Chapter 891 – Confusion

“That’s very good.”

Long Chen smiled as he looked at the passionate teenager. It was as if he had met his younger self.

“Brother Long Chen, it’d be great if you could stay with the Barbaric Bear Tribe and protect my older sister forever,” Xiong Jun said teasingly. When he saw that Long Chen wanted to escort Xiong Wan’er back, he thought Long Chen had fallen for her.

“Yeah. There’s no expert in the Barbaric Bear Tribe fit for Sister Wan’er.”

“I think you are made for each other!”

The others cried out in agreement.

𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

“Hey, don’t utter such nonsense. Brother Long Chen is only escorting us back out of the kindness of his heart. If you guys continue to be like this and upset him, I’m not talking to you again,” scolded Xiong Wan’er with embarrassment.

When they saw that she was upset, they stopped talking, though they whispered among themselves and giggled.

After bidding Xiong Jun goodbye, Long Chen and the others left the city. They did not face any obstructions, and they headed in the direction of the Barbaric Bear Tribe. Along the way, he either chatted with Xiong Wan’er or cultivated, and time passed quickly.

They passed through the quiet but deadly forest and would soon arrive at the tribe. When they could see the tribe from far, Long Chen stopped and said, “I’ll only be escorting you to this point. Go back on your own. Goodbyes are inevitable, no matter how long the journey. Farewell!”

“Brother Long Chen, aren’t you going to the tribe to play with us for a little while?” Xiong Wan’er said, a little crestfallen.

“It’s fine.”

Long Chen waved at her and smiled. With a quick tap of his foot, he quietly disappeared into the forest.

“Wow. Sister Wan’er, why didn’t he stay behind?” asked the teenagers who swarmed next to Xiong Wan’er with curiosity. Xiong Wan’er was a very beautiful girl, and she was a goddess to many people in the tribe.

“I don’t know. It feels like he holds many secrets. Let’s go back. Long Chen and us aren’t meant to be on the same path,” said Xiong Wan’er with a smile. She treated this with an open mind.

After escorting them safely to their destination, there were eight days left until the start of the auction. Long Chen planned to only return during the last few days, so he started cultivating the Heavenly Martial Fist Manual and the other techniques. There was just too much he had to study.

The Emperor’s Manual is an elementary Divine-tier combat technique. The first punch is known as the King’s Arrival! Right now, my combat abilities are at the Fifth Heavenly Martial Stage at maximum. However, thanks to the triple-layered boost offered by the Dragon Soul Transformation, the Five Emperor Palm, and the Yin-Yang Sword Soul, my essence is still only at the Fourth Heavenly Martial Stage. This is insufficient to support the King’s Arrival. I likely need to get the Heavenly Fortune Pill to cultivate this technique.

In spite of this, Long Chen studied the King’s Arrival thoroughly. He just needed to advance to the Third Heavenly Martial Stage. Then he could start to use the Emperor Vanquishers and the Emperor’s Manual.

The Emperor Vanquishers live up to their rank as Divine-tier weapons. When I put them on, I can already beat a Sixth Heavenly Martial Stage cultivator like Qian Canglong using a simple punching technique.

Long Chen looked at the gloves approvingly.

He spent the next few days in cultivation.

When only two days were left until the auction, Long Chen started to head towards Scarlet Water City. However, he covered his head with a cloak to hide his identity this time.

He entered the city by climbing over the walls and used the Soul Swallowing Gaze to avoid being seen. He was able to directly head to the Scarlet Water Association’s location.

Due to the auction, the entrance of the association was bustling with people. Many people who participated in the auction did not want to announce their identities, seeing as they did not want people to know of their wealth. Therefore, many were dressed like Long Chen. Many people wearing cloaks entered the Scarlet Water Association directly.

Long Chen took several steps forward calmly and blended into the crowd. Identity verification was not necessary to enter, but they had to show a certain amount of money to prove that they had purchasing power. The Scarlet Water Association had set the minimum at a hundred Emperor Crystals, so Long Chen casually displayed it to them, then he followed the crowd to enter the auction hall under the association’s warm welcome.

The auction hall was vast. Thanks to the nourishment of Royal Qi, the stones and bricks were unbelievably hard. It was very difficult to build a structure as large as this one.

To prevent conflict between guests, every guest had their own private cubicle. Long Chen was assigned one, but when he was about to enter, everyone in the hall directed their gazes to the same spot. Two of the highest-ranked people in Scarlet Water City were at the entrance. One was the mayor, while the other was the Underworld Soldier, Zhao Kongming!

Zhao Kongming had a wide smile on his face, but the mayor was in a gloomy mood. Under the warm welcome of the association, both of them were directed to the most luxurious cubicle. A man in luxurious clothing with shiny hair walked up to them. He was not strong, but several muscular men stood next to him. They were likely his bodyguards.

“Chairman, any news of your daughter?” asked the mayor when he saw the shiny-haired middle-aged man.

That middle-aged man, who was Chairman Liu Guang of the Scarlet Water Association, shook his head in a resigned manner and said, “I have no idea where that brat Qing’er went. She didn’t even tell me beforehand. Could Qian Canglong have kidnapped her? Why isn’t there any news?”

“No way. She’s going to be the wife of my son. Why would my son need to kidnap her? That boy is getting rebellious. How could he go out gallivanting without telling us beforehand? And he didn’t even send a message! When he gets back, I’m going to whip him!” raged the mayor.

“Say, do you think something bad has happened to them?” asked Chairman Liu Guang worriedly.

“It’s not productive for the two of you to discuss this here. After the auction ends, send more people to search for them in the area,” Zhao Kongming said. This was none of his business, so he was very calm.

“I hope they are fine. If anyone dares to touch my son within fifty kilometers of the city, hehe ...” There was a cold flash in the mayor’s eyes.

After Long Chen heard them, he laughed. They would never figure out that the culprit who killed their children was actually at the auction.

That’s strange. Didn’t Zhao Kongming really like Xiong Jun? This is such a grand event, so why didn’t he bring Xiong Jun here to widen his horizons?

This thought suddenly popped into Long Chen’s mind.

“Hey, brat. I think there’s something wrong with Zhao Kongming.” Little Cat’s fuzzy head popped out of the Primordial Realm.

“What is it?” Long Chen asked, surprised.

“I feel like he has some of that kid Xiong Jun’s aura on him, or more specifically, it’s the Barbaric Body’s aura. He couldn’t have done something to Xiong Jun, could he?”

“Huh?” Long Chen’s heart dropped.

Previously, he had not been able to determine if Zhao Kongming was a good or bad person. Thinking back, the way Zhao Kongming recruited Xiong Jun as his disciple was indeed a little too hasty. Was there really something suspicious going on?

If something happened, it would have happened a long time ago while Long Chen was gone.

Long Chen’s gaze darkened. Watching Zhao Kongming and the others disappear into the darkness, he clenched his jaw and whispered, “If anything has happened to Xiong Jun, I’m not letting you go for this.”

Long Chen liked people who had a dream and were willing to chase after it. Xiong Jun was one of them. Although he was forty, he was still a younger brother to Long Chen.

Very soon, with the support of the Scarlet Water Association, the auction started, and Long Chen quietened his mind. It was just a bad feeling he had about Xiong Jun. Since he was here, he needed to obtain the Heavenly Fortune Pill.

All the auctioned items were displayed in front of everyone. If he could not get the Heavenly Fortune Pill, he was ready to snatch it away. They probably wouldn’t be able to catch him if he used Blood Warp, since Zhao Kongming and the mayor were not on Tian Kun’s level.

The higher the cultivation level, the more superior the demon race’s overall characteristics were when compared to humans of the same level. If it were not for the fact that humans had all sorts of combat techniques and divine weapons, humans of the same cultivation level would be no match for the demon race. The demons were naturally gifted with powerful bodies after all.

The Heavenly Fortune Pill was a lower-grade pill only effective for First and Second Heavenly Martial Stage cultivators. Despite that, its price far surpassed the average elementary Emperor-tier item. That was why the Heavenly Fortune Pill was seen as the main draw of this auction.

Long Chen had many treasures on him, so he was not interested in the items that were for sale. There were hundreds of people in the hall, so the dozens of items were all auctioned off in the end. Very soon, the final Heavenly Fortune Pill was brought out. It was placed in a white box forged from Emperor Crystals, and it was displayed to the audience.

The host held the pill up and sniffed its fragrance. With a relishing smile, he said, “Everyone, this item in my hand is the final item for today’s auction, and also the item that everyone has been waiting for. It is the Heavenly Fortune Pill! I believe many people came here for it today, including the respected Lord Zhao from the Underworld Soldiers!”

As he spoke, he gave Zhao Kongming a respectful look.

This item had put the Scarlet Water Association in a difficult position too. Initially, they wanted to use the pill to make a lot of money, but Zhao Kongming had expressed interest in it. With him here, the price was not likely to go very high.

“The base price is five hundred Emperor Crystals, and every increment must be at least fifty Emperor Crystals. Let’s begin!”

Nothing happened for a long time.

The average Fourth Heavenly Martial Stage cultivator only had a personal fortune of about three hundred Emperor Crystals.