Su Yueli tightly gripped the blade of Xiaohei inside her sleeve.
But soon, the forbearance she had forged over nearly two hundred years of living forced her breathing to steady.
She suppressed the Ji Dao blood qi within her body back into its depths, not letting a single breath of it leak out.
This group from the Cangyun Sect possessed incredibly powerful auras.
The younger disciples had cultivations similar to Lie Yangfeng, around the Third or Fourth Realm.
The withered old man sitting at the very front did not have the slightest fluctuation of spiritual energy about him. Had she not seen him with her own eyes, sweeping her divine sense over him would have felt like scanning complete emptiness.
He was extremely powerful.
With her current strength, dealing with one or two Third Realm cultivators was fine, but if she went up against this entire group—plus a terrifying old monster whose depth she could not gauge at all—it would truly be a dead end.
In an instant, the same feeling of powerlessness she felt back then—watching her parents be slaughtered by cultivators and Shen Qing'an die in despair in that ruined temple—surged back into her heart like a tidal wave.
“I'm still not strong enough... I must become stronger!” Su Yueli grit her teeth, completely burying the killing intent in her eyes into the darkness.
At this moment, on the balconies of the various VIP rooms, cultivators from several sects had already begun chatting with each other across the distance, clearly not caring if others overheard.
The red-bearded elder of the Chiyang Sect laughed heartily, his voice like rumbling thunder. “Old Monster Han, your Cangyun Sect isn't close to here at all. For you to personally lead a team today, it seems you're determined to get your hands on the grand finale treasure this time.”
Elder Han of the Cangyun Sect gave a fake smile and cupped his hands. “Fellow Daoist Huoyun, you flatter me. It is merely that a senior in our sect has reached a critical juncture in their seclusion and needs a high-grade life-extending spiritual herb, so I came to join the fun. On the other hand, Elder Zhao of the Blue Moon Sect, how is it that you have the leisure to personally descend the mountain today?”
The white-haired Elder Zhao of the Blue Moon Sect had a calm expression as he stroked his beard. “Sect affairs. I merely came to take a look on the way.”
As he spoke, Elder Zhao's gaze swept downward, and he spoke indifferently, “I heard that a few days ago, the renowned loose cultivator of the Tianyuan City area, Daoist Tianhe, also arrived. Is he present?”
In the hall below, a middle-aged loose cultivator dressed in a greyish-white Daoist robe hurriedly stood up. Feeling somewhat flattered, he bowed politely toward the VIP rooms:
“Greetings, Seniors of the great sects. Today, this junior has truly had his eyes opened. You may all simply call me Tianhe; I would never dare call myself a Daoist in front of you all.”
The elders of the great sects nodded slightly and withdrew their gazes, their high-and-mighty arrogance fully on display.
Dong—!
A crisp chime of a bell echoed through the entire venue.
In the center of the auction stage, a gold-grade auctioneer dressed in luxurious robes strode onto the stage.
The Wanbao Merchant House did things very efficiently. Without a single word of nonsense, they went straight to the point:
“Fellow Daoists, the Wanbao Merchant House's triennial auction officially begins! Today's first item up for bid is a peak Third Realm defensive magic treasure, the Black Tortoise Shield!”
“Though it is only at the peak of the Third Realm, defending against spells of the Fourth Realm mid stage is no difficult task.”
As the red cloth was lifted, a palm-sized shield flowing with an earthy-yellow spiritual light floated in midair.
Life-saving items were always the most popular among cultivators. The atmosphere below the stage was instantly ignited, and the price steadily rose.
The starting bid was five hundred low-grade spirit stones, but in just a few moments, it was aggressively won by a fierce-faced loose cultivator for the high price of two thousand eight hundred low-grade spirit stones.
Following that, the second and third items were also quickly swept away in the heated bidding. They were all spiritual pills for advancing Third Realm cultivation and high-grade flying swords used by cultivators.
When it came to the fourth item, the auctioneer lifted the red cloth, revealing a yellowed, ancient book.
“The fourth item is rather special.”
The auctioneer pointed at the book and introduced, “This is a martial technique left behind four hundred years ago by a mortal expert in the secular world known as the ‘Tyrant Fist Martial God,’ titled 《Mountain-Shaking Heaven-Shattering Force》.”
“This technique does not cultivate purple mansion spiritual energy, but instead focuses solely on the physical body's blood qi. It is rumored that upon reaching great mastery, a single punch can shatter a hundred-zhang mountain. The starting bid is fifty low-grade spirit stones.”
The moment he finished speaking, an undisguised wave of roaring laughter and disdainful chatter instantly erupted from the loose cultivator hall below.
“Is the Wanbao Merchant House going backward as the years go by? They're actually putting up a mortal martial artist's trash at an auction?”
“Exactly. Without cultivating spiritual energy, no matter how tough you train your physical body, you're still just a pile of loose sand. Against us cultivators, a single Five Thunder Curse would turn you straight to ash. Who would want this stuff?”
“Fifty spirit stones? It's too stiff to even use as toilet paper. How can a mortal's thing be worthy of being called a Martial God's ultimate technique? Hilarious.”
Hearing the cold mockery and ridicule from outside, Su Yueli inside VIP Room Number Eight knit her delicate brows.
A blood qi martial technique left behind by a Martial God hundreds of years ago!
This was precisely the practical material she lacked most right now. The inheritances left in the secular world by Tenth Realm Martial Gods were already pitifully scarce; being able to run into one in the cultivation world was simply immense luck.
Seeing that the entire venue was cold and silent, with absolutely no one willing to be the fool to bid, Su Yueli simply picked up her token and entered a number.
“VIP Room Number Eight bids fifty low-grade spirit stones,” the auctioneer said, casting a somewhat surprised glance toward the second floor.
“Fifty spirit stones once, fifty spirit stones twice... Sold!”
The auctioneer even swung his gavel incredibly fast, clearly also feeling that this item was just taking up space on the stage, eager to get it off.
Gripping the token she had just won, Su Yueli sneered in her heart, but she could not help but feel a rather complex wave of emotion.
The divide between immortals and mortals was truly stark.
This was the absolute peak ultimate technique of the mortal martial path before breaking through to the Tenth Realm, something that would easily trigger bloodbaths among countless martial families in the secular world, yet it was so thoroughly disdained by cultivators at this auction.
However, her fists hidden beneath her black robe clenched tightly.
“Disdain it all you want. One day... I will use these mortal fists to shatter all of your barriers between immortals and mortals!”
At this moment, seeing that Room Number Eight had actually bid on this mortal technique, the people in the other VIP rooms instantly grew bored and began chatting, making jokes.
On the balcony of the Chiyang Sect, the red-bearded elder stroked his chin and chuckled:
“The fellow Daoist in Room Number Eight is truly amusing. Instead of buying immortal medicine, they actually spent fifty spirit stones to buy a mortal's wood-chopping trick.”
Standing behind him, Lie Yangfeng was also somewhat puzzled and smiled along. “Master, perhaps some fellow Daoist from a cultivation clan saw it was cheap and bought it to reward the wicked mortal slaves guarding their courtyard for their amusement.”
Elder Han of the neighboring Cangyun Sect sneered repeatedly and teased across the distance, “Fellow Daoist Zhao, your Blue Moon Sect has a great business and massive wealth. Could it be that some ignorant junior of your Blue Moon Sect bought it just to open their eyes? Hahaha.”
Elder Zhao of the Blue Moon Sect had a calm expression and coldly retorted:
“Old Monster Han, you are stretching your hand a bit too far. If you have this much free time, why not save up some more spirit stones? Once the grand finale herbs of our sects are put up later, make sure you don't cry poverty in your VIP room.
Rate on N.U.
