Underground World, Stone City.
Swift Owl circled around a stone pillar, carefully avoiding the patrolling guards not far away, and plunged into the shadows. The Shadow Tribe's bloodline had given him the talent of Shadow Walk, which allowed him to pass through the shadows of matter and enter any place.
His target this time was the warehouse of an auction house. The items that were about to be auctioned were stored there. Due to the activity of the Netherworld King's apostle, there were many items from the Netherworld River up for auction. There were spider lilies, thousand-year river bones, nether crystals, soul vines …
Swift Owl really needed soul vines, but with his current wealth, it would be difficult for him to get what he wanted at the auction. Hence, he decided to take a gamble.
Swift Owl walked into the shadows of the wall and penetrated the shadow wall. This was very difficult because shadows were usually superficial. What he needed to do now was to jump from the shadow on one side of the wall to the shadow on the other side!
When he reached the edge of the shadow wall, a repulsive force pushed towards Swift Owl. He smiled. This was a restriction against shadows. This was the nemesis of the Dark Shadow Race. It was also the reason why the Dark Shadow Race was unable to advance from a level-5 civilization to a level-6 civilization. The cost of such a restriction was low, but it could expose the Dark Shadow Race's greatest strength.
However, this had no effect on him. He was not a pure Dark Shadow. Apart from the flesh and blood of the Dark Shadow Race, there was also the energy of ghosts flowing in his body!
He was a hybrid of ghosts and Dark Shadow. This was a miracle. He was a descendant born between physical and intangible energy. He was a new race! Unfortunately, he was alone now, and he didn't know how his mother, who was a member of the Dark Shadow Race, had conceived a child who was a phantom. After his mother gave birth to him, she left. No one knew where she went, and she only left him with his maternal grandfather.
After his maternal grandfather passed away, no one knew that he was a hybrid anymore. No one knew what he could do now.
His body gradually turned into nothingness. At this moment, another barrier that was used to defend against ghosts transmitted its power to Swift Owl from the wall. However, this power only circled around Swift Owl's body for a brief moment before dispersing. Swift Owl was neither a shadow that had a physical body nor a ghost that was completely made up of energy. He was somewhere in between, so he broke through all the barriers and leaped into the shadow on the other side of the wall.
When he emerged from the shadows, the treasury was right in front of him.
He leaped into the shadows again. He was not greedy. He did not need much, just a thin thorn on the Soul Vine. If he concealed it well, no one would notice that a small thorn was missing from a large piece of the Soul Vine. They all valued the Soul Vine's natural attributes, but neglected the strange thing that accompanied the Soul Vine.
Soon, he found his target. It was a staff formed naturally from soul vines!
Swift Owl's mind wavered. Although he knew that the cane was formed naturally by the Soul Vine, it still felt extravagant in his eyes. However, that was not what he needed. After a brief moment of distraction, he focused his mind again. He projected his senses from the shadows and searched for the Companion Soul Spike on the Soul Vine Cane.
He did not take action immediately. He was safe hiding in the shadows, but once he stepped out of the shadows, he was sure that he would be turned into ashes the moment he was exposed to the light!
Although he could not sense it, there was definitely a Heavenly Core expert's will shrouding this treasure trove at all times, and there might even be more than one. Fortunately, if it was not a Heavenly Core expert who was proficient in the spiritual domain, these Heavenly Core experts would not be able to detect what was happening in the shadows.
This was Swift Owl's advantage. Hence, he could only wait! The reason why he took the risk here was not because he was blindly arrogant. Instead, while he was walking in the shadows, he unintentionally overheard a terrifying secret — a few Heavenly Core experts were not willing to compete with others for the things they needed at the auction. Heavenly Core experts might not lack money, but that did not mean that their financial resources were unlimited, especially when their competitors were Heavenly Core experts from high-leveled civilizations. Hence, they would join forces to launch a well-planned attack on the auction house. Swift Owl believed that they had a 50% chance of success, and he would benefit from it. As long as he was not greedy, no one would notice anything wrong with him.
There were still seven days until the auction, so it might not be today, and there was no guarantee that they would actually show up. However, Swift Owl was unwilling to give up this opportunity. He waited in silence. His blood, which was half energy and half matter, had the patience of a ghost, so he could not feel hunger or fatigue.
One day, two days …
Swift Owl hid in the shadows and used his thoughts to pass the time. He thought about the current situation in the underground world. The emergence of the Netherworld King had obviously affected the structure of the underground world. The emergence of a new king was usually accompanied by mountains of corpses and seas of bones. However, it was different this time. The Netherworld River had provided protection for the Netherworld King's apostles. Even if those experts had the means to resist the corrosion of the Netherworld River, they would not be willing to fight on the Netherworld River. In the underground world, an injured expert might be more tempting than treasures.
Hence, they could only chase after the Netherworld King while being cautious. They wanted to find the true body of the Netherworld King.
However, to those who lived at the bottom of the underground world but possessed various abilities, the appearance of the Netherworld King was their only hope in the endless darkness!
Swift Owl was crazily passionate about the Netherworld King, but he was also coldly contemplative. The Netherworld King had brought all kinds of resources from the Netherworld River. In the past, only a few experts could step into the Netherworld River, and these experts obviously wouldn't collect treasures and materials from the Netherworld River for others. However, there were many sects in the Netherworld Realm that cultivated in the Netherworld River, and they needed these treasures and materials. It was even related to whether some sects' techniques and inheritances were complete or not!
When the news of the Netherworld King choosing Apostles spread, the materials that the Netherworld River Wanderer traded were no longer limited to the red spider lilies. Hence, this auction was held. The Merchant Clans placed all the materials that they had purchased in the Netherworld River at this auction. They wanted to use this auction to gain the favor of the Netherworld River Wanderer. They wanted to use this auction to obtain the Netherworld River Wanderer's favor. Instead of using the traditional trading method, the Netherworld River Wanderer would have full authority to operate the Netherworld River.
Swift Owl scoffed at the Shang Clan's plan. If His Majesty the Netherworld King wanted it, he wouldn't have used the Netherworld River Wanderer to attract everyone's attention. That was a strategy to send a signal to the various sects that the Netherworld King had no interest in their sphere of influence!
Walking on the Netherworld River meant that the Netherworld King only cared about his Netherworld River. The Netherworld River was his territory, and no one dared to approach it! The various Factions would definitely not object to this declaration.
The Netherworld King was expanding his influence from trading the red spider lilies to the various materials from the Netherworld River. He was also indicating to the various Factions that he was rational and that he could negotiate terms. He was not willing to cause the underground world to be plunged into misery and suffering because of his appearance. He was also showing the Star Alliance the meaning of his existence. Even the Star Alliance did not have many methods to deal with the various rare materials in the Netherworld River before the Netherworld King appeared.
Now that the Netherworld King was fishing for them, they did not care about what secrets this mysterious Netherworld King had. It was just like how they did not care about the battles between the Factions in the underground world or the territories that they privately divided up.
If it was not for the Netherworld King's gift, perhaps he would never have had the chance to obtain the Soul Needle that grew on the Soul Vine.
Swift Owl's imagination ran wild. Then, the surprise attack that he had been waiting for finally arrived!
The rumbling sound of energy could be heard from the shadows in the distance. Swift Owl was even more careful as he continued to hide. Although he could not see directly, he used the shadows to continuously sense everything in his surroundings.
Time was tight. After about a dozen breaths, Swift Owl decided that it was time to take a risk. He knew that the battles between the Heavenly Core experts would not last long unless they fought to the death. However, under such circumstances, the possibility of that happening was very low, and victory was always easy to determine.
He leaped out of the shadows. There was no one around him!
He grabbed the Soul Vine Cane and quickly locked onto the Soul Needle on it. His half-material and half-energy power wrapped around it, and his soul power surged forth. Then, he gently pulled on the cane.
Success!
He did not touch anything. Just as he had planned, he leaped back into the shadows without greed. Then, he followed the path that he had come from and quickly escaped …
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