Chapter 217: 217. Chapter 214: The Auction at Yanyue City

217. Chapter 214: The Auction at Yanyue City

Ding Huan knew all this; further sophistry would be pointless.

What Qi Yushan could wrack his brains over and never understand was how Ding Huan had come to know these things.

"How I know is none of your concern. For the sake of a single demon pill, you even killed your own companion — you can see just how low your character truly is."

After Ding Huan finished speaking, he threw a punch straight down.

Qi Yushan had lost even the will to fight. To kill him with a spear at this point would be to sully his own spear dao divine ability.

"Boom!" Qi Yushan's head was blasted apart by Ding Huan's punch, a spray of blood mist bursting open.

He would never have imagined that he would die at the hands of a mere mortal he considered less than an ant.

"Fellow Daoist Ding, you killed Qi Yushan?" Sang Yuhe stared blankly at the dead Qi Yushan, her voice still trembling.

With a beckoning gesture, Qi Yushan's storage bag flew into Ding Huan's hand:

"The guy tried to kill me several times. It would be strange if I didn't kill him."

After pocketing Qi Yushan's storage bag, Ding Huan still felt a measure of contempt for the man.

Running around outside killing people and looting treasures every day, yet he hadn't even managed to get himself a storage bracelet — truly pathetic.

"Fellow Daoist Ding, thank you for saving my life."

Sang Yuhe was uneasy inside. She was both awed by how Ding Huan's strength had grown so formidable and worried that, like Qi Yushan, he might also kill her to silence her.

Ding Huan waved his hand and said:

"Senior Sang, if you hadn't brought me here, I'd still be on the Four Directions Star Land. You're the one who saved me first."

Sang Yuhe quickly said, "Fellow Daoist Ding, your strength far surpasses mine. I really don't dare accept the title of senior."

In a place where strength commanded respect, this was indeed true. Ding Huan didn't mind and simply changed how he addressed her:

"In that case, I'll call you Sister Yuhe. We're old acquaintances anyway, so just call me by name. Where are you planning to go now?"

"I don't know either?" Sang Yuhe shook her head.

Over the years, she had been fleeing from place to place and long since lost any place to call home.

As for returning to the Merchant Guild, she didn't dare even more.

Over these years, she had no idea what stories Qi Yushan had been spinning about her back at the Guild.

He would certainly claim she had taken the good things procured from the Four Directions Star Land and run off.

Ding Huan pondered for a moment, then said:

"I'm planning to establish a sect. If Sister Yuhe doesn't mind, you could come with me."

"You want to found a sect?" Sang Yuhe was stunned by Ding Huan's words.

Ding Huan was fairly strong, sure, but no matter how strong, he was only at the True Pill realm, right? A True Pill cultivator wanting to found a sect?

"Heh heh, I just want to find a place to settle down, and I've happened to find one. I have to give it a try — what if it works out?"

Ding Huan gave an awkward little laugh.

He was only equivalent to the Foundation Establishment realm; founding a sect would indeed seem laughable in others' eyes.

Sang Yuhe's mind kept snagging on those words — "what if it works out." She recalled that when Ding Huan had come from the Four Directions Star Land to the Triple Heaven Star Land, he had still been a mortal.

How many years had it been? While she was still fleeing for her life, he could already kill Qi Yushan.

If, when they had first met, Ding Huan had told her that in about three years he could kill Qi Yushan, she would probably have thought him mad.

Qi Yushan's corpse proved that for Ding Huan, going from mortal to killing Qi Yushan had taken only three years.

If Ding Huan could kill Qi Yushan as a mortal, why couldn't he found a sect?

"Ding Huan, I have nowhere to go either. I might as well come along with you and take a look." Sang Yuhe made her decision.

She truly had nowhere else to go.

"Good, then let's go now." Ding Huan took out a mask and put it on, then produced another mask and handed it to Sang Yuhe.

"Are we going to the place you mentioned now?" Sang Yuhe asked as she took the mask.

Ding Huan shook his head:

"No, we're going to Yanyue City first. There's an auction at Yanyue City — I plan to go take a look."

Sang Yuhe seemed to catch on:

"Did you spot Qi Yushan at Yanyue City and then tail him all the way here?"

"That's right. The guy had hunted me before, so naturally I couldn't let him go when I saw him. I didn't expect him to actually come ambush you."

Ding Huan didn't hide it.

Sang Yuhe sighed. People, after all, had to learn to fight back.

Her constant fleeing had given Qi Yushan the impression that she was easy to bully.

So when Qi Yushan discovered her cave dwelling this time, he wasn't even in a rush to act against her, and instead went to Yanyue City to buy an array disc.

Qi Yushan's grasp of arrays was a complete mess. The fact that she had been trapped by an array just now clearly meant Qi Yushan had bought a killing-trap array disc.

Ding Huan was about to conjure a fireball to burn Qi Yushan when he suddenly noticed Qi Yushan's belt — he abruptly recalled that Ding Qi had once contributed a storage belt to Qi Yushan.

Thinking of this, he raised his hand and snatched Qi Yushan's belt over.

His divine sense swept across it — sure enough, it was a storage spirit artifact.

Ding Huan quietly congratulated himself; he had almost missed out on a storage treasure. It seemed that in the future, he couldn't be careless when sweeping the battlefield.

After pocketing the storage belt, Ding Huan began setting up a killing-trap array.

Sang Yuhe was a little puzzled:

"Fellow Daoist Ding, Qi Yushan is already dead — why are you still setting up a killing-trap array?"

Ding Huan gave a sly chuckle:

"Where there is no foresight, there is sure to be present worry. I'm going to Yanyue City to attend an auction, and I'm worried that if some good item shows up there, my cultivation is too low and I'll draw unwanted attention.

Setting up a trapping and killing array is simple for me; even if I don't use it, it doesn't matter.

Sang Sang Yuhe sighed again inside—no wonder she was always being hunted; this woman had reversed the situation and killed Qi Yushan in just three years, their ways of thinking were utterly different.

She also realized she couldn't discern the rank of Ding Huan's trapping and killing array at all.

……

Sang Sang Yuhe had been constantly on the run and dared not show her face.

She didn't know about the bloody clash between Zi Xia Valley and Jiuyinmen, which had left both sides crippled and sealed their mountains; along the way, she kept introducing Ding Huan to the auction in Yanyue City.

She had been to Yanyue City before and had attended its largest auction, which occurred once every five years.

The organizer was Yandao Merchant Guild, a guild dominated by the Yanyue Sect.

"So there are some good items at this auction?" Ding Huan grew eager.

He immediately thought of the small booklet, his spiritual sense settling on it—he discovered it listed not only Foundation Establishment Pills but even Condensed Star Bamboo.

What caught Ding Huan's attention most was that the auction featured a top-grade spiritual weapon spear.

He needed this thing—even though he owned many spears, including one spiritual weapon spear.

But none of his spears pleased him; holding them always felt somehow wrong.

He did have a fine material on him, but unfortunately, he couldn't forge a spear himself.

Asking someone else to forge it made him hesitant.

Ding Huan suspected this material was extraordinary; if its true quality leaked out, his current strength wouldn't be enough to protect it.

"There are definitely good items— I remember Yanyue City's auction once sold a spiritual treasure, and even once produced a low-grade immortal artifact."

As Sang Sang Yuhe continued her introduction, Ding Huan's anticipation for the auction grew considerably.

When the two arrived in Yanyue City, only an hour remained until the auction began.

Ding Huan simply bought a private booth ticket, too lazy to seek out a rest pavilion, and entered the auction hall with Sang Sang Yuhe.

Large auctions attract many people, but few actually buy private booth tickets.

Mainly because Yanyue City's grand auction is only considered large relative to this region; in Zhen Yun Dao City, such an auction wouldn't amount to much.

As someone from a merchant guild, Sang Sang Yuhe naturally knew private booths were reserved for those with immense spiritual stones—or those who treated spiritual stones as if they were worthless.

Seeing Ding Huan spend over ten times the price for a private booth, she was speechless.

This auction did have some good items, but clearly none of them would reach Ding Huan.

If so, spending so many spiritual stones on a private booth was utterly meaningless.

She didn't understand how Ding Huan had become so formidable in such a short time, but she was certain he hadn't been possessed.

A person's behavior can be imitated, but their gaze cannot.

Ding Huan must have encountered some opportunity and acquired a large amount of spiritual stones, giving him the illusion that spiritual stones were easy to earn—but they weren't.

Once she got to know Ding Huan better, she needed to explain to him just how difficult it was to earn spiritual stones in the Dao cultivation world.

After entering the private booth, Sang Sang Yuhe understood Ding Huan even less.

Ding Huan's array knowledge was certainly not poor—why didn't he upgrade the spiritual sense-blocking formation in this booth?

The formation here barely blocked spiritual sense at all; a slight probe could penetrate it easily.

She was certain Ding Huan knew the formation could be upgraded; since he chose not to, she said nothing.

Ding Huan and Sang Sang Yuhe chatted in the booth for nearly an hour; after the auction began, he learned even more about the Dao cultivation world.

As the auction commenced, a middle-aged beautiful woman stepped onto the auction podium.

"Her name is Pang Xiangxiang, a senior of Yanyue City and an administrator of Yandao Merchant Guild—she holds great power within the guild."

Sang Sang Yuhe introduced her to Ding Huan.

"Her cultivation seems weak—how did she become a senior?" Ding Huan asked in confusion.

Sang Sang Yuhe lowered her voice:

"Pang Xiangxiang is said to be Yi Wandao's furnace vessel; Yi Wandao treats her very well.

After helping Yi Wandao, he preserved her foundation and granted her authority within Yandao Merchant Guild."

"I see," Ding Huan understood.

This Pang Xiangxiang had definitely practiced the Great Phoenix Crimson Cloud Art—that was a furnace vessel technique.

Ordinarily, someone who practiced this art and transferred their energy to another would die without fail.

Pang Xiangxiang must have gained Yi Wandao's favor: not only did she survive, but her cultivation was preserved at Foundation Establishment, and she gained status within the guild.

Pang Xiangxiang was beautiful, and her voice was exceptionally pleasant:

"Many of you know me—I'm Pang Xiangxiang, no need for further introduction.

The Yanyue City's five-year grand auction is about to begin, organized by Yandao Merchant Guild. Each time, countless top-tier treasures appear, and this time is no exception.

I don't know exactly what treasures will be offered, so let's unveil them one by one…"

As Pang Xiangxiang finished speaking, a jade box draped in red silk was teleported onto the auction podium before her.

Pang Xiangxiang raised her hand and lifted the red cloth, exclaiming with delight:

"The first auction item has not disappointed me—it's a Three-Tone Purple Rain Flower. This is a Level Five spiritual herb, one of the main ingredients for Xuluo Pills…"

Ding Huan froze upon hearing this—he had never imagined he'd actually find the Three-Tone Purple Rain Flower for He Chang Lao.

Funny enough, he'd left with nothing of his own, and now he'd stumbled upon the Three-Tone Purple Rain Flower first.

You should know that in terms of rarity, the Three-Color Purple Mist Flower is absolutely far rarer than a spiritual artifact used to store poisonous fog.