Chapter 2032, The Sudden Appearance of Liu Yan

When Yang Kai returned to the private room again, it seemed that another item had been auctioned off for some unknown price.

“They still haven’t reached the finale, the Dao Source Fruit?” Yang Kai asked in astonishment as he took his seat.

Kang Si Ran shook his head, smiling wryly, “There seems to be a lot of items to be auctioned this time, but it should appear soon.”

Yang Kai nodded and didn’t make a comment, instead casting his gaze towards the stage.

There, a mysterious smile appeared on Drunkard’s face again as he looked around and spoke, “The next item is an extraordinary one indeed; in fact, it wasn’t an item that was supposed to be auctioned today, but it was submitted by a certain friend who suddenly came today. Although it is something of a violation of policy, Sir City Lord judged that this item was indeed worthy enough to be auctioned today, so it has been allowed to appear. Hehe, everyone, if you cultivate Fire Attribute Secret Arts or have a Fire Attribute Artifact, please pay close attention.”

As he said this, he gestured toward the back and immediately a maid walked out, carrying a round bowl in her hands.

Inside the auction hall, all the cultivators focused their gazes on this bowl curiously, especially those cultivators who cultivated Fire Attributed Secret Arts, Secret Techniques, or had a Fire Attribute Artifacts, they were particularly interested.

Judging by its appearance, it was quite apparent that this bowl was a sealing artifact, and the runes on its surface continued to flash and pulse as they swam across its surface like fish in a pond.

Most of the cultivators present here had sharp insight so they naturally understood that the item to be auctioned wasn’t the bowl itself, but whatever was sealed inside it.

“Interesting! I wonder what it contains,” Kang Si Ran smiled lightly as he paid even closer attention.

Yang Kai, on the other hand, furrowed his brow the moment the bowl appeared.

For some reason, he felt a mysterious connection to whatever was inside the bowl, but because it was surrounded by multiple barriers, this feeling was very weak, almost imperceptible. If not for the throbbing and restlessness in his heart, even he wouldn’t be certain it was real and not just his imagination.

Yang Kai released his Divine Sense to investigate, but he couldn’t break through the barriers to investigate the situation inside and he did not dare to use force, so he could only frown deeply.

“Alchemist Yang, do you know what’s inside?” Kang Si Ran, noticing that Yang Kai’s expression didn’t seem right, asked curiously.

Yang Kai subconsciously shook his head, but his eyes remained completely glued onto the bowl.

The next moment, Drunkard started giving an introduction, “This item was submitted by a Dao Source Grade friend, but because that friend happened to cultivate a Water Attribute Secret Art, this item wasn’t useful to him, so he could only reluctantly part ways with it. If that was not the case, it would have been put up for auction.”

“Sir Vice City Lord, don’t leave us in suspense, it doesn’t suit your personality,” some impatient cultivator urged.

Drunkard let out a chuckle as he said while nodding, “En, but I will still have to provide some explanation. There were rumours a few months ago in Maplewood City that a Fire Attribute Artifact Spirit had appeared in the nearby Clear Jade Mountain. Many cultivators went to search for that Artifact Spirit, but ultimately it was determined that it wasn’t a Fire Attribute Artifact Spirit but an infant Luan Feng. My Maplewood City’s cultivators competed for this baby Luan Feng, leading to many casualties but no result. At the last moment, a mature Divine Spirit Luan Feng appeared and breathed out its World Extinguishing Black Flame, incinerating everything within a hundred kilometres to ashes. Those flames are still burning at Clear Jade Mountain to this day. The might of a Divine Spirit is truly horrifying.”

He sighed for a moment, as if he really saw those World Extinguishing Black Flame with his own eyes.

“Sir Vice City Lord, could the item here being auctioned really be… an infant Divine Spirit?” A cultivator on the floor of the hall, upon hearing Drunkard, make an excited guess.

The same guess happened to be running through the minds of many others, and in an instant, rapid breathing spread across the hall as everyone stared greedily towards the bowl.

Drunkard just chuckled, however, and spoke, “An infant Divine Spirit? You guys really think we’d keep an infant Divine Spirit here? Forget about whether anyone would dare to bid on it, my Maplewood City wouldn’t even dare to auction it. If anyone here dared to provoke a true Divine Spirit, Clear Jade Mountain’s present situation would be Maplewood City’s future. Who could bear responsibility for bringing about the death of everyone present today?”

As these words echoed in the hall, a chill ran down the spines of everyone present, and after giving it a second thought, they all realized it was indeed true. In this world, who would have the courage to put the descendant of a Divine Spirit on auction? That was no different from courting death.

“Then, Sir Vice City Lord, why do you speak of this…”

Drunkard grinned and continued, “The main point is not about the infant Divine Spirit, but the Fire Attribute Artifact Spirit! I really don’t know what you all were listening to. Good, this old master will let you see what it is that is being auctioned today!?”

As he said this, he formed some seals with his hands and struck the bowl lightly. The seals around the round bowl began to flash as a crisp and resonant cry suddenly came from inside it. Immediately after, a fiery red light shot out.

*Chi…*

Suddenly, a three meter tall burning flame appeared above the auction stage and rapidly condensed into the appearance of a flaming bird similar to a Divine Spirit Phoenix. Amidst this firebird’s flames though, purple arcs of lightning could also be seen flashing.

To everyone’s surprise, this strange bird actually possessed the power of two attributes, lightning and fire.

Furthermore, the aura it was emanating was extraordinary, equal to that of a Third-Order Origin King. Its flaming body appeared quite majestic and with its wings spread, it was a beautiful sight to behold.

Raising its head, it let out a long cry, one that was filled with stubbornness, anger, and resistance.

“Liu Yan!”

Yang Kai in room B9 immediately stood up as his pupils shrank and he cried out in surprise.

“Alchemist Yang?” Kang Si Ran turned a strange look to Yang Kai, having no idea why Yang Kai showed such a big reaction, but when he noticed the look of pleasant surprise mixed with fury on Yang Kai’s face, he suddenly seemed to understand.

Yang Kai had never expected to meet Liu Yan in this kind of situation.

In the Starlight Channel back then, he and his two companions, as well as President Ai Ou, Red Moon Tribal Lord, and the others had been separated. To this day, he still had no idea where any of them were.

Leaving aside President Ai Ou and Chi Yue, Yang Kai had always been deeply worried about Xiao Xiao and Liu Yan because one of them was a Stone Puppet with low intelligence and the other was an Artifact Spirit. No matter which one was discovered, they would certainly face grave danger. This was especially true for Liu Yan as she was particularly attractive to cultivators who cultivated Fire Attribute Secret Arts or had Fire Attribute Artifacts.

If Liu Yan’s Artifact Spirit body could be refined by a cultivator cultivating a Fire Attribute Secret Art, that cultivator’s strength would increase dramatically, and if she were to be integrated into a Fire Attribute Artifact, it would raise the grade of that Fire Attribute Artifact significantly.

What Yang Kai was afraid of had come true. It had been apparent now that Liu Yan had really been caught by a master and put on for auction. It was rather clear that many cultivators would be fighting to get their hands on her next.

Fortunately, Yang Kai was also at this auction, so there was some room to manoeuvre. It was a blessing in disguise!

This also explained why when the bowl was first brought out, Yang Kai felt a kind of spiritual connection to the sealed object inside.

When Liu Yan didn’t have much sentience, Yang Kai had left a Soul Imprint on her natal body, so naturally there was a connection between their two Souls which had not been cut off.

And as soon as Yang Kai stood up, Liu Yan on the high stage also seemed to become aware of his presence and her pair of fiery eyes turned towards private room B9 where he was. Immediately, she let out even more resonant cries as she flapped her wings hard, trying to fly to him.

But Drunkard noticed this and promptly formed another hand seal, causing some chain-like seals to appear on Liu Yan’s body, restraining her wings and forcing her back down.

“Stop!” Yang Kai couldn’t help shouting out in anger when he saw this.

However, as soon his voice escaped his mouth, he realized that he had acted a little recklessly. Liu Yan might have belonged to him originally, but now she had been captured and put up for auction.

He did not have the power or status to force Drunkard to show mercy to Liu Yan; on the contrary, his actions might let others see through their relationship.

As this thought flashed across his mind, Yang Kai took a deep breath and calmly said, “Sir Vice City Lord, please act gently, this one is very interested in this Artifact Spirit, please don’t hurt it.”

Drunkard had a friendly temperament, so after hearing this, he glanced in Yang Kai’s direction and said with a smile, “Rest assured, this old master has a sense of discretion and will not harm it. En, as everyone just saw, this Fire Attribute Artifact Spirit is the item to be auctioned now, and it is no ordinary Artifact Spirit at that! It has already achieved a high degree of sentience! If it can be refined into an artifact, it will be extremely useful.”

On the stage, Drunkard worked hard to promote Liu Yan, introducing her various unusual features, weaving an extravagant and colourful description that immediately piqued the interest of countless cultivators.

In his private room, Yang Kai sat back on his chair as a gloomy look covered his face.

In the current situation, if he wanted to snatch Liu Yan back, he could only do so by winning this auction, or forcing the thousands of Origin Kings and dozens of Dao Source Realm masters present to submit while he seized her by force.

The latter obviously was impossible of course. Although Yang Kai was a Third-Order Origin King and had several Emperor Artifacts on him, if he really tried to use force here, he would only be courting death.

However, he didn’t have many Source Crystals on him either. At the very least, there weren’t enough for him to win Liu Yan at auction.

He was extremely distraught for the moment.

Kang Si Ran seemed to have gotten some hints about what was going on and after a moment of silence, he asked in a low voice, “Alchemist Yang, do you have any relationship with that Artifact Spirit?”

Yang Kai nodded and explained, “Since Shopkeeper Kang has noticed already, I won’t hide it from you. Her name is Liu Yan, she was originally my Artifact Spirit!”

“Oh? She was Alchemist Yang’s Artifact Spirit?” Even though Kang Si Ran had long ago guessed, he was still greatly shocked when he heard Yang Kai’s confirmation.

“She is not just an Artifact Spirit though! To me, she is a friend as well!”

“A friend…” Kang Si Ran looked at Yang Kai with surprise, unable to wrap his head around his words; after all, could someone actually regard their Artifact Spirit as a friend? He found the whole concept hard to imagine.

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