Chapter 1609: Misunderstanding
Even though they were already holy race beings, they knew that the difference between the Grand Ascension Stage and the Body Integration Stage was like that of heaven and earth. After reaching the Grand Ascension Stage, one would attain unfathomable power, thereby creating an insurmountable gulf between themselves and Body Integration Stage beings.
Under normal circumstances, a few beings at the pinnacle of the Spatial Tempering Stage could perhaps put a fight against an early-Body Integration Stage being, but a few beings at the pinnacle of the Body Integration Stage would only be able to flee for their lives in the face of an early-Grand Ascension Stage being.
After reaching the Grand Ascension Stage, one was essentially half a true immortal, and through their cultivation, they could grasp some extremely powerful laws of heaven and earth, making them virtually completely invincible to Body Integration Stage beings. As for the final Tribulation Transcendence Stage, that was actually only an arbitrary division. Aside from a slight change in the nature of one's magic power, beings who reached that stage wouldn't actually be a whole lot more powerful than Grand Ascension Stage beings.
Furthermore, after reaching the Tribulation Transcendence Stage, there were no longer any early, mid, or late classifications. Most of them would also go into indefinite seclusion to try and transcend their true immortal tribulations in an attempt to ascend to that higher realm.
As such, Grand Ascension Stage beings were the most powerful beings in the Spirit Realm aside from those true spirit beings.
The four guest members of the Heavenly Cloud Races had just captured the daughter of such an unfathomably powerful being, so they were naturally completely petrified.
However, they were situated in Cloud City, and there were so many powerful beings from all 13 races around them. As such, if the Human-faced Wyrm had come here alone, then they wouldn't have been all that fearful toward him. The most worrying thing to them was that the young man with the Fei surname seemed to be an acquaintance of the Human-faced Wyrm, and he had even led the Human-faced Wyrm to this place. Hence, it would naturally be impossible for them to try and encourage everyone to attack the Human-faced Wrym together, which was why they were so horrified by this current situation.
If it weren't for the fact that the young man had dispelled the lethal attack that was about to take the elderly man's life, they would've already fled for their lives.
"Alright, I'll do you a favor and spare their lives, Brother Fei, but they tortured my daughter on the way, so I have to punish them," the silver-robed man suddenly chuckled coldly after a brief silence.
He then swung his hand toward the elderly man in a lightning-fast chopping motion, and before the old man could react, one of his arms had already been dismembered amid a flash of silver light, and a geyser of blood erupted from the wound.
The elderly man was greatly startled by this, yet before he had a chance to administer treatment to himself, the young man suddenly appeared by his side before gently thrusting a palm toward his wound.
Brilliant green light flashed, and the bleeding was immediately stopped, following which the wound began to heal at a rate that was discernible to the naked eye.
The elderly man's face turned deathly pale, and he was just about to say something when the young man waved a hand toward him, and said, "Seeing as Brother Tu has already punished you, the others will be spared of further punishment. However, this is not the end of the matter. I don't care how you captured Brother Tu's daughter, but all of you must give him 100,000,000 spirit stones each as compensation for mental damages. If you're unwilling to do so, then you can all leave one of your arms here."
The four beings all heaved internal sighs of relief upon hearing this.
If they could settle such a major issue through spending just 100,000,000 spirit stones each, then that would naturally be close to the ideal outcome. Otherwise, even if they were to be spared now, they'd have to essentially hide in Cloud City for the rest of their lives as venturing out of the city could result in them being hunted down by this Grand Ascension Stage being.
The elderly man had lost an arm and some blood essence, but at his cultivation base, reattaching a limb was a simple matter.
Thus, the four beings immediately gathered together and brought out four bags of spirit stones, all of which they handed to the young man in a respectful manner.
The young man took the bags of spirit stones from them before turning to the silver-robed man with a smile as he said, "I'm sure these spirit stones won't be enough to assuage your rage, but this is the first time Fellow Daoist Lan and the others had visited your Crepe Myrtle Sea, so they were completely oblivious and certainly didn't intend to offend you. As such, please do me a favor and let bygones be bygones."
The silver-robed man's expression remained quite furious upon hearing this, but after glancing at the elderly man's dismembered arm, then turning back to the young man's smiling face, he finally gave a reluctant nod in the end.
"Alright, I'll do you a favor and spare them on this occasion, but from now on, they are prohibited from coming to my Crepe Myrtle Sea. If I find them there again, don't blame me for putting an end to their lives." A set of blurry silver patterns appeared on the silver-robed man's face as he spoke, giving him a far more sinister appearance.
The young man wasn't surprised at all by the silver-robed man's condition, and he tossed the bags of spirit stones over to him as he replied with a smile, "Of course. If Fellow Daoist Lan and the others dare to venture into your Crepe Myrtle Sea again, then they'll be rid of their statuses as guest members of our Heavenly Cloud Races, and you'll be able to do with them as you pleased."
The four beings in question began to sweat profusely again after hearing this.
The silver-robed man caught the four bags of spirit stones, and his expression eased slightly as spiritual light flashed from his hands, following which the four bags abruptly disappeared.
Immediately thereafter, the man suddenly patted the small beast on the back, and purple light flashed as the small beast disappeared, only to be replaced by a little girl who appeared to be six or seven years old.
The little girl had snowy white skin and a pair of bright black eyes. There were several purple little braids woven into her hair, and she was extremely adorable.
Many people's expression changed slightly upon seeing this.
This small beast clearly wasn't powerful enough to be able to manifest a human form on its own, yet the silver-robed man was able to assist her in doing so, thereby presenting a further indication of his immense powers.
Even after adopting a human form, the small beast was still clinging tightly to the silver-robed man while uttering a series of unintelligible syllables. At the same time, she was pointing insistently at the four beings who had captured her with a pitiable look on her little face.
"Alright, I've already taught them a lesson, so that's the end of this matter. Let this be a lesson to you as well; this is what you get for being so disobedient! After we go back, make sure to focus on your cultivation, and I won't let you leave the cave abode until you reach the metamorphosis stage." The man was speaking in a stern voice, but the doting expression on his face made his scolding words completely weightless.
The little girl pouted upon hearing this, and a hint of moisture began to well up in her eyes as she threatened to burst into tears.
The silver-robed man heaved a resigned sigh and no longer paid any heed to the little girl as he turned, instead, to the young man beside him.
"It's all thanks to you that I was able to recover my beloved daughter, Brother Fei; my Dao Companion and I will repay you for this favor in the future. However, she's currently still waiting at home for further news on our daughter, so I have to go back right away." As his voice trailed off, the silver-robed man cupped his fist in a farewell salute.
"In that case, I won't keep you any longer, Brother Tu. I wish you and your daughter a safe and smooth return journey." Seeing as the Human-faced Wyrm was willing to spare the four beings who had captured his daughter, the young man heaved an internal sigh of relief.
Those four beings were all guest members of the Heavenly Cloud Races, and they were also holy beings as well, so he naturally couldn't allow them to be killed in front of so many people.
However, it was also most definitely not in Cloud City's best interest to make the Human-faced Wyrm its enemy. Not only was this silver-robed being extremely fearsome, the thought of his immensely powerful Dao Companion also sent shivers running down his spine.
Otherwise, even if he were acquainted with or even a good friend of the Human-faced Wyrm, he definitely wouldn't have led him to this place and essentially conceded to everyone present that Cloud City was fearful of him.
As such, this was about as ideal an outcome as he could hope for.
The silver-robed man nodded before turning around, and spiritual light flashed around his body as he prepared to leave. However, right at this moment, the little girl suddenly tugged on his robes and said something that was unintelligible to everyone again, then pointed toward a certain direction in the auction hall.
"Oh? Is that true?" The spiritual light around the silver-robed man's body faded as a hint of surprise crept into his voice.
The young man faltered upon seeing this before asking, "What did your daughter say, Brother Tu?"
"It's nothing important; it appears that she may have identified a being here who is somehow related to my Dao Companion," the Human-faced Wyrm replied as he cast his gaze toward the direction that the little girl was pointing toward.
The young man was rather taken aback to hear this, and he also narrowed his eyes as he turned toward that direction.
Under the scrutiny of two Grand Ascension Stage beings at once, all of the beings sitting in that direction immediately grew quite uneasy. Even if they knew that this clearly had nothing to do with them, they still couldn't help but feel quite anxious.
Han Li's expression also changed slightly as he knew that the person the little girl was pointing at was most likely himself!
However, he had no idea why she singled him out from the crowd.
During the exchange that just took place between the silver-robed man and the young man, someone had cast a temporary restriction that allowed everyone to still see everything that was happening on the stage, but not hear what was being said.
On top of that, in that instant, an extremely fearsome burst of spiritual sense suddenly swept through this area, and many beings' faces paled as this spiritual sense washed over them.
In the instant that this burst of spiritual sense swept past his body, Han Li was also struck by the harrowing sensation that his entire being had been completely bared to the owner of the spiritual sense. This feeling was like being scrutinized by a primordial beast that was too powerful for him to even consider resisting.
His heart sank slightly, following which he immediately sensed the silver-robed man's gaze lock onto him from afar.
All of a sudden, the man raised a foot, and in the next instant, Han Li felt his vision blur slightly, following which a humanoid figure suddenly appeared before him.
It was none other than the silver-robed man and the little girl that was being held in his arms.
The little girl was currently appraising him with curiosity shimmering in her bright eyes, and Han Li immediately rose to his feet. He was feeling quite uneasy, but he still maintained a calm expression as he extended a respectful salute to the silver-robed man.
"I pay my respects to Senior Tu!"
In the face of a Grand Ascension Stage being, he didn't dare to show any disrespect.
The man took an errant glance at Han Li before shaking his head in an aloof manner. "He does indeed possess a hint of aura that belongs to the race that your mother hailed from, but it's very slight. Even if there is some kind of bloodline connection, it's completely negligible. What am I going to do with you? Your mother has so many powerful abilities for you to inherit, but you inherited her most useless sensory ability. Seeing as he doesn't have much of a connection with your mother, let's leave him be."
Before the little girl had a chance to say anything, silver light flashed from his body, and he immediately flew out of the auction hall as a streak of silver light.