"General Ba, you don't have to worry. That Human World brat doesn't take our Fiend Realm seriously at all—he actually dared to cover the Pass Tokens we gave him with filth and all sorts of disgusting things. That's a blatant provocation." Captain Lee had already prepared his excuse and even took out the two tokens.
The middle-aged man took one look at the two tokens and slammed the table. "Outrageous! To think something like this could happen. Even if you didn't tell me, I'd have to catch him myself!"
"It's nothing, General Ba. They've already said, as long as you tell them that kid's current location, that Fiend Star Source is yours. And if anyone higher up asks, just say what I told you—guaranteed nothing will happen." Captain Lee smiled flatteringly at the man before him.
The middle-aged man was quite pleased with Captain Lee's words, so he said, "Let's go, take me to Trial Mountain."
Captain Lee eagerly led the middle-aged man to Trial Mountain. In front of the giant monitoring screen, Captain Lee input Evan Yang's image. The middle-aged man then took out a white token, and as its light shone on Evan's image on the screen, there was a flash—Evan's current city and location appeared one by one.
"Huh? Isn't that the place where they're auctioning off the magic mud lately?" When he saw Evan Yang's location, the middle-aged man put away the token and muttered to himself.
"What place?" Captain Lee asked suspiciously.
"Shaling City, Eight-Treasure Pavilion. Go tell them." the middle-aged man replied.
"No problem, General Ba. I'll notify them right away. As for your Fiend Star Source, it's right here." Captain Lee spoke as he took out a glass box.
Seeing the wriggling thing inside, the middle-aged man smiled. "Not bad, good job. If you need to find that kid again, just come to me. But next time, it doesn't have to be this big—a few finger-sized ones will do."
After finishing, Captain Lee cheerfully sent off the middle-aged man, then found the Nether Patriarch and told him Evan Yang's location.
When he heard the news, he immediately became excited and led over a hundred people out of the city.
After several twists and turns, they quickly arrived at Shaling City, Eight-Treasure Pavilion.
At this moment, the Eight-Treasure Pavilion had already started the auction. If you wanted to enter now, each person had to pay one million high-grade Spirit Crystal Ore—a measure to prevent people from overstaying on purpose.
The Nether Patriarch’s face twitched when he heard the entry fee was one million per person. He selected nine people, plus himself, and paid ten million—an amount that could have bought a thick Fiend Star Source.
Thinking about spending a total of twenty million, the Nether Patriarch grumbled to himself, "Kid, these crystal ores are spent for you. Just wait!"
Then, fuming, he led his nine men inside. As soon as they entered, the place was bustling—experts everywhere.
How can you find someone in a place like this? The Nether Patriarch tried to use his divine sense, but it was ineffective here—a special setup to prevent peeping. He could only rely entirely on his eyes.
But there were at least ten thousand people here. Searching one by one would take forever, especially since many were standing—you couldn’t even tell who was sitting up front.
Forced, the Nether Patriarch could only lead his ten men to start scanning from the back row, slowly checking each person. The hall was dim—the closer to the front, the harder it was to see.
The Nether Patriarch was so angry he wanted to shout, but remembered that everyone here was an expert—offending them could cost him, even if he had a hundred men outside.
So the Nether Patriarch had no choice but to find a spot, sit down with his ten men, and search slowly.
The auction was already heating up.
When the magic mud auction was announced, voices rose from all over. The hostess, standing beside a tray draped in red, smiled and said, "Welcome to the Eight-Treasure Pavilion. I'm sure you all know today's main event—this magic mud."
At the mention of magic mud, everyone acted as if possessed.
"This magic mud, as you all know, can be used to make a substitute body—giving you an extra life in a crisis," the hostess smiled.
In a corner, Evan Yang muttered, "Immortal Yellow Earth can be used like that?"
But then he remembered that cultivation arts here differed from those in the Human World. In the Human World, disciples of the Yellow Heaven Sect could use some Immortal Yellow Earth for training, especially those practicing earth arts. Evan Yang soon accepted it.
Still, he was curious how Immortal Yellow Earth could be used to make a substitute body.
Unfortunately, he had no acquaintances here, and the old gentleman was nowhere to be found. Evan Yang could only watch the auction helplessly.
To his surprise, the hostess started the bidding at fifty million. Evan Yang was shocked—back in the Human World, it had only ever reached fifteen million, which already stunned him.
Clearly, prices vary by location. Only the rich and powerful could afford something like this.
Otherwise, even if you buy it, you might not live to spend it—a tragic fate. After all, everyone was seated, some in private boxes; whoever bought it, everyone would know.
It was a hot item, but all the major powers wanted it. The bidding was fierce—starting at fifty million, it quickly climbed to eighty million.
"Eighty million. Anyone else?" the hostess asked with a smile.
"Anyone who dares to bid over eighty million, Ghost Vengeance will never let you go!" A voice boomed from a private box just as the hostess finished speaking.
"Who says I won’t? Watch me: eighty-one million!" Another box responded with a cold laugh.
"Nine-Leg Ghost, are you playing or not? If you keep competing, I’ll make sure you end up with just one leg!" Ghost Vengeance clearly wasn’t happy, snorting.
"Go ahead, keep bidding—let’s see who’s richer!" Nine-Leg Ghost wasn’t afraid at all.
The people in the hall didn’t dare make a sound, as if these two were terrifying figures.
So the whole hall was filled with their insults and shouting. In the end, Nine-Leg Ghost won the bid at ninety-five million.
After the auction, Nine-Leg Ghost was all smiles, while Ghost Vengeance shouted, "I’ll be waiting for you in the outer void! If you dare, come out and fight me!"
"Who’s afraid of who!" Nine-Leg Ghost answered coldly, not backing down.
The crowd, disappointed they didn’t win the item, was excited to watch two powerhouses duel. Everyone rushed out of the auction hall, and Evan Yang followed the flow, entering another room.
Inside, Evan Yang met the appraising elder, who handed him ninety million and said with a smile, "We’ll keep the remaining five million as Eight-Treasure Pavilion’s advertising fee."
"That’s fair," Evan Yang replied with a smile.
The appraising elder cheerfully sent Evan Yang off.
But as soon as Evan Yang walked out of the room, he saw the last person he wanted to meet. The main hall was nearly empty now—just Evan Yang, a few scattered people, and the Nether Patriarch glaring at him from not far away, muttering to himself, "Why did he go inside?"
Evan Yang noticed that the Nether Patriarch was flanked by nine men, all Soul-Gathering Realm experts. He was a bit surprised and immediately flashed away, leaving the hall.
The Nether Patriarch snapped out of it and chased after Evan Yang, then ordered his hundred-plus men to pursue him.
The street crowds were all heading to watch the duel between the two powerhouses, so nobody cared about a hundred people chasing one man—things like this happened all the time in the Fiend Realm.
Evan Yang quickly reached a region of outer void. The Nether Patriarch had already used a flying device to get ahead and block Evan Yang’s path, and over a hundred men appeared at once.
"Kid, you can’t escape now, haha!" The Nether Patriarch laughed, seeing Evan Yang trapped with every direction blocked by his corpse puppets.
Evan Yang spread his divine sense and found that all hundred men had no aura—they were like dead people, with hollow, lifeless eyes.
When he saw some of them were people he’d personally killed, Evan Yang was shocked. "Aren’t they dead?"
"Sharp eyes, kid! You spotted it right away. Yes, they’re dead—and you killed them. Now I’ve brought them to take revenge," the Nether Patriarch said with a smile.
"Impossible! They were only Out-of-Body Realm, how are they Soul-Gathering now?" Evan Yang exclaimed.
"I’ll tell you once I’ve caught you," the Nether Patriarch replied coldly.
With a command, the hundred men attacked Evan Yang.
Facing over a hundred Soul-Gathering Realm enemies of varying strength, Evan Yang relied entirely on speed to dodge. Early and mid-stage Soul-Gathering corpses were quickly subdued and sealed aside, but sixty or seventy late-stage and great-perfection ones remained, leaving Evan Yang in a tough spot.
At this point, Evan Yang’s fists couldn’t deal much damage to the remaining enemies.
Plus, these were corpses—they didn’t feel pain and had no reaction, leaving Evan Yang frustrated and unsure what method could put them down.
He tried to seal them, but whenever he got close, they reacted instantly and attacked him.
Seeing Evan Yang take down fifty or sixty puppets so quickly, the Nether Patriarch was shocked—even he couldn’t subdue so many that fast.
"Kid, your strength really opened my eyes. But that’s even better—once you’re refined into a living corpse, I wonder what you’ll become," the Nether Patriarch laughed.
Evan Yang didn’t know what refining a living corpse meant, but seeing these dead men turned into such monsters, and even their cultivation boosted by a major realm, he was deeply shocked.
"How cruel—you turned your own men into neither man nor ghost," Evan Yang said coldly while dodging.
"You forced me. If not for you, they’d still be alive," the Nether Patriarch replied coldly, feeling no remorse.
Seeing the Nether Patriarch’s attitude, Evan Yang stopped arguing and focused on escaping. But sixty or seventy puppets blocked every path, and whenever he tried to slip past, they reacted faster than when they were alive—making escape nearly impossible.
"Kid, I forgot to mention—these corpse puppets not only gain a major realm, their reaction speed increases too. So don’t think you can get close to them," the Nether Patriarch sneered.
"Is that so? I want to see how long these dead things can last!" Evan Yang retorted coldly.
"They don’t need spiritual power—they’re fully autonomous, stronger than living experts in some ways," the Nether Patriarch mocked.