Lin Qi's fame, or rather, the fame of his "contemptuous mastery," had spread further than Sect Master Wu could control. His "Void-Sealing Water Conduit Bucket" and the stories of his "Dao of Alchemical Contempt" made the Whispering Willow Sect a pilgrimage site for ambitious, bewildered cultivators.
To escape the constant stream of visiting dignitaries and the suffocating pressure of his own undeserved reputation, Lin Qi decided to take a day trip to the nearest major city, Cloud-Gathering City, under the guise of "researching regional fauna."
His actual goal was simple: to buy a comfortable, non-lumpy pillow.
He visited the city's largest Spirit Beast Market, a massive, noisy complex where cultivators traded exotic and dangerous creatures. Lin Qi was primarily looking for a soft wool cushion, but he got distracted by the Spirit Beast Auction currently in progress.
The Disaster Piece
Lin Qi wandered into the main auction hall, completely ignoring the ferocious 8^{\text{th}}-Tier Infernal Thunder Dragon Hatchling currently being presented on stage. He was inspecting a colorful banner that looked like it was made of nice, soft silk.
Meanwhile, the Auction Master was in a frenzy, trying to sell the Thunder Dragon. This creature was too fierce to be tamed; it had incinerated three trainers already. No one dared to bid, fearing its volatile power.
"A fearsome creature!" the Auction Master shrieked. "Capable of destroying a Core Formation Elder in a single breath! The starting bid is 50,000 high-grade spirit stones!"
Lin Qi, focused entirely on the silk banner, accidentally bumped into the main control column of the Thunder Dragon's containment array.
TILT!
The bump caused the powerful, multi-layered sealing array to momentarily flicker off—a phenomenon that should have resulted in the immediate, violent escape of the Thunder Dragon.
The Thunder Dragon, sensing freedom, roared in triumph and began channeling an immense surge of volatile lightning, preparing to incinerate the entire hall.
The True Dragon's Shame
Lin Qi's Absolutely Indestructible and Blind Luck (AII&BL) reacted instantly to the threat to his snack bag (which was now perilously close to the Dragon's lightning).
The Core of Infinite Density emitted a focused, yet completely unconscious, burst of the original Grand-Emperor True Dragon Pressure—the supreme dominance that G-EVS used to command all lower mythological beasts.
The 8^{\text{th}}-Tier Infernal Thunder Dragon Hatchling, preparing to unleash chaos, suddenly felt an overwhelming, crushing spiritual weight—the primal terror of facing its ultimate ancestor. It was the absolute shame of being an inferior, volatile subspecies in the presence of the true, hidden Cosmic Dragon Lord.
The Thunder Dragon instantly stopped roaring. Its lightning dissipated. It didn't flee; instead, it whimpered pathetically, its massive form shrinking slightly. It then fell into a submissive curl, pressing its forehead to the floor and refusing to move, like a child who has been caught stealing cookies by a terrifying parent.
The entire auction hall—filled with powerful Cultivators, Elders, and Merchants—fell into absolute silence.
The Accidental Acquisition
The Auction Master stared at the subdued, cowering dragon. The creature hadn't been tamed—it had been spiritually annihilated. It had been defeated by an invisible, crushing force that only it could feel.
The Master, a quick thinker, saw Lin Qi standing nearby, looking slightly embarrassed because his silk banner turned out to be coarse jute.
"The power! The absolute mastery!" the Auction Master screamed, pointing dramatically at Lin Qi. "The true master reveals himself! He has tamed the untameable with the legendary 'Mudra of Unspoken Command!' He didn't bid! He didn't even look! He showed utter, contemptuous dominance!"
He raised his gavel high. "This esteemed gentleman does not buy beasts! He merely claims them! I declare the Infernal Thunder Dragon Hatchling sold! To the master who tamed it with a single, contemptuous glance!"
The Original Maxim, shouted in mass panic: "If the beast won't sell, make the audience believe it's already terrified of the buyer!"
The Thunder Dragon, still pressed to the floor, was packaged into a reinforced cage and wheeled directly toward Lin Qi. Lin Qi was handed the deed and forced to pay the 50,000 high-grade spirit stones—a sum he easily afforded with the money he had been sleeping on in Chapter 5.
Lin Qi stared at the whimpering dragon, then at the receipt. "I didn't even want a dragon," he muttered. "I wanted a soft pillow."
He was then immediately mobbed by the Auction Hall's Elders. They didn't see a buyer; they saw a True Dragon Tamer who could command mythical beasts without lifting a finger.
The Auction Master, seizing the opportunity, declared to the entire city that Lin Qi was the founder of the new School of Contemptuous Taming.
Lin Qi returned to the Whispering Willow Sect not with a soft pillow, but with a humiliated, traumatized, 8^{\text{th}}-Tier Thunder Dragon that now refused to leave his side, forever fearing the "Mudra of Unspoken Command." He also carried a new, terrifying title: The Lord of the Vanquished Beast.