Chapter 957: Big Auction

A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality, Volume 6: Heaven-Reaching Spiritual Treasures

"Uncle, don't worry," the beautiful woman said hesitantly. "This auction has been flawlessly arranged. All participating cultivators are inconspicuous rogue cultivators whom we've already bribed. On the surface, these cultivators appear completely unrelated to our Ye family. Furthermore, once the first-class auction concludes, these individuals will be silenced immediately, ensuring not a single word leaks out. How are things being handled on the Emperor's side? Why have Grand Unity Sect and Demonic Cult suddenly sent two old monsters, Xuan Qing and Qi Miao, to the palace? They haven't caught wind of something, have they?"

The black-capped elder, hearing this, also showed a look of worry.

"You can rest assured," the square-faced middle-aged man cautioned gravely, his facial muscles twitching. "Big Brother has already investigated their intentions. They are here for the Flat Mountain Seal belonging to the Third Emperor. Now that this seal is about to be completed, and its three main components are on the verge of final fusion, these two sects, with their extensive networks, have already vaguely learned what treasure we are refining, just from the slightest hint we intentionally leaked. Therefore, this time, they are pressuring our Ye family, demanding that we sell this treasure to their two sects. This is actually good; with this bait in plain sight, our true plan will not be noticed by them. However, just in case, all elders who know about the plan must travel in pairs when going out recently. Don't accidentally fall victim to these two old monsters' schemes and have your spiritual sense forcibly probed; that would be terrible. Especially True Immortal Qi Miao from the Demonic Cult, who is skilled in various secret arts. Even a Nascent Soul stage cultivator, if ambushed carelessly, will involuntarily reveal everything."

"So that's how it is," the black-capped elder said, feeling great pity. "That puts my mind at ease. But the Flat Mountain Seal was refined by us through immense hardship. Are we just going to let these two sects get it so cheaply?"

"Let them have it cheaply? How is that possible!" the square-faced middle-aged man sneered, a hint of mockery on his face. "If only one sect had come knocking, we might not have been able to withstand the pressure and would have had to grudgingly accept it. But now that both sects have come, there's naturally room for us to fish in troubled waters. Big Brother already has a plan. Even if the Flat Mountain Seal cannot be kept by us, it will certainly not fall into the hands of these two sects so easily, effectively aiding our enemies."

The black-capped elder and the beautiful woman exchanged glances, utterly bewildered, but were shrewd enough not to press further.

So, after chatting for a while longer, the three parted ways and went about their respective tasks.

Days passed by, and in the blink of an eye, it was the day the grand auction was to be held.

During this period, although the Yinluo Sect searched everywhere for Han Li's whereabouts, they only looked in other markets, inns, and some gathering places for cultivators near Jinjing. Han Li, focused on cultivating the Snow Crystal Orb in the Daoist temple, did not go out once, so naturally, they found nothing.

Early that morning, Han Li changed his appearance, transforming into a dark-faced burly man. He also transformed the bamboo tube on his back into a long sword. Then he gracefully left the Daoist temple and headed straight for Jinxi Market.

Along the way, he controlled his Qi and suppressed his aura, lowering his cultivation to the Core Formation stage, so as not to attract too much attention.

As he had anticipated, the closer he got to Jinxi Market, the more auras of high-level cultivators he sensed. Among them, Core Formation stage cultivators were naturally the majority, but there were quite a few Nascent Soul stage cultivators as well. As for low-level cultivators, they were few and far between. It seemed that cultivators with even a little wealth did not want to miss this grand auction.

When Han Li passed through the restriction and entered the market, he immediately saw cultivators in various outfits all over the street, many of them wearing strange and exotic clothing.

However, with a quick glance, he noticed several grim-faced black-robed cultivators at the entrance. They were continuously scanning everyone entering the market. One of the men was none other than Ge Tianhao. But for some reason, Saintess Tianlan was not present.

Han Li frowned inwardly, but on the surface, he pretended not to notice and walked towards the main hall. He didn't even spare a glance for these Yinluo Sect cultivators.

But as soon as he took two steps, a faint, almost imperceptible spiritual sense immediately swept over him. After circling once, it left with no findings and moved towards another newly arrived Core Formation stage cultivator.

This action by the Yinluo Sect, using spiritual sense to scan cultivators entering the market, was not applied to every cultivator. Only those with unfamiliar faces, who appeared to be rogue cultivators or had suspicious identities, encountered this. High-level cultivators belonging to other sects and factions were completely ignored.

This secret act of spiritual sense scanning was fine for Core Formation stage cultivators; as they couldn't detect it, they naturally didn't react to it. But several Nascent Soul stage rogue cultivators, upon entering the market, immediately encountered this. Naturally, they were furious and shot cold glares at these Yinluo Sect cultivators.

Fortunately, these individuals from the Yinluo Sect had no intention of causing trouble; after the spiritual sense scan, there were no further actions. This meant that even though these high-level rogue cultivators were displeased, they wouldn't truly provoke a major demonic sect like the Yinluo Sect over this. They could only leave unhappily, just like Han Li.

"Elder Ge," a newly appeared grim-faced elder with triangular eyes said, seeing that they had gained nothing and beginning to feel dissatisfied, "I heard that person is skilled in disguise and transformation arts. Standing guard here like this is probably useless, isn't it?"

"I told a few senior brothers to do this primarily to 'beat the grass and startle the snake'; I never intended to find this person immediately using this method," Ge Tianhao said indifferently, glancing at the grim-faced elder. "This person has considerable divine abilities, and we don't have a good way to expose his true form. But by searching for him so aggressively, it's possible he might panic and reveal some clues. Even if this person can remain calm and show no flaws, you don't need to worry. The Tuwu people also have some connections with the Demonic Cult. Fellow Daoist Lin has already gone to borrow the Wondrous Sound Treasure Mirror from Fellow Daoist Qi Miao of the Demonic Cult. He is now diligently refining it at his residence, and it can be used freely in just two or three days. If I can find this person now, that's best; if not, it can also make him lower his guard. Once it's the last day or two of the auction, under the form-breaking power of this mirror, that person will have nowhere to hide. We can capture this person with lightning speed."

"So that's it," the triangular-eyed elder said with some excitement, his eyes lighting up. "I was wondering how Elder Ge, with his infallible strategic abilities within the sect, could do something so useless. If that's the case, there's no need for the Sect Master and the others to rush over; a few of us can capture this person and perform a great service for the sect!"

"I hope so," Ge Tianhao said with a dry laugh, glancing towards the direction of the Grand Treasure Hall.

The person they were dealing with this time was undoubtedly a formidable individual. Even the sect's Fourth Elder, originally a peak Mid Nascent Soul stage cultivator, might have died at this person's hands. How could it be so easy to capture him? It wouldn't be surprising if something unexpected happened. It was better to be extra careful.

Ge Tianhao thought silently to himself, and his expression involuntarily darkened.

At this moment, Han Li was already standing before the massive stone hall he had seen that day.

At this moment, the Grand Treasure Hall was completely enveloped within a five-colored light barrier, appearing exceptionally mysterious.

To Han Li's surprise, another single-story grand hall, built from white stone, had appeared above the Grand Treasure Hall. Although slightly smaller in area, only one-third the size of the stone hall below, it was still hundreds of feet wide. Hovering in the air, it was undoubtedly a colossal presence.

Before Han Li, a yellow-robed attendant at the Foundation Establishment stage was respectfully explaining something to him. At this time, Han Li no longer concealed his Nascent Soul stage aura. Although the cultivator responsible for welcoming guests at the auction saw Han Li as somewhat nonchalant, he dared not show the slightest impatience.

In front of the hall entrance, there were other cultivators dressed similarly, also attending to some high-level Nascent Soul cultivators. As for Core Formation stage cultivators, they could only obediently walk to a stone tablet in front of the hall entrance and read the information written on it themselves.

After a moment, Han Li withdrew his gaze, glanced at the attendant before him, and said indifferently, "The Nascent Soul level auction has been moved to the Nine Heavens Hall above, while the Core Formation level auction is still being held in the Grand Treasure Hall. Additionally, each person attending the Nascent Soul level auction must pay a thousand spirit stones, and each person attending the Core Formation level auction must pay a hundred spirit stones to enter. Did I get that right?"

"Senior, you are indeed correct," the yellow-robed cultivator said with a deferential smile. "The number of cultivators participating in this auction is a third more than in previous years, so we had to urgently borrow this Nine Heavens Hall from the Heavenly Secret Pavilion for temporary use. Furthermore, paying these spirit stones is also the same rule as in previous years. It's mainly to prevent the auction from becoming too crowded; we had to use this method to control the number of attendees. However, for a distinguished senior of your status, these spirit stones are naturally insignificant. Otherwise, if just anyone could freely enter the hall, even if the venue were ten times larger, it still wouldn't be able to accommodate everyone."

"A thousand spirit stones? You certainly know how to rake them in," Han Li said. "But as you said, as long as I can bid on something I'm satisfied with, this small amount of spirit stones is naturally of no concern. I'm naturally not interested in the Core Formation auction; I want to attend the Nascent Soul level auction." He raised a hand and tossed ten mid-grade spirit stones into the yellow-robed cultivator's arms.

"Senior, please come in. The Nascent Soul level auction will begin in the morning," the yellow-robed cultivator said, his smile widening as soon as he received the spirit stones. He then pulled a numbered jade token from his sleeve and handed it to Han Li. "This is your auction token; you can attend the Nascent Soul level auctions for the next few days with this token."

Han Li reached out and took the jade token. Without another word, a flash of green light enveloped his body, and he transformed into a dazzling rainbow, soaring directly towards the hall in the sky.

By this time, other Nascent Soul cultivators had already flown into the air one after another, controlling their escape lights.

When Han Li flew into the entrance of the Nine Heavens Hall, he saw that aside from a faint white light barrier, there was no one at the entrance.

His eyebrows twitched. He infused a little spiritual power into the jade token in his hand and waved it a few times towards the light barrier. Immediately, a red light shot out from the jade token, and wherever it passed, the light barrier parted on its own.

Without a second thought, Han Li's figure flickered, and he once again transformed into a streak of green light, shooting inside. Immediately afterwards, the light barrier closed back as before.

Two hours later, hundreds of Nascent Soul stage cultivators had successively flown into the Nine Heavens Hall in mid-air.

After three loud tolls of a bell, the grand auction officially began.