That room was the only place where Chen Wentian did not have a shadow anchor. The spiritual aura within the room prevented his shadow from entering and he only left an anchor right outside before moving on to other areas of the castle.
Still, with the conversations he picked up from the Glacier Palace elders and within the tunnels he could basically surmise what was happening. Frozen Netherworld Jade was even more dangerous than he originally thought. He didn't think Murong Aiyin could mess up so badly.
Murong Aiyin probably tried her best to neutralize the netherworld yin energy when she helped Long Yifei and the best young disciples cultivate. She didn't expect that the netherworld yin energy could not be suppressed by ice energy from the Eternal Winter Sutra. The corrosive energy still entered her lower dantian and into her virgin yin. As an immortal, she could resist it but it would be extremely painful and it also could not be removed. Her desire to win the competition no doubt forced her to ignore the discomfort and continue onward until it finally became unbearable.
Chen Wentian assumed her treatment was basically using yang to balance yin. The Divine Blazing Mountain disciple would be forced to use their Blazing Sun Art to help her dissolve a bit of the netherworld yin energy. That weird rune array probably helped although he wasn't able to get a good look.
He was still a bit skeptical as to how the relationship between master and first disciple soured to this point. He also couldn't believe she would sell out her disciples in order to get a little bit of treatment. His suddenly thought that maybe it wasn't simply treatment and that she was being cured through sex… but he eventually abandoned the idea as she still obviously had her ice art abilities. Plus, the idea was simply too disgusting to even think about…
The fact that both sect masters were cooperating also tied his hands. He couldn't just go in fists blazing and kill two immortal sect masters merely to save a few mortal women. The Immortal Association would definitely not see that as an equivalent exchange. They would surely lay down some heavy punishments on him if he did that.
For now, he could only wait and see.
---
Fen Jue sat in his office at the top of Lakestone Keep and frowned as he read the latest report from the elders. The disciples sent to help Murong Aiyin with treatment were recovering but he didn't expect them to get like that in the first place.
"Fuck!" He slammed the table in frustration and muttered, "Damn hag, if her deal wasn't so good for our sect, I would… Damn it!"
He brooded for a while before being distracted by a knock at the door. He sensed it was Fen Ziping.
"Son, come in."
"Father."
Fen Jue saw something was bothering his son and he could guess what it was.
Fen Ziping sat down across from him and said, "Father, when will they hand Fairy Long to me? It's been two days!"
It was interesting that Fen Ziping in front of his father was almost a completely different person from the one he showed to the world. He was like a needy brat from his tone.
"Ziping! You promised me you'll be patient!" Fen Jue rebuked, "The disciples are working hard to complete the treatment. It will need three more batches at least. They are all suffering for your sake!"
"Tch, so what. They'll be compensated. They knew what they were getting into. I even held back from taking any of those women because you promised me." Fen Ziping said stubbornly.
The father and son pair argued back and forth for a while. It was apparent that there was another batch of Glacier Palace disciples that had been 'exchanged' even before this most recent event. They were probably the ones that had gone missing in recent months.
It was obvious that even the managing elders didn't know the extent of disappearances. Divine Blazing Mountain had already accepted over a hundred Glacier Palace disciples at the Mind Focusing Realm. Given that Glacier Palace had over five thousand disciples at the Mind Focusing Realm, a hundred was probably just low enough for those treacherous elders to explain it away as unfortunate casualties.
In the end, Fen Jue firmly rejected any change to the plan. Fen Ziping could only sulk back to his room to vent his frustration on his harem of concubines. He had wanted to sample the fourteen women in the dungeons but the thought of them having served so many men already made him abandon the idea. He was the first disciple after all, how could he do it after all those juniors?
---
A few days passed uneventfully. Nobody bothered Fen Jue or came looking for the missing Glacier Palace disciples. Murong Aiyin probably managed to send some sort of message to Gong Liyun assuring her everything was alright.
Today all the Divine Blazing Mountain disciples at Lakestone Keep were extremely excited. This was because it was finally the day they had been waiting for. It was time for the auction that they had dreamed about, where they would finally be able to obtain a Glacier Palace woman as their wife!
The fervor had been building up for many days and it all finally exploded as the initial notification was posted about the auction. There would only be a hundred and thirty women on the auction block. They were separated into three grades from one star to three stars. The bidding for one star women started at one hundred contribution points with a buyout of five hundred contribution points.
This fact alone was enough to shock many of the disciples and cause them to collapse into despair. Contribution points didn't come easily. They were extremely difficult to obtain for the average disciple. A few hundred contribution points were about what a Mind Focusing Realm disciple could earn in an entire year. But they also had to spend those points constantly on cultivation resources. Many didn't even have a hundred in their balance and could only blame themselves for their uselessness!
The following numbers dumbfounded the disciples even more. Two star women started at five hundred points and had a buyout of two thousand five hundred. The price of three star women were even more astonishing as they started at two thousand five hundred and had a buyout of ten thousand!
The core disciples and seniors quickly realized that the two star and three star prices were directly aimed at their pockets. They gnashed their teeth in frustration at the cruel scheme of the sect master and the elders.
But would this keep them away from bidding? Of course not!
It was worth any price to obtain a Glacier Palace woman. It was simply the dream of every man of Divine Blazing Mountain!