God-Tier Villain

Chapter 27: Chapter 27

Beside him, Victoria’s willow brows gave a tiny twitch, she said nothing.

The moment his voice rang out, the entire hall dropped into silence deep enough to hear a pin fall.

Everyone knew what kind of beings occupied the third-floor rooms, Demon Emperors, or Upper-Tier Demon Venerables.

The domain held a single Demon Emperor and over a hundred Upper-Tier Demon Venerables.

By the voice, the crowd ruled out the Fairy Great Demon Emperor at once, either way, this was no one they could afford to cross.

The Lower and Middle-Tier Demon Venerables in the second-floor seats shut their mouths with great tact.

If no one else on the third floor bid, the siblings were his.

Soren’s total savings came to roughly one million five hundred thousand spiritual stones, every last one scraped together by Arnold and Bruce, living lean alongside the demonic birds and beasts, hoarding on his behalf, he did not have a single stone more.

Just as everyone assumed the hammer was about to fall his way, a deep, powerful voice sounded from a room several windows down.

"One million, five hundred thousand!"

Every demon’s gaze snapped toward that window, it showed them nothing.

None could make sense of it, that price had blown far past any inherent value of a Premium Spirit bloodline, even counting blood supply and bed-warming both, it shouldn’t be anywhere near this exaggerated.

Would an Upper-Tier Demon Venerable ever lack for beautiful women? Obviously not.

So what was the reason?

Soren laced his fingers in front of his face, expression hardening, an auction was a contest of purses, and the highest bidder won, he had one million five hundred thousand to his name.

The minimum raise was fifty thousand.

Which meant he was about to hand the siblings over on a silver platter.

"I’ll cover you, how about it?" Victoria saw his predicament and offered as if remarking on the weather.

"Consider it a loan, then, how much can you produce?" The matter was urgent, he’d square the debt later.

"Depends on how much you need, a few billion spiritual stones, I can still manage."

Soren nearly choked on his own saliva.

"What? You don’t believe me?"

He shook his head, he believed her completely, other Demon Emperors were nothing like himself, a freshly minted, dirt-poor Emperor.

They sat on foundations ordinary beings couldn’t fathom.

He just hadn’t expected Victoria to be carrying several billion spiritual stones on her person.

He’d heard rumors that the Great Demon Emperor of the Endless Demonic Domain kept at most one or two hundred million in liquid spiritual stones, Victoria had casually quoted a figure dozens of times that.

"Beautiful, and rich."

"I don’t think Fairy Great Demon Emperor suits you anymore, we should change it to the Sugar Mommy Empress."

Victoria’s lips curled. "Get lost."

"You will pay me back."

"Naturally." Soren nodded.

"We are both Demon Emperors, I trust you."

"Ahem, very good."

Victoria stole a glance at him from the corner of her eye. It wasn’t that she cared about so trivial a sum, but wasn’t this exactly the sort of thing that tangled her life a little further into his?

In high spirits, she drew a purple crystal card from her spatial storage and handed it over.

"There are one hundred million spiritual stones on this."

"Use it for now."

"Just remember to repay me."

"As for when... I’m in no hurry."

A hundred million, handed over just like that, the corner of Soren’s mouth twitched.

The reason Victoria trusted him this freely was inseparable from the relationship tier she now occupied.

Just as the auctioneer raised his hammer, Soren called out again and added three hundred thousand in one stroke, driving the price to one million eight hundred thousand.

The hall broke into uproar, and the auctioneer grinned so wide his face nearly split.

But it wasn’t over, the rival bidder added another two hundred thousand on top.

The sheer abnormality set off alarms in both Soren and Victoria.

"Who is that?"

"Only Upper-Tier Demon Venerables and Demon Emperors may enter the third-floor rooms."

"I know every Upper-Tier Demon Venerable in the Violet Jade Immortal Domain personally."

"And that voice belongs to none of them."

"Unfamiliar... and yet I could swear I’ve heard it, once or twice, somewhere before."

Victoria fell into silent thought, within three or four seconds, those bright red eyes sharpened to blades.

"The Great Emperor of the Moonveil Human Domain, Grant."

Soren’s eyebrows rose a fraction, he didn’t know Grant, had never met him, but he had certainly heard of him.

The Exalted Continent was carved into many domains, and not all answered to the demon race. Some belonged to human cultivators, though in proportion, demonic domains held the larger share.

If Soren remembered correctly, Lysara was a newly advanced Empress of that very Moonveil Human Domain, constrained by race and bloodline, the human race’s Upper-Tier Great Emperors almost all fell short of the demon race’s Upper-Tier Demon Emperors in strength.

The human domains, however, carried unusually high and peculiar destiny, so their Lower and Middle-Tier Human Emperors outnumbered those of most demonic domains.

In short, the demon race’s Emperors ran higher in quality, the human race simply had more of them.

Victoria propped her elbow on the armrest, rested her chin on one hand, and gave a light snort.

"The Violet Jade Immortal Domain and the Moonveil Human Domain are technically at war year-round, though it never amounts to much, friction between Venerables, mostly, both sides keep to a tacit understanding."

"The moment a true all-out war erupts, the other domains pounce on the opening, and that is a gamble neither Grant nor I can afford."

"But for him to enter my Violet Jade Immortal Domain now, and sit in on my Commerce Guild’s auction, masked... that is unprecedented."

"What is he scheming?"

Soren suspected Grant’s motive was precisely his own, Black Dragon Mountain.

Which meant this man could not be allowed to live.

"Kill him."

Victoria smiled faintly. "An excellent idea, I was thinking the same."

"A Great Emperor of the human race, appearing on my territory without so much as a greeting, even if I kill him, no one can call it unreasonable."