This was a heavily wrinkled devilish elderly man with a dark complexion, and he strode over to the stone platform with a calm expression.
He cast his gaze through the surrounding area, and a fearsome aura immediately erupted from his body, drawing awe and veneration from many of the weaker devilish beings present.
This elderly man was at the pinnacle of the late-Spatial Tempering Stage, so he was only one step away from the Body Integration Stage.
In a place like Blood Crow City, a powerful being of this caliber was truly very formidable.
"I am Yue Liantian, one of the elders of Blood Crow City; I'm sure many of the fellow daoists present know of me. I was invited by the owner of this place to host the auction, and I ask that all of you abide by the rules of this auction. Otherwise, I'll be forced to step in. These eight fellow daoists are the guards who will be maintaining order during this auction. With their presence, I'm sure this auction won't have any safety issues," the elderly man said before clapping his hands together, and eight mid-Spatial Tempering Stage devilish beings rose up from the front row of seats, then positioned themselves around the stone platform in an expressionless manner.
A stir immediately ran through the crowd at the sight of these devilish beings.
It was quite clear that they were quite renowned in Blood Crow City, and many people were appraising them with awe and veneration in their eyes.
Of course, eight Spatial Tempering Stage beings weren't going to draw any reaction from Han Li, and he was currently scanning his gaze through the crowd to see if the Long Family patriarch and the others were also in attendance.
There were potentially devilish lords in attendance as well, so Han Li hadn't released his enormous spiritual sense. Instead, he was only using his spirit eye ability to see if there were any devilish beings in suspicious disguises present, but after scouring through the crowd for a while, he didn't discover anything amiss.
Could it be that none of the others had come to attend this auction? That was quite strange.
Come to think of, following their separation, Han Li hadn't encountered any of his companions in the city. Regardless of whether it was the Long Family patriarch or everyone else, all of them seemed to be running secretive errands of their own.
Right at this moment, the elderly devilish man announced the commencement of the auction, and a nearby door swung open, following which a line of devilish women who were holding platters emerged.
All of them had elegant figures, and they arranged themselves into a row behind Yue Liantian.
Yue Liantian waved a hand without even turning his head, and one of the women immediately stepped forward in a respectful manner before raising her platter up with both hands.
"This is the top-grade devilish treasure, the Dark Blood Five-colored Bells. It's comprised of five Blood Devil Bells, and it's able to inflict upon enemies disorientation, poison, sluggishness, bloodlust, and illusion," Yue Liantian introduced in a calm voice as he removed the black cloth that was draped over the platter.
There were five thumb-sized silver bells on the platter, all of which had black devilish runes over their surfaces and were connected together by a golden ring.
"What? A treasure like this can rank in the top 10 even among top-grade devilish treasures!"
"But this is something that only Master An of Cloudsea Mountain is able to refine; how did it end up this far away in Blood Crow City?"
"Who cares? It was worth coming to this auction just for this treasure alone! I wonder what other priceless items are going to appear after this!"
As soon as the set of bells was revealed, the entire hall erupted into raucous chatter once again, and most of the people present were staring at the bells with elation and greed in their eyes.
Han Li also faltered slightly upon hearing the name of this treasure.
"Dark Blood Five-colored Bells? Why does this treasure sound so familiar? I feel like I've heard of it somewhere before."
Thus, Han Li fell into silent contemplation in his seat.
At this point, the bidding had already begun.
"5,000,000!"
"6,000,000!"
"8,000,000!"
"11,000,000!"
Even though this was only a top-grade treasure, the price was bid up to over 10,000,000 in the blink of an eye, and Han Li was quite surprised to see this.
According to the knowledge he had accrued of the prices of items in the Elder Devil Realm, a normal top-grade devilish treasure was generally only worth around 2,000,000 to 3,000,000 spirit stones, yet these bells had already far exceeded this price, and the bids were still flying in thick and fast.
Wait a minute! Dark Blood Five-colored Bells? Glazed Five Bells? Isn't that the name of a treasure recorded in the Profound Heavenly Tool Refinement Technique?
Han Li had finally made the connection.
One of the pages of the Golden Jade Tome he had obtained contained the refinement method for the Integrated Five Extremes Mountain, as well the refinement for several types of acquired Profound Heavenly Treasures, and the Glazed Five Wonder Bells was one of them.
However, even though Han Li had the refinement method for these treasures, the materials required were only rumored to exist in the True Immortal Realm, so he couldn't make use of those refinement methods.
The effects of these Dark Blood Five-colored Bells sounded remarkably similar to the abilities of the Glazed Five Wonder Bells, and that was what had led him to draw this connection.
Could it be that this was a mere coincidence, or was it the case that someone from the Elder Devil Realm also possessed the same refinement method and had unintentionally refined such a replica treasure?
Unfortunately for Han Li, even though he had sold an array of devilish treasures to the auction house and they were estimated to sell for close to 10,000,000 devil stones, that clearly wasn't enough to secure this top-grade devilish treasure.
Furthermore, even though the abilities of this treasure were quite intriguing, it was only a top-grade devilish treasure, so it wouldn't be of much use to him. At the very most, it would be something interesting for him to study.
As such, Han Li could only look on as the bidding continued.
In the end, the treasure was purchased by a mysterious masked devilish being with azure light radiating from their body for the astonishing price of 15,000,000 devil stones.
Many of the high-grade devilish beings present immediately began to plot against this masked devilish being, but after handing over the devil stones required for the Dark Blood Five-colored Bells, the devilish being immediately departed from the auction venue.
Several other masked devilish beings also departed immediately thereafter, but Yue Liantian didn't pay any heed to this.
He removed the cloth that was draped over the platter being held by the second woman, revealing a fist-sized blue crystal that was releasing astonishing glacial Qi.
"This is the inner core of an Ice Gourd Beast, and it can be used to refine ice-attribute devilish treasures or refined into several types of special pills. The starting price will be 2,000,000 devil stones!" Yue Liantian announced in a concise manner.
"2,300,000!"
"2,500,000!"
The value of this devilish core couldn't compare with that of the Dark Blood Five-colored Bells, but it was also an extremely precious material, so its price was also being quickly bid up.
In the end, it was secured by a thin devilish being for over 4,000,000 devil stones.
After that, Yue Liantian revealed the items on the platters one after another, and after they were all sold, another group of devilish women arrived on the platform with the next batch of auction items.
The items being auctioned were similar in nature to those that appeared during auctions in the Spirit Realm, in that they were mostly comprised of things like materials, medicines, and pills, interspersed with the occasional devilish treasure.
Han Li merely looked on as one auction item was sold after another, displaying no intention of making a bid for any of the items.
Only after the devilish treasures that he had sold to the auction house were sold for a high price did a faint smile appear on his face.
However, none of the auction items had been able to eclipse the staggering price of that first devilish treasure, and the item that was sold for the second-highest price was a pill that was able to increase one's chances of making a successful Spirit Refinement Stage breakthrough.
Even though the increase was only around 5%, the pill was still sold for 13,000,000 devil stones.
"Alright, we have now reached the final stage of our auction. There are only two more auction items, but I can assure you that both of them are no lesser in value compared to the Dark Blood Five-colored Bells," Yue Liantian said in a mysterious voice.
Right on cue, two gorgeous devilish women emerged from the entrance, and on this occasion, they weren't holding platters. Instead, one woman was holding a green wooden box that was around a foot in length, while the other was completely empty-handed.
All of the devilish beings present were quite intrigued to see this.
Yue Liantian raised a hand to draw the wooden box directly into his grasp, then removed the lid to reveal a white brick-like object.
He then took a deep breath before announcing, "This is a holy brick, within which is contained several types of cultivation arts used by Sacred Ancestor Qi Ling over 2,000,000 years ago. The starting price is 30,000,000 devil stones!"
"What? Sacred Ancestor Qi Ling? The Sacred Ancestor who was only below the three patriarchs in power?"
"That's impossible! How could a holy brick containing his cultivation arts possibly appear here? Even if such a priceless treasure were to appear as an auction item, it should only be in the largest auction houses in the holy city!"
The entire venue immediately erupted into a frenzy, with some devilish beings ecstatic to hear the description for the auction item, while others were more skeptical.
"Please quiet down, everyone! Our auction house has already had the item appraised, and we can assure everyone that this is indeed a holy brick left behind by Master Qiling. If it proves to be a counterfeit, then our auction house will reimburse you for 10 times the price that the item was purchased for, so please rest assured. As for why this item has appeared during this auction, there are naturally reasons for this." Yue Liantian authoritative voice immediately caused all of the raucous chatter to subside.
