Chapter 1608: Human-faced Wyrm
Everyone was finally able to glean the appearance of the intruder, and they discovered that this was a silver-robed middle-aged man. He had a set of rather delicate facial features, but his expression was as cold as ice.
Many of the beings in the auction hall immediately tried to sweep their spiritual sense toward him, only for their spiritual sense to be repelled by a burst of mysterious power emanating from the man's body, thereby completely thwarting their attempts to ascertain his cultivation base.
However, a being who dared to barge into the Four Races Auction in such a reckless manner naturally had to be an immensely powerful one.
What everyone failed to notice was that as soon as the purple beast caught sight of the man, an ecstatic expression appeared on its face. However, its body was still bound by the golden and silver chains, so it was unable to do anything.
"Who are you and how did you get in here? What happened to all of the guards outside?" Xiao Buyi asked with a solemn expression.
"I brought him in here, and I told the guards outside to grant us passage. Do you have a problem with that?" Another unfamiliar voice suddenly rang out, following which another person strode into the auction hall.
This was a white-robed young man who appeared to only be around 27 to 28 years old. His appearance was extremely ordinary, and there were no memorable features about him whatsoever. However, as soon as the young man entered the auction hall, an alarmed expression appeared on Xiao Buyi's face as he hurriedly extended a respectful bow.
"Xiao Buyi pays his respects to Senior Fei!"
"We pay our respects to Senior Fei!"
The other holy race beings on the stage also seemed to have recognized the young man, and their expressions also changed drastically as they hurriedly extended respectful bows.
Not only that, but all of the holy race beings on the upper level also flew out of their cabins before paying their respects to the young man.
Han Li looked up to find that even Qian Jizi and Duan Tianren were among these holy race beings. Both of them were at the pinnacle of the Body Integration Stage, yet they were also appraising the young man with awe and veneration in their eyes.
As such, it was not difficult to deduce that this young man had to be a Grand Ascension Stage being! With that in mind, Han Li's expression was also filled with astonishment as he cast his gaze toward the young man.
At this point, all of the other foreign beings in the auction hall had naturally also guessed this young man's true identity, and many of them gulped nervously with shock and alarm etched on their faces.
The entire hall fell completely silent once again.
"Why have you come here, Senior Fei? Didn't you go into seclusion?" The one who had spoken wasn't Xiao Buyi. Instead, it was another being at the pinnacle of the Body Integration Stage that Han Li didn't recognize. This was a strange being with dark green stripes all over his face, wearing a set of beasthide robes.
"Oh? So you're here as well, Junior Hei. I came out of seclusion and arrived in Cloud City due to the recent Jiao Chi Race invasion, but I'm here today because of Fellow Daoist Tu," the young man sighed.
"May I ask who this Senior Tu is?" the green-faced being asked with an uneasy look in his eyes.
The young man merely smiled upon hearing this, but didn't offer a reply. Instead, he turned to the silver-robed man, and asked, "Brother Tu, have you found the one you're looking for?"
"Of course!" The silver-robed man looked around before his gaze finally settled on the stone stage.
A hint of elation flashed through his eyes at the sight of the purple beast, but his face quickly fell at the sight of the black cage and thin chains that the small beast had been bound by.
His body swayed, and he disappeared amid a flash of silver light.
In the next instant, silver light flashed on the stage, and the silver-robed being reappeared in a soundless manner.
The brocade-robed man was given quite a fright by the sudden appearance of the silver-robed man right next to him, and he couldn't help but exclaim, "Senior, you..."
"Piss off!" The silver-robed man had no intention of speaking with him, and he cut him off in an abrupt manner before casually sweeping a sleeve toward him.
An immense burst of power was immediately sent hurtling toward the brocade-robed man, and he was naturally quite alarmed and enraged by this sudden unprovoked attack.
He reflexively drew a sharp breath, and a layer of yellow light surfaced all over his body as he prepared to withstand the attack.
Following an earth-shattering boom, the yellow light around his body tremored violently, and he was forced back seven or eight steps in quick succession, almost falling off the stage in the end.
Xiao Buyi's expression changed drastically upon seeing this.
He was well aware of just how powerful this brocade-robed man was. He specialized in an earth-attribute cultivation art of an extremely high caliber, and defense had always been his forte. However, he wasn't even able to withstand a casual strike from the silver-robed man, and that was absolutely astonishing.
It appeared that this silver-robed man was most definitely a Grand Ascension Stage being as well.
The other four beings on the stage had also clearly come to the same conclusion as Xiao Buyi, and al of them hurriedly took a few steps backward at the sight of the approaching silver-robed man.
However, an unexpected turn of events then unfolded.
The silver-robed man completely ignored them as he strode directly toward the cage, then tore it apart with his bare hands with ease as if it were nothing more than a papier-mâchéstructure.
Thus, the ruined cage and the small beast plummeted downward at the same time, and the two halves of the cage disappeared into clouds of black Qi before they had even fallen onto the ground below.
Meanwhile, the small beast let loose an elated peal of laughter as it was caught by the silver-robed man, who then swept his other hand over the golden and silver chains around its body.
Following a string of dull thumps, the chains were all shattered, and as soon as the small purple beast was freed, it dove into the silver-robed man's arms and rubbed its head against him an extremely affectionate manner.
"Hmph, that's what you get for not staying in the cave abode and running off on your own! Tell me who captured you and brought you here." The man stroked the small beast's head in a doting manner before a frosty expression suddenly appeared on his face.
The four mid-Body Integration Stage beings nearby were quite alarmed to hear this, and they all exchanged fearful glances with one another.
This small beast had been captured by the four of them and transported to the auction hall. Otherwise, as guest members of the Heavenly Cloud Races, they most likely wouldn't have been invited onto the stage.
At this moment, the small purple beast turned to the bearded elderly man with a resentful expression, then let loose a string of low snarls as if it really were communicating something to the silver-robed man.
"What? He tortured you? How dare you! The four of you can all pay with your lives!" An enraged expression appeared on the silver-robed man's face, and an astonishing baleful aura erupted from his body.
His shoulder swayed, and his arm shot forth toward the elderly man like lightning. There was a distance of over 100 feet between them, but his arm somehow elongated drastically, and his five fingers shimmered with silver light as they reached the elderly man in a flash.
The attack was so fast that it reached its target almost instantaneously. At the same time, an asphyxiating burst of spiritual pressure crashed down upon the elderly man.
He was already prepared for an attack, but never did he think that the attack would come with such immense power and ferocity.
In the face of this lightning-fast attack, he only had a chance to opened his mouth to expel an azure bead that hurtled directly toward the oncoming hand. At the same time, he activated an incantation seal that he'd already prepared in advance, and his body suddenly blurred as three light barriers of different colors instantly materialized before him.
However, the events that unfolded next plunged the elderly man into a state of extreme horror.
Before the azure bead even had a chance to unleash its power, it was shattered into countless fragments by a flash of silver light.
Almost at the exact same moment, the silver-robed man's hand pierced through all three light barriers in an instant, and five streaks of silver light flashed directly toward the elderly man's head.
The man naturally had countless other abilities that he had yet to unleash, but in this dire situation, there was nothing that he could do.
As such, his face immediately turned deathly pale as a sense of impending doom dawned upon him.
However, right at this moment, a calm voice sounded nearby.
"Please stop, Fellow Daoist Tu; have you forgotten what you promised me?" All of a sudden, an ordinary-looking palm appeared out of thin air, swatting the five streaks of silver light aside with a casual wave.
Immediately thereafter, spatial fluctuations erupted nearby, and the young man with the Fei surname appeared beside the silver-robed man with a serious expression on his face.
The silver-robed man seemed to be rather wary of the young man, as indicated by the fact that he didn't unleash any further attacks after his first attack was nullified. However, he still wore a dark expression on his face as he said, "Hmph, I did indeed promise that I wasn't going to kill anyone here, but I never said I'd spare them from all punishment."
"Of course. Seeing as these fellow Daoists have hurt your daughter, they naturally must be punished," the young man said with a smile.
"Daughter? That means you're a Human-faced Wyrm!" The elderly man was yet to recover from that near-death experience, and his face paled even further upon hearing the young man's words.
"Indeed, my true form is that of a Human-faced Wyrm. Do you want to capture me as well?" The silver-robed man turned to the old man with a cold look in his eyes.
"I wouldn't dare to even dream of it, Senior! We didn't know that this spirit beast was your daughter, so I implore you to spare us, Senior!" The elderly man was a holy race being, but he knew the importance of cowering when required. As such, he immediately begged for his life in this grim situation.
"You were far too reckless, Brother Lan; how could you have gone hunting for spirit beasts near Brother Tu's cave abode? You should thank the heavens that no harm has befallen Brother Tu's daughter," the young man scolded with a dark expression.
"I didn't know that Senior Tu's cave abode was under than region of the sea. Otherwise, I certainly wouldn't have dared to venture anywhere near it!" Cold sweat began to pour down the elderly man's face upon hearing this, and the other three beings' faces had also paled significantly.