On the high balconies, the bickering among the elders of the various sects continued across the distance, only stopping when the auctioneer rang the golden bell in front of him, drawing everyone's attention back to the stage.
The next auction item was quickly brought up.
As the red cloth was pulled back, three deep blue spiritual herbs shimmering with fine silver spots on their leaves floated in midair.
“I am certain our fellow Daoists will be highly interested in this next item,” the auctioneer announced. “Three stalks of five-hundred-year-old Sky Blue Silver Spot Grass! What makes them truly rare is that their medicinal efficacy has been perfectly preserved, without even a trace of loss!”
Hearing the words “five-hundred-year-old” and “perfectly preserved efficacy,” the withered old man sitting at the very front of the Cangyun Sect group, who had been resting with his eyes closed, suddenly snapped them open.
A bright light flared within his sunken eyes.
The properties of this spiritual herb were gentle and pure, perfect for refining the Yang-Returning Pill he needed to break through his current bottleneck.
He was determined to obtain this medicine at all costs.
“All three stalks will be auctioned together! The starting bid is three hundred mid-grade spirit stones!” the auctioneer declared loudly.
“Five hundred mid-grade spirit stones!”
Elder Han of the Cangyun Sect immediately showed his absolute determination, nearly doubling the starting price with his very first bid.
However, five-hundred-year-old life-extending spiritual herbs were simply too rare.
Several prominent cultivation clans of Qingzhou City, along with old loose cultivators like Daoist Tianhe, also grew red-eyed with greed and joined the bidding.
“Six hundred mid-grade spirit stones!”
“Seven hundred!”
“Eight hundred and fifty!”
The price skyrocketed wildly, quickly reaching the high price of nine hundred mid-grade spirit stones.
At this point, the clans of Qingzhou City and the old loose cultivators all shook their heads. They felt the price was starting to exceed the item's true value, and there was no need to keep competing.
“One thousand mid-grade spirit stones!”
Elder Han bid once more, scanning the surroundings with a gloomy expression.
The Cangyun Sect felt this bid should safely secure the item.
Yet, at the exact moment of absolute silence in the hall, a blood-red number suddenly flashed on the screen of VIP Room Number Eight:
“One thousand one hundred mid-grade spirit stones!”
Sitting in her private booth, Su Yueli pressed the bidding button with an amused smile.
“Insolent! Friend in Room Eight, what is the meaning of this? Are you deliberately opposing my Cangyun Sect?”
Elder Han slammed his hand against the balcony railing and barked in anger.
This price already far exceeded the actual value of the three spiritual herbs. The target of this bid was painfully obvious.
The loose cultivators in the hall immediately began to gloat. Anyone could tell that the mysterious guest in Room Eight seemed to be targeting the Cangyun Sect on purpose.
Seeing this, Elder Zhao of the neighboring Blue Moon Sect could not help but chuckle aloud on the spot:
“Hahaha, Old Monster Han, look at how flustered and exasperated you are. An auction is always won by the highest bidder. Could it be that your Cangyun Sect offended someone you shouldn't have out there, and they came today specifically to carve a piece of meat off you?”
Standing on the balcony of the Chiyang Sect, Lie Yangfeng watched this scene and frowned slightly, feeling a bit puzzled.
He felt that the style of Room Eight's actions gave him a faint, bizarre sense of familiarity.
Facing the mockery of the Blue Moon Sect, the withered old man of the Cangyun Sect wore an incredibly chilling expression. Staring at the defensive formation screen of Room Eight, he gritted his teeth and spat out a single word: “Follow!”
“One thousand one hundred and fifty mid-grade spirit stones!” Elder Han called out, forcing himself to bid.
Sitting in her room, Su Yueli looked at the faces of the Cangyun Sect members, which looked as though they had swallowed flies, and felt a deep sense of satisfaction.
Back then, they had slaughtered her parents right before her eyes. Today, she was jacking up the price, collecting a little interest first.
Seeing that the price was about high enough—any higher and these poor bastards might spit blood and give up on the spot—Su Yueli quit while she was ahead and let go of the button.
In the end, these three stalks of Sky Blue Silver Spot Grass, which had originally been sitting in her storage bag like common weeds, were purchased by the Cangyun Sect for the staggering price of one thousand nine hundred mid-grade spirit stones.
Watching the number on her token suddenly skyrocket, Su Yueli was extremely satisfied.
Right after, the next auction item was brought onto the stage.
It was also one of the herbs Su Yueli had cleaned out earlier.
“A five-hundred-year-old Blood Lingzhi! This is a supreme holy item for nourishing vital energy and condensing the body's blood qi!”
This item was highly sought after by demonic cultivators and certain loose cultivators who needed to temper their physical bodies.
Another round of frantic bidding erupted from the crowd below.
Ultimately, this Blood Lingzhi sold for slightly less than the three stalks of Sky Blue Silver Spot Grass, closing at one thousand three hundred and fifty mid-grade spirit stones.
With two massive sums of wealth entering her account back-to-back, the corners of Su Yueli's lips curled upward.
Soon, it was time for the next item.
The moment the red cloth was pulled back, the spiritual energy of the entire auction hall showed faint signs of turning chaotic.
It was a strange vine with faint arcs of lightning rippling across its surface.
“This item is known as the Purple Cloud Life-Extending Vine!”
The auctioneer's voice grew high-pitched with excitement. “Fellow Daoists, this is a peerless holy item capable of extending the lifespan and healing the wounds of Eighth Realm immortal path cultivators! Its age exceeds one thousand years!”
Boom!
The entire venue erupted into absolute pandemonium.
Even the elders of the major sects on the second floor found their breathing quickening.
However, the auctioneer merely smiled and raised his hand to suppress the crowd's clamor.
“But, the owner of this spiritual herb has set a rule. This item is not for sale for spirit stones; it only accepts a barter exchange!”
“The owner requires Divine Vitality Blood-Generating Pills refined from the essence blood of top-tier Seventh or Eighth Realm wild demon beasts. Three such pills in exchange for this single Purple Cloud Life-Extending Vine!”
As soon as these words were spoken, the excited crowd instantly froze.
Waves of bewildered chatter echoed through the hall.
Inside the VIP rooms of the three major sects, several elders also began communicating via voice transmission to discuss this.
“How strange. They don't want spirit stones, only these kinds of Ji Dao pills that purely replenish physical blood qi? Could the owner of this Purple Cloud Life-Extending Vine be the one in VIP Room Number Eight?”
“Highly likely! Earlier, that person bought the Martial God's ultimate technique for dirt cheap, and now they are specifically demanding Eighth Realm beast blood pills. The one sitting in Room Eight is probably a reclusive Ji Dao martial artist!”
At this moment, both the withered old man of the Cangyun Sect and Daoist Tianhe below stared at the life-extending vine with expressions of extreme desire.
This was a life-saving treasure.
Although trading three Eighth Realm pills for a spiritual herb was not a losing deal, the awkward part was... who would carry three high-grade body-tempering pills made from Eighth Realm beast blood on their person?
Elder Han of the Cangyun Sect's expression shifted repeatedly. In the end, he had to stand up and speak in a deep voice, “My Cangyun Sect wants this item. However, such high-grade pills are still kept within our sect's treasury; we did not bring them with us.”
“I wonder if the Wanbao Merchant House can accommodate us and allow me to send someone back to the sect at full speed to retrieve them?”
Daoist Tianhe also sighed, indicating that he also needed time to gather the items.
Seeing this, the auctioneer asked the backstage staff for their opinion. He then nodded and said, “In that case, this Purple Cloud Life-Extending Vine will be temporarily set aside. Once our fellow Daoists bring their items during the second half of the auction, we will proceed with the exchange.”
Inside VIP Room Number Eight, Su Yueli raised an eyebrow, not feeling rushed at all.
She was highly satisfied with how things were developing. With these three Divine Vitality Blood-Generating Pills made from Eighth Realm beast blood, along with the pile of medicinal herbs she had purchased earlier, she could enter seclusion to absorb them after the auction. Perhaps she really could shatter the fog before her eyes in one fell swoop and completely break through to the legendary Eleventh Realm of the martial path.
Looking back at her gains from this auction, they were truly magnificent.
Not only had she turned the tables and carved a chunk of meat off the Cangyun Sect, earning a significant amount of mid-grade spirit stones, but she had also basically obtained an incredibly precious Martial God blood qi technique for dirt cheap, as if she had picked it up off the street.
Now, she was even able to use herbs she had originally planned to throw away as garbage to trade for the cultivation world's top-tier body-tempering resources.
This trip was truly worthwhile.
However, Su Yueli's gaze remained fixed on the auction stage below.
The true grand finale items of today's auction had yet to be revealed.
According to the old appraiser, there were two ultimate treasures saved for the very end.
“If even a thousand-year-old life-extending vine is only a warm-up for the first half... what on earth will those final two items be?”
Su Yueli pulled down her black hood, her interest thoroughly piqued.
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