Chapter 198 - 195: This Grudge Must Be Avenged

"Brother Zhu, I trust you have been well," Mo Qianqian replied.

This profiteer Zhu Daoren actually had decent character; at the very least, he was genuinely willing to protect him along the way. Truth be told, if he ever had anything to sell, he wouldn’t mind seeking out Zhu Daoren.

"Brother Mo, I trust you have been well too." Zhu Daoren smiled, cupping his hands politely toward Black Dragon’s group. "Senior Black Dragon, seniors, this auction is being hosted by the Eternal Commerce Association. The official bidding will only begin tomorrow. I invite you all to relocate to the Eternal Commerce Inn so our association can fulfill its duties as a host."

"Is Mu Chen coming in person, or is the item already in your hands?" one of the Generals of the Black Dragon Army asked.

Zhu Daoren smiled. "The item is not in our possession. Mu Chen said he would come personally. He even mortgaged five drops of Liquid of Chaos with our Eternal Commerce Association.

"If he doesn’t show up, he will lose those five drops for nothing. Logically speaking, Mu Chen wouldn’t do that."

Zhu Daoren wouldn’t dare speak carelessly about this. If he claimed they had the item, the three major factions would likely attack the Eternal Commerce Association immediately. Of course, the item truly wasn’t with them. Mu Chen didn’t trust the Eternal Commerce Association enough to hand the item over completely for them to handle the entire auction process.

With that said, Zhu Daoren smiled, looked at Black Dragon, and extended a hand in invitation. "Everyone, please come in!"

"Very well." Black Dragon said nothing more, merely spitting out a short agreement.

The group then followed Zhu Daoren and the rest of the Eternal Commerce Association personnel to the inn.

Shortly after, Mo Qianqian and the others were led to the inn. It was an extremely luxurious establishment situated on one side of the central street, encompassing a sprawling manor. Mo Qianqian and dozens of men from the Black Dragon Army were arranged to stay in a large courtyard. The courtyard had its own isolated outer walls and contained enough rooms to comfortably accommodate nearly a hundred people. Naturally, aside from a few who went out to gather intelligence, a large number of Black Dragon Army troops were stationed all around to stand guard. Mo Qianqian wasn’t worried about suffering a sudden ambush.

"There is only a day and a night left until the auction. At my current speed, refining a single drop of Liquid of Chaos will take at least two days..." Mo Qianqian estimated. Time was clearly insufficient to refine even a single drop.

"Should I practice the Third Form of the Vast Spear Technique?"

After a brief moment of thought, he chose to practice the Third Form of the Vast Spear Technique. He had seen the Sect Leader of the Vast Sect execute this third form; its power was incredibly overwhelming. However, he had constantly focused all his energy on breaking through his cultivation base and hadn’t had the time to practice it. Now was the right time to train.

The third form consisted of a single move. Mo Qianqian began to continuously circulate the power within his body, trying it over and over again. It had to be said that after cultivating the World-Destroying Heaven-Shattering Technique and becoming a Body Cultivator, he was extremely well-suited to practice the Vast Spear Technique. Combined with his experience from the first two forms, he quickly entered the zone. He practiced selflessly for an entire day and night, thrusting and sweeping his spear thousands of times.

By early morning the next day.

"Black Dragon Leader, seniors, please make your way to the auction house." A voice suddenly reached Mo Qianqian’s ears. It was none other than Zhu Daoren.

At that exact moment, Mo Qianqian, completely engrossed in his martial trance, swept his spear out. Hearing the voice seemed to trigger something within him. The power in his body surged, his meridians fully opened, and a mighty aura suddenly erupted from him, sweeping out in all directions. At this moment, Mo Qianqian looked like a War God. With a single sweep of his spear through the air, he carried the grand momentum of someone who could obliterate an army of thousands.

BOOM!

In an instant, the room Mo Qianqian was in shattered explosively. Splintered pieces of wood were blasted outward by his powerful aura.

"I succeeded!" Mo Qianqian was instantly overjoyed. He hadn’t expected that in just a day and a night, he would successfully master the Third Form of the Vast Spear Technique!

The power of this strike was peerless. Even though he had only swept it through the empty air, the sheer aura that erupted from his body was enough to tear the room apart.

"Enemy attack!"

SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!

Figures darted out rapidly, rushing toward Mo Qianqian’s vicinity. Some even dashed right up to him.

"It’s a misunderstanding! A misunderstanding!" Mo Qianqian hurriedly shouted. He floated up into the air from the collapsed room, patting the dust off his head and clothes. He chuckled awkwardly, "I was practicing a martial skill. When Zhu Daoren called out just now, I failed to control my strength."

The crowd was left speechless.

Outside the manor, Zhu Daoren was equally speechless.

Mo Qianqian knew that although their living quarters looked secure, all the major factions were gathered in this area and could strike at any moment. As a "key figure" in this situation, he couldn’t blame everyone for being so on edge. He smiled, looking toward Zhu Daoren. "You aren’t going to make me pay for the damages, are you?"

"Of course not. It’s just a broken room; it’s not worth much," Zhu Daoren said, laughing it off. "If you are all ready, please do us the honor of proceeding to the auction building."

Subsequently, Mo Qianqian followed the Black Dragon Army and Zhu Daoren’s group toward the auction building.

"Mo Qianqian, what kind of powerful martial skill were you practicing just now?" Lao Liu asked in a low voice along the way.

"It wasn’t any powerful martial skill. I just got distracted for a moment and lost control," Mo Qianqian said.

"I don’t believe that for a second." Lao Liu continued, "Don’t tell me you broke through again?"

"No, I’ve hit a bottleneck. For the short term, I probably won’t be able to rely on the Qi of Chaos or the Liquid of Chaos to break through," Mo Qianqian replied.

The group of elders beside them was left utterly speechless. They wondered how a day or two without a breakthrough could be considered a bottleneck. He had only been in the Realm of Chaos for about two months and had already advanced from the Second Realm Ninth Layer to the Third Realm Third Layer; what bottleneck was he even talking about? His words gave the group an inexplicable urge to beat him up. It was simply too demoralizing.

It wasn’t long before Mo Qianqian and the group arrived at the Eternal Commerce Association’s auction building. The building was located not far from the Eternal Commerce Inn. The entire structure was incredibly lavish, boasting spacious halls, intricately carved beams, painted pillars, and a dazzling array of hanging ornaments.

By the time Mo Qianqian’s group reached the exterior of the auction building, a massive crowd of people on the street was already streaming inside.

"Mo Qianqian!"

Right at that moment, a deep, sharp shout rang out. The crowd on the other side of the street parted, revealing a squad of over a dozen people striding purposefully toward them.

"The people from the Imperial Alliance are here."

"Those are the people from Black Dragon City. Mo Qianqian killed a Void Spirit Realm expert from the Imperial Alliance. Will the two major factions end up fighting here?"

"These major factions are extremely shrewd. Naturally, the treasure comes first. Who would be willing to strike first and waste their energy before even seeing the item?"

"Speaking of which, the biggest loser is Mo Qianqian. That Ninefold Coffin originally belonged to him, but he lost it in a gambling match. Now, he still has to come and bid alongside everyone else."

"Well, that’s why it was a gambling match. If he had defeated Mu Chen, he would have won fifty drops of Liquid of Chaos. That’s an astronomical sum."

The crowd whispered amongst themselves, their gazes constantly shifting between the two factions.

Soon, the members of the Imperial Alliance arrived near Mo Qianqian’s group. The one who had spoken was an elder in a brownish-yellow robe. Mo Qianqian had never seen this brownish-yellow-robed elder before. However, seeing him walking right beside Alliance Leader Wu Zonghai, it was obvious that his status and position were quite high.

"You killed members of our Imperial Alliance. We will absolutely avenge this grudge!" The brownish-yellow-robed elder glared at Mo Qianqian, his voice ice-cold.

"I can say the exact same thing to you. You caused me to lose a precious treasure, and I will absolutely avenge this grudge!" Mo Qianqian replied, his face composed and his heartbeat steady.

The brownish-yellow-robed elder’s face darkened, and he was instantly filled with fiery rage. A wave of killing intent surged from the elder.