The elder called Uncle Sun looked around seventy; a childlike face under crane-white hair, gentle as winter sun on old snow.

He held the rainbow shimmer of the scale the red-clad woman had passed him. He studied it for half an hour, eyes like needles in silk. At last his voice shook like a wind-touched bell: “This scale… is indeed from the legendary Heavenswallow Serpent.”

At his words, the four Heavenly Ascent Sect disciples who’d come with Tianqi Yu went wide-eyed, like lamps suddenly lit. Others might not know, but they did. Azure An had taken the Holy Fruit of Illusory Feathers and Immortal Phoenix Flame Grass in the Wildbeast Wasteland. Now this woman claimed the Heavenswallow Serpent’s scale also came from that wasteland. How could they not be stunned?

“If this lord truly intends to trade it for our Central Auction House’s bamboo coffin, it more than suffices,” Uncle Sun said, voice steady like a levee against a flood. “If anyone wishes to contest, bring a treasure that can rival a Heavenswallow Serpent scale.”

His meaning was clear as a blade laid on a table. Want the coffin? Fine. Put up something heavier than a Heavenswallow Serpent’s scale.

But how? That was a king’s scale, a crown on the heads of all fiends and beasts. To exceed it was like asking the moon to outshine dawn.

“This woman’s nuts. With a divine item like that, she trades for a busted bamboo coffin?”

“Crazy. Utterly crazy. Kids these days are smoke in a mirror; you just can’t read them.”

Voices churned in the auction hall like a restless tide. Nana Toki sat expressionless, her calm a sheet of ice. She knew she was paying too much. But if that coffin fell to the Protagonist Lord, who knew what storms it would birth?

She knew that xianxia routine cold: trash on the surface, artifact beneath, like moss hiding jade.

If Tianqi Yu cracked it and drew out treasures that could mend his hidden ailment, she’d have nowhere to cry, like rain falling into the sea.

So by reason and by gut, Nana Toki would not let the Protagonist Lord take that coffin.

“Since that’s settled, the final price for this bamboo coffin is one Heavenswallow Serpent scale.” The red-robed woman lifted her silver hammer, her smile blooming like a peony once the scale proved real.

Cultivators stared at one another, silent as a forest after snow. A Heavenswallow Serpent scale had already blown past the limits of their wallets and pride. For a gamble on a coffin? No need to jump into that river.

“Congratulations, lord. With one Heavenswallow Serpent scale, you obtain the seventh bamboo coffin of this Coffin Auction.”

The hammer fell; the sound was a clap of fate. Scattered applause fluttered like sparrows. Everyone thought it was over. Nana Toki stepped onto the stage, drew her Colossal Axe, and smashed the display coffin to splinters, wood flying like rain.

The hall gaped. She was a lunatic, right? She’d paid a Heavenswallow Serpent scale, then shattered what she’d bought as if crushing a dry leaf. Was she bored, or flaunting gold like sunlight on water?

“Lord… what are you—” Even the red-clad hostess blinked, stunned like a fox caught in torchlight. She’d hosted auctions for years and had never seen someone misplay the script so hard. For a moment she couldn’t even smooth the ripples.

“Hm? Why the staring?” Nana Toki stood over the wreckage, her tone light as incense smoke. “Never seen such a sultry, no-frills way to open a coffin?”

The cultivators: “…” A ‘sultry, no-frills’ coffin-opening, my foot.

Was she not afraid the treasure inside would turn to powder under that strike? And that coffin cost a Heavenswallow Serpent scale. Have some respect; even a blade bows to a crown.

“Anyway… let me see if there’s anything good inside.” Nana Toki crouched, easy as a street cat by a fish stall, and sifted through splinters. “Emmm… feels like something nice might surface.”

“…”

“Ah… what’s this?” Suddenly, she yanked out a black-spotted fish. The moment it saw light, a thick yin aura billowed like cold fog from a grave. It thrashed in her grip like a hooked eel. Nana moved fast; she flipped it into her Hidden Space before it slipped free.

“That shadow… Eight Cornered Ghost Algae Fish, right?” Though the fish had flashed for mere seconds, several on stage had seen its full shape. “Rare in Netherworld City… that woman’s luck is spring rain.”

“But compared to a Heavenswallow Serpent scale, she still bled heavy.”

“Exactly. Of all things to trade, she chose a Heavenswallow Serpent scale. That’s throwing pearls into a well.”

“Let’s see if the rest of the coffin pays her back.”

While the crowd kept buzzing, Nana Toki arched a brow. She’d stashed the Eight Cornered Ghost Algae Fish, and her free hand slipped back into the splinters. The coffin was big, a hollow tree with more birds inside. The System had mentioned the fish, but surely it wasn’t alone.

“Hm? What’s this?”

She drew out a jade tube, small as a bamboo segment, green as river water. It looked like any technique jade you’d see in markets. Under light it rippled with a stream of glow.

She was about to open it, then remembered the Protagonist Lord was near, his gaze a knife under cloth. She pulled her hand back, calm as a cat closing its paw.

Forget it. I’ll check once I’m out.

“Hey, fellow cultivator, open it already! Why stop halfway?” A curious voice popped up like a walnut cracked. A man rose and shouted, eager as a child at a fair. “Let us all see what treasure lies in that coffin!”

“Yeah, let us have a look,” several voices chimed, gathering like sparrows on a branch.

“You all want to see?” Nana Toki tucked the jade tube into her robe and smiled, warm as tea steam.

“Yeah.” The man and nearby cultivators nodded hard, eyes shining like lanterns at dusk.

Even the red-robed hostess set her gaze on Nana, hungry to learn what wind backed a woman who’d spent a Heavenswallow Serpent scale on a coffin.

“But why should I?” Nana’s smile cut off, clean as a snapped string. “I bought it. Why do I owe you a show?”

Everyone: “…” Fair as a balance beam.

“All right, we’ll end here. Start the next coffin.” Nana flicked her sleeve; the shattered bamboo coffin whisked into her Hidden Space like leaves into a basket. “You’re all grown and still coveting someone else’s prizes? If you want a look, spend your own coin.”

“…” If we had coin, would we let you carry all this off?

The cultivators sat back, helpless as boats in low water. She wasn’t wrong. They couldn’t force her to crack it here.

“How’s that, host? The System’s eyesight isn’t half bad.” Back at her seat, the System wriggled closer, seeking praise like a puppy wagging its tail.

Nana Toki didn’t bother to argue. She glanced for the exits, cool as a river finding its bank, then murmured to the System, “No more chatter. We’re leaving.”

“What’s wrong, host? Did you hand them a fake scale? Planning to run?” The System’s tone was sly as a fox under the eaves.

Nana Toki: “…” In this shameless System’s eyes, what am I, a thief in silk?

“Less nonsense. We slip, now.” She caught Blue Magpie’s hand, bent low like a shadow under a fence, and snuck toward the auction’s exit.

She’d watched the Protagonist Lord’s movements earlier. The four Heavenly Ascent Sect disciples near him had vanished like dew. Staying might birth trouble like mushrooms after rain. Better to leave first.

Besides, the Protagonist Lord looked furious she’d snatched his coffin, his mood a storm behind glass. If she didn’t bolt now, later escape would be like climbing a cliff with wet hands.

Buzz—

Like a strong electromagnetic hum right against the eardrum, wrongness hit the instant she stepped out of the Central Auction House, sharp as frost.

The street outside Netherworld City lay quiet as a tomb. People stood in her sight, yet they froze like a paused play, breaths held.

Even birds mid-flight, and falling leaves, stopped in the air like beads on a string.

“Space… got frozen?” Nana Toki realized this was a plot twist from outside the plane, a cold hand from an unseen puppeteer.

But it was too late. Behind her, the System, Blue Magpie, and the Heavenswallow Serpent turned to statues, fixed like carvings in old stone.

The whole world went silent, a bell that wouldn’t ring, as if Nana Toki alone was left breathing under a sky of glass.