These slaves weren't as twisted as the Myriad Puppet Pavilion in the Glass King City—they didn't cover people's faces with masks. Otherwise, Jiang Chen wouldn't have even wanted to look.
Still, seeing their faces so openly displayed didn't make Jiang Chen any less vigilant.
Looking at it from another angle, the fact that the Chiding Central Region was so generous in letting all these slaves show their faces might well be a strategy to lure enemies in.
Jiang Chen had originally planned to buy every Dan Qian Palace disciple he spotted, no questions asked. But after a moment's thought, he realized that would be a huge gamble.
If this was a trap and he bought only Dan Qian Palace disciples while ignoring everything else, people would definitely grow suspicious.
After all, who but someone from Dan Qian Palace would be kind enough to selectively purchase their disciples?
Five hundred slaves were pushed out, one after another forced to their knees. All of them had been suppressed, their expressions wooden. On their faces, one could read neither joy nor anger, neither shame nor dignity.
Jiang Chen scanned the crowd and, sure enough, spotted several Dan Qian Palace disciples among them. However, none of these disciples had any particular connection to Jiang Chen.
Though they were all talents from Danxia Valley, he had no real relationship with them.
One of them even had a grudge against Jiang Chen—Yan Hongtu, the very person who had tried to put him in his place the moment he first entered Danxia Valley.
Jiang Chen naturally had zero interest in saving someone like that.
Setting aside the risk, even if there were no danger at all, Jiang Chen had no desire to rescue him. He wasn't the sort to repay enmity with kindness.
The sect's interests were important, but in Jiang Chen's eyes, Yan Hongtu was the type to bully the weak and fear the strong—a man whose character was fundamentally flawed. Even if rescued, he would likely feel no gratitude, let alone contribute meaningfully to rebuilding Dan Qian Palace.
It seemed the auction organizers had deliberately placed the Dan Qian Palace disciples in rather prominent positions. Jiang Chen had barely walked past the first two rows when he spotted five of them.
After that, there were none.
When he reached the fourth row, Jiang Chen suddenly stopped in his tracks. He had seen a familiar face. This person, however, was not a Dan Qian Palace disciple.
He wasn't even a disciple of the Myriad Phenomena Region's traditional six great sects, but rather a disciple of a fifth-rank sect.
"Him?" Jiang Chen recognized this one.
He had been Jiang Chen's very first opponent during the combat phase of the Myriad Phenomena Grand Ceremony. If Jiang Chen remembered correctly, this person's name was Feng Pao—a prodigy from the fifth-rank Wind Extreme Sect, who had been at the seventh level of the Origin Realm at the time.
Feng Pao was obsessed with the sword—the kind of true sword fanatic. In Jiang Chen's view, with his singular devotion to the sword and his pursuit of the ultimate in speed, Feng Pao should have been able to achieve something in the way of the sword.
Back then, precisely because Jiang Chen admired Feng Pao, he had deliberately guided him during their sparring match, imparting some profound insights into the Dao of the Sword in the process.
Feng Pao's comprehension was exceptional, and in the end he realized Jiang Chen had been pointing him toward the true essence of the sword.
After that battle, Feng Pao had gained many new insights into the sword. Then, as the upheaval of the Myriad Phenomena Region swept through, Feng Pao had been unable to stay out of it and had unfortunately become a captive as well.
Jiang Chen walked over to Feng Pao and glanced at the price tag—eight hundred thousand Saint Spirit Stones.
"I'll take this one." Without a moment's hesitation, Jiang Chen led Feng Pao out from the crowd. Everyone else was still in the observation phase; Jiang Chen was the first to make a move.
Jiang Chen was different from the others. They chose based on aptitude, comparing options carefully. Jiang Chen wasn't buying people to serve as slaves—he was just purchasing familiar faces.
So he wasn't picky at all.
In the fourth and fifth rows, there was no one else Jiang Chen recognized.
When he reached the sixth row, he suddenly spotted two familiar faces at once. These two were also not disciples of the Myriad Phenomena Region's traditional six great sects.
They weren't even fifth-rank sect disciples—they were old acquaintances from the Sixteen Kingdoms Alliance.
The two men were none other than Liu Wencai and Lu Yali from the Myriad Spirit Sect, one of the four great sects of the Sixteen Kingdoms Alliance. Jiang Chen had formed a brotherly bond with them during the trials at the Immortal Spirit Mountain.
Liu Wencai had received Jiang Chen's favors at the Immortal Spirit Mountain before, and Jiang Chen had even given him the bloodline of the Vermillion Scale Fire Lizard, awakening the dormant bloodline power within Liu Wencai's body.
Moreover, during their time at the Immortal Spirit Mountain, Jiang Chen had shared a great deal of martial insights with Liu Wencai.
The two had a deep bond. When Jiang Chen had departed from the Treasure Tree Sect on his way to Dan Qian Palace, he had specifically made a trip to the Myriad Spirit Sect to visit Liu Wencai and Lu Yali.
Both of these men were Jiang Chen's friends from the Sixteen Kingdoms. Seeing them now without warning, the memories of the Immortal Spirit Mountain trials came flooding back.
"Who would have thought that after all these years, I'd run into my old brothers again." Jiang Chen felt his heart stir with emotion.
He'd felt nothing for those Dan Qian Palace disciples. There was the nominal bond of being sect-mates, but no real fellowship behind it.
But Liu Wencai and Lu Yali—these two had shared hardships with him at the Immortal Spirit Mountain. Jiang Chen naturally couldn't just stand by and watch them die.
He checked their price tags. Liu Wencai was priced at eight hundred thousand as well, while Lu Yali was only at three hundred thousand.
"It seems Liu Wencai has made tremendous progress over the years. After his bloodline awakening, his cultivation must have surged. Otherwise, how could he command the same price as a Heaven Origin Realm genius like Feng Pao?"
Jiang Chen led both Liu Wencai and Lu Yali out as well.
After pulling these three from the crowd, Jiang Chen scanned once more but found no other familiar faces.
He promptly brought the three of them to the transaction area. "I'll take these three."