Chapter 378: 214, The sinister nature of the human king’s body
No need to guess, Song Knife knew that it must have been the Mingquan Sect who informed Nan Lu about the Human Yuan Fruit being the final auction item. Otherwise, the Hundred Treasures Pavilion would not have been so accommodating to someone of Nan Lu’s level of cultivation.
Flying Feather Immortal Palace... Song Knife’s eyes held a complex expression. Both hailed from the same prestigious sect, but on his visit to this auction at the Hundred Treasures Pavilion, the Flying Feather Immortal Palace had not shared a shred of information with him about the highlight auction piece...
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...
"Nine breaths..." Yu Zhu was preparing to close the auction.
"Wait."
"Song bids fourteen million Spirit Shells!" Song Knife interrupted Yu Zhu, holding up his bidding card.
A broken Substitute Puppet going for fourteen million Spirit Shells was a serious overbid. If it weren’t for his preparation for his upcoming battle with Xu Xing, he would not have been willing to spend such a large sum on this useless item.
It is easy to cultivate a Dao Pill, but hard to form a Nascent Soul. After cultivating for hundreds of years, many cultivators had managed to condense Dao Pills. The only difference between them was whether they achieved it a step faster or a step sooner. However, whether they were geniuses or mediocre people, they would stall for a long time in the Dao Pill Realm before accumulating enough cultivation to form a Nascent Soul.
Predictably, Xu Xing and he were going to stay in the Dao Pill Realm for quite some time. Thus, this Substitute Puppet was quite necessary for him. Song Knife did not believe that the mysterious cultivator competing against him would be willing to pay such a huge price to overbid on this Substitute Puppet.
A Nascent Soul Daoist Lord of the Hai Family used a Xuan Turtle Jade Armor to help me divine my fortune and said that I am in great danger on my journey to the Wangchuan Sea. They suggested I lay low for a while. But the divination does not suggest a dead end...
As he held up his bidding card, Song Knife recalled the persuasion from the Dao Lord of the Hai Family when he was leaving. The Dao Lord had advised him to go into seclusion within the Sect for a hundred years and to wait until the danger passed, saying it wouldn’t be too late to go out then.
But life never goes that smoothly. Xu Xing cultivates too quickly; if I stay in the Sect, I fear that despite the Sect’s vastness, there would be no place left for me.
Song Knife sighed to himself. He believed that his ’great danger’ came from his old enemy, Xu Xing. Before he ran into Xu Xing, his cultivation had progressed smoothly, and he had never encountered any tribulations. Instead of temporarily hiding and eventually dying in regret, why not fight to the bitter end, with the chance to rebuild my Dao path?
Song Knife’s expression turned resolute. He had risen from a commoner background to the position of Grand Ancestor of Fengxi Country, relying not only on his schemes but also on his decisiveness in desperate situations.
However, just as his fighting spirit began to surge, he saw the mysterious cultivator in the private box raise their card instantly, without any hesitation. The card clearly displayed the bid: Fifteen million Spirit Shells! A million more than his own!
What? Just how many Spirit Shells does he have? Buying such a useless item at such a high price?
Song Knife was taken aback. The wealth of the mysterious cultivator was beyond his expectations. There were many lifesaving items for a Dao Pill Realm cultivator. Yet this mysterious cultivator insisted on competing with him for this Substitute Puppet.
Fine... If we continue, the cost will outweigh the gains. There’s no need to engage in a battle of ego. Song Knife’s expression was volatile. However, his face was hidden under the black cloak, so there was no worry of others seeing it.
"Since you, sir, are so fond of this item," Song Knife said with a faint smile, no longer holding up his bidding card, "then I, Song, wouldn’t want to take it from you. I will let you have this Substitute Puppet."
His tone was gentle, making people feel as if they were enveloped in a spring breeze. He didn’t seem like a failed bidder at all.
"Your generosity is highly appreciated," Xu Xing sneered. "I, Yan, thank True Lord Song for yielding."
He was comfortably playing along with Song Knife’s theatrics without any psychological hurdles. On his visit to Huge Mastiff Island, he had learned from his previous mistakes and no longer used his sworn brothers’ names as aliases. He had given himself the alias Yan Sheng and blended into the Hundred Treasures Pavilion.
"If True Lord Song doesn’t mind," Xu Xing added, "I will prepare a banquet at the Cloud and Flower Building on Huge Mastiff Island a month after the auction ends, as my apology to True Lord Song. Let us turn conflict into friendship."
After obtaining the Kunpeng Slaughtering Immortal Technique, his ’other self’ in the Instance World had been studying the technique day and night, and he had gained a basic understanding of this Immortal Technique. After consuming a considerable amount of magic power and resources, it took him approximately seven years to successfully condense a Kunpeng Feather. According to his estimation, the power of this Kunpeng Feather was probably equivalent to a full-force attack from an early-stage Nascent Soul Realm cultivator. Although the Talisman Treasure left behind by the Giant Sword Daoist Monarch also possessed offensive power equivalent to an early-stage Nascent Soul Realm attack, controlling the Talisman Treasure was not as effortless for him as controlling the Kunpeng Feather. With the protection of the Substitute Puppet and various offensive methods, Xu Xing was confident that, at this moment, he was definitely far stronger than Song Knife.
The banquet at the Cloud and Flower Building... Song Knife mused. Hearing this, he nodded slightly and said, "Thank you for your understanding, True Lord Yan. I will surely attend after the auction."
With Xu Xing’s words, he began to think that this Yan Sheng might be someone he could befriend. The idea of killing him for the treasure was suppressed deep in his mind.
After I test his identity at the banquet, I’ll decide whether to make a move, he thought privately.
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The auction for the Substitute Puppet came to an end. Next, the beautiful mermaid Yu Zhu began auctioning the other two highlight treasures: a Human Yuan Fruit, an essential treasure for forming a Nascent Soul, and a drop of Life Essence Blood from an Arm-length Golden Monkey, which could be used for Body Cultivation Methods.
The Human Yuan Fruit was fiercely competed for and ultimately won by the well-prepared Nan Lu from the Mingquan Sect. The Life Essence Blood of the Arm-length Golden Monkey, on the other hand, was acquired by the Iron Cloth Sect, a body cultivation sect from the Wangchuan Sea.