Chapter 617: Trap

The bone was quickly delivered to Daoist Master Jingyang by a beautiful female cultivator, and he held it in a white-knuckled grip as he examined it intently as if he were looking over a priceless treasure.

However, it then seemed to have occurred to him that he wasn't alone, and he carefully stowed the beast bone away before giving Han Li a faint smile.

At the same time, the enormous sum of Immortal Origin Stones and the collection of valuable items from Daoist Master Jingyang were delivered to the blue-robed man, who gave the three appraisers a disdainful sneer, then loudly declared, "I'll pay 23 thousand Immortal Origin Stones for the Rippling Horizon Arts!"

The daoist priest made no further bids upon seeing this, and in the end, the Rippling Horizon Arts was sold to the blue-robed man for exactly twenty thousand Immortal Origin Stones above its starting price.

The auction continued, and the final two items were brought out in succession.

The two items turned out to be a scroll capable of summoning Dao Warriors and a formidable golden ax, both of which were naturally sold for very high prices, but in the wake of the stunning impromptu auction for that green beast bone, these two treasures were made to look rather lackluster in comparison, and the reception was also rather lukewarm.

Following an enthusiastic final address from the auctioneer, the auction drew to a conclusion, and at this point, the three appraisers had already departed.

Daoist Master Jingyang and Han Li had both gotten what they wanted, and they began to make their way toward the exit of the venue, as did all of the other auction-goers, some of whom were clearly very content and cheerful, while others were less elated.

Having said that, no one was overly frustrated. Good things were always hard to come by, and the search was also a part of the process.

On top of that, there were still some other auctions and exchange events scheduled to take place in the, so they weren't entirely without chances to secure the items that they were searching for. Additionally, the prospect of being able to meet up with some old friends that they hadn't seen for thousands of years was also quite an exciting one.

Many of the auction-goers filing out of the venue were still discussing the events of the auction in a spirited fashion, and of course, the subject of most of these conversations was the beast bone that had been sold for 350 thousand Immortal Origin Stones. As a result, Daoist Master Jingyang also became a center of attention, and quite a few people approached him to strike up a conversation, trying to figure out exactly what that beast bone was.

However, Daoist Master Jingyang had no interest in making any conversation. At this moment, the only thing on his mind was returning to his cave abode as soon as possible. If he were approached by anyone that he knew or someone of a lofty status, then he would briefly respond in an amicable fashion, while the rest were outright ignored, and everyone else quickly learned not to approach him.

With Daoist Master Jingyang drawing all of the attention, Han Li had become nothing more than an afterthought to everyone, and he was quite happy to see this, trailing along behind Daoist Master Jingyang as they left the auction venue together.

Right at this moment, a black-robed man strode past Han Li, and it was none other than the black-robed man who had competed against Han Li for a couple of auction items.

The man's appearance had previously been concealed by the hood of his black robe, but now that they were in close proximity to one another, Han Li could see that this was a thin and handsome young man, but his face was rather abnormally pale.

The black-robed man just so happened to look at Han Li right as Han Li was looking at him, and the two of them exchanged a polite nod before the black-robed man continued onward.

Trailing along behind him was a purple-robed cultivator, and the two of them seemed to be companions.

The purple-robed figure had a head of shoulder-length purple hair and skin that was as fiar as jade, as well as a set of intricate features that made it impossible to tell whether they were male or female.

The purple-robed cultivator also took an expressionless glance at Han Li, then quickly withdrew his gaze before departing, but Han Li had stopped cold in his tracks to look at the two parting figures with slightly furrowed brows.

At this moment, Daoist Master Jingyang's mind was completely preoccupied with that beast bone,so he didn't notice the two men that had just passed them by, and he asked, "What is it, Fellow Daoist Li? Have you spotted some acquaintances?"

"No, it must've just been my imagination," Han Li replied with a shake of his head.

"In that case, let's go," Daoist Master Jingyang urged, clearly very eager to get back.

Han Li nodded in response, and the two of them made their way out of the auction venue.

"Come with me," Daoist Master Jingyang said to Han Li in a quiet voice, then turned in a certain direction, but right at this moment, a crimson cloud abruptly appeared in the sky before rapidly revolving.

At the same time, a series of crimson spirit patterns appeared over the surrounding ground, forming a red array that resonated with the cloud up above.

At this point, all of the auction-goers had only just emerged from the Jade Kun Pagoda, and all of them were instantly rooted to the spot by the tremendous restrictive force released by the array.

"What's going on?"

"It's a restrictive array!"

"Who dares to do something like this in the inner city?"

A chorus of alarmed and angry voices instantly rang out, while Han Li turned to Daoist Master Jingyang and asked, "What's happening?"

"I'm not sure, but no one would dare to do something like this in the inner city for no good reason, so let's wait and see what happens," Daoist Master Jingyang replied in a calm manner.

Han Li didn't say anything further, but his mind was racing.

He could sense that the surrounding crimson array was an extremely formidable restrictive array that also seemed to contain a burst of tremendous law powers that he hadn't noticed at all prior to the array's activation.

Before Han Li had a chance to think about anything else, two figures, one red and one azure, descended out of the sky.

Han Li immediately turned to the two figures to discover that both of them were wearing suits of golden armor identical to the ones worn by the Heavenly Court immortal envoys that he had seen during his latest instance of spiritual transmigration.

The duo was led by a man with a head of red hair. There were crimson flames burning all over his body, and his aura was so immense that the space around him was warping slightly.

This man's aura was far superior to even Gongshu Jiu's, indicating that he was a mid-High Zenith cultivator.

He was holding a giant crimson sword that was even taller than himself, and it was riddled with crimson scales. Furthermore, the sword was curved to resemble a fiery wyrm, the tail of the wyrm serving as the tip of the sword, while its head was the hilt.

Bursts of crimson light were flowing over the sword like blood, and it was clearly an extremely formidable weapon.

The other figure was a man who was as tall and thin as a reed stick, and his body was enveloped in a layer of radiant azure light.

His aura wasn't inferior in the slightest to that of his companion, and their distinctive attire immediately revealed their identities as immortal envoys.

"Don't be alarmed, everyone. We've come here to capture criminals of the Reincarnation Palace, who are among you right now. Everyone else, please wait for a moment, and we'll be releasing you shortly," the red-haired man said as his sharp gaze combed through the crowd.

Han Li's heart immediately jolted slightly upon hearing this.

Could it be that he had been exposed?

His mind was racing as he secretly channeled his immortal spiritual power, but his expression remained unchanged.

"You, you, and you, come with us for interrogation," the red-haired man ordered as he pointed at several people in succession, one of which was none other than the black-robed young man.

Han Li turned to the people that the red-haired man had pointed out, and a hint of relief instantly welled up in his heart.

All of these cultivators had placed bets on the Myriad Soul Herb from earlier. It seemed that his intuition had been correct, and that Myriad Soul Herb had indeed been a trap.

After picking out that selection of people, the red-haired man's gaze continued to rake through the crowd, and everyone who came under his scrutiny felt a sharp, pricking pain in their eyes.

All the while, Han Li remained calm and collected.

Even though he had cultivated the Spirit Refinement Technique, and he possessed such immense baleful qi that he was close to a Gray Immortal, he had been consuming Origin Void Pills this entire time, so as long as he didn't channel his Spirit Refinement Technique, he shouldn't be exposed.

Sure enough, the red-haired man's gaze swept over Han Li without pause, but a hint of panic flashed through the eyes of a pair of red-robed cultivators beside him.

Even though it was only for an instant, it had failed to escape the red-haired man's notice, and he immediately picked them out of the crowd as well.

"Why are you detaining us? We're not members of the Reincarnation Palace!" one of the red-robed cultivators protested.

The red-haired man paid no heed to his complaints as he continued to comb through the crowd before picking out several more people.

"Everyone that I just picked out needs to come with me, the rest of you can leave," the red-haired man declared as he made a hand seal, and the restrictive array that had bound everyone to the spot instantly faded.

Everyone that hadn't been picked out heaved a collective sigh of relief before hurriedly departing, including Han Li and Daoist Master Jingyang.

The two of them quickly departed from the area where the Jade Kun Pagoda was situated, and at this point, many people had already gathered around the area to see what was happening.

Han Li's duo quickly made their way into the crowd, and Daoist Master Jingyang wanted to leave right away, but Han Li wanted to stay and find out what was happening.

Daoist Master Jingyang was quite reluctant to stay, but he couldn't just rebuke Han Li after borrowing such a large sum of Immortal Origin Stones from him, so he could only begrudgingly stay.

Thus, the two of them began to look on at the unfolding scene from within the crowd.