"Isn't this Fellow Daoist Xu? I heard you were heading back to Tianxing City. Still can't teleport?" The woman's voice was soft and honey-sweet, utterly pleasant to the ear.
It seemed that most of the female cultivators he had encountered had cultivated some form of charm technique. Though this woman's charm arts were far inferior to those of Zi Ling or
With that thought, Han Li swept his gaze across the room.
The brocade-robed man and Xu Yun remained composed, but the rest of the men had grown visibly uncomfortable, their gazes lingering on the woman whether intentionally or not.
"These are newly arrived fellow cultivators. I'm showing them around. As for going back to Tianxing City — I'm afraid it won't be possible anytime soon. I didn't expect the rumors to be true. Things really are about to boil over back there." Xu Yun's tone was tinged with reluctant bitterness.
"Staying here isn't so bad, either. If you left, wouldn't I just lose another patron?" Madam Ming covered her cherry lips with a delicate hand, her bright eyes rippling with playful charm as she spoke with a winsome smile. That mature, alluring femininity drew the undivided stares of the dark-faced cultivator and his companions. Even the two female cultivators flushed crimson.
"Madam Ming, these people are all here at my invitation! Give me a token already." Xu Yun called the woman by her name, visibly displeased that she was openly casting her charm arts right in front of him.
"Hehe! I know, I know. These two fellow cultivators have composure that's no less than Brother Xu's. It seems they'll have absolutely no trouble staying on Qiyuan Island." Madam Ming chuckled softly, and after casting a brief glance at Han Li and the brocade-robed man, she retracted the charm from her features — instantly becoming an ordinary-looking, unremarkable woman.
The speed of the transformation left the others across from her momentarily stunned, followed by a wave of embarrassed awareness once they came to their senses.
She clapped her hands twice — "clap, clap" — and a young mortal woman emerged from behind the folding screen.
"Take Master Xu to the auction room. The auction should have only just begun." Madam Ming addressed the mortal woman in a cold tone, then raised her hand and tossed a jade-green token to Xu Yun.
Xu Yun caught the so-called token without even glancing at it and followed the mortal woman toward a side door.
Han Li and the others naturally followed close behind.
The moment he crossed through the side door, Han Li sensed a faint fluctuation of spiritual energy, as though he had entered some kind of restriction. His expression shifted briefly before returning to normal.
The scene before everyone's eyes brightened — behind the folding screen was an entirely different world!
A long corridor, some two zhang wide, divided the stone building behind it into two spacious halls.
The hall on the left was broad and brightly lit, with nothing obstructing the view save a few tall pillars of black stone. Inside, it was bustling with activity.
Nearly twenty to thirty cultivators waited there, forming a long queue, and each of them — whether male or female — had a young mortal woman accompanying them at their side.
Though some of the male cultivators ogled these scantily dressed mortal women with leering gazes, they at most exchanged a few flirtatious remarks — not one of them actually laid a hand on anyone. They seemed to be wary of something.
At the end of the queue sat a small room, its door shimmering with white light. A cultivator in line had only to press their jade token against the door and they could enter — though it appeared only one person could go in at a time.
The hall on the right, however, was completely concealed behind a pale blue barrier of light, making it impossible to discern anything inside.
"This place is called the Pearl Pavilion. It's specifically set up to purchase cultivators' harvests from the outer seas and convert them into spirit stones. Alternatively, if you believe your items are valuable enough, you can have them appraised and enter them directly into the auction. There are several similar establishments in this city, each run by a different faction. Every faction has a Nascent Soul cultivator backing it. Without that kind of support, you simply couldn't hold your ground in the lawless wilderness of the outer seas."
"That many Nascent Soul cultivators? Could it be the Four Great Trade Alliances?" The woman surnamed
"The Four Great Trade Alliances? They have no foothold here. Perhaps they've monopolized all the other Monster Beast Islands, but Qiyuan Island is the only one that's been taken over entirely by a coalition of factions. Individually, none of these factions could hope to rival the Four Great Trade Alliances in the
"From the way you put it, Brother Xu, is there something special about this Qiyuan Island? For so many factions to dare challenge the Four Great Trade Alliances over it!" The brocade-robed man was no fool — he had immediately caught the implication.
"Heh heh! Brother Yi guessed correctly. Since this place is named 'Wondrous Abyss,' it's because there really is an unfathomably deep monster beast abyss in the nearby waters. High-level monster beasts that are rarely seen on other Monster Beast Islands frequently appear there. It's even been said that beasts of the eighth tier or above have been spotted. For the sake of those high-level beasts, the Nascent Soul masters backing these factions naturally refused to let the Four Great Trade Alliances monopolize it again. I've heard that when the abyss was first discovered, these factions fought several major battles against the Four Great Trade Alliances before the Star Palace finally stepped in to mediate. The terms they negotiated are unknown, but in the end, the island was handed over to the joint management of these factions. The true state of affairs on Qiyuan Island was also strictly prohibited from leaking back to the Inner Star Seas. Anyone who revealed it would face joint pursuit and elimination by these factions." Xu Yun explained with an unruffled expression.
By this point, Han Li was quite shaken. The brocade-robed man and the others had gone visibly pale at the news.