Refining the Mountains and Rivers

“The auction continues! This honored guest has bid 60 million. Is there anyone else who wishes to bid?” The auctioneer seemed to have received a reminder. His voice became calmer and less energized as a solemn look appeared in his eyes.

Unlimited King Card…although Netherworld Station wouldn’t fear an Abyssal King, if this was someone close enough to them that they could directly hold their card, they had to be given due respect.

Not actively provoking matters was a manifestation of this respect. As for the expenses that the cardholder generated, they were still accepted per usual.

Feature blinked her eyes and glanced at Old Fox.

This fellow faintly smiled and said, “Although our status isn’t enough to obtain a top tier King Card, a mere several dozen million demon crystals isn’t anything at all. Moreover, even if it is multiple times that, while there might be a little pressure on me, it won’t be a problem for Black Astral.”

Black Astral nodded. He took out a demon crystal card and said, “Anything within a billion is fine.”

Feature’s eyes brightened. She smiled and lifted her hand, “100 million!”

Shua –

Wherever her voice went, sounds seemed to disappear. The entire auction hall fell silent.

Even Blue Wave felt his heart shrink. He had gained some confidence after pulling out this specialized demon crystal card that his big brother had given him, but now all of that bravado had disappeared.

100 million! This was 100 million demon crystals!

If one took this amount out, it would be enough to pile up into a mountain that filled a small abyss town. This woman’s net worth was far more amazing than he imagined!

But with things having reached this point and the words he had already said, he had no choice but to brace himself and continue onward unless he decided to give up on Feature.

“200 million!”

Not only did he have to endure, he had to put on a performance no worse than hers.

Because only people on similar levels had a chance of crossing paths and giving birth to a desire to communicate further.

Black Armor’s eyebrows leapt up. With a City Lord’s status, demon crystals were just a meaningless number.

But if the number was too big it would still affect the City Lord. And with things having reached this point, the young master was clearly unable to back down. If things continued like this, there was no telling where it would end.

“Sir…”

Just as he spoke up, he was interrupted by a swift glare from Blue Wave. He could only swallow his following words. Black Armor could sense a strong feeling of revulsion and annoyance from those eyes. It was clear that the young master was no longer willing to conceal his unhappiness.

Hah…after returning to Adversity Peak City he would take the initiative to apply for a transfer. But if he was hated by the most beloved little brother of the City Lord, his future days would definitely be hard.

Feature revealed a hesitant expression. Then she let out a breath and nodded solemnly in the manner of a superior demon. “Sir is bold. Then, this stone ogre’s blood belongs to you.”

Hu –

Blue Wave smiled and his heart relaxed. He knew that his gamble had been correct. If he had shown any hesitation he would have missed out on this chance.

Just now, he had already noticed Feature looking at him. She couldn’t conceal her curiosity.

200 million…it was money well spent!

For their Blue Family, demon crystals could be endlessly accumulated with time. But this chance in front of him…it couldn’t be traded for even 10 billion demon crystals.

“Thank you miss for yielding. For the following auction, if miss so desires, I, Blue Wave, will make a concession one time as repayment.” He dashingly bowed and took a seat.

He had already stirred the other party’s curiosity. What he had to do now was not be too excessive, and display his gentlemanly charm instead.

In fact, it was better if he was a bit indifferent. Only in this way would a woman think that he wasn’t deliberately approaching them.

Of course, no matter how much he said this was only a theory – in other words, what he believed himself. The true test would be on him, his grace and handsomeness, as well as his personal connections and how he conducted himself.

Otherwise, there would be no room to display these dragon-subduing skills at all.

Qin Yu’s eyes flashed with a strange look. He was now positive that Feature was planning something.

With her horrible personality and all the clamoring she did before the auction began about how she would crush everyone in her way with demon crystals, how could she give up so easily here?

And why was she playing around with this attractive young man called Blue Wave? Hoho, if someone told him that there wasn’t some kind of secret behind this, he would open his mouth and eat the table.

Could it be that Feature’s taste had suddenly changed and she had started to like this sort of young man?

He thought back to those random books she had been infatuated with reading, and he suddenly thought this was a possibility.

Tsk tsk, if this was the case, Feature’s eyesight and taste were truly bad.

He didn’t believe that with Feature’s eyesight, she couldn’t see that this young boy called Blue Wave was gritting his teeth and enduring it.

As all sorts of random thoughts rolled around in Qin Yu’s mind, someone heavily stepped on his foot. He looked up and said, “What did you step on me for!?”

Feature was still smiling. Her lips lightly moved as her voice came out between clenched jaws, “I’m warning you, stop thinking such ridiculous things. Act a bit more normally for me so that you don’t ruin my good deeds!”

Qin Yu coldly sneered. He thought that if she really liked this boy, that was her issue and he wouldn’t care at all.

The auction continued. Due to his boredom, he turned and subconsciously glanced at Mian Ya. After several breaths of time he furrowed his eyebrows and stood up, “I’m getting something to drink.”

When he passed by Mian Ya, he bumped into her.

Mian Ya took a deep breath and forced a smile, “Miss, I will go and serve the young master.”

She stood up and followed him.

Old Fox and Black Astral glanced at each other. They could see the gratification in each other’s eyes.

His Excellency Qin Yu might appear indifferent at times, but the truth was that he was a soft-hearted person.

Following such a person, they wouldn’t encounter truly chilling things…it seems that their decision had been right.

After arriving at the self-service bar, Qin Yu stood in a corner and turned around. He furrowed his eyebrows and asked, “What’s your problem?”

Along the way, Mian Ya had thought about this many times. Originally she had decided not to say anything, but when Qin Yu asked her this question she began to cry.

Qin Yu was given a fright. He could sense that this nine-tailed demon fox girl wasn’t using some temptation art, but was actually sobbing.

“Hey! If there’s a problem then tell me, what are you crying for? If someone sees this, they might think I’m doing something bad to you!”

Mian Ya wiped away her tears and said, “I’m sorry sir, but I cannot help it. I wanted to ask you for a favor. If it’s not too excessive, please help me!”

As she spoke she fell to her knees.

Qin Yu picked her up and said, “If you want me to refuse then continue kneeling. I won’t stop you.”

Mian Ya stood up, her eyes red and teary.

Qin Yu rubbed his eyebrows. As he thought, curiosity was never good.

As for being soft-hearted or anything, hoho, these people were just some abyssal demons. As the mortal enemies of the entire living world, he didn’t care about them at all.

That’s right, I am just curious.

Qin Yu took a deep breath and said, “What’s the problem?”

…

Netherworld Station’s auction was held at the main venue and seven branch venues simultaneously. Strictly speaking, items that entered the main auction hall were of a relatively higher price.

But that didn’t mean the auctions held in the branch venues were for items of low quality.

On the contrary, what some demons anticipated and craved the most were the items held in these branch venue auctions.

For instance, one of the seven branch venues specialized in slave farm auctions of various abyssal demons.

Slaves were a good thing. Once they signed an abyssal blood contract they would become vassals of their master, never able to betray them.

They would follow their master’s orders, even if they were to climb over mountains of blades or seas of fire – even if it meant filling it up with their corpses.

Thus in the abyss, cultivating slaves had become a trend. Any demon with considerable strength would find ways to expand their slave teams as much as possible.

As for the origin of these slaves…the abyss wasn’t a peaceful land. For example, the layer that Qin Yu was on had been run by the Three-headed Hellhound Clan for a long time. The interior had been swept clean long ago so it was a relatively peaceful place.

But on other layers of the abyss, there wouldn’t necessarily be such stable rule. Struggles between overlords of various influences would result in countless demons being slain or captured.

Many tribes in the abyss, besides some special ones with exceptionally formidable bloodlines, were relatively fertile. Thus, population was never an issue.

Once they became captives, the chances of them being freed were small. So they could only wait to be traded around and turned into slaves.

And this could only be considered as contributing a small part of the supply to the massive and prosperous slave market that was spread through the abyss. The greatest source was when two layers of the abyss waged war against each other, or even in great wars where several layers fought.

The territory of the defeated would be plundered and seized. All subjects would be carved up by the victors. And besides a small number, most would be sold off as slaves.

Of course, the winds of slavery within the abyss were grand and prosperous. Besides controlling the life and death of slaves, there was another reason for why it was so vital.

Before this, it was already mentioned. That was the cultivation method of the abyssal demon race.

All abyssal tribes, no matter how strong or weak they were, had their strength established on the foundation of their demon seed bloodline.

And strictly speaking, demon seed bloodlines originated from abyssal demon beasts. Demon beasts could swallow each other to increase their strength.

Correspondingly, demons could also take this shortcut to cultivate.

For instance, Qin Yu’s Blood Refining Art could plunder the demon seed bloodline of others to enhance his own bloodline strength.

If this wasn’t controlled, the entire abyss would become disorderly. All demons would become powerful monsters that only desired to swallow others.

So in the earliest and most chaotic years of the abyss, the powerful tribes laid down an iron law in order to maintain order within the abyss. Demons were not allowed to devour each other. All offenders would be jointly punished and put to death.

In the long span of years, this iron law had gradually stabilized. It locked away the desire of the abyssal demon race to swallow the bloodlines of others.

It was also because of this that there was a relatively stable order of rule in the abyss.

Certainly, it was impossible to completely stop this sort of phenomenon. Because swallowing the demon seed bloodlines of others to increase one’s strength was a bloodline instinct branded in the hearts of the entire abyssal demon race.

There were some rule-makers who secretly did certain things that no one knew about. Or even if others learned about it, those people would only be destroyed.

Although this was a long explanation, the summary was that swallowing the demon seed bloodlines of others allowed a demon to rapidly increase their strength in a short period of time.

And slaves were not considered to be in the protected category.

In other words, if someone raised slaves and their bloodline could withstand not degenerating and becoming a bloodthirsty and cruel blood-eyed demon, then even if they ate a dozen slaves a day they wouldn’t be punished.

Thus, gathering and raising a massive number of slaves not only enhanced one’s overall strength, but allowed one to obtain subordinates who were not afraid of death. And if someone discovered a good seedling amongst the slaves, they could eat them up to strengthen themselves.

This was basically the reason why slavery became a common practice throughout the abyss.

And today, what Mian Ya begged Qin Yu for was to help save two of her clansmen from the slave auction.