Chapter 72: Cangbaoge Auction

Whoa!

In that instant, the atmosphere that had been heated by Pan Wenbo's arrival suddenly fell silent.

All the disciples held their breath, their eyes never blinking as they scanned Li Mu and Pan Wenbo back and forth.

They saw Pan Wenbo's meticulously crafted moon‑white robe, and the aura of nobility radiating from head to toe.

A faint smile lifted the corner of Li Mu's handsome face.

Within his jet‑black pupils, a faint blaze stirred.

Long before Li Mu decided to discard those two youths and snatch the Jade Slip worth fifty thousand sect contribution points,

he had already cast the bait, ready to fish!

After all.

A place like Cangbaoge is practically a home‑ground advantage forged for Li Mu, right?

Why not fish a bit more and grab the first move?

Is that a person?

As for whether fishing like this will make me earn enemies everywhere,

Haha, that's hilarious!

As the saying goes, many lice don't itch, many debts don't worry.

Anyway, I've already slain so many people in Ziyang Sect, and the Heavenly Dao Treasure Scroll has nearly two hundred names of those who wish to kill me!

Rather than worrying whether my actions will make too many enemies, I'm more concerned whether this bait will catch me a big fish.

So far, the fish I've caught are still quite plump!

They look like rich thieves!

His thoughts swirling, Li Mu calmly nodded at Pan Wenbo's sharp gaze.

"Exactly!"

"They're all the ones I discarded."

His true Qi circulated slowly within, and his right hand, hidden in his sleeve, clenched into a fist!

Li Mu is confident that on his home turf he can incapacitate the opponent within three moves!

Hearing that,

Pan Wenbo's face remained expressionless, as if he hadn't perceived any provocation in Li Mu's words, and said calmly.

"Junior brother, youthful vigor is indeed a good thing!"

"But when wandering the jianghu, you must first know who you can provoke and who you cannot provoke!"

Saying this, Pan Wenbo leaned slightly forward and whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear.

"And I, precisely, am the one you cannot provoke!"

After dropping that line, Pan Wenbo lifted his chin and, amidst the crowd that swarmed him like a constellation, strutted proudly toward the front VIP seats.

"What a pity..."

Watching Pan Wenbo disappear, Li Mu felt a bit disappointed.

He had thought that when the other party arrived with their men, they would be impatient to trouble him!

But it turned out I had been rubbing my fists for half a day!

In the end, Pan Wenbo, right in front of me, let out a harmless, painless fart.

Then, after patting his butt, he bolted?

That really is a pity!

"Young Master Pan, that kid just now was so cocky!"

"Why didn't you let me discard that kid just now?"

"He's just a little trash that just slipped in from the Outer Peak; discarding him is no more trouble than crushing a chick."

At this moment, a burly strongman who had been following Pan Wenbo hurried forward a few steps, and in a gruff, booming voice said to Pan Wenbo,

"You fool!"

Pan Wenbo merely gave him a sideways glance and sneered,

"What status do I, Pan Wenbo, have?"

"And what status does that little trash have?"

"How can I, a person destined to become an Alchemist, target a newly entered Named Disciple in front of so many Inner Peak disciples at the auction hall?"

"If others see this scene, does it make me, Pan Wenbo, look mighty? Impressive?"

"How will others view me, Pan Wenbo, after this?"

"It's simply a joke!"

"If you can discard this person, I, Pan Wenbo, would feel sorry!"

"Yes, yes, yes..."

"Young Master Pan, the lesson is, the lesson is!"

"I, your subordinate, am foolish and failed to grasp your profound meaning!"

Scolded by Pan Wenbo, the eight‑foot‑tall burly man immediately bent over like a chick pecking at rice, repeatedly nodding in the most servile manner.

"Enough!"

Pan Wenbo, impatient, waved his hand away, then half‑turned, cast a gloomy glance toward Li Mu, and whispered in a low voice,

"Only, this Named Disciple is truly detestable!"

"When we exit Cangbaoge, you will personally break his limbs!"

"Also, remember to snatch my Jade Slip worth fifty thousand sect contribution points!"

"Yes, Young Master Pan!"

The towering, burly man straightened up at that moment.

He turned his head toward Li Mu, who was not far behind, grinning ferociously, and spoke each word in a voice just loud enough for Li Mu to hear, ominously saying.

"I guarantee that the next time I meet him, I'll crush every bone in his body!"

"Let him fully realize the punishment that awaits you, Young Master Pan!"

Faced with the hulking man's blatant threat, Li Mu returned a friendly smile, as if it hadn't bothered him at all.

"......"

After this little interlude, more people continued to stream into the auction hall.

The venue was already about seventy percent full, truly a popular crowd.

The lights in the hall suddenly dimmed, and the auction officially began!

It was Li Mu's first time attending a Qian Kun Realm auction, and he had hoped a sexy female auctioneer might take the stage.

To his surprise, the person who stepped onto the stage was a spry elder with silver hair.

The elder spoke in a witty, humorous manner, occasionally tossing out a couple of flirtatious remarks, adding a touch of fun to the auction.

However, aside from the elder's flirtatious lines,

the few spiritual weapons and Heavenly Treasures displayed earlier failed to pique Li Mu's interest.

Yet the grades of those spiritual weapons and Heavenly Treasures inevitably made Li Mu look forward to the upcoming items.

He thought inwardly, "Judging by the standards of the Cangbaoge auction, even among the myriad cities surrounding the Ziyang Sect, these belong to the topmost tier."

"However, this Cangbaoge auction is open only to inner‑peak disciples of the Ziyang Sect and supports only sect contribution point transactions."

"If it were open to outsiders, seats would be packed, and even buying a ticket would likely require money and connections."

So that's why!

The first lot at this Cangbaoge auction turned out to be a Yellow Tier High-level Technique—an exceptionally rare martial skill absent even from the Gong Fa Dian, with unique effects!

In the end, it fetched two thousand contribution points!

Thus, round after round passed.

When the sixth item was presented, Li Mu's spirit jolted, his eyes fixed sharply on the auction podium.

"A fifth‑grade Thunder Tiger Inner Dan!"

The auctioneer's voice suddenly echoed through the hall, and everyone wore shocked expressions, exclaiming in awe!

As everyone knows, ordinary demons only possess Demon Crystals, not inner dans.

For a beast to cultivate an inner dan, only under extremely favorable heavenly and earthly conditions does a sliver of possibility exist.

Because the conditions for forming a beast's inner dan are so stringent, its value far surpasses that of a Demon Crystal.

Moreover!

At most, a Demon Crystal retains only a fraction of a beast's pre‑death power, never exceeding thirty percent of its total strength.

In contrast, the inner dan?

It almost contains all of the beast's former qi, blood, strength, and even its soul!

Thus, even at a minimum, the inner dan holds about seventy percent of the beast's total power.

Seeing how his words had completely roused the crowd's atmosphere, the silver‑haired elder's lips curled into a smile.

Then he slowly lifted the red silk covering the tray and opened the wooden box crafted entirely from premium purple sandalwood.

Everyone craned their necks, staring intently at the purple sandalwood box!

And then saw.

The Thunder Tiger inner dan was about the size of an infant's fist.

However, it wasn't a smooth sphere as one might imagine; its surface bore faint, streaky, mottled blood‑vein markings.

Moreover, a faint red, blood‑cursed aura rose like a lingering mist, emitting an extremely terrifying energy fluctuation!

"Rumble—..."

"Roar!"

Suddenly, everyone heard a rolling thunderclap echoing through the void.

After the thunder, the majestic roar of the King of Hundred Beasts, a tiger's howl, resonated.

Then the crowd saw a White Tiger Illusion materializing atop the auction podium, emerging from the inner dan.

The tiger measured eleven to twelve meters in length, its massive body resembling a small house!

Even though it had been dead for ages, its sight still sent a chill down one's spine!

Its fur was snow‑white, faint dark‑purple electric arcs coiled around it, its entire body brimming with explosive power, muscles straining to tear the white coat apart.

As its tiger eyes scanned, a piercing, murderous aura spread throughout the auction hall.

Then the Thunder Tiger's gaping maw opened, its roar shaking the heavens!

This caused many less‑cultivated disciples to break into a cold sweat, shrinking in their seats.

It seemed as if the Thunder Tiger would spring to life the next second, lunging to bite the crowd!

The onlookers gasped, drawing sharp breaths!

"Truly, a great demon that can press down a Great Achiever of the Concentration Realm—indeed terrifying!"

"Crucially, this is an extremely rare Thunder Attribute Beast Inner Dan, immensely beneficial for tempering a cultivator's flesh and strengthening bones!"

"Indeed!"

"With this inner dan, whether for tempering the body, expanding true Qi, refining pills, and so on, it yields miraculous effects!"

In awe and fear,

The crowd glanced at the purple sandalwood box on the podium, their eyes betraying a hint of greed.

Li Mu saw this and his heart leapt sharply!

At this moment, the Thunder Tiger inner core displayed on the auction stage was clearly far more powerful than the Crimson Flame Giant Tiger he had encountered in the Yunshan Secret Realm!

Thinking back, when he faced that Crimson Flame Giant Tiger, he could only confront it head‑on when it was gravely wounded.

If back then he had encountered a Thunder Tiger at its peak.

At its terrifying speed, like thunder racing, Li Mu would have dared not even catch its attention and would have fled far away.

But the next moment, Li Mu felt waves of heat surge within his heart!

"When this Thunder Tiger dies, all its surrounding energy, qi, blood, even its soul are fully absorbed into this inner core."

"Within the inner core, at least tens of thousands of jin of its vital blood are stored!"

"Compared with the inner core he previously obtained from the Red Blood Demon Python, this is unimaginably many times stronger!"

"If I can get my hands on it, I estimate I could directly break through the Forbidden Realm: Eighth Forbidden, reach the Nine Bans Great Perfection, and my physical strength would break the one‑million‑kilogram barrier!"

"Then I could formally prepare to break through the Concentration Realm!"

"At the same time, this would maximize the boost to my own combat power!"

Li Mu let out a long sigh, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes.

"This item!"

"I must obtain it!"

As the Thunder Tiger revealed its true form and let out that tiger roar, nothing more required the white‑haired elder to waste words.

From the heated gazes of everyone in the auction hall, it was clear that the upcoming struggle over the Thunder Tiger inner core would be a white‑blade in, red‑blade out white‑edge battle!

The white‑haired elder, seeing the atmosphere reach its peak, slowly extended his palm before the assembled crowd, fingers splayed: "th Tier Demon General, Thunder Tiger inner core, opening bid, 5,000 sect contribution points!"