Huan Changming's position was directly opposite the floating platform.
He saw the butterfly spirit, which had a pair of yellow wings. It was obviously very young and didn't even know how to retract its wings.
He looked up and saw the butterfly spirit's face again. It was young and innocent, with timid eyes. When the bat pulled it hard, it trembled all over and shed tears. It was extremely pitiful.
Clearly, some people around had a fondness for such a frail and beautiful creature, and the price was being driven up incessantly.
However, Huan Changming showed a hint of impatience on his face. It had nothing to do with the butterfly spirit. He was just thinking about his Pianpian, who would never show such an expression in front of him.
No matter what happened, his expression remained resolute; nothing could break his spirit.
Even when she was about to die in front of him, she did not flinch in the slightest. Her resolute determination was so heartbreaking that it tore his heart apart.
Even though two hundred years have passed since that scene, it still feels like yesterday to Huan Changming. Every word and every expression of his is deeply etched in Huan Changming's mind, tormenting him every moment.
But he deserved it all; he brought it upon himself.
He deserved to be tortured, deserved to have his heart torn apart.
Because he drove his beloved to her death.
He also hated himself, and he even refused to heal the scar on his left cheek left by the crematorium in order to torment himself.
As his wounds festered and new flesh grew to heal, he would destroy them again and again. Each festering and healing was a reminder of the mistakes he had made.
An ugly bear demon flew to the floating platform, handed the gold to the bat demon, and then hugged the butterfly demon tightly, saying, "From now on, you'll be following me!"
Tears streamed down the butterfly spirit's face, her tiny wings flattened by the bear spirit. "No, I don't want to go with you!"
The Underworld King, bound like a dumpling, stood beside Huan Changming and sighed upon seeing the scene, "What a beautiful flower stuck in cow dung..."
Huan Changming was annoyed by the butterfly spirit's crying. He took out gold from his sleeve and threw it onto the floating platform. "I'll buy this butterfly spirit."
The bat spirit quickly picked up the gold and counted it, "Three thousand gold pieces... This butterfly spirit belongs to this gentleman!"
The bear spirit protested, "I did it first!"
The bat spirit, with a shrewd and mercenary look, said, "The highest bidder wins. If you can offer more than three thousand gold pieces, this butterfly spirit is yours!"
The bear spirit shoved the butterfly spirit to the ground and said in Huan Changming's direction, "You better watch out!"
The butterfly spirit was brought to Huan Changming's side by the bat. Standing to Huan Changming's right, the butterfly spirit saw that the person who bought her was such a handsome young man, far superior to the bear spirit, and hurriedly said, "Thank you so much for saving my life, young master..."
Huan Changming turned his head to look at the butterfly spirit, revealing a horrifying scar on his left cheek. The butterfly spirit shrank back in fright, and tears welled up in her eyes again.
Huan Changming said coldly, "Get out."
The butterfly spirit fluttered its wings and flew away, whimpering.
Seeing this, the Underworld Lord sighed again and looked at Huan Changming, saying, "The Demon Lord is so handsome, why did you have to make yourself look like neither human nor ghost? You even ruined this wonderful marriage opportunity..."
Huan Changming waved his sleeve, and the Underworld Lord's voice was sealed, unable to utter a single word.
"You'd better pray that the Bodhi Pearl appears tonight, or your underworld will never be at peace for the next ten thousand years."
The King of the Underworld was instantly terrified and remained silent, not daring to utter a single sound.
This demon is ruthless and vicious, and a madman who always keeps his word. His little underworld is really not someone to mess with.
The Bodhi Pearl was suppressed by the Nine Netherworld Calamity People until the penultimate round before it was revealed. Huan Changming had been patiently waiting for it.
In the past, he would never have bothered with these ridiculous auction rules. He would have led his demon generals to wipe out the Nine Netherworld Calamity in one fell swoop and simply snatched the Bodhi Pearl away.
But since it concerned his beloved Pianpian, he dared not act rashly, so he followed the rules of the Nine Netherworld Calamity and proceeded step by step.
However, there were not many bidders for the Bodhi Bead. Huan Changming only spent 10,000 gold coins to acquire it.
When the Nine Netherworld Calamity Man presented the Bodhi Pearl to him, his hand trembled slightly as he took it.
With this bead, his Pianpian can be resurrected.
The Underworld King stared at the Bodhi Bead in Huan Changming's hand, wanting to speak but unable to, so he simply pretended not to have seen anything.
When soldiers come, we'll block them; when water comes, we'll dam it. The people of Heaven will surely discover that he's missing, and the Heavenly Emperor will definitely send people to look for him.
"Walk."
Huan Changming carefully hid the Bodhi Pearl close to his body, grabbed the Underworld Lord's shoulder, and was about to get up and leave the Nine Netherworld Calamity.
He spent lavishly tonight, buying two items, which had already caught the eye of the Nine Netherworld Calamities. Seeing him about to leave, they quickly sent someone to stop him, "Sir, the auction for tonight's grand finale is about to begin. There's no rush. Why don't you take a look before you go?"
Huan Changming didn't want to delay a moment over such a momentous matter as reviving his Pianpian. He looked at the other party with murderous intent in his eyes, "If you dare to block my way again, I will take your life."
The other party was so frightened by his gaze that their legs went weak, but in just a short while, the last competing item was brought up.
The bat spirit introduced in a high-pitched voice: "With autumn water as her spirit and jade as her bones... such a spiritually gifted and handsome person is probably a rare sight even in thousands of years!"
The Underworld Lord tilted his body, causing Huan Changming to turn to the side, his gaze involuntarily drifting towards the floating platform.
A young man stood beside the bat spirit, dressed in a thin red gauze robe. His chest and legs were faintly visible through the red gauze, revealing a smooth, white sheen.
Although the young man was dressed in gaudy gauze clothes, his slender figure stood as straight as a pine tree, and the silver shackles that imprisoned his wrists could not bend him.
His face was covered by a veil, but the red dot on his forehead was strikingly beautiful.
The eyes that were visible, however, held no allure whatsoever; they were as calm and still as autumn water, clear and pristine.
He was the one who was imprisoned, yet at this moment he looked down at them with the gaze of a high and mighty god.
Such nobility and purity aroused lustful thoughts in the hearts of those present, who wanted to pull him down from the high platform, to ravage and play with him, to conquer him beneath them, and to obtain stimulation and pleasure.
Huan Changming was the only exception.
He stared intently into those eyes, his heart pounding so hard it felt like it was going to burst.
He didn't hear a single one of the rising bids. He flew out of the pavilion, leaped onto the floating platform, grabbed the other person's wrist, his Adam's apple bobbed, and his mouth opened and closed several times, but he couldn't utter a single word.
Shao Yan's hand was held by Huan Changming, and his eyes, as clear as autumn water, slowly met Huan Changming's blue eyes. There was no change in Shao Yan's eyes; they remained calm.
Huan Changming's throat tightened, and he was about to speak when the bat demon interrupted him, "This guest, if you want our competing item, you'll have to pay for it. So many guests here want it; are you trying to forcibly take someone away?"
"That's right, the highest bidder wins!"
Huan Changming gripped Shao Yan's wrist even tighter, "I'll offer 100,000 taels of gold."
Bat was overjoyed and shouted, "This guest has bid 100,000 gold coins! Is there anyone who bids higher?"
"I'll offer 120,000!"
"I'll offer 150,000!"
"I'll offer 180,000!"
“One million.” Huan Changming pulled off Shao Yan’s veil, revealing the face that haunted his dreams, and said in a hoarse voice, “You are mine now.”
One million gold coins is an astronomical price; once this price is set, no one dares to raise the price.
The bat spirit happily accepted the money and handed the receipt to Huan Changming.
Huan Changming took off his outer robe and draped it over Shao Yan's shoulders, covering his exposed skin.
Shao Yan kept looking at him with indifferent eyes. He had so much to say to his Pian Pian, and he was so excited that he didn't know what to do. He took his hand and jumped off the floating platform. Just as he was about to speak, two demons suddenly rushed over.
"stop!"
Huan Changming shielded Pianpian behind him, holding her hand tightly as if afraid she would escape and disappear again.
"You've already bought one butterfly spirit tonight, and you absolutely cannot take this one with you!"
The newcomers were the Night Demon and the Snake Demon. These two races were extremely lustful, and the two were birds of a feather, extremely obsessed with bedroom arts. Many lesser demons and monsters had been played to death by them in bed.
From the moment they first saw Shao Yan tonight, they harbored wicked thoughts and were determined to capture him, but they were unfortunately thwarted by Huan Changming.
If money can't buy them, then force is the only option to take them back.
As a fellow man, Huan Changming immediately noticed the lust in the eyes of the two men when they looked at him.
"Overestimating one's abilities."
He drew the sword from his hairpin, which grew larger, and slashed forward, sending the Night Demon and the Snake Demon flying several feet away. The entire Nine Netherworld Calamity Tower trembled as a result.
"You dare covet my things? I'll kill you!"
Someone recognized his sword, "This is... the sword of the Demon Lord Changming!"
Huan Changming, who had finally recovered his lost treasure, was now being openly coveted by these lowly fools. He was filled with murderous intent and was about to swing his sword to kill them when someone slapped him hard from behind.
He was completely unprepared for the person behind him. He spat out a mouthful of blood, but still managed to steady himself and hold onto the other person's wrist tightly.
He slowly turned his head to look at Pianpian, and the disbelief in his heart was instantly replaced by understanding.
It was just one slap; he deserved it.
He gave his beautiful face a wry smile. "Do you still resent me?"
The Underworld Lord was huddled in the corner. He was clearly the demon who had kidnapped the Underworld Lord, yet he was still asking Shao Yan if he resented him.
With a forceful pull, the shackles on Huan Changming's wrists snapped, and he freed his hands from Huan's grasp. "What is your intention in abducting the Underworld King?"
Unable to speak, the Underworld King could only keep nudging Shao Yan's feet. Shao Yan noticed something was wrong and casually dispelled the Underworld King's spell. Instead of crying and begging for help, the Underworld King looked at him with some unease, wondering why the Heavenly Emperor had sent him down to find him.
"I...I kidnapped him because I was looking for you."
Faced with Pianpian's questioning, Huan Changming told the truth. He saw that Pianpian's wrists were red from breaking free of the shackles. "If you don't want this thing to lock you up, just tell me and I can help you untie it. Why hurt yourself?"
He reached out to stroke Pianpian's wrist with concern, but she suddenly kicked him, forcing him to step back and dodge. He explained, "I just wanted to see your injury!"
Shao Yan scooped the Underworld King up from the ground and said, "Your crime of kidnapping the Underworld King today will surely be investigated by the Heavenly Realm in the future, but I will spare you for now."
After saying that, he carried the Underworld Lord out of the pavilion and leaped onto the floating platform to leave. Huan Changming chased after him closely, saying, "I kidnapped him to find you. Now that you are safe and sound in front of me, what use is there for me to find him?"
"Don't worry, I will never kidnap the Underworld King again... If you are not happy, I will not go looking for trouble in the Underworld again!" He quickly flashed in front of Shao Yan and softened his tone, saying, "I will agree to whatever you want me to do. I finally found you and I just want to be with you."
"Stop avoiding me, okay?"
He had no murderous intent; on the contrary, he was as gentle and docile as a lamb, letting others manipulate him.
Shao Yan stared at him quietly for a moment, then said, "I don't understand." He then prepared to take Ming Jun away again.
Seeing that his beloved Pianpian was determined to leave, Huan Changming panicked. Remembering the written agreement in his pocket, he immediately took it out and said, "I won't let you leave!"
Shuo paused, and Huan Changming quickly flew to him with joy, trying his best to hide his happiness. "Pianpian, I have so much to say to you. Don't go... I can't lose you again. Don't go."
Shao Yan noticed the still-wet bloodstains on his lips, and suddenly flicked her finger, turning the document in his hand into dust.
"Pianpian, who is that?"
After saying this, he saw Huan Changming's face turn deathly pale.