straight through the ceiling and shattering something that looked like a protective array; translucent shards shattered midair and rained down in fragments.

(End of Chapter)