Chapter 1625: Surprise Change

A whistling sound pierced the air as a pea-sized light bullet shot from his fingertips. A faint blue light flickered, then vanished instantly into the cage.

The next moment, a burst of blue light erupted in a corner of the cage. The small purple beast's figure appeared, its limbs bending as it silently rolled onto the ground, landing as softly as a wad of cotton. This brought the beast's appearance fully into everyone's view: it was clearly a small purple beast resembling a fox.

Its body was only about half a foot long, but its pair of dark eyes constantly darted around, appearing to possess intelligence, no different from human eyes.

The only difference from an ordinary spirit fox was probably the several strange, faint silver scales on the surface of its nose and ears, which were only fingernail-sized and hard to notice without careful inspection. “This is the spirit beast that inherited the Human-Faced Mosquito's bloodline? It just looks like an ordinary fox beast, doesn't it?” someone impatient exclaimed with disappointment upon seeing the creature. Many others also frowned, unable to discern anything extraordinary about it. “An ordinary fox beast? My fellow Daoists, open your eyes and look closely.” The old man, whose face had seemed benevolent, suddenly flashed a grim expression and abruptly slapped the black cage with one hand.

The previously motionless cage let out a thunderous roar. Then, a flash of white electricity appeared, and a layer of white electric light covered its surface.

Following this, thunder rumbled loudly as innumerable delicate electric foxes transformed into sharp blades, striking fiercely at the small beast inside the cage.

Seeing this, the small beast revealed a surprisingly human-like expression of shock and anger. After a low growl, purple light swirled around its fur, and a phantom image emerged from its body, protecting it. It was clearly a faint silver flood dragon's phantom.

This flood dragon phantom was extremely blurry, its form barely discernible. However, the electric light strikes vanished without a trace upon hitting it, like a clay ox entering the sea.

After absorbing so much electric light, the flood dragon phantom raised its head and let out a furious roar. Its body instantly swelled several times in size, filling the entire black cage. The black cage even emitted groaning sounds, as if on the verge of breaking! The non-human cultivators watching this scene gasped.

This young purple beast, with just a mere phantom of its Dharma idol, could unleash such astonishing power, indeed demonstrating incredible potential. The old man, seeing the horrified expressions on the faces of those below the stage, knew he had achieved his goal. He chuckled softly and raised a hand.

Golden and silver light burst forth. A fine golden and silver rope appeared out of thin air, shooting towards the cage again and coiling completely around the small beast.

It was unclear what kind of magic treasure this fine rope was, but it completely disregarded the flood dragon phantom and instantly bound the purple fox firmly. Even though the young beast struggled desperately against the ropes, it was utterly useless!

The silver flood dragon phantom released from its body instantly vanished.

The black cage solidified once more, as if nothing had happened.

“How about that! All of you Daoists have witnessed this beast's power with your own eyes, so I imagine there's no more doubt. This wondrous beast's starting price is eighty million spirit stones. Let the auction begin now!” Seeing this, Xiao Buyi immediately seized the opportunity while everyone's minds were still unsettled and suddenly announced, “Eighty-five million!” “Ninety million!” Indeed, after witnessing the beast's marvel, astonishing numbers surged from the audience. The auction for this purple fox immediately soared into a climax, and in moments, the price broke through a sky-high hundred million.

Han Li sat in his seat and did not participate in the bidding. Firstly, while this beast had astonishing potential, nurturing it would certainly take too long. He already possessed the Soul-devouring Beast, the Leopard-Scaled Beast, and the Gold Devouring Beetles, so he didn't necessarily need to add another spirit beast. Secondly, even if he were truly moved, he didn't have many spirit stones left and was powerless to compete with others. By now, even the Saint Race from the third floor had begun bidding for this beast.

Given this, even if he hadn't auctioned the Skyfire Liquid earlier and instead joined the bidding for this beast, his chances of acquiring it would still have been extremely slim. However, at this moment, Han Li gazed at the purple fox in the cage, a strange expression appearing on his face.

He wondered if it was his imagination, but the bound and motionless small beast, both in appearance and the expression in its eyes, gave him a sense of déjà vu, a strange familiarity. It was remarkably similar to Silvermoon from back then.

But on second thought, although Silvermoon's true form was a silver wolf, the spirit fox she possessed in the human world was also a spirit fox. So, some similarity was not surprising. Even knowing this, Han Li couldn't help but feel a pang of emotion as he looked at the purple fox's pitiful state on the stage.

When Silvermoon left him years ago, before entering the reverse passage, he could not have truly failed to notice that subtle anomaly she displayed. However, given his cultivation at the time, he could only silently watch her return to the Spirit Realm.

Perhaps because Han Li's gaze was vastly different from the other non-humans present, the immobilized purple fox's eyes moved, surprisingly meeting Han Li's. It then blinked its long eyelashes, its expression instantly changing to one of confusion and pleasant surprise. Although the change in the purple fox's gaze was very slight, it did not escape Han Li's spiritual eyes. He paused slightly, completely baffled, unsure why the beast would show such an expression. “One hundred thirty million!” An unimaginable number came from an aged voice on the third floor. After this, the entire hall finally fell into complete silence. For a moment, no one offered a higher price. “One hundred thirty million, once!” “One hundred thirty million, twice!” “One hundred thirty million, three times!”

Xiao Buyi evidently also believed no one could offer a higher price. His three calls for bids were quickly completed, and after glancing at the third floor, he said with a soft chuckle,

“Congratulations, Brother Lu! After acquiring this wondrous beast, I believe you will surely gain a significant boost in strength.”

He actually recognized the winner of the auction for this beast.

“Heh heh, I didn't expect that after all these years, Daoist Xiao could still recognize my voice,” a low chuckle came from the aged voice on the third floor. Then, from a room at the back, a flash of iridescent light appeared, and a ball of yellow light directly flew out. In just a flash, a figure strangely appeared on the stage. Han Li narrowed his eyes slightly before finally seeing the figure's true appearance: an old man in a black robe with jaundiced skin.

The old man had curly hair and a tall, sturdy build, almost two heads taller than Xiao Buyi beside him, making him appear exceptionally formidable! Upon seeing the old man, a hint of apprehension flickered in Xiao Buyi's eyes, yet he spoke with extreme politeness: “Does fellow Daoist need Daoist Lan to first incapacitate this beast? Otherwise, when you take it, there might be a small bit of trouble.”

“A mere young beast? Do you fear that I, this old man, cannot control it? Rest assured. Count these spirit stones carefully; I will take this spirit beast directly. Daoist Lan, please retrieve your treasure.” The curly-haired old man was extremely confident. After tossing a bag of spirit stones to Xiao Buyi, he spoke to the old man without hesitation. “Heh heh, since Brother Lu has said so, then I, Lan, will indeed remove the restriction.” The old man nodded slightly, slowly raising a hand, about to grasp the cage once more.

Seeing this, the purple beast in the cage seemed to know that something bad was about to happen. Its purple fur instantly stood on end, and it let out a sharp cry.

As this sound entered the ears of the crowd, those with slightly lower cultivation levels felt their heads buzz, and their spiritual power became sluggish and unresponsive. These individuals naturally felt a great sense of alarm!

However, this cry had minimal effect on cultivators above the Void Refinement stage, like Han Li. The old man's expression didn't even change, and with a flash of green light from his five fingers, he was about to cast his spell.

The old man surnamed Lu, though speaking boldly, dared not be truly negligent. His eyes were fixed on the small beast, ready to instantly re-restrict it the moment the old man retrieved his treasure. The other non-humans in the audience also instantly focused their gazes on the stage.

Seeing the purple fox's terrified appearance, Han Li suddenly seemed to connect it to something. His eyelid twitched, and a soft *snap* sound was heard.

The hand he had resting on the side, with a squeeze of his fingers, instantly crushed the jade chair armrest into powder. And just then, a sudden anomaly occurred! “Boom!” A sky-shattering roar came from outside the main hall. Following this, the colossal hall door, which had been glowing with various restrictive spiritual lights, suddenly exploded, sending innumerable fragments scattering in all directions. The entire hall first fell into an eerie silence, with everyone's faces showing expressions of stunned disbelief!

This was the Four Races Auction; how could such an unbelievable event happen? Someone actually dared to directly smash the main gate of the auction hall, appearing aggressive and menacing. Immediately, the entire hall erupted into commotion, with various sounds bursting forth simultaneously. “Ah! What's going on?” “What happened?!” “Guards, be on alert!”

At the hall entrance, due to the explosion of the restrictions, various spiritual lights flickered and shattered. For a moment, no one could clearly see who had done this.

“There's no need to panic! At an auction hosted by our four races, are you really afraid something unexpected will happen?” Although Xiao Buyi had been considerably startled earlier, he was indeed a Body Integration stage cultivator, and he quickly regained his composure, letting out a loud shout!

His shout was like a sudden clap of thunder on a clear day, instantly jolting the minds of those with lower cultivation, making them much clearer. Those with profound cultivation also calmed down, reminded by his words.

Indeed, considering not only the guards arranged by the four races but also the presence of so many high-ranking and Saint Race cultivators, what kind of incident couldn't be handled? “Four races! What a boast! Do you think I wouldn't dare to kill someone here?” A gloomy male voice suddenly rang out from outside the hall entrance. “Who are you, to dare cause trouble in our Cloud City?!” Hearing the opponent's arrogant tone, Xiao Buyi's heart sank, but he maintained a calm demeanor as he questioned them. “What, is Cloud City a mountain of swords and a sea of fire, preventing this Venerable One from entering?” Footsteps sounded outside the main hall, and a figure slowly walked in, passing through the shimmering restrictive light at the doorway.