“Chi Lao must be joking. Having a tool refinement master to host the auction is exactly what we would want!”
“Not bad, not bad! Brother Chi’s personal appraisal can’t be wrong. We’ll be more at ease.”
...
Praise repeatedly sounded through the floating rooms.
Although many of the cultivators didn’t say anything, they also raised no opposition. It appeared that the white-robed old man was quite famous.
The old man continued, “In order for everyone to know what’s going on, I’ll give you a preview of what to expect. There will be three items of extraordinary value. They were rarely seen in the last several hundred years. Among them are top quality items from the wilderness, and a spirit treasure that has rose up to the primal myriad spirit rankings. As for the last item, it is an entire set of cultivation arts that was left behind by a late-stage Body Integration Senior that shook the worlds of both humans and demons.”
The cultivators were greatly alarmed as if they couldn't believe what they just heard. The entire hall was filled with silence.
The item from the wilderness wasn’t much as it was unknown, but a spirit treasure on the primal spirit rankings and the primary cultivation art of a Body Integration stage cultivator were incredibly rare treasures. If any of those items appeared on the outside, it would provoke a massacre.
As the hearts of these cultivators heavily thumped, the atmosphere became extremely grave.
“Brother Chi, since there are such important items at the auction, why wasn’t it advertised so we could prepare more spirit stones? Why was it kept hidden?” An odd childlike voice sounded from one of the stone rooms.
Having already anticipated this question, the old man smiled and answered, “Fellow Daoist, don’t worry. The reason why the auction was kept a secret is that the owner of these three treasures are the same person and had personally made this request to the auction. As for why, I do not know, but the auction didn’t refuse it. However, I can guarantee that these treasures are genuine. Of course, since these headline treasures may have arrived on short notice, but you may trade for these treasures using items of equivalent value. The items will be priced a tenth below the value that three of the market’s appraisal grandmasters and me, so feel at ease!”
When they heard his reply, the cultivators felt a sense of amazement. Feeling overjoyed, they felt no further need to ask any questions.
Old Man Chi saw there were no more objections and promptly announced the start of the bid with a clap of his hands.
Over ten various colored lights promptly flew out onto the stage.
After the light faded, ten beautiful palace-robed women appeared from behind him.
Each woman possessed Core Formation cultivation and held a box of varying size.
“Following convention, we will begin the auction with finished goods and then move on to materials and secret techniques. The headline items will be auctioned last. For the first item of the auction, we have three bottles of the Brightheart Pills, cultivation progression medicine for Deity Transformation cultivators. Starting bid is three hundred thousand spirit stones with each increase being at least fifty thousand.” The white-robed old man waved his hand.
Suddenly, one of the women gracefully walked in front of him and raised her hand, opening the box to reveal three small jade bottles.
The old man waved his hand in front of the bottles and summoned one into his hand.
He skillfully opened it and tilted it, dropping a pure white crystalline pill into his hand.
Its dense medicinal sense immediately scattered.
The white-haired old man promptly held the pill in two of his fingers and waved it towards the cultivators.
An inconceivable event occurred.
The shining pill’s surface immediately released an azure and red glow. They were dazzling as if they were gems. And the air filled with its medicinal scent became several times stronger.
“I’ve already demonstrated the Brightheart Pill’s characteristics to you. I’m sure you don’t have any further doubts. You may begin the bid!”
“Three hundred fifty thousand!”
“Four hundred thousand!”
“Four hundred fifty!”
Suddenly, a large and a small ball of purple light appeared above the platform. It lit up to show the number of spirit stones on the current bid and which room the bidder was in.
From the start of the auction, the price surged. It appeared that these Deity Transformation cultivators had great uses for these spirit stones.
This was to be expected. Although the headline items were temping, a majority of cultivators couldn't hope to acquire time. It was better to take advantage of this opportunity to grab smaller items while the rich were distracted.
After Han Li returned to his abode, he would be able to refine the Clear Jade Pill and wouldn’t need to bid on similar items. He simply watched the bid until the pills were won for six hundred thousand spirit stones.
At that moment, many others had the same thoughts as Han Li: to quietly wait until the auction of the three headline items.
To tell the truth, Han Li was somewhat interested in the spirit treasure and the divine materials, but he wasn’t going to participate in the auction.
However, the main cultivation technique of the late Body Integration stage cultivator greatly tempted him.
Chapter 1340: Auction
Han Li’s Azure Essence Sword Art had been cultivated to the peak of its potential.
Although his other abilities are powerful, once his Divine Essensefused light was fully cultivated, its might grew alongside his cultivation. The Heavenly Spirit Engulfing Flame also relied on his body’s progression to increase its power. Neither of them were of any assistance in increasing his cultivation stage.
Without a suitable technique guiding his cultivation, his body would surely implode from excessive spiritual Qi if he continued to rely on pills.
Now that Han Li wanted to increase his cultivation, there were two paths for him.
One was what common cultivators used: find another set of high-grade cultivation arts to continue cultivation. However, suddenly changing to an unfamiliar cultivation art midway was bound to be inevitable. Furthermore, if he wasn’t careful, it would produce conflict with his original cultivation art and produce fewer results than the effort he put in.
The other cultivation method was to read through the experiences of body refiners, figuring out a path that was rarely tread.
That was magic and body dual cultivation. He would have to seek out a devilish sect or demon clan’s technique related to body refinement.
Both devilish sect and demon clan techniques will not only strengthen his body to a high level when cultivated, but they will also increase his magic power.
However, not only is this method rarely seen, but it is also incredibly difficult. Although some human cultivators chose this method, those that succeeded were a sparse few.
Originally, the potential of a human’s body couldn't compare to the Elder Devils and the demon clan. Once a human’s flesh body was cultivated to a certain strength, it couldn't be progressed further apart from outstanding individuals.
But when dual cultivation progresses to the highest levels, not only will one possess astonishing power, but their chances of breaking through bottlenecks are far beyond similar level cultivators. This caused Han Li to feel a bit of conflict over what to choose.
He did happen to possess a set of dual cultivation arts. They are the Heavenbearing Devil Art and the techniques from the Sacred Provenance Plate.
Han Li already confirmed that those two techniques are closely related to one another and the Brightjade Arts.
Since all three techniques can be cultivated separately and all possessed their own abilities, they can be considered a set of cultivation arts and can be cultivated in sequence.
If he cultivated them without relation to one another, the other two techniques wouldn’t ha
ve a previous foundation for cultivation and the strength would be only displayed at a tenth of its potential. But if he cultivated them together from the very start and restored the set of dual cultivation arts, they would reach their full potential. Although these techniques originated from an extremely powerful devilish art from the True Devil Realm, after passing through expert revisions from the human Buddhist sects and the devilish Dao as well as the demon clan, they were now entirely different. Cultivating magic and body didn’t use true devil Qi, but worldly essence Qi.
Although Han Li researched this on his own and felt that these three techniques could be cultivated together, in truth, there hasn’t been any human that attempted it before.
When the Buddhist Sect’s Brightjade Arts and the Devil Dao’s Heavenbearing Devil Arts were created, they were regarded as different cultivation techniques. And the Sacred Provenance Plate’s techniques was a legacy passed down by the mortal realm’s demon king. It was missing two parts, but it couldn't be the same as the Brightjade Arts and the Heavenbearing Devil Arts.
If he truly cultivated them together, who knows what problems he could encounter.
However, it was without question that the Heavenly Provenance Plate was a dual cultivation technique that far exceeded others. And the might of his body cultivating the Brightjade Arts has become brutal to the point of being able to use brute strength to fight Nascent Soul cultivators. If he could cultivate the other two, who knows what power he could achieve.
Cultivating purely magic power or dual cultivation each had their advantages and downsides. The first made quicker progression, was easier to cultivate, and was more reliable. The other kind was difficult and risky, but it led to overbearing strength. It would also increase his chances of even greater cultivation.
As a result, Han Li still remained hesitant and had yet to come to a true decision.
He had always made note of commonly cultivated high-grade techniques, but he never came across anything suitable in the market. It wasn’t that there wasn’t any high-grade Spatial Tempering arts being sold, but after using the Divine Essensefused Light and the Heavenly Spirit Engulfing Flames, he felt common techniques to be beneath him.
Now that he heard a set of late-Body Integration stage techniques were being auctioned, his heart stirred.
If the cultivation art was truly suitable, he would give up his shaky path on dual cultivation.
As Han Li pondered this with worry, Old Man Chi auctioned off the medicine pills in succession. They were all auctioned off at several times their base price.
After all the medicine pills had finished bidding, all of the female cultivators holding the boxes flew up to the winners of the bid and exchanged them for spirit stones.
Most of them, including the Brightheart Pill, were used for early-Deity Transformation stage cultivators.
Only two of them were for mid-stage Deity Transformation cultivators while none of them were for late-stage cultivators.
This was no surprise.
Even with the density of spiritual Qi and abundance of spiritual medicines in the spirit realm, the primary ingredients for Deity Transformation-stage medicine pills were found in the wilderness. If the herbs could be raised by humans, they would either take too much time or were difficult to nurture.
As such, it was naturally rare for Deity Transformation-stage medicine pills to appear on sale.
Furthermore, the success rate of refining these medicines were incredibly low.
Even if one succeeded in creating a late-stage medicine pill, he would keep it for himself, not auction it off.
This was why even in Deep Heaven City, where pill refinement materials were abundant, early Deity Transformation-stage medicines are always scarce, let alone those for mid-stage.
With the auction for medicine pills over, the old man waved his hand and the women behind him immediately took another set of boxes.
They opened the boxes to reveal different-styled jade boxes. They were medicine as well, but they weren’t for cultivation progression. They were antidotes and for healing wounds.
Another round of bidding began.
These medicine pills weren’t nearly as well received. Although they were all bid away, their prices were far lower than the last round.
To a cultivator, one could never lack for cultivation medicine. These kinds of assistance medicines would only be prepared in few numbers, so they wouldn’t be fiercely bid on.
One that was done, the women took out wooden boxes with restriction talismans out of their storage bracelet. It was then that the lax atmosphere in the hall became more fervent.
These talismans were all torn off to reveal treasures of sparkling light.
There were more commonly seen magic blades and sabers, but there were also seals, medallion, mirrors, and other top-grade ancient treasures of rarer forms.
The white-robed old man soon reached out to one of the boxes and summoned a bronze token into his hand.
They saw the old man toss the token into the air and formed an incantation gesture, striking it with a spell seal.
After it twirled through the air, it suddenly turned into three hollow copies and shot out. It turned into three twenty-meter long pythons, one azure, one red, one white, and all sitting in a coil while suspended in midair. They all looked formidable.
Old Man Chi spoke with a clear tone, “Venomous Python Token. The primary material to refine them was three snake-type ancient beasts. Control their soul manifestations to attack. Joined together, they will be at the level of three Nascent Soul-stage assistants. It can be considered to be a rare exceptional treasure. Starting bid is at two million spirit stones. Each increase will add a hundred thousand!”
“Two million!” Although three Nascent Soul assistants aren’t much in the eyes of a Deity Transformation cultivator, in a crucial moment it could be used as a surprise move.
“Two million two hundred thousand!” After a brief silence, the bidding war started.
“Two million three hundred!”
...
Each of the treasures were bidded. After two waves, the final treasures on display were spirit treasures. The prices had reached a height of disbelief.
Although they were only lowest grade spirit treasures, the Spatial Tempering-stage cultivators continued to vie for them.
Each spirit treasure would greatly increase their odds of surviving greater tribulation. In past auctions, headline items would likely be on par with these spirit treasures.
However, there were a few Spatial Tempering-stage cultivators that viewed this with indifference. They were saving their bids for the last three items.
Although it can be considered a spirit treasure, common spirit treasures and a Divine Spirit Treasure on the primal myriad spirit rankings were vastly different in power. If one had an opportunity to take ahold of such a treasure, they wouldn’t easily relinquish it.
All this time, Han Li hadn’t participated in any bids and remained quiet in his room.
Then came time for the rare materials and secret techniques to be auctioned off. Han Li quickly paid attention with roused spirits.
A rare item and a rare cultivation art were quickly bid on.
And when the white-robed old man uttered the words, “A vial of True Toad Spirit Blood”, Han Li’s face lit up.
He originally thought to bid on it, but when the white-haired old man said the starting bid was at one million five hundred thousand spirit stones, Han Li’s mouth twitched.
This starting price was far higher than the other materials that were auctioned.
Before Han Li could think of the number of spirit stones to offer for the spirit liquid, he suddenly heard a price that caused his heart to sink.
“Three million spirit stones!” A voice lazily spoke from a remote corner of the hall.
Other cultivators that wanted to offer a bid fell silent and he all looked over in shock.
It was a pity that they weren’t able to see anything due to the
restrictions of the rooms.
True Toad Liquid Blood was the required material to refine True Toad Liquid, but a price of three million was beyond the upper bound of most bidders.
For a time, the hall fell deathly quiet.
Han Li tensely frowned and looked at the auction stage. The white-robed old man was holding the bottle of liquid with a wavering expression.
Chapter 1341: True Spirit Scale
Han Li was naturally able to afford the price of 3,000,000 spirit stones.
Even if he did have spirit herbs that could be sold for large amounts of spirit stones, he definitely wouldn't sell too many of these herbs during a short period of time.
Otherwise, if someone were to discover what he was doing, it could spell a lot of trouble for him!
The one who had just placed a bid seemed to be intent on securing this jar of True Toad Spirit Blood. Even if he were to place a bid of 3,000,000 spirit stones, that may not be enough, and he would definitely attract attention from others.
Furthermore, such a small amount of spirit blood would only be enough for him to familiarize himself with the True Toad Liquid refinement process; it wouldn't actually be sufficient to refine much spirit medicine.
As such, following a period of contemplation, Han Li decided not to place any further bids.
Just because Han Li had bowed out from the bidding didn't mean that everyone else was also going to give up on it.
Just a few moments later, a few more people placed a string of bids. These people were clearly all late-Deity Transformation cultivators who desperately needed the True Toad Liquid to break through their cultivation bottlenecks; a normal cultivator definitely wouldn't be willing to pay such a hefty price.
After an intense bout of bids, the jar of True Toad Spirit Blood was successfully secured by the first bidder at an astronomical price of 4,000,000 spirit stones.
The fact that the item had been purchased for such a high price naturally attracted a lot of attention, and many of the cultivators present were frequently stealing glances at the stone cabin, trying to figure out just who was in there.
A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248 Page 747