"Hehe, I had thought that you hadn't noticed her, Brother Han. According to what I've heard, this Dai'er is a direct lineal descendant of Fellow Daoist Xiao, and she's vastly renowned among the younger generation of the demon race. I've heard that not only does she possess astonishing cultivation aptitude, she also possesses beauty in equal measure and is known as Fairy Phoenix Spirit. Countless demonic young men have become infatuated after seeing her true appearance and have sought out a relationship with her, all to no avail," Peng Jue replied with a smile.
"True appearance?" Han Li's expression changed slightly upon hearing this.
"It's no wonder that you haven't heard about this, Fellow Daoist Han; her current appearance has been concealed by Fellow Daoist Xiao using one of her bonded true feathers. Unless one were to remove the feather, no one would be able to glean her true appearance no matter what powerful abilities they possess. According to Fellow Daoist Xiao, this was a precautionary measure taken to avoid potential trouble during the Myriad Treasure Convention. Are you interested in her as well, Fellow Daoist Han?
"Come to think of it, you may be a Body Integration cultivator, but you're certainly a lot younger than other fellow Daoists of the same cultivation base. If you were to pursue her, I think you would have a decent chance. Apparently, she's not a pureblood member of the Black Phoenix Race, but half-human, half-demon instead," Peng Jue said with a suggestive smile.
Of course, he was only making a joke and didn't seriously think that Han Li was interested in pursuing a romantic relationship with this Dai'er.
"Surely you jest, Brother Peng. I was only asking as I had sensed that woman possesses a rather unique disposition. Hehe, it's about time I went in as well," Han Li replied with a smile.
Peng Jue didn't think too much of this and cupped his fist in another salute. "I still have to wait for other fellow Daoists, so I won't accompany you any further."
At this moment, another female servant strode over to Han Li before leading his trio into the palace.
In the instant that Han Li turned away from Peng Jue, a contemplative look resurfaced in his eyes. After the group passed through a long corridor paved with white jade, they arrived in a massive hall that was split up into several levels.
This was a circular hall that was tens of thousands of feet in size with a white jade platform that was over 100 feet tall at the center.
There was no one on the platform, but balls of spiritual light were shimmering incessantly at its four corners. Situated at each of those four corners was a silver flying sword that was around three feet in length.
Beneath the platform were eight golden-armored halberd-wielding guards. Their faces had all been concealed behind silver visors, and black baleful Qi was swirling around their bodies, presenting a rather mysterious sight to behold.
Han Li glanced at the four flying swords and eight golden-armored warriors as blue light flashed through his eyes, and his expression changed slightly.
Not only were all of the flying swords spirit treasures, they also had a certain type of connection between one another, so it was quite clear that they comprised a set of treasures.
Each flying sword was already a spirit treasure on its own, so the combination of the four would naturally be extremely powerful.
As for the eight armored guards, Han Li couldn't sense any magic power fluctuations from them, but the black baleful Qi swirling around their bodies was an indication of how fearsome they were.
With that in mind, Han Li's trio was led by the servant to the highest level of the hall, which was the third level, and they were guided into an extremely intricately decorated room.
The room was only around 70 to 80 feet in size, but it was complete with tables and chairs, as well as pots of spirit flowers growing in each of the four corners.
There was a square window on the wall facing the tall platform, and there was faint white mist in front of the window, preventing others from being able to see into the room, but it didn't obstruct the vision of those in the room in the slightest.
"Senior, are you pleased with this VIP room? If not, I can take you to another one," the servant asked in a respectful manner.
"No need; I'm happy with this one," Han Li replied in an indifferent manner.
"In that case, I'll be taking my leave. Feel free to call for me if you need me; I'll be standing outside the door," the servant said as she lowered her head.
Han Li nodded in response before waving a dismissive hand, and the servant immediately left the room and closed the door gently behind her.
Meanwhile, Hai Yuetian and Qi Lingzi were constantly inspecting the room in a curious manner, and their eyes finally fell upon the window.
Han Li strode over to one of the chairs in front of the window before taking a seat. In front of the chair was a green wooden table, upon which sat a formation plate that he could use to place bids.
Han Li merely took an errant glance at everything before casting his gaze out the window again in an expressionless manner.
At this point, tens of thousands of humans and demons were already visible through the window, and they had taken up all of the seats on the first and second levels.
Most of them were at the Deity Transformation Stage and Spatial Tempering Stage. As for Body Integration Stage beings like Han Li, all of them were naturally guided to individual cabins on the third floor.
Han Li looked around, and after discovering that there was nothing worth seeing for the moment, he closed his eyes to rest.
Hai Yuetian and Qi Lingzi naturally stood behind him on either side in a respectful manner.
After a long while, the chatter and commotion coming from down below suddenly cut off, and the entire massive hall instantly fell silent.
Han Li reopened his eyes and cast his gaze toward the tall platform through the window.
There were currently two people standing side by side on the platform, both of which had extremely peculiar appearances.
One of them was over 20 feet tall with black Qi swirling around his body. He seemed to be a burly man, but it was impossible to glean his true appearance.
Meanwhile, his companion was even taller than him, and had a crimson horn on his head, as well as a pair or remarkably large green eyes, and translucent scales on either side of his face. This was quite clearly a metamorphosed demon.
Han Li's pupils contracted slightly at the sight of them, but his expression remained unchanged.
At this moment, the man enshrouded in black Qi suddenly said, "I'm sure most of you recognize me as the Tyrant Sovereign and also know of Fellow Daoist Li Huo beside me, so I won't make any detailed introductions. I hereby announce the commencement of the first auction of the Myriad Treasure Convention."
Chapter 1805: Weeping Spirit Blood Wood
This burly man with black Qi swirling around him was none other than Xuan Wu Tyrant Sovereign, and the demon referred to as Li Huo by him was naturally none other than Wyrm Monarch Li Huo.
It came as quite a surprise to everyone that these two had appeared to announce the commencement of the auction.
After the sovereign and monarch walked off the platform, a white-robed elderly man took their place, and he was followed closely by two groups of children, each of whom was holding a platter in their hands.
The platters were all concealed completely under pieces of golden fabric, preventing anyone from being able to glean their contents.
"I am Heavenly Eye Disciple, and I'll be hosting this auction; please look after me, Fellow Daoists," the elderly man chuckled as he cupped his fist in a salute.
"Haha, all of us are very relieved to see that you'll be hosting the auction, Fellow Daoist Heavenly Eye."
"Indeed! Setting aside everything else, your ocular powers alone are vastly renowned among our two races."
The mid-Spatial Tempering Stage elderly man was clearly quite a popular and renowned figure.
Heavenly Eye Disciple's smile widened, and he extended another salute before
cutting straight to the chase. "All of you have come from afar, so I'm sure you don't have any patience to listen to an old man like me. Hence, let the auction begin! Present the first auction item."
Heavenly Eye Disciple brandished a hand behind him as he spoke, and one of the children immediately stepped forward carefully before raising his platter above his head, offering it to the elderly man in a respectful manner.
Heavenly Eye Disciple swept an arm through the air to remove the golden cloth on the platter, revealing a shimmering silver crystal.
The crystal was only around the size of a human fist, but its surface was covered in a layer of naturally formed patterns. These patterns were shimmering with silver light, as if countless silver threads had fused into the crystal, presenting a very beautiful sight to behold.
"This is a Silverthread Crystal, which is an exceptional metal-attribute tool refinement material. This crystal can only be found in the Whiteface Canyon, which is situated in the easternmost region of the human territory, and the average yearly production of this material is less than half of this crystal presented here, so that's an indication of just how precious this material is. If a normal flying sword were to be infused with even a tiny amount of this material, its sharpness would immediately be increased dramatically. If this material were to be used to refine a treasure, there would be a very good chance of that treasure turning out as a spirit treasure. Hence, the starting price of this crystal is 3,000,000 spirit stones, and each bid must have a minimum increment of 100,000 spirit stones. You may now begin bidding!" Heavenly Eye Disciple announced after a brief introduction.
This Silverthread Crystal wasn't all that alluring to Body Integration cultivators, but it was clearly very much sought-after by Deity Transformation and Spatial Tempering cultivators.
After all, that Whiteface Canyon was under the direct control of Xuan Wu City, and the measly yearly production of Silverthread Crystal normally wasn't even enough to satisfy the needs of Xuan Wu City alone. As such, many people were naturally extremely interested in this large chunk being put up for auction.
"4,000,000!"
"4,500,000!"
"5,000,000!"
The bids came in thick and fast, and in the end, the crystal was purchased for the lofty price of 7,300,000 spirit stones by an unidentifiable demonic being with long black fur all over their body, much to the dismay of many human cultivators present.
Everyone knew that the demon race wasn't that adept in tool refinement, so it came as quite a surprise to everyone that a demon would be willing to pay such a high price for this Silverthread Crystal.
Seeing as the first auction item was a tool refinement material, the string of subsequent auction items were naturally from the same category.
However, after nearly a dozen or so items had been sold, most of the people in the hall were starting to grow quite alarmed.
Eight of these tool refinement materials had all been purchased by that black-furred demonic being for incredibly high prices. It was as if he had unlimited wealth and was determined to secure these materials.
Aside from the demonic being's arms, his entire body had been concealed by a yellow hooded leather cloak, making it impossible to glean his true appearance.
Of course, that only applied to Deity Transformation and Spatial Tempering cultivators; a Body Integration cultivator like Han Li would still be able to bypass the concealment properties of the leather cloak by force using his spiritual sense.
"That's a Black Wolf Demon! He's only at the early-Spatial Tempering Stage; how does he possess so much wealth? Could it be that he's quite an important figure among the wolf race?" Han Li murmured to himself with furrowed brows as blue light flashed through his eyes.
Qi Lingzi and Hai Yuetian were able to hear what he was saying, but they still had no idea what was going on, so they naturally didn't dare to interject.
At this moment, a piece of fabric that was glowing with fiery crimson light was revealed on the platter being held by another child, and a stir immediately ran through the entire hall.
"That's a piece of fabric woven with Crystalline Flame Threads!"
"That's incredible!"
Greedy expressions appeared on many people's faces at the sight of this piece of fabric, as if they wanted nothing better than to rush onto the platform and grab it for themselves.
"Master, what's this Crystalline Flame Thread? It seems like many people are interested in it," Hai Yuetian couldn't help but ask.
"Crystalline Flame Threads are a type of spirit material that can only be found in the territory of the Black Phoenix Race. I've heard that these threads are produced by a type of fire insect that dwells within lava. However, these fire insects can only produce a single thread in their lifetime, and they can only be found in a certain lava realm owned by the Black Phoenix Race, so they're even rarer than Silverthread Crystals. If such a material were to be used to refine a fire-attribute treasure, a cultivator using fire-attribute cultivation arts would enjoy a slight boost in their rate of cultivation just by carrying the treasure around at all times. On top of that, the treasure would also possess powerful fire-attribute abilities, so this material is naturally extremely sought-after among those using fire-attribute cultivation arts," Han Li explained with a smile.
"I see. That certainly explains their reactions," Qi Lingzi chuckled.
At this point, Heavenly Eye Disciple had already announced the starting price for this piece of fabric, and the bids came flying in even faster than they did for the previous few auction items.
The starting price was doubled in virtually the blink of an eye, and had reached an astronomical sum.
As a result, the frenetic bidding finally died down a little, and there were only five or six people still trading blows, one of which was none other than the black-furred demonic being.
To no one's surprise, the Black Wolf Demon once again came out on top, securing the piece of fabric for a staggering sum. As a result, he attracted even more attention, and many beings from both the human and demon races were casting frequent glances toward him, and the looks in their eyes certainly didn't reflect any friendly intentions.
However, everyone's attention was then drawn to Heavenly Eye Disciple after hearing what he had to say next.
"Hehe, many of you have attended the Myriad Treasure Convention in the past, so I'm sure you know that the sequence of this auction is different from that of most other auctions. We won't be saving all of the best auction items for the end. Instead, we'll be dispersing them through various points in the auction, and one of them is about to be brought out right now; I'm sure it won't disappoint."
He suddenly clapped his hands twice as he spoke, and a stunning young female servant strode onto the platform with a green wooden box that was around half a foot in size in her hands.
She made her way over to Heavenly Eye Disciple with a captivating smile on her face, and a serious look appeared in the elderly man's eyes for the first time as he carefully accepted the wooden box from the servant before turning to face everyone again.
"I'm sure that some of you would've heard of Weeping Spirit Blood Wood, but how many of you have seen it? There is a small section of this spirit material in this box, and it has a vast array of uses. It can act as a material to assist one in unleashing several types of powerful abilities, and it can also be refined into a second clone or a puppet that can take one's place during tribulation transcendence. It's also the main material required to refine the vastly renowned Weeping Blood Spirit Bead," Heavenly Eye Disciple announced in a solemn manner.
Most people were quite befuddled to hear this, and only a minority of auction-goers displayed ecstatic reactions upon hearing this.
"Weeping Blood Spirit Wood? Isn't this viewed as a sacred artifact among the Spirit Race? How could something like this appear on an auction for humans and demons?"
The cultivators who were aware of what this item was were astonished, and Han Li's expression also changed slightly.
At the same time, he could sense many bursts of spiritual sense fluctuations emanating from the cabins on the third floor, clearly indicating that many of the Body Integration Stage beings were also very interested in this item.
"Hehe, I'm naturally not sure of where this material was secured from, but I can assure all of you of its authenticity." He removed the lid of the box as he spoke, and the pungent odor of blood and gore immediately erupted forth, forming a cloud of dense blood mist that twisted and writhed in mid-air like a crimson python.
Heavenly Eye Disciple took a deep breath as golden light flashed through his eyes, and spread his fingers before abruptly reaching into the box with one hand.
In the next instant, a reddish-black section of wood appeared before everyone. The piece of wood was around half a foot in length and as thick as a human thumb. It was completely dull and devoid of luster, but wisps of crimson mist were being emitted by it relentlessly.
The crimson mist surged and intertwined incessantly before rising straight up into the air as if it were a living being.
Han Li's eyes narrowed slightly upon seeing this.
He had heard of this Weeping Spirit Blood Wood in the past, and they were actually the remains of certain types of mutated wood-attribute beings of the Spirit Race, and they were indeed extremely rare, even in the Spirit Race itself.
Second clones and Weeping Blood Spirit Beads were all vastly renowned, but what truly tempted him was naturally the tribulation transcendence substitution puppet.
Even though he could refine Spiritform Talismans that could also serve the same purpose, as he became more and more powerful, the talismans became less and less efficacious for him. Even if he were to nurture it for a very long time, it wouldn't be able to assist him much in his tribulation transcendence.
The tribulation transcendence substitution puppet was a treasure that had been vastly renowned in the human race for a long time, and it was effective even for Body Integration Stage beings. However, these puppets were disposable items that could only be used once, and one had to use it at the correct time. Otherwise, activating it too early or too late would both result in the puppet being wasted for nothing.
A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248 Page 1041