“The ideal situation would be one in which we successfully bring in the net AND acquire a Demon Spirit….”
As the discussion continued, an old man sat in the seat of honour. He wore a red robe and had his eyes closed. After a while, he suddenly opened his eyes.
“Enough!” he said, his voice ringing out like a clap of thunder. All of the other individuals in the tent instantly went silent.
“Demon Spirits are well and good. However, to the Eight Branch Alliance, what is most important is restoring the power of the Sacred Ancient. In the Western Desert East region, our Eight Branch Alliance’s strength was significantly damaged. All of you received serious injuries. Even more importantly, we must not be rash when it comes to our Cultivation bases. If our totems are damaged, it could put us in danger of Cultivation base loss.
“That’s also the reason why we are resting in this location; exterminating the other tribes in the area is not something easy to do.
“Have you forgotten the main point of the plan? We attract more and more Cultivators to this area, and then use the power of the spell formation to carry out a blood offering. That will restore the glory of our totems! Actually, for the Demon Spirit to come is a good thing!
“In fact, there actually couldn’t be a better way to get more people to come here!” By the time the man finished speaking, his eyes were glowing with a cold light.
The other Cultivators of the Eight Branch Alliance began to nod silently.
Final preparations were made. Two days later at dawn, the Eight Branch Alliance began the auction.
A huge crowd of people was present, more than twenty thousand. As such, there was no special location for the auction; instead, it took place throughout the entire city.
Early in the morning, all of the buildings and shops in the city disappeared without a trace. What was left behind was a vast, empty square. Eight Branch Alliance Cultivators emerged from the surrounding tents to maintain order.
Everyone who was to participate in the auction held a jade slip in hand. These jade slips had been distributed a few days before, one for each person, including Meng Hao and Sun Daihai.
“It’s going to begin!” said Sun Dahai excitedly. Despite being a Nascent Soul Cultivator, he had never participated in an auction before.
Meng Hao, on the other hand, was quite used to such affairs. The pill auction back in the Violet Fate Sect had been attended by a hundred thousand Cultivators. That auction was above and beyond this one in both terms of scale and grandeur.
A glowing screen appeared up above, from within which appeared a man. His handsome face was as white as jade. Smiling, he clasped hands and bowed to the thousands of Cultivators below.
“We meet again, Fellow Daoists! I am Dong Hanzi, with whom which many of you are already acquainted, since I presided over the previous four auctions.