Chapter 4: The Gaze of Truth and the Auction's Despair
The sun hung high over the capital of the Hung Kingdom, casting long, golden shadows across the grand entrance of the Eternal Horizon Auction House. This was no ordinary marketplace; it was the financial heart of the kingdom, a place where legends were sold in jade boxes and fortunes were lost in the blink of an eye.
Today, however, the usual buzz of wealthy merchants and noble collectors was replaced by a tense, heavy silence. News had arrived that the man who cured the Queen and shattered the Academy's stone was coming to evaluate the "Forbidden Vault"—a collection of items so mysterious and dangerous that no Appraiser in the kingdom had dared to put a name to them for a century.
Tian Mo arrived not in a royal carriage, but on foot, his white robes fluttering like a lone cloud in a storm. Beside him walked Li Feng, looking more like a seasoned warrior than a student, and the Gentle Princess, Ling'er, who wore a simple veil but could not hide the newfound spark of vitality in her eyes.
Trailing behind them, carrying a heavy chest of evaluation tools, was Janitor Lu. His face was a mask of misery, but he didn't dare complain. He had seen Tian Mo slap a Queen; he knew his own life hung by a thread thinner than a spider's silk.
The Appraiser's Guild
At the entrance stood a group of elderly men wearing robes embroidered with magnifying glass symbols. These were the masters of the Appraiser's Guild, led by Chief Appraiser Mo Kun, a 4-Star Master who was famous for having never made a mistake in fifty years.
"Teacher Tian Mo," Mo Kun said, his voice echoing with skepticism. "To be a Physician or an Alchemist is one thing. But Appraising is about history, soul-intent, and the accumulation of decades of study. You are not even twenty. What could you possibly know of the Forbidden Vault?"
Tian Mo didn't stop walking. He passed Mo Kun as if the Chief Appraiser were nothing more than a stone by the road. "Knowledge is not about how many years you have lived, but how many truths you have seen. Your eyes are clouded by what you've read in books. Mine see what the books were afraid to write."
"Arrogance!" Mo Kun fumed, following him into the depths of the auction house. "Fine! We shall see if your 'Truth' can survive the Trial of the Three Phantoms."
The Forbidden Vault
The vault was deep underground, sealed by formations that hummed with a low, threatening vibration. As the heavy iron doors groaned open, a wave of ancient, suffocating energy rushed out. Inside, three pedestals stood, each holding an item wrapped in a flickering, dark aura.
"These three items have baffled our guild for a hundred years," Mo Kun explained, regaining his composure. "If you can identify even one correctly, I will personally recommend you for the 3-Star Supreme Teacher rank. But if you fail, you will admit to being a fraud in front of the entire Kingdom."
Tian Mo stepped toward the first pedestal. It held a rusty, chipped bronze mirror.
"This is the Mirror of Thousand Illusions," Mo Kun stated proudly. "We believe it was a defensive artifact used by the Ancient Sage of the West. Its only flaw is that it is currently dormant."
Tian Mo didn't touch it. He simply narrowed his eyes.
[DING!]
[Divine Library Initiated. Target: Bronze Mirror.]
> Item: Broken Basin of the 'Evil Cultivator Wei'.
> Actual Use: It is not a mirror; it is a sacrificial vessel used to collect the blood of virgins.
> Flaws: 3,400.
> The Danger: The 'aura' people feel is not sage energy; it is a 'Blood-Curse' that consumes the soul of anyone who tries to activate it.
> Solution: Strike the bottom-left corner with 3 grams of mercury to dissolve the curse.
>
Tian Mo let out a short, cold laugh. "A defensive artifact of a Sage? Mo Kun, your eyes aren't just clouded; they are rotted."
The crowd gasped. Tian Mo pointed at the mirror. "This is a Blood-Sacrifice Basin of a demonic cultivator. The moment anyone tries to 'awaken' it, the curse within will drain their life force until they are a mummified husk. It's not an artifact; it's a trap."
"Lies!" Mo Kun roared. "The engravings are clearly Sage-style!"
"Then why," Tian Mo said, stepping closer, "does it smell like copper and old death when I do this?"
Tian Mo flicked his finger. A tiny spark of Qi hit the bottom-left corner.
CRACK!
The "bronze" exterior shattered, revealing a dark, pulsing obsidian surface carved with screaming faces. A wave of pure, concentrated evil filled the room. The Appraisers scrambled back, their faces turning pale.
"It... it really is a demonic vessel!" Elder Han, who had followed the group, cried out in terror.
The Second Phantom: The Painting of Silence
Tian Mo moved to the second pedestal. It held a scroll that, when unrolled, showed nothing but a single black line across a white background.
"This is the Scroll of Infinite Dao," Mo Kun said, his voice now trembling. "The legend says that if you stare at it long enough, you will see your own future. Every master who has looked at it has fallen into a deep meditation."
Tian Mo glanced at it for less than a second.
[Divine Library: Target: Blank Scroll.]
> Item: The 'Failure of a Drunken Painter.'
> Actual Use: It is a canvas where a master painter accidentally spilled ink. He was so frustrated he threw it away.
> The 'Meditation' Effect: The ink was made from 'Dream-Eater Pollen.' It doesn't show the future; it induces a coma by drugging the viewer's brain.
> Flaw: The line is not a Dao path; it's a literal smudge.
>
Tian Mo turned to the crowd, his handsome face looking genuinely bored. "This is a piece of trash. A drunken mistake. The reason people 'meditate' is because they are being drugged by the ink. It's not profound; it's poisonous."
"You... you are insulting the legends!" Mo Kun shouted, though his confidence was shattered.
"I am insulting your stupidity," Tian Mo replied. He blew a breath of Qi onto the scroll. The "Dao line" dissolved into a puddle of foul-smelling liquid. "The future is not written on a piece of paper, Mo Kun. It is written in the actions of the living."
The Third Phantom: The Dragon's Egg
The final pedestal held a stone egg, the size of a human head, covered in scales that seemed to move under the torchlight.
"The Petrified Dragon Egg," Mo Kun whispered. "Our greatest treasure. We have tried to hatch it with fire, blood, and Qi for a century. It is the heart of our guild."
Tian Mo stood before the egg. He felt a faint, rhythmic pulse—not of a heart, but of a struggle.
[Divine Library: Target: Scaled Stone.]
> Subject: Ancient Thunder-Lizard (Hibernating).
> Condition: Starving.
> The Error: You are trying to hatch it with 'Heat.' This species is born in 'Absolute Cold.' By using fire, you are slowly cooking it to death.
> Flaws: 1.
> Solution: Submerge in 'Glacial Spirit Water' and strike the shell at the 'Vertex' point.
>
Tian Mo looked at the egg, and for the first time, his gaze held a trace of pity. He turned to Princess Ling'er.
"Ling'er, step forward."
The Gentle Princess approached, her heart racing. "Master?"
"Everyone thinks you are weak because you cannot handle the heat of the Sun. But you are a Heavenly Frost Vessel. You are the only one here who can save this life."
Tian Mo took a vial of Glacial Water from the shelf—meant for cooling furnaces—and poured it over the egg. Then, he guided Ling'er's hand to the top of the shell.
"Push your Qi. Not the fire you've been taught, but the cold that lives in your soul. Push it all in."
Ling'er closed her eyes. A blue, crystalline aura erupted from her body. The room's temperature plummeted. The Appraisers shivered, but the egg... the egg began to glow with a brilliant, electric violet light.
CRACK!
A small, clawed hand punched through the stone shell. A tiny creature, looking like a miniature dragon covered in lightning, crawled out and climbed onto Ling'er's shoulder, chirping happily.
"A... a Lightning Lizard? An extinct Saint-Beast?" Mo Kun fell to his knees, his eyes streaming with tears. "We were killing it... we were using fire for a hundred years... we were killing our own treasure!"
The 3-Star Ascension
Tian Mo stood in the center of the vault, the tiny beast sparks reflecting in his calm eyes. He looked at Mo Kun.
"I have identified your demonic basin, exposed your drunken smudge, and saved your dying beast. Is my 'accumulated study' sufficient now?"
Mo Kun bowed so low his forehead touched the stone floor. "Teacher Tian Mo... no, Grandmaster Tian Mo. You are not an Appraiser. You are the Gaze of the Heavens. I will personally deliver the 3-Star Supreme Teacher Badge to your academy by sunset."
Tian Mo turned to leave, but he stopped and looked at the Queen, Zhao Yan, who had been watching from the shadows of the vault entrance. She stepped forward, her dominating aura clashing with the underground darkness.
"You continue to surprise me, Teacher," she said, her voice a mix of pride and something softer. "The Auction House belongs to the Royal Family. Since you have 'cleaned' our vault, I shall grant you the right to take anything you wish from the main hall."
Tian Mo's eyes flickered. He walked to a corner of the vault, past gold and jewels, and picked up a heavy, rusty iron key that looked like it belonged to a dungeon.
"I'll take this," he said.
"That? That is just a key to a lost library in the Myriad Kingdom Alliance," Zhao Yan said, confused. "It has no value."
"To you, it's a key to a lost room," Tian Mo said, his silhouette disappearing into the light of the exit. "To me, it's the door to the next realm."
The Departure
As they stepped out into the evening air, Tian Mo was now officially a 3-Star Supreme Teacher. He had a student who could shatter stones, a Princess who could hatch dragons, and a Queen who looked at him with more than just respect.
But as he looked toward the horizon, his Divine Library gave a sudden, sharp warning.
[WARNING: The Otherworldly Demonic Tribe has detected a 'High-Level Information Breach' in the Hung Kingdom. Assassin deployed.]