Here is the full Chapter 7 of H
The curtain parted not with sound, but silence—so profound it consumed the entire valley. The Thousandfold Echo Hall had been reborn. No longer a modest auction house run by a few rogue cultivators, it had become a sacred ground—where fates were priced, karma bartered, and legacy auctioned.
It was dawn, yet the skies were blackened. Not by clouds, but by the soaring fleets, spirit boats, and flying palanquins of the hundreds of sects that had arrived. From the peak Nascent Soul clans of distant lower realms to ancient sects that had ruled for millennia, all now converged at one point, guided by an invisible thread—greed, curiosity, or fear.
They came for the Grand Auction.
The hall itself had been expanded into a city-sized floating structure, suspended in midair by arrays forged from karmic stone and soulsteel. A silver seal hovered above its central spire—a single, ancient character:
"Xuan."
No one dared speak its name aloud.
I. Hidden Behind the Curtains
Li Xuan sat high within the Core Pavilion, the innermost chamber of the auction hall. Clad in black robes without embroidery, he looked simple—almost like a young mortal. But his presence bent reality itself. Karma fluttered around him like moths around divine flame. His eyes, deep and void of emotion, mirrored the abyss. Upon his forehead glowed a faint mark—a Karma Seal, pulsing rhythmically like a heartbeat.
A jade scroll hovered before him. It contained the identities, strengths, and fears of every VIP attending the auction.
"Three immortal sect scions in disguise. Two Fate Cultivators. A puppet master from the Netherbone Clan. And a Black Flame prince from the Crimson Rift... Interesting."
His voice was void of warmth.
To his side, a man knelt.
"You may proceed, General Qi. Ensure that our performers do not fail."
General Qi trembled—not out of fear for Li Xuan's wrath, but awe. Qi had once been a proud Mahayana expert, lord of a grand sect, but after tasting the first 'gift' from Li Xuan—a bottle of Karma Refinement Elixir—he had willingly submitted.
Now he was one of the Seven Generals. Beneath him, he commanded Nine Crimson Talents, youths forged from elite bloodlines, each honed through fear and karmic torment until they resembled gods of war.
II. The Auction Begins
A gong struck.
The hall filled with tens of thousands of cultivators. Each seat had a faint karmic aura, ensuring only those who had paid in karma—or risked pledging their fate—could remain.
A middle-aged man with silver hair walked upon the stage. His robe bore a small echo-shaped emblem—he was merely a Senior Auctioneer. The real master never showed himself.
"Ladies and Lords... Welcome to the Grand Auction of Echoing Fate!"
Cheers thundered, but quickly died as an aura pressed down upon them.
"Let us begin with a small gift from the Echo Hall."
With a wave of his sleeve, a jade platform rose. Upon it hovered a single pill, glowing dark violet, wrapped in golden threads of karma.
"Soulvein Resurrection Pill. Revives even a shattered nascent soul... Starting bid: one million karma threads."
Silence.
Then chaos.
Clans began shouting bids. Karmic flames burned as fate was pledged to the hall. Those who bid without enough karma felt their life essence shudder—as if something began recording their debt.
III. Fear Forged Genius
From the upper realms of the hall, they watched.
Dozens of elite youths—each bearing the mark of powerful factions—sat in a sealed pavilion. Their eyes held pride, defiance... and fear.
These were Li Xuan's hidden tools.
Take Ye Qing, a young scion of the Cloudblight Sect. Once arrogant, he had been captured during a probe against the auction. Instead of death, he had been enslaved with karmic bindings and forced to fight endless duels in illusionary realms. Each time he died, pain etched understanding into his bones.
Now, Ye Qing sat silent, eyes glowing with clarity and killing intent. His cultivation—once Foundation—was now mid Nascent Soul. He was barely 19.
Another, Luo Fen, the daughter of the Bone Whispers Sect, used to flay enemies for fun. Now she flayed herself under karmic pressure to grow stronger. Her bloodline had awakened after she tasted true despair.
They were no longer heirs. They were weapons. Tools honed by Li Xuan's doctrine:
Fear tempers talent. Obedience preserves fate.
IV. The Auctioned Realms
The next item silenced even the Mahayana spectators.
A floating orb was revealed—a miniature world spinning in glass.
"This is the Verdant Coffer Realm, a sealed minor realm of tremendous spiritual density. Contains multiple origin veins, three lost sect ruins, and possibly a sleeping Dao beast."
The hall shook.
"Auctioned as is. Starting bid: Five million karma. No refunds."
No refunds, indeed. The realm might be cursed—or worse, protected by ancient immortal arrays. But it didn't matter. The value was astronomical.
The bidding war lasted two hours. In the end, it was bought by the Nine Suns Pavilion for 8.9 million karma and the pledge of a virgin Dao Seed.
Li Xuan, observing from above, noted everything. The buyer's sect had old enmities with the Flame Wind Temple—another faction whose auction invite had been lost.
War would soon break out. And the Echo Hall would benefit—by auctioning the corpses.
V. Behind the Veil
As night fell, a cultivator in golden robes stood. His aura was concealed, but his presence disrupted the auction's flow.
He did not belong.
A whisper reached Li Xuan's ears: "An immortal... descending."
This was no mere cultivator. He came from the true Immortal Realm—a warden sent to judge the disturbance below.
Li Xuan did not flinch.
Instead, a message was sent directly to the immortal's mind—an unspoken karmic thread connecting them. It whispered:
"Observe. But do not interfere. Not yet."
The immortal's eyes widened. He saw shadows—seven vast sects hidden under the surface. He saw Li Xuan's control not just over the auction hall, but over assassination guilds, rogue cultivator unions, beast taming sects, and pill refining associations.
He saw that Li Xuan was not the face of the auction—he was the foundation.
The immortal vanished without a word. But he left behind a warning: "When our ancestors descend... nothing will be hidden."
VI. The Five Revealed Generals
As the auction neared its climax, a massive illusionary scroll unfurled above the stage.
"From this day forth," the auctioneer declared, "the Echo Hall shall formally introduce five of its inner pillars."
One by one, their names echoed.
General Qi – The Blade of Echo.
General Lan – Mistress of Sealed Karma.
General Ruin – The Smiling Executioner.
General Yun – The Unseen Hunter.
General Zhen – Fire of Thousand Tribulations.
Each had reached Mahayana. Each commanded Nine Crimson Talents. Each had erased an entire sect in the last year under Li Xuan's silent orders.
The crowd—especially the upper realm clans—shivered.
If this was five... what of the other two?
VII. Seeds of Influence
While the world raged in whispers, Li Xuan made his move.
His clone, robed identically, appeared in a distant realm under the alias Elder Fan. There, a small sect named Twilight Ember Sect had flourished mysteriously in recent months.
No one knew it was his.
This sect trained auctioneers, produced talismans imbued with karma, and fed spiritual herbs into the Echo Hall pipeline.
It was one of thirty-three hidden nodes. Each tied to a realm. Each subtly shifting the power structure without overt war.
Li Xuan didn't need to conquer realms with armies. He simply bought them piece by piece—in influence, debt, or blood.
VIII. Fate's Whisper
Near the auction's end, the crowd was silenced one final time.
The stage darkened.
"The final item..." the auctioneer's voice trembled slightly.
A bronze ring floated upward. Upon it, a flame burned silently. A flame that devoured not wood—but fate.
"This is the Ring of Ascending Threads."
"Two enter. One leaves. Winner absorbs the fate of the loser."
A hush.
"And so we announce: The Fate Ring Tournament begins in one month. Winner... shall join the Echo Hall's core."
The cultivators shuddered.
Fate itself was now a commodity.
IX. And So the Game Begins
As the auction concluded, the skies darkened further—not from clouds, but warships. As factions left, they began watching each other. Old alliances fractured. New blood debts were born.
And Li Xuan watched from above it all.
Expressionless.
Emotionless.
A seal of karma glowing on his brow.
The world had only seen five generals. They had only seen one auction. They had not yet heard the scream of the ancient realms. Or the birth cry of the Karma Immortal Path.
But they would.
Soon.
End of Chapter