With great effort, he shoved off a female cultivator who had glued herself to his side. Then, he sprang forth like an arrow, flying straight out. The thin old man’s response was even faster. He was like a shadow, instantly crossing space. As for those people blocking his way, they were all sent flying away to the side.

“Hold on! I am also very interested in that wood!”

Seeing Qin Yu’s flustered, angered, and resentful expression, Qi Cheng’s psychological mindset was immensely satisfied. So what if you are a peerless proud son of heaven who is acknowledged by everyone? Aren’t you being trampled beneath my foot today? And twice at that!

“Qi Cheng, don’t push things too far!” Qin Yu roared.

Qi Cheng released a dazzling smile. “I am bullying you. The wood is right here. If you want it, then bid for it.” He turned around and looked at the peddler whose entire body was covered in a black robe. He lightly said, “No matter how much anyone bids, I will give you more spirit stones. That wood is mine for certain.”

The people who just came out of the auction house looked at Qin Yu with sympathy. To be pounded to death by spirit stones like this, wasn’t that just an aggrieved way to die? However, just what was this wood? If Qin Yu and Qi Cheng both wanted it, there was no way it could be something simple.

“Precelestial wood!” Within the crowd, someone suddenly cried out in alarm. That person’s eyes widened and excitement rose in his voice, “That’s right, that’s right, it has to be this sort of miracle item. I only accidently read through an ancient text once and saw a record pertaining to it, but I never imagined I would have the chance to see something like it in my lifetime!”

There weren’t many people who knew about precelestial wood. But, most of the people here actually knew that Qin Yu had been searching for this item for the last several months. Moreover, in the last two months, the price he put forth was becoming increasingly high, and yet he still hadn’t found it.

Qi Cheng faintly smiled, welcoming everyone’s eyes. He flipped his hand and took out a silver-colored metal box. He opened it to reveal a piece of withered wood. He took it out and held it in his hand. Then, with a bit of strength applied, there was a light crack as the black surface of the withered wood cracked apart to reveal its true appearance.

Ripples of darkness spread out, submerging Qi Cheng’s hand. The dazzling colors, the mystical and exquisite textures – they were exactly the same as what the peddler was selling.

“That’s right, this thing is precelestial wood.” Qi Cheng smiled and looked up. “Qin Yu, you want this very much, right? But I won’t give it to you. Do you find it unbearable? Hahaha…because right now I am happy; I have never been so happy before!”

Qin Yu’s face flushed red and his body shivered. One could see blue veins sticking up on his neck; it was clear he was on the verge of erupting.

Qi Cheng narrowed his eyes and his smile widened. “You’re angry right? Then hit me, take it away from me! Aren’t you fierce? Why aren’t you willing to fight me?”

“Fellow daoist Qin Yu, don’t be so impulsive!” Kang Mingqiao shouted out. However, there wasn’t much worry in his eyes. He looked at the black-robed peddler, looked at Qin Yu, and finally looked at Qi Cheng. A strange look filled his eyes.

Qin Yu closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Arena Steward Kang, I wish to borrow some spirit stones from the Dao Arena. The amount may be extremely large. I wonder if you are willing to help me?”

Kang Mingqiao said without hesitation. “Fellow daoist Qin Yu is the most honored guest of my Dao Arena. There is no problem in lending you spirit stones!”

“Good!” Qin Yu roared out. “Qi Cheng, then let me see just how many spirit stones the master is willing to toss to their dog!”

Qi Cheng’s lips curled up in a mocking smile. “If a dog is good and obedient, they have meat to eat. It is always better than being chased to the ends of the world, with no path to heaven and no door to hell. And in the end, being butchered anyways.” He licked his lips. “Perhaps, if you die Qin Yu, maybe I will be given a part of your meat too.”

Qin Yu clenched his jaws. “One billion spirit stones! Give me the precelestial wood!”

The peddler was clearly frightened by the fight happening in front of him. As he heard this amount, his eyes visibly brightened and he almost leapt up from the ground.

“What are you so flustered about! A mere billion spirit stones and you want to take the precelestial wood? Dream on!” Qi Cheng lightly said. “1.5 billion.”

“2 billion!” Qin Yu’s eyes flushed red, no hesitation in his voice.

“2.5 billion.”

Qin Yu shouted, “3 billion!”

At this time, everyone in the surrounding crowd, no matter how honored or mediocre they were, they were all scared silly.

They had seen many spirit stones before, but they had never seen people who tossed about so many spirit stones like child’s play.

3 billion spirit stones...

Even for the wealthy, as they thought about how all of this was happening for a mere spirit wood…well, alright, even if it was the incomparably rare and precious precelestial wood, it still wasn’t worth this price!

Insane! These two were madmen!

The peddler was clearly frightened silly. He instinctively held the precelestial wood tight to his chest, his gaze mixed with joy and fear. It was clear that even though he knew that this terrifying bid was an incredible amount of wealth, he might not be able to live long enough to spend it.

But humans were like this. Even though they were extremely frightened, they could still be captivated by greed. The peddler locked his eyes onto the two competitors, hoping they would offer an even higher price.

Qi Cheng paused for a moment. He suddenly said, “Anyone can speak hollow words. Since it’s a bid, you have to come up with enough chips.” He turned his hand, producing four crystal demon spirit stone cards. “There are 4 billion spirit stones here. Qin Yu, do you dare increase the price?”

Qin Yu’s body trembled. It was only by twisting his thigh that he was able to maintain the expression of grief, pain, and indignation on his face. He took a deep shuddering breath and looked at Kang Mingqiao.

Arena Steward Kang looked at Qin Yu and then at the mysterious and unfathomable black-robed peddler. He glanced towards the high-spirited Qi Cheng and observed a moment of silence for him that lasted all of three seconds. Then, he appeared to hesitate a little as he said, “With my status as the steward of Four Seasons City’s Dao Arena, I guarantee that fellow daoist Qin Yu’s bid is effective and true!”

Qi Cheng laughed out loud. “Arena Steward Kang naturally qualifies to be a guarantor. But, I wonder how many spirit stones a Dao Arena Branch Division can take out?”

Kang Mingqiao coldly sneered. “Humph! More than you can imagine!”

Qi Cheng turned and said, “I don’t have enough spirit stones.”

The thin old man didn’t say a word. He widened his hands and two piles of crystal cards appeared in a flash of demonic light. Each one was the highest rank crystal demon spirit stone card.

Gulp –

Several cultivators immediately fainted, their eyes rolling into the back of their heads. However, no one laughed at them, because at this moment their field of vision flashed black as if an invisible hand were grasping at their hearts.

This…this…how many spirit stones was this? Although everyone knew that the Immortal Sect had stood for countless years and they had to have an astonishing background, such bold and daring actions were still hard to withstand for many people.

Qi Cheng flicked his sleeves and the spirit stone cards in the thin old man’s hands fell to the ground. “If you give me the precelestial wood, all of these spirit stones are yours.” He looked up, ridicule in his eyes. “Of course, Qin Yu, you can still increase the price. I don’t mind using spirit stones to ruthlessly crush you beneath my foot.”

“You…” Qin Yu’s face flushed red and he stubbornly glared at Qi Cheng.

“Hahaha, it looks like this precelestial wood belongs to me too.” Qi Cheng sneered. “You can give me the precelestial wood now.”

The peddler’s fingers trembled. He handed over the precelestial wood. Then, with the speed of lightning he swept up all the spirit stone cards on the ground and ran out from the crowd. His actions were swift. But, such a massive pile of spirit stone cards worth 10 billion spirit stones was enough to make the eyes of countless cultivators turn red with greed. They were willing to take any risk to obtain that much wealth

Quietly, over a dozen figures flashed away in hot pursuit. Qi Cheng smiled. This was because he knew that people from the Immortal Sect were inevitably in that group.

Spirit stones were good, but if a person didn’t know when to retreat and took something that didn’t belong to them, all that awaited them was death.

QI Cheng played with the precelestial wood in his hand. He looked over. “Qin Yu, you could try begging me. Perhaps I’ll feel some pity and toss you a precelestial wood. After all, I have two now, and I can’t use them both.”

Qin Yu’s expression was calm, and there was even a faintly happy smile on his face. His demeanor was completely different from just before. As Qi Cheng saw this, his heart skipped a beat before he cursed Qin Yu for putting on an act and trying to play tricks. Qi Cheng believed that the calmer Qin Yu tried to be, the angrier he was within.

“Qi Cheng, do you think my calmness is an act? And that in truth I am very, very angry? To the point that I want to tear you to pieces? I’m sorry, but I have to say that I’m not angry at all right now. On the contrary, I am incredibly happy.” Qin Yu paused for a moment and then suddenly said, “You and your honorable master are both good people. Really.”

After he finished speaking he smiled and walked away.

Qi Cheng was bewildered upon suddenly being labeled a good person. He turned around and started walking away.

Kang Mingqiao looked at Qi Cheng with a strange expression. He shook his head and said, “I hope your lord will treat you with some mercy.”

Qi Cheng’s complexion paled. His intuition told him that something was wrong. But when he looked down and saw that he was still holding the two precelestial woods, he suppressed all of those worrisome thoughts.

Humph!

Schemes and plots. They wanted to disrupt his mindset and then use some schemes and plots, right?

It was useless. As long as he could stop Qin Yu from obtaining the precelestial wood, no matter how great a price he had to pay, it was only a merit to him in the end. Moreover, even though the Immortal Sect had paid 10 billion spirit stones, would that immense amount of wealth really be obtained by others? Heh, it was more likely that anyone who deigned to have thoughts on those spirit stones would die!

…

The black-robed peddler rushed into a tunnel. When he looked back behind him, he produced an inexplicably cold sneer. He moved and fused into a shadow in a corner, vanishing from sight.

Whoosh –

Whoosh –

Two cultivators broke through the void, appearing right where the black-robed peddler vanished. They looked around in anger, but no matter how much they searched they couldn’t find the peddler’s aura anymore.

As if he had vanished from existence.

Suddenly, an ice cold voice sounded out from behind the two. “Where are the spirit stones? Hand them over.”

The two cultivators fiercely spun around. They saw a cruel-looking man with extraordinarily thick arms and cold eyes walking towards them. In contrast to his brutish appearance, when he walked on the ground he didn’t produce any sound at all.

The eyes of the two cultivators shrank. They were cultivators who walked in the darkness, but at this moment they felt an intense threat coming from this other person. They turned and fled without hesitation.

They were extremely fast. But compared to the fists behind them, they were far too slow. Or, it could be said that this strange man had already calculated their trajectory. When the fists fell, the two cultivators had no way of avoiding them.

There were two thumping noises that were in such quick succession they were nearly a single sound. Massive holes appeared in the chests of the two cultivators who fled in separate directions. Their corpses tumbled to the ground, panic still in their eyes.

The cruel-looking man sifted through the corpses of the two cultivators but didn’t find any harvests. Then, he frowned. At this time his complexion changed and he stormed backwards. The ground beneath him caved downwards and countless cracks wildly spread out like a spider web. Simultaneously, a peerless tyrannical aura erupted from his body.

But before he could even counterattack, a palm reached out from the darkness and silently touched his chest. As soon as he was touched, the cruel-looking man froze mid-action. Combined with the shattered ground all around him, it was as if time had come to a standstill.