Chapter 75: Battles on Different Levels

  Things were originally simple, catching a low-ranking cultivator with no background would not put any pressure on either the Dragon Slaying Sect or the Tian Xie Men. However, after Jin Ding Auction House and Qing Yang Men got involved, it was not so easy to handle. Wu Yue was unfamiliar with Jin Ding Auction House, so he didn't say anything, but when he heard that Xue Bingxin and Zhao Chun were from Qing Yang Men, his eyes narrowed, and a faint red glow appeared in the whites of his eyes as he said heavily: "Qing Yang Men!" The ferocity in his tone was unmistakable.

  The Tianyuan Star's cultivation world is not peaceful, with the battle between Daoist and demonic cultivators lasting for thousands of years. Occasionally, evil cultivators join in, sometimes helping the demonic cultivators fight against the Daoist cultivators, and other times helping the Daoist cultivators fight against the demonic cultivators. The entire cultivation world has a major war every few decades and a small war every ten or so years between the Daoist and demonic cultivators. Even if they encounter each other by chance in the wilderness, it's easy to erupt into a life-or-death battle. Adding to this are the Longwanghui who bully others with their power and wealth, as well as those who take advantage of the chaos to fish for benefits, and the struggles between cultivators competing for resources, making the entire cultivation world a scene of strife and turmoil, filled with blood and violence.

  In such an environment, the Qingyang Gate, as the first major sect of Dao repair, and the Tianxie Gate, which has risen rapidly in recent centuries as the first major sect of Mo repair, have almost become sworn enemies. Whether it is a struggle between the two parties or a small door party attached to both parties, their figures can be seen. Such intense struggles naturally result in heavy casualties, and the hatred between the two parties is also accumulating day by day, becoming deeper and deeper. Therefore, Wu Jue had such a big reaction when he heard that Xue Bingxin and Zhao Chun were from Qingyang Gate.

  However, he didn't say much and instead looked at Mu Yuhe, meaning to let him speak. Mu Yuhe just glanced at Lin Feng and the others before ignoring them, and instead saluted Jin Ming with a cupped fist, saying: "Brother Jin, it's been several days since we last met, how have you been?"

  "Oh, it's Brother Mu. Thanks to your good fortune, everything is fine. Are you still satisfied with that high-quality French artifact you bought last time?" Jin Ming chuckled and started chatting with Mu Yuhe as if no one else was around, leaving Lin Feng and the others unable to get a word in edgewise.

  "Brother Jin, to be honest with you, I have some connections with Sun Kui of the Dragon Slaying Society. Today's matter is probably a misunderstanding. Can you, Brother Jin, consider my face and not intervene in this matter? Mu Dingran will remember your kindness." After a few pleasantries, Mu Yuhe slowly steered the conversation to the main topic, but he didn't want to put all his cards on the table at once. Instead, he wanted to probe the bottom line of Jin Ding Auction House through their personal relationship.

  Jin Ming knew things had become complicated when the people from Tian Xie Men arrived. He hadn't expected that the small auction of the Dragon Slaying Sword would actually involve the number one demonic sect, Tian Xie Men. The power of Tian Xie Men was not to be underestimated, and he was already considering how much Jin Ding Auction House should intervene. Although Tian Xie Men didn't manage the affairs of Yao Guang City, no one dared to look down on them, including Jin Ding Auction House. While Jin Ding Auction House also had a few Golden Dan period experts, they were still far inferior compared to Tian Xie Men. Moreover, due to business reasons, the experts of Jin Ding Auction House were scattered and not as concentrated as those in Tian Xie Men, who occupied the mountain and gathered together with many people.

  But he, who is skilled in doing business, will not give up. Through his recent contact with Jin Luyu, he already knows that Lin Feng's value is absolutely worth the Golden Tripod Auction House to take action, although it won't reach the point of falling out with the Tian Xie Gate, but if the problem can be solved through negotiation, that would be best.

  "Brother Mu, please forgive me. If it were someone else's matter, I would naturally not say another word and leave immediately out of respect for you. However, this Lin Feng is a friend with some history with my family's Luoyao... You also know that Luoyao is the eldest daughter of our family head, who has always been valued by him...!" Jin Ming knew that Mu Yuhe was using his personal name to discuss this matter in order to test his bottom line. He too did not make a sound and used their private friendship to bring up the matter, seeing if he could block Mu Yuhe's face without completely killing the conversation.

  Lin Feng listened to the two big shots talking about his life and death with a smile, feeling both helpless and indignant in his heart. But strength decided everything, now he, along with Xue Bingxin and Zhao Chun, was actually under the protection of Jin Ming and others, otherwise the people opposite would have rushed over long ago.

  "Since everyone is coming forward for the sake of friendship, then let's take a step back each. Let's not get involved in this matter and let them handle it themselves. This way, we won't have to ruin our relationship." Mu Yuhe said after some thought.

  Jin Ming was also an old hand, and after a moment's thought, he knew what Mu Yuhe had in mind. If the Jin Ding auction house and the Tian Xie Men both withdrew, the remaining three would be left to confront the Tulonghui alone. In the previous situation where only one of them, Ding Wei, was at the second layer of foundation building, it was already very difficult for the three of them to resist, let alone now with two more foundation-building cultivators and a group of Qi-refining cultivators joining in. However, Mu Yuhe's words had already made things clear: if Jin Ming disagreed, it would harm the harmony between both parties.

  "Master!" Jin Luyu was intelligent enough to see Mu Yuhe's plan. If Jin Ding withdrew, Xue Bingxin and Zhao Chun wouldn't dare say anything, but Lin Feng would almost certainly die. After years of learning at the auction house, she knew that taking revenge for Lin Feng against a powerful demonic cultivation sect like Tian Xie Men wasn't worth it. However, she couldn't emotionally accept watching Lin Feng being taken away by Tuo Long Hui. Although she had initially approached Lin Feng with an ulterior motive, over the past few months, they had genuinely developed a bond through their banter.

  Jin Ming took a glance at Jin Luyu and knew she had already understood the situation in front of her, but was still struggling emotionally. What a clever child! Jin Ming couldn't help but feel affection for her. Then he glanced at Lin Feng beside her, this kid wasn't bad either, having already refined his Qi to the sixth layer, although slightly inferior to Luyu, but his alchemy skills were among the best, and his future achievements would be quite impressive!

  Looking back, Zhao Chun's age is about the same as Jin Luyu, but he has actually reached the 8th layer of Qi refining. The Qingyang Gate indeed has a wealth of talent, and the one next to him can't be much older, yet he has already reached the 9th layer of Qi refining. With such excellent talents, wouldn't the Qingyang Gate be worried about letting them run wild outside?

  "Hmm, no way, such an excellent disciple in Qingyang Gate should also be a rare find, it's impossible to just let him out like this without any guards?" Jin Ming thought to himself, and looked up at the surrounding cultivators. He soon discovered a cultivator wearing a bamboo hat and a light veil, squeezing through the crowd, but only one step away from Xue Bingxin. As if sensing Jin Ming's gaze, the cultivator in the bamboo hat nodded slightly, making Jin Ming feel instantly reassured.

  "Brother Jin, haven't you considered it yet? It's not that I don't want to give you face, but if I had known you were here, I wouldn't have come. But since I'm already here, this is no longer a personal matter. With so many people watching, if we retreat without a clear outcome, Tian Xiamen will never be able to operate in Yaoguang City again." Mu Yuhao saw Jin Ming's hesitation and knew he understood his intentions, but even so, how could Tian Xiamen possibly force the Jin Ding Auction House to back down?

  "Brother Mu's words, how dare I not listen? Let's just say it like this, both you and I will withdraw from this matter, we can only watch but cannot intervene." Jin Ming obtained clear information from the Dou Gou person, which happened to use Mu Yuhe's words to frame Tian Xie Men.

  "Haha, of course, thank you Brother Jin for giving me face! Mu is deeply grateful!" Mu Yuhe knew that Jin Ming had seen the fierce relationship after their respective retreats, and now quitting was actually opening a convenient door for Tian Xie Men, so he spoke up to express his gratitude.

  "Master Uncle, don't!" Jin Luyu's expression was sorrowful, she hadn't expected Master Uncle to back down after all. But reason told her that when facing a major sect like the Tian Xie Men, Jin Ding had no other choice.

  Lin Feng was not stupid, and at this time, he also knew that the direction of things was very unfavorable to himself. However, the name of Tian Xie Men was something he had heard before. The fact that Jin Ding Auction House could prevent them from intervening was already quite difficult. After all, in the cultivation world, one still had to rely on strength to speak. Nevertheless, understanding it intellectually was one thing, and whether or not he could accept it emotionally was another matter altogether. To say that Lin Feng did not have any resentment towards Jin Ding Auction House at this time would be impossible.

  "Kid, don't hate me. The Golden Cauldron's strength is not enough to contend with the Heavenly Evil Gate, and I'm doing this out of necessity. However, it might not be a bad thing for you either. Don't you have the Qingyang Gate behind your back? If the Heavenly Evil Gate doesn't back down, relying on you as a Qi-refining stage cultivator stuck between two major sects, do you think that would be good? Rest assured, the Qingyang Gate's strength in Yaoguang City is not weaker than the Heavenly Evil Gate. You won't come to harm." Jin Ming naturally wouldn't offend Lin Feng, this future Dan master with boundless prospects, fearing he would harbor resentment towards the Golden Cauldron, so he transmitted his voice to explain.

  Lin Feng heard that Qingyang Gate would be his backing, and he felt much more at ease. Thinking about it again, it was indeed the case. If Tiexian Gate didn't withdraw, once Qingyang Gate came out, they would be caught in the middle and become a fuse, probably ending up dead. Thinking of this, his anger towards Jindeng also decreased a lot.

  On the other side, Tian Xiamo and the people from the Tulonghui parted ways, with a look of watching a play, but Mu Yuhao's lips moved non-stop, and if one paid slight attention, they would know that he was briefing Sun Kui on something.

  However, this time around, no one dared to speak out of turn, as the reputation of Tian Xie Men, the largest and most powerful demonic sect, was not something that many people were not afraid of.

  The strong men of the Golden Tripod Auction House also kept their distance from Lin Feng and his three companions. In the arena, only the three Foundation Stage experts from the Dragon Slaying Club were left to face off against Lin Feng, Zhao Chun and Xue Bingxin's three Qi Refining Stage cultivators. Even someone without any insight could see that this was a completely one-sided situation.

  Even so, the dragon slayer seemed to be still hesitant. The leader Sun Kui's face turned red and green, Mu Yuhe repeatedly urged him to go forward and kill the three people, Lin Feng didn't say anything, but he knew early on that the two Qi-refining cultivators opposite them were from Qingyang Gate, and they might be very important people, how could he dare to take action.

  "Old Mu, those two are excellent disciples of the Qingyang Gate. They might even be disciples of a Golden Dan stage master. If we move against them, not to mention the city of Yaoguang, but even the entire Tianyuan Star may not have a place for our Tulonghui to exist." Sun Kui was not stupid. Although they were now nominally part of the Tiexian Gate, he knew that they were only peripheral members. If they really clashed with the Qingyang Gate, the Tiexian Gate would absolutely not go all out to protect them. At a critical moment, abandoning them to appease the Qingyang Gate's anger was entirely possible.

  Mu Yuhe saw that Xue Bingxin and Zhao Chun were rare geniuses as soon as he came, and with time, they might become two Golden Dan period masters, which is the current situation. If this were during the Dao Demon War, he would have killed the two of them long ago. As for Lin Feng, he didn't even take him seriously.

  "Then kill Lin Feng, if the two of them help out, you can teach them a lesson without any problem. After all, you are also people of the Tian Xie Gate now, and you don't even dare to confront the Qing Yang Gate? Mu Yuhe knew that using someone else's knife to kill was not going to work, so he decided to use Sun Kui to kill Lin Feng. As long as Xue Bingxin and Zhao Chun intervened, the situation would become chaotic, and then they could take advantage of the chaos to kill the two of them. Isn't it better than letting the Tulong Society directly attack now?"

  Sun Kui knew that he couldn't avoid it any longer, and if he continued to push and resist, the violent and tyrannical Tian Xie Men might destroy the Tulong Hui in a fit of rage. He secretly instructed Liao Gui and Ding Wei not to touch Xue Zhao and his men, then they began to walk towards Lin Feng.

  "Ah……!" Just as Sun Kui led a group of people from the Dragon Slaying Society to set off, a red light suddenly shot up into the sky from the crowd, accompanied by a sharp whistling sound that pierced through the clouds, scaring Sun Kui, who was already being cautious, to a standstill.

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