Chapter 351
Long Haochen’s eyes flashed, “This ability is excellent!”
Wang Yuanyuan nodded in response, “With this ability, our team’s recovery of spiritual energy will increase tremendously.”
Han Yu replied with a smile, “Actually the best part about it are its side- effects, which don’t harm me. Otherwise, things wouldn’t be good if everyone has to end up in the same state as Lin Xin after the full use of the ability from our spiritual stoves.”
Long Haochen replied with a smile, “I just wonder what ability came from the fusion of the spiritual stoves for Sima and Ying’er. It’s just a shame that we couldn’t get one more spiritual stove to fuse for Yuanyuan.”
Wang Yuanyuan frowned in reply, “Captain, why not be content with what you already have? Have you ever seen a Demon Hunt Squad that obtained as many spiritual stoves as us? The luck we had this time is already excellent, let’s just be content with it. And now that all of us reached the sixth step, we can become a commander grade Demon Hunt Squad after returning from this trip. And we’ll have to do that as soon as we can.”
Han Yu replied with a smile, “Indeed. Our luck was really good, and this time, we also gained quite a few contribution points. After coming back, we can just get some rest. There will be no need to rush for missions. We can train with the fourth and fifth trials in the Tower of
Eternity to raise our spiritual energy to 5,000 units before attempting the sixth trial.”
In truth, according to their strength as a whole, they should already have managed to pass the sixth trial, but for the sake of raising everyone’s fighting strength even higher, they kept challenging that red skeleton in individual battles. Now that Long Haochen awakened as a god’s chosen one and gained such a tremendous boost in strength, his strength should actually be just enough to defeat that red skeleton in a one versus one fight.
Just as everyone was speaking, Long Haochen suddenly turned around to look afar, before shouting without any hesitation, “Quick, enter the cave and come to Haoyue’s side. We have to leave immediately!”
Just as he said that, a terrible and massive threat arrived from afar, and closed in with tremendous speed. It was surrounded by many black clouds that engulfed the whole sky.
Long Haochen immediately made the decision to leave right after sensing that terrible power. We have to leave, otherwise, everyone is bound to die! The owner of that terrifying aura is at least a powerhouse of the ninth step, and is aiming right for us. Even if Haoyue won’t manage to finish his evolution in case we leave now, we are not able to deal with this enemy!
Everyone completely trusted Long Haochen, and Cai’er supported him with her hands, while Han Yu supported Lin Xin, and the five of them gathered next to Haoyue.
Meanwhile, the golden light from Long Haochen’s Eternal Melody lit up.
Actually, he didn’t mention the cost from forcefully triggering the Eternal Melody before. After teleporting them forcefully, he would be affected by the Eternal Melody and aside from prolonging the duration of weakness, resulting from the use of Soul Ignition, it would subject him to extreme pain. Meanwhile, a great deal of the energy in the Tower of Eternity would dissipate, and would need more souls to be replenished.
But because of the large amount of soul energy absorbed by the Eternal Melody during the battle in the Southern Mountain’s City, they could still make it.
Haoyue seemed to have sensed the existence of that threat as well, and his whole body trembled, before the appearance of a fantastic scene. Of the two bulges on the sides of his body, the one on the left side suddenly shrank down, while the one on the right side suddenly grew, producing violent tremblings.
Right when Long Haochen’s group was rushing in, the bulge on the right side suddenly split, and another head popped up. Meanwhile, Haoyue’s shivers accelerated further, as he grew to a size of nine meters in a flash. That was indeed a massive creature.
At that time, a dark blue ball of light rushed up from the exterior of the cave, approaching at a monstrous speed while leaving trails of blue flame in the air.
After Haoyue’s fourth head suddenly emerged, he seemed to be in an extremely weak state, and his four heads’ eyes closed as he lied on the ground.
With Haoyue and Long Haochen being mentally connected, he had a clear feeling of what Long Haochen was about to do, thus suddenly triggered the appearance of his fourth head, but the bulge on his other side also suddenly shrank down at least by half in the meantime. Otherwise, a fifth head would very possibly have appeared.
With a large flash of golden light, the interior of the cavern was illuminated brightly, and an intense radiance of light instantly engulfed everyone. In the meantime, Han Yu released his Spiritual Stove of Blessing of Light, covering everyone with a brilliant barrier of light.
With a golden flash of light, everyone disappeared from the cave.
Three seconds later, a massive dark golden ball of light descended with a boom that caused this entire red and black world to tremble. Even from the
mountain, the only thing left was a massive hole.
With a flicker of golden light, Long Haochen’s group appeared outside of the Tower of Eternity along with Haoyue. With a retching sound, Long Haochen vomited a surge of blood, before falling unconscious in Cai’er’s arms. In the same way, Haoyue fell into a coma too.
Fortunately, the Eternal Melody was still effective, so the specters outside of the tower didn’t dare to approach. As Cai’er supported Long Haochen, Han Yu and Wang Yuanyuan dragged Haoyue, and everyone returned to the Tower of Eternity.
Long Haochen was just too tired. Ever since entering the Illusory Paradise, his mental state had been extremely focused all along, be it during the hard battles against the demons, his awakening as a god’s chosen one, the war against the Zombie King which entailed his first use of Soul Ignition, the destruction of Bright Discipline, or finally his full-strength forceful trigger of the Eternal Melody to teleport everyone back.
It could be said that over the past few days, he never had any real rest, and his body was now at its limit, so falling unconscious wasn’t actually a bad thing for him. If this kept going on, he would have had to consume more vital force than he possessed.
The only good news was that in the Tower of Eternity, Chen Ying’er was already awake, waiting for them, though Sima Xian was still unconscious.
Han Yu’s Blessings of Light proved to be very effective, and actually managed to remove all interference during their teleportation. Now, everyone had their spiritual energy recovered at great speed, until returning to their regular state. Even the original restriction of the Tower of Eternity preventing every spiritual energy of other elements than light to recover didn’t affect the ability of this spiritual stove. It was truly worth the status of a fused spiritual stove.
This time, Long Haochen ended up unconscious for no less than six hours before waking up, still in a weak state. However, they couldn’t keep staying here for long. If the Priest Temple found out about their
disappearance, things wouldn’t be good. Although they could explain a short disappearance by saying they took a stroll in the city, they wouldn’t be able to do so if their absence lasted for too long.
But obviously, returning to the Southern Mountain’s City also came with a complicated process. Long Haochen had to transport Haoyue back to his world first, before the two of them could teleport back to the Southern Mountain’s City through their blood contract. After returning, he could then teleport his comrades from the Tower of Eternity to his side.
Haoyue recovered rapidly, at least a lot faster than the weakened Long Haochen, who told Haoyue about everything that happened through their mental connection.
It turned out that Haoyue originally had engulfed a large amount of magical crystals, causing his internal spiritual energy to keep rising, but it was still heterogenous.
Although he already reached the point of evolution, this heterogeneous spiritual energy needed to be purified, which was the reason why he needed to leave for his world for this long.
After returning to his own world, Haoyue kept cultivating in this cave. Although his strength wouldn’t break through immediately, he didn’t have to worry about being found out by those undead creatures for some time. Having learned the lesson from the time his third head emerged, and with his strength having increased like that, Haoyue was enthusiastic and prepared to purify all the spiritual energy at once, as his time of breakthrough was nearing.
However, against his calculation, some changes went beyond his control. As Haoyue was in the midst of purifying his spiritual energy, Long Haochen awakened as a god’s chosen one.
This awakening had a direct influence on Long Haochen’s blood connection with Haoyue. In normal times, this would have been a good thing, as it increased the strength of Haoyue to some extent, especially for Little Light. However, because Haoyue was purifying his spiritual energy,
and drawing close to his time of evolution, this sudden boost increased the danger for Haoyue.
Originally, Haoyue tried to suppress it, because he clearly felt that his own spiritual energy wasn’t completely purified yet, but the time required for his evolution was too long, and those undead creatures wouldn’t possibly give him enough time. However, after attempting to suppress his energy for some time, he finally didn’t manage to keep it stifled because of the excessive amount of spiritual energy accumulating in him since the start of his evolution. At that time, he was left with no other choice but to request for Long Haochen’s help, hoping that he would manage to slow down those undead creatures.
However, the final results visibly exceeded his expectations. Long Haochen was left with no other choice but to transport them back to the Tower of Eternity, but to Haoyue, leaving his world in a state of evolution would very possibly have resulted in a threat for his life. Left without choice, he had to abandon the complete evolution, and chose to evolve only by a half, using the purified spiritual energy to trigger the appearance of his fourth head, while completely abandoning the heterogeneous spiritual energy. This was also the reason that pushed that bulge to shrink so suddenly and weakened his body at the same time.
However, in spite of that, half of Haoyue’s evolution was still successfully completed, and Long Haochen gave this fourth head the name of Little Blue.
Along with this evolution, a difference appeared on Haoyue’ four heads compared to before, the bulges above those had certainly changed. They now had the shapes of horns, close to cow horns. Each of the four heads looked a little different, but the most extraordinary change appeared on the fourth head, Little Blue. It had a look close to the head of a butterfly. And furthermore, perhaps was it because of the sudden forceful aspect of the evolution, but his eyes had a weak look, as if suffering a dystrophy.
Chapter 352
After his forceful evolution, Haoyue’s scales gained thickness, and faintly glowed in a dark purple. His strong and sharp tail gained a conical bulge too, and just by lying down, he faintly radiated a feeling of deterrence. According to Long Haochen’s estimate, the current Haoyue reached the sixth step and controlled four elements, since Little Blue belonged to the water element.
“Haoyue, could there be undead creatures waiting for us when we return to your world?” Long Haochen asked Haoyue.
Closing the eyes on his four heads, Haoyue shook his head as he looked at Long Haochen. But in the meantime Long Haochen could feel the wrath originating from him.
Haoyue’s anger was extremely fierce, to the extent that even Long Haochen was wary of it.
Haoyue’s anger actually was accompanied by contempt and humiliation. His contempt was directed at the undead and his humiliation resulted from the fact that they dared to harm him.
Long Haochen stroke Little Light’s head, saying with a smile, “Don’t be angry. In the future, when we will be more powerful, there will be nothing to fear. This time, it is my fault. If I hadn’t had my awakening, you wouldn’t have been troubled to such an extent.”
Consoled by Long Haochen, Haoyue finally calmed down, gathering his four heads together to rub them against him. Like that, he regained a
peaceful look.
“Since there’s no danger there, let’s go then.” Long Haochen activated the Eternal Melody and returned with Haoyue to their original place.
With a flash of golden light, their line of sight became clear, and Long Haochen couldn’t help but let out a breath of relief.
The place where Haoyue and him appeared actually surpassed thirty meters in width; it was a hole of several hundred diameters depth. It was surrounded by charred darkness. The original mountain shape and cave were totally indiscernible.
However, just like Haoyue sensed it before, this place was empty of any undead.
Raising his four heads simultaneously, Haoyue emitted a formless awe- inspiring presence, spreading to the surrounding.
His four heads uttered resonant bellows at the same time. It was as if his mood was leaking out, and he was telling the world, I will be back.
In a purple glint of light enveloping both Long Haochen and him, the transporting contract was triggered, and the two of them returned to the underground of the Priest Temple.
Long Haochen didn’t dare to neglect the others, therefore, he immediately called them out from the Tower of Eternity. After doing that, he finally could take a breather.
This trip to the Southern Mountain’s City could simply be called a thriller, be it for Long Haochen himself or his whole 21st general grade Demon Hunt Squad, who encountered some unprecedented crisis.
It had been even more dangerous than the time they went on their mission to the Desolate Hissing Cavern.
But similarly, their benefits from this trip were immense. To say nothing of their gains in contribution points, the most important gain were their
spiritual stoves. Everyone gained spiritual stoves compatible with themselves, and except for Wang Yuanyuan, everyone completed a fusion of spiritual stoves.
On the third day after their return, Sima Xian came back to his senses. Although his wounds were still severe, he finally had recovered under Han Yu and Yating’s healing.
This guy gave his own fused spiritual stove a domineering name, calling it Thunder God Spiritual Stove.
The results of fusion of Chen Ying’er’s spiritual stoves was given the name of Spiritual Stove of Duplicating Light.
Their two spiritual stoves had their own characteristics, and both were extremely powerful existences. In terms of power, they would show their uses during the future battles.
After this military deployment, the 21st general grade Demon Hunt Squad could be said to have reached the strength level of a commander grade Demon Hunt Squad, and quite a powerful one at that.
The large part of reinforcements from the Alliance finally arrived, which signified the end of the crisis inflicted to the Southern Mountain’s City. The demon army had retreated long ago, and on the surface, it looked as if the demons suffered large losses, having lost several successors of demon gods, but was this really the case? At least, Long Haochen didn’t think so. This was something he could see through the pact linking him to Ye Xiaolei. As for the details on this pact, even his teammates didn’t know.
“Is Captain Long here?” Someone knocked on the door, while Long Haochen was thinking about everything that had happened in the Illusory Paradise.
After seven days of rest, he was finally back to normal, and the weak feeling from the use of Soul Ignition had disappeared.
Opening the door, Long Haochen faced Zhang Fangfang who was paying them a visit.
“No need for to be so formal, Brother Zhang. You are my senior, and can just call me by my name.” Long Haochen said with a smile.
Zhang Fangfang sat on the sofa, replying with a smile, “Okay, then I’ll call you Haochen. Haochen, what are your plans for the following days?”
Long Haochen shook his head, “We plan on returning to Holy City to have some rest. You should know well that we gained quite a lot from this trip, but because many of our abilities are newly-obtained, we need some training to familiarize with each other to bring out the best of our fighting strength. At the same time, we plan on returning to the Alliance to get promoted to commander grade, so we can receive more difficult missions.”
Zhang Fangfang revealed some unconcealed admiration, “You are really the most talented Demon Hunt Squad I have ever gotten to see. If I were to have the choice, I’d even be willing to be your retainer knight in the same way as Han Yu.”
Long Haochen smiled at him, “You are joking Brother Zhang. This time, you managed to break through to the seventh step, and your team also obtained enough contribution points to easily rise to the commander grade, since it seems to me that if someone in a team reaches a whole level above the requirement, the promotion of the Demon Hunt Squad would be less expensive.”
Zhang Fangfang revealed a bitter smile, “That’s right! In bad luck, no one can match our team. I don’t even dare use our contribution points to raise our grade. It’s fortunate that the contact with your light essence helped me break through the threshold of the seventh step. At long last, we can go up to the commander grade. Haochen, I won’t say thank you, but rather, if in the future there is anything we can do to help, as long as it is something I can do, I won’t decline.”
“Okay.” Long Haochen didn’t become too formal and simply agreed. Demon Hunt Squads taking watch over each other was after all a natural matter.
Zhang Fangfang said next, “Since you are also planning to return to Holy City, how about setting off together with us? We also plan on returning to directly promote our grade.”
“Okay, how about tomorrow then?”
After obtaining Long Haochen’s positive reply, Zhang Fangfang clearly looked happy, and they kept chatting for a bit before he took his leave.
Long Haochen closed the door, and Cai’er who stayed in the background all along came out, telling him with a smile, “Did you notice?”
Long Haochen was startled, “What is there to notice?”
Cai’er continued happily, “This Zhang Fangfang has taken a fancy to Yuanyuan. Don’t tell me you didn’t notice that?”
“What?” Long Haochen looked blank, “Are you saying that Brother Zhang and Yuanyuan… But it’s impossible; have you forgotten about what Yuanyuan said before?”
It was only in the presence of Long Haochen that Cai’er showed such an expressive self. Making a grimace to him, she said next, “Can you really believe those words? Those were clearly said on purpose to tell us that she is not interested in the other guys of our team. Don’t believe her and Ying’er’s firm front. Actually, they are just extremely stubborn. When I was in a coma after the battle in the Southern Mountain’s City, I accidentally heard Ying’er ask about the situation of Captain Yang Wenzhao.”
In a flash, Long Haochen replied, “Oh, so it turned out that way. We shouldn’t butt in this, just let nature take it’s course as it should. Things are good as long as they act with accordance to their own feelings.”
Cai’er suddenly said next, “Unless the situation requires it, you are not allowed to let Yating show her true form. Just need to have her shrink to the same small form as before.”
Long Haochen declared with a bitter smile, “I was afraid of you misunderstanding. That’s why I didn’t dare tell you before.”
Cai’er smiled, responding, “Mistaking about what? She’s a light fairy; even if she has a physical body, she’s still an entity made of energy. Why would I misunderstand anything?”
Long Haochen asked with a start, “Then, why do you want her to stay shrunk?”
Cai’er replied, “That’s not the same. Just look at how light her clothes are. You’re always staring at her; if I let you stay this way, you’ll be corrupted from bad examples.”
Long Haochen revealed a smile, “Then, you can also put on that kind of clothes for me to see. I want to see if you will be corrupted by these examples as well?”
“Pah, you have really been corrupted!” In the instant Long Haochen drew closer to Cai’er, she dodged.
Ever since the charming scene in the Illusory Paradise, Cai’er was never willing to share a bed with Long Haochen. At most, the two of them would be sitting close to each other while cultivating. Long Haochen didn’t pressure her in the matter. Actually, even he didn’t sleep in Cai’er’s arms in the same way as in the past.
The matter of that day made them realize that they weren’t little kids anymore, and in spite of the well being of their couple, they were still in the end not officially engaged, and Long Haochen was afraid of harming Cai’er, while Cai’er felt embarrassed. Even the two of them didn’t know for how long this would keep going on.
Long Haochen and Zhang Fangfang’s Demon Hunt Squads were actually not the only ones returning to Holy City. The 22nd general Demon Hunt Squad formed of Luc Xi’s group, as well as the Demon Hunt Squads led by Yang Wenzhao and Duan Yi also returned along with them.
On their way, these few Demon Hunt Squads could be said to have scattered and mixed up quite a bit. On one side, Lin Xin amiably went running off to the side of Luc Xi’s group, accompanying Li Xin, while Long Haochen’s group was joined by two uninvited guests, Zhang Fangfang and Yang Wenzhao.
As an earnest, sincere and rather guileless man, there wasn’t much to say about Zhang Fangfang, who just kept following Wang Yuanyuan closely every day. No matter what Wang Yuanyuan did to drive him away, he remained smiling and silent, only following her quietly. Thus Wang Yuanyuan also remained silent, only letting him follow her.
Yang Wenzhao seemed determined to win Chen Ying’er, and would frequently act more politely than Zhang Fangfang, bringing tasty food or interesting stuff to Chen Ying’er.
Chen Ying’er didn’t go on a fake act, simply accepting his gifts.
Long Haochen and Cai’er rarely had the occasion to enjoy a relaxed atmosphere together on this trip. Long Haochen didn’t restrict his comrades in any way either, because he clearly knew that after returning to Holy City, the following days would be spent cultivating in seclusion for all of them. Giving everyone a rare chance to relax would surely have good effects on their future cultivation. It was simply not necessary to say this to the others.
Chapter 353
The return trip couldn’t be considered to be fast-paced, but fifteen days later, they were back in Holy City, where Long Haochen gave his comrades three extra days of rest. On the fourth day, everyone was called to the lounge of the villa.
“What a comfortable life. If only this could last forever.” Lin Xin lay on the large sofa, wearing a satisfied and pleased expression.
After losing all the hair on his head, he seemed even more energetic. However, a shock of dark green hair had started to grow and looked a bit like a green hat. Sima Xian laughed next to him, “Has-drugs-bro, have you taken your medicine yet today?”
Lin Xin revealed a stiff expression, “You’re the one who needs to take medicine, foolish baldie.”
Chen Ying’er and Wang Yuanyuan couldn’t help but laugh holding their bellies.
Han Yu spoke next, “Guys, stop making noise. Captain, what are your future plans?” Although he was only Long Haochen’s retainer knight, Han Yu ranked among the strongest in the team, and was furthermore the oldest. His past arrogant self was transformed to a calm and steady personality, grasping the true essence as a retainer knight.
Long Haochen replied with a smile, “During our last adventure in the Southern Mountain’s City, we encountered many dangers, but obtained quite a lot because of everyone’s joint efforts. But now, we have all
obtained a new spiritual stove or a fused spiritual stove, and will need time to adapt. We will continue training in the Tower of Eternity, giving priority to raising everyone’s spiritual energy to 5,000 units before trying to pass the next trial of the tower if possible. I hope the next ones will help us to keep raising our internal spiritual energy in the same way. After we pass the next test, I believe that everyone’s ability will be trained enough. Then, we’ll advance to the commander grade, and proceed with completing new missions.”
Everyone nodded after hearing Long Haochen’s instructions. In fact, it could be said that under his lead, the past year was the fastest period of cultivation in their whole lives. In particular, their spiritual energy kept growing by leaps and bounds. If not for the time they spent in the Tower of Eternity, their spiritual energy couldn’t possibly have surpassed 4,000 units in such a short time, let alone breaking through to the sixth step.
In fact, the average age for powerhouses of the sixth step in the Alliance was thirty-seven, but the average age in their 21st general grade Demon Hunt Squad didn’t even reach twenty. Going with this speed of cultivation, they were bound to become powerhouses of the eighth step one day, though no one would be able to say whether they could all break through to the ninth step. But given their innate gifts, the bottleneck of the ninth step was nothing impossible for any of them to overcome.
“If no one has any objections, let’s prepare to train in the Tower of Eternity.” Long Haochen slowly stood up, restraining the smile on his face, returning to a state of serenity.
“Captain, wait a bit. Sir Saint Knight Chief told me he wants you to look for him today.” Han Yu told Long Haochen.
“Eh? Grandteacher was looking for me? Do you know what this is about?” Long Haochen asked him.
Han Yu laughed gently, “Should be something good. Didn’t we contribute to the gain of five Devil Dragon Crystals for the Priest Temple and the Alliance? Grandfather might reward us for that action. After all, they wouldn’t take our things for free.”
“A reward as in contribution points?” Saying that, Lin Xin immediately got up from the sofa, his eyes wide, as the pupils of his eyes seemed to have taken the shape of a gold coins.
Han Yu unhappily responded, “How greedy are you. Could it be that you know the worth of Devil Dragon Crystals?”
Lin Xin rubbed his own hands, happily laughing, “Even if I don’t know, I can pretty much guess! These are magical crystals from magical beasts of the ninth step, and belonging to the Devil Dragons’ race! One magical crystal should be exchangeable for a hundred thousand contribution points! It looks like we are already not far from the equipment of the legendary tier.”
“A hundred thousand? It cannot be that high! Really?” This time, even Long Haochen felt his heartbeat quicken.
Lin Xin straightened his chest, “How could it not? These are magical crystals of the ninth step! Boss, if you don’t believe me, take out one for sale. This thing is a rarity even among the rarest rarities. A hundred thousand contribution points is still a low estimate from me.”
Sima Xian laughed foolishly, “Then, won’t our contribution of five crystals be rewarded with five hundred thousand contribution points? What good news!”
Long Haochen was unable to remain calm, “Don’t hope for too much. Although the Alliance doesn’t know that I brought you to the Illusory Paradise, Cai’er and I accomplished a fusion of spiritual stoves inside, and can be said to have gained quite a lot. Thus, they may not be giving us so many contribution points. However, Lin Xin was right to remind us about their worth as magical crystals of the ninth step. Let’s do it this way then. Yuanyuan, Sima and you will head to the Transaction Center, and try to do two things. One will be to help buy Yuanyuan fitting spatial elemental gems for her Divine Soul Shield. If there are some available, we can consider to use magical crystals or contribution points as bargain for purchase. Then, the other task will be to find a great-master in
jewelry, and to ask whether he can replace that gem in the middle of Sima’s Energetic Ball of Light with a Devil Dragon Crystal.”
Hearing him say that, Wang Yuanyuan and Sima Xian felt their eyes lit up despite themselves. It was especially true for Sima Xian. The magical crystal embedded in his Energetic Ball of Light could certainly be changed. Although Wang Yuanyuan was also hopeful, she knew that spatial gems were rare to find. But since many exquisite things could be found in the Transaction Center, perhaps they would really find what they were looking for.
Chen Ying’er claimed in high spirits, “I’m going too! I’m going!”
Han Yu then said next, “Captain, then vice-captain and I will follow you to go see Grandfather.”
“Okay, then let us act separately.”
The seven of them parted. Long Haochen’s group of three went to the Alliance’s Office Hall, while the rest immediately headed for the Demon Hunt Squads’ Transaction Center.
An hour later.
Lin Xin, Chen Ying’er, Sima Xian and Wang Yuanyuan returned dispirited to the villa.
Going in, they saw Long Haochen, Cai’er and Han Yu waiting on the sofas. And furthermore, the three of them didn’t look happy. The atmosphere in the whole lounge appeared quite grim.
Seeing Lin Xin’s group of four come in, Long Haochen raised his head and asked in a heavy tone, “How did it go?”
Lin Xin replied helplessly, “I’ll let them explain it.”
Sima Xian revealed a bitter smile, “My situation is rather dramatic. That jeweler from the Mission Tower said that if I want to replace the core of my Energetic Ball of Light with the Devil Dragon Crystal, it will at least raise
to the rank of a legendary weapon. However, simply adding the magical crystal won’t do, and metals with a sufficiently good conductance of spiritual energy as well as many other materials will be required. Without accounting the money that the jeweler charges, we’ll already need more than a hundred thousand contribution points.
This number was just terrifying. And simply buying an excellent piece of legendary equipment costed normally a hundred thousand contribution points or two.
Long Haochen turned to look at Wang Yuanyuan, asking, “And you?”
Wang Yuanyuan shook her head, “There was no spatial crystal of the same kind as mine in the Transaction Center. But apparently, one appeared in the Alliance’s Great Auction House. However, the price is certainly going to be sky-high, costing tons of gold coins. How could we have that kind of money?! ”
Chen Ying’er mumbled to herself, “We really went in great impulse, only to return disappointed. We had originally some confidence, but actually, it looks that we were far from having enough! Captain, we should keep taking missions. As we keep growing stronger, the contribution points required for our equipment also grows by a lot.”
Long Haochen didn’t express his opinion, shifting his glance to Lin Xin, “Come Lin Xin.” Saying that, he showed the contribution tile on his left arm.
Lin Xin arrived next to him, revealing his own contribution tile.
With a faint glint of golden light, the transaction of contribution points between the two of them was completed.
The expression on Lin Xin’s face that looked dejected from the start was rapidly transformed to stiffness. His originally not so small eyes were opened to a great width, as he muttered something.
“This is… One, two, three, four, five…”
Wang Yuanyuan reacted with some misgivings, “What are you doing, has-drugs-bro? Don’t tell me there’s a need to count every contribution point Captain transferred to you one by one?”
“Don’t disturb me, I’m counting the zeros.” Lin Xin shocked everyone with his next words.
For there to be a need to count the zeros, what kind of astronomical number was that?
“A one and six zero, how much is that?” After the transmission of contribution points, Lin Xin raised his head, giving a blank stare to his comrades, as he asked this foolish question.
Sima Xian unconsciously gave the reply, “A hundred thousand?”
“Peh! Where did you learn to count? Was it with the Priest Temple?
That’s a million okay?” Chen Ying’er declared, full of disdain.
A million? When this number came out from her mouth, Lin Xin, Sima Xian and Wang Yuanyuan were instantly petrified.
The atmosphere in the whole lounge changed immediately.
Sima Xian lost his voice, “Boss, don’t tell me that you’ve robbed the Demon Hunt Squad Transaction Center? That’s a million contribution points, Heavens!” Without a doubt, this number was simply astronomical for their group.
Long Haochen revealed a bitter smile, “To rob it? I would first need to have the necessary strength for that.”
Lin Xin still had a look of disbelief as he asked, “Boss, are you saying that this million contribution points are really ours? And that would be the reward from the Sir Saint Knight for us?”
Long Haochen nodded in silence, showing a crafty smile. On the side, Han Yu and Cai’er couldn’t help but smile in agreement. It was clear that the atmosphere from right before was faked on purpose, or perhaps, they
were digesting the excellent surprise from receiving this million contribution points? No, that’d be too crazy.
”Aaaah!” A sharp cry immediately resounded in the whole villa, from Lin Xin who was the first to cheer. Immediately after him, Wang Yuanyuan and Chen Ying’er let out girlish shrieks. Sima Xian smirked as he grabbed Lin Xin’s hand, staring at the contribution tile on his hand.
“A million! That are a million contribution points! Oh my god! How can there be that many? Boss, tell me how? That’s too unimaginable.” Lin Xin kicked Sima Xian without any consideration, before stepping forward, reaching Long Haochen’s side as he asked, filled with excitement and curiosity.
Chapter 354
Han Yu replied with a smile, “Devil Dragons are from the same race as the Demon God Emperor, and since long ago, Devil Dragons have always been attaching a lot of importance to their magical crystals. Even when some would be obtained by the Alliance, it would surely instigate a war for the sake of getting their magical crystal back. Thus, gaining magical crystals from Devil Dragons is only associated to missions of the Emperor grade. For every one of them, the reward reaches 300,000 contribution points! This time, we got ten crystals at once, and it’s completely due to our good luck and Captain’s improvisation. After discussing, the higher- ups decided to give us a million contribution points for the five crystals. And we have still five more, so that’s to say, we have virtually two and a half million contribution points in total.”
“Two and a half million, two and a half million; that’s two and a half million points!” Lin Xin laughed happily, and his acclamations resounded once again in the whole vila. Even Cai’er couldn’t help but grab Long Haochen’s hand in joy, in spite of the deep memories they still had from what happened in the Illusory Paradise.
Contribution points weren’t gold coins, but were actually a lot more useful. The fact they had received so many contribution points signified that their strength was bound to increase drastically.
Long Haochen said with a smile, “Sima, you don’t have to be watch the money while upgrading your weapon. From my estimate, after going through this upgrade, your Energetic Ball of Light will certainly surpass ordinary legendary equipment in power. Fortunately, we have the best material to use, so you can get Lin Xin to accompany you to look for that
great-master in jewelry later, now that we can afford it. Yuanyuan, go to the Alliance’s Great Auction House to ask about that spatial crystal, and the time when the auction will take place. No matter the cost, we will buy it for you. If I am not mistaken, the things in the auction house of Holy City can be bought directly with contribution points for a price of ten to one. That’s to say, we should be able to get a spatial crystal for a cost in between hundred and two hundred thousand contribution points. If there are more spatial crystals, then buy more of them.”
Lin Xin remarked with a laugh, “Boss, how rich and overbearing from you! Then, how about the rest of the contribution points?”
Long Haochen replied after spending a short time pondering, “Let’s temporarily retain the remaining contribution points. If some good items appear in an auction, we can conveniently buy them this way. Now, your materials for pill take the top priority, so if you need anything, take the initiative to buy it by yourself, but don’t spare any cost on them. It’s after all impossible for us to reach the standard to become a Demon Hunt Squad of the king grade at the moment. After we get promoted to the commander grade, we’ll have a look at the third floor of the Demon Hunt Squads’ Transaction Center and use the contribution points already in our hands to get a piece of legendary equipment for everyone. This way, during our next mission, we’ll have a better chance of success.”
“Long Live Captain!” This shout reverberated three times. Even for Demon Hunt Squads, a team at the commander grade with all members equipped with a piece of legendary equipment was something hard to imagine.
In truth, Long Haochen clearly understood that this time, it was all because of the assistance from the Alliance that they managed to get so many contribution points. Although the ten Devil Dragon Crystals were obtained by them, if not for the fact that so many powerhouses from the Alliance were present, how could he possibly have accomplished this? Thus, handing five of these over was only natural to him.
Although they received 500,000 contribution points less from the Alliance than the usual countervalue for king grade Demon Hunt Squads,
this was already an enormous help for them. Those were a million points! Even if this ended up not being enough to get everyone a piece of legendary equipment now, they would surely only be off by a small margin. This million contribution points also enabled them to stay in the villa for about a year and focus on training hard without any need to take on missions.
However, Long Haochen didn’t know that the Alliance handed them so many contribution points for the sake of avoiding them to take on missions to the greatest extent at the present stage. The existence of the Scion of Light and the Saint Daughter of Samsara was in fact a very sensitive subject, especially after the trip to the Southern Mountain’s City, the successive situations of fatal danger caused even Han Qian to fear for their lives. In case Long Haochen or Cai’er were to die before reaching maturity, the Alliance would suffer a fatal blow. Thus, giving them so many contribution points, they would naturally not rush for new missions. And having the contribution points would also increase their strength a step further. These were resources the Alliance was willing to invest for the sake of their cultivation. Other Demon Hunt Squads couldn’t even hope for such a treatment, but in this instance, the other five from the 21st general grade Demon Hunt Squad received advantages by being close to Long Haochen and Cai’er.
Everyone quickly became busy, and over the following month, their time was shared between going to the Tower of Eternity and cultivating their spiritual energy.
Sima Xian’s Energetic Ball of Light was already sent to be reforged, and Wang Yuanyuan went to get the information on the auction involving the spatial crystal, which was on the verge of starting.
Over this month, Long Haochen and Cai’er mainly adapted to their new spiritual stoves as well as their synchronization, while cultivating their spiritual energy. Long Haochen aside, the others trained their own spiritual energy until it reached 5,000 units through the fourth and the fifth trial. Thus, everyone of the 21st general grade Demon Hunt Squad reached 5,000 units of internal spiritual energy.
“Captain, the spatial crystal is going to auctioned tomorrow. Should I just follow Yuanyuan, or should everyone go together?” Lin Xin went to Long Haochen and Cai’er’s room to ask.
Long Haochen gave the matter some thought, before replying, “Let’s go together. If we encounter something someone needs, we will immediately bid to get it. It has been a long time since we last went to an auction. This will be a good time to relax after this exhausting month of training.”
“Okay.”
The Alliance’s Great Auction House was undoubtedly one of the largest in the whole Alliance. If the Demon Hunt Squad Transaction Center could be said to be the place with biggest amount of treasures in the whole Alliance, the Alliance’s Great Auction House could be said to be the second richest place in treasures, with the bonus that everyone had the right to buy.
Sometimes, some items not present in the Demon Hunt Squad Transaction Center could be found here. But more importantly, in the Alliance’s Great Auction House there was no restriction in grade, meaning anyone had the right to buy treasures of any grade. This couldn’t be done in the Demon Hunt Squads’ Transaction Center, where a Demon Hunt Squad would need to reach the corresponding Demon Hunt Squad grade before being able to buy better items.
After all, in the Demon Hunt Squads’ Transaction Center, all the goods were sold at a very low price.
A simple example would be those excellent Devil Dragon Crystals Long Haochen’s group obtained. In the Demon Hunt Squad’s Transaction Center, completing the mission would be rewarded with 300,000 contribution points, and one could buy them from the Demon Hunt Squad’s Transaction Center for 350,000 contribution points.
However, once arriving at the Alliance’s Great Auction House, the prices could easily start at over five million gold coins for one item, and very possibly end up over ten millions gold coins. Thus, generally speaking, unless an item wasn’t present in the Demon Hunt Squads’ Transaction
Center and could only be found in the auction house, Demon Hunters would rarely go there to buy items.
As a frequent visitor of the auction house, Lin Xin prepared their seats. When Long Haochen’s group arrived at the Alliance’s Great Auction House, the sun had already set, but a huge amount of people was present in the auction house.
Lin Xin led everyone in the auction house, while he explained to Long Haochen, “Today is the day of the monthly great auction. Good items are always showcased during this period. I went to see the auction’s brochure, and really saw quite a few things that could be of good use to us. Boss, I have a suggestion.”
“Tell me about it.” Long Haochen replied.
Lin Xin’s response was, “We still have four more Devil Dragon Crystals. If we want to maximize the profits, we shouldn’t use contribution points to buy things from here, since this would actually be rather unprofitable to us. How about taking advantage of the event of today to sell one of these crystals? We didn’t obtain them in the Transaction Center after all, and are thus not violating the rules for the Demon Hunt Squads. With the gold coins from selling the magical crystal, we will easily be able to finance our purchases for today.”
Long Haochen was startled deep inside. He knew that according to the rules given to the Demon Hunt Squads, any equipment or pill obtained in the Demon Hunt Squad’s Transaction Center could only be sold back to the Demon Hunt Mission Tower. Lin Xin’s suggestion was indeed a good one; their Devil Dragon Crystals after all came from the demons, and weren’t something they had purchased. If they really sold it for a high price, they would be able to buy sufficiently good things, and this could perhaps help to buy one piece of legendary equipment for every person in the team after advancing.
Stopping his advance, Long Haochen finally agreed to Lin Xin’s suggestion after asking for the others’ opinions.
Because this was the grand occasion of the month, the auction took place in the largest hall of the Alliance’s Great Auction House. To participate in the auction taking place this day, at least an imposing record of transactions with the Alliance’s Great Auction House was necessary.
However, even so, after Long Haochen’s group entered the auction house, they were greatly surprised. In the rather dark lounge were at least seven or eight hundred people, and this number kept increasing. A lot of people carried a mask prepared specifically for this auction, with the goal of hiding their faces. After all, during the process of the auction, offenses to the law were very likely to happen.
Lin Xin was leading their group, but didn’t have his own box in this place. Long Haochen’s group of six was seated in the third row, and wore their own masks out of cautiousness. Lin Xin took one Devil Dragon Crystal from Long Haochen to enter it as an object for bidding.
Generally speaking, the auction wouldn’t accept items right before the start, but this time, it was about the magical crystal of a Devil Dragon! For this reason, they would rather be the ones requesting to accept the item even if there was no time. And that was to say nothing about the very good relationship already existing between the Alliance’s Great Auction House and Lin Xin.
Cai’er lightly leaned on Long Haochen’s shoulder, slowly closing her eyes.
Long Haochen then asked in low voice, “Is there anything you want?”
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Cai’er shook her head in silence, replying, “I have my Dagger of Samsara, so other equipment is useless to me. Unless it is a perfect fit, I don’t have any urgent need. Give priority to the others. You also have to buy a weapon for yourself. However, it doesn’t have to necessarily be here, instead we can just search on the third floor later on.”
Indeed, Long Haochen yet again urgently needed a new weapon. Thinking of that, he felt depressed. Ever since becoming a Demon Hunter, he had destroyed quite a good number of his weapons. This time, it was the sword Bright Discipline that reached the Glorious Tier which they had acquired with great difficulty, and his Blue Rain, Hibiscus of Light had also been smashed to pieces during the fierce battle against Ah’Bao. Although it was still being nurtured in Yating, it was temporarily unavailable. Thus Long Haochen, due to unfortunate circumstances, currently had no weapon available to use.
Now that their spiritual energy reached five thousand units, their next goal would be to defeat that red skeleton. But how could Long Haochen fight without a weapon? Thus, his top priority was to acquire a heavy sword. But of course, one would be the barest minimum, since he was after all a Retribution Knight as well.
Right at that time, the illumination in the auction hall became dim, until the whole room was cloaked in darkness.
The previously noisy auction hall immediately became silent. All the personnel that could enter in such a heavyweight auction was of high standing and naturally familiar with the rules here.
With a “shi” sound, a pillar of light was launched on the stage, and a crimson-clad girl appeared there out of nowhere.
If the appearance of this girl were to be described, the conclusion would be that she didn’t have the beauty of Cai’er, but the charm of a mature woman. Looking at her smiling face, people would easily get a refreshing feeling. But more oddly, when one looked at her, this person would actually have the feeling that she was directly looking back at him or her.
“Good evening dear honored guests, and welcome to the VIP auction of this month. Today, we prepared quite a few remarkable items for all of you special guests. I hope everyone will get some good assets from today.”
A pleasant voice filled with charm was heard clearly, and touched Long Haochen’s heart. In the rear, one could already hear that the breath of some guests was becoming rougher.
“This girl should have a rare and particular mental strength. She must specialize in the mental attribute.” Long Haochen said in a low voice to the nearby Cai’er.
On his other side, Sima Xian replied with a laugh, “Mental strength specialized users are rare, and people who are this beautiful are hard to see. This Alliance’s Great Auction House is the result of a lot of efforts and energy.”
Han Yu bumped his hand, revealing a pleased smile, “What? So you’ve been seduced? How about trying to pursue her?”
Sima Xian shook his head energetically, “She’s not the type of girl I like.”
This time, Long Haochen couldn’t help but ask with some curiosity,
“Sima, what kind of girl do you like then?”
Sima Xian gave an embarrassed smile, “I like those kind of long-haired and pure girls, looking like pure flowers.”
Hearing this reply, everyone broke out in laughter. Chen Ying’er’s didn’t give him the slightest face as she remarked in a low voice with a smile. “How is it that I felt you were speaking about has-drugs-bro! Woah, I didn’t expect that! I thought that you are robust, but I didn’t know you also had this kind of interest.”
“Nonsense! This man doesn’t like men.” Because of the impulse, his voice became noisier, immediately attracting despiteful looks from the surroundings. But fortunately, the auction hall was dark, thus the surrounding people didn’t see clearly from where it came.
On stage, the beautiful woman acted as though nothing had happened, continuing her introduction, “If you are frequently participating in our VIP auction, you should know about all this, but I will introduce myself, to give newcomers a chance to be familiar with me. My name is Ye Weiyang, and I am the chief auctioneer of the Alliance’s Great Auction House. I will the one managing the auctions for today. To avoid having our distinguished customers wait any longer, let us start with the first item.”
As she said that, she retreated to the side of the platform, where two girls were approaching. Right at that time, a white-clad staff member joined Ye Weiyang from the other direction, whispering a few words in her ear.
Ye Weiyang revealed a shocked look, but quickly returned to her usual self, giving a simple nod.
The first item was already up on stage, and Ye Weiyang pulled the cart with a regretful look, “Deep apologies everyone. I have regretful news to inform all guests about. It seems that a mistake happened, and that this article here isn’t the first but the second item of today’s auction. The rest of the items will be presented according to the intended order.”
Meanwhile, clamorous noises exploded, but given that the people here were of considerable status, they were naturally of good background and at least no one shouted abuses.
The regretful expression on the face of Ye Weiyang immediately turned right into a smile, “While I am sorry, I also have to announce that all you esteemed guests should rejoice about some good news, because the item we chose to switch to the first place is very likely to become the most desired item with the highest bids of today’s auction. And it’s quite a rare kind of treasure, even tempting me. If some customer would offer to buy it for me, perhaps I would give my heart to him in exchange.”
Being so beautiful, and having a natural charm combined with mental abilities of attraction, she was a perfect fit to draw in the 80% males present. From hearing that, there were actually people that couldn’t help but shout that they would bid on it and offer it to her.
Of course, these were only words.
Some the frequent honored guests knew about Ye Weiyang’s status. Disregarding her young age, her position in the Alliance’s Great Auction House was extraordinary, and the mere fact that she claimed to possibly give her heart to the one who would be willing to buy this item for her, was a simple proof of the astronomic value of the first item.
Seated, Long Haochen secretly exclaimed in admiration, How worthy of the chief auctioneer of the Alliance’s Great Auction House! This simple few words aroused great interest, allowing one’s imagination to run wild about what the first item would be.
Ye Weiyang made a graceful gesture, hinting the lady pulling the cart to approach.
“I believe that everyone is extremely curious, to know what kind of item we switched to the first position. Just speaking of it, I feel very curious too. That’s because I only heard of this treasure, but never saw one before. However, I believe that everyone here, regardless of whether you are a fighter or a rich merchant, should be extremely interested into it. This is an extraordinary rare treasure, or rather, an even more precious existence than any treasure. , let us welcome the mysterious first item of the day.”
“Shi!” Another glint shone abruptly, this time emitting a faint golden color. This was something all the frequent customers from this auction knew, a treatment reserved to important auctions.
The combination of Ye Weiyang’s words and the glitz showed that this first item was not only mysterious, but also extremely valuable.
All kinds of gems appeared on a golden cart that was pulled on stage. The ones pulling the carts were not these two ceremonial girls from before, but a black-haired girl clad in a transparent white dress, looking as elegant as a fairy. Her face carried a little smile and looked extremely pure.
On the contrary, the cart she pulled looked extremely gorgeous with its elegant matched patterns, which instantly attracted the eyes of all the spectators.
In terms of appearance, Ye Weiyang was undoubtedly a bit inferior to this girl clad in the white gown, but her character and charms more than made up for that. On stage, the two girls looked like a rose and a lily standing next to each other. The mere sense of beauty coming out from them aroused the emotions of the whole audience.
Sima Xian opened his eyes wide, giving a dull look to that white-clad girl. Apparently he was in a state of total shock.
Not only him, but the others from the 21st general grade Demon Hunt Squad felt their gaze freeze over that sight.
Han Yu murmured next, “Sima, is that the kind of little pure flower you just spoke about?”
“That… That can’t be! Wow, wow, that’s exactly it! This is the look of the lover in my heart! Am I dreaming? Han Yu, hurry up and pinch me!”
Han Yu violently pinched his leg without retenue, giving Sima Xian a painful feeling, but Sima only revealed an even more excited expression on his face.
“That’s for real! For real! No one can stop me! This girl is mine, I will definitely win her heart with all my strength.”
At that time, Lin Xin returned to his seat after having secretly headed below. Seeing Sima Xian’s excited appearance, he asked in puzzlement, “What happened this time, Sima?”
Chen Ying’er laughed lowly, “He’s just in heat. His target seems to be that pure flower on stage.”
Lin Xin looked dumbfounded, “Sima, are you dreaming? Do you know who that person is?”
Sima Xian gave a puzzled look to Lin Xin, “How could I be dreaming? Don’t tell me you think your brother would be lacking compared to anyone else?”
Lin Xin replied with a laugh, “I can’t be sure of that, but I can certainly tell you that this girl isn’t someone that will be attracted only by one’s rank. Unless she comes to like you, even being a powerhouse of the ninth step would be of no use.”
Long Haochen coughed at that, “Let’s discuss this after the auction ends, have a look for now. Shouldn’t this item be ours?”
Lin Xin nodded quietly, “During auctions, the most attractive items would be the first one and the last. At the time of the first bid, no one will have spent any money and all will have their full buying power, while the last one is generally a good item kept in reserve. The reason why I chose the first spot was to know the value of our sale to determine our budget for today’s purchases. With the top-notch manipulation from Ye Weiyang, and the help I got from Feng Ling’er, not getting a sky high price would prove to be very hard, hehe.”
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“Feng Ling’er, this name is really beautiful.” Sima Xian said very seriously, before grabbing Lin Xin’s shoulder, “Lin Xin, we are good brothers right?”
“What do you want?” Lin Xin gave him an alerted look, but even if he wanted to, he wouldn’t be able to struggle free of Sima Xian’s grip.
Sima Xian said in a low voice, “Introduce her to me, and you will be my big brother for life.”
Hearing this ridiculous conversation, Long Haochen couldn’t help but laugh, returning his look to the stage.
Right at that time, the audience was far from being as calm as before. Seeing the two women a stage, everyone guessed that the first item had to be terrifyingly valuable.
Ye Weiyang gave a nod to Feng Ling’er, who smiled before standing to the side.
Ye Weiyang replied, “Everyone must be full of expectations regarding the identity of this item. Let me hold this in reserve, and give everyone the starting price of this item, before showing you its true splendor.”
A clamorous discussion once again followed. Undoubtedly, giving the starting price before showing the item was against the ordinary customs. However, this way everyone’s curiosity rose to the peak.
Ye Weiyang smiled, “The future successor of this auction house, and the most beautiful girl in the whole Alliance’s Great Auction House, Feng Ling’er, is going to announce the starting bid for this item.”
The successor of the Alliance’s Great Auction House? Hearing that, Long Haochen’s group immediately understood the meaning of Lin Xin’s words. In fact, the Alliance’s Great Auction House was backed by the whole Temple Alliance!
Feng Ling’er opened her deep red lips, and smiled, “8 million gold coins!”
“Hong!”
When this number came out, the whole hall went into commotion. Even in the VIP auctions of the Alliance’s Great Auction House of Holy City, this price was extremely rare, even as the final result after heated bidding. And the last time it had been reached was actually for a piece of Epic-tier equipment.
The goods on that golden cart could not be any ordinary pieces of equipment. After all, what item could reach such a high price? Those who had the buying strength for such things felt their breath become heavy. To them, money in gold often only represented a number and no more, what they loved the most were actually treasures.
The looks on stage became different, and the two light beams shining on Ye Weiyang and Feng Ling’er merged above the cart.
Ye Weiyang’s voice, that seemed to be filled with magic, reverberated in the whole hall.
“If someone asks me what the most precious thing in the world is, then I will answer with certainty that it is life. That’s right; in this world, what could be more important than one’s own life? Money is in the end just a bunch of zeroes, and our life takes the absolute priority. Once again, one more or less zero holds no importance in comparison. Everyone knows about the value of life. If someone let me appear ten years younger, I
would be willing to exchange all I have for that. But the treasure our auction house has today indeed possesses one such characteristic: its ability to prolong life.”
As Ye Weiyang said that, Feng Ling’er slowly lifted the red cloth off the cart, exposing a protective treasure box made of white jade.
The white jade emitted some cold air, appearing all the more beautiful under the lighting from above. All the acknowledged people could tell that this box wasn’t made of ordinary jade, but something made of superior quality jade. The kind that could only appear in the deep layer of ice from thousands of years ago.
Just a box of jade of such size alone would reach millions of gold coins in value, to say nothing that it had to be the work of a great master in sculpturing. Engraved on it was a representation of nine white jade dragons. Even the most subtle scales on it looked extremely distinct.
More astonishingly, a dense luster of gems indistinctly surrounded this jade box. Because of the properties of the jade box, the gem luster couldn’t dazzle brightly, giving off a sort of illusory feeling.
“I am rising to eight million; no need to open the box yet!” A vigorous voice resounded suddenly, coming out from the top row.
Ye Weiyang gave a surprised look, and respectfully replied, “Respectful honored number three guest, I haven’t announced the identity of this treasure yet.”
That vigorous voice gave a deep reply, “I believe in the Alliance’s Great Auction House, and according to the auctioning rules, I can bid in advance. If no one wants to bid over my price, I have priority in the auctioning battle.”
The priority in the auctioning battle was simply the precedence over others that would bid the same price, and he actually went as far as to grab this advantage so quickly.
“Nine million!” A limpid female voice echoed, coming from a nearby VIP lounge.
Ye Weiyang gave a regretful look to the third honored guest, “My deep apologies to you, that honored guest from the fifth lounge bid over as you heard. But now, I must go on with the announcement.”
“Humpf.” That robust voice seemed very displeased about that guest in the fifth lounge. With an angered snort, he stopped all activity.
Long Haochen and Lin Xin exchanged a glance, and the two of them couldn’t help but draw a deep breath. This Alliance’s Great Auction House indeed deserved its reputation. Before the auction even started, the price had already risen to nine million.
Ye Weiyang continued speaking, “If this precious treasure is taken along with the corresponding medicine, it can lengthen a human life by ten years. Distinguished guests, given the priceless aspect of life, I think that you can understand this starting price of eight million gold coins. Moreover, if this precious treasure was simply consumed, that would only be a waste of its great potential.
In Shengmo Dalu, which are the most powerful creatures existing? I think that everyone knows the answer to this: they are the dragons. Even if the cultivating aspect is not considered, no one can compare to dragons’ innate abilities. A dragon’s power lies in their physical power and their elemental abilities, placing them on the top of the food chain. Since I just said that, I believe that everyone guessed what this treasure is. That’s right, it is for a true and immense dragon crystal of the tenth rank that we are opening the bids today.”
She wasn’t wrong in any way: magical beasts of the tenth rank were equivalent to human powerhouses of the ninth step.
“However…” With a turn on her tone, Ye Weiyang exposed a mysterious smile, followed by a light beam shining timely on her.
“A magical crystal from a gigantic dragon of the tenth rank priced at eight millions gold coins can not be considered overpriced for what it is, but it isn’t a cheap price either. But would some of you be disappointed? Then, let me add a little detail to the previous introduction. Actually, this isn’t the magical crystal of an ordinary gigantic dragon.”
“Twelve million!” The voice from before sounded out once again. This time, without any time of wait, successive calls were made. “Twelve and a half million!”
“Thirteen million!” “Fourteen million!”
This auction could only be described as freakish. Before the item even appeared, the prices already reached such a dizzying level.
Just as if she didn’t hear these frantic bids, Ye Weiyang continued her introduction, “Gigantic dragons are actually extremely few in the continent, and a lot of the known gigantic dragons only exist in legends. However, when facing our human powerhouses of the ninth step, most of them can only at most bow their heads. This is for the simple reason that they are not powerful enough.The ordinary gigantic dragons only reach the strength of the ninth rank.
But as for this magical crystal we are putting on auction today, things are different. When intaking the water soaked in it to flow through one’s body, one’s external spiritual energy will be amplified to a great extent. The use of such a magical crystal to increase the external spiritual energy can value up to a hundred thousand units of spiritual energy! Of course, it’s not like everyone can sustain such a great power, and depending on one’s physique and vocation, the one using it would only be able to gain 2,000 to 20,000 units of external spiritual energy.
Of course, external spiritual energy is not the same as internal spiritual energy! As humans, external spiritual energy is extremely difficult to
increase through pure cultivation. Even a powerhouse of the ninth step would hardly attain 10,000 units of external spiritual energy. But this magical crystal can give you immediately a defensive strength comparable to that of a gigantic dragon. Now, does everyone still believe our original price of eight million to be excessive?
Moreover, its rarity is unprecedented, because the possessor won’t suffer any retaliation from acquiring this one. Let me tell everyone now that this dragon crystal was given as a present, and won’t create any issue. As for the relationship between dragon crystal and equipment, I think there’s no need to say much, as it can totally act as the core for any equipment of the Epic tier.
After saying all that, everyone must be feeling that I am prolonging this introduction on purpose. However, it is actually not the case at all, because this item is just too precious, and I must let everyone of our honored guests know about its greatest characteristics. Of course, everything I said was just the tip of the iceberg. When its real name will come out, I believe that everyone will have their own judgement on it. Now, miss Feng Ling’er, I shall let you do this announcement.”
The light ray shifted to Feng Ling’er’s body. Stepping forward slightly, she placed her right hand on the jade box, slowly opening it. Intense undulations of spiritual energy immediately dispersed from it in a puff.
“Our first article is the magical crystal of a Devil Dragon from the clan of the Demon God Emperor.”
This time, what followed wasn’t an uproar but a total silence. Everyone’s eyes were fixed on that formidable fist-sized magical crystal, letting out a dense dark golden light. It appeared to be full of a tyrannical power and destructive aura.
“As auctioneers, we must maintain secrecy about our seller’s identity. However, as a girl, I am giving him my praise. No matter who achieved this deed, for having brought the crystal of a Devil Dragon to our Alliance, he is a hero for the human race.”
Ye Weiyang added new worth to that first item.
In truth, even in the Alliance’s Great Auction House, it wasn’t as if excellent goods would be appearing every time. This Devil Dragon Crystal was undoubtedly extremely precious, and according to the appraisal of the auction house, was unconditionally valued above ten million gold coins. To the one who would really need it, this was a priceless treasure. Originally, they had planned on letting it come on screen later, but due to Lin Xin’s request, they had no other choice but to let it be sold as the first item.
Chapter 357
Ye Weiyang had only obtained this information in the last moment, but managed to use it as a stimulant for this auction. No matter whether it was for her adaptability or her fearlessness, she was accomplishing her role as the chief auctioneer of the Alliance’s Great Auction House to perfection.
With a noise the start of the auction was announced. It seemed as though a terrible war had just started, and its participants were all in the top rows of their respective VIP lounges. After all, a dozen million gold coins wasn’t an amount ordinary people could afford. Even those who had this much money wouldn’t necessarily spend it.
The expression on Long Haochen’s face was quite grotesque: If not for Ye Weiyang’s introduction, he would actually not know that this Devil Dragon Crystal had so many good uses. It looked as if they couldn’t sell the four remaining ones. Before anything else, using them to increase everyone’s external spiritual energy was the top priority. Finding out such benefits accidentally was really something they didn’t expect.
Thinking about this, he couldn’t help but reminisce the time spent in cultivation with his father in Odin City. Didn’t his father let him be soaked in some bath filled with herbal medicine?
“Lin Xin, later on, please think of a way to buy or find a prescription using the Devil Dragon Crystal as its core.”
“There’s no problem. I was actually already doing research about that, and results should come up in less than a few days.” Regarding knowledge about spiritual stoves, Lin Xin wasn’t equal to Long Haochen,
but in the field of treasures, he was a lot more knowledgeable than Long Haochen.
The price for the Devil Dragon Crystal rose rapidly, but after exceeding 15 millions, the bidding speed visibly slowed, rising by hundred thousand after hundred thousand. Clearly, although the rich people present were very hopeful to acquire this treasure, they also understood its real value and weren’t willing to pay an excessively high price.
But the problem was that those who wished for this magical crystal were far too many. It seemed that every qualified bidder kept bidding, thus even when rising by one hundred thousand after another, the price rapidly passed eighteen million. This number already exceeded the true value of a Devil Dragon Crystal, but of course, considering the rarity of the item, this was still an acceptable price.
“Twenty million.” Right at that time, the robust voice of the very first bidder called out in a roar, and immediately, the whole hall became silent.
Ye Weiyang’s eyes lit up, “Alright, our honored guest from the third lounge bid the price of twenty million gold coins. At this level, Weiyang is unable to discuss this price, but I believe that any item as long as it is desired is priceless. If no other honored guest wants to continue bidding against it, this item will belong to our honored guest from the third lounge.”
Extraordinarily, she didn’t keep arousing the bidders’ moods, and immediately declared, “Twenty million, going once.”
This was Ye Weiyang’s intelligence. Given that this was the greatest auction house in the Temple Alliance, if she looked only into benefits, could she possibly keep raising the prices every time? The guests would be bound to be on guard, especially those seated in private boxes. Seeing that the price looked okay, she didn’t continue tarrying over it.
“Twenty million, going twice.”
“Twenty million, going three times, deal!” The gavel was raised in a split second, and the Devil Dragon Crystal was sold for the price of twenty million gold coins.
This price already exceeded Long Haochen’s expectations, but Lin Xin shook his head.
Han Yu asked in puzzlement, “Has-drugs-bro, are you still not satisfied even with that price?”
Lin Xin sighed, “We rushed our sale too much. If we had decided to put this magical crystal in auction, with some publicity done in advance on my own, and by keeping it under pressure, the price would very possibly have kept on rising.”
Wang Yuanyuan replied to him, “That’s about it, you must be content already.”
Sima Xian didn’t say anything all along, only gazing fervently at Feng Ling’er on stage, until she disappeared along with the cart.
After such a climax, the auction kept going on, and the true first item was pulled to the auction counter.
“Snow Lotus Herb. This item is a herbal medicine of five hundred years age, priced for 200,000 gold coins.” Perhaps it was because of the too consuming previous auction, but Ye Weiyang’s voice sounded a little languid, and a lot more concise.
“210,000 gold coins!” Lin Xin raised the number plate in his hand without hesitation.
He had always been the one deciding on what to buy on the medicinal field, and even Long Haochen wouldn’t get involved. To say nothing about the fact that the current 21st general grade Demon Hunt Squad was in a rich and imposing state. Lin Xin was now filled with confidence.
Finally, this Snow Lotus Herb was actually bought by Lin Xin for the low price of 350,000 gold coins. Perhaps it was because the previous climax of the dragon crystal’s sale had been too violent, but the following articles weren’t sold for very high prices.
Lin Xin intervened repeatedly, gaining three herbal medicines and a magical crystal of a magical beast at the eighth rank.
“, we shall welcome our seventh product, which is a rarely seen good treasure. This item is not only precious, but also extremely rare. Among the crystals naturally filled with spiritual energy, its value is second to none. Even buying one to bring it home as part of a collection would be very understandable. Our seventh article is a top quality crystal of the spatial element, a spatial crystal.”
Hearing the words ‘spatial crystal’, Wang Yuanyuan suddenly sat up straight, giving a fervent glance to Lin Xin, who nodded to her, acknowledging her desire.
As the cart was pushed forward and the red cloth on it raised, the original pitch-black coloring of the auction hall lit up accordingly. This was a piece of ore the size of a human head. Not crystal, but ore. This piece of spatial crystal was not grinded or polished yet, still being in its primitive state. It still carried a lot of impurities, but it was also large! The soft silvery light from it gave an eerie feeling, as it emanated its dazzling glint. It seemed as if the space in the whole auction hall became distorted just because of its appearance.
“A spatial crystal is known as solidified spatial spiritual energy. This is how pure the spiritual energy contained inside is. Even more praiseworthy, a spatial crystal can absorb spatial power to recuperate from its consumption. In other words, it can sustain itself. As long as its user holds it in esteem, it can accompany a user of spatial spiritual energy for their whole life, and such large chunks of spatial crystal are all the more rare. The reason why we didn’t take the initiative to refine the crystal was to avoid losing this shape. The honored guest among you who will have the luck to obtain it can go carve it in accordance to his needs.
Because of the rarity of such an immense spatial crystal, its starting price will be of two million gold coins.”
Although this starting price wasn’t low, no one knew whether some damage or cracks existed inside. If there were, its price would be greatly affected by it. However, the rarer the item, the greater its worth, so the fixed price of the auction house wasn’t unreasonable either.
However, from hearing that starting price, the whole audience went silent.
Spatial crystals were indeed good things, but spatial spiritual energy users were quite rare. Even if some possessed the spatial attribute, the crystal would only be useful to be embedded in their staff or equipment, reaching the Glorious Tier at most. Of course, that was valid for a small spatial crystal, but even if this ore was cut up to be inlaid in a piece of equipment, it would at most be a piece of Legendary Equipment. The most important aspect of this crystal resided in the accumulated spatial spiritual energy: the longer it would be stored, the more durable the item would be.
Thus, with this price of two millions, the people wanting it were not numerous.
Ye Weiyang secretly gave a silent curse. This item was just set at a too expensive price. If it was set at one million, would it create such an awkward silence? It looked like they would have to let this auction go.
“Which honored guest would want to bid? Spatial crystals are very rare items.”
Wang Yuanyuan then grabbed Lin Xin’s arm, looking close to exhaustion, “Let’s bid rapidly, bid rapidly!”
“Wait. Wait some more time.” Although Wang Yuanyuan was in such an anxious state, the current Lin Xin was extremely calm, having a dignified expression, he didn’t act impatiently. Ye Weiyang kept asking a few times, but the whole audience went silent. Letting out a sigh, her thoughts were, It looks like no one here today needs this item.
However, she still smiled sweetly, “Since none of you honored guests looks interested in this item, I can only let go of the auction with regret. However, I believe that some knowledgeable people are here. Ai…”
Her last faint sigh immediately gave off an endearing feeling.
Right at that time, Lin Xin finally acted, suddenly standing up from his chair, and shouted, “For the sake of miss Weiyang, I will bid two million. How could I let an item managed by miss Weiyang be withdrawn from auction?”
A glint appeared in the eyes of Ye Weiyang, while the other participants below were laughing up their sleeves.
It seems that this kind of situation would appear in every of the VIP auctions. Ye Weiyang’s charm was really intense, and that was especially the case for some newcomers on which she would have a great enticing power. Yet, another one turned out to be duped again.
“All good, the 36th honored guest bid the price of two million gold coins. Thank you for your affection towards Weiyang.” Saying that, Ye Weiyang politely gave Lin Xin a slight bow.
“Does another honored guest want to bid above that?” “Two million, going once, going twice. Deal!”
Finally, Lin Xin bought the item for the price of two million gold coins, recovering the huge spatial crystal in his sack.
Wang Yuanyuan finally loosened her breath, but still gave a very fierce look to Lin Xin, telling him in low voice, “Has-drugs-bro, you were trying to annoy me on purpose right?”
Lin Xin shot her a glance, “Keep quiet if you don’t understand. We have money, but it doesn’t mean we have to spend it foolishly. Bidding right of the bat would only attract the attention from the other competitors.
This is called tactics, you know?”
“Yuanyuan, Lin Xin did the right thing.” Long Haochen told Wang Yuanyuan in a low voice, before showing Lin Xin a thumbs up. One could only admit that in terms of business, Lin Xin was a top grade genius.
Chapter 358
The auction continued at a quick pace, and Lin Xin kept bidding again and again, coveting some rare plants and some especially useful magical crystals and magic scrolls. However, the amount of money he paid wasn’t that high. Grasping the true essence of an auction, he reaped the best benefits.
These VIP auctions originally had thirty-six items altogether, which became thirty-seven with the addition of the Devil Dragon Crystal. As time passed by, it was now the turn for the last item of the auction.
“The following auction will be the last item of today’s VIP auction. It is also a great treasure we kept in reserve for now. Please welcome Miss Feng Ling’er.”
Just like for the Devil Dragon Crystal, a golden light beam suddenly appeared, and clad in her white dress, Feng Ling’er appeared once again in front of everyone. However, this time, she wasn’t pushing a cart. She carried a large case in both her hands, which was covered with a red cloth, as she slowly advanced towards the auction counter.
Although the red cloth was present as cover, the size of the case could be clearly seen. It was a one meter long cuboid-shaped case, reaching a third of a meter in width. It looked like a large item, and seeing the slender Feng Ling’er carry it gave the audience a feeling of pity.
“This is a sword that saw the blood of countless demons, and gave birth to magnificent legends. With the illumination of its divine light, it seals itself autonomously upon death of its master.”
Ye Weiyang’s regretful voice resounded in the whole hall. On her face appeared a grieved expression. However, no traces of her mood could be seen on her face. It seemed as if this mood of hers was only expressed in the depth of her heart.
“This is a glorious sword, a godly sword filled with radiance and surrounded by legends. At the time it was put on auction, its owner gave an important request. That was, that the bidder had to be able to remove its seal and pay twenty million gold coins, otherwise, it shouldn’t be sold no matter the price.”
Ye Weiyang revealed a melancholic smile, “At this point, everyone should have guessed what kind of item we decided to sell today. This shouldn’t be the first time it appeared on stage, but this item had to be put on auction a lot of times. As an auctioneer and a worshipper of this godly sword, I am very hopeful that it could find a new master today. If some honored guest can undo its seal, this auction house is willing to cover a third of the cost, in respect for this godly sword.”
“Woah.” Lin Xin remarked in amazement, “An auction sale at a fixed price?”
Long Haochen asked, “What is an auction sale at a fixed price?”
Lin Xin replied, “That’s an extremely rare style of auction. The price of the item is fixed, so in other words, whoever wants the item can buy it, but the problem is that this kind of auction comprises some other conditions. Only if the competitor manages to respect the additional conditions can he qualify to buy it. But items that are accepted by the Alliance’s Great Auction House for an auction sale at a fixed price are bound to be pre- eminent existences. From my view, this sword is at least an existence at the peak of the Legendary Tier, or perhaps even…”
As they were talking, Ye Weiyang removed the red cloth on stage, revealing a simple wooden case.
The wooden case had a reddish brown color, and no excessive decorations, but a metallic handle. Its simple shape gave the visual
impression that it ought to be an extremely ancient item, weathered by age.
The auction hall was now extremely calm. It seemed that a lot of the honored guests recognized this item, and the atmosphere inside became stifling.
“Niece Weiyang, how about selling it to me. Although I still cannot dispel its seal, I will do everything I can after buying this godly sword to let it see the light. How about it?” The one who started to talk was precisely that third honored guest, with the deep and resounding voice.
Ye Weiyang shook her head with a distressed look, “My apologies. I understand your kind feelings, but I have to see it being freed here. This was my grandfather’s cherished desire. Weiyang won’t hide it any longer, but I am actually this sword’s seller.
This godly sword was actually owned by my great-great-grandfather, and is the weapon previously used by my ancestor. At the time grandfather was on his deathbed, his most cherished desire was to undo the seal on this godly sword, and let it see the light once anew, and if possible, let it keep drinking its fill of demon blood. If some guest has the ability, he can approach for a try. The premise condition is to be a user of the light attribute, and as long as he can undo the seal, even if he needs to pay in installments, he can take the sword.”
Saying this, Ye Weiyang turned around, slowly opening the wooden case.
Gloom, serenity, sadness, and deathly stillness. At the time the heavy sword in this wooden case appeared in front of everyone’s eyes, Long Haochen felt these four negative feelings enter him.
That sword was entirely black, looking very simple and unadorned in style. Refined, it was in total a meter and a half long, among which the handle encompassed the length of half a meter and the blade the remaining meter. Its edge was above four fingers wide.
The handle and the body blend into one another, as if forming the shape of an extraordinary metallic sculpture. Some meticulous patterns could be
faintly seen on it, and its tip wasn’t so sharp, being surprisingly covered by a black pearl. No powerful aura was emitted, only the simple feeling of having weathered a lot of hard times. But everyone could feel that in this gloom and serenity, this heavy sword was full of mysteries.
No one went on stage, but everyone maintained their silence, as if paying their respects to this godly sword. The general silence only made the atmosphere even more oppressive.
Those who deserved trying had all already tried. Even a knight of the ninth step came had once come for the sake of this heavy sword, trying to let it see the light. However, that person had also failed.
Since even a knight of the ninth step had failed to let this godly sword reawaken, who would be willing to go on stage to take it.
The distress in Ye Weiyang’s eyes became even stronger, and with an indistinct sigh, she slowly placed her hand on the wooden box, “My deep apologies. Because of Weiyang, everyone was put in a gloomy mood. However, I believe that one day, it will find its new owner. The auctions for today are close to end, so Weiyang wishes to give all the distinguished customers… ”
“Wait.” Right at that time, a clear and bright voice could be heard from someone who slowly stood up slowly from his row.
“Miss Weiyang, is it possible to ask you the name of this godly sword?”
Was asked in a clear and bright voice.
Ye Weiyang shook her head, “Sorry, dear honored guest. My grandfather said that unless this godly sword were to see light again, its name from those days cannot be revealed.” She could tell from his voice that this person was very young, and only considered him as being curious about this godly sword.
Feng Ling’er already turned her head around, preparing to withdraw this mysterious heavy sword, and all the participating guests also made preparations to leave.
The only ones who didn’t move were the members of the 21st general grade Demon Hunt Squad, because the one who stood up and raised the question was their captain, Long Haochen.
“I want to give it a try.” Long Haochen’s clear and bright voice was heard once again in the whole auction hall.
The whole audience went silent for a second, and immediately afterwards, noises followed and all the attention was focused on Long Haochen.
The most recurring reaction on the scene was the words, What an exaggerated opinion of his own abilities!
Ye Weiyang immediately revealed a stunned look when seeing the masked youth, but due to the custom, she concealed her own reaction very well, forcing a smile on her face, “Since things are this way, please approach, honored guest. However, can you show me proof of your light attribute?”
“I can.” Long Haochen said in a calm voice, “Close your eyes.“
These last words were for his comrades, and immediately afterwards, a resplendent light abruptly came out from Long Haochen’s back. Right at that instant, the whole auction hall shone distinctly, and an alarmed clamour almost overwhelmed the whole place.
That instantaneous golden glint was really too dazzling, sweeping an intense aura of light over this previously dark stage. But because of the excessive brightness from this light, a lot of those seated in the back rows were blinded for some time.
Fortunately, the golden light was only spread in a flash, and almost no one saw from where that golden light was issued.
Ye Weiyang and Feng Ling’er didn’t see either, in the instant that resplendent light was released, they unconsciously closed their eyes, and
only the members from Long Haochen’s 21st general grade Demon Hunt Squad felt that Long Haochen released his spiritual wings.
Even under the illumination of the sun, Long Haochen’s four wings would emit a dazzling golden light, to say nothing about a dark place. This was the reason why Long Haochen told his comrades to shut their eyes. Meanwhile, those who questioned his ability instantly became silent.
Ye Weiyang’s eyes showed great surprise, and she was absolutely shocked.
Her personal attribute was also light, and because of this, her understanding of the light element was all the more deep. But just now, she clearly sensed that this intense light was released by Long Haochen. Although she didn’t see the bright golden light Long Haochen had released, she determined that this was a Temple Knight of the seventh step, that had very possibly used Brilliant Body to produce such a condensed light elemental spiritual energy.
Right, at this time, he just used Brilliant Body, but from his voice, this was still a youth and no more. Given his age, could he really have already reached the seventh step? That was impossible; he ought to have changed his own voice, to conceal his old age.
As Long Haochen was walking slowly towards the auction counter, those bidders who were already prepared to leave stopped in their tracks, still recovering from the sight of the light released by Long Haochen’s four wings.
Walking slowly toward the auction counter, Long Haochen’s look became more condensed. When he saw the already closed wooden case, he asked, “Can I get started?”
Ye Weiyang unconsciously countered with the question, “Can I ask for your age?”
Chapter 359
Long Haochen without hesitation gave a categorical rejection, “My age is not important.”
Ye Weiyang looked startled. She rarely encountered people that would reject her, after all, it wasn’t by sheer luck that she managed to gain the position of chief auctioneer of the Alliance’s Great Auction House. Being a dual user of the mental and light attributes, she reached the conclusion that even becoming a Demon Hunter wasn’t any problem given her innate skills. Moreover, she had all the more confidence in her own charm.
“My apologies, then you may get started.” Ye Weiyang declared in a low voice, while retreating some steps.
Long Haochen slowly opened the wooden case. He looked at that heavy sword while both of his hands reached for the case.
Seeing this behaviour, Ye Weiyang looked more relaxed. Long Haochen’s movement looked simple, but was a sign of respect towards a weapon. This simple behaviour gave him a respectable look.
Four fingers of his left hand were placed on the sword’s tip, and with the help of his thumb, he pinched the pearl on it. If it was an ordinary sword, he should have pinched the whole sword to avoid cutting himself. His right hand was however braced on the sharp part, and not the handle.
This detail seemed very simple, but was exclusive to knights. Only a true knight knew about this sign of respect towards a godly weapon. For this
reason, when Ye Weiyang saw Long Haochen do so, she felt extremely hopeful deep inside.
Could this person really let the godly sword reappear to the light? If that’s so…
Thinking to this point, Ye Weiyang couldn’t help but reminisce about the words her grandfather had told her before.
A supreme powerhouse wouldn’t necessarily be the one to obtain the godly sword, but the most likely to succeed would be someone who was connected to the godly sword by fate. Could this man be that fated person? For some reason, Ye Weiyang’s heartbeat quickened, because she already had the faint sensation of that possibility.
Feng Lineg’er who was holding the wooden case with both her hands lifted it high as Long Haochen approached it. She felt very curious regarding him. Hearing his voice and seeing his stature, he should be quite a young knight.
Nonetheless, her look only contained curiosity. Despite her simple elegance in normal times, and the purity of her pretty skin, she actually had an ardent heart. Long Haochen’s size of one meter eighty, which made him look like an ordinary youth, couldn’t arise too great an interest in her, as that wasn’t her type.
Right in the opposite, the charming Ye Weiyang filled with mature charms was in her bones a very conservative girl.
This was precisely the kind of person that couldn’t be judged by their appearance.
Regarding the observation of Ye Weiyang and Feng Ling’er, Long Haochen looked as though he didn’t sense anything, looking straight at the godly sword before him.
In the instant right before that case was opened, when Long Haochen sensed the aura coming from it, he felt his entire soul being drawn by this
divine sword. Given his superior perception, he could even sense the many changes on the godly sword.
This sword was not simply a sealed weapon. In some sense, this weapon was already dead.
How could a weapon die? When a true godly weapon lost its soul, it would reach the end of its life.
Long Haochen was completely sure that this godly sword before him had possessed its own soul in the past.
Weapons with a soul were soul-owning weapons, but what did this mean? It implied that the weapon in question would be at least a powerful existence reaching the Epic Tier.
In other words, the godly sword before Long Haochen had long before been a piece of Epic Tier Equipment.
However, now that it had lost its own soul, Long Haochen was filled with even more respect for it.
He could make the guess that on the day the owner of that godly sword had died and it was sealed, its soul had discarded its own body, only leaving an empty sword shell behind, as the soul of the sword itself followed its master to the other world.
To affect his sword’s soul so strongly that it died along with him. One could well imagine how powerful its previous master had been. Who wouldn’t have respect for this kind of person and this kind of loyal sword soul.
Long Haochen was in that moment not calm at all. His movements were extremely slow, out of fear of profaning this godly sword. The reason why he came forward was not to obtain this godly sword, but out of his desire to dispel its seal. Just like Ye Weiyang said, this godly sword shouldn’t be left in the darkness of a box, but should regain its light.
Under the support of Long Haochen’s two hands, this pitch-black sword slowly left its wooden box. Long Haochen’s eyes were glued to the sword. Not pouring any spiritual energy, he just looked calmly at it. His gaze was peaceful, but also sad. Even with the mask concealing his face, the nearby Ye Weiyang could feel his current state of mind, as his limpid golden eyes were not covered by the mask.
Seeing the expression in his eyes, Ye Weiyang sensed that he was in complete symbiosis with the bleak aura spreading out from the godly sword.
Ye Weiyang’s heartbeat sped up. Before Long Haochen appeared, everyone who tried to obtain the sword, had activated their spiritual energy as quickly as possible to either control the sword or forcibly remove the seal. However, all those who did so had failed. Thus, Long Haochen didn’t chose to do the same, and against all expectations, he tried to interact with the godly sword.
Feng Ling’er, who removed the wooden box to the side, had an even more curious look. Taking a furtive glance at Ye Weiyang, she only saw her gazing at the man before her, not blinking an eye.
It seemed as if time had stopped. The spectators who regained their sight sat back on their chairs one after another, watching Long Haochen with a calm look. They were also very curious about whether this person would be able to dispel the seal on the sword. Back then, that light element truly astonished quite a lot of them. The better one’s understanding of the light element was, the greater their instantaneous shock at that time.
“Yating!” Long Haochen gave a quiet call.
An even more astonishing scene appeared. With a glint of golden light, a golden, almost human-sized silhouette suddenly appeared in front of Long Haochen. Although the current Yating didn’t have the six wings on her back, her sudden appearance and the dense light emanated by her, as well as her shining body, truly were stunning. Even Ye Weiyang and Feng Ling’er almost turned pale at seeing the purity and the softness of the light essence released by her.
Long Haochen stretched out his hands and presented the sword to Yating.
Yating sensed his intentions and hurriedly stretched out her hands, just like Long Haochen had done right before.
“This… This is…” Ye Weiyang suddenly covered her mouth, almost unable to mask her shock in spite of her unswerving determination.
Yating was facing Long Haochen, and the audience at his back. Thus, those who saw her back were only Ye Weiyang and Feng Ling’er. They could clearly see that on Yating’s back, six wings were tightly folded. They were also the one’s who most clearly sensed the absolutely pure light element coming from her.
Is this a Light Elemental Fairy? Ye Weiyang was shocked to the extreme. Given her profound knowledge, she knew a lot about Light Elemental Fairies. However, to her knowledge, she had never heard of a Light Elemental Fairy that would look so similar to a real person.
Yating made contact with the heavy sword, and the instant it touched her hand, the sword unexpectedly made a slight buzzing sound. The buzzing noise wasn’t loud, but clear and melodious like a dragon chant, and resounded in the whole auction hall.
Yating was also startled, because she clearly sensed that after grasping this heavy sword, she received an amiable reaction. That heavy sword actually seemed somewhat dependant on her.
Long Haochen retreated a few steps. Making a fist with his right hand, he kowtowed, placing it on his chest to give a standard knight salute to the sword.
“A godly sword shouldn’t remain covered by dust. I sensed your grievance and your pain, but the past is the past. If your master was still alive, he would definitely not be willing to see your sword soul follow him to the afterworld, and leave your splendor concealed. Ever since the day you gained a soul, you should have remained in a knight’s hand, using your sharpness to overcome all obstacles obstructing your way, and
eradicate the evil to fight for justice. To fight and to protect every person that needs to be protected. Your light has to reappear in the human world, and your sharpness has to return to terrify the enemies. Please come back, sword soul in demise. Let your splendor reappear back on earth, and the power of light sweep away all darkness. Perhaps I am not fit to become your master, but I am willing to awaken you and let you choose a more fitting master.”
Long Haochen’s words were clearly filled with passion, full of austerity and pride. Despite the youth of his voice, it carried a resounding bloodlust. With a slight reeking of blood, a great pride was expressed by this simple speech.
Yating was kneeling down, supporting the heavy sword with her hands before Long Haochen. This time, he didn’t use both of his hands to take it, but reached out with his right hand to grab its handle with force.
At this moment, Haochen’s face portrayed a number of different fleeting emotions.Hard to describe traits came out from Long Haochen. As he suddenly held the sword high, one could immediately see a gaudy white light erupt from his hand, which was instantly absorbed by that heavy sword.
A holy aura even more pure and dense than all the holy aura he had emanated before erupted, and the nearby Feng Ling’er and Ye Weiyang saw that on the forehead of Long Haochen’s mask a dense golden glint appeared. It seemed as if nine bright patterns emerged.
“Buzz.”This gaudy light spread out with intense buzzes, and right then, in front of Long Haochen, Yating suddenly made a move. Spreading the six wings on her back at the same time, her body shrank fast, returning to the size of a third of a meter. She floated above Long Haochen’s shoulder and started chanting a slow incantation. She emitted soft golden ripples spreading to Long Haochen’s body, which caused the gaudy incandescent light on his hand to gain intensity.
“In the name of the Goddess of Light, break, dusty seal!” Long Haochen’s resounding voice echoed once again.
Chapter 360
Suddenly, with an intense explosion of light, the roof of the auction hall was violently blown away to everyone’s surprise, and a brilliant golden pillar of light appeared on stage. This pillar of light looked very soft, making the gaudy light released by Long Haochen look coarse. Some illusory-looking little angels appeared, spinning around the pillar of light.
However, seeing this soft light, everyone had a different feeling from the assault of its power.
Goddess of light? Did he just say goddess of light? Is that divine power? Ding.
With a melodious fracturing sound, a few cracks appeared on the sword hilt in front of Long Haochen. They rapidly spread until reaching the circular gem on top of the sword’s tip.
All the black color on it disappeared in a flash, before the pearl on top of its sharp end gained immediately a blossoming glow. It avidly absorbed all the light essence in the air.
It finally awakened. After being covered in dust for hundreds of years, it finally awakened from its sleep. The pillar of light that just appeared gradually disappeared, but the light emitted from the sword became more and more intense.
The originally dark sword already turned transparent golden, and the previous dark patterns had the look of clouds, giving this sword a look of an
immense dragon making its way through the clouds.
The sharp pearl on the tip trembled vividly, and then the sword was held high above Long Haochen’s head. Like before, it wasn’t pointed and neither did it have a sharp end, but around this divine sword, a radiant light started to scatter. In the midst of it, this blunt sword seemed unstoppable.
The bright light slowly vanished, speaking at least of the one released by Long Haochen.
As if feeling too reluctant to part with it, Long Haochen gazed full of fondness at the godly sword that reappeared in its original splendor. He clearly sensed that no matter how intense the light elemental spiritual energy he emitted was, this heavy sword would effortlessly support it. In particular, that spiritual bead on its tip engulfed all brilliance, and had unexpectedly also managed to absorb a lot of the divine power from the goddess of light, which had been released right before.
This was a legendary sword! Even having lost its sword soul, this godly sword was still a godly sword at the peak of the Legendary Tier. From this, one may well imagine how powerful it was in all its past glamour.
“Miss Weiyang, can you now tell me its name?”
Ye Weiyang foolishly looked at the brilliance released by the godly sword. Hearing Long Haochen’s voice, she was totally distracted, to the extent that it was only with Feng Ling’er’s call that she awakened.
“Of course I can. Its name is: Aria of the Goddess of Light. My ancestor was the Chief from the Warrior Temple two hundred years ago, the holy divine sword wielder Ye Wushang.”
When she spoke the words ‘Aria of the Goddess of Light’, Ye Weiyang knew that her greatest secret couldn’t stay concealed any longer, because this sword was just too prestigious.
The Aria of the Goddess of Light was praised as a divine weapon amongst divine weapons. Two hundred years ago, two Divine Knights were
approved by the Divine Thrones of the Knight Temple, but amongst the Six Great Temples, of that generation, the strongest powerhouse was neither of them. That was because an even stronger person existed in the Warrior Temple. This person was known as the holy divine sword wielder Ye Wushang.
Ye Wushang possessed a passion for swords since he was young. Starting when he was three years old, he needed a sword to fall asleep. At his six years old, he started to study swordsmanship, and by the time he turned nine, he had undergone his awakening of spiritual energy and actually directly gained the strength of a Warmaster of the third step from it. At his eleven years old, he was already a Great Warmaster, and at sixteen, he broke through to the sixth step, becoming a War Ancestor. This broke all the records of the Warrior Temple existing until that day.
Ye Wushang had actually broken through the peak before even being thirty, when aged of twenty-nine years old, reaching the ninth step and becoming the youngest Divine Warrior in the history of the Warrior Temple.
One day when Ye Wushang was forty seven, the Demon God Emperor personally led his army to attack the Southeast Stronghold of the Warrior Temple. Keeping watch there, the Holy Divine Sword Wielder Ye Wushang personally intervened, fighting the demon army for a day and a night, and killing seven of the great Demon Gods back there in succession.
Even the proud Demon God Emperor was moved, calling Ye Wushang the greatest genius of the past thousand years in the Temple Alliance.
Finally, the Demon God Emperor took the initiative to retreat, giving Ye Wushang three days of rest. Three days later, in the Southeast Stronghold, the wielder of the Holy Divine Sword, Ye Wushang fought against the Demon God Emperor. This battle lasted for a day and a night, finally resulting in the death of Ye Wushang at the hands of the Demon God Emperor.
However, his last attack also wounded the Demon God Emperor.
This was a world shaking attack. Ultimately, although the victorious Demon God Emperor killed his opponent, he bowed his head before Ye Wushang at the end of the battle, paying his respects and leading the demon army to withdraw. Ever since that day, the Demon God Emperor didn’t appear on any battlefield in the Temple Alliance and this lasted for a hundred years.
His divine sword became an epic legend.
In the last battle, Ye Wushang originally didn’t need to challenge the Demon God Emperor, because the reinforcements from the Temple Alliance were there, consisting of the Six Great Temples’ greatest powerhouses. Even the full force attacks of the demons on the town wouldn’t have necessarily been able to vanquish the Southern Stronghold.
However Ye Wushang was determined to fight, going alone to challenge the Demon God Emperor. His declaration was: “If the humans want to defeat the demons, they will have to defeat their own selves first. It is to regain the human dignity that I am willing to fight against the Demon God Emperor.”
The glory Ye Wushang brought at that time to the Warrior Temple was comparable with the glory which the first Scion of Samsara bestowed on the Assassin Temple. Even now, in the great center hall of the Warrior Temple stood a ten meter high sculpture of the holy divine sword-wielder. At the front of the sculpture the words ‘A hero of a thousand years’ were engraved.
And the Aria of the Goddess of Light was something Ye Wushang created through his sweat and blood.
Ye Wushang engraved this legend by himself.
When he was three years old, he was holding onto his swords even in his sleep, and kept using those same ones until reaching the sixth step at sixteen years of age. At that time did he possess a total of five swords, which he managed to fuse into one through unceasing hammering and merging of their essences with each other. Through nourishing them with the demons’
blood, giving them the benediction of the essence of the earth, and melting dozens of different metals into one sword, they were sharpened. After thirty years, it finally became this sword.
It was said that on the day of its completion, the goddess of light descended. Finally, its name would have been decided to be Aria of the Goddess of Light.
It was also by the means of this sword that the divine holy sword wielder Ye Wushang killed seven demon gods, and greatly injured the Demon God Emperor of that time.
However, the pity was that only one year after the sword’s completion, Ye Wushang perished in battle. On that day, the entire Southeast Fort was said to have been in tears, and the chief of the Temple Alliance of those years wept with grief, personally giving him the title of ‘Hero of a Thousand Years’.
Of course, when hearing about the Aria of the Goddess of Light, Long Haochen’s surprise was as one may well imagine. He never expected that a divine sword surrounded by so many legends would be in his hands. Even if only its body remained, it still held a significant meaning.
Leaning forward, Long Haochen gently stroked the sword that was the result of incomparable hard work and effort. Feeling a sentiment of rage, he envisioned himself on that battlefield, accompanying the divine holy sword wielder Ye Wushang.
Under his touch, the Aria of the Goddess of Light actually produced some slight buzzing sound, as if it was excited about its rebirth.
Holding the sword in both of his hands, Long Haochen offered the sword to Ye Weiyang, “Miss Weiyang, please accept this divine sword.”
Ye Weiyang didn’t take it, but gave Long Haochen an ardent look, “If you don’t have enough money, you can pay in installments. I keep my word, you were the one to let the divine sword reappear in it’s splendor, so you are its new master.”
Long Haochen shook his head in silence, “No. Using money to gain this divine sword is blasphemy. My only wish was for it to reawaken to the light. This divine sword is of extreme importance, and cannot even be described as precious. It should be yours, or be given to the Warrior Temple.”
Ye Weiyang let out a sigh, “Who else do you believe is able to take this sword? In the instant you undid the seal, you already became its new master. This divine sword has a soul, and even if the sword’s soul is not present, this is not a sword I can use. Have a look.”
Saying this, she lifted her slim white hand, lightly touching the sword in front of her. Right the instant her finger touched it, an intense buzzing sound suddenly emerged, and Ye Weiyang’s hand was not only rejected, but actually pushed away by the light energy.
Long Haochen looked dull, “So this divine sword still has a soul! It actually really has a soul!” Gripping the handle, Long Haochen couldn’t help but tighten his grip. How could he not have taken a liking to this divine sword? Moreover, what shocked him the most was the essence of divine light present in this sword.
Ye Weiyang gave a reluctant look to the Aria of the Goddess of light, asking softly, “Can you tell me your name?”
Long Haochen gave a silent nod, “My name is Long Haochen, and I am the captain of the 21st general grade Demon Hunt Squad.” His voice was being constrained by spiritual energy, and only Ye Weiyang could hear it.
Ye Weiyang pointed to the back of the stage, “Hurry up and leave.
When I get the chance in the future, I will definitely look for you.”
Exactly, now Long Haochen had no other choice but to leave. With the rebirth of the Aria of the Goddess of Light, all the participants of the auction were going to become frantic. After a short time of lifeless staring, the whole auction fell into chaos.
The door to the VIP lounge was already opened and some people left, but everyone else gave fervent looks to the divine sword in Long Haochen’s hands, and some even directly gave astronomic propositions.
When Long Haochen was planning on recovering the Aria of the Goddess of Light, right before leaving this place, a thought came to him, and with a golden glint, the divine sword disappeared from his right hand. Afterwards, with a flash, Long Haochen left through the backdoor.
The others didn’t ignore him, especially those coming from the VIP lounge. Among them, a powerhouse stepped forward, passing the auction counter in an imposing manner, while producing angry protest in the whole auction hall.
However, without letting him say anything, a terrible power suddenly erupted from all directions. The powerhouse on the stage was already at the eighth step of cultivation, but in front of this pressure, his expression changed greatly. Immediately, he jumped back from the counter.
A downcast voice was spread to everyone present, “Who dares to challenge the prestige of the Alliance? This is a place for fair auctions, not a place where you could take items forcibly. The auctions for today are already over, so you can leave. If someone else dares to rush into action, he will be killed without any hesitation.”