ILDV Chapter 43

Strangely enough, the small and medium sects that had been fiercely competing earlier seemed to have their mouths covered and fell silent in unison. The yellowed scroll floated in mid-air, slowly rotating, yet not a single person opened their mouths to bid.

This was a battlefield for the great immortal sects and demonic sects—with the strength and resources of small sects, forcibly participating would only lead to becoming cannon fodder.

“It seems the little fellows below still have quite a bit of self-awareness.” The Second Venerable leaned back in the prepared soft chair, toying with a bright red blood ginseng, and sneered, “The righteous path immortal sects are indeed all a bunch of cowards hiding their heads and tails. Then this Venerable shall open the bidding. Ten million!”

The opening bid was a number that could directly purchase the vast majority of sects. Although at their realm, spirit stones were truly just a string of numbers, thinking about the mountain of spirit stones that ten million high-grade spirit stones would pile up, many people from small and medium-sized sects couldn’t help but feel envious and wistful.

Zhao Hejing’s face turned red, his voice trembling as he spoke, “He—he’s talking about high-grade spirit stones?!”

“What else?” The other two people in the private box cast him looks of making a big fuss over nothing. Xu Rong was unwilling to say another word to this fellow, while Feng Lan seemed to mention casually, “Beiyu City Lord, as the lord of a city, has considerable family wealth. How is it that Young City Lord seems to have never seen the world?”

Zhao Hejing knew he had misspoken and tried to cover up with a few flustered sentences. Qin Xun already knew his background well, and Xu Rong seemed to have noticed something amiss, staring at Zhao Hejing for several more glances.

After a while, Xu Rong lowered his voice, “Senior Brother, the Demon Venerable from the Northern Demon Territory swaggers in here—isn’t he afraid of being surrounded and killed by our immortal sect seniors taking advantage of the opportunity?”

In his previous life, Daoist Tianxuan hadn’t died this early, and the Tianxuan Secret Treasury’s exposure had occurred several years later. There hadn’t been any chaotic matters like auction gatherings either. When the secret treasury’s doors opened, everyone below the Spirit Transformation stage rushed in together. One secret treasury alone killed countless people, causing the entire cultivation world to suffer from a generational gap.

At that time, Xu Rong had already reached Out-of-Body stage, perfectly positioned at the optimal cultivation level for entering the secret treasury. Unfortunately, though he did enter, he hadn’t touched even a hair of that rumored Dao Integration stage inheritance—who knew who ended up benefiting from it in the end.

“Demon Venerable?!”

Xu Rong heavily flicked his sleeve and turned back with a cold rebuke. “Young City Lord, if you continue to make such a fuss, don’t blame us senior and junior brothers for not giving City Lord Zhao face!”

Zhao Hejing shrank back twice, unable to help moving closer to Feng Lan. In the original story, the eldest disciple under Tianji Daojun was a lofty and aloof figure, but since getting to know him, Zhao Hejing felt the other party was much easier to get along with than the unpredictable protagonist.

“Junior Brother.” Feng Lan called out to Xu Rong with neither emphasis nor lightness, glanced at Zhao Hejing once, and had no intention of explaining.

Master wanted to test the protagonist’s capabilities, so naturally the situation should be as dangerous as possible.

The three great immortal sects had each sent at least one Mahayana stage cultivator to come in secret. Regardless of whether the Demon Venerable from the Northern Demon Territory had interest in the Primordial Jade fragment or not, there should be at least three or four in this city. When the chaotic battle broke out… he was also quite curious how much fortune protection a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator would need to escape from a battle of this level.

Below, Yin Lang was also calculating.

Despite having countless speculations before coming, he hadn’t anticipated that the so-called mastermind behind the auction would be like this. The familiar thunder crashed down, frightening a group of people witless, but Yin Lang tasted a somewhat familiar flavor from it.

——Heavenly tribulation, after all. Demonic cultivators couldn’t be more familiar with this sort of thing.

Regardless of what the Heavenly Dao’s purpose was in releasing the treasure map, the time of the Tianxuan Secret Treasury’s exposure this time would definitely be much earlier than in the story. And the ‘Child of Destiny’ currently only had Foundation Establishment stage cultivation. The Heavenly Dao’s series of operations truly left people completely baffled.

The entry requirement for the Tianxuan Secret Treasury was below Spirit Transformation stage. Even if the Heavenly Dao wanted him to go escort and protect that young fellow, he couldn’t do it.

——Unless he could break through to Dao Integration stage overnight, then there would be a possibility of forcibly tearing through space to enter. 

The auction’s proceedings were already progressing heatedly. After the Second Venerable opened the bidding, the various great immortal sects and demonic sects entered one after another. People who had obviously used voice-changing techniques spoke in succession, their positions shifting unpredictably. Each price increase was a number that those below could only look up to, showing the depth of the great sects’ foundations at a glance.

“A bunch of shrinking turtles.” The Second Venerable sneered.

The forces with this kind of financial power definitely didn’t number this many. Heaven knows which disreputable things were raising the price once and changing their voice once to create mystique.

“The Daojun’s voice-changing technique is quite proficient.” Zhou Rui, who had been forced onto the battlefield, spoke sarcastically. Thinking that those opening their mouths to compete with him were all great experts, his heart felt utterly hollow, and an inexplicable anger arose within.

If he were in a clear-headed state, Zhou Rui would definitely be able to immediately detect something wrong with his emotions. Knowing he wasn’t Shen Muxuan’s match yet repeatedly provoking him three times over—this simply wasn’t something he would do.

“Enough, you should also take it easy. Even though the Venerable’s family fortune is abundant, it shouldn’t be spent like this.” The private box next to the Second Venerable’s belonged to the First Venerable’s most valued subordinate, who timely reminded him.

“It’s just a number anyway.” The Second Venerable was unconcerned. “In the end, we’ll get it all back with interest. Or do you really think we came to seriously compete with this bunch of righteous hypocrites by spending money?” 

The First Venerable’s subordinate said, “Just in case. Heaven knows how many people from the righteous path and demonic sects have come in total, and there are those improper things from the demon territory. With news of the jade fragment out, can they sit still?”

“Hahahahahaha——” After the Second Venerable finished laughing, he began his cold mockery. “What kind of joke are you making? Didn’t that poisonous snake Yan Guihe get schemed against by those Seven Whatevers of Taihua Immortal Sect some days ago until he was on his last breath? Don’t know where he’s hiding to lick his wounds like a dog. From Chao Liang to Jiao Yuyu, which one could be our Venerable’s opponent?”

“Oh——I understand now, old comrade. You’re eyeing the vacant Third Venerable position and want to achieve the greatest merit in this secret treasury expedition so the Venerable will promote you?”

The First Venerable’s subordinate said calmly, “How so? If you can replace Yin Jiuxuan, why can’t I take Yan Guihe’s position? In the end, we’re all serving the Venerable—why distinguish so clearly?”

“Of course you can.” The Second Venerable held his wine cup and gently swayed it, his eyes fierce and bloodthirsty, laughing loudly. “We’ve been old brothers for so many years, following him and fighting alongside him since before the Venerable became a Demon Venerable. How could I ruin your good fortune!”

“One hundred and thirty million.” Under Yin Lang’s signal, Zhou Rui once again opened his mouth to bid. He couldn’t help but question, “Where did you get so much family wealth?”

A full one hundred and thirty million high-grade spirit stones—not low-grade ones! Even the Daozhu’s private treasury wouldn’t have much more than this, right? Could it be that the Daozhu had given it to him?

Using so many… no, even more spirit stones than this to buy a treasure map of unknown authenticity—had this world gone mad or had he gone mad?

“Just raise the price when told to raise it. Why worry about so much?” His back relaxed, his bearing leisurely. Compared to everyone else being tense and nervous, Yin Lang’s attitude looked extremely deserving of a beating just by appearance alone.

He smiled carelessly. “In any case, whether we get it or not isn’t something we can decide. With so many Demon Venerables… oh right, after the auction ends, Peak Master Zhou remember to stick close to Shen, otherwise if something unexpected happens, Shen won’t be able to explain it to Sect Master Senior Brother.”

He changed his words quickly, but Zhou Rui still vaguely heard that term clearly and was immediately suspicious. “Wha…”

Hellish pressure crashed down. The people in the hall before his eyes all turned to flying ash in an instant. His heart and eyes were filled only with the apocalyptic scene of mountains collapsing and giant rocks falling, bringing howling gale winds, as if the next moment he would be crushed into a lump of meat paste.

“Ahhh——!!!”

The moment before flesh and blood splattered, a pale hand reached out from the side, curling a finger and lightly flicking——

The mountain and giant rocks turned to flying ash, the howling gale winds came to an abrupt halt. After brief distortion, the scene before his eyes transformed back into the auction hall crowded with people.

Zhou Rui had escaped death and collapsed like mud in his chair, drenched in sweat, only a hair’s breadth from fainting.

He still remembered to gasp out his thanks. “Many thanks to Senior for the rescue…”

“No need for thanks. If Peak Master Zhou is obedient, Shen asks nothing else.” A lazy voice sounded beside him. Zhou Rui’s eyes widened. “You——?”

Shen Muxuan was amused. “Does Peak Master Zhou have some misunderstanding about Shen’s strength? Since this one can fight the Venerable Yin to a standstill, what does blocking a Tribulation stage pressure amount to?”

Zhou Rui’s face resembled a color palette of five colors and seven hues. Only after a long while did he squeeze out a word of thanks through gritted teeth with his eyes closed.

After waiting half a day without getting a reply, he opened his eyes to look—that person had long since leaned back in his chair with closed eyes to rest, immediately angering him until smoke came out of his seven orifices.

Yin Lang was continuously replaying in his brain the memory segment of when the Second Venerable’s pressure descended.

The prerequisite for lowering pressure on a specific individual was spiritual lock-on, which fundamentally couldn’t miss its target. However, the fact was that the pressure coming toward him ultimately fell on Zhou Rui beside him instead.

——Absolutely absurd.

Yin Lang found it very difficult to control himself from thinking about the relationship between this matter and the Heavenly Dao.

But he couldn’t make sense of it. If it was a benefit for taking on a disciple, this Heavenly Dao was being a bit too generous; if it wasn’t, Yin Lang also didn’t feel there was anything else about him worth the Heavenly Dao scheming over.

If speaking of fortune, he was all alone in the world, parents both dead. He’d casually picked up a disciple who was a pitiable child sharing the same tragic fate, ordinary beyond ordinary. He only had a face that could be considered passable, which only brought disaster. No matter how one looked at it, he couldn’t be associated with good fortune. If speaking of heavenly treasures, the most valuable thing on him was the Primordial Jade fragment thrown at him by the Heavenly Dao.

He’d taken on the disciple, he’d protected his safety—what else could the Heavenly Dao want from him?

The Second Venerable was currently in his private box in impotent rage.

The thunder in the firmament continuously responded, and under everyone’s watchful eyes, it struck his location with seven or eight bolts in succession. Given that no one died, the power wasn’t considered great, but all face had been completely lost.

The person next door transmitted, “What are you losing your temper over? Didn’t we just say that was at least a Mahayana stage cultivator? What’s so strange about them blocking your pressure back?”

“It wasn’t him!” The Second Venerable irritably rubbed his head, not knowing how to explain this absurd matter.

The spiritual lock-on target and the target where the pressure descended were actually not the same person? For a Tribulation stage Demon Venerable, this was simply the joke of the century! Even more terrifying was that the spiritual lock-on had actually automatically released?! What the hell kind of joke was this?!

No one had noticed the Second Venerable’s underhanded move, but anyone with eyes had noticed the tribulation lightning and still remembered who was in the unfortunate private box. They immediately began eating their metaphorical melon with relish.

“Amitabha.” A distant Buddhist chant, a warm and clear young man’s voice penetrated the noisy crowd like the cool and nourishing first rain of spring, refreshing and invigorating. “Why must all benefactors be so impatient? Since the auction’s rule is that the highest bidder wins, then quietly raising prices will suffice. Why make such threatening statements?”

“These annoying bald donkeys!”

The Second Venerable pressed his forehead. The heavily layered irritation made him drop even his meager pretense. He interrupted his voice transmission and shouted sharply, “Stinking monk, put away that damned chanting of yours! Don’t think that just because an old bald donkey is backing you up, this Venerable doesn’t dare to kill you!”

“It’s ‘Sacred Buddha’s True Voice,’ not ‘bald donkey chanting.’ Having sat in the Venerable position for several hundred years, how are you still as crude as before?” The person next door transmitted coolly.

“You shut up too!”

With a thunderous boom, one wall of the private box that had been chased and struck by lightning was completely blown open. The Demon Venerable with a sinister expression stood on the scorched broken wall, his gaze sweeping viciously through the crowd.

“Which bastard just attacked Laozi from the shadows? If you have the guts to make a move, have the guts to stand up—don’t hide in the turtle pile and be a shrinking turtle!”