Li Tailong swaggered like a king and looked down on everyone — even the Mad Ghost Butcher.
"Line up," he barked. "One by one. Hand over your Evolution Points. I'll spare you."
He Xiangliu pushed the black-cloth-covered stone forward and set it before the crowd. Nobody trusted him. Who would? In this mess, promises were hollow.
"Start with you," Li Tailong said, pointing at a base dignitary.
The man froze, proud posture gone. He gritted his teeth and stepped forward.
"Squelch—"
A sword aura fell. A head hit the floor.
"Young Master Tailong, isn't this too far?" someone protested. "They already moved—how can you—"
Li Tailong didn't care. He pointed at the protester. "Then you."
People began moving faster. Fear replaced defiance. One by one they went to the stone and emptied their balances. Those who gave up their points were locked away in a nearby room. No one expected mercy.
Chen Xiao counted silently. Li Tailong had collected points from nearly two hundred people — roughly ten thousand Evolution Points. A small fortune. Chen Xiao's lips twitched. Nobody knew what he was planning.
"Your turn, Jiangbei," Li Tailong snarled, finally pointing at Chen Xiao.
Chen Xiao walked forward without hurry. "You really want my Evolution Points?" he asked.
"Give them up!" He Xiangliu snapped.
Chen Xiao placed his hand on the black cloth.
[Evolution Opportunity][459,550 / 500,000]
Light erupted from underneath that cloth like a supernova. It swallowed the room.
"God—what's happening? My eyes!""This is too bright!""What is that thing?!"
Those who hadn't handed over points shielded their faces. Xingyue Base's core members were pale: "We were fifty thousand short! Why did it activate?"
He Xiangliu staggered, stunned. He had checked earlier—there were still over forty thousand points missing. How could it light up now?
The prompt finished:
[Evolution Opportunity][500,000 / 500,000][Creature No. 230001][Obtain Evolution Opportunity][Mountain and River Map]
Description: A strange artifact containing heaven and earth. It carries boundless geographical aura and natural laws.Effect 1: The holder may materialize scenery from the Mountain and River Map into reality.Effect 2: The holder can absorb vitality from ecosystems to rapidly recover wounds and stamina.Effect 3: The holder can freely use the map's internal space—store or retrieve items with thought.
The blinding light dimmed. In Chen Xiao's hand lay a scroll — glossy, ancient, edged with cloud patterns and golden silk, its rosewood rollers carved with tiny landscapes. It was over a meter wide and three meters long. Unfurling it revealed half a panorama: layered peaks, winding rivers, lakes and crags — a masterpiece that breathed.
"Deserving to die!" Yang Baiying lunged, rage flaring. "Give me that divine object — I'll spare you!"
Chen Xiao raised the Mountain and River Map, pointed, and said, quietly: "River."
The scene on the scroll rippled. The landscape pulsed alive. A colorless vortex formed, spinning like the primordeal chaos that split heaven from earth. Ripples snaked outward, and where they passed the painted mountains warped. A surging force poured from the vortex — a towering river, a wave with impossible pressure.
"All Things Water."
Chen Xiao tuned the river with his talent, turning it into a blade-river: sword shadows within the torrent. They shot at Yang Baiying.
Yang Baiying's confidence cracked. He roared, "Elephant God Possession!" His body swelled to four meters, muscles bulging like living stone. "Divine objects match heroes! Even if you have it, you can't use its full power against me!"
Spectators whispered: Yang Baiying was the strongest in Sanjiang; his name carried weight. If Dachang lost him now, it would be catastrophic.
But the blade-river was endless — it was fed by the map's energy. It slammed into Yang Baiying with a howling sound.
"Squelch!" "Squelch!" "Squelch!"
Muscles split. Blood sprayed. A dozen Dachang awakeners were shredded and sucked into the riverlike blades. Part of the auction hall collapsed and dissolved into starlight. The river never ran dry.
Chapter 86: Reward Another One
When the starlit river finally faded, the battlefield lay in ruin. Yang Baiying — once an unbreakable tower of muscle — was a ruin of blood and bone. His left arm and leg were gone; half his face obliterated, one eye a hollow. He coughed. He hadn't died yet. His vitality was stubborn.
Nobody had expected this.
"Yang… Yang Baiying lost?" voices stammered. "This isn't losing — it's butchery. He can't even fight back."
The crowd watched, horrified and awed. Someone muttered: "Maybe the expert who came here suspected foul play and came to punish Dachang."
Li Tailong's face drained of color. He dragged a dozen fighters to Yang Baiying's side only to find him dead.
Chen Xiao rolled the Mountain and River Map back onto its roller and slung it over his shoulder like a war axe. The map had exceeded his expectations. Its first effect — materialization — alone could change battlefields. The second and third effects were even more terrifying: stamina recovery and a spatial pocket. Recovery could erase stamina limits; the space meant he could roam with infinite supplies.
Li Tailong tried to bargain, attempting deception: "Jiangbei, that opportunity is powerful, but do you understand the price?" He flexed greed like a weapon. "This isn't just yours to keep. Hand it over and Xingyue Base will protect you forever."
Chen Xiao laughed. "You think you can buy me off?"
Li Tailong drew a jasper sword. Sword aura spiked the air: "Shu Mountain Sword Art: One Sword Overturns the Heavens!"
The crowd gasped; this was a revered heirloom. But the jasper sword's aura was ordinary compared with what just happened.
[Eight Directions Slaughter] dissolved the sword aura like acid eating paper. Chen Xiao tested the map again — he unleashed a smaller mountain from the scroll. It wasn't a real mountain, but a condensed manifestation with crushing weight. It crashed down from the sky like a colossus.
"This is impossible!" people shouted. The little mountain looked like doom itself.
Li Tailong tried to counter with Sichuan's Sword Art; the sword sliced the mountain into rubble, saving those beneath — for now.
Chen Xiao clapped once. "Reward another one."
At his words, another boulder fell from the heavens — bigger, heavier. The auction hall trembled.
The map's materialization had been proven: it could summon rivers, mountains, entire biomes — and all of them now obeyed Chen Xiao.
Around him, fear rippled. Li Tailong, who had plotted seizures and plunder, suddenly saw his scheme collapse. Chen Xiao's presence made the auction house a ruin where the rules had been rewritten.
The Mountain and River Map lay across Chen Xiao's back. He was no longer just a butcher in the headlines — he was a walking calamity with a world inside his hands.