Spsh! A scoop of icy water hit Xia Feng’s face, jolting him awake with a shiver. The moment he came to, a silvery voice rang out beside him: “Step right up, e and buy! Fresh stock just in!”

  Though the voice cked its former dylike charm, now brassy and bold, Xia Feng instantly reized it as Ji Xuanxuan’s.

  Looking toward the sound, he saw her perched atop a wooden post over a man’s height, hands on hips, hawking loudly like a vegetable peddler.

  Yet even in this crude task, her demeanor remained adorably captivating. Tied to her post was a filthy, disheveled man, his expression bnk and dull.

  Xia Feng quickly realized he, too, was shackled to a post, hands a bound. There were seven ht others like him—all sturdy men.

  Ahead y a grimy little square, shabby in the su’s glow, sparsely trafficked.

  But at her call, people swarmed over. Some shouted greetings: “Xuanxuan Sis, you’re something else—ock this fast!”

  Others teased loudly: “Xuanxuan Sis, got any with bedroom skills? I’ll take one for breeding!”

  The crowd erupted in lewd ughter.

  Unfazed, Ji Xuanxuan shot back with a grin, “Screw you! Bring your wife to pick—she’d know!”

  Amid the guffaws, she rolled up her sleeves and got serious: “Don’t just gawk—buy! This batch is top-notch. Look at these builds, these muscles—prime bor! Fair price too, twenty gold s each, first bid picks. Except this one—he’s fifty gold minimum.”

  Her whip poi Xia Feng’s head.

  Curious, the crowd sized him up, puzzled. “He looks sy—what’s special about him?”

  “You’ve seey of work sves, but a poetry-making sve? Ever met one?” Ji Xuanxuan sed the crowd smugly. “I’ve haons of sves—this is my first poet.”

  “Real or fake? Let’s hear a poem!” The crowd hooted. Seeing their doubt, she jabbed Xia Feng’s head with her whip. “Poet, show ‘em what you’ve got!”

  “Let me go, you wretch—I’m no sve!” Xia Feng thrashed, earning a sh. A burly man pointed his whip, barking, “You dare defy my dy’s orders? Poem—now!”

  Xia Feng noticed several menag thugs behind him—none looked friendly. Never in this situation before, he swallowed more curses, opting to avoid immediate trouble.

  “Be o poets,” Ji Xuanxuan waved the thug off. He slunk aside obediently. She flicked her whip at Xia Feng with a smile. “Recite those poems you told me—sell yourself well, or that amulet I bought you was a waste!”

  Feeling the aquamarine amulet still around his neck, Xia Feng burned with shame. He’d thought himself a suave dies’ man, always nailing the chase—yet this girl had pyed him, and now she’d sell him off!

  Gring at the sly beauty, he demanded, “What did you do to me?”

  “Simple!” She fshed a dimpled, toothy grin. “Just a little special seasoning in your bowl.”

  Xia Feng blinked. “I didn’t see anything!”

  “You were too busy staring at me to notice,” she mocked.

  Humiliation flooded him—he wao crawl into a hole. Unwilling to let it go, he snapped, “Yed me with knockout powder! Isn’t there w here? Aren’t you afraid of the authorities charging you with traffig?”

  “Traffig?” She paused, then giggled. “Poets sure talk fancy. Fot to mention—I specialize in what you call ‘traffig.’ It’s lised by Eastern Ling City’s Lord Aberd, my uncle. Get it, outsider?”

  Xia Feng choked, speechless.

  This ti wasn’t reality—no wyers to bail him out. A city lord here was a local king, ower inate.

  Depressed, he fell silent—and took another sh to the face. Ji Xuanxuan scolded, “Poem—now! My patience has limits, and I’ve beey o you, poet!”

  His cheek stung, rage boiling inside. Never in his life had he faced such whipping and disgrace.

  Xia Feng feared her death nor bloody brawls, but this helpless flogging was new. Weighing his options, he decided to deal with the threat nolot reveer.

  Thankfully, he’d memorized some Tang poems as a kid. He rattled one off: “The sus behind the mountains, the Yellow River seeks the sea. To exhaust the sights in a thousand li, asd yet one more floor.”

  “Sounds catchy, but it’s gibberish—what’s a Yellow River?” The crowd grumbled. Ji Xuanxuan shed him again. “Do it over—make it simple!”

  Realizing elegant a poetry was lost on these barbarians, Xia Feng figured they’d prefer pop lyrics or cheesy Qiong Yao-style verses. He picked a favorite song, reg with fir: “Today, I watow drift in the cold night, my chilled heart floating afar. Chasing iorm, shadows blur in the fog, the vast sky and sea—will you and I ever ge…”

  A few lines into Boundless Os, Vast Skies, the crowd cut in: “This poem’s crap!”

  Ji Xuanxuan whipped him. “That’s way worse than what you told me—are you even a poet?”

  “It’s not the poem—it’s the delivery,” Xia Feng snapped, stung more by their disdain for his favorite sihan the sh. Fetting his plight, he sang it out loud.

  Honed in karaoke lounges, his voice carried some of the inal’s soul. The crowd hushed; even Ji Xuanxuaed into the song’s s melody: “…Five my wild, unruly love for freedom, though I fear falling someday. Anyone abandon ideals—but I dread a day with only you and me…”

  When he fihe crowd lingered iune’s spell. Someone gasped, “This… it’s the a t of Atntis’s bards! Only Great Western Empire aern Xuan Kingdom nobles have heard such recitals! Even merfolk would envy that voice. Fifty gold—I’ll take him!”

  “Sixty!”

  “Sixty-five!”

  “Seventy!”

  …

  Bids soared, hitting a hundred gold s in moments, when a clear sh from afar: “Two hundred gold!”

  Silence fell. A bard was rare in this backwater, but ten times a normal sve’s price stuhem.

  Eyes turo the bidder—a man of twenty-five or six, in military garb, ramrod straight like a javelin. His face wasn’t imposing, even pin, but an icy, anding aura made folks avert their gazes.

  The crowd parted, some bowing obsequiously: “Young Master Axel, greetings!”

  Ign them, Axel strode to Xia Feng. Ji Xuanxuan’s face stiffened, f a smile. “Cousin, why’re you stirring trouble?”

  “I should ask you that!” Axel eyed Xia Feng, then faced her. “Is he a sve?”

  “Of course!”

  “I’m not!”

  She and Xia Feng spoke at once. Seeing Axel’s frown, Ji Xuanxuan thrust out a dot. “Look, I’ve got his voluntary svery tract—I bought him from a Bian City mert.”

  Axel studied it, then Xia Feng. “Show me yht thumb!”

  Puzzled, Xia Fee. Axel pared it to the paper, iing closely. Catg on, Xia Feng blurted, “That sneaky girl knocked me out with drugs—she could’ve pressed my thumb a dozen times!”

  “Is that so?” Axel turo her. She waved her hands ily. “No, no—this tract’s legit from that Bian City trader! Don’t listen to this crafty sve!”

  “I’m no sve, and I don’t know any Bian City mert!” Xia Feng protested. Axel pocketed the tract, eyeing him skeptically. “You say you’re not a sve—got any ID? Family or friends to vouch for you?”

  Xia Feng faltered, mute. Axel pressed, “You’re not local. Where’re you from? Why’re you iern Ling City? Any panions? If anyone prove you’re free, I’ll release you.”

  “I’m from Lo…” Xia Feng stopped, realizing no one here knew Luo City—or would believe he was from another world. Lying wasn’t his forte, so he cmmed up.

  “You don’t look like a sve—especially your poetry, rivaling even the famed bard gda. But without proof, I ’t help you.”

  Axel shook his head regretfully, then turo Ji Xuanxuan. “I’m buying him. I’ll send the two hundred gold ter.” Tug the tract away, he moved to un Xia Feng from the post.