"Next up for auction is still a weapon that was once used by an ancient human powerhouse."
The elderly auctioneer in charge of the auction presented a rusty short sword.
Sunan carefully examined the short sword.
The short sword was about a foot long, and due to the rust covering it, it appeared black, making it impossible to discern its true appearance beneath the rust.
He had seen many such items before, including quite a few in the treasury of the Wolf King's Palace in the Tianlang Valley and the County Lord's Mansion, all of which were preserved due to their unique materials.
After a brief inspection, Sunan still couldn't make sense of it.
"It seems that in order to understand what secrets this thing holds, I'll have to acquire it first." Sunan made up his mind.
Once he had the item in hand, the game would likely provide some information about it. Even if the in-game description was not informative, he still had precognition, which would allow him to explore various ways to study it.
"After our research, the material of this short sword should be the Sky Death Stone, an extremely hard material. Adding a bit of it during weapon forging can significantly increase the weapon's hardness."
"The auction is now starting. Please place your bids."
After the introduction from the elderly auctioneer, he immediately announced the start of the auction. As expected, the young man from Room 304 placed a bid, offering 20 drops of Spirit-Grade monster essence blood.
This price was already substantial, as the previous ancient sword was sold for the same amount.
Sure enough, upon hearing the young man bid such a high price, the others who had considered making an offer remained silent, showing no intention of bidding.
Seeing this, the young man in Room 304 couldn't hide his joy.
Just as Sunan had anticipated, he had spent so much ordinary-level monster essence blood to create the illusion that he possessed a large amount of it.
Of course, he wasn't blindly purchasing. The items they acquired would be useful for their guild and would significantly enhance their strength.
However, just as he was about to breathe a sigh of relief, Sunan's voice rang out again, "30 drops of Spirit-Grade monster essence blood."
"Damn it! Why is that guy bidding again?"
Upon hearing Sunan's voice, the young man's initial joy disappeared, replaced by frustration.
He knew that it was now impossible to easily secure the short sword.
While swiftly reporting the situation here to their leader, the young man immediately increased his bid, "60 drops!"
This time, he added 20 more drops of essence blood, hoping to deter Sunan.
However, it was another disappointment for him.
Sunan calmly continued, "70 drops."
"70 drops of Spirit-Grade monster essence blood? Who on earth is in Room 309? They must have a huge supply of essence blood. Could they be a Profound-Level expert?"
"It's strange. Isn't this just a broken sword? Is it worth spending so much essence blood on it?"
As Sunan and the young man continued to raise the bid, many people in the auction venue noticed that the short sword was indeed extraordinary.
Even the elderly auctioneer, who was overseeing the auction, couldn't help but doubt whether he had made a mistake when evaluating the item.
Unfortunately, the highest cultivation level among those present was only at the Spirit-Grade peak. Asking them to produce so much Spirit-Grade monster essence blood was virtually impossible.
"70 drops?"
Hearing Sunan's bid, the young man in Room 304 slumped to the ground.
"What should we do, boss? That guy just raised the bid to 70 drops of Spirit-Grade monster essence blood, and we don't have any more to offer!"
The young man was in a hurry, and as Sunan had suspected, they didn't have much Spirit-Grade essence blood. Even with the combined efforts of their entire guild, they had only gathered more than sixty drops of it.
According to their plan, they would use half of their essence blood to bid for two psychic fragments and then use the remaining essence blood to bid for the sword. However, Sunan's appearance had completely disrupted their plan.
"We don't need to continue raising the bid. It's useless. It seems that the other party may also know the secret of the sword."
"They're probably Wang Nan or Zhang Yang. These two have killed a large number of monsters this time and have a lot of essence blood. Continuing to raise the bid won't help; it will only annoy them."
The young man reluctantly said, "Are we really giving up like this? This thing is related to our mission. If we give up now, won't our mission be canceled?"
"Who said we're giving up? Let the other party win the item first, and then you can see who they are. Afterward, we can figure out a way to take the item from them."
"Even if they know the purpose of the sword, without the other item, the sword will be useless in their hands."
Upon hearing this, the young man's eyes lit up. "Right! I forgot about that. Without the other item, even if he gets the sword, it's useless."
The young man breathed a sigh of relief and didn't continue raising the bid.
Seeing that no one else was bidding, the elderly auctioneer called out, "70 drops of Spirit-Grade monster essence blood! Is there a higher bid?"
He looked toward Room 304 and, seeing no further bids, announced, "Congratulations to Room 309 for winning the ancient short sword."
With those words, a maid picked up the short sword and headed towards Room 309, where Sunan was located.
After a dozen breaths, the short sword was already in Sunan's hands.
"Let me take a look at what's so special about you."
[Rusty Ancient Sword: A weapon once used by a young powerhouse from ancient humanity, imbued with a trace of that powerhouse's lingering will.]
"Lingering will?" Sunan was surprised. This was the first time he had encountered something like this.
When powerful monsters died, their lingering will formed Thought Beasts. However, this short sword was different; it merely carried the lingering will of a young powerhouse, fundamentally distinct from Thought Beasts.
"What use does this thing have?"
He had assumed that the in-game description wouldn't provide any valuable information, leaving him to explore the item through precognition. However, the game directly informed him that the sword contained the lingering will of a young powerhouse. He still didn't know its purpose, though.
"It seems that to understand the purpose of this item, I'll have to start with that guy." Sunan looked in the direction of Room 304.
"If I manage to take that guy's item, he probably won't give up easily. He likely already suspects my identity."
He looked at his current appearance.
He wasn't using the appearance of either Zhang Yang or Wang Nan now; his physique and appearance were quite different. If the player in Room 304 saw him, it would undoubtedly raise suspicions.
He decided not to contact the player in Room 304 for the time being and to wait for a while.
He had already seen all the items up for auction next through precognition, and none of them interested him. He didn't want to wait any longer.
Using Precognition for one teleportation, he disappeared from the underground auction venue of the Heavenly Palace
Pavilion.
When he reappeared, he was on a street not far from the Demon Extermination Division.
He found a spot where no one was around, transformed into the appearance of Zhang Yang, and then leisurely walked toward the Demon Extermination Division.
"That creature called Goulian and the one called Zijia are coming to capture me. I wonder if they'll be waiting for me near the Demon Extermination Division."
With the fusion of eight Spirit-Grade bloodlines, he was more than capable of killing a mid-level Profound-Grade monster. He could even do it using only the Fire attribute power from the Elemental System without utilizing his Physical System strength.
However, as a precaution, Sunan used Precognition.
"You are aware that there may be two Profound-Grade monsters lying in ambush near the Demon Extermination Division. Act as if you don't know anything and walk slowly toward the Demon Extermination Division."
"One minute later, you arrive at Qian Niao Street, and by passing through it, you can reach the street where the Demon Extermination Division is located."
"Two minutes later, you leave Qian Niao Street without encountering any monsters."
"Three minutes later, you arrive at the entrance of the Demon Extermination Division, and nothing unusual happens during your journey."
"You do not notice that not far from the opposite side of the Demon Extermination Division, there is a small alley where two pairs of eyes are fixed on you."
"The first Precognition ends. Do you wish to continue?"
"They really are waiting!
Chapter 171: A New Subplot
Sunan smiled, showing no fear whatsoever.
This was the perfect opportunity to deal with the two monsters.
While using Precognition once again, he walked towards the Demon Extermination Division.
Three minutes later, he arrived at the entrance of the Demon Extermination Division.
"That kid finally showed up!"
In the narrow alley, two monsters were fixated on Sunan, their eyes gleaming with cold intent.
In order to capture Sunan, these two mid-level Profound-Grade monsters had waited here for quite some time, a privilege not readily granted to ordinary individuals.
The monster named "Purple Armor" said, "Could this kid really be the one who killed those three guys from the Bear Rock Clan?"
"I don't care if he is or not; let's capture him first," Goulian said with a ruthless tone.
"I heard this kid is an outsider and not so easily killed," Purple Armor cautioned.
Goulian replied, "What difference does it make if he's an outsider? There are ways to deal with him as long as we don't kill him outright. We can just knock him out and take him somewhere, then kill him multiple times afterward."
It had been over a month since the players arrived, and while monsters didn't understand players as well as humans did, they still had some basic information.
"That's true, one attempt, then two, and if that doesn't work, three times," Purple Armor nodded.
"We need to act quickly and not let this guy escape."
The two monsters were getting ready to attack Sunan, but before they could make their move, something unexpected happened.
Suddenly, in their line of sight, Sunan disappeared into thin air.
"What's going on? Where did he go?"
Seeing Sunan vanish, both monsters' faces turned grim.
Purple Armor quickly speculated, "I heard that outsiders can return to their own world. Could he have gone back to his world?"
"It's possible," Goulian nodded.
However, the next moment, a voice suddenly sounded behind them:
"Are you two looking for me?"
Sunan's voice was calm, but to the two monsters' ears, it sent shivers down their spines. They felt an unprecedented sense of danger, as if death itself had enveloped them.
Instinctively, the two monsters turned around, only to see that the person they were looking for, Sunan, was already standing behind them.
In their eyes, Sunan's fists enlarged, and with tremendous force, he struck at them.
The two monsters were horrified, unable to comprehend how the person who had been right in front of them a moment ago had appeared behind them.
Before they could react, the monsters were about to dodge, but it was already too late.
Even without using a bloodline technique, the power behind this punch was equivalent to that of a mid-level Profound-Grade monster. One punch was enough to send Purple Armor, a monster of the Mentalist type, who had a weak physical body, crashing to the ground without any resistance.
As for Goulian, a mid-level Profound-Grade monster of the Physicalist type, he managed to react quickly and tried to evade Sunan's punch. However, his head had just turned when he suddenly felt his head become heavy, and his movements came to a halt.
Boom! Another punch landed on his head.
Unlike the punch aimed at Purple Armor, this one was executed with Sunan's Pinnacle Strike, gathering his full power. Even though Goulian had a powerful physical body, he was still knocked down.
With their heads severely injured, both monsters fell to the ground, one unconscious, and the other struggling to get up.
He is Profound-Grade!
He killed Xiong Yan, Huang Bao, and Lü Er!
The two monsters were in extreme shock. In their eyes, Sunan was undeniably a Profound-Grade warrior, and not just Profound-Grade early-stage; he might even be Profound-Grade peak.
They wanted to escape, but Sunan would not allow it.
He activated the Annihilation Serpent Dance, combining the powers of fire and water. Two serpents, one red and one blue, intertwined and struck at the two monsters.
Already heavily wounded by Sunan's previous punches, the monsters had no chance to react to the attacks of the two serpents.
Boom! Boom!
Two loud noises echoed as the monsters were both knocked down, their bodies covered in blood and flesh.
While Purple Armor fell into unconsciousness, Goulian, although not unconscious, was finding it difficult to get up.
Sunan quickly converted his spiritual energy into strength and approached, delivering two more punches to Goulian's head, rendering him unconscious as well.
He didn't immediately kill the two monsters. Instead, he confirmed that they wouldn't wake up anytime soon and then stored them in his spatial ring.
He intended to use these two monsters to lure out the White Water Demon King and search for the Fountain Eye in the center of White Water Lake. Now was not the time to kill them.
Clearly aware of Sunan's actions, inside the Demon Extermination Division, Zhu Chen, Ma Qiang, and the others quickly rushed out, relieved to see Sunan.
"Commander, are you alright?"
"Commander, what happened?" They quickly inquired.
Sunan waved his hand and said, "It's nothing. I just took care of two monsters who were being a nuisance."
"Two monsters?" The three were puzzled. This was the Demon Extermination Division, and the monsters here were not ordinary creatures.
Though they were curious, they refrained from asking further questions since Sunan didn't seem inclined to share more details.
Just then, Sunan noticed a middle-aged man approaching rapidly.
It was Tian He.
Tian He saw Sunan and quickly said, "Commander Zhang, the County Lord has an important matter to discuss with you."
"Is that so? Let's go then."
Sunan didn't press for details and followed Tian He to the County Lord's residence.
A short while later, inside the same grand hall of the County Lord's residence.
The old man sat alone on the high platform. Unlike before, his face was now pale, as if he had suffered a severe injury.
"County Lord, are you okay?" Sunan asked quickly.
The old man shook his head and said, "For now, I'm fine. That Tiger Monster that reached Emperor Grade is far more powerful than ordinary Emperor Grade monsters. If I hadn't brought an ancient treasure with me, I might not have been able to handle it."
Ancient treasure?
Sunan's interest was piqued. He recalled that Zhou Cheng had used a fusion-disc to control the Heaven-Imprisoning Prison. Such fusion-discs were considered ancient treasures.
"This time, I called you here because I have a mission for you," the old man said.
A mission?
Another task to protect a leyline node?
"County Lord, please go on."
The old man didn't immediately reveal the mission but instead asked, "Do you know what lies beneath the human race's Sky God Sealing Node?"
(End of this chapter)