Chapter 2163: Chapter 2163 Taking the Bait Voluntarily
Not long after, the Alliance of Goddesses received a notice from the Alliance of Merchants of the Central region. A large auction would be held in Tredgeroh, a major city in the southern part of the central region, where two divine blood fruits would be auctioned.
However, the Alliance of Merchants specifically reminded Ye Liuyun through Li Hongtao. Those two divine blood fruits were provided by the Zhongxing Dynasty and was specified that they had to be auctioned in Tredgeroh.
When Ye Liuyun heard this, he instantly realised it was a trap set up by the Zhongxing Dynasty for him. It was his decision if he was willing to go.
"You’ve been hiding in the East, fighting against the foreign races. The Zhongxing Dynasty had never had a chance to make a move against you. Now they are throwing you bait, intended to lure you to them."
Tredgeroh City, although not a Royal City, had a Conveyor Formation. It was convenient for the Dynasty’s martial practitioners to teleport there."
Li Hongtao reminded Ye Liuyun. As for whether Ye Liuyun was willing to go or not, was up to him.
Ye Liuyun chuckled as he thanked him but he didn’t mention if he was going or staying. Instead, he returned to the Eastern Dynasty without saying another word.
Upon Ye Liuyun’s return, he gathered four of his enslaved disciples, Yuan Bin, Shen Kuo, Lu Yao, and Liu Yang. With the Phantom Illusion technique, he modified their appearances, before he teleported them to Lacoastal City, a city adjacent to Tredegroh City via the foreign race battlefield.
Wu Qingcheng took over Ye Liuyun’s responsibility in the palace to deal with the surveillance of the Zhongxing Dynasty’s spies.
When Ye Liuyun arrived in Lacoastal City, there were still over twenty days until the auction began. He did not rush to Tredgeroh City; instead, he began walking around Lacoastal City. He also let Liu Yang accompany him on his wanderings about the city.
"Find a wealthy local young master. We will assume his identity to attend the auction." Ye Liuyun revealed to Liu Yang his true objective.
Ye Liuyun believed that even if the Zhongxing Dynasty discovered he had not left the palace, they would think that he had sent people to bid on the Divine Blood fruits. To avoid suspicion, he needed to take on a local identity.
"We should go to a tavern or a brothel to find one!" Liu Yang told Ye Liuyun.
Ye Liuyun and Liu Yang first visited a tavern, where they met a few prospective young masters from wealthy families. However, they were surrounded by too many bodyguards, and the tavern was rather quiet, making it difficult for them to act.
So they had no choice but to visit the brothel. This time, it was much easier because there, they encountered several wealthy young masters.
Liu Yang had even bribed the receptionist to obtain information on all of the wealthy young masters who frequented the place.
Eventually, they targeted a martial practitioner named Shi Lianfu, whose level was the same as Ye Liuyun’s. He was at the intermediate stage of the seventh level.
The Shi family was a local affluent family. The family was known for crafting Formation. As for Shi Lianfu, he was the sole heir of the family and was destined to succeed the family. Naturally, he was pampered from his childhood.
Moreover, Shi Lianfu had been boasting that he was about to participate in the auction of Tredgeroh City, which aroused the envy of many young masters around him.
There were also some young men who couldn’t stand his arrogance. They counter-boasted with him saying they were also joining the auction to join in the fun.
"Haha, you are indeed there to watch the fun. But I am participating in the auction. Besides, my old man has arranged a private room for me in the auction."
"What? Don’t believe me? Does my invitation look the same as your entrance tickets? You can only sit in the hall and watch the fun as an observer!"
Shi Lianfu proudly displayed his golden invitation card for all to see.
"He is indeed a perfect match!" Ye Liuyun was satisfied with the target Liu Yang had chosen.
"So when are we going to start?" Liu Yang asked.
Ye Liuyun thought they had a lot of time before the auction. Thus, taking control of Shi Lianfu too early would mean they would have to prevent him from being discovered for many days before the auction.
"Let’s keep an eye on him for a few days before we act!" Ye Liuyun answered.
On Shi Lianfu’s side, several young men, who were eager to curry favour, pleaded with him to let them tag along so they could broaden their experience.
Shi Lianfu was merely showing off and didn’t intend to bring any of them with him.
A slightly chubby man asserted that he could blend in with Shi Lianfu’s guards and that it wouldn’t be an issue if Shi Lianfu allowed him to tag along and didn’t expose him.
Shi Lianfu thought for a while before agreeing.
"We will split up. You keep an eye on Shi Lianfu and don’t take any action before he sets off. I will watch the chubby guy,"
Ye Liuyun felt that as long as he had an identity for him to mingle in the auction, perhaps being a guard would be even less conspicuous.
So Ye Liuyun and Liu Yang split up to monitor these two individuals, communicating through their Slaving Seal link.
These wealthy young masters never accomplished anything worthwhile in their day-to-day activities. They typically fooled around in either brothels or taverns.
The slightly chubby young man was called Xue Li. Under Ye Liuyun’s observation, he went to find his uncle. His uncle was the captain of the Shi Family’s guard team. Persuaded by Xue Li’s incessant nagging, his uncle finally agreed to integrate Xue Li into Shi Lianfu’s guard team.
That same night, Xue Li excitedly told Shi Lianfu that everything was arranged and he was ready to escort him to the auction with the guards.
"Don’t worry. Just stay by my side and follow my arrangements then!"
Shi Lianfu generously agreed, conjuring envy from others.
Then, the group talked about the Divine Blood fruit.
"Who doesn’t want it? But it’s not something we can covet. It’s enough just to lay our eyes on it! There are so many powerful people at the auction. It is a gathering of most major forces from all places. We won’t even have a turn to bid!" Shi Lianfu seemed to have a clear understanding of this.
"There aren’t many major families that are richer than the Shi family! Things are bought at the auction based on wealth, not fighting!" someone attempted to flatter Shi Lianfu.
"I’m just afraid the price will be too high and it won’t be cost-effective. Let’s see what happens then. If it costs hundreds of millions of Spirit Crystals, I can afford it! Any more of that, my father will give me an earful when I get home!"
Shi Lianfu said this as if spending millions of Spirit Crystal wasn’t a major expenditure. This again caused a round of bootlicking from the other young masters.
"Exactly! Those Spirit Crystals are merely your daily pocket money!"
"Mr. Shi is as generous as ever! Such an amount of Spirit Crystals is out of my league!"
Shi Lianfu was quite content with the praises he received from them.
Ye Liuyun and Liu Yang had been watching them for a few more days. Nearing the auction day, Ye Liuyun made his move on Xue Li and kept him in his Spatial World. Then, he used Phantom Illusion to transform into Xue Li’s appearance before blending in with Shi Lianfu and his team for a few more days.
As for Liu Yang, Ye Liuyun did not let him act but received Liu Yang back into the Spatial World.
Shi Lianfu intended to depart three days ahead of the auction date as well. He planned to spend a few days exploring Tredgeroh City and having fun in the neighbourhood taverns.
Disguised as Xue Li, Ye Liuyun successfully accompanied Shi Lianfu to Tredgeroh City.
Upon arriving at Tredgeroh City, Ye Liuyun quickly discovered that the number of martial practitioners experts here far exceeded Lacoastal City.
The Zhongxing Dynasty must have stationed all of these here in advance.
Under the cover of the large-scale auction held here, not many people would notice the surge in the number of martial practitioners.
Many martial practitioners masked their realm and gathered in locations such as local bars and inns.
