Chapter 517

The Crown Prince of the Nether River Clan, Minghe Cangming, has actually come to the Nine Barriers Auction!

When that dark green figure appeared, the various powerhouses of the Nine Nethers all showed expressions of surprise, gathering in twos and threes, either whispering to each other or exchanging glances.

The human realm powerhouses noticed the disturbance on the Nine Nether platform and also turned their attention to that dark green figure.

"It seems that a major figure has personally arrived from the Nine Nether side."

Although the Nine Barriers Auction is a grand trading event where the human realm and the various Nine Nether clans exchange goods and resources, most of the Nine Nether clans only send some representatives to attend.

High-ranking figures like clan leaders or young masters rarely appear in public; even if they do come, they usually disguise themselves.

The same is true on the human side. However, to ensure the stability of the Demon Prison, each auction is presided over by a pillar-level powerhouse.

This time, the human representative in charge of the auction is Wei Zhenjie from the Central Sacred Land.

The atmosphere in the auction building became obscure and turbulent due to the appearance of the Nether River Prince, but the trading stalls on both sides remained completely unaware, bustling with noise as usual.

The auction was nearing its end; whether human cultivators or Nine Nether creatures, all were clutching their most treasured possessions, shuttling between stalls, engaging in the final and most intense bargaining and exchanges.

At Hua Changxi's stall, she was busy counting the remaining items.

Most of the Nine Nether artifacts and plants had been dealt with, leaving only a few high-quality plants and magic tools, as well as several storage rings full of Nether Stones.

She had already planned to use these Nether Stones to exchange for a batch of refining materials from the Nine Nether clans.

Just as she was about to pack up, a damp and chilly Yin energy suddenly filled the air.

Hua Changxi looked up and saw a handsome man in a dark green robe, with a watery Nether pattern engraved on his forehead, walking straight toward her stall.

The Nether River Clan!

Sensing the powerful aura of the newcomer, Hua Changxi's eyes flickered.

Could this person have chased her all the way from the Fifth Layer of the Nine Nethers?

No, probably not.

Not to mention that the Nether Deer was extremely fast and left everyone behind, but also, she had transformed from a Soul Clan member into a Ghost Clan member; her aura had completely changed, so the Nine Nether people should not be able to discover that she was the Soul Clan member who snatched the dark blue light orb.

With this thought, Hua Changxi decisively averted her gaze from the Nether River man and continued tidying her stall.

Until that Nether River man stood right in front of her stall.

Hua Changxi lowered her head, frowning. No way, is he really coming for me?

"Sir, you've come too late. All my good items are sold out. Please look elsewhere."

Cangming coldly observed the Ghost Clan member before him.

What a formidable disguise technique!

If it weren't for the rich Nether River water aura on her, he really wouldn't have discovered that she was the Soul Clan member riding the Nether Deer.

The Demon Tapir said that Soul Clan member was a human in disguise...

Cangming very much wanted to probe this fellow before him, but he held back.

The reason Nine Nether creatures and human cultivators chose to hold the auction here, aside from geographical reasons, was most importantly that the Five Directions Grand Array was set up here.

Once violence is used, the array will be activated, and the user will be dragged into it.

The Five Directions Grand Array is not so easy to break.

Cangming glanced at the stone platform in the middle of the auction building. At the four cardinal directions of the platform, there was a one-meter-tall dark blue hourglass placed.

When the Nether Sand in the hourglass runs out, the auction ends.

The duration from the start to the end of the sand draining is exactly eighty-one days in the human realm.

Now, the Nether Sand in the hourglass is almost gone; it's estimated that in another day or two, the auction will be over.

Cangming withdrew his gaze, looked at Hua Changxi, and narrowed his eyes: "Is that so? But this king feels that you still have other treasures on you."

Hua Changxi looked up at him and slowly straightened up: "What you think is what you think. I said there is none, so there is none."

Cangming's gaze turned cold; in an instant, the temperature of the surrounding air plummeted, as if about to freeze, causing the nearby Nine Nether creatures to show terrified expressions, creating a small area of turmoil.

Hua Changxi was not affected by Cangming's leaking pressure; instead, her own aura also became fierce: "What, are you planning to challenge the rules here and use force to coerce me?"

Cangming finally suppressed some of his anger: "Do you know who I am?"

Hua Changxi: "I don't know, and I don't want to know."

Cangming was so infuriated by Hua Changxi's attitude that he wanted to strike, but he held back: "…This king wants the most precious thing on you. You can name your price."

Hua Changxi: "The most precious thing on me is myself. Me—you can't afford!"

The strong cultivators in the auction building had long since turned their gazes this way.

At first, seeing Cangming actually arguing with a petty Ghost Clan thug, all the experts were greatly puzzled.

But seeing this petty Ghost Clan thug dare to openly confront Cangming face to face left them truly astonished.

The experts were already amazed that he could produce artifacts from various Nine Nether clans, and now they became even more curious about him.

Among the Ming River Clan, Cangming had always had the final say; now, being repeatedly contradicted and provoked by Hua Changxi, his anger reached its peak.

Although violence was forbidden during the auction, he still wanted to use a secret technique to teach this fellow a lesson.

However, before he could act, yet another powerful aura descended.

"Whoosh~"

A pitch-black sedan chair with surging ghostly qi descended from the sky, landing steadily outside the auction venue.

A Ghost King!

The Ghost Clan had actually sent a Ghost King!

In the auction building, whether experts of the Nine Nether or human strongmen, all their expressions turned grave.

Seeing Su Mingyue step out of the sedan, Cangming narrowed his eyes, and Hua Changxi's eyelids also twitched.

"Screech~"

Before the crowd could recover from the shock of the Ghost King's personal arrival, a piercing bird cry that shook the soul rang out from the sky.

The next moment, a nine-headed black bird swooped down under the solemn gazes of the crowd.

After landing, the nine-headed bird transformed with a shake into a black-robed man.

Ghost Car Mozhao!

Although Mozhao was not at the King realm, he was at the pinnacle of the Marshal realm, and with his innate sonic-wave divine ability that specialized in attacking souls, he was also very difficult to defeat in battle.

Seeing another powerhouse arrive, Hua Changxi's heart slowly tightened.

Had the Ming River man, the Ghost King, and the Ghost Car all come for the azure-blue light orb?

At this moment, Hua Changxi began to regret a little—if she had known the Nine Nether experts cared so much about the azure-blue light orb that they would chase it from the fifth level of the Nine Nether all the way to the Demon Prison, she wouldn't have snatched it!

Su Mingyue glanced at the Ghost Car, preparing to enter the auction venue. Behind her followed more than ten Ghost Marshals, among whom was the White Bone Lady, whom Hua Changxi knew.

However, at that moment, a sudden change occurred.

"Boom~"

A sword gleam as scarlet as blood, carrying a pressure that shook mountains, tore through the air and struck directly at Su Mingyue and her group.

"Xue Hua, are you determined to oppose this king?"

Su Mingyue roared in anger as a pitch-black ghost claw condensed out of thin air, swelling in the wind with dense ghostly qi, and slammed fiercely into the sword gleam.

"Sss~"

The sword gleam shattered, turning into a rain of blood-colored light scattered across the sky.

"How ridiculous. The Ghost Clan destroyed this lady's doppelgänger—if I don't kill enough ghosts to even the score, I won't be able to assuage my hatred."

In the void, a red dress flapped noisily as a stunningly beautiful woman stood in midair, surrounded by blooming spider lilies, red in an eerie, dazzling way.

As she spoke, the sword in Lady Spider Lily's hand never stopped; countless blood-colored sword beams poured down like a rainstorm, each containing overwhelming killing intent, straight toward Su Mingyue and her party of ghosts.

Su Mingyue's eyes hardened, and her figure shot forward to attack Xue Hua, no longer able to spare attention to protect the other ghosts.

Just as a scarlet sword beam was about to slash toward the direction where the White Bone Lady stood...

"Hum!"

A ghost clan member standing beside the White Bone Lady suddenly raised his hand, summoning a bone umbrella as white as jade.

The bone umbrella unfurled abruptly, mysterious runes swirling across its surface, and it steadily blocked the blood-colored sword light.

"What a powerful defensive artifact—able to stop an attack from a King Realm (Spirit Concentration Realm) expert; its grade must be at least six or above."

On the mortal world's auction tower, after the ghost clan took out the bone umbrella, Tong Yao's gaze was immediately drawn: "It seems to be forged from dragon bone."

Jing Liao, sitting beside Tong Yao, focused on the runes on the bone umbrella: "Looking at the runes on the umbrella... it feels like that bone umbrella isn't an object from the Netherworld."

Yan Zhenzhen said dismissively, "What's so strange about that? Quite a few mortal cultivators use Netherworld artifacts. Isn't it just as normal for that ghost clan member to use a mortal artifact in turn?"

Tong Yao, however, thought of something else and directly transmitted a voice to his two friends: "I've heard that various major forces have sent some personnel to infiltrate the Netherworld..."

Yan Zhenzhen's eyes suddenly brightened: "A powerful Netherworld figure suddenly appears in person—do you think it might be to pursue 'that human'?"

Jing Liao and Tong Yao heard this and both shook their heads with a wry smile.

"That rumor is too exaggerated. It's not credible."