Volume 14, Chapter 891 – The Strange Giant Tree

“How is that even possible? You just look like you’re about to slaughter everyone here, that’s all.”

Huang Ren replied politely.

“Then he’s blatantly slandering me? Daring to stir up chaos?”

Qi Huang was thoroughly enraged. Her divine sense shot out of her body, directly crushing the troublemaker into a pulp of flesh. Then, like a vast ocean, her divine sense spread in all directions, freezing in place all the evil spirits who were attempting to flee.

“This National Preceptor has already said, only those trying to freeload will be killed. If anyone else dares to cause panic or run away, I’ll make them just like that guy, turn to sludge and become part of this world.”

Qi Huang threatened in a crisp voice, then withdrew her divine sense.

Upon hearing those words, every evil spirit’s legs began to tremble. Not a single one dared take another step.

Qi Huang then collected the corpses of the four Demon Lords into her spatial ring, and also pulled out the spatial rings from their hands. Inside were the four thousand corpses they had previously freeloaded from her.

Huang Tian was quite quick-witted, and immediately destroyed the four thousand contracts and IOUs from earlier.

“Alright. The claiming of Kinship-grade demon corpses is now reopened. Later, I’ll be putting the corpses of the four Demon Lords up for auction as well. If anyone’s interested, feel free to bid.”

Qi Huang announced loudly, though she also warned, “You’ve all seen what happens to those who try to falsely claim. If you want to end up as part of the auction items yourselves, then by all means, go ahead and try your luck.”

“With the National Preceptor being so decisive, no one will dare to falsely claim again, right?”

“Doesn’t this mean we have another chance to reclaim our relatives’ bodies?”

“Looks like we misunderstood the National Preceptor… Long live the National Preceptor!”

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Voices of praise gradually rose among the evil spirits. These were the ghosts who had previously had their relatives’ corpses seized by the Four Demon Lords.

“Xiao Jia, take your mother’s corpse and go.”

Qi Huang instructed Xiao Jia.

“Thank you, sister! Thank you, sister!”

Xiao Jia wept with joy, then carried his mother’s corpse away from the site. While signing the contract, he voluntarily added another twenty years of service, meaning he was agreeing to fifty years of labor for Qi Huang.

Qi Huang was a little impressed, but didn’t reject it. After all, it was a win-win situation. He provided labor, and she could offer him protection in return.

Qi Huang once again laid out the previously collected corpses. Thanks to her show of force and Yaoyao’s random inspections on the side, the atmosphere during the claiming process finally became harmonious. Every ghost that came to claim a corpse succeeded in reclaiming their loved ones, and no one dared to falsely claim again.

Once the claiming process was over, Qi Huang noted that only a quarter of the first batch of corpses remained. She wasn’t surprised. After all, Kinship-grade demon corpses were saturated with dark Yin energy. Even if the relatives were callous or indifferent, they still wouldn’t easily give up such bodies.

“Alright. The first batch of Kinship-grade demon corpses has been claimed. Now there are a little over two hundred left unclaimed. The auction officially begins. But before that, I need to clarify two things.”

Qi Huang spoke again: “First, each person can only bid for one corpse. Second, don’t think you can call out prices recklessly and then default. Since I, the National Preceptor, dare to put them up for auction, I’m confident I can make every contract and IOU binding. If you don’t believe me, go ahead and try… I guarantee you’ll regret it.”

With her warning given, Qi Huang began the auction. Just as she had expected, the auctioned corpses brought in far more value than the ones claimed through kinship.

Yaoyao grinned so widely she could hardly close her mouth. Her strength was rapidly increasing, soon breaking through into the Human Demon Realm, and now charging toward the Monarch Demon level.

Time passed slowly. Since the Immortal Alliance still hadn’t made a move, more and more evil spirits arrived from all directions. Due to the divine sense barrier, they couldn’t enter Xiannu Planet directly, so they were begging and pleading from outside, desperate to get in and join the bidding.

Qi Huang couldn’t be happier. She let them in batch by batch. Her whole goal this time was to attract as many evil spirits as possible.

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“National Preceptor, there are more and more ghost clans gathering on Xiannu Planet now. For safety’s sake, I suggest you move the planet to a more hidden location.”

“Yes, that way we won’t have to worry about the Immortal Alliance finding us. With your strength, it should be an easy feat.”

“National Preceptor, this auction doesn’t seem like it’ll end anytime soon. I think it’s necessary to take that precaution.”

At that moment, several people offered their suggestions.

“Everyone, if I move the planet, how will the ghost clans arriving later find us?”

Qi Huang brushed them off casually. That was precisely why she had never moved Xiannu Planet. Not because she couldn’t, but because she wanted to deliberately draw the attention of both righteous and demonic factions.

Though the evil spirits who spoke up were somewhat displeased, they didn’t dare voice any objections and simply fell silent.

Meanwhile, on the edge of the starfield, the Immortal Alliance members had grown impatient from waiting. Grand Elder Yan Yi quietly reminded Yin Wan, “Alliance Leader, we’ve been waiting five or six days already. That venomous female zombie still hasn’t shown. I fear she won’t be coming.”

“And so?”

Yin Wan glanced at Yan Yi and asked coldly, “You’re suggesting we strike now?”

“Can’t you see? That so-called National Preceptor is only allowing people in, not out. The number of evil spirits on Xiannu Planet keeps rising. That means the longer we wait, the more fish we’ll have in our net. So whether or not that zombie shows up, we’ll wait until the auction ends before casting the net.”

“Yes!”

Yan Yi immediately complied.

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“That National Preceptor set up a divine sense barrier, only letting people in, thinking it makes things safe. But she’s just weaving her own cocoon. How foolish, it’s almost laughable.”

Yin Wan sneered.

“That may be so… But I’ve always had one question in my mind. Why hasn’t she moved Xiannu Planet? If she just relocated to a hidden spot, wouldn’t that ensure her safety?”

A trace of unease showed on Yan Yi’s face.

“Isn’t it obvious? She wants more evil spirits to show up. That way, the corpses she’s selling can fetch higher prices.”

Yin Wan didn’t even think before replying.

“Is that really it? Doesn’t she understand the danger of making money she won’t live to spend?”

This time, Yan Yi didn’t voice agreement.

“Maybe she’s just that confident in her strength. After killing two Immortal Emperors, anyone would get cocky.”

Yin Wan muttered to himself, then said, “Alright, it’s about time. Tell our agent to plant that withered Heavenly Demon branch. Now that the net is full, I won’t let a single fish get away.”

“Yes!”

Yan Yi didn’t dare hesitate further and immediately sent the order.

Back on Xiannu Planet, the kinship-claiming process was still ongoing. However, they had moved on to Monarch Demon-level corpses. These held immense quantities of Yin energy, drawing even more ghost clans to claim them. In each batch, only a few dozen would remain unclaimed, meaning the auction process moved much faster.

One of the Immortal Alliance’s agents, upon receiving his order, slipped into a secluded corner. Carefully, he retrieved a wooden box from his robes. Inside was a single withered branch, about the thickness of a finger and the length of a chopstick. It looked utterly unremarkable.

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The agent cautiously scanned his surroundings, then planted the branch into the moist soil, before casually returning to the crowd.

Qi Huang already knew who the Immortal Alliance’s agents were among the crowd, so she clearly saw everything unfold. Still, she didn’t interfere, because under absolute intelligence suppression, all schemes and plots were ultimately futile.

The moment the withered branch touched soil, it rapidly took root and sprouted, growing hundreds—no, thousands—of times faster than a normal plant. In just a single day, it had grown into a towering tree dozens of zhang tall. The growth was eerie to the extreme.

At that moment, Qi Huang released the final batch of corpses. Each one was Earth Demon grade. Unfortunately, there were only twenty-five of them. The reason was simple: under current circumstances, it was extremely difficult for evil spirits to reach the Earth Demon.

Given their rarity, Qi Huang was even more unwilling to let them be freeloaded. Anyone coming to claim these had to pass rigorous inspection by Yaoyao.

Yaoyao knew full well how valuable this was, and eagerly accepted. By now, her strength had already broken into the Monarch Demon Realm, a world apart from where she once stood.

“Strange… Was there such a huge tree there yesterday?”

“Doesn’t seem like it.”

“There was. It just grew really fast, must’ve grown more than ten zhang in a day.”

“What? A tree growing that fast? That’s impossible!”

“That’s just you being ignorant. In the Immortal Realm, what strange thing hasn’t happened?”

“Exactly. Why obsess over a tree? Are you so bored you think it’ll pierce the heavens or something?”

As the recognition process continued, more and more evil spirits began to notice the rapidly growing tree. Still, none of them took it seriously.