Chapter 34: Being Followed

  This was not their original intention. When your strength is still low, you need to be low-key, but if you can't avoid it, then just let it go and don't do anything deliberately.

  The next few auction items included ores for refining tools, some magic tools suitable for Qi Refining monks, and spiritual plants that were hundreds of years old. Shen Qingluo and Xia Jinxi did not participate in the auction.

  Soon it was the seventeenth auction item. After the secret door was opened, the attendant who came out from inside was holding a fist-sized, green spiritual beast egg in his hand.

  The red-clothed female cultivator began to introduce, "This is an unknown spirit beast egg. The seller picked it up by chance. It clearly means that the egg is not alive enough, but it is not a dead egg. There is a certain possibility that it will break out of the shell, but the probability is low. Daoists who want to try their luck can try it. The starting price is 10,000 low-grade spirit stones, and each bid must not be less than 1,000 low-grade spirit stones."

  For a spirit beast egg with insufficient vitality, the enthusiasm of the people in the pavilion to bid was not high, and there were very few bidders.

  Xia Jinxi had an idea and decided to give it a try. If she doesn't remember wrong this spirit beast egg is high rank but doesn't belong to this world. She followed the bidding and finally won the unknown spirit beast egg at the price of 20,000 low-grade spirit stones.

  Shen Qingluo watched her friend's actions from the side, in fact she also want to buy it but her friend want to so she did not ask anymore.

  The 18th auction item was a mid-grade flying spirit weapon. This type of spirit weapon has no attack or defense effect and can only be used to increase the flying speed. In the end, it was won by a young female cultivator on the third floor at the price of 240,000 low-grade spirit stones.

  The 29th auction item was a talisman treasure. The most cultivators participated in the auction of this treasure, and it was finally sold at 4 million low-grade spirit stones.

  The 30th auction item was a third-stage late-stage demon beast inner pill. The auction was conducted by one of the few Jindan cultivators in Huixuan Pavilion. The price was 20 million lower-grade spirit stones.

  After the auction, Xia Jinxi was familiar with the rules.

  Small auctions were all priced with lower-grade spirit stones. The items auctioned were basically suitable for Qi-refining and foundation-building cultivators. Treasures suitable for Jindan appeared as the finale. This kind of auction is held every year and is very common in all parts of the cultivation world.

  If it is a medium-sized auction, the price is quoted with medium-grade spirit stones. Most of the items auctioned are suitable for Jindan and Yuanying cultivators. Treasures suitable for the Shenhua are also the finale. This kind of auction is basically held every ten years in various places.

  Large auctions are quoted with upper-grade spirit stones. Only those with a cultivation level of Shenhua or above are not allowed to enter. They are held once every hundred years and are rare.

  With the scale of Huixuan Pavilion, only small auctions can be held, so there are no treasures beyond the knowledge of the two.

  After the auction ended and the cultivators dispersed, Xia Jinxi and Shen Qingluo could clearly feel that several obscure eyes were looking at them from time to time.

  The bone age of a monk can be roughly judged if the difference in cultivation is not big, unless it is deliberately concealed.

  These monks knew that their qualifications were definitely not bad, and they were likely from Taisheng Sect. Most of them were very wise and left directly, but there were a few who, under the temptation of treasures, still had evil thoughts.

  They held a glimmer of luck, left Huixuan Pavilion, and secretly followed Shen Qingluo and Xia Jinxi.

  On the street of Wanbaofang, the two walked slowly and communicated through voice transmission.

  "Qingluo, three people followed us. Wanbaofang is under the jurisdiction of our sect. They dare not attack in the market. The market is about thirty miles away from the sect. I guess these three people will choose to attack on that road."

  "Xia Jinxi, their target is me. Let's act separately later."

  "What are you talking about? I, Xie Jinxi, am not the kind of person who abandons my friends! Let alone these three people who are only in the Qi Refining Stage, even if they are in the Foundation Building Stage, what's wrong? If there is danger, we should face it together. No matter who the enemy is, we should do our best to kill him!"

  The three people who followed Shen Qingluo were all in the ninth level of Qi Refining. She proposed to separate just because she didn't want to implicate her friends.

  Although it is not difficult to kill the ninth level of Qi Refining with her current strength, she will not be blindly arrogant. If one of the three people has a treasure with great lethality, it will not be so easy to deal with.

  Shen Qingluo wanted to persuade her, but her friend's attitude was very firm.

  "Jinxi, I still have some things to do in the market. If you want to go back with me, you can only wait for a while."

  "Well, I will wait no matter how long it takes!"

  The two came to a pill pavilion, and Shen Qingluo was ready to sell all the pills she didn't need.

  This was her second time to this pill pavilion. The cultivators generally had a good memory, and she sold more pills the first time she came, so the manager quickly recognized her.

  The transaction went very smoothly. The middle and lower-grade Qi-boosting pills, Qingxin pills, and Xueling pills were all sold. Because the blood-clotting pills used for healing were rarely used, Shen Qingluo only kept 30 top-grade pills, and sold the upper, middle and lower-grade pills together, earning a total of 500,000 lower-grade spirit stones.

  The manager of the pill pavilion guessed that these pills were made by her, and sent an invitation to Shen Qingluo to join the pill pavilion. As long as she provided a certain amount of pills every month, she could enjoy rich cultivation resources.

  Shen Qingluo refused.   

  Although the sect does not restrict disciples from joining these industries to earn resources, she is very clear that cultivation resources and contributions are proportional, and Dan Pavilion cannot do anything at a loss. She is afraid that there will be many restrictions after joining.

  Even if there is no such thing, she will not make this plan.

  Shen Qingluo has always been very clear about her goal. She works hard to cultivate and improve her cultivation strength as soon as possible, surpassing the male protagonist and the male supporting role in the original book, and completely getting rid of the fate of her original body!

  She wants to go further, wants to cultivate to a high level, and also yearns for everything in the fairy world.

  Once she joins Dan Pavilion, it is equivalent to an extra layer of restraint, which is what she dislikes the most.

  After leaving here, Shen Qingluo went to the Building Equipment Pavilion. Xia Jinxi also follow as she still want defensive type equipment.

  She had also been to this industry before. Because of the sale of green rhinoceros raccoons, the manager of the pavilion, a female cultivator of foundation building in a light white gauze skirt with a front opening, was deeply impressed by her.

  When she saw Shen Qingluo, the woman was a little surprised, surprised at the speed of her cultivation advancement.

  As a manager, she deals with many people every day, and her emotions are well controlled. She quickly gathered her thoughts and smiled.

  "It's been a year since I last saw you. Congratulations on your great progress! Are you still selling monster skins and bones this time?"

  Shen Qingluo clasped her fists and saluted, then shook her head and said, "We came here mainly to buy boots and hairpins with defensive properties."

  "Well, I wonder what grade you want?"

  "Spiritual tools, preferably top-grade."

  The embroidered clothes cannot protect the head and feet. At the auction, Xia Jinxi had been looking forward to seeing treasures such as boots and hairpins. Unfortunately, the result was not as expected, so she had to come to the Weapon Building Pavilion again.

  Treasures with defensive properties such as clothing are somewhat special. These defenses are all passively triggered. As long as they are attacked, they will be automatically activated.

  The top-grade defensive spiritual tool, the golden armor shield, that appeared in the auction, is an active trigger type of treasure. After sacrifice and refining, it can be activated by inputting spiritual power.

  Comparing the two, each has its own advantages and disadvantages.

  Passively triggered defensive treasures do not need to be sacrificed and refined. When a crisis comes, they can save the master in time, but strictly speaking, this type of treasure is a consumable.

  As the number of times the damage is blocked increases, the power of the treasure will gradually decrease until it is completely scrapped.

  Actively triggered treasures rely entirely on the master's control. When the crisis comes, if the master fails to react in time, the treasure may suffer an accident before it is activated, but this type of treasure is not a consumable and can be used continuously.

  When the female cultivator of the foundation-building sect heard Shen Qingluo's words, she took them directly to the top floor of the attic.

  "There are a total of six pairs of boots with defensive properties in the attic, but there are no more than one top-grade ones. The best ones are top-grade ones; there are more hairpins, and there are three top-grade ones. You can take a look and choose the style you like."

  Shen Qingluo nodded and her eyes fell on the corresponding treasure.

  The appearance of the boots is similar. There is only one pair of top-grade ones, which are all black, long, and the toe of the shoe is slightly pointed and slightly upturned.

  There are three top-grade hairpins, one is all green, with a lotus engraved on the head of the hairpin; one is seven-colored, which looks a bit fancy, and Xia Jinxi first excludes it.

  The last one is golden, with two butterflies engraved on the head of the hairpin.

  After some comparison, Xia Jinxi chose the jade hairpin with lotus engraved on it. Shen Qingluo had no choice to take the last golden one.

  The female foundation-building cultivator quickly gave the price: 90,000 low-grade spirit stones for the black boots and 330,000 low-grade spirit stones for the hairpin.

  Shen Qingluo and Xia Jinxi took out the spirit stones neatly and completed the transaction, and the purpose of the trip to the market was fully achieved.

  "Those three people are still following us. Should we leave now?"

  "Well, they are probably in the same group. They have been following us for so long, and it is clear that they will not give up."