Chapter 35: The Auction Ends

Unconsciously.

The auction has already begun.

A circular platform rises in the center of the first floor. An old man dressed in a black and white Daoist robe walks up slowly. Looking around, he speaks in a loud voice:

"Welcome, fellow Daoists, to this grand auction event."

"I, Mo Tiannan, have been invited by the Thirty-Six Guilds to preside over this rare auction in Cui Ping Mountain's Earth Realm. It is a great honor."

Mo Tiannan!

This is a renowned Loose Cultivator known throughout the nine cities, already a Foundation Establishment Stage Great Cultivator. With his reputation hosting this auction, there's a great chance of making a name for Sishui Town's auction.

If the auction goes well, it could become a regular event. This is also the intention of the Thirty-Six Guilds of Sishui Town and Ping Mountain Town.

After all, auctions can be very lucrative.

"Today, everyone is here for the auction items. I won't take up much more of your time. Since this is the first auction, I will explain the rules in advance."

"The items in this auction will have a starting bid set by the auction house. Everyone is free to bid, and the highest bidder wins. The bidding will be in Spirit Stones. If you do not have enough Spirit Stones, you can also use items of equivalent value as collateral, the specific value of which will be jointly assessed by the appraisal masters of the Thirty-Six Guilds!"

"Due to the hasty organization of the auction, if anyone has treasures that they haven't yet had the chance to submit, you can go over there and have them evaluated by the appraisal masters in charge of the auction. If they qualify, they will be included in this auction."

"For those who are here solely for bidding, the auction will become more mysterious as it progresses, because no one knows if the auction house will receive even more precious items during the process!"

Mo Tiannan's voice booms, clearly reaching the ears of every cultivator in the auction, successfully stirring up the atmosphere.

Next, his voice rises—

"Without further ado, let us bring out the first auction item!"

As his voice fades, someone brings up the first auction item.

It is a palm-sized model of a small boat, in a dark ink green.

Mo Tiannan takes the boat and speaks loudly, "This treasure is called the 'Divine Wind Boat,' made by the widely known Han Sanren after slaying the Ink Flood Dragon, using its Jiao Fins and tail to refine this Flying Artifact."

"Han Sanren's reputation needs no introduction. This Divine Wind Boat is a Second Rank Magic Artifact with fifteen Earth Evil Restrictions, with a starting bid of two hundred and twenty Spirit Stones!"

The first auction item being a Second Rank Magic Artifact is like a preemptive strike!

Many Foundation Establishment Practitioners don't even have a First Rank Magic Artifact, and are still using top-level talismanic tools.

From the price of a Magic Artifact, one can see that the starting bid for this Divine Wind Boat is two hundred and twenty Spirit Stones, this price could build more than forty Black Sand Alchemy Room standard Alchemy Rooms!

The preciousness of a Magic Artifact is clear to imagine!

Many Foundation Establishment Practitioners without means of making money might have less than a few dozen Spirit Stones to their name, and can only watch in vain.

"Han Sanren!"

"This is one of the few Second Rank Artifact Refiners in the Cui Ping Mountain's Earth Realm, known to devote his life to Artifact Refining. He is both righteous and wicked, known as 'Han LaoMo', or 'Old Demon Han.' He is also best known for his escape techniques, therefore also humorously referred to as 'Han Pao Pao'. The Flying Artifacts he refines are bound to cause a frenzy!"

Brother Zhang, as a top-level artifact refining apprentice, pays close attention to information on Artifact Refining.

He is clearly familiar with Han Sanren's reputation.

Lu Qingfeng, engrossed in cultivation and lacking exposure, feels that coming here was the right choice. Even if he does not acquire any suitable treasures, just hearing such extraordinary tales is worth the trip.

As expected, Brother Zhang's speculation was on point.

The bidding for the Divine Wind Boat swiftly escalates from the starting bid of two hundred and twenty Spirit Stones, gradually slowing down after reaching three hundred.

Generally speaking, the price of a Second Rank Magic Artifact is between two hundred and four hundred Spirit Stones.

With fifteen restrictions, this Divine Wind Boat is of average quality among Second Rank Magic Artifacts, and three hundred Spirit Stones is a reasonable price. Since it's made by Han Sanren, the price will be bumped up somewhat. However, any higher would need to be carefully considered for its worth.

"These are the real rich people!"

Seeing these folks bid without even blinking, Lu Qingfeng couldn't help but exclaim.

Before coming, Brother Zhang and the others had joked about him making a killing at the auction. Only now, seeing these true tycoons, did Lu Qingfeng realize how insignificant his possessions were.

These past years, Lu Qingfeng made substantial profits from refining low-level elixirs like Yellow Dragon Pills, reaching 300% pure profit.

Even after the guild took its 20% cut, he still had a 240% profit. Later, after mastering the refinement of intermediate and advanced elixirs like Golden Marrow Pills, Qi Movement Powder, and Qi Union Pills, his profits soared once more.

By spending two hours a day on alchemy, Lu Qingfeng could earn more than two pieces of Spirit Stone fragments.

Plus, there were the cuts from the apprentices he had trained.

With time, despite the costs of cultivation, mastering new Elixir Recipes, and Artifact Refining, his wealth reached an impressive twenty-eight Spirit Stones!

However, compared to those who could casually spend two or three hundred Spirit Stones, Lu Qingfeng was downright impoverished.

Wang Tao, beside him, hears Lu Qingfeng's mutterings and turns to smile, "These are all guild pooled funds, aiming to enhance the strength of the guild. Individual cultivators, even those at the Foundation Establishment Stage, seldom have the means to afford such a Sect Magical Artifact."

This provided Lu Qingfeng some comfort.

An individual indeed could not compare to a Guild.

The Yuan Yi Guild was a mid-tier among the many guilds of the Bingling Realm, with multiple lucrative business ventures. Lu Qingfeng's personal fortune was far from comparable.

The bidding for the Divine Wind Boat was fierce but soon reached its conclusion.

In the end, the Tianhe Guild from the third level secured the Divine Wind Boat for three hundred and twenty-seven Spirit Stones.

The first item brought the auction to a climax, and though the subsequent items were not as prestigious as the Divine Wind Boat, they were equally rare.

Various valuable Magic Artifacts, talismanic tools, demon beast materials, rare talismans, rare Elixir Pills, and even incomplete Cultivation Techniques were offered.

It was evident that the Thirty-Six Guilds put considerable effort into this auction, gathering an array of treasures.

Magic artifacts and talismanic equipment, Lu Qingfeng neither fancied nor could afford.

Materials from demon beasts were of no use to him.

Rather, it was the incomplete Cultivation Techniques that piqued his interest. However, seeing that the incomplete Cultivation Technique was only of Refinement Level, and moreover, only capable of cultivation up to the True Qi Realm, Lu Qingfeng lost interest.

He was currently practicing a True Sect Level Cultivation Method, the "Qing Yuan Sword Technique," which was derived from a Refinement Level Technique. He would at least be tempted by a Side Door Level Skill.

However, considering the caliber of this auction, the likelihood of a Side Door Level Skill appearing was extremely slim.

When the auction was more than halfway through, the puppet that Lu Qingfeng had been waiting for finally made its appearance.

In front of Mo Tiannan, a human-shaped puppet so damaged that its internal structure was visible was carried up. This human-shaped puppet was about three zhang tall, with its chest pierced from front to back.

In short, it was extremely damaged.

Mo Tiannan, fervently disregarding the puppet's damaged state, introduced it, "This is a Combat Puppet from the Six Ren Guild. It was unfortunately ambushed by a demon beast during a beast tide a few days ago, resulting in this damage. However, this puppet still retains thirty percent of its integrity. If any fellow Daoist here buys it and has an Artifact Refiner make some minor repairs, they would effortlessly gain a Third-level Puppet!"

"The bidding starts now, with an opening price of five spirit stones!"

A Third-level Puppet, with combat power equivalent to the Energy Introduction stage of the Foundation Establishment first realm. If it were a complete Third-level Puppet, its value would exceed that of a First Rank Magic Artifact and could even match a Second Rank Magic Artifact, costing around one hundred and eighty spirit stones.

But this current Third-level Puppet, with no more than thirty percent integrity and most of the valuable parts likely disassembled, at best was left with just an incomplete skeleton, an incomplete exoskeleton, as well as incomplete talisman arrays and various connections.

The audacity to announce a starting price of five spirit stones for this nearly scrapped Third-level Puppet caused the auction house to fall silent at once.

"Has the Six Ren Guild gone mad with greed?"

Zhang Zong glanced towards a spot on the Second Layer and said to Lu Qingfeng, "Lao Lu, this price is artificially high, don't make a move. If it doesn't sell, I'm confident I can get it for you from the Six Ren Guild for just two spirit stones."

Zhang Zong knew well the tricks of the trade and was concerned that Lu Qingfeng might act rashly; he couldn't help but offer the reminder.

"Then I'll thank Brother Zhang in advance!"

Lu Qingfeng was not particularly in need of a large puppet, and with this three-zhang high, heavily damaged, and costly puppet, he really had no intention to bid.

However, since Zhang Zong said it could be had for two spirit stones, that was within Lu Qingfeng's acceptable range.

In the latter half of the auction, several more puppets appeared, all quite severely damaged.

Their prices were not as outrageous as those set by the Six Ren Guild.

Lu Qingfeng managed to acquire one of the two-zhang tall puppets, with only twenty percent integrity, for a mere one spirit stone.

To his surprise, as the auction neared its end, two consecutive items piqued his interest the most.

One was the miniature human-shaped puppet that Lu Qingfeng had yearned for, with seventy percent integrity, and it was even remotely controllable. After refining its core Thousand Machine Stone, he would be able to control the human-shaped puppet within a range of five zhang.

This puppet was too weak, only Second Rank; even in its complete state, its combat power would merely match the True Qi Realm, which for many attendees was virtually useless.

Lu Qingfeng easily won it with thirty fragments of spirit stones.

The other item appeared to have been brought to the auction at the same time as the human-shaped puppet. It was said to be the lifelong crafting insights of a high-ranking alchemy apprentice named Huang Tiangu.

Huang Tiangu was not interested in the conventional Artifact Refining, being wholly devoted to puppet crafting.

His research philosophy had some similarities with Lu Qingfeng's aspirations, both striving to craft remote-controllable and even autonomously fighting puppets.

After nearly a hundred years of research, he had neither soared high nor stooped low.

The puppets he crafted could only be remotely controlled within a five-zhang radius. Moreover, their strength did not exceed Second Rank, rendering them modest for cultivators in the True Qi Realm, hence, not much of a market demand.

It was heard that this person had disappeared without a trace for more than a decade. No one expected that his compiled "Huang's Puppet Manual" would appear at this auction.

While the human-shaped puppet did not attract attention, many were interested in "Huang's Puppet Manual."

Huang Tiangu had researched puppets for nearly a hundred years and had pondered over some significant results. If someone could follow his approach, perhaps they could successfully research puppets that could be remotely controlled or even operate autonomously.

Thus, "Huang's Puppet Manual" opened with a starting bid of fifty fragments of spirit stones, eventually soaring to eight spirit stones!

In the end, it was still won by Lu Qingfeng.

Eight spirit stones!

To purchase the crafting experience of a high-level alchemy apprentice at such a price was incredibly steep!

It was only because several artifact refining apprentices and even some Artifact Refiners believed they could glean some inspiration for puppet crafting from the manual that the price was driven up.

But their confidence in gaining inspiration and breakthroughs from "Huang's Puppet Manual" was severely lacking; it was more about spending money on a possibility.

Bidding seven or eight spirit stones was already an exorbitant price.

Unlike Lu Qingfeng, who was resolute in his bidding. With the method of Derivation, Lu Qingfeng had far more confidence than they did!

After purchasing the miniature puppet and "Huang's Puppet Manual," Lu Qingfeng also won an Elixir Recipe named 'Feeding Spirit Pill.' Reportedly, it was a Spiritual Medicine used by ancient cultivators specifically for nurturing and breeding Spiritual Beasts to help them ascend in rank.

Unfortunately, due to damage and omissions during its transmission, and with some herbs having gone extinct over time, it was impossible to concoct the Feeding Spirit Pill based on the recipe alone.

Lu Qingfeng obtained it, intending to return and test whether the properties of the Derivation Technique could help complete the Feeding Spirit Pill recipe.

After all, it was just over twenty fragments of spirit stones.

Soon after the 'Feeding Spirit Pill' recipe was bought, the auction came to a close.

With the last item sold to a Loose Cultivator, the first auction event named 'Mystery Auction House,' jointly organized by the Thirty-Six Guilds, concluded successfully.

With a total of over two hundred items, this event was considered a rare grand auction in recent times.

Given the momentum, it seemed that the Mystery Auction would receive a positive response and likely continue indefinitely.

But such concerns were for leaders of guilds like Mu Yuanyi to deal with, and Lu Qingfeng cared little for these matters.

Having purchased his desired items, he no longer lingered in Sishui Town. Accompanied by friends like Zhang Zong and Yue Ran, who also disliked the hustle and bustle, he returned to Yuan Yi Mountain.

…