Yue Buqun: My Mount Hua has been time-traveled.

Yue Buqun followed behind Ding Feng, listening to his footsteps, while holding onto the wall and slowly moving forward along it.

Along the way, you can smell the damp, musty odor from the stone walls and hear very faint or heavy footsteps in the distance.

A profound and weighty spirit is a guiding force, much like Ding Feng's.

The lighter ones are the martial arts practitioners who were invited to participate in the auction.

Clearly, this kind of dark and opaque auction is not only unprecedented, but probably will never be repeated.

Therefore, compared to their guides, these martial arts practitioners unconsciously slowed their pace, trying to conceal their presence as much as possible.

Just as Yue Buqun turned a corner...

The ears twitched slightly.

He shouted towards one of the deathly quiet corners, "Who's there?"

Ding Feng was stunned upon hearing this, and exclaimed in surprise, "Sect Leader Yue, you..."

Beside them, someone whispered, "Ding Feng, don't forget what I taught you. Once the auction officially begins, you can no longer use your real names. The darkness is to conceal the guests' identities. We've gone to such lengths; what's the point if we expose the guests' identities to us?"

Ding Feng then realized that his master was hiding in a corner.

He immediately replied respectfully, "Your subordinate obeys!"

Yuan Suiyun said, "Go and greet the other guests. Sect Leader Yue is an honored guest, and I should personally receive him."

"Yes."

Ding Feng turned around, seemingly to bid farewell to Yue Buqun with a fist salute, and then hurriedly turned and left.

Yue Buqun chuckled and said, "I never expected to have such an honor as to be personally received by Young Master Bat."

"A bat...Young Master?"

Yuan Suiyun was slightly taken aback, then laughed out loud, "This name is very good, thank you for bestowing it upon me, brother."

He paused, then exclaimed, "Your internal energy cultivation method emphasizes gentleness and slowness, which perfectly matches the harmonizing effect of the Kanli Pill. You're currently at a bottleneck, so you've actually achieved a breakthrough after years of accumulation! When I took the Kanli Pill back then, I didn't experience the same improvement as you. You're quite lucky."

Yue Buqun understood what he meant.

The two had a brief encounter before, and he already had a certain understanding of Yuan Suiyun's methods.

Yuan Suiyun's strength was superior to his, so he must have found more things than him.

In Yuan Suiyun's opinion, Yue Buqun should not have discovered his whereabouts.

However, Yue Buqun has now cultivated the Zixia Divine Skill to the point of purple qi circulation. In this state, even without actively using the skill, the Zixia Divine Skill will operate on its own. Although it cannot reach the full power of active operation, it still makes his hearing much sharper than before.

Yue Buqun said, "You greeted me proactively just to flatter me?"

Yuan Suiyun said, "You can be considered my first customer to exchange the Thirteen Styles of Qingfeng for the safety of the Huashan Sect. Since I intend to expand Bat Island, I cannot neglect my customer after getting what I want. So I came to ask you how you have been these days."

"It's fine, except that the musty smell on Bat Island is too strong... and I'm worried that if I stay here too long, my eyes might become like yours."

"Indeed, if something is not used for too long, it will gradually become useless."

Yuan Suiyun said, "The sea route is different from the land route. The wind and waves, getting lost, and any of these factors can delay the journey, so it took longer. However, it should be much better after we come a few more times."

He said, "However, I have come here with another important matter to tell you. This auction is extremely secretive, and no one knows their own identity. You would be better off creating a new identity for yourself to cover up your identity and prevent others from seeing through your secrets."

Yue Buqun asked in surprise, "Such a trivial matter, would it really trouble Young Master Bat to come all this way?"

Yuan Suiyun said, "I'm worried that you don't take it seriously enough. After all, Mount Hua is a prestigious and righteous sect, and I don't want anyone to find out about my Bat Island through you."

"Then from today onwards, I will no longer be called Yue Buqun."

Yue Buqun thought for a moment and asked, "What do you think of the name Dugu Qiubai?"

Yuan Suiyun paused for a moment, then sighed, "Although I am confident in my strength, I am not sure I can protect your life from so many martial arts masters."

"Just kidding."

Yue Buqun laughed and said, "Brother Yuan, you've shown me another side of you. Just say what you want to say directly, there's no need to beat around the bush."

"Very well, then I won't stand on ceremony. During this time, I've been struggling to understand the Thirteen Forms of the Gentle Breeze, but there are still many obscure and difficult parts to grasp. You said that only by reaching the pinnacle of emotion can one reach the pinnacle of swordsmanship, but emotion is emotion, and swordsmanship is swordsmanship. What is the connection between the two?"

Yue Buqun fell silent for a moment upon hearing this.

He couldn't tell whether Yuan Suiyun had been completely fooled by him, or whether he had discovered a flaw and was now testing him.

But since concerns have been raised.

He shook his head and said, "I don't know."

"You didn't know either?"

"I not only didn't know, I even asked the same question as you, and guess how my master answered me?"

Yuan Suiyun was completely engrossed in listening. He asked, "How did you answer?"

"My master said that although I have good talent in martial arts, I ultimately lack the broad-mindedness to help the world and save people. Even if I practice diligently all my life, I will never reach the pinnacle. So there is no need to worry about this."

Yuan Suiyun was even more puzzled, "Extreme passion is actually related to one's own magnanimity?"

Yue Buqun sighed, "I don't know what the connection is between mind and martial arts. I thought martial arts was about fists, feet, and weapons, so what did it have to do with temperament and knowledge? But my master said that if you have no ego in your heart, your moves will leave no trace. If you don't have enough mind and can't let go of your ego, you will never be able to enter the state of no ego."

"No moves, no self?"

Yuan Suiyun sighed, "This does have some Taoist principles in it."

"The Huashan sword technique is based on controlling the sword with qi, and no one in the world can surpass the Taoists in the art of controlling qi. It's not surprising that we can borrow a little from it."

"That's true."

Yuan Suiyun stopped talking.

My original intention was to seek advice, but after listening, I had even more doubts.

However, since the transaction was already over, the fact that the other party was still willing to explain so much made him feel a bit more favorably toward them.

Little did Yue Buqun know that he was also relieved.

He went to great lengths to fool Yuan Suiyun.

If Lang Fanyun, Song Que, and Fu Cailin aren't enough, then let's add Wang Chongyang.

You've made a fortune by getting guidance from so many people at the same time.

After that, Yuan Suiyun stopped talking.

The answer was found in Yue Buqun, but the result was even more perplexing.

However, his astonishing martial arts talent and rationality told him that what Yue Buqun said made some sense, but he was just reciting from the book, so he couldn't give a specific explanation.

This made him even more puzzled.

These concepts, in particular, seem to align with the Thirteen Styles of Qingfeng...

I'd like to ask more questions.

But these ideas were too profound, and even if he wanted to ask, he didn't know where to begin.

In the silence, their footsteps grew softer and softer.

They walked approximately 1,370 steps.

Having lingered in the darkness for a long time, Yue Buqun seemed to have truly become like a blind man, and began to develop some habits.

For example, they become more focused and have more acute senses.

When you can no longer touch the wall.

Although the surroundings were still completely silent, he could hear the very faint breathing sounds around him.

There were probably at least a hundred people in this huge stone chamber, packed tightly together.

No wonder it took so long; apparently, so many guests were forcibly invited.

Yuan Suiyun led Yue Buqun to a seat and instructed him, "Remember our agreement, don't make things difficult for me."

Yue Buqun understood what he meant. Kanli Dan was one of the products that Yuan Suiyun was selling, but he had already consumed the goods.

If he doesn't bid for the Kanli Pill, then Yuan Suiyun will probably be in a difficult position.

However, with underhanded dealings from the very beginning, no one in the world would believe that Bat Island wants to do legitimate business.

After giving his instructions, Yuan Suiyun headed towards the stage before Yue Buqun could reply.

Although it was dark, he walked with ease and grace, appearing exceptionally relaxed and carefree.

Even if everyone present combined their martial arts skills, he would be no match for them. But with this home-field advantage, he was even confident that he could easily kill them all!

This confidence also gave him boundless composure.

"Gentlemen, please hear me out!"

One sentence brought the already faint breathing to an instant.