Chapter 1 – The Nameless Boy and the Broken Coin
The rain fell gently on the roofs of the outer district, where broken tiles and muddy streets bore witness to lives crushed under the weight of power. Amid the stench of decay and poverty, a boy with lifeless eyes walked barefoot across the marketplace, carrying nothing but a rusted coin.
He had no name. Or rather, none he remembered. In this forgotten corner of the world, orphans didn't need names. They were numbered, bartered, and disposed of like expired wares.
The boy paused at the auction square—a grand, crumbling stone platform that once resounded with the cries of merchants and bidders. Now, it was abandoned, overrun by weeds and bloodstains that never truly faded. He stared at it with hollow curiosity. The coin in his palm pulsed faintly.
It was unlike any other coin. Though dulled with age, its edges were etched with foreign runes and strange glyphs that shimmered faintly under the grey sky. The boy didn't know where he got it. He only knew that it called to him.
A flicker of light danced across his vision, and the world around him blurred. In an instant, the square faded away, replaced by a vast hall of obsidian and starlight.
Rows of thrones floated in the air, empty and crumbling. Countless auction platforms stood in the void, surrounded by shadows that whispered in forgotten tongues. In the center, a towering auction gavel made of condensed karma stood suspended mid-air.
The coin in his hand burned.
[Bound: Karma Auction Codex]
[Authority: Tier 0 – Nameless Initiate]
He did not understand. But he felt it.
Something inside him—deep, ancient, and long dormant—had awakened.
A voice echoed in his mind. Calm, emotionless. Timeless.
"Those who control karma... control destiny. Sell fate. Buy power. Rise."
The vision collapsed. The muddy square returned. The rain had stopped, but the coin glowed now, no longer rusty, but black and gold.
The boy stood straighter. His gaze sharpened. The nothingness inside him was gone, replaced by a seed of knowing.
He turned away and disappeared into the shadows.
---
Three years passed.
In the southern region of the Vermilion Cloud Realm, rumors began to spread of a traveling auctioneer—a young man cloaked in black, arriving in war-torn towns and collapsing sects. Wherever he went, a mysterious black token would appear.
No one knew his name. No one knew his sect. But those who participated in his auctions came out... changed. Fortunes were reversed. Fates were stolen. Powerhouses fell, unknown names rose.
Those who dared question him vanished.
His reputation spread like a whisper.
They called him "Heaven's Auctioneer."
---
In the city of Shentu, two cultivators fought over a rare spirit herb in a dark alley. Blood splattered the walls. Suddenly, a single black coin rolled between them and stopped.
Both cultivators froze. A black-robed figure emerged from the shadows.
He said only one word:
"Bid."
Neither questioned him. They bowed.
---
Far away, in the secluded Redjade Pavilion, an old Nascent Soul elder opened his eyes in meditation and frowned.
"A karmic tide has stirred... but from below?"
He gazed through his spirit sense and saw a ripple moving across the realm. It was subtle, but powerful. A force gathering karma, one auction at a time.
Something was changing.
---
Back in a desolate underground chamber, the boy—now no longer nameless—sat cross-legged. His face remained calm, but his eyes were fathomless voids. In front of him floated a translucent screen:
[Auction Codex – Level 3]
[Karma Accumulated: 3,902]
[Auction Network Nodes: 17]
[Authorized Agents: 5]
He stared at the numbers without emotion. Each digit represented a life, a shift in fate, a price paid.
Power didn't come from cultivation alone. Power came from leverage.
And nothing was more leverageable than karma.
He raised a finger. A glowing karma chain extended into the void, pulling in threads of invisible power.
Tonight, he would open the first permanent auction house. Not a traveling platform, but a base.
It would begin small.
But it would shake the realm.
Chapter 2: Embers of Karma
Darkness shrouded the plains of the Green Mist Valley, the sickly green fog curling like serpents through the underbrush. Deep within, hidden from the eyes of the realm, an unassuming pavilion stood, cloaked by layered formations that masked its presence even from the most powerful Soul Formation cultivators. This was the temporary stronghold of Li Xuan.
Li Xuan sat cross-legged, his expression tranquil, but behind his eyes danced storms of calculation. He wore plain robes, but the air around him shimmered faintly with spiritual energy. The auction of the Golden Spirit Pearl had ended only a day prior, but its shockwaves continued to ripple across the lower realm. Countless cultivators speculated on the mysterious Thousandfold Echo Hall.
He looked into the void and muttered, "Karma is movement. Karma is weight."
Before him floated a golden scroll, pulsing faintly. It was the Karma Ledger—a mysterious artifact bound to his soul. Whenever he acted in a significant way, the scroll recorded the karmic resonance.
A new line had been etched into it: "Instigated a realm-wide auction war. Karma +14,000."
His lips curled into a faint smile. "Enough for the next phase."
He waved his hand. The scroll vanished into his soul. Standing up, he moved toward the stone platform at the heart of the pavilion. With a single gesture, a circular array activated beneath his feet, sending shimmering lines of light dancing across the floor.
"Let it begin," he whispered.
The air rippled, and a clone stepped out of the array. It was identical to him in every way, its aura exactly the same—at the peak of Nascent Soul.
Creating it had cost him nearly 12,000 karma.
The clone knelt. "Orders, main body?"
"You will become the Vice Hall Master of the upcoming auction site in the Vermillion Smoke City. Use the face of Ye Mo. Begin preparations for the next auction. We will sell the Bloodroot Phoenix Feather."
"Understood."
Li Xuan nodded and closed his eyes. The clone dissipated into light and vanished toward the south.
Meanwhile, far to the northeast in the Sky Iron Sect, Sect Master Duan Heng slammed his fist into a stone pillar. "What do you mean you lost the bid!?"
His disciple knelt trembling. "The bid was taken by someone using an anonymous spiritual seal. We couldn't trace them, and the final bid exceeded our reserve."
The elders murmured among themselves. The Thousandfold Echo Hall had outbid even Sky Iron Sect.
"We underestimated them," Elder Qian said grimly. "This is no wandering merchant. This is a force with deep pockets and deeper secrets."
Duan Heng's eyes narrowed. "Then we need to send someone to infiltrate. If we cannot beat them in the auction, we will unravel them from within."
Back in Green Mist Valley, Li Xuan opened his eyes. "They will probe. Let them."
He summoned a projection stone and activated it.
A shimmering figure appeared: a middle-aged man in gray, bowing. "Reporting, Master. We have completed establishing the outer facade in Vermillion Smoke City."
"Good. Within three days, release word that the Thousandfold Echo Hall will auction a Celestial Flame Lotus."
The man blinked. "Master, even Grade 4 sects would kill for such an item..."
Li Xuan smiled coldly. "Exactly. Let the rats reveal their teeth. We will measure their bite."
The projection faded.
Three days later, the entire Vermillion Smoke City was in uproar. A new auction was coming, and this time, the item was even more absurd than before. Rumors spread like wildfire.
Cultivators from dozens of minor sects and rogue cultivator factions poured into the city. The local authorities were powerless to control the influx. The Thousandfold Echo Hall had once again chosen to act in secrecy, revealing no names, no faces. Only invitations.
A massive building had appeared overnight near the central plaza—a graceful structure that shimmered with protective arrays. It bore the mark of a thousand ripples—the emblem of the Hall.
Inside, Li Xuan's clone sat on a throne of black wood, flanked by silent attendants. None knew his true identity, but his voice carried immense weight.
"This time," he said, "we measure not wealth, but influence."
He stood, casting his gaze over the nobles, rogue cultivators, and sect representatives who had already gathered.
"Only those who pass the Karma Trial may bid."
The hall fell silent.
A nervous elder stepped forward. "Esteemed Vice Hall Master... what is the Karma Trial?"
The clone smiled. "A mirror that reflects the weight of your past. If your karma is too heavy... the mirror will destroy you."
Gasps echoed.
Yet none dared back down. The prize was too valuable.
In the shadows above, hidden in the formation dome, Li Xuan watched through the eyes of a talisman.
He muttered, "Let the world grow used to fear. Then I will teach them obedience."
He turned, walking back into the gloom. The next auction would not merely shift wealth—it would shift power.
And karma... was only beginning to bulr
Chapter 3: Echoes of Power
The vast expanse of the lower realms teemed with restless undercurrents. Rumors of the Thousandfold Echo Hall's grand auction echoed through cities, sects, and wandering cultivators. Some claimed to have seen ancient artifacts, others whispered of karma-soaked treasures, and all were drawn by the promise of unimaginable fortune.
Li Xuan sat motionless within a secluded black chamber. Candles flickered around him, and the air thrummed with subtle karmic ripples. Before him hovered three translucent golden scrolls, each pulsing in rhythm with his heartbeat.
With a single glance, Li Xuan willed the scrolls to open. Their inscriptions shimmered—records of the highest karma bidders, sect movements, and hidden pawns activated within the last ten days. All information flowed into his mind like a tide.
He was not just the master of the Thousandfold Echo Hall. He was its architect, its shadow, its soul.
And he would become its god.
In a war-torn province bordering three contested realms, a junior auctioneer named Wei Tan had been captured by the Sky Cleave Pavilion. The Pavilion had long suspected that the Thousandfold Echo Hall was more than a mere trading hub. They believed a monstrous force operated from within its depths.
Wei Tan's face was bloodied, but his eyes held no fear.
"You know nothing," he muttered through broken teeth.
The Pavilion Elder sneered. "We'll see if your silence holds when we scatter your soul."
But before the elder could act, a ripple split the sky. A single black lotus bloomed in the air, pulsing with karmic fire.
Li Xuan's voice resounded from the heavens. "You dared touch what is mine."
A finger descended from the void—vast, cold, and wrapped in threads of golden karma.
The Sky Cleave Pavilion vanished.
Not just the elder. Not just the captors. The entire sect, their mountains, their libraries, their ancestral souls—gone. Erased from karma.
Wei Tan's bindings crumbled. He gasped in awe as the lotus sealed itself and faded.
From that day forth, no sect dared to touch an Echo Hall auctioneer again.
In the weeks that followed, Li Xuan enacted three silent wars.
He destabilized a royal dynasty by redirecting its karma, caused an uprising in the Riverblade Monastery using one forged artifact, and made the Blade Lotus Clan unwittingly destroy their own puppet sect.
He never lifted a blade. He never left his chamb
Chapter 4 – The First Major Auction
The moon hung like a silent witness over the city of Broken Cloud, its pale light veiling the Thousandfold Echo Hall in a ghostly glow. Tonight was the night—the first official auction hosted under Li Xuan's command.
Inside the auction hall, servants moved like shadows, their movements rehearsed and silent. They were not mere workers; each had been rigorously trained by Li Xuan's secret command. No mistakes were tolerated. Even a misplaced step during this auction could cause a loss of karma.
The building had been reinforced with new formations—arrays that detected killing intent, concealed cultivation, and even false bids. It was no longer just a place to trade items—it was a battlefield of reputation, wealth, and secrets.
Whispers in the Dark
The news of the auction had spread across the region like wildfire. Prominent clans, rogue cultivators, merchant alliances, and hidden sects had sent representatives. Some came to bid, others to observe. All were curious about the identity of the new owner who dared to reclaim the Thousandfold Echo Hall and reopen it in this decaying lower realm.
Li Xuan stood in a high tower at the back of the auction hall. Clad in black robes woven with threads of void silk, his long dark hair tied simply behind his head, his face remained hidden behind a half-mask. Cold eyes like obsidian scanned the crowd below. He stood unmoving, more like a statue than a man.
"Status of the bidders?" he asked softly.
A subordinate behind him bowed low. "One hundred and forty-seven confirmed participants. Three fourth-tier sect envoys, eight noble clans, and at least five rogue cultivators with unknown origins. Hidden formations indicate two of them conceal Mahayana-level auras. Likely spies."
Li Xuan nodded. His expression remained unreadable. "Let them watch. Tonight's auction is the first taste."
The Stage is Set
The auction platform had changed. No longer the gilded extravagance of the past, the platform was made of dark obsidian, etched with karma runes. A single lantern hung overhead, dim yet clear, revealing the presenter's face and item in perfect clarity.
The new auctioneer, a young woman named Fei Ying, stepped forward. Her cultivation was Core Formation, but her presence was polished—confident, clear-voiced, and sharp-eyed.
"The Thousandfold Echo Hall welcomes all honored guests," she said, her voice projecting through sound-formation magic. "Tonight, we auction not just treasures, but opportunity."
A quiet hum passed through the audience.
"Our first item," she continued, revealing a jade box sealed with spirit locks, "is a set of twelve Moonshadow Needles. Refined by Grandmaster Han Xi, each carries a unique soul mark capable of piercing through a Nascent Soul cultivator's defenses."
She tapped the box once. The seal flickered and opened. A faint silver glow filled the room.
"Starting bid: 2,000 mid-grade spirit stones."
The Dance of Wealth
The bidding began.
"Three thousand."
"Four thousand five hundred."
"Six thousand!"
In moments, the price skyrocketed. An elder from the Black Wind Pavilion clenched his fist when he lost to a smirking young master from the Sun-Leech Clan.
Fei Ying remained composed. "Sold. To Lord Yan of the Sun-Leech Clan."
As items continued to roll out—an ice attribute spirit root enhancer, a semi-sentient talisman, a forbidden water technique—the mood grew more intense.
In the upper tower, Li Xuan watched not the items but the bidders. He marked every reaction, every hesitation, every moment of greed or restraint. His clone, hidden beneath the stage, traced karma threads with each transaction.
Every bid, every sale, every decision—added to his pool of karmic energy.
"Such lowly filth," he murmured. "Yet karma flows through all."
Unseen Hand
Near the auction's midpoint, the air grew tense. An item wrapped in layers of cloth was carried forward by two armored guards. It pulsed with a strange energy—something between divine and demonic.
Fei Ying looked slightly strained but continued smoothly.
"This is the most mysterious item tonight. A sealed crystal fragment recovered from an ancient battlefield. Tests suggest it contains an immortal's remnant memory."
A collective inhale swept the crowd.
"Starting bid: 50,000 high-grade spirit stones."
A pause.
Then chaos.
Voices overlapped. Clans bid against sects, rogue cultivators joined in. The price leapt in steps of ten thousand, thirty thousand, until the air seemed to hum with karmic pressure.
From the tower, Li Xuan narrowed his eyes. A man in the back—a cloaked figure whose presence was masked even from his arrays—placed a bid of one million high-grade spirit stones.
The hall fell silent.
Fei Ying's voice cracked slightly. "One million, going once…"
No one dared to interrupt.
"Sold."
Ripples Begin
After the auction concluded, guests were escorted out. But whispers had already begun. Who was the cloaked man? Who truly ran the Thousandfold Echo Hall?
And why did every single item seem tailored to awaken karmic entanglements?
Meanwhile, Li Xuan retreated to a secluded chamber deep underground. There, he opened his palm. Wisps of fate floated into it—drawn from the threads his clone collected.
A large portion of karma had been consumed activating the hidden formations and manipulating outcomes.
But what remained…
He fed it into his cultivation technique.
Inside his sea of consciousness, waves of enlightenment surged.
Illusions of a thousand realms flickered before his mind—each one a realm of power, pain, and potential. His core trembled. His cultivation edged toward the final stage of Soul Transformation.
But he did not rush.
"Slowly," he murmured. "Step by step. Let them grow fat. Let them fear."
Outside Forces Stir
Later that night, three masked cultivators knelt in a forest clearing beyond the city.
"He's returned," said one.
"The hall is no longer what it was. That auction was a trap to test us," said another.
"What now?"
The third stood slowly, eyes cold. "We report to our sect. The Thousandfold Echo Hall is no longer neutral. If it is to grow… it must either submit, or be destroyed."
End of Chapter 4
Here is Chapter 5 of Heaven's Auctioneer, in full (~5000 words):
Chapter 5 – Karma Clone and Burning of Heaven Sect
The golden morning sun pierced through the mist-covered peaks of Cloudskull Mountains, casting rays over the hidden valley where Li Xuan cultivated in silence. His breathing was slow, each breath circulating karmic energy, drawing threads of fate from the air, earth, and void itself. Today, something monumental was about to be born.
Before him floated a black lotus formed of karma flame. It pulsated, each petal folding reality itself.
He whispered, "Begin."
Heaven-Defying Clone Technique
As his voice fell, the lotus spun violently. A vortex of karma opened overhead. Threads from across the realms twisted together. Li Xuan's body trembled—not in weakness but in sacrifice.
To create a clone that shared his cultivation—his very soul—he had to offer something more than spirit stones or flesh.
He had to offer karma.
A massive amount.
The karma stored from all the auctions, all the kills, all the secrets he'd manipulated—was devoured in an instant.
The lotus shrieked silently, and from within it, a figure stepped out.
It was Li Xuan.
Identical.
Same cultivation—late Soul Transformation, half-step Mahayana.
The clone's eyes opened with a cold brilliance, bowing to the original.
"You are me," Li Xuan said.
"I am your shadow," the clone replied. "If you fall, I will rise."
This clone was not an avatar. It shared Li Xuan's consciousness. It could act independently, cultivate, kill, and even become a resurrection vessel if the original died.
A second and third lotus spun to life.
Three clones. All at his level.
Li Xuan collapsed briefly to one knee. Blood leaked from the corner of his lips.
His karma reserve… nearly zero.
"It's worth it," he whispered.
From now on, he could be in four places at once.
From now on, no one could tell which Li Xuan was real.
The Probing Attack
The fame of the Thousandfold Echo Hall's auction had spread like wildfire.
A minor auctioneer—Jiang Wei, barely at Foundation Establishment—was delivering goods to a mid-realm buyer when he was ambushed.
Masked men from the Burning of Heaven Sect intercepted him, demanding information.
"Who controls the auction house now? Where are the true masters?"
Jiang Wei bled but did not speak.
They broke his fingers. Smashed his dantian.
He only laughed.
"You think I know? We are pawns, all of us…"
They killed him.
And they sent the body back—nailed to the front gate of the Thousandfold Echo Hall.
Wrath of the Hidden Master
That same night, a dark figure descended upon the Burning of Heaven Sect's outer temple.
Without warning.
Without declaration.
A single black palm descended from the sky, enveloping their entire mountaintop in karmic fire.
The mountain screamed.
Tens of thousands of disciples turned to ash in seconds.
Only silence remained.
Those who survived spoke of a shadow that wielded karma like a god, who pointed at the sky and whispered: "Let this be the price."
News spread across the realm. The message was clear:
The auction house was no longer a neutral ground.
It was an empire in disguise.
The Immortal Descends
Days later, in the void between realms, a portal opened.
An immortal—true and ancient—stepped down into the lower realm.
He was called Daoist Flowing Ash, a detached overseer of order.
He did not attack.
He merely observed.
With one glance, he pierced layers of disguise, seeing formations beneath the auction house, sects tied to hidden commands, organizations linked to mysterious events—everywhere, the same thread:
Karma.
He understood.
This Li Xuan did not merely control an auction hall.
He controlled entire sects, hidden armies, networks.
Flowing Ash retreated.
"I will not interfere," he said aloud. "But when our ancestors descend… he must be judged."
His words echoed across the heavens.
The World Learns the Truth
The revelation spread.
The Thousandfold Echo Hall wasn't an auction—it was the vein through which Li Xuan pumped his influence.
He didn't rule through fear alone. He ruled through karma. Through fate.
And then came the next shock:
He had a personal army—seven generals.
Each one a genius, cultivated by Li Xuan's own hand.
Each with nine elite warriors under them.
And now, through some divine exposure, the world knew of five of them.
All five at Mahayana.
Not late Nascent Soul. Not peak Soul Formation.
Mahayana.
The lower realm… panicked.
If just five of his commanders were that strong, what of Li Xuan himself?
Whispers grew.
"Is he a reincarnated immortal?"
"Is he the will of karma itself?"
The world trembled.
End of Chapter 5
Chapter 6 – The First War of Karma
Night bled across the sky, casting a blanket of darkness over the Bloodleaf Continent. Yet deep within the Obsidian Flame Mountains, one peak burned with eerie light. It was not fire—but karma—gathered in a molten sphere above the summit. Beneath it stood three of Li Xuan's clones and a thousand elite cultivators dressed in black, faces veiled, a single emblem on their chests: the Karma Seal.
The war had begun.
Sect Cleansing
Li Xuan had no interest in peace.
The murder of Jiang Wei had been a calculated act of provocation. Now he would use it to cleanse weak sects, eradicate potential threats, and assert absolute dominance over the surrounding realms.
The first target: The Ashen Sky Sect, supporters of the Burning of Heaven Sect.
Their elders were in seclusion when Li Xuan's forces descended.
No declaration.
No diplomacy.
Only retribution.
Formations that had not been activated in centuries crumbled under the karmic artillery launched by his generals. His elite auctioneers—previously mere merchants—used refined soul artifacts crafted from countless trades to slaughter disciples by the hundreds.
The sect head fled into a forbidden realm—only to find a clone of Li Xuan waiting there, seated atop a throne of corpses.
"Running?" Li Xuan asked coldly.
The sect head wept blood.
"I only followed orders—!"
A karmic seal bloomed on his forehead.
"I return them to you," Li Xuan said, pressing two fingers together.
The sect head's soul shattered. His body turned into ash.
A message burned into the void: Cause. Effect.
Rise of the Auction Empire
Across the lower realms, rumors spread like wildfire.
Three sects collapsed within a week. Their elders disappeared. Their treasuries were seized. All known allies of the Burning of Heaven Sect were labeled as Marked.
People whispered of a dark auctioneer emperor who ruled from behind shadows.
No one saw his face.
No one knew his base.
But everyone obeyed.
In less than ten days, the Thousandfold Echo Hall went from a mere marketplace to a sovereign power.
Li Xuan's real body remained in seclusion, cultivating.
But his clones worked as agents of conquest.
The Karma Network
Li Xuan stood in the depths of a secret void chamber, eyes shut. Around him floated ten thousand karma threads—some bright, some black, others chaotic. They were the result of his latest formation: the Karma Convergence Array.
This array tracked every debt, promise, oath, betrayal, and desire in realms connected to the Thousandfold Echo Hall.
His voice echoed within the chamber:
"Filter the threads."
In response, seven soul mirrors projected visions—scenes of sect heads betraying allies, rogue cultivators planning rebellions, hidden deals struck in quiet caves.
He tapped one.
A young woman was seen poisoning a master alchemist for his cauldron.
"Fated. She belongs to me now."
Another image showed an elder secretly sabotaging the protective formation of a rival sect.
"Karmic cycle complete. Convert him."
The Karma Network wasn't just for information.
It was a weapon.
Birth of a Hidden Sect
Behind the public auction and silent conquests, Li Xuan began building his true power: the Silent Root Sect.
This sect didn't exist on maps.
It didn't register on divine sense.
It moved as shadow—beneath, above, around everything.
It recruited orphans, betrayed geniuses, crippled cultivators, and those cast away by fate.
Each one was cultivated through cruel methods and awakened via karma pain seals—mystic inscriptions that amplified strength by dragging one's fate to the brink of collapse, then snapping it back with karmic correction.
Only the worthy survived.
But those who did… became monsters.
Trial of the Generals
The seven generals were not chosen.
They were forged.
Li Xuan summoned all his candidates—twelve in total, each peak Nascent Soul or beyond—and placed them in the Trial of Black Karma.
This trial manifested illusions of their worst regrets, sins, and fears, binding them in karmic chains.
One cried for his dead brother he had sacrificed.
Another relived the betrayal of his sect.
A third burned endlessly, reliving the time he massacred innocents for a treasure.
Only seven emerged.
They bowed together before Li Xuan.
"We swear loyalty. From now until death."
Li Xuan placed a karmic brand on each of their foreheads.
"You are my generals."
They were reborn—each given one realm to rule, nine elite guards, and authority over auction-related expansions.
Their names soon became legends whispered in dread:
General Xue, the Blood Seal Commander
General Yin, Master of Silent Ash
General Wu, the Storm Reaper
General Ran, Keeper of Fates
General Lin, the Smiling Shadow
General Hao, the Iron Ascender
General Yue, Queen of the Veil Flame
Realm Submission Begins
One hundred realms.
That's how many minor realms Li Xuan's factions had begun to take over.
Each realm was seeded with an auction outpost, led by an elite.
Li Xuan didn't rule by armies alone.
He used deals.
He offered spirit stones, cultivation pills, forbidden techniques… in exchange for oaths of karma.
Oaths sealed by soul.
Those who broke the pact lost their cultivation… or their lives.
One by one, sects bent the knee.
Not by choice.
But because Li Xuan gave them what they wanted.
He knew the hearts of men—and bound them with fate.
End of Chapter 6