Chapter 151: Identity Exposed?

At these words, everyone’s expression finally shifted.

After all, greed is the very essence of human nature.

No matter who you are, even if it means serving as a scapegoat, given enough temptation, there will always be someone willing to risk everything. And with the Heaven’s Knowledge faction’s promise of support, the offer was all the more enticing.

Yet one person in the crowd was shaken to the core.

That person was Qin Feng, lying in the coffin behind Xing Bing.

His eyes burned as he stared at the Yellow Springs Token. Others avoided the Ghost Lure Ravine as if it were a place of certain death, but Qin Feng had to go there.

His father had entered it not long ago.

Everything had been for the sake of Qin Feng’s illness.

From Han Qingxue’s words, Qin Feng could infer that his father had not originally possessed the Yellow Springs Token. He must have gained the right to enter the Ghost Lure Ravine only after the token chose him as its new master. After that, all word of him had vanished. But Qin Feng had an inexplicable feeling that his father was still alive. He had made up his mind long ago: even if the Ghost Lure Ravine truly was the land of the dead, he would still go there.

For his father, he had to go.

He had never imagined the opportunity would present itself so soon.

As long as he obtained the Yellow Springs Token, he would earn the right to enter the Ghost Lure Ravine. He would also receive help from the Heaven’s Knowledge faction and be able to use their teleportation array to leave the Kingdom of Yunqi.

Two birds with one stone!

But there was one thing he could not help worrying about: would the token accept him as its new master?

Qin Feng knew that the token chose its successor selectively. Not everyone was qualified to enter the Ghost Lure Ravine and serve as a scapegoat. If anyone could do it, the Heaven’s Knowledge faction would not be going to such lengths to find a suitable successor. They could simply pick someone at random.

So Qin Feng was torn between excitement and apprehension.

There were several hundred people in the auction hall, and even among so many, there might not be a single person the token would accept.

Still, a generous reward was bound to attract the brave.

There would always be people bold enough not to fear death.

Besides, there had been occasional reports, long ago, of people emerging alive from the Ten Great Forbidden Lands. Wealth was won by taking risks, and with the Heaven’s Knowledge faction offering its full support, some people were tempted after weighing the odds. This was especially true of those who had been stuck at a bottleneck for years without making a breakthrough. A little risk might turn disaster into fortune—and make them famous overnight.

Just then, someone rose and walked calmly toward the stage.

Everyone looked closely. The man stepping up was none other than the demon monk Gu Lang.

“He actually wants to try?”

Gu Lang’s appearance onstage took almost everyone by surprise. He did not seem like the sort to act on impulse, and he knew the Yellow Springs Token was ill-omened. Nor was he likely to be tempted by the Heaven’s Knowledge faction’s reward. So why was he willing to try?

“There must be something going on here.”

Even Qin Feng felt a knot tighten in his chest, a trace of unease creeping over him.

The demon monk Gu Lang always struck him as inscrutable. There was something about the man that felt deeply unsettling.

Onstage, Gu Lang grinned, baring his teeth in a fierce smile, and reached for the Yellow Springs Token. But it shot out of Ye Youyou’s hand with a whoosh and landed back on its tray.

Unwilling to give up, Gu Lang reached for it again.

A piercing, ghastly shriek burst from the ghost face carved into the token, forcing everyone to cover their ears.

Its reaction made it clear: Gu Lang was not qualified to become its new master.

Gu Lang shook his head, a hint of disappointment crossing his face.

But Qin Feng noticed a glint in the depths of his eyes. Whatever he was thinking, he kept it to himself.

After Gu Lang stepped down, another person sprang onto the stage. This time it was a woman in a green robe, her face hidden behind a white veil. She reached for the Yellow Springs Token.

Suddenly, a gigantic ghost head thrust out of the token and clamped its jaws around the woman’s right hand. She screamed as it bit her hand clean off at the wrist. The ghost head chewed the flesh and swallowed it, then let out a strange cry before slipping back inside the token.

It happened so quickly and so unexpectedly that no one had time to react.

The veiled woman turned deathly pale and collapsed. People from the Heaven’s Knowledge faction carried her away for treatment.

Losing a hand for nothing was enough to extinguish any desire the others might have had to try.

This thing was far too uncanny. If a single token was so terrifying, then entering the Ghost Lure Ravine must be a hundred or even a thousand times more dangerous.

Everyone had to reconsider.

The rewards were tempting, but a person had only one life.

Without it, everything else was just empty talk.

So after the woman, no one dared take the stage for a long while.

“Is there no one else who would like to try?”

Ye Youyou looked around hopefully. Everyone lowered their heads, afraid to meet her gaze. Ling Yuzhi, who had been making the loudest noise earlier, was now utterly silent.

Ni Wa shut his dead-fish eyes. His meaning was plain enough: I have no desire to die.

As for Yan Wen, all his attention was fixed on Xing Bing. He had bitten his gums until they bled and was clearly longing for the auction to end so he could get on with killing his enemy.

But then Fairy Zhiyuexin rose to her feet and glided toward the stage. Ye Youyou had not even had time to show her gratitude when the token let out another piercing roar. A tremendous black shock wave blasted Zhiyuexin several yards away, nearly knocking her off her feet.

Clearly, the Yellow Springs Token wanted nothing to do with the fairy.

In fact, it seemed to loathe the aura around her.

Zhiyuexin gave Ye Youyou an apologetic look and shrugged. Then she returned to her seat.

Just as disappointment crossed Ye Youyou’s face and she prepared to announce the end of the auction, someone rose from a seat in the very back corner of the hall.

Ye Youyou brightened, then froze in surprise.

“Huh? Him?”

The person standing was Xing Bing, controlled by Qin Feng. Ye Youyou was startled because the man was rather mysterious and seemed to have some kind of grudge against Yan Wen of the Nine Palace Sect. Her heart tightened. If this man failed too, there might not be a single person left in the hall willing to try.

Qin Feng controlled Xing Bing as he made his way forward and climbed onto the stage.

Xing Bing was a large man, with fat that jiggled as he walked, each step landing with a heavy thud. A massive coffin followed behind him, making it obvious at a glance that he belonged to the Earth Corpse Sect of the Kingdom of Yunqi.

Once onstage, Qin Feng controlled the coffin and positioned it in front of Xing Bing. He was not worried that the Yellow Springs Token might hurt him. Rather, he knew it would never choose Xing Bing, who was already dead. If it did select him, then even an attack would surely be directed at Qin Feng inside the coffin—and that would expose everything.

That was why he placed the coffin in front of Xing Bing.

The people in the hall assumed Xing Bing was afraid of failing and suffering the same backlash as those before him. So he had placed the coffin a short distance ahead of himself, ready to use it as a shield. The previous contestants had just paid dearly for their attempts, so caution was only natural. And the Earth Corpse Sect’s strength lay in its corpses, making it plausible enough to use one as a shield.

Qin Feng’s actions aroused no suspicion. If anything, they seemed perfectly reasonable.

It would have been strange if he had done otherwise.

He did not make Xing Bing reach for the token. Instead, he slowly guided the coffin toward it.

Qin Feng knew that if the Yellow Springs Token truly intended to choose him, there would be no need to touch it. He only had to draw near to learn whether it would accept him as its new master.

The coffin moved forward slowly, with Xing Bing following at every step.

As it neared the Yellow Springs Token, a ghost head suddenly emerged from within it. It twisted its neck and glanced around before fixing its gaze on the coffin where Qin Feng lay. The ghost head sniffed a few times. A strange glint flashed in its eyes, and it gave a couple of mysterious, sinister chuckles. Then it withdrew into the token.

At the same moment, the Yellow Springs Token rose into the air and flew toward the coffin.

“Huh?”

Ye Youyou, who had been watching closely, was first startled, then overjoyed.

By now, it was obvious: the Yellow Springs Token had chosen the successor it wanted. But there was one thing… Ye Youyou’s gaze fell on the enormous coffin before her, and suspicion flickered in her eyes.

She was perceptive. The reason she harbored doubts was that she stood close to Xing Bing. The others in the hall might not have noticed those subtle details.

She glanced toward a certain spot in the room.

Then she turned her gaze back to the coffin where Qin Feng was.

All the same, her joy in that moment outweighed everything else. She temporarily set aside her suspicions. Xing Bing’s success had truly taken her by surprise.

At last, the Yellow Springs Token stopped above the coffin, hovering in midair. Xing Bing scooped it up and put it in his storage pouch.

The flesh on his face quivered, revealing a smug grin.

He looked every inch a man who had no idea he was about to die.

“Thank you, fellow Daoist of the Earth Corpse Sect. Since you have successfully obtained the Yellow Springs Token, the Heaven’s Knowledge faction will honor its promise. Please wait a moment, then come with me.”

With that, Ye Youyou turned and said gracefully, “Everyone, today’s auction has come to an end. The next auction will be held next week. Those interested are welcome to attend.”

With the final Yellow Springs Token now in the hands of Xing Bing, whom Qin Feng controlled, there was nothing left to see. The crowd was thoroughly disappointed, and everyone began filing out.

Qin Feng glanced at Yan Wen. The man was staring at him with a dark expression, his eyes practically spitting fire, yet there was nothing he could do. Two Heaven’s Knowledge attendants escorted him out.

Qin Feng could barely keep from laughing.

The poor fool. He’d better not get so worked up he makes himself sick. Ha!

Once the attendees had gradually dispersed, Ye Youyou led Qin Feng to a secluded room in the backstage area.

Only the alluring Ye Youyou and Qin Feng were inside.

Qin Feng glanced around. The wards in this room were several levels more powerful than those in the room he had visited before the auction. This was clearly a place for important transactions and private conversations.

A very particular fragrance drifted through the room, exquisitely sweet. No incense had been lit, so its source was clearly the bewitching beauty before him—the sort of woman who could set a man’s thoughts wandering with a single glance.

Even Qin Feng, lying inside the coffin, could not resist drawing in several deep breaths through his nostrils.

“Such a lovely scent!”

But just as Qin Feng was luxuriating in it, Ye Youyou immediately put him in his place.

She gave the coffin a graceful bow and smiled seductively. “Young Master Qin, breathe in too much of my natural fragrance, and it could prove fatal.”

At those words, Qin Feng was greatly startled.