There is a beast in the bright morning.

Chapter 184 Aoki Auction

Although the Aoki family was founded by a quasi-Celestial Venerable, it can only be considered a decent second-rate power in the dark universe of this era.

Therefore, the auctions under his control do not have much influence, at most attracting people from a few star regions near Qingmu Star to participate.

However, this auction attracted a great deal of attention, and even members of the Celestial Venerable lineage came to attend.

All of this is because the Aoki family has the backing of the gods. They not only occupy Aoki Star, but also collect a large number of divine artifacts. Therefore, the scale of the auction is far greater than before. This is also partly due to the Aoki family's intention to make a name for themselves.

At dawn, the morning glow falls on the city walls of Qing Shi City, and the walls, cast in bluestone, are edged with gold, giving them an air of sanctity.

Hao Chen walked down the street, watching the pedestrians coming and going. There was no noise, no killing, only tranquility and simplicity.

"It wouldn't be bad to live that kind of life with Bixie Tianlu and Qiongqi, the Four-Unlikes Fighting Tiger."

Over the years, Haochen has grown increasingly nostalgic for the carefree life he had at the Future Deer Man Shop, the life where he would wake up every day surrounded by furry creatures.

Just as Hao Chen was feeling sentimental, the street suddenly shook, the bluestone slabs on the ground trembled, and more than a dozen strange beasts rushed in from the direction of the city gate.

Each of these strange beasts was incredibly magnificent, some resembling dragon steeds and others like dragon beasts, exuding a powerful aura.

On the backs of these strange beasts sat cultivators with even more powerful auras. They rushed through, causing the entire street to rumble, and then entered the largest building in the city, the Green Wood Auction House.

Before long, more people arrived, some riding clouds, some on flying beasts, and some in flying boats. They descended from the sky, and there were more than just one or two groups. People came from time to time and entered the Green Wood Auction House.

Qing Shi City is one of the major ancient cities on Qing Mu Star, and many cultivators frequent the city. As a result, the local people are used to it and there is no panic.

"I wonder what kind of divine object has appeared this time, that so many people have come, even the people from the imperial dynasty have been attracted here."

Many people were whispering and speculating, saying that although previous auctions had attracted a large number of cultivators, none had been on such a large scale as this one.

Hao Chen narrowed his eyes, his body twisted, and then he transformed into a middle-aged man dressed in a golden robe, striding towards the auction house.

Of course, he didn't change his appearance randomly; it was an identity he prepared for himself when he arrived on Aoki Star.

Upon arriving on Qingmu Star, he learned that to participate in the auction, one must possess an invitation or a certain social status.

In order not to alert the enemy, Hao Chen used the World Tree as bait outside the city to lure the cultivators who came to participate in the auction.

As expected, some unlucky souls were indeed drawn by the strange phenomena emanating from the World Tree, and some even came alone in order to keep the treasure for themselves.

Hao Chen naturally didn't hold back. He knocked the other person down with a brick, stripped off their clothes, tied them up, and threw them outside. He even read the other person's memories before leaving.

From the unfortunate man's memories, Hao Chen learned about his identity and background. He was now an uncle of the Jiuli Dynasty, accompanying a prince to participate in the auction.

However, Hao Chen didn't see what exactly was being auctioned from this unfortunate fellow's memories, but it must be with that prince.

However, Hao Chen didn't care about any of that; all he needed was an identity to enter the auction.

As they approached the auction entrance, a robust young man walked over to Hao Chen: "Uncle, the auction is about to begin, let's go in quickly."

"Okay, I understand." Hao Chen replied and followed the young man into the auction.

"Chi Li, what are we here to buy at this auction? Why are you being so mysterious?" Hao Chen asked casually.

Chi Li glanced at Hao Chen but didn't see anything different, so she whispered, "I don't know the specifics either. My father sent me to the auction to buy that white tiger and bring it back, no matter the cost."

Upon hearing Chi Li's words, Hao Chen made many connections. In the memories of that unlucky imperial uncle, the Jiuli Dynasty was the lineage of Chi You Tianzun and one of the top powers in the universe.

If he wasn't mistaken, the white tiger at the auction was probably the War Tiger, which was quite intriguing.

"Could it be that Chi You, the Heavenly Venerable who founded the Jiuli Dynasty, and Chi You, the master of the War Tiger, are the same person?"

Hao Chen was startled by his own thoughts, but upon closer examination, he realized it was quite possible. After all, Zhan Hu himself had said that his master was not dead, but had simply disappeared.

Just as Hao Chen was lost in thought, Chi Li's voice came from beside him: "Uncle, what are you thinking about? The auction is about to start, let's go quickly."

"Hmm." Hao Chen nodded. To avoid giving himself away, he didn't say anything more and followed Chi Li into a private room.

As representatives of the dynasty, Hao Chen and Chi Li were naturally qualified to enter the private room, unlike other cultivators who had to stay in the main hall.

Sitting in the suspended palace, Hao Chen looked down curiously at the auction hall in front of him, where everything was clearly visible.

As many cultivators entered, the auction began.

"A five-thousand-year-old spiritual herb, with a starting price of five thousand catties of its essence."

"Six thousand catties of source."

"Six thousand five hundred catties."

"Seven thousand!"

……

As the announcements rang out, the spiritual herb was finally sold for 12,000 jin of source material, marking the first transaction of the auction.

The auction proceeded slowly but steadily, with no particularly rare items yet appearing.

"Three drops of divine beast essence blood, starting price 20,000 jin of source material."

Finally, a commotion broke out in the hall below, attracting the attention of many people, who immediately began to bid.

A small white porcelain bottle was opened by the auctioneers, revealing three drops of bright red blood inside.

Not only were they few in number, but the aura they emitted was also weak, even weaker than that of most of the cultivators present.

However, these three drops of blood possessed a unique life essence, filled with divine essence, as if they were inherently superior to ordinary cultivators and strange beasts, and were not on the same level at all.

If someone is skilled in eye techniques, they can even see the runes of laws flowing in the blood.

"It really is Zhanhu!" Hao Chen's pupils shrank. Although he had guessed it, seeing Zhanhu's essence blood being auctioned off still made him inexplicably angry.

As more and more people placed bids, the price quickly reached 40,000 jin of source material. Keep in mind that this was only for three drops of blood, and even at this point, people were still bidding.

The auctioneers on stage couldn't hide their smiles at this scene, and it wasn't until the price reached 50,000 jin of Origin that it was finally won by the Great Yan Holy Land.

Hao Chen learned from the memories of that Jiuli royal uncle that the Dayan Holy Land was famous for alchemy.

Moreover, there are recent rumors that the Great Yan Holy Land is frantically collecting divine materials in order to refine a batch of divine pills, and it seems that they have their eyes on Zhan Hu's blood essence.

However, this auction was truly shameless. Not only did they treat the War Tiger as a commodity, but they even auctioned it off at exorbitant prices, trying to squeeze every last drop of value out of it.

When Zhanhu's essence blood was brought out at the auction, Haochen was almost unable to contain his anger, but in order to see Zhanhu, he suppressed his anger and continued to wait for Zhanhu to appear.

However, Hao Chen underestimated the shamelessness of the auction house. After the auction, they brought out another bottle of Zhan Hu's essence blood.

This completely ignited Hao Chen's anger, and a wisp of his aura was released uncontrollably, directly triggering the array set up by the auction house.

In an instant, all eyes turned to Hao Chen's private room, and even the auction was forced to stop.

"What happened? That's a private room belonging to the Jiuli Dynasty. Could it be that the Jiuli Dynasty is planning to take action against the auction?"

"Did you sense any aura of the Supreme Path? Didn't we hear that the Nine Li Dynasty sent an imperial uncle and a prince this time? We haven't heard of any Supreme Path level figures among them."

Just as the surrounding cultivators were whispering among themselves, Hao Chen's icy voice rang out: "Qingmu Auction House, what do you mean by this? I came here for that divine beast, and now you dare to extract its essence blood as an auction item. Give me an explanation!"

As Hao Chen spoke, the people around him came to their senses.

"That's right. If too much essence blood is extracted, it will directly affect the source, which will greatly reduce the value of cultivating the White Tiger Divine Beast."

"The Aoki family really has a clever plan."

In an instant, the originally lively auction turned into a denunciation meeting to condemn the shameless behavior of the Aoki family.

Hao Chen, the instigator, sat down quietly, his divine sense silently covering the entire auction house, searching for Zhan Hu's whereabouts.

Chi Li, standing to the side, suspiciously pulled Hao Chen along. He had a feeling that his royal uncle had changed after returning from his trip.

Not only did his cultivation level improve dramatically, but just now, he sensed a faint aura of the ultimate Dao from his royal uncle, which meant that his royal uncle had broken through the Great Sage realm and entered the Quasi-Celestial Venerable realm.

"It always feels like something is wrong."

Chi Li looked at Hao Chen, who was resting with his eyes closed, and secretly activated his secret weapon, trying to find the source of his unease.

Under the protection of the secret artifact, Hao Chen's appearance remained unchanged, and the royal blood of the Jiuli Dynasty still flowed within him. In fact, his essence was also completely pure, and there was no sign of anything unusual.

Hao Chen was naturally aware of Chi Li's subtle actions, but the "Huangji Jingshi Shu" he cultivated was even more mysterious. Hao Chen was confident in the transformation techniques within it, which even the Heavenly Venerable could not decipher.

The events at the auction had already been relayed back to the family by the steward, so an elder quickly arrived.

"Please listen to what this old man has to say."

Seeing that everyone had quieted down, Elder Qingmu continued, "I know your concerns, but I assure you that this amount of essence blood is nothing to that divine beast. It will recover after a period of time."

Perhaps fearing to anger the various forces below, Elder Qingmu immediately skipped the subsequent auctions and began the auction for the divine beast, the White Tiger.

As the auction continued, an iron cage made of divine iron was brought up. Elder Qingmu lifted the red cloth covering the cage, revealing the white tiger inside.

"Zhanhu!!!" Hao Chen's pupils widened suddenly, and at this moment, he could no longer suppress the anger in his heart.

Zhanhu lay listlessly in the iron cage, his limbs pierced by four iron chains, and his body covered with restrictions that limited his mobility.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is the White Tiger, which contains the bloodline of a divine beast. Alright, let's continue the auction. The starting bid for the White Tiger is 100,000..."

Before Elder Qingmu could finish speaking, the private room where Haochen was located suddenly exploded, and an extremely powerful aura pressed down.

"The Aoki family, you're courting death! Eternal freeze!"

Hao Chen stretched out his palm toward the iron cage where Zhan Hu was imprisoned. Wherever it passed, the aura of Yin permeated the air, freezing everything.

Even the Saint-level array set up at the auction was still obliterated and completely destroyed by this Yin energy.

In an instant, the entire auction was in chaos, filled with the aura of kingly divine weapons and holy weapons, all in an effort to resist Hao Chen's unbridled Taiyin power.

After everything was over, everyone realized that Hao Chen was gone, along with Chi Li in the private room and Zhan Hu on the stage.

"Damn it, Jiuli Dynasty, you're courting death!" Elder Qingmu's expression was ferocious. Not only was the white tiger gone, but even the divine object that was to be auctioned off had been taken away.

In the past, Elder Qingmu wouldn't have dared to make a fuss; he would have just swallowed his anger. But now that the gods are backing him up, he vows to get back the face he lost today.

(Friendly reminder: the plot may be drastically altered in the following sections, so please don't read with your brains on.)