The voice was full of ghostly qi, its tone icy and threatening. Anyone disobeying it might be murdered, their soul seized and refined.
Such arrogance, such reckless disregard for others, was entirely consistent with the speaker’s claim to belong to the Ghost Spirit Sect.
The Ghost Spirit Sect stood in the Northern Region alongside the Blood God Sect, both titans of the demonic path. The prevalence of demons and monsters in the north was closely connected to these two sects.
The Blood God Sect’s disciples delighted in bloody offerings and consuming flesh, while the Ghost Spirit Sect excelled at imprisoning souls. Their interests seldom conflicted, enabling them to maintain a balance.
Xu Ziqing instinctively extended his spiritual sense, then remembered that the opposite chamber blocked such probing and immediately withdrew it.
He recalled witnessing the Blood God Sect’s brutality. Its numerous demonic followers had descended upon a great third-grade sect, bringing devastating casualties in a single night and implicating countless distinguished immortal-path cultivators. Even allowing for the help of insiders, the attack had displayed overwhelming strength and cruelty.
As for the Ghost Spirit Sect, the Thousand-Ghost Banners alone revealed that countless souls had been refined within them. Who knew what monstrous methods had been used or how much suffering the souls had endured? The sight made Xu Ziqing shudder.
Both sects were considered enemies that immortal cultivators ought to eliminate. When immortal-path disciples encountered their members and possessed the strength to act, they generally killed them to prevent further harm.
Yet now a Ghost Spirit Sect member had not only openly attended this auction but dared to act so arrogantly. Did they intend to cause trouble?
People of such a sinister demonic sect might very well do exactly that.
After the Ghost Spirit Sect representative spoke, the entire hall went quiet.
The cultivators were alarmed. The speaker’s voice and pressure were both exceptionally powerful. Could this be a Nascent Soul ancestor?
Then they considered how they themselves would react if a disciple of their own clan were killed and the dead disciple’s magical treasure auctioned off. They might not remain calm either.
The Ghost Spirit Sect’s forceful declaration had an immediate effect. No one bid. Instead, people communicated privately with acquaintances, some trembling over what might happen next, others finding the spectacle entertaining.
In Xu Ziqing’s room, Prince Tiancheng Xuan Ze showed a slight change of expression before growing interested.
Yet although many feared the Ghost Spirit Sect, Dragonflight Trading House did not.
The burly demonic cultivator shouted, ‘Does the Ghost Spirit Sect believe it can behave like this without showing Dragonflight Trading House any respect?’
Demonic qi surged around him as he spoke, as though he were ready to fight if provoked.
From the sealed chamber came a sinister cackle. ‘We of the Ghost Spirit Sect are here only to buy back our sect’s secret treasure. We have no wish to make enemies of your trading house.’ He then named a price. ‘The Ghost Spirit Sect bids one million three hundred thousand lower-grade spirit stones.’
The Ghost Spirit Sect was powerful, deeply feared, and notorious for evil deeds. Despite coveting the banners, many demonic cultivators did not dare raise the price.
The burly auctioneer narrowed his eyes, increasingly displeased by the lack of competition.
Working for the same trading house did not make all its employees brothers. Before he had taken over, the auction had been lively, but now it had fallen silent. Worse, these Thousand-Ghost Banners were excellent treasures that should have sold for several times the opening price. With the Ghost Spirit Sect interfering, they might go for the minimum. That was undoubtedly the sect’s intention, but the losses would affect his own interests!
The Ghost Spirit Sect’s representatives laughed coldly. They were already resentful over losing the treasures. Recovering them at the starting price would at least spare them further humiliation.
But the burly auctioneer spoke again. ‘Since our guests have come to Dragonflight Trading House’s auction, we naturally offer them some protection. Anyone spending more than three million lower-grade spirit stones will receive an Aura-Concealing Shadow Robe. When worn, it can conceal a person’s aura for three days and prevent spiritual sense from penetrating it.’
At these words, the Ghost Spirit Sect representatives’ pressure intensified, and their voices turned piercingly cold. ‘Is Dragonflight Trading House truly refusing even this little consideration to the Ghost Spirit Sect?’
The threat in their words was unmistakable.
The auctioneer smiled coldly. ‘We run a business. Those with money are welcome; those without should refrain from disturbing others. Everyone who comes to Dragonflight Trading House is a customer, but whether they are honored or unwelcome depends entirely on their behavior.’
He had no intention of tolerating the Ghost Spirit Sect’s tyranny.
An ominous aura began leaking from its sealed room, as if those inside were about to break through the door and attack.
The auctioneer remained proudly motionless, with no intention of retracting his words.
For a moment, the atmosphere turned icy and tense, ready to erupt into conflict.
Then someone suddenly shouted, ‘One million five hundred thousand lower-grade spirit stones!’
The hall erupted in astonishment. Someone had ignored the confrontation entirely and started bidding!
A smile appeared on the burly auctioneer’s face.
He had achieved his purpose. The Thousand-Ghost Banners were treasures that no demonic-path cultivator could easily ignore. And now that the trading house offered a way to conceal one’s aura, a buyer could put on the robe immediately after leaving. Could the Ghost Spirit Sect track them so easily?
Even if there were only a thirty-percent chance of escape, as long as death was not certain, some would be willing to take the risk!
Sure enough, once the first person bid, several others followed.
‘One million six hundred thousand!’
‘This old man bids one million nine hundred thousand!’
‘I have two million lower-grade spirit stones!’
‘Two million three hundred thousand!’
Quite a few people were bidding, most of them from sealed third-floor chambers. A Nascent Soul ancestor inside Xuan Ze’s room could not restrain himself and offered two million five hundred thousand.
Xu Ziqing was stunned. All the spirit stones he owned added up to only fifty or sixty thousand lower-grade stones, yet these ancestors casually tossed millions into the bidding!
He shook his head and sighed inwardly over his meager possessions.
The Ghost Spirit Sect had merely wanted to recover its secret treasure cheaply, but the auctioneer had used Dragonflight Trading House’s formidable reputation to thwart its plans.
Unwilling to give up yet aware that they were on another’s territory, the sect members withdrew their pressure in bitter resentment and resumed bidding. Recovering the treasures now would cost them dearly.
Before long, the bidding had reached five million lower-grade spirit stones, with no sign of stopping.
Xu Ziqing knew the banners were terrifyingly powerful, but he was curious why so many demonic cultivators wanted them so desperately. Then he considered that a Hundred-Ghost Banner could become a Thousand-Ghost Banner, which in turn might be refined into a Ten-Thousand-Ghost Banner. As the latter was a major sect’s supreme protective treasure, its potential must be extraordinary. Properly nurtured, even a subsidiary banner might have limitless prospects. That explained the competition.
But he wondered whether his senior brother had encountered such banners during his earlier demon-slaying journeys…
He turned toward Yun Lie.
Yun Lie nodded faintly.
Xu Ziqing’s eyes widened. ‘Senior Brother, you’ve seen one?’
Yun Lie replied in a low voice, ‘Only those at Golden Core and above can control ghost banners. I once encountered a Ghost Spirit Sect cultivator who wielded a Hundred-Ghost Banner and controlled several hundred souls to establish a Nine-Yin Grand Formation.’
Xu Ziqing’s heart jolted. He understood immediately.
Given how vicious Ghost Spirit Sect cultivators were, if Yun Lie knew such details, he must not merely have witnessed the banner but confronted its wielder. At that time Yun Lie had only been at Essence Transformation and had not yet condensed sword intent. Facing a Golden Core cultivator controlling a Hundred-Ghost Banner must have been extraordinarily dangerous.
Just imagining it made Xu Ziqing pale.
An ordinary person might never have returned alive…
His guess was close to the truth.
Yun Lie did not avoid the subject and began recounting what had happened.
It was the third year after Yun Lie first left the mountain to gain experience. Still on his initial training journey, he had encountered hardships, but not yet a great many evil demons and monsters.
One day, he was on his way to a desolate mountain ridge to slay a fifth-rank demon beast notorious for murdering and devouring people. Passing a small town, he sensed demonic qi rising into the sky and smelled an overpowering stench of blood.
Yun Lie’s nature compelled him to investigate. In the wilderness beyond the town, he discovered a black-clad man raising a black banner amid clouds of baleful qi, preparing a soul-seizing formation to slaughter the town’s inhabitants, select the strongest souls, and refine them into the banner.
The black banner was naturally a Hundred-Ghost Banner.
Slaughtering ordinary mortals meant nothing to people of the sinister demonic path. A small town’s population was beneath their notice.
But Yun Lie was an immortal-path sword cultivator. Although he possessed heavy killing intent, his heart was upright; he practiced killing to stop killing. He immediately resolved to eliminate the demon. The Ghost Spirit Sect’s Golden Core Perfected One, meanwhile, was delighted to find Yun Lie. He wanted to kill the sword cultivator, extract his soul, and refine it into the chief soul of the Hundred-Ghost Banner.
Both men intended to kill, and a fierce battle began.
Although Yun Lie had considerable insight into swordsmanship and possessed an indomitable mind from years of tempering his blade, in cultivation and divine abilities he could not match the Ghost Spirit Sect cultivator.
As expected, the demonic cultivator trapped him inside the Nine-Yin Grand Formation. He intended to use the malicious ghosts to drain Yun Lie’s magical power and erode his will, then tame his soul and imprison it in the Hundred-Ghost Banner.
But Yun Lie refused to submit. Standing inside the formation, he gathered and protected his essence and held his mind firmly, resisting the malicious ghosts. Though he could not destroy them, he used his vigorous yang sword aura to consume their yin qi and maintain his defenses.
He persisted for seven days and seven nights. Outside, the Ghost Spirit Sect cultivator consumed considerable numbers of spirit stones without managing to break Yun Lie’s state of mind. The stalemate was becoming painfully expensive.
Finally, the Perfected One hardened his heart and ordered the ghosts to swarm Yun Lie, tearing into him mercilessly. He no longer cared whether Yun Lie’s soul remained intact for refinement; he simply wanted to annihilate it.
Yet those days of resistance had sharpened Yun Lie’s sword heart. At the critical moment, he suddenly comprehended sword intent!
It was the intent of the Ruthless Slaughter Sword Dao. The moment it took shape, killing intent erupted like a flood.
In an instant, it tore the grand formation apart.