The city of Blue Cloud Drift trembled beneath the gathering forces of power and ambition.
Within the center of the realm-spanning Thousandfold Echo Hall, preparations for the next grand auction had reached an unprecedented scale. Invitations carved into jade and inlaid with karmic threads had been dispatched to over three hundred sects, clans, and hidden powers—many of whom had never before set foot within the echoing halls of the auction house. Now, driven by greed, fear, or mystery, they arrived.
They came not for trade alone, but to see the phantom that had begun to reshape the lower realm's balance: the mysterious overseer known only through whispers and rumors—the one who now controlled the Thousandfold Echo Hall.
Li Xuan.
No one had seen him during the last auction, but the brutality of his retaliation against a probing clan had sent a chilling warning. A single strike had erased the powerful Azure Condor Pavilion, vaporizing their mountain peak headquarters and erasing their patriarch's karmic thread from the fabric of heaven.
Now, few dared probe again.
But still… the allure of karmic artifacts, ancient techniques, soul contracts, and rumored immortal-grade remnants drew all.
Within the underground sanctum hidden behind layers of illusory space, Li Xuan sat motionless.
His figure, draped in plain robes of deep ink-black silk, blended into the darkness. A karma seal pulsed faintly on his forehead. Around him hovered four clones—each identical to him in cultivation, aura, and soul. Their forms shimmered with faint distortion, hinting at the terrifying cost paid in karma to maintain them.
Li Xuan's true self remained detached, emotionless. He watched from behind a veil, never interfering directly, yet every auction item, guest list, seating arrangement, and karmic resonance had been calculated by his will.
Through his mind-splitting cultivation method—Unending Mind Pain Sutra—he had recently endured three nights of screaming agony in isolated void meditation. In return, his mind expanded further into karmic comprehension. He could now glimpse flickers of a person's karmic past just by hearing their name.
Such power needed careful control.
His generals knew that well.
In a sealed chamber below the main auction platform, five of the seven Mahayana generals waited—each commanding an elite squad of nine cultivators approaching peak Nascent Soul and above. These seventy-two formed the core enforcement wing of the auction. But they were more than guards. They were executioners, spies, and enforcers sent into distant realms to bend, break, or bury resistance.
And they were terrified.
Li Xuan's control over their fate was total. Their cultivation soared only under his karmic oversight. Their families had been placed under silent surveillance. And each had felt his presence once—when he rewrote their fate strings in a private ritual that made them weep in pain for days.
The result: loyalty born not from belief, but from cold fear and inevitability.
On the surface, the Thousandfold Echo Hall opened once more.
The auction arena this time was vast enough to hold over ten thousand cultivators. Seating had been arranged by faction ranking, karma contribution, and historical obedience.
The first item auctioned was a fragment of a broken immortal sword.
Gasps echoed across the chamber.
The second item: a Karma-Linked Beast Egg, rumored to evolve into a realm-crossing predator with karmic devouring ability.
Silence gripped the elite sects.
The third: a cultivation scroll from a long-dead ancient who had once crossed into the Immortal Path, sealed in an hourglass of time.
Even the hidden sects began to shift nervously.
As the auction progressed, sect leaders glanced at one another, measuring, posturing. But none dared speak out of turn. Even the prideful Voidheart Clan, infamous for devouring rival sects, remained subdued. Their heir, a cold-eyed youth named Void Jin, sat silently—eyes fixed on the floating holograms of the auction items. He was not here to provoke. He was here to submit.
Yet even he did not expect what came next.
The auction hall dimmed. From the very air, a heavy karmic presence descended, weighing down on all cultivators below Mahayana. Even Nascent Soul cultivators gritted their teeth as their minds buzzed.
A screen of golden light shimmered above the central stage.
On it, seven names appeared.
"General 1: Bai Yue - Karma Flame Commander
General 2: Hei Qun - Blackheart Executioner
General 3: Lu Ran - Thousand Sound Whisper
General 4: Shen Mu - Silent Void Fang
General 5: Tuo Lin - Mountain Severing Spear"
The crowd erupted. Shock, fear, reverence.
These were not just rumors anymore. These were Mahayana cultivators revealed to be the generals of the Thousandfold Echo Hall. Clans that once scoffed at the idea of an "auction-led power structure" now understood. The Hall had become a hidden kingdom.
Of the seven generals, only five had been named.
Where were the remaining two?
Whispers turned to tremors. Then silence returned.
Above the screen, a final image materialized.
A shadowed figure. Silhouette only. A man with the karma seal pulsing on his forehead. Realms floating in his hand like glowing orbs. His back faced the crowd, yet even that made hearts tremble.
A voice resonated.
It was not heard—it was known.
"You exist in this realm because I allow it."
Then the vision faded.
Meanwhile, far beyond the realm, in a hidden plane above the lower worlds, an immortal opened his eyes.
He had been sent to observe, to assess. The mortal realm's balance was fragile. No individual should've risen so quickly, so secretly.
But now he had seen the karmic web.
Not just the auction hall.
Li Xuan controlled three hidden sects, twenty-eight false identities, and a hundred realm-wide shadow contracts. His karma was so vast and interwoven it had begun to affect fate calculation across lower heavenly pathways.
The immortal frowned.
"This one… is a thread not to be pulled lightly."
He marked the name in divine gold on his jade scroll.
"Li Xuan - Karma Shadow Sovereign"
For now, the immortals would wait.
Their ancestors were preparing to descend. Let the puppet strings dance a little longer.
After all, watching mortals squirm before the storm always revealed hidden truths.
And Li Xuan… was not like other mortals.
He was beyond fate.