"Why didn't you bid?"
Master Xueyin asked Mo Tianyu in confusion as she saw him stop after seeing Mo Zhiran on the stage.
"Hmm? Oh, I was just curious about what Yan Xi will do. But...I'm surprised that she really let that guy have her gift."
Mo Tianyu smirked lightly while answering his master, his eyes flickering a little with some thoughts.
"Well...he must have used your name to convince her. Aren't you afraid that you'll lose that Blazing Heart Lantern?"
Master Xueyin already guessed what may have happened on the stage since she knew Yan Xi closely.
And it seemed Tianyu guessed it too, as he showed no reaction to her query whatsoever.
Just his lips stretched wide in a faint smirk.
"Losing? Heh...I hope he really loses that gift of hers. Haha...won't that be wonderful?"
Tianyu spoke faintly with a light laugh, as if amused by the situation. He didn't seem one bit stressed about losing this opportunity.
In fact, after seeing Zhiran today, his brain was already cooking up some nefarious plan that might allow him to get out of this quagmire of Yan Xi's control briefly.
To be honest, he was a little delighted.
***
"Where is Mei Xuan?"
As soon as Zhiran returned to his room, he saw that Xiao Lan was all alone.
"I don't know. She said she had some work to do."
Xiao Lan shook her head as she didn't know or care about Mei Xuan's disappearance. Rather, she looked at Zhiran and asked curiously,
"Are those items useful to you? Why did you waste 200 low-grade spirit stones?"
As a Foundation Establishment cultivator who already awakened her divine sense, she knew that the compass, lantern, and jade pendant were worthless.
Moreover, she doubted whether the Mystic Exchange Alliance would take out good items in such a low-level auction. That's why, along with her, no other Foundation expert bid for them.
In fact, all the experts at the Foundation realm today only came for the last item of this auction and nothing more.
"Useful? Why not see if it is now?"
Mo Zhiran heard Xiao Lan's words and sat down on his chair, taking out the lantern from his ring.
Since Mei Xuan wasn't here, he thought of using the opportunity right away, here in this room.
"Xiao Lan, can you use your spiritual power to suppress the energy fluctuations in this room?"
He asked, surprising her in the process.
"Sure!"
Although curious about what Zhiran wanted to do, Xiao Lan nodded and directly covered the entire room with her aura, sealing it perfectly.
Then finally, she looked at Zhiran, who was staring at the unremarkable lantern on the table in front of him.
"Crack!"
To Xiao Lan's surprise, just as she sealed the surroundings with her aura, Zhiran flicked a sharp strand of Qi from his finger, directly shattering the lantern's glass.
"What are you doing?"
She frowned in confusion, but before she could say another word—
"Swoosh!"
The moment the fragile glass broke, the seemingly ordinary lantern began to tremble violently, releasing a low, buzzing hum that filled the air.
Then, to her shock, the unlit lantern suddenly ignited on its own, bursting into a blaze of blue flame that illuminated the entire room.
But that wasn't the most incredible part.
What truly startled her was the heat as it rolled through the space like a living tide, heavy yet strangely gentle, pressing against her skin with an endearing warmth that carried a faint sense of life.
Even with her cultivation, she could feel its intensity, as if the flame itself was breathing, growing stronger with every flicker.
"Solar Essence? How is this possible?"
As soon as she felt the strange heat, Xiao Lan exclaimed in total surprise. She never thought that such a seemingly ordinary lantern could hide something as rare as Solar Essence inside.
"Xiao Lan, increase your aura and don't let the energy fluctuations go out. I'm going to refine this Solar Essence immediately."
Zhiran didn't care about her surprise, as he ordered her to seal the room tightly before directly grabbing the fiery yet gentle flame from the lantern.
"Wait..."
Before Xiao Lan could say anything, he directly ate the flame, swallowing it whole. He didn't even care whether it was dangerous.
"What? Are you stupid?"
Xiao Lan was stunned by Zhiran's reckless move. Although Solar Essence was a rare treasure of Xuan rank that could consolidate one's realm, swallowing it like this wasn't a wise move.
After all, absorbing the Xuan rank treasure required at least a similar rank cultivation technique with good proficiency. With Zhiran only joining the inner sect, she thought he was too reckless with his move.
Xiao Lan tried to stop him, but Zhiran was too fast and already sitting cross-legged, closing his eyes in meditation after swallowing the Solar Flame.
She could do nothing.
So, just like he ordered, she increased her aura, sealing the room to prevent any energy leaks while carefully glancing at Zhiran.
'Just as I thought, the Earth Rank Divine Core technique is more than enough to absorb this Solar Essence.'
'Haha...I bet Yan Xi didn't know that this Blazing Heart Lantern had already condensed its essence. Otherwise, she'd never allow me to take it.'
Zhiran looked at the rapidly dissolving Solar Essence inside his body gathering in his dantian, and couldn't help but feel happy.
From his previous life, he knew that the Blazing Heart Lantern wasn't actually a lantern generally used by humans.
Rather, it was the heart of a Solar Spirit Beast found in the Silent Tomb of the Southern Archipelago.
A lantern as a heart, it might sound bizarre, but that was the nature of the Silent Tomb anyway. It was filled with more bizarre things than one could imagine.
To be honest, if he hadn't heard about this strange item from Su Ruyue's mouth in his previous life, he would never have known, let alone snatched it from Tianyu's hand.
If Mo Tianyu knew there was Solar Essence inside this lantern, he would never stay silent like just now.
And if he knew that this Solar Essence was alive... then...
'Haha... Tianyu, oh Tianyu... this time, I've directly taken away the spiritual companion meant to awaken your divine body. Let's see how your fate turns out from here on.'