The fame of a man followed him like his shadow. In the Sea Dragon Star Area, there were many legends about Hu Tianshan. Many of the great figures the youngsters had admired for a very long time were present today. This came as an enormous impact on the psyche of the younger generation.
In the Cultivation World, the strong prevailed. As long as one was strong enough, he would have many admirers.
“The King of Elemental Elves has come as well?”
“Look at him, he is so cautious. He is really a fence-sitter. Before, he even wanted to give up Nina in order to ride on Tiger Talisman Royal Family’s coattails. But when he saw that Zhang Hanyang and his people were powerful, he directly sided with the Cloud Shadow Sky. Haha, it’s true that a wise man submits to circumstances.”
“That’s not necessarily the case,” someone retorted. “Although the King of Elemental Elves is cowardly and does not have the passion that a cultivator should have, he is still relatively steady. I heard that he is going to abdicate. The next King of Elves is Nina. Maybe when we see the seventh princess again, we will have to call her Majesty.”
“Really? In that case, the King of Elves is quite canny. Well, I had thought that someone would marry Princess Nina at her Coming of Age Ceremony. Who would’ve thought that she would become a queen in the blink of an eye? Her status will rise by leaps and bounds.”
“It’s all because of Zhang Hanyang and his group. This is incredible. I wonder where such a group of mighty cultivators came from.”
“Shh, the Cloud Shadow Sky and the others are here!”
“What a large group! There must be more than 300 of them, right? The Sundering Light Sect, the Azure Rainbow Sect, the Gold Sun Sect… Hiss! Never thought so many sects would join hands with the Cloud Shadow Sky. Gosh, that’s scary! Their alliance is stronger than that of the Tiger Talisman Royal Family!”
“As I’ve said before, if the two sides get violent, their fight will turn into a world war in the Sea Dragon Star Area. It will be a violent turmoil. Eh? I wonder which one is Zhang Hanyang. Have any of you seen him before?”
“No. Perhaps he is in the crowd? The people of the Tiger Talisman Royal Family and the Cloud Shadow Sky alone will at least occupy 10 rooms, won’t they?”
“The Silver-winged Hall’s people are here! Zhong An, their vice hall master of the main hall, is also here! Look at how relaxed they are when they’re chatting. Zhong An has really risen to power in one move.”
“That’s the King of Dwarves? People from the Snowfall Alliance and the Sea Spa Alliance have also come. There are really a lot of big forces here today. Almost all the major forces across the Sea Dragon Star Area have gathered here.”
“…”
One after another, renowned sects and clans arrived.
During this period, an enormous snake-like steel beast slowly approached the space station.
Many people didn’t seem overly amazed when they saw the steel beast. They just felt that its appearance was quite cool. It should be a custom-made main vessel of a certain force.
But if Zhang Han and Yue Wuwei saw it, they would definitely say two words—king vessel!
King vessels were high-end products even for the Heavenly Dragon Star Province. A king vessel could cross the Blue Sand Wind Domain. Having a king vessel was enough proof of one’s high status.
However, this king vessel parked at the edge, as though trying to stay low-key. Then, an aircraft appeared.
The people inside were precisely Lorry, Loron, and the few others whom Zhang Han and his group had met once before.
They passed through the many checkpoints at the space station and arrived near the auction venue. Then, they directly entered the passageway leading to the private rooms.
A grand auction was about to begin.
Before that, many people in the private rooms were discussing their own businesses.
Lorry was sitting on the edge of her chair in the private room, looking tense.
With a worried expression on her face, she asked the elder beside her, “Uncle Loron, could you please ask if there’s any news of that man?”
“I’ve just checked. His friend hasn’t come yet. The auction will last an entire day. I wonder if he will come.”
“If he doesn’t come, then we’ll wait here.” Lorry’s face showed stubbornness.
“We’d better hope he will come. But if he doesn’t…” A trace of coldness flashed through Loron’s eyes.
“Do they really think that I have a good temper?”
If that man didn’t come, he planned on teaching the Koro Sect a lesson. He would make them see the reality of the situation and do whatever they could to track that man down for him.
In Room 6.
Hu Tianshan and the higher-ups representing more than a dozen of his allies were sitting there.
“The Cloud Shadow Sky and their lot are here!”
Someone said, “I didn’t expect them to have made so much preparation. They’ve aligned with more than 20 sects and forces, including Zhang Hanyang. Brother Tianshan, today…”
“Today we are here for the auction,” Hu Tianshan said coolly.
His expression was rather calm, so no one noticed his hidden anger and helplessness.
There was nothing that he could do about it. After all, the Cloud Shadow Sky was not a pushover. It was even a bit stronger than the Tiger Talisman Royal Family. There was a suspected God Transformation Realm cultivator in that sect, which put Hu Tianshan’s team under great pressure. In addition, the Cloud Shadow Sky had also gained all those allies, which was also very troubling.
What Hu Tianshan didn’t know was that those behind him heaved with a sigh of relief upon hearing his words.
They were truly afraid that Hu Tianshan would fight the other party head-on.
They thought it was best not to start a war of this scale without warning.
If they were too wary, then they would doubt their every move and probably be defeated.
As for Zhang Han’s group, in addition to Zhang Mu and others, there were only Li Hao, Mrs. Li, Li Mu, Nina, Mo Wen, and the King of Elves who came over to say hi.
At first, the atmosphere was rather awkward, for no one greeted the King of Elves.
Eventually, Mo Wen said, “Your Majesty, you’re here!”
“Haha, yes, I came to see you people.”
The King of Elves then took a seat beside Mo Wen.
He sighed in his heart and thought, “No one but my own clansman said hello to me. Am I not welcome here?”
Fortunately, Nina also took the initiative to greet him. Seeing Nina do that, Chen Chuan also waved at him and say hello.
Now he finally felt he was not invisible here.
Zhang Han and the others tacitly did not say anything about this.
No one paid attention to the King of Elves. Nina was more and more important to the Elemental Elf Clan. However, she was only at the Yuan Ying Realm Early-Stage, so she could not thoroughly overawe the entire Elf Clan.
Besides, everyone knew the King of Elves was pretty much a fence-sitter. Thus it was normal that no one wanted to greet him.
The guests didn’t have to wait too long.
About half an hour later, the sect leader of the Koro Sect went onto the stage in person.
He didn’t need a microphone because he had magically amplified his voice.
In a clear and carrying voice, he announced, “Welcome to the Koro Sect’s grand auction. I’m Sect Leader Luo. I am extremely honored to see more than half of the famous clans and nobles in the Sea Dragon Star Area gathered here. The main auction will start today and will last for an entire day. In the next three days, the Koro Sect will also hold a bartering event. Those who are interested can come to the event. I hope that everyone will gain something from our activities. The auction begins now!”
After that, the sect leader of the Koro Sect turned around and walked down the stage.
A young and beautiful auctioneer stepped onto the stage in a gorgeous dress.
Sparkling images popped up in the air from every direction, vividly displaying the female auctioneer’s curvaceous body.
“The first item being auctioned is a 600-year-old Phantom Grass, which grew in the Yin Land with the Three Flowers. It’s a third-tier spirit treasure and is one of the best ingredients for pellet refining. It’s very effective for cultivators studying the cultivation methods with Yin attributes.”
The female auctioneer’s voice was tender and delicate as if she was a shy beauty. Many people couldn’t help but want to protect her, wanting to show their macho side in front of her.
“She’s extremely alluring. It’s an easy illusionary trick.” Yue Wuwei chuckled.
“This cheap trick can only fool cultivators below the Elixir Realm or perhaps liven the atmosphere up,” Zhang Han commented, shaking his head slightly.
This magical technique could alter the atmosphere of the venue. Not many people understood this kind of illusion. It seemed the Koro Sect really wanted to profit from this auction.
“Five hundred crystal stones.”
“Seven hundred crystal stones.”
“A thousand and a hundred crystal stones.”
“A thousand and five hundred crystal stones.”
“…”
On the big screen at the top, the price of the endless bids flashed according to the correspondent seating on the venue.
The bid kept going up.
In the end, the item was bid with 2,100 crystal stones.
The highest bidder was sitting among the crowd below. The major forces in the private rooms were not interested in this third-tier spirit treasure, so they didn’t make a bid.
With the successful transaction of the first item warming up the event, soon, the second and third items were sold at a price higher than their value. But those in the private rooms didn’t bid until a medicinal pellet was displayed on the auction stage.
“This is a fifth-tier White Jade Scarlet Sun Pellet, which is refined from the core of the Scarlet Sun Fruit. The Scarlet Sun Fruit is a rare fifth-tier treasure. This pellet can work miracles. After taking this pellet, in three days, a cultivator at the Elixir Realm Peak-Stage can advance to the Yuan Ying Realm, or a Yuan Ying Realm Middle-Stage cultivator can probably progress to the Yuan Ying Realm Last-Stage. That’s because this pellet is a top-grade one. The auction of this top-grade fifth-tier White Jade Scarlet Sun Pellet starts now. The opening bid is 100,000 medium-grade crystal stones.”
After this auction item was exhibited, it caused a sensation among many forces present.
Even Hu Tianshan narrowed his eyes slightly.
“A top-grade medicinal pellet? But I’ve never heard of anyone in the Sea Dragon Star Area capable of concocting a top-grade fifth-tier medicinal pellet.”
This was a top-grade fifth-tier pellet! Everyone was impressed by this.
It was worth bidding.
A hundred thousand medium-grade crystal stones were equivalent to 10 million low-grade crystal stones. This pellet was indeed worth a fortune.
But some forces present could afford it.
Room 38 bid 105,000!
Room No. 40 bid 107,000.
Room 320 offered 110,000!
Room 6 bid 150,000.
All of a sudden, silence befell the venue.
Many people from different forces gave up bidding.
Now those in Room 6 had made such a high bid, they must be determined to get the item.
Room 400 then raised the bid to 170,000.
Room 6 quickly bid 180,000.
Room 36 offered 190,000.
Room 6 immediately outbid it with 200,000!
The final price was set at 200,000 medium-grade crystal stones.
That sum was equivalent to 20 million low-grade crystal stones, which was a very high price.
The person who had bid this item was a man sitting beside Hu Tianshan. His forehead was covered in sweat, because two hundred thousand medium-grade crystal stones were basically his entire fortune.
But this top-grade pellet might give him a chance to make a breakthrough. Therefore, he decided to take the risk.
In Room 400.
“Senior Lyu, why didn’t you let me raise the bid?”
The red-haired man asked in bewilderment, “Senior Lorry’s top-grade pellets can be sold for more than 300,000 medium-level crystal stones at our place.”
“Didn’t you see the transaction price?” Lyu Qi frowned and said, “Don’t make random bids. The Sea Dragon Star Area is a barren place, so it’s normal that the local prices are low. If you bid too high, you would have to buy the medicinal pellet back yourself. Do you want that?”
“Oh, I see, Senior Lyu. I forgot that,” the red-haired man replied.
As for Lorry, she had no expression on her face as she looked at the scene before her.
“Lorry, you only have a few top-grade medicinal pellets. Why are you taking them out to sell?” Loron asked, a little puzzled.
“I don’t know either. I’m a little worried that someone may suddenly jump out and ruin my plan.” Lorry pursed her lips, her eyes flashing with resolution.
The news of the Thunder Yang Sand was definitely not just a groundless rumor.
In that case, she had to make sure that she would be able to outbid everyone and get it.
“The Thunder Yang Sand is indeed rare and useful,” Lyu Qi said with a faint smile, “but most of the people from the Sea Dragon Star Area don’t have many crystal stones. Lorry, don’t worry. We will definitely get it. Even if someone stupid dares to compete against us, we will just show them how striking the gap between the Sea Dragon Star Area and the Heavenly Dragon Star Province is.”
With Loron sitting here, Lyu Qi and the others weren’t worried in the slightest. So what if they couldn’t obtain the Thunder Yang Sand during the auction? They could totally snatch it from the highest bidder later. Loron was a great master in the God Transformation Realm. How could those ordinary people here compare with him?
As for Lorry, she had a gentle temper. She liked studying pellet-refining art and had profound attainments in this field. She was very famous in the entire Dragnet Academy. Thus, the Luo family held her in high regard.
If it weren’t for the fact that she didn’t want anybody to get hurt, she wouldn’t have sold her precious top-grade fifth-tier medicinal pellet at such a ‘low price’.
In Lyu Qi’s opinion, Lorry should really possess the dominance the strong ought to have. In the Sea Dragon Star Area, they did have the capital to be domineering.
In Zhang Han’s private room.
Zhang Han was slightly surprised after seeing this medicinal pellet.
“It’s a top-grade fifth-tier medicinal pellet. Someone in the Sea Dragon Star Area is able to concoct such a high-grade medicinal pellet. That person must have had some great opportunities.”
There were many pellet-refining masters in the Sea Dragon Star Area, some of which were capable of concocting fifth-tier medicinal pellets. But each tier was also divided into various grades—the low grade, medium grade, top grade, supreme grade, and divine grade.
It was no exaggeration to say that in order to refine a top-grade medicinal pellet, one needed to possess a special comprehension of medicinal pellet. In the making supreme-grade medicinal pellets, luck played a big part. As for divine-grade medicinal pellets, those could be found only by accident, but not through seeking.
All the way from Earth to here, Zhang Han had met few pellet-refining masters. The pellet-refining masters in the Sea Dragon Star Area were grouped into two extremes. The strong ones were really strong, while the weak ones were very weak. Like an hourglass, the two kinds of pellet-refining masters were polar apart, whereas, few pellet-refining masters were somewhere between them.
However, there was also a social pyramid in the upper part of the hourglass. As a figure standing at the top of the pyramid, Zhang Han’s understanding of pellet refining had transcended all the complex rules and returned to simplicity.
Others could hardly tell that he knew how to refine pellets from his appearance. Plus, he didn’t emit the medicinal fragrance either.
However, he could refine pellets very deftly. Except for the times he burnt the furnace because he was chatting with Mengmeng, his success rate of pellet refining was nearly 100%.
That was incredible.
At this time, the top-grade pellet naturally piqued Zhang Han’s interest.
Someone bought it with 200,000 medium-grade crystal stones. That was indeed a bargain.
“The next auction item is a treasure that everyone has long looked forward to seeing. It’s the Cave Spirit Gem, a sixth-tier spirit treasure! It can only be formed in the place where extreme Yin and extreme Yang alternate for a thousand years. To put it simply, this gem can improve the grade of your spirit treasure. The opening bid is 50,000 medium-grade crystal stones.”
“Sixty thousand crystal stones.”
“Sixty-one thousand.”
“Sixty-three thousand.”
“…”
This gem was a relatively high-quality one among sixth-tier gems. In the end, it was bought by Hu Tianshan at a price of 83,000 medium-grade crystal stones.
Then the auction went on vigorously.
During this period, another sixth-tier gem was put on the auction stage. It was not as useful as the Cave Spirit Gem. In the end, it was sold for three million low-grade crystal stones.
There were many fifth-tier spiritual herbs among the auction items.
Lorry bought three kinds of spiritual herbs she needed for pellet refining with 15 million.
The average price per kind was five million crystal stones. These herbs were the best among the fifth-tier auction items.
Another fifth-tier spiritual herb, however, was only auctioned off at a price of 300,000 low-grade crystal stones.
The value of the herbs majorly depended on their different functions.
All kinds of auction items dazzled people’s eyes. When had those people ever seen someone spend so many crystal stones in one purchase?
Many onlookers present all felt a little great just by watching others bidding.
However, it seemed that the auction hadn’t reached its climax yet.
More than half a day had passed. The auction would soon come to an end. But the most exciting moment had yet arrived. Without the climax, the auction would not be perfect, even though various kinds of spirit treasures had been displayed.
“I wonder if they’ve prepared any stunning treasure at the end of auction.”
Many people had the same question.
Unfortunately, three hours later…
“The next one is our last spirit treasure to be auctioned off, a fifth-tier Wind Flower. The opening bid is three million low-grade crystal stones.”
“Three million five hundred thousand.”
“Three million seven hundred thousand.”
“Four million.”
“…”
Still, people began to bid.
But Lorry, who was sitting in Room 400, had disappointment written all over her face.
“He really didn’t come?”
She had been waiting to bid for the thing that she desperately wanted. But she didn’t expect that it was not among the auction items at all.
Bang!
Lyu Qi thumped the table.
With a gloom face, he said coldly, “I say the Koro Sect is courting death. How dare they lure us here with false news? If they don’t give us a satisfactory explanation today, our king vessel will make them suffer!”
Loron frowned slightly. He was a little upset. It was not because of Lyu Qi’s words, but because of the Koro Sect.
At the same time, Zhang Han and his group also burst into an uproar.
“There is no Thunder Yang Sand?” Yue Wuwei was dazed. “According to the news, there should be some definite information about the Thunder Yang Sand. Maybe the cultivator who has the Thunder Yang Sand got held up by an accident.”
He shook his head slightly.
This was a common occurrence. What cultivators pursued was against nature. Thus, their lives were full of uncertainty.
They might die in a secret realm or in the hand of their enemies while traveling. It happened a lot.
“Maybe,” Zhang Han said softly
He didn’t look deeply disappointed.
Among the Five Thunder Yang Treasures, the Thunder Yang Sand was truly the rarest and the most precious one. Since it was not on the Saint Warrior Star, Zhang Han did not expect to get it in the Sea Dragon Star Area.
Whether he could have it or not was a design of his fate.
In this respect, Zhang Han was very happy-go-lucky.
The auction continued. In the end, the last item, the fifth-tier spiritual herb, was sold for 470,000 low-grade crystal stones.
Lorry in Room 400 couldn’t sit still anymore. She stood up with a melancholy look and turned to leave.
Lyu Qi was disgruntled. His Yuan Ying Realm aura grew fierce, as though he was ready to cause a great disturbance.
“Forget it. Let’s ask around,” Lorry glanced at him and said.
Lyu Qi’s facial muscles trembled. He said, “Lorry, I have to say that your temper is too mellow. Why not let me handle this?”
“Eh? Wait! He’s here!”
Loron’s expression changed. He suddenly looked at his communication device. There was a message on it.
“The friend of that elder has come with the Thunder Yang Sand. The auction is about to start.”
“What?”
Lorry’s pupils shrank. A look of distinct surprise flashed across her face. “Can we directly offer the highest price?”
“His friend wants to sell several auction items. Let me ask him first…”
Before Loron finished his words, the female auctioneer on the stage said with a smile, “This auction our Koro Sect has come to a perfect… Oh, wait a moment.”
An elder came to her from behind and whispered something to her. She was slightly stunned and soon came to her senses.
Then, with a bright smile, she remarked, “Please resume your seats. We’ve just added a few items to the auction list, which are of very high quality. Everyone, you’ll definitely be interested in the next part.”
“The first item is the Thunder Yang Sand, a top fifth-tier spirit treasure!”