“There are many guests who have probably not heard of, or very rarely heard of, the Dao School of mechanical puppets!”
This is a kind of Dao magic that originates from refining magic tools, yet it is completely different from a magic tool. Although not many of us here know this, this magic is incredibly popular in the westernmost regions. There is even a sect called the Thousand Bamboo School that relied on this to establish their sect, and they have already developed this Dao technique to an extreme. Rumors have it that top-level mechanical puppeteers can contend with late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators! In addition, rating these mechanical beasts as top-grade magic tools was this store’s decision, when in reality, according to the official classification of mechanical magics, they should be considered grade two puppet beasts!”
Seeing the cultivators below did not seem interested in these mechanical beasts and noticing the awkward silence when no one called out a price, this man hurriedly recited the speech that he had memorized beforehand all at once, hoping to pique the cultivators’ interest.
Although the cultivators below had become somewhat curious after he had finished speaking, no one was willing to do something as silly as pay a hundred spirit stones to buy two doll-like items! In addition, what use would two bodyguards at the ninth layer of Qi Condensation be to the cultivators present?
“One hundred spirit stones!”
A noise sounded out from the corner; there was actually a person who wanted to buy this toy! Instantly, all of the cultivators’ gazes turned towards that corner.
However, this person was not Han Li; rather, it was some person with a covered face sitting in another corner. He had covered his entire head with a large grey bag, appearing to be an extremely ridiculous and strange person!
“A hundred and fifty spirit stones!”
Just as other cultivators felt that the strange person was being wastefully extravagant, the sound of another strange, stiff voice calling out a price resounded in the room.
Now, all of the cultivators in the room were stunned and couldn’t help but glance towards the person who had called out the new price.
A burly person wearing a green cloak sat in the last row of seats, his hands hugging his shoulders. The sound of a new price came from this person’s mouth. When all of the people glanced at this person, this person actually stared back at them coldly, not revealing any trace of uneasiness!
“Two hundred spirit stones!”
“I will pay three hundred pieces!”
“Four hundred!”
“Six hundred!”
……
In the blink of an eye, these two people raised the price of the puppet beasts one after another to an unbelievable price!
At this time, even if the many cultivators in the room were more stupid, they would be able to tell that something was off!
“Could this pair of puppet beasts be hiding some frightening secret?” At this time, this kind of a thought was rising up in all of the cultivators’ hearts.
All the cultivators in the room glanced at each other a few times, and their hearts began to beat loudly. There were even a few financially strong and hasty individuals who directly entered the bidding.
However, a few older cultivators were still somewhat suspicious even as their hearts stirred.
These two people couldn’t have been secretly hired by the store, could they?! Could they have purposefully raised the price of this unprofitable item to incite the rest of them to spend excessively?
The cultivators thinking of this were not few in number, and Han Li was one of the most skeptical ones. Thus, he continued to indifferently watch on, seemingly unmoved in any way.
“I will pay nine hundred spirit stones with the addition of this item!”
Seeing the number of cultivators participating in the auction increasing, the burly, strange man panicked in his heart, and he actually pulled out an item from his storage pouch. Then, he took a few large steps forward and stood before the skinny, tall man, placing it on the table. He used a rough tone of voice to say:
“This kind of an item is worth many thousands of spirit stones! It’s more than enough to exchange for these puppet beasts; quickly give them to me!”
Chapter 225: Iron Essence, Spiritual Medicines
Seeing that the situation was about to get out of hand, the skinny tall male had quickly retrieved the pair of puppet beasts into his storage pouch!
Now, seeing that the burly man had pulled out a black, junk-metal-like object in order to force him to bring out the auction items that had soared in price, he couldn’t help but roll his eyes and say impolitely:
“Everybody, please calm down! You there, we will appraise the item’s worth ourselves, but for now it is more appropriate for you to return to your seat and sit down! Otherwise, this store will assume that you are purposefully creating trouble, and we won’t be polite to you anymore!”
Upon hearing the thin, tall man’s threatening words, the burly man grew very angry at first.
In his own sect, he was a person with a great identity. When faced with this kind of annoyance, tens of thousands of people would respond to his call! He immediately raised his fists and was about to break out in anger!
However, when that person glanced at the strange figure wearing a hood on his head, he discovered that the other person was watching him like a statue; a trace of gloating flitted across his eyes, causing the burly man’s heart to quiver! After thinking better of it, he actually forcefully restrained the anger in his heart, suddenly turning around and returning to his seat.
Some cultivators who had thought that they would see an entertaining scene play out couldn’t help but feel somewhat disappointed.
The auction of the puppet beasts was going to continue! However, that black item had already been handed to the trio sitting on the sandalwood chairs. At that time, they were discussing the item in low tones. Although their exact expressions were unclear because they were wearing masks, their solemn attitude was clearly seen by all of the cultivators!
That palm-sized, black piece of foundry iron was examined thoroughly multiple times by the three figures before they finally reached a unanimous decision. Then, a black-clothed person stood up in their midst and loudly declared:
“One piece of high-quality iron essence, worth two thousand spirit stones!”
Then, that person returned to his seat without saying another word.
“Iron essence?”
The cultivators who heard these two words couldn’t help but feel shock in their hearts! The person who had wanted to call out another price immediately shut his mouth tight, unwilling to say another word!
Everybody thought with consternation, could this fellow actually be a Core Formation expert? Otherwise, where did he obtain the iron essence!
This was a magic treasure material that could only be refined by a Core Formation expert’s Dan fire. Under normal circumstances, cultivators who finished refining this ingredient would immediately assimilate it into their own magic treasures to raise its strength! They would not allow this kind of material to be easily spread out.
If even a tiny bit of this iron essence magic treasure ingredient were to be mixed into a regular magic tool, its strength would greatly increase; even raising a grade was not an impossibility! Thus, the value of this ingredient was outrageous!
The burly man from earlier, could he be a Core Formation cultivator who had purposefully suppressed his aura and pretended to be at the Foundation Establishment stage?! Low-level cultivators could not tell the depth of a Core Formation cultivator!
Just when all of the cultivators were frightened in their hearts and had many suspicions...
The skinny, tall man, under the prompting of the three people behind him, finally opened his mouth again and shouted:
“Is there anyone else who is willing to place a bid above two thousand nine hundred? If not, this pair of puppet beasts will all belong to to this brother!”
&nb
sp; The skinny, tall man seemingly still wanted to pull the price slightly higher; thus, he purposefully uttered these words leisurely, obviously intending to stall for time.
But which cultivator in the large room still dared to randomly call out prices!
Since these people were able to attend this time’s auction, they naturally were not common characters. Either they were important figures from a cultivator clan or they had reached the Foundation Establishment stage; however, when faced with a suspected Core Formation expert, which one of them dared to ask for trouble?
In addition, even if this person was not a Core Formation cultivator, this person at least had a Core Formation expert backing him. Thus, even if one coveted the puppet beast’s secrets, there was no one who was willing to signal themselves out, so they could only stare at the treasure.
The strange person who had gone tit for tat with him from the beginning similarly sat without saying a word. Nobody knew if he had been frightened by that piece of iron essence or if he was embarrassingly short of money and simply couldn’t pull out that many spirit stones.
Upon hearing about the iron essence, Han Li also felt very shocked. That cheap master of his had lost two pieces of iron essence to Senior Eccentric Qiong. At that time, seeing his master’s depressed expression, he knew that this item was extremely precious and valuable.
Just like that, this pair of puppet beasts fell into the burly man’s hands without any further contest. When he received the puppet beasts, he was so excited that his hands shook slightly!
However, this provoked the cultivators’ recklessness even more. A large portion of them even wished that they could just seize it in order to precisely research the secrets hidden within!
After receiving the puppet beasts, the burly man wearing a cloak immediately left his seat and walked towards the stone doors, but when he reached them, he discovered that the stone doors had actually been tightly shut from the outside! He forcefully pushed on the door twice, but it did not budge an inch!
“What is the meaning of this!”
“Could it be that even though I bought an item, I’m still not allowed to leave?” The man’s tone of voice became somber; his accent, which was already somewhat strange, became even more pronounced and uncomfortable to hear.
“Of course not! When the trades finish, we will immediately open the doors and allow you to leave. However, we cannot do so right now.” The person who spoke directly at this moment was not the skinny, tall man running the auction, but rather the black-clothed person sitting on the left.
“What? What kind of reasoning is this? I want to leave this place immediately!” The man began to rage, and his voice grew increasingly loud.
“Regretfully, this truly is this store’s rule. We use some of these methods to prevent any kinds of unfortunate accidents from occurring! Sir, surely it can’t be that you can’t even wait this small amount of time!” With a low, hoarse voice, the black-clothed person on the right exclaimed in a very gloomy manner.
“Humph! Of course I can continue to wait. Do you think that I’m afraid of you? I've changed my mind. I want to see if any good items will come out next!” It was unknown what this man had thought, but he suddenly changed his attitude and swaggered back to his seat.
This caused the others to stare blankly and feel greatly shocked. What was this person thinking? Could it be that the longer this person stayed here, the more in danger he would be?
At this time, the majority of the cultivators present had already seen that this person truly was in the Foundation Establishment realm. Otherwise, how could he be content with being put into his place? However, the secret store’s representatives had seemingly known the actual situation of the burly man from the beginning and didn’t seem to have any intentions of backing down!
Since the burly man did not leave, the auction in the room continued! However, the hearts of the majority of the people did not return to the auction; there was actually the cold scene of two items in a row being auctioned without a single person calling out a bid. This caused that skinny, tall man to begin feeling incredibly awkward.
However, this auction had also neared its end. The really precious items and the climax of the auction had finally begun!
“Top-grade spiritual medicine, one thousand year-old Yellow Essence Mushrooms. I will not say any more superfluous words. Everyone here is most likely even clearer than I am about this medicinal herb’s value!”
The skinny, tall man had just finished saying this when a green jade box appeared in his hand.
Then, he put on an act and glanced at all of the cultivators; seeing that everyone’s attention had been attracted by the thousand-year-old herbal medicine, he said, secretly happy:
“This thousand year-old spirit medicine has only appeared a few times in the past hundred years; buying it to refine spiritual pills will definitely result in realm-shattering creations. It is the optimal opportunity to greatly increase one’s magic power. Thus, the base price starts from five hundred spirit stones!”
Having said this, the skinny, tall man pulled off the lid to the jade box, then picked it up and showed the medicinal herb to the cultivators.
In an instant, a thick, medicinal fragrance filled the entire large room, causing the cultivators to feel both surprised and happy!
They were surprised because they had never expected that this kind of unique treasure would appear at this auction! They were happy because if they were able to buy it and use it to refine medicine, it would be exactly like the other person had said—better than any top-grade magic tool! After all, what was being raised was one’s own magic power, instead of any kind of borrowed, external power!
Thus, after the skinny, tall man mentioned the base price, someone impatiently opened their mouth!
“A thousand spirit stones!”
As soon as one cultivator opened his mouth, the price of this spiritual herb had doubled! This caused many people who wanted to call out a price to be infuriated to the point of shouting abuse at them incessantly! However, immediately afterwards, people continued to raise the price.
“A thousand two hundred spirit stones!”
“A thousand......”
……
The people calling out prices continued one after another; in the blink of an eye, it broke through the large bottleneck of two thousand. Meanwhile, Han Li was staring at the thousand year-old spiritual medicine on the table in a trance!
When he first heard about the thousand year-old spiritual herb, he did not pay much attention to it. He only thought that a thousand-year old herb had been discovered in another location.
However, when the skinny, tall man showed off the thousand year-old Yellow Essence Mushroom in the box, Han Li immediately determined that the purported top-grade spiritual medicine was actually one of the two that he had sold to the Myriad Treasure Store earlier. This was because he had personally raised this spiritual medicine, so how could he not recognize it?
However, since the spiritual medicine was already in the hands of the Myriad Treasures Store, Han Li wouldn’t worry himself about the matter anymore! Thus, after slightly blanking out for a while, Han Li regained consciousness, watching the many cultivators fight with one another as if nothing had happened.
Hearing the rapid auctioning noises from these cultivators, Han Li felt somewhat self-satisfied in his heart!
After all, to have an item that one previously possessed cause other people to be so frantic could also be considered a source of pride!
Chapter 226: Five Elements Reversal Formation
A few cultivators quickly ran out of spirit stones on hand, and one by one, they started to put up a few rare goods as collateral. In addition, each item became increasingly expensive and rare, causing Han Li to feel overwhelmed!
“I’ll use my Five Elements Reversal Formation establishment set in exchange for that spiritual herb!”
It was unknown who suddenly said those nervous words that caused the rowdy a
nd disorderly cultivators to become quiet.
It wasn’t because this person voice was loud, but because he uttered the truly famous name of “Reversal Five Elements Formation”. It was a name known to nearly everyone that there were few who did not know! In a few aspects, this formation was absolutely more valuable to a few cultivator clans and cultivator sects than the thousand year-old spiritual medicine.
Apart from covering a small area and having no offensive power, this reputed restrictive formation spell could transform and conceal a sect mountain, confusing and trapping enemies. It wasn’t weaker than the large protective formations of those great sects in the slightest.
If their own clan or sect had such a wondrous formation, they would have no reason not to use it.
However, it was said that if one were not a great formation spell master experienced with this kind of impressive restrictive spell, one would have to spend about a year of hard work and a great amount of labor and resources and still not be able to set it up, not to mention turning such a wondrous formation into a magic tool!
If this were true, this auction would be a truly wondrous matter that would greatly broaden one’s horizons!
When Han Li heard this, a lively expression flashed through his eyes, and his spirit was moved. He then turned his head to look at the person who spoke those words.
It was an extremely unremarkable Qi Condensation disciple with a short and thick stature wearing a tiger mask. It was truly not the person one would expect of someone that would possess such a wondrous item! However, a bit of anxiety could be seen from his eye.
“Your esteemed self possesses a Five Elements Reversal Formation establishment set?” After a moment of surprise, the tall and thin man asked this calmly as he sized up the youth with a gaze full of suspicion. Although he didn’t seem very convinced, if the other party truly possessed this formation spell magic tool, the thousand year-old medicine herb would naturally go uncontested to this person.
A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248 Page 117