553: Chapter 553 Thirty million! Are you crazy?!

Su Chen took a deep breath as the clamorous heat of the auction house washed over him, but his heart remained calmer than anyone's.

A flicker of sharp light, barely perceptible, flashed in the depths of his eyes before he quickly concealed it, continuing to play his part as a lazy slacker.

Alright, the good show is starting.

He was going to continue performing this world-view-shattering drama for everyone right here, clear as day.

He suddenly sprang up from that comfortable warm jade reclining chair.

It hadn't even been three minutes since Qian Duoduo had finally managed to put his dangling heart back in his chest.

Seeing Su Chen jump up like that, Qian Duoduo felt his heart leap straight out of his chest.

His originally pale, chubby face instantly lost all color from fright, leaving only his two small eyes wide and round, filled with panic and worry for his coin purse.

"Boss? You... you're going to again?" Qian Duoduo's voice was shaking, and before he could finish, he was choked by an Aura that stopped any further words from coming out.

Su Chen ignored him completely, acting as if he hadn't heard. He strode toward the window, each step exuding an indescribable ruthlessness and gravity; his white robes even looked somewhat tragic in the dim light.

He stared straight ahead, his presence shifting instantly with every step.

As he stood before the window, his expression underwent a sudden transformation.

One moment, his eyes were full of lazy comfort and his mouth held a casual smirk, appearing indifferent to everything.

The next, an indescribable flame ignited in his eyes—deep and burning hot.

Su Chen slammed his hands onto the window frame, gripping it so tightly his knuckles turned white and the veins on the back of his hands bulged.

He leaned forward slightly, his back arched, looking like a man driven to the brink of madness, ready to risk everything.

His eyes were wide, fixed deathly on the ancient scroll on the auction stage.

He looked as if he wanted to leap out the window immediately, seize the formation diagram, and clutch it to his chest, never letting anyone else touch it.

His voice even carried a carefully designed rasp and tremor.

That tremor wasn't from fear, but from extreme suppression and urgency, as if it might snap at any moment, tearing through all pretense to reveal a violent frenzy.

Then he spoke, each word forced out of his chest with every ounce of his strength, carrying a near-demonic obsession.

"Thirty million!"

When he roared this number, he deliberately let his voice crack slightly, making it sound raw and broken. Through the amplification Formation of the auction center, the sound reached every corner.

"Buzz—"

The effect of this number crashing into the hall was ten times more explosive than the previous bidding for the immortal body marrow core. It wasn't just a bid; it was an invisible shockwave that instantly triggered an energy storm in every corner of the auction center, making everyone feel their Divine Soul shudder.

The starting price was ten million, and he had tripled it in one go, bidding thirty million just for a damaged formation diagram.

The Cultivators in the hall were all dumbfounded. All the noise vanished instantly as if the air had been sucked out. Most of them had just barely recovered from the thirty-million-dollar farce of the immortal body marrow core, and now this was happening—they hadn't even had time to digest the bizarre actions of the previous sucker.

"This... this guy is really insane, isn't he?!" a Cultivator muttered to himself, his face pale, feeling as though his worldview was cracking apart.

"No way... didn't he give up on the immortal body marrow core just now? Why is he bidding thirty million for this formation diagram?! And he jumped straight to that price in one breath!" Another Cultivator rubbed his ears vigorously, doubting if he had heard correctly.

"My god... just how much... how much money does he have?! Could he be some spendthrift scion from a Golden Immortal Sect?" More people erupted into chaos. After a brief silence, the discussions turned into a deafening roar that made the entire auction house shake.

At this moment, everyone's gaze was filled with shock, suspicion, confusion, and fervor, staring fixedly at the window of Box Number One.

Inside Box Number One.

Qian Duoduo was frozen in place, slumped on the floor. His mind was racing at such a high speed it was overloading, desperately trying to pull back his collapsing sanity under the impact of Su Chen's bid.

Thirty million.

The boss had called thirty million again.

The last time he called thirty million, it was fake; it was acting, it was baiting. He had seen with his own eyes how the boss used his superb acting skills to play those two groups of people like fiddles, getting an epic thirty-million-dollar show for free.

But what about this time?

Qian Duoduo's small eyes stared fixedly at Su Chen's back. Those eyes, which usually only calculated Immortal Stones, were now filled with nothing but thick, inescapable terror.

He saw Su Chen's knuckles turning white against the window frame and the veins bulging out—that was real exertion.

He saw Su Chen's leaning posture and his entire body shaking, a kind of reckless desperation that looked like he was about to fall into a bottomless abyss.

He saw Su Chen's tensed back, looking as though his bones were about to snap from extreme suppression.

Holy crap, this doesn't look like acting; this is a genuine outpouring of emotion! The boss has really gone mad!

Qian Duoduo's heart slammed against his chest with a thud, the pain making his fat tremble. He felt like he was going to drop dead on the spot; that thirty million was like a death warrant coming to take all his Immortal Stones and his life.

"Bo... Boss..." His voice was squeezed out as if someone were strangling him, dry and hoarse, filled with deathly despair and a hint of pleading.

"This time... are you for real... are you putting your life on the line?!"

Su Chen didn't look back. His eyes were fixed on the damaged formation diagram on the auction stage. He knew Qian Duoduo was on the verge of collapse, but that was exactly the effect he wanted.

Of course, he was seriously acting, but he couldn't say that out loud. He needed everyone to believe he was serious, including his own teammate. Only by deceiving his own teammate could he deceive the enemy—this was the core truth he had summarized from his ten thousand years as a salted fish.

In a raspy voice heavy with suppressed fire, carrying an unquestionable coldness and irritability, Su Chen forced two words through his gritted teeth.

"Shut up."

Those two words stabbed deep into Qian Duoduo's chest. Qian Duoduo's mouth snapped shut instantly. He was so scared he didn't even dare to breathe, his eyes wide as his fat body went limp, slumping into a heap on the floor.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the hall.

Private Room Number Seven.

Behind the curtains.

When Han Rui heard the number thirty million, his scalp tingled and an unprecedented surge of anger rushed to his head. He snapped his head toward Lin Wan, wanting to curse this little shrimp from the Lower Realm for being so bold as to repeatedly provoke the majesty of the Xuantian Immortal Sect.

However, Lin Wan's reaction left him stunned.

She wasn't angry.

She wasn't anxious.

She was smiling.

Beneath the black veil, a sweet dimple appeared on her half-charred, half-jade face. Her entire body was shaking, but that trembling was filled with an indescribable excitement—a morbid fervor that seemed ready to burn her very Soul, making the surrounding air feel sticky.

"He wants to buy a Killing Formation." Lin Wan's voice was hoarse and trembling, with a static-like hiss; every word was cold and venomous.

"Han Rui, did you hear that? He wants to buy a Killing Formation!" She turned her head, her unburned left eye flashing with a dangerous light in the darkness, a light filled with absolute confidence.

Han Rui frowned, suppressing the discomfort in his heart. "So? What does that prove? He's just a trapped beast putting up a final fight."

"It proves he's afraid! He knows we'll kill him once he leaves the city! He's feeling despair!" Lin Wan stood up abruptly, her unburned hand clenched into a tight fist. Her breathing was fast and heavy, her words full of the cruel ecstasy of having her suspicions confirmed.

"He called out that astronomical price of thirty million because this formation diagram is his last means of survival! He wants to use a diagram that can trap and kill a Profound Immortal to fight for his life against us once he's out of the city! This is his final struggle, his only trump card! He's at the end of his rope!"

Her analysis was fast and precise, her logic perfect; every link in her reasoning was tightly connected without a single flaw. In her view, an ant who had shown too much wealth at this auction would naturally be desperate to grab a Killing Formation even if it meant bankruptcy—the motive couldn't be clearer.

He was grasping at the final straw, and she, Lin Wan, would personally snatch that straw from his hand, letting him taste exactly what despair felt like. This pleasure of intellectual suppression was far more satisfying than simply killing him!

A morbid fire burned in Lin Wan's eyes, the fervor so intense that fine wisps of green smoke rose from the charred half of her face. She slowly turned to Han Rui, her voice dropping to a deep, icy whisper, so low only the two of them could hear, piercing into the depths of the Soul with an unquestionable command.

"Han Rui." Though her voice was small, it carried an indomitable will, each word heavy. "We must snatch this formation diagram away."