The road is vague

Chapter 335 Temple Auction
The true demon clone originally planned to return to its temporary cave to rest for a while before heading to the temple auction house.

However, while passing through the black market, he inexplicably made another detour. As a result, during his brief two-day interaction with the Xuanmu Spirit Deer, the Twin Fiends unexpectedly arrived in Tiankui City again!
The true demon clone strode up to the pair of black cat spirits, its gray-white eyes looking at them.

"Let me introduce myself. I am the island lord of Dabao Island and the evil god of the Primitive Sect."

Both black cat spirits looked at the true demon's clone.

Out of caution, neither of them spoke.

The True Demon Avatar continued, "As far as I know, more than half a year ago, the two of you were invited by the Thunder Lord to go to a wild island called Rainbow Shell Island and capture a group of human slaves?"

"So what?"

The male cat's response made the true demon clone smile slightly.

"Hehe, please don't misunderstand. One of these rogue cultivators is an old friend of mine. I have come here today only to redeem this old friend at a high price. I have absolutely no intention of being your enemy."

Upon hearing this, the male and female duo exchanged a glance, and finally the female cat spoke in response.

"I'm truly sorry, but those ships of slaves have already been sold by us. Even if we wanted to help you, we're afraid we're powerless to do so."

Upon hearing this, the True Demon Avatar, who had been quite looking forward to it, couldn't help but frown.

"Where did you two sell them to?"

"We apologize, but our Black Hand Slave-Hunting Gang has been operating in the Thousand Pearl Islands for many years and has always strictly protected our clients' information. We have no comment on this matter!"

Upon hearing this, the true demon clone pulled out a handful of spirit stones.

The transactions here naturally attracted the attention of many black market monsters.

However, the two demons remained resolute, shaking their heads in refusal once again, causing the true demon clone's face to darken.

"My attitude has been very sincere. Is there no room for negotiation between the two of you?"

"Feel sorry."

The male and female demons turned and left, as if there was no room for negotiation. This immediately made the true demon clone's face turn extremely gloomy. After giving the two demon cats a cold look, he turned and left.

After the true demon clone left, the female black cat seemed slightly uneasy.

"Should we find out more about this guy?"

"What's the point of an investigation? That's Wushan Island. Do you think we'd dare offend them?"

Upon hearing the male black cat's words, the female black cat fell silent. Just as the other party said, although Wushan Island was not one of the so-called nine central spiritual islands, its status was even higher than that of the so-called nine central spiritual islands. It could be said to be the pinnacle of evil gods among the Thousand Treasures Islands.

The true demon clone then returned to its temporary cave in the Ten Thousand Demon Palace and rested for a few hours.

He thought that as long as he found the two demons and was willing to pay some price, redeeming Zhang Xiu Ning would be a piece of cake. However, he did not expect that the two black cat demons would show no mercy and would not reveal any information.

"Since the soft approach isn't working, we'll have to resort to the hard approach."

These two black cat spirits, when working together, are probably much stronger than Venerable Lei Yuan in his prime. Although he successfully killed Venerable Lei Yuan last time by joining forces with his main body, it was because Venerable Lei Yuan was already in poor condition after suffering a setback on Rainbow Shell Island, and in addition, he fell for a diversionary tactic and had made arrangements in advance.

Dealing with these two demonic cats will likely be difficult; they'll need to be lured away from their mountain stronghold, and their numerous subordinates must also be considered.

Fortunately, the auction is about to begin, and it can try to purchase some items from the auction that can quickly improve its strength.

The true demon clone strode towards the temple auction house.

The annual auction is a grand event on Xuanwu Island, attracting demon cultivators from nearby spirit islands to join in the fun. Among them, there may also be quite a few disguised human cultivators.

It is precisely because of Tiankui City's relatively relaxed policies that commercial activities here are exceptionally active.

The true demon avatar walked among the demons, looking at the various sizes and shapes of the demons entering the main hall dressed in clothes. For a moment, he was somewhat dazed. He couldn't help but have some doubts. Could it be that the survival of the fittest doctrine established by these demons, as the Mountain and Sea Realm continues to evolve, will really allow them to gradually replace humans and become the future rulers of the Mountain and Sea Realm?
After entering the auction hall, the True Demon clone sat in a relatively spacious seat in the back row and waited silently.

The auction officially began after about an incense stick's time.

The auctioneer is a hawksbill turtle spirit, or more commonly, a sea turtle spirit.

"Fellow demon cultivators, welcome to the annual temple auction in Tiankui City. I am still the auctioneer in charge of this event. Please feel free to call me Mr. Langyong."

This sea turtle spirit is quite romantic.

The names of the monsters here are incredibly diverse, some are titles, some are code names, some are Taoist names, and some are even human names—there's no single rule.

Many low-level demon cultivators below the stage cheered loudly; they were clearly not first-timers at the auction.

As a fox spirit brought over a tray, the auction gradually quieted down.

The sea turtle spirit smiled slightly and placed the tray on the auction table.

The demon clone looked over with its gray-white eyes and was immediately taken aback, but quickly regained its composure.

"Today's first item for auction: one tael of silver essence!"

Mr. Langyong then gave a detailed introduction.

"Fellow Daoists, this one or two taels of silver essence is enough to forge more than two top-grade magic artifacts. Although our demon race does not rely on such external forces, it is not a waste whether it is used as an ornament or given to our offspring. The starting bid is one thousand spirit stones!"

Monsters are often much larger than humans, so theoretically, more metal essence needs to be added when crafting magical artifacts.

"I'll offer 1200!"

Immediately, a demon cultivator in the audience added two hundred spirit stones in one go.

Upon seeing this, Mr. Langyong on the stage immediately looked at the demonic beast. "Someone has already bid 1,200 spirit stones. Is there anyone else bidding?"

"I'll offer 1,250 spirit stones!"

"One thousand two hundred and sixty spirit stones..."

After intense bidding, this one or two taels of silver essence ultimately fetched a high price of 1,700 spirit stones, igniting the auction atmosphere.

In the Daqian Kingdom.

One qian of silver essence requires one thousand taels of silver to refine, and its price has long remained between one hundred and thirty and one hundred and forty spirit stones.

One tael is equal to ten mace.

The price here may seem only slightly higher, but in reality, the value of the spirit stones here has also increased significantly. Therefore, the true price of the metal essence has almost doubled.

Li Mo's main purpose in coming here was to bid on puppet materials, talisman materials, and inexpensive magic weapon materials.

Refining magical artifacts requires gold essence. Although he still has some, it is far from enough to make the artifacts. This matter is not urgent for the time being.

After a while.

After several warm-up items were snapped up by the crowd, the auction entered its formal phase.

The products at this stage are mostly basic materials that are relatively niche.

"The Eye of the Kites possesses the ability to see into the netherworld. Starting bid: 300 spirit stones!"

"I'll offer three hundred and one spirit stones!"

"Three hundred and two yuan..."

During this period, Li Mo began to frequently bid on auctions to collect the basic materials needed to refine puppets and make spirit talismans.

After spending over ten thousand spirit stones, he finally managed to gather almost all of the basic materials for both.

Time passed steadily, and the auction for the final item arrived.

"Fellow practitioners, the next item for auction is a liter of the blood of a great demon in the form of an Outer God. This demon is a four-headed giant serpent, a descendant of the legendary Xiangliu Great Demon. It was trapped and killed after entering the Inner Sea. Our Trident Temple only received three liters, and we have decided to set aside one liter for this auction. Fellow practitioners who cultivate blood techniques should hurry up! The starting bid is three thousand spirit stones!"

This price is so low that cultivators in the Great Qian Kingdom wouldn't even dare to dream of it.

However, only a very small number of the many monsters below the stage engaged in a heated bidding war.

The true demon clones repeatedly raised their placards, determined to win.

He naturally didn't need to use this to cultivate blood techniques; he only used it to refine spirit talismans for his main body, using it as spirit ink. In addition, this bottle of demonic blood happened to be of the Xiang Liu bloodline, which could also be used to heal the Three Kings Giant Serpent. However, this was just too much of a coincidence.

"Could it be that among these so-called Outer Gods, there is a descendant of Xiang Liu who has advanced to the Five-Headed Serpent stage?"

Amidst Li Mo's wild thoughts, he ultimately managed to acquire a bottle of the essence blood of a transformed great demon king for a mere five thousand spirit stones.

Next.

Li Mo then used a mere six thousand spirit stones to bid for a black pearl, a magic weapon-grade material containing the power of Gui water.

If this were in the Great Qian Kingdom, the price would be at least three times higher.

"It's really good."

Li Mo smiled with satisfaction and put the black pearl into his storage bracelet.

For weapon refiners, the more of these magical materials that embody the order of heaven and earth, the better. This way, they can maximize the expression of their various ideas once they have enough metal essence in the future.

"Next up is the final and most anticipated item of this auction: a Golden Core stage Yin Virtue Pill!"

Upon hearing this, Li Mo was utterly dumbfounded.

"This Yin De Pill was crafted by the Trident Temple at great expense. It not only requires many precious materials and the personal crafting of a master alchemist, but also the gathering of a large number of people. It has an incredible effect on breaking through the barrier of the mid-stage Lesser Transformation Realm. The starting bid is 10,000 spirit stones!"

The demon cultivators here seemed unfazed by this and eagerly began bidding.

The true demon clone naturally had no intention of joining in the fun.

However, after seeing the immense value of the Yin De Dan, he couldn't help but ponder.

Although he didn't have any Yin Virtue Pills on hand, he didn't lack the relevant materials, which he could consider using to earn spirit stones in the future.

After the auction ended, the demons dispersed.

The true demon clone immediately flew out of Tiankui City. After searching along the coast for a long time, it finally saw several ships with a large number of demon cats gathered and docked in Dongyu City, which was famous for its dried fish, which was very popular among the demon cats.

The demon's clone's gray-white eyes looked at one of the ships.

He formed hand seals and silently unleashed a blood technique, shooting out a drop of blood that transformed into a skull mark.

"Humph."

After doing all this, the true demon clone snorted coldly and flew towards the Great Treasure Island where its main body was located.

He gained a lot from this trip. Given more time, he believes he can significantly improve his strength. Now, it remains to be seen when the Black Hand Slave-Capturing Group will leave Xuanwu Island.

(End of this chapter)