"Li Honglin?" Nangong Yuqing's brows furrowed ever so slightly, and those vivid, luscious red lips spoke the handsome young man's name.
"I was already struck dumb by your beauty when I saw you wearing that red soft armor before. I never expected you to look even better in robes like these." Li Honglin smiled faintly. "I'd say you're planning to outshine every female cultivator at this auction today."
Only after saying this did Li Honglin glance at Wei Suo beside Nangong Yuqing. Though he inwardly despised Wei Suo's poverty-stricken appearance, his expression remained calm, carrying a carefree, cynical air amid his composure. It was the bearing of a superior naturally revealed, something no ordinary Rogue Cultivator without backing could compare to.
"Young Master Li, stop joking." Nangong Yuqing smiled calmly. "What, even a small auction like this interests you?"
"You're here for the auction too, aren't you? Since you're interested, how could I not be? Besides, Shopkeeper Tian of Golden Jade Pavilion specially sent us word earlier. He said that while this time's scale is not large, there are still several good items among the lots." Li Honglin smiled.
At that moment, Wei Suo noticed that as Li Honglin spoke, he had been constantly rolling two crow-iron-colored demon cores in his hand. They were the size of pigeon eggs, speckled across their surfaces as though scattered with gold dust.
Wei Suo recognized them as demon cores from Splitting Gold Vultures, third-level high-tier demonic beasts. Splitting Gold Vulture demon cores could not be directly refined with other spiritual medicines into pills rich in spiritual energy. However, when held and played with, a trace of their unique spiritual energy would occasionally seep into a cultivator's hands. Long-term handling was said to strengthen the cultivator's physical power and make their body more robust. But such demon cores cost at least sixty Low-grade Spirit Stones each. Ordinary cultivators would hardly keep one hundred and twenty Low-grade Spirit Stones in their hands just for toys.
Yet Wei Suo found this fellow even more unpleasant now. The man was practically treating him like air. And though he had not directly stated his identity, that remark had all but said it outright. Given Shopkeeper Tian's standing at Golden Jade Pavilion, he would only send advance notices to the major forces in Lingyue City.
The hidden meaning of those words was: What status do you have? I'm speaking with Nangong Yuqing, so why don't you make yourself scarce?
Wei Suo had never been in the habit of currying favor with major forces. Now that he had the Green Robe Old Man, he needed to ask no one for anything. He and this Li Honglin, who had appeared out of nowhere, were neither kin nor friends. Wei Suo did not possess that sort of self-sacrificing awareness to take the initiative and leave.
Wei Suo merely put on a bored expression and yawned.
"Is this your friend?" Just as Wei Suo expected, Li Honglin could no longer treat him as air. Yet after giving Wei Suo a glance, the next thing he said nearly crooked Wei Suo's nose with rage. "Is he going into the auction as well? If he is, I have a VIP seat and can bring him in with me."
The look in Li Honglin's eyes made it seem as though he regarded Wei Suo as a pauper who could not even afford the Spirit Stones for the auction.
"That won't be necessary." Before Wei Suo could say anything, Nangong Yuqing glanced at Li Honglin, then turned back and smiled at Wei Suo with a slight furrow of her brows. "He has a VIP seat too. I was originally planning to enter together with him under his favor."
Li Honglin's expression visibly froze.
"Haha! Serves you right for putting on airs!"
Wei Suo maintained a reserved little smile on the surface, but inwardly he was already blooming with joy, feeling so good that it reached the tips of his hair.
At that moment, he found Nangong Yuqing utterly adorable. Judging by how she had acted just now, even if she wanted him to give himself to her seventeen or eighteen times, Wei Suo felt certain he would not refuse.
"Oh? May I ask this brother's honored name? Are you from Tie Ce?"
"His name is Wei Suo. I did invite him to join Tie Ce, but he wasn't particularly interested in us." Nangong Yuqing said with a smile blooming like a flower.
She was giving him far too much face!
While desperately suppressing the urge to throw back his head and laugh, Wei Suo stole a glance at Li Honglin's expression. Sure enough, the corner of the eye of that suave and elegant Li Honglin, who carried himself with the poise of a superior, twitched slightly.
"But if Brother Li wishes to enter with us, that's fine too. My seat allows four people in altogether. In any case, the four-person seat was originally only meant for the two of us, so it would be more spacious this way." Wei Suo added with a beaming smile.
"That won't be necessary." Li Honglin also forced out a smile. "We can get closer after the auction ends, Brother Wei."
After saying that, Li Honglin paused. He seemed to want to invite Nangong Yuqing to accompany him instead of Wei Suo, but after hesitating, he still held himself back. After all, he was no fool. He knew perfectly well that offending a cultivator of unknown identity, one who even seemed to have some background, was an exceptionally unwise move.
The three headed toward Lingxiao Workshop.
Li Honglin walked ahead, while Wei Suo and Nangong Yuqing walked slowly side by side behind him, leaving a short distance between themselves and Li Honglin.
"Say, Nangong Yuqing, who exactly is this guy? We just told him it was a four-person VIP seat. If we get inside and end up mixed in with a crowd in ordinary seats, won't he just laugh at us instead?" Wei Suo secretly whispered beside Nangong Yuqing's ear.
"Don't worry about that. Golden Jade Pavilion does business honorably. I recognize this kind of jade token; the one Shopkeeper Tian gave us really is for VIP seats." Nangong Yuqing also spoke beside Wei Suo's ear. "As for Li Honglin, he is the Young Palace Master of Golden Vulture Palace."
"The Young Palace Master of Golden Vulture Palace?" Wei Suo immediately understood why Li Honglin casually held two Splitting Gold Vulture demon cores in his hand to play with. Ever since ten or twenty thousand years ago, certain sects and Rogue Cultivators had discovered methods for taming and raising demonic beasts. Now, some sects specialized in raising demonic beasts, and Golden Vulture Palace was one such sect.
Golden Vulture Palace was said to possess methods for raising several kinds of third-level demonic beasts and several kinds of second-level demonic beasts. Its largest regular source of income came from selling the demon cores and other materials from the beasts it raised. However, the quality of demon cores from such raised beasts was somewhat inferior to those from wild demonic beasts. Demonic beasts grown through drugs and spiritual medicines were, after all, somewhat different from normal ones.
Golden Vulture Palace was also said to have several formidable cultivators who had reached the Mind Splitting Realm. It was already a major force that ranked among the notable powers of Lingyue City.
"That fellow likes you, doesn't he?" Wei Suo quietly added beside Nangong Yuqing's ear. "But it seems you don't have any interest in him."
"Yes. I just wanted to use you as a shield. What, are you scared?" Nangong Yuqing said.
Wei Suo chuckled. "What, am I already high-class enough to be a shield?"
Nangong Yuqing glanced at him and said seriously, "You seem just about high-class enough." Then she could not help bursting into laughter.
Wei Suo and Nangong Yuqing were only whispering things they did not want Li Honglin to hear, but in the eyes of others—especially those who knew Nangong Yuqing along the way—it looked entirely different. Nangong Yuqing, Tie Ce's famously fiery beauty, was actually so intimate with an ordinary-looking low-level cultivator, whispering into his ear. Just who was this seemingly ordinary low-level cultivator?
Li Honglin in particular, walking ahead of them, heard Nangong Yuqing's soft laughter from behind and felt an indescribable jealousy rise in his heart.
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