Chapter 1112: Five Elements Puppet Beast

A moment later, Wang Qiuli produced a watermelon-sized metal sphere. Its surface was covered with runes. After she imbued it with a spell, a burst of mechanical whirring sounded, and the metal sphere abruptly transformed into a nine-meter-tall golden ape. Its entire body shimmered with spiritual light and was covered in spiritual patterns.

“This is a Tier 3 Low-Grade Puppet Beast, possessing immense strength and tremendous power. The starting bid is 500,000 spirit stones, and each subsequent bid must be at least 20,000 spirit stones higher.”

The Wang family had made extensive preparations for this grand auction, and this Tier 3 puppet beast was just one of their offerings.

Possessing a Tier 3 Low-Grade puppet beast is equivalent to having a fearless Core Formation stage guard, and many Core Formation cultivators showed interest in it.

“500,000!”

“520,000!”

“540,000!”

The bidding was fierce, with several Core Formation cultivators vying for the Tier 3 puppet beast.

This Tier 3 puppet beast was ultimately acquired by Lu Jiaheng for the high price of 750,000.

“This is a Tier 3 Low-Grade flying puppet beast,” Wang Qiuli announced. “Its flying speed is slightly slower than a flying magic treasure, but much faster than an average Tier 3 demonic bird.”

After this Tier 3 flying puppet beast was sold, Wang Qiuli then produced two more Tier 3 puppet beasts: a crab puppet beast and a shark puppet beast.

In a private room, Lu Yongkang sat by a tea table, with several Core Formation cultivators standing nearby.

“The Wang family is skilled at refining puppet beasts. It’s surprising they’ve put so many Tier 3 puppet beasts up for auction this time. It appears the Wang family has a cultivator who specializes in crafting puppet beasts,” Lu Yongkang mused. He frowned slightly, muttering to himself, “If the Wang family can mass-produce Tier 3 puppet beasts, their overall strength will significantly increase.”

A blue-robed man in his early thirties hesitated slightly before speaking: “Ancestor, according to the intelligence we’ve gathered, the Wang family started with artifact refining. True Monarch Taihao himself was a puppet master, and his daughter excels at both artifact refining and puppet crafting. It’s likely these were crafted by True Monarch Taihao. The difficulty of crafting Tier 3 puppet beasts is far greater than Tier 2; even a Tier 3 artifact refiner might not be able to craft them. Whether it's alchemy or artifact refining, the difficulty drastically increases once you reach Tier 3.”

The Lu family has five Tier 3 artifact refiners, but none of them can craft Tier 3 puppet beasts. Puppetry originates from artifact refining but is distinct from it.

All major powers have Tier 3 artifact refiners, but not necessarily Tier 3 puppet masters.

Tier 2 puppet beasts are relatively common, Tier 3 puppet beasts are uncommon, and Tier 4 puppet beasts are even rarer.

“Send people to pay close attention,” Lu Yongkang instructed, his tone stern. “A powerful neighbor is not always a good thing.”

After all, the Wang family was an affiliated force of the Ten Thousand Swords Sect, and the Lu family remained wary of them; it's always wise to be cautious of others.

“Yes, Ancestor,” the blue-robed man replied.

After the Tier 3 puppet beasts were auctioned off, Wang Qiuli stepped aside, and Wang Qingjing ascended to the high platform.

“I will be presiding over the remainder of the auction,” Wang Qingjing announced. As she spoke, she produced over a hundred golden array flags and a dozen array disks. The main array flag shimmered with spiritual light, its runes flickering, exuding an intense spiritual aura; it was clearly a magic treasure.

“This is the Seven Star Demon-Locking Formation, a Tier 3 Mid-Grade array,” she stated. “It can be activated by three Core Formation cultivators and can easily trap five Tier 3 Mid-Grade demonic beasts. The starting bid is 800,000 spirit stones, and each subsequent bid must be at least 50,000 spirit stones higher.”

This set of Seven Star Demon-Locking Formation arrays was jointly crafted by Wang Qingjing and Ye Haitang. Ye Haitang was responsible for researching the formations, while Wang Qingjing was responsible for refining the array flags and disks.

“800,000!”

“850,000!”

“900,000!”

This set of Seven Star Demon-Locking Formation arrays ultimately sold for 1,100,000 spirit stones, acquired by Daoist Master Xinkong.

Daoist Master Xinkong was a rogue cultivator who made his living by hunting demonic beasts, and he had a need for Tier 3 arrays.

Wang Qingjing successively presented ten more sets of arrays for auction. These included formations for trapping enemies, killing enemies, defense, illusions, and teleportation, and each set fetched a high price.

These arrays all had certain flaws, though this was only true from Ye Haitang's perspective. The arrays themselves had no issues; they were merely Ye Haitang's experimental products.

“First, Tier 3 puppet beasts, and now ten sets of Tier 3 arrays!” Lu Yongkang said, frowning. “Is the Wang family’s Tier 3 array master truly this skilled at deploying arrays?”

The Lu family also had Tier 3 array masters, but they could only deploy traditional arrays and were incapable of specializing in new ones.

Ye Haitang had inherited True Lineage from Ye Lin and had always specialized in researching new arrays. Since Ye Lin's ancestors were all array masters of the Nine Nether Sect, Ye Haitang's mastery of the array path was exceptionally high.

“These must have come from the Ten Thousand Swords Sect,” the blue-robed man suggested. “I heard the Ten Thousand Swords Immortals even visited Silver Serpent Island for the Azure Lotus Immortals’ Nascent Soul ceremony. The Ten Thousand Swords Sect must be showing support for the Wang family! Deploying an array and refining it into array flags and disks are two different matters. The Wang family’s rise has been too rapid; even if they have a Tier 3 array master, their array deployment skill wouldn't be very high. The path of arrays is not something one can master just by reading a few ancient texts.”

The path of arrays is one of the most difficult skills to master; without innate talent, all effort is futile. Therefore, an array master’s deployment skill represents the true foundation of a force.

After the ten sets of arrays were sold, Wang Qingjing’s gaze swept over the cultivators present. She smiled and announced, “Next, it’s time for the highlight items of the auction. We have prepared six grand finale items.”

She took out a long, azure brocade box. Inside were four purple flying daggers, about a foot long, shimmering with spiritual light and exuding an intense spiritual aura.

“This is a set of magic treasures called Demon-Slaying Blades,” she explained. “Each blade is a Tier 2 magic treasure. The starting bid is 2,000,000 spirit stones, and each subsequent bid must be at least 100,000 spirit stones higher.”

This set of magic treasures was provided by the Four Seas Merchant Alliance and consigned to the auction house for sale, with the Wang family taking a commission.

This set of Demon-Slaying Blades ultimately sold for 5,000,000 spirit stones, becoming the highest-priced item sold.

The second highlight item was a Tier 2 defensive magic treasure, the Jade Scale Cloud Robe. This magic robe, a magic treasure in its own right, sold for the high price of 1,700,000.

“This is a set of Five-Element Puppet Beasts,” Wang Qingjing announced. “Each puppet beast is a Tier 3 Low-Grade puppet beast. They can combine to form a Five-Element Array, and can contend with cultivators at or above the sixth layer of the Core Formation stage.”

Wang Qingjing produced five metal spheres of varying colors. The Wang family began with puppet crafting techniques, and after Fairy Ziyue joined, she imparted all her knowledge, allowing Wang Qingjing to make rapid progress.

The combination of arrays and puppet beasts was not first pioneered by the Wang family; both the Thousand Mechanisms Sect in the Eastern Barren Lands and the Divine Weapons Palace in the South Sea could craft them, but they rarely let them circulate outside. This particular set of puppet beasts had significant flaws; otherwise, Wang Qingjing would not have put them up for sale.

Even with significant flaws, they were still treasures for forces lacking high-tier combat power.

“A set of puppet beasts?” a slightly mocking voice suddenly echoed. “Even a Core Formation Ninth Layer cultivator, controlling five Tier 3 puppet beasts simultaneously, wouldn’t have much spiritual sense left to control magic treasures, unless the controller’s spiritual sense is naturally strong or they have cultivated a spiritual sense-enhancing cultivation technique.”

Wang Qingjing looked toward the source of the voice and saw a golden-robed old man in his early fifties sitting in a chair, a mocking expression on his face. Wang Qingjing smiled and replied, “This fellow Daoist is right. This set of puppet beasts can be controlled individually, or multiple can be controlled at once; it’s not strictly necessary to control all five simultaneously. Their flaw is also obvious: they consume a significant amount of spiritual sense. However, two fellow Daoists working together would have no problem controlling them. The starting bid is 2,000,000 spirit stones, and each subsequent bid must be at least 100,000 spirit stones higher.”