Chapter 1327 1286: Ruthless and Shady

Because this advance internal auction is targeted differently, there actually aren't that many people from the major forces here tonight. But the people who did come, and the forces behind them, are all heavyweights!

"I want a ticket." A white‑haired man wearing silver grey red pattern armor said calmly. Behind him stood two cultivators who were like shadows, giving off a nightmarish, terrifying feeling.

"Look, that's one of the Twenty‑One Demon Blade of the Blood Demon Blade Sect, the Shadowless Blade, Duan Qianjue!"

Exclamations rang out from the crowd, tinged with fear.

The Twenty‑One Demon Blade of the Blood Demon Blade Sect are the twenty‑one most ferocious experts at the Great Heaven Rank within the Blood Demon Blade Sect! And this Shadowless Blade Duan Qianjue's strength is at least within the top three among those Twenty‑One Demon Blade. His power is terrifying, in no way inferior to Lo Qiubai of the Spear Lifting Sect whose name Chen Fei had seen before.

After a while, two old crones draped in Flower God Sect robes emblazoned with Sun-facing Sunflower arrived, their faces expressionless.

"We want a ticket." The one speaking was the Dragon Grandson of Nine Wild Serpent Madam. He reached out and took out a piece of Top Grade Spirit Stone.

Although the main base of their Flower God Sect isn't far from this Northern Hill Auction House, and they've already sent someone over with Spirit Stones, they should've made it in time. But just in case, they still came themselves.

"Hiss! That's the Flower God Sect's Dragon Grandson of Nine Wild Serpent Madam, and Flower Venerable Xiao Qiang… Back then Lord Flower Venerable Xiao Qiang personally stood against a Demon King at the Peak of Great Heaven Rank!" The crowd erupted again! The power of the Flower God Sect is very strong, so strong that no one dares ignore it.

"It's her?"

Chen Fei was also present at this time. When he saw the true body of that Dragon Grandson of Nine Wild Serpent Madam, he recognized her almost instantly.

Back then, it was this Nine Wild Serpent Madam who took his Dao Companion Pei Wanning away!

Thinking of this, Chen Fei's eyes turned somewhat cold and gloomy.

"Hmm?" The Nine Wild Serpent Madam seemed to sense something, seemed to feel Chen Fei's gaze. Her brows twitched slightly. Who is this person? He looks familiar somehow, but why can't she remember?

Back then, the one who saw Chen Fei was her Avatar, not her true body. Naturally she didn't have a deep impression of Chen Fei's face. So it's not strange that she can't recognize Chen Fei now.

"What's wrong?" Sensing the Dragon Grandson of Nine Wild Serpent Madam's odd reaction, Flower Venerable Xiao Qiang frowned slightly and asked.

"…Forget it, nothing." The Dragon Grandson of Nine Wild Serpent Madam was silent for a moment, then still shook her head. When her eyes met Chen Fei's earlier, she could feel the other party's cold and unfriendly emotions. However, it also felt like an illusion. Plus she was sure she didn't know Chen Fei at all, so she didn't take it to heart.

After that, he followed Flower Venerable Xiao Qiang and entered the auction hall.

Chen Fei paused where he was, then stepped forward, planning to buy a ticket to go in as well.

But just then, a surprised and familiar voice suddenly sounded from behind him.

"Chen Fei?"

Hearing the voice, Chen Fei subconsciously turned his gaze toward the source.

He saw Liuu Zhengqing behind him, looking at him in astonishment. At this moment Liuu Zhengqing had already reached the Peak of Great Heaven Rank, emanating considerable pressure and aura, very formidable. At his side, the Head of the Hall of Law Enforcement of Heaven-Pillar Hall, Lin King, was clearly far more frightening and powerful!

Mystic Heaven Position King!

Chen Fei quickly came to a conclusion in his heart. This elder beside Liuu Zhengqing was definitely a Mystic Heaven Position King. However, his strength seemed rather average, not giving off a very dangerous feeling, and his appearance was the same.

"What, Zhengqing, you know him?" Lin King saw that Chen Fei actually dared to look him over with a measuring gaze, and couldn't help but frown slightly as he asked.

"Did you forget the savior I told you about before? It's him, Chen Fei! If not for him, I'm afraid I'd still be a wandering lonely ghost right now, doomed never to rise again…"

Hearing Liuu Zhengqing's words, Lin King looked at Chen Fei a few more times. His expression eased slightly as he said faintly, "So it's him."

"Yes. It's him!" Liuu Zhengqing nodded, and introduced, "This is the old acquaintance of Heaven-Pillar Hall I mentioned to you before, everyone calls him Lin King."

"Greetings, Senior Lin King." Chen Fei's eyes flickered slightly, but he still gave Lin King a small bow.

"Mm." Lin King nodded and said, "Since you're Zhengqing's savior, then you're one of us. No need to be too constrained. Judging by the look of things, you're here for the auction too, right? Why don't you come in with us?"

Chen Fei's background and strength, he didn't know, nor did he sense anything special. He only felt that Chen Fei's Cultivation Realm was very ordinary, not worth his attention, which was perfectly reasonable.

Now that Chen Fei had come here, it was obviously to attend this internal auction. But he figured Chen Fei was mostly here to watch the excitement. Since Chen Fei was Liuu Zhengqing's savior, he didn't mind "giving Chen Fei a hand," bringing him along to "see the world."

All in all, he was extending him some goodwill.

"Right, just watching from outside is boring. And one ticket can let three people in. Come in with us."

Liuu Zhengqing chimed in as well.

He actually didn't doubt that Chen Fei could produce a Top Grade Spirit Stone. It's just that Chen Fei was still outside and hadn't gone in yet, so he figured Chen Fei was reluctant to spend it, feeling it wasn't worth it, that it would hurt. Since that was the case, he might as well do Chen Fei a favor while it was convenient.

"Since that's the case, then I'll be in your care, Senior Lin King, and Senior Liuu." Chen Fei thought for a moment and still decided to agree.

First, Liuu Zhengqing's enthusiastic invitation was hard to refuse; second, if he were to compete with those major powers alone, more or less there would be some trouble. He wasn't afraid, but if he could cut down on trouble, having someone act as a lightning rod for him was also a pretty good thing.

"Whoosh!"

"People from Hao Tian Palace are here. Hiss, what a terrifying aura. That should be the Golden Wheel King of Hao Tian Palace, right?"

At this moment, a commotion came from the crowd. It seemed another big shot had arrived.

"Golden Wheel King?" Upon hearing the commotion, both Chen Fei and Lin King, as well as Liuu Zhengqing, narrowed their eyes and turned to look over.

They saw that at the entrance of the auction house, a group of people had just walked in.

Leading them was a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties with a close-cropped head, eagle-like eyes and wolfish gaze. His eyes were extremely sharp, his features giving off an intensely fierce impression. At the corner of his eye was a thin scar, like a centipede. He wore armor inlaid with gold and silver, and on his back he carried a golden wheel radiating a terrifying aura; barbed spikes jutted out one by one, terribly ferocious, giving people an incomparably frightening feeling—making their whole bodies go weak.

"A Low Grade Spiritual Artifact, the Barbed Golden Wheel!" Staring fixedly at the golden wheel on the back of that eagle-eyed man, Lin King narrowed his eyes slightly and muttered a line, then slowly walked forward, smiling faintly as he said, "Golden Wheel King, you came too? It's been a long time."

It turned out that this eagle-eyed man was precisely one of the famed Mystic Heaven Position Kings of Hao Tian Palace, the Golden Wheel King!

"So it's Lin King. Yes, it's been a long time. Looks like your Heaven-Pillar Hall is also here for that Minor Divine Art Fragment?"

Seeing that it was one of the same five great powers, Lin King of Heaven-Pillar Hall, greeting him, the Golden Wheel King put away some of his arrogance and said with a smile.

As one of the top five powers in the latter half of the Inner Domain of Ancient Country Qiannan, in their eyes, only the other powers on the same level—the other four of the five great powers—were worth their notice, worth being treated with proper respect!

As for the others, even those like the Flower God Sect, Blood Demon Blade Sect, Hao Hai Sect, and so on, were still somewhat lacking in their eyes, like children—unable to stir up any sense of solemnity.

"Of course. Who wouldn't want a Minor Divine Art Fragment? Even if half of it is missing, it can still at least exert thirty percent of the power of its complete form. If its completeness is higher, then the power will be even more astonishing!"

Lin King said with a light laugh, then continued, "And I heard that this Minor Divine Art Fragment that the Northern Hill Auction House is putting out this time has a completeness of at least over seventy percent! In other words, its power might reach half of its complete form!"

"Over seventy percent completeness?" The Golden Wheel King narrowed his eyes, then started laughing as he said, "Looks like we'll have to fight to the bitter end again. This time, let's see whose Top Grade Spirit Stones will show their true worth in seizing that Minor Divine Art Fragment!"

"Naturally. Heh." Lin King chuckled softly, turned around, bought an admission ticket, and entered the auction hall.

Before entering the auction hall, Chen Fei covertly sized up the Golden Wheel King. Very strong! This Golden Wheel King was at least on the same level as the Angry Bear King of Hao Hai Sect; he just didn't know, compared to that Spear-wielding War King who controlled the Minor Divine Art Fragment, how he would fare?

...

The interior of the Northern Hill Auction House was extremely large, like a basketball court that had been magnified dozens, even hundreds of times!

However, because tonight's internal auction was somewhat special, with a high entry threshold and fewer people, they hadn't opened up such a huge area—only the portion closest to the auction stage was in use.

At this time, the factions interested in participating in this internal auction had basically all arrived.

Chen Fei and Lin King's seats were on the second floor, in a floating VIP pavilion! This was a privilege reserved for major powers!

Once Chen Fei and the others sat down in the floating VIP pavilion, the auction house service staff inside immediately took out slips of paper and handed them to Chen Fei, Lin King, and Liuu Zhengqing.

"Honored sirs, tonight's auction is divided into two phases. In the first phase, our Northern Hill Auction House will preside and anonymously auction off the Top Grade Spirit Stones from those factions willing to put them up. The second phase is the reverse—if you still feel your Top Grade Spirit Stones are insufficient, you may hand over items you wish to auction, and we'll auction them on your behalf. Our handling fee is five percent of the final auction price."

Hearing the staff explain the auction process, Lin King and Liuu Zhengqing both frowned slightly.

The first phase was fine, but the second phase was practically daylight robbery!

Five percent of the auction price?

They had already been mentally prepared to be price-gouged tonight, to be extorted with jacked-up prices, yet the Northern Hill Auction House was pulling this as well—this was simply too much!

"This auction house is banking on how determined the major powers are to obtain that Minor Divine Art Fragment, and wants to make a huge killing."

Chen Fei shook his head and said calmly.

The rules of this auction by now were already "Si Ma Zhao's heart, known to all"—everyone could see right through them.

They were going to open their lion's mouth and make a massive profit!

They might even have some of the Top Grade Spirit Stones in tonight's auction provided by the Northern Hill Auction House itself, only to be cycled back into their own pockets, letting them take a huge bite out of the price difference…

Truly worthy of being merchants—ruthless enough! Black-hearted enough!