Chapter 45
As long as one meets the qualifications of this auction, one can join the auction at any time. For example, after Qin Ran entered, there were also other cultivators who entered, and similarly, one could also leave at any time.
Qin Ran had already bought the Starlight Stone and the Star Shadow Sword Technique, so he was planning to leave. He exchanged all the elixirs he had taken out for display for spirit stones, and after leaving the stage, he directly went out the door.
He pushed the door and left. The waiting attendant led the way and took him to trade the things he had bought at auction. Then, without any hesitation, he directly left through a certain secret door from the teahouse.
Exiting through the secret door, the outside was a certain remote alley. Qin Ran tightened his cloak, discerned the direction, and walked towards the street outside. There were many people on the street, which made it easier to confuse people's eyes and ears and hide more easily.
Not long after Qin Ran came out from the secret door, two people followed him out, one after the other. The one walking in front wore red robes, and the one walking behind had a thin build.
They stood at the door. The thin man sensed for a moment, discerned the direction, and pointed at the street outside, "That way."
Then following that direction, they chased to the outside street. The street was bustling with people coming and going. The eyes of the Man in Red Robe narrowed as he looked left and right, and he quickly spotted that patch of black shadow in the crowd, and hurriedly led the Thin Man to chase after him.
But unfortunately, by the time they chased here, that black shadow had already disappeared without a trace.
"He's become wary," the Man in Red Robe said. "And is quite cautious as well."
The Thin Man let out a cold laugh and said, "Useless."
He closed his eyes to sense, once again judging the direction: "That way!"
Bringing along the Man in Red Robe, the two chased continuously, chasing into midair, chasing above the city wall.
On the city wall, the two of them stood still. The Man in Red Robe looked ahead, but saw Master You's figure blur for a moment, splitting into two, one to the left and one to the right, flying out in two directions. The one on the right flew out several dozen meters before turning into a puddle of water falling down, while the one on the left maintained human form and kept flying straight, eventually disappearing into the darkness.
"Which one?" His eyes couldn't discern the real from the fake, so he turned to ask the Thin Man.
"Hmph! Childish trick!" The Thin Man sneered disdainfully, raising his hand to point at where the puddle of water had disappeared. "That one."
"Such great concealment arts!" the Man in Red Robe exclaimed, then flashed his body technique and chased in that direction.
"Still can't shake them off?" Qin Ran frowned, looking back to see the two unhesitatingly coming after him. "They didn't even hesitate."
"Something's wrong with the item!" He realized, hurriedly probing into his storage bag with his divine sense, "Elixir jade slips? Spirit stones? Starlight Stone?"
Very quickly, he found the problematic item.
The Starlight Stone! A trace of markings was hidden within the Starlight Stone, almost assimilated into it.
Fortunately it was his divine sense, otherwise it would have been very difficult to detect that trace of markings assimilated into stardust.
"The Starlight Stone was tampered with... How did they know I would buy the Starlight Stone? Did Li Shiyin betray me?" Shiyunianhua was not fast. With the two people flying quickly closer behind him, Qin Ran adjusted his breathing and calmly analyzed, "No, impossible..."
He suddenly recalled how the Man in Red Robe had seen through his disguised identity at the auction hall, and he realized something terrifying, "It was premeditated! The teahouse sold me out! No matter when I came or what I bought, I would encounter an ambush. With such means, it's not personal, but some organization that has had its eye on me for a while now!"
At this time, he had arrived above a small hill. He adjusted his mentality, revealing his figure from the rain, standing on the treetop of a big tree at the top of the hill, waiting for those two people flying quickly closer.
Those two approached, stopping a short distance away warily. Qin Ran said hoarsely, "Starting from Linxiang City, you two have been following me the whole time. May I ask what business you have?"
The Man in Red Robe glanced at the Thin Man. The Thin Man nodded at him, indicating that the person before them was the real body. The Man in Red Robe then laughed loudly, "I have long heard of Master You's great name, but have never had the chance to meet you before. Now that we've met, I must get acquainted."
Long heard my ass, he didn't even recognize Qin Ran at all.
"Who are you?" Qin Ran asked.
"Who I am is not important. What's important is..." The Man in Red Robe said with a smile. "I have always respected Master You, and know that Master You is an alchemist. So I'd like to ask Master You for a favor."
Alchemist? The key point was he's an alchemist! Qin Ran understood. The trait of his that attracted attention was this alchemist identity. Even though he had been prudent enough, selling elixirs over and over had finally attracted people's attention.
"What favor?" He found that Batman's voice was really useful.
"Nothing but pill refining!" the Man in Red Robe said. "It's very difficult for cultivators to obtain elixirs of the quality that Master You has. We hope that Master You can help refine a few high quality Break Barrier Pills. There will be no lack of spirit stones if it succeeds."
This Man in Red Robe spoke in a proper negotiating tone, with a good attitude and gentle voice, easily lowering people's guard. However...
While he was speaking, the Thin Man had already quietly approached from the front right. They had no intention of asking Qin Ran to refine pills at all. Their target was Qin Ran himself!
Qin Ran was not to be trifled with. From the very start he had not trusted them at all, remaining fully vigilant. The Thin Man's little movement completely failed to escape his wary eyes.
"Break Barrier Pill?" Qin Ran deliberately put on an appearance of bargaining, and said, "Break Barrier Pills are very difficult, my cultivation base..."
But he stopped mid-sentence, suddenly erupting, caught them completely off guard...
And turned to flee.
Yes, fighting was out of the question. Only escape could maintain his livelihood.
Qin Ran knew his own strengths and weaknesses. His frontal combat ability was trash. If they got close, it would be instant defeat.
So the question was, if he was going to run anyway, why did he wait here for them?
Because...
"Boom!"
Qin Ran's sudden escape took the two by surprise, but they didn't think too much of it and directly gave chase. But just as they had chased right above the small hill where Qin Ran was before, the small hill below them suddenly exploded.
In an instant, the terrifying shockwave carried countless rock fragments and iron nails shooting at the two like bullets, and mixed within these projectiles were some invisible sword qi as well.
"It's a formation! A killing formation!" The Man in Red Robe quickly deployed a defensive barrier, recognizing what it was, and hurriedly warned the Thin Man, "He set up a formation in advance."
The Thin Man's reaction was not as fast as the Man in Red Robe. After several holes were punctured in his body by the iron nails, he finally deployed a defensive barrier, but even so, he was still cut by the chaotic sword qi several times.
"Damn bastard!" He was furious beyond measure, the spiritual power within his body exploded, and an invisible shockwave spread out from him as the center, directly blowing away the iron nails and sword qi shot out by the formation.
He went to pursue that Master You, and only saw the figure in the black cloak shake once in the darkness, splitting into one on the left and one on the right, one flying out a hundred and eighty meters to the left before turning into a stream of water blending into the rain, while the one on the right maintained human form as it flew straight, eventually disappearing into the distant darkness.
"Clown tricks!" the Thin Man sneered disdainfully. "Truly brainless."
He had already seen through it the first time, yet this guy still dared to pull the same trick again.
He sensed slightly, and the markings on the Starlight Stone were on that stream of water to the left.
He let out a cold laugh, gathering the blood that had flowed out of him to form a clump in the rainwater, then exploded it. He passed through the exploded bloody mist, his speed sharply rising, catching up to that stream of water to the left in just a few blinks.
"Go die for me!" He punched out, punching through the human silhouette hidden within the rain.
That transparent human silhouette struggled on his fist to reveal itself, changing into the black-cloaked figure, looking at him in terror, mouth opening and closing, but seemingly unable to speak like a fish on land struggling in its death throes.
"Hmph! Coward!" The Thin Man withdrew his fist, pinching Master You by the neck like carrying a little chick, his face twisted viciously, "Let's see where you can run this time!"
At this time the Man in Red Robe flew over to catch up. From a distance away, he suddenly saw the terror disappear from Master You's face. His mouth moved, a mocking expression on his face, seeming to be saying something. The Thin Man leaned in closer.
The Man in Red Robe realized something and shouted in terror: "Run!"
The Thin Man glanced back at him, not quite understanding. Looking back at Master You in his hand, he saw that Master You in his grip had suddenly turned into a puddle of water, flowing through his hand and falling from midair.
"Fake?" The Thin Man was quite unhappy, angry at being tricked.
He looked forward again and saw that where Master You had disappeared, he had left behind a temporary Universe Bag, hovering in midair.
Only then did he finally realize what was happening...
In the next moment, the temporary Universe Bag exploded with a deafening boom!
A bolt of heavenly tribulation lightning lit up the darkness, piercing heaven and earth.