Zhu Guo'er stepped forward and gave an affirmative response, and the 12 fragrant maidens also stood up obediently before making their way over to her.

"Aside from those 12 fragrant maidens, our trade guild has prepared several other presents that we hope you'll also accept, Senior Han," the woman in purple said with a smile.

She then clapped her hands together, and three handsome young foreign beings strode in from outside the hall, each carrying a silver platter with a red cloth draped over it.

Han Li cast his gaze over the three platters, and was able to immediately identify what they were, upon which he quickly waved a hand in refusal. "These fragrant maidens are already an extremely precious present; I can't accept anything else from your guild."

The woman in purple faltered slightly upon hearing this, but she then immediately dismissed the three young men. "Seeing as those presents aren't to your liking, I naturally won't force you to accept them. I'm sure you must be tired from your journey, Senior; how about I take you to your resting quarters and we'll discuss everything else tomorrow?"

"I am indeed in need of some rest. Please lead the way, Fellow Daoist," Han Li replied with a nod.

Thus, the woman in purple quickly made her way out of the hall, followed closely by Han Li's group.

As soon as they exited the hall, they were immediately greeted by the sight of a lively and bustling scene.

They had emerged onto a bluestone street that wasn't extremely crowded, but it was still very lively with many beings of different descriptions walking along the street.

There were also some shops on either side of the street that were being frequently visited, and those who emerged from the shops all wore different expressions depending on whether they had found what they wanted in those shops.

What was quite surprising to Han Li was that all of the people on the street possessed lofty cultivation bases, and there were even beings at or above the Core Formation Stage among the workers in the shops.

Han Li released his spiritual sense further into the distance to find that this wasn't the only street in the area; there were also streets and dense clusters of buildings in all other directions, forming a small town with a radius of less than 100 kilometers.

As for the hall behind them, it had disappeared as soon as they had exited it, making it seem as if they had appeared onto the street out of thin air.

However, all of the passersby completely disregarded this as if it were a common occurrence.

"Were these people all invited by your trade guild to attend the auction?" Han Li asked as he withdrew his spiritual sense.

"Of course not. Most of the guests that are participating in the auction are resting in the guest pavilions; the majority of the people here are members of our trade guild, and they're taking advantage of this opportunity to seek out some rare items. Even for members of our guild, they have to be of a certain status or cultivation base if they want to participate in the auction," the woman in purple replied with a smile.

"I see." Han Li nodded in response.

Right at this moment, the woman in purple made a hand seal, and a cloud of white mist immediately emerged beneath her feet before carrying the entire group toward the other end of the street.

"The venue for the auction is just over there; all of the attendees will be invited to that venue prior to the auction's commencement. Aside from the auction items that have already been made public knowledge, there will be several treasures that will be extremely useful even to Grand Ascension Stage seniors, so I'm sure you won't be disappointed," the woman in purple introduced while pointing at a certain tall pagoda in the distance.

"That's the auction venue? It doesn't look very big; could it be that there's more to the venue than meets the eye?" Han Li asked.

"Your wisdom is truly unmatched, Senior. This pagoda is merely an entrance to the true auction venue, and it was designed this way so that we wouldn't have to worry about anyone harboring sinister motives targeting the auction," the woman in purple replied in a respectful voice.

"Looks like your trade guild really has expended a lot of effort to make this auction a success. May I ask how many Grand Ascension Stage fellow daoists will be in attendance?" Han Li asked.

"There's still around a month left until the official commencement of the auction, so I can't tell you the exact number of Grand Ascension Stage attendees, but over 20 Grand Ascension Stage seniors have already arrived, which is a higher number than many of our past auctions," the woman in purple replied.

"Over 20? It's very impressive that your trade guild was able to attract so many Grand Ascension Stage fellow daoists in such a short time," Han Li praised.

"You're far too kind, Senior. It's not the merit of our trade guild that has attracted so many seniors. Instead, all of these seniors are willing to travel all the way here as they know that they'll be able to reap some rewards during our auction," the woman in purple replied with a smile.

"Hehe, it sounds like you're very confident in this auction. By the way, I've heard that spots for intercontinental teleportation will be available for sale; is that still available?" Han Li asked.

The woman was rather taken aback by this question, but she still replied truthfully, "The intercontinental teleportation spots are one of the special auction items, and they're always in high demand every edition of the auction, so they naturally won't be canceled for no good reason. However, there's currently an issue with the super teleportation formation leading to the Thunder Continent, so those spots have been canceled, and more spots have been provided for teleportation to the Blood Sky Continent."

"The spots to the Thunder Continent have been canceled?" Han Li's expression changed slightly upon hearing this.

"That's right. Could it be that you were planning to travel to the Thunder Continent, Senior?"

"It doesn't have to be the Thunder Continent; I was planning to make a trip to the Blood Sky Continent sooner or later anyway. However, it looks like I'll have to make some changes to my original plans," Han Li replied with a calm expression.

Zhu Guo'er and the others were also quite surprised to hear this, and they were all displaying different reactions.

A short while later, the cloud carried Han Li's group to the edge of the town, then descended into a lush forest.

The forest was filled with extremely pure spiritual Qi, and there were only several intricately crafted clusters of buildings situated there.

There was a distance of several kilometers between each cluster of buildings, and they were all separated by lush greenery to ensure privacy while also presenting some beautiful scenery to behold.

The woman in purple led Han Li's group to one of the clusters, and seven or eight servants immediately emerged from inside before falling to their knees in front of Han Li and the others.

"This is one of our esteemed guest pavilion areas. These are the servants here; you can keep them here if you'd like. Otherwise, if you think they'll only get in your way, then you can immediately dismiss them as well," the woman in purple said with a smile.

"With the fragrant maidens that were just gifted to me, I'll have no need for these servants, so they can go for now," Han Li replied.

The woman in purple immediately gave an affirmative response before dismissing the servants, and they all departed after extending respectful bows.

"Feel free to take a rest here, Senior Han; I'll send someone to notify you when the auction is about to begin. By the way, if you have some spare time, you can explore the town; perhaps you'll reap some unexpected rewards. I'll be taking my leave now," the woman in purple said.

"Thank you, Fellow Daoist, I'll be sure to do so." Han Li displayed no intention to keep the woman, and she rose up into the air again before quickly departing from the forest.

"Let's go. The trade guild is clearly trying to appease us, so there's no need for us to be too reserved," Han Li said before making his way toward the pavilion, followed closely by the blood soul and the others.

A short while later, all of them appeared in the hall on the first floor of the pavilion, and Han Li was situated on the main seat with everyone else standing respectfully beside him.

As for the 12 fragrant maidens, they had already been assigned tasks by Zhu Guo'er.

"Senior Han, are you really planning to go to the Blood Sky Continent first?" the blood soul asked with a hint of anticipation intermingled with hesitation in her eyes.

"That's right, unless you have some other way through which we can go to the Thunder Continent first," Han Li replied.

"Surely you jest, Senior; if I had another way, I would've already revealed it," the blood soul said with a wry smile. "In that case, let's go to the Blood Sky Continent first; we'll just have to find a way to get to the Thunder Continent from the Blood Sky Continent. I've never been to the Blood Sky Continent, but I've heard many tales about it. Aside from the vastly renowned Blood Dao devilish arts on that continent, there are also several mysterious inheritances that are apparently able to kill enemies without being detected even from tens of thousands of kilometers away. I'm sure you must've come into contact with some of these things, Fellow Daoist Blood Soul," Han Li said as a serious look appeared on his face.