Chapter 1003: City Lord

"What's wrong?" Zhang Xuan frowned, seeing his hurried demeanor.

This was the Pavilion Master of Moyun Pavilion, a Saint Realm 1-dan expert, and a renowned figure in Jingyuan City. His current anxiety surely indicated something significant had happened.

"As soon as I arrived, I spread the word about the auction of the Earth Core Flower," Hu Yunsheng explained, his face troubled. "Half an hour ago, a group of people came and insisted on buying it before the auction. From their appearance, it seemed they intended to strong-arm a purchase."

"Strong-arm a purchase? Are they poison masters?" Zhang Xuan was surprised.

Isn't the Earth Core Flower highly appealing to poison masters? Could it be that others also need it?

"No..." Hu Yunsheng shook his head.

"How can you be sure?" Zhang Xuan asked, looking at him with confusion. Aren't poison masters indistinguishable when they're not using poison? How can you be so certain?

"Because... I know the person who came!" Hu Yunsheng's face flushed. "It's City Lord Hong Jin of Jingyuan City!"

"What does he want the Earth Core Flower for?" Zhang Xuan wondered. The Earth Core Flower is something poison masters need. Why would a city lord want it? And judging by his tone, he's even willing to resort to strong-arming a purchase, regardless of his status.

"He didn't explain the specifics, so I'm not entirely sure," Hu Yunsheng said. "He just insisted on buying it. I already told him it belonged to an elder, and now he insists on seeing you..."

"Let's go see!" Zhang Xuan nodded. No matter what the other party wanted the Earth Core Flower for, since they specifically asked to see him, he naturally had to go.

Following closely behind Hu Yunsheng, he walked forward. Before long, they arrived at a spacious room. A middle-aged man with a dignified face sat grandly in the main seat. His gaze was sharp, exuding an air of superiority. Behind him were several armored guards, each radiating powerful auras like dragons. They had actually reached the Chrysalis Realm of Mortal Ascension 9-dan.

"Lord City Lord, this is the owner of the Earth Core Flower, Elder Sun Qiang!" Hu Yunsheng said, clasping his fists upon arrival.

The middle-aged man in the main seat glanced at Zhang Xuan. Seeing that he was only a Half-Saint, he smiled and said, "My friend, I wish to purchase your Earth Core Flower. Name your price!"

"What price can you offer?" Zhang Xuan raised an eyebrow, a faint smile on his lips, somewhat surprised by the man's directness.

The middle-aged man looked over. "A 100-year-old Earth Core Flower usually costs 80 high-grade spirit stones. Yours is a bit older, so I'll give you 100, plus a high-grade spirit artifact!"

"That price seems a bit low," Zhang Xuan said, lifting his eyelids and looking at him. Not only is the Earth Core Flower extremely rare, but even the ones Hu Yunsheng had sold previously fetched a higher price. The other party's offer truly felt like an attempt at a strong-arm purchase.

"How dare you! Our City Lord buying your item is giving you face; don't push your luck!" shouted one of the guards behind the middle-aged man.

"One hundred high-grade spirit stones and a high-grade spirit artifact is already the highest price. You might not even get that much at auction, and it will attract more covetous eyes. I suggest you sell it," the second guard advised.

The two guards played good cop, bad cop, using a mix of threats and persuasion. While appearing well-intentioned, their actual goal was to make him meekly sell the medicinal herb.

Seeing their attitude, Zhang Xuan shook his head with a faint smile, his expression calm. "I'll sell it to you for ten thousand high-grade spirit stones!"

"What did you say?" The middle-aged man frowned. He had offered one hundred, and the other party countered with ten thousand. This clearly showed a refusal to negotiate, completely disregarding his status as City Lord.

"You've got a lot of nerve..." the first guard yelled again. Before he could finish, Zhang Xuan's calm voice echoed from across the room.

"Twenty thousand!"

"What do you mean? Are you selling or not?" the second guard pressed.

"Thirty thousand!" Zhang Xuan replied.

"You..." The middle-aged man's face turned pale, his brows furrowed like mountains, seemingly suppressing a rage that could erupt at any moment. The other party's attitude clearly indicated no intention to sell, and it seemed he didn't care about the City Lord's identity.

"My friend, this is Jingyuan City. No matter who you are, I advise you to keep a low profile to avoid inevitable trouble," the middle-aged man said with a cold snort, his eyes narrowing.

"Fifty thousand!"

Ignoring the other party's threat, Zhang Xuan waved his hand and continued. He had no patience for someone trying to act superior; he'd been far beyond such petty theatrics long ago.

"Hmph, let's go!"

Seeing that the owner of the Earth Core Flower was unyielding and impervious to both threats and persuasion, the middle-aged man snorted coldly and turned to leave. As soon as he left the room, his face immediately turned ashen.

"City Lord, should we send some men to seize the item?" The first guard made a killing gesture, his eyes cold.

"No need. I must have this item. Since he's auctioning it, we'll follow the normal auction procedure." The City Lord's eyes narrowed. "I don't believe that once I make my move, anyone in the entire Jingyuan City would dare to compete with me for it!"

"That's right..." The two guards' eyes lit up. As long as the City Lord revealed his identity at the auction, who would dare to bid against him? At that point, he probably wouldn't even need to spend one hundred high-grade spirit stones to acquire it.

"Let's go!" The City Lord strode out.

"Elder, wasn't it a bit reckless to openly offend the City Lord like that?" Hu Yunsheng asked, his face a picture of conflict.

"It's fine. If he behaves himself, so be it. If not, I don't mind having someone else take his place as City Lord!" Zhang Xuan's expression was calm. At his level of strength, he no longer needed to consider the opinions of lesser individuals. If they behaved and didn't cause trouble, that was fine. But if they sought trouble, he wouldn't mind teaching them a lesson. A word to Yu Shenqing, and replacing one or two city lords wouldn't provoke any opposition. If push came to shove, he could even send a few master teachers to investigate. Anyone daring to strong-arm a purchase would certainly be a local tyrant who had been abusing their power for a long time; an investigation would definitely confirm it.

"Alright," Hu Yunsheng said. Though his face was still conflicted, Hu Yunsheng breathed a sigh of relief when he remembered the elder's power. He looked at Zhang Xuan again. "I'm worried that by offending the City Lord, he might engage in malicious bidding, which could cause some trouble."

"Malicious bidding?"

"Yes," Hu Yunsheng hesitated. "He'll use his status and power to instruct others not to compete. That way, the Earth Core Flower might... it would be very difficult to attract a poison master!" As an auction house owner, he was very familiar with such situations. Powerful individuals often used their status to force other potential buyers to give up, maliciously controlling auctions. The auction house had encountered this many times but had never found a good solution.

"That's simple," Zhang Xuan said. "When the auction starts, find someone. As long as he dares to raise the bid, just double it, and double it again. It's my own item anyway, so it doesn't matter if the price goes up to a million high-grade spirit stones."

"This..." Hu Yunsheng blinked. Bidding against oneself... wasn't that a bit too shameless? However, upon closer thought, it truly was a good way to deal with malicious bidding. It would be one thing if the opponent didn't know, but if they did, they'd probably be infuriated to death. It was simply disregarding all rules.

"Alright, go prepare. Once we find the location of the Poison Hall, I'll detoxify you." Zhang Xuan said no more.

"Yes!" Hu Yunsheng nodded and withdrew.

As soon as he left, Zhang Xuan's body swayed, disappearing from his spot. The next moment, he had entered the Myriad Anthill Beehive.

At this time, the beehive had expanded to its limit, with a diameter of over 500 meters. It was vast and spacious, with various buildings layered upon each other, resembling a massive village.

"Master!" Seeing his arrival, numerous spirit beasts simultaneously came forward. Inside the beehive were not only the Purple Sun Beast but also many kings from the Cloud Mist area. At this point, even if he encountered a powerful expert, he wouldn't need to act himself; simply unleashing these Saint Beasts could easily obliterate a small place like Jingyuan City.

"Cultivate well. When I have free time, I will come and explain any cultivation problems you encounter," Zhang Xuan told the beasts. These Saint Beasts were his right-hand men. After placing them in the beehive, he lectured them whenever he had free time. Over the past two or three months, their strength had significantly improved. If it weren't for the lack of cultivation techniques specifically for Saint Beasts, these large creatures would probably have reached unimaginable levels by now.

Leaving the Saint Beasts to continue their cultivation, Zhang Xuan then went to a private room. On a clean and tidy bed, Wei Ruyan lay quietly, her eyes closed. He had brought her into the beehive specifically to resolve her condition, as his trip to the Poison Hall was primarily for her. He reached out and felt the girl's pulse. After observing for a moment, he let out a sigh of relief.

"It seems she can hold on for a while longer, without major issues..." Although he hadn't found a good method to suppress the eruption of her poisonous physique, he had temporarily averted danger using his various techniques. Though she wouldn't regain consciousness anytime soon, her life was no longer in danger.

"This girl is truly pitiful..." He shook his head. From birth, she had been tormented by illness, and after finally growing up, she lost the father who loved her most. No wonder she was called the Calamity Physique; not only did she bring misfortune to others, but she herself also suffered endlessly, never having a single peaceful day.

Seeing that her condition was stable, Zhang Xuan then went to a specially arranged cultivation chamber and sat down. It had been over ten days since he broke through to Half-Saint pinnacle. Although he lacked the necessary treasures to break through to the next level, he diligently cultivated every day without interruption. Under continuous refinement, his true qi became increasingly pure and robust. Ever since reaching the Half-Saint realm, he had clearly felt that breakthroughs were more difficult than before. Previously, breaking through a major realm only took an hour, but now it might take several minutes longer, or even more!

"Cultivation is indeed not as simple as I imagined..." Sighing, Zhang Xuan shook his head. Cultivation was truly not easy; it was destined to be filled with hardship.

Three hours passed in a flash. Estimating the time, it was probably evening, and the auction was about to begin. Zhang Xuan then swayed his body and emerged from the beehive.

As soon as he returned to his room, he saw Hu Yunsheng approaching.

"Elder, the auction is about to begin..."

"Mm!" Nodding, Zhang Xuan followed him towards the auction house. Before they even reached their reserved private room, he suddenly frowned and stopped.