The hidden floor of the Black Lotus Auction was exactly as I remembered: a cavern carved beneath the city's oldest canal, lit by floating ghost-lanterns that cast violet-blue light across rows of masked bidders.
No one showed their real face here.
No one spoke above a murmur.
No one trusted anyone.
Perfect.
Yue walked one step behind my left shoulder - close enough to signal alliance, far enough to disavow me if things turned ugly.
We both wore plain black half-masks: mine covering the upper face, hers the lower. Simple, unremarkable. The kind of anonymity that screams "don't bother remembering me."
The auctioneer - a thin man in blood-red robes whose voice had been qi-modified to sound like grinding stones - began the night with the usual bait.
"Lot One: A shard of the Eternal Soul Sovereign's shattered robe. Contains residual ninth-realm qi intent. Starting bid: five hundred mid-grade spirit stones."
Bids rose quickly.
Jade Prince of Floating Cloud Sect (arrogant tilt to his chin, same as before).
Blood Lotus Heiress (red silk veil, fingers drumming with restrained violence).
The Shadow Pavilion masked bastard (wet iron scent even through the mask - I'd recognize that stench anywhere).
I didn't bid.
Not yet.
I waited.
Lot after lot passed: broken jade slips with incomplete techniques, vials of Sovereign-blood essence (diluted, of course), even a cracked finger bone said to contain a trace of his original soul flame.
Then came Lot 17.
The auctioneer's voice dropped lower.
"A fragment.
Genuine.
One of the Sovereign's true soul shards. Verified by three independent soul-seers. Untouched. Unbound.
Starting bid: three thousand high-grade spirit stones."
The room went still.
Then exploded.
Bids climbed like wildfire.
Ten thousand.
Twenty.
Fifty.
The Jade Prince stood.
"Eighty thousand high-grade. And I will take personal offense to anyone who bids higher."
The Blood Lotus Heiress laughed - cold, musical, lethal.
"One hundred thousand. Sit down, little prince."
The Shadow Pavilion man simply raised a single finger.
One hundred and fifty thousand.
I felt Yue tense beside me.
I placed a hand lightly on her wrist - the first real touch since we'd agreed to this charade.
"Wait," I whispered.
She glanced at me.
I nodded once toward the auction stage.
The fragment inside my sea of consciousness was vibrating - not with hunger, but with recognition.
"That one's real," it murmured. "Smaller than mine. Cleaner. The Sovereign's pride."
I smiled beneath my mask.
"I know."
I raised my hand.
The room quieted instantly - not because they recognized me, but because no one had expected a nobody in plain black robes to interrupt the big players.
The auctioneer blinked.
"Young... sir?"
"Two hundred thousand high-grade spirit stones," I said calmly.
"And one copper coin."
A ripple of laughter spread through the crowd - mocking, disbelieving.
The Jade Prince turned fully toward me.
"You dare mock this auction, rat?"
I tilted my head.
"I'm not mocking the auction.
I'm mocking you."
I let my mask slip just enough - just the eyes.
Violet flickered there, deep and cold.
The Jade Prince froze.
The Blood Lotus Heiress inhaled sharply.
The Shadow Pavilion man's scent shifted - fear mixed with iron.
They remembered.
Not this face.
Not this body.
But that flicker.
That exact shade of violet.
The one that had once stood on the 999th step and told the Sovereign his time was over.
I spoke again, voice carrying effortlessly through the cavern.
"Two hundred thousand high-grade spirit stones.
One copper coin.
And the promise that if any of you try to take this fragment from me tonight...
I will finish what I started in my last life."
Silence.
Absolute.
Then chaos.
The Jade Prince struck first - a palm wreathed in floating cloud sword-intent, aimed straight at my heart.
I didn't move.
I simply extended my left hand.
A crimson vine-thread - thicker now, more mature than in my first life at this point - bloomed outward.
It met the sword-intent mid-air.
And ate it.
The cloud dispersed like smoke.
The prince staggered, coughing blood.
The Blood Lotus Heiress summoned nine crimson petals - her signature Nine Petals Rebirth Scripture.
I mirrored it instantly.
Nine petals of my own appeared - but mine were thorned, darker, hungrier.
They clashed.
Hers shattered.
She dropped to one knee, eyes wide behind her veil.
The Shadow Pavilion man tried to vanish into shadow.
I flicked my right wrist.
Crimson threads snapped out like a net.
They caught him mid-dissolve.
Dragged him back into the light.
He hit the ground hard, mask cracked, revealing a face I had killed once before.
I walked forward slowly.
Past screaming bidders.
Past overturned chairs.
Past the auctioneer who was already fleeing.
I stopped in front of the stage.
Picked up the small crystal case containing the real fragment.
Held it up.
The violet light inside pulsed once - in recognition.
Then I crushed the case in my palm.
The fragment dissolved into motes.
They flowed straight into my body.
Merged with the one already there.
The fragment in my sea of consciousness laughed - loud, delighted, almost manic.
"Two pieces down.
Many more to go."
I turned to face the room.
Dozens of masks staring back in horror.
I spoke one last time, voice soft but carrying to every corner.
"Tell the sects.
Tell the clans.
Tell the heavens themselves."
I let the violet-crimson light bleed from both eyes.
"The Copycat Sage has returned.
And this time...
he remembers every single one of you."
Yue appeared at my side - silent, blade already drawn.
She looked at the carnage.
Then at me.
"You said you weren't trying to become him again."
I met her gaze.
"I'm not."
I smiled - small, cold, certain.
"I'm trying to become something worse."
End of Chapter 4