Chapter 1167: Snake-type Spirit Beast Egg

"I'd like to purchase some metal ores. I heard your esteemed establishment sells various types, so we specifically came here to buy them," Wang Qingqing said, taking out a red jade slip and handing it to Qian Rong.

Qian Rong swept his divine sense over it and chuckled, "Fellow cultivators, you've come to the right place. It's not boasting, but we, the Nine Nether Pavilion, sell every kind of metal ore available in the Northern Frontier cultivation world. In terms of both variety and quantity of metal ores, if we claim to be second, no one would dare claim first. We have all the ores you need. I'll send someone to fetch them right away." He took out a red spell disk, imbued it with an incantation, and gestured.

"Shopkeeper Qian, does your store sell Nine Nether Tea?" Ye Haitang asked. The Nine Nether Sect has a Nine Nether Tree that is over ten thousand years old, serving as the core of their sect-protecting formation. The leaves of the Nine Nether Tree can be stir-fried into tea, which helps calm the mind and stabilize the soul. To some extent, it can prevent qi deviation. Its effects are more pronounced for cultivators below the Nascent Soul stage, while for Nascent Soul cultivators, the effect of drinking Nine Nether Tea is negligible.

"Fellow cultivators, you must be from somewhere else! We haven't sold Nine Nether Tea for a long time. All the Nine Nether Tea currently circulating in the market was sold previously. However, besides Nine Nether Tea, we have other varieties of spiritual tea, all with excellent taste and effects. Here is our spiritual tea catalog," Qian Rong said enthusiastically, handing Ye Haitang a black ledger.

Ye Haitang took the black ledger, flipped through a few pages casually, and shook her head. "I was fortunate enough to drink Nine Nether Tea once before, and the memory is still fresh. I didn't expect it's no longer for sale."

Ye Lin had mentioned that every seven or eight hundred years, the Nine Nether Tree would grow tender leaves, which could be processed into tea. However, what's most precious is the liquid called "Nine Nether Jade Liquid" that flows from the roots of the Nine Nether Tree. Nine Nether Jade Liquid is the primary ingredient for refining Nine Nether Pills, which can increase the chance of forming a Nascent Soul by twenty percent. It is precisely because of the Nine Nether Tree that the Nine Nether Sect has been able to continuously cultivate Nascent Soul cultivators.

The Nine Nether Tree grows within a mutated subterranean lava pool, from which a special flame called "Nine Nether Divine Fire" erupts. Even Nascent Soul cultivators would be troubled if they came into contact with this fire. For this reason, the Nine Nether Sect has laid down numerous restrictions to prevent the Nine Nether Divine Fire from gushing outward. According to Ye Lin, to obtain the Nine Nether Jade Liquid, one must use the Nine Nether Token to open the restrictions. The Nine Nether Token is the sect master's token of the Nine Nether Sect and also the main formation disk of their sect-protecting grand formation.

Logically, Nine Nether Tea shouldn't be considered particularly precious; it's merely some tender leaves gathered incidentally while collecting the Nine Nether Jade Liquid. Could it be that the Nine Nether Sect keeps it all for their own consumption? Or has the Nine Nether Token been lost? Ye Haitang couldn't be sure. The Nine Nether Sect had experienced internal strife, making it difficult to say whether the Nine Nether Token was still with the sect. Ye Lin had mentioned the Nine Nether Token, but he had never seen the actual item.

"Hehe, I've also had Nine Nether Tea before; its lingering taste is truly unforgettable," Qian Rong chuckled, a reminiscent look on his face.

Ye Haitang nodded and said nothing more.

Soon after, a blue-robed attendant approached, holding a black storage bag. "Fellow cultivators, please check if the quantity is correct. The total is 720,000 spirit stones, but we'll round it down; 700,000 will be fine. Here is the receipt. Keep it safe. Once you leave the market, the Nine Nether Sect will guarantee your safety within a radius of 100,000 li. If you are robbed, bring this receipt to the market administration, and someone will help you apprehend the culprits. The heads hanging on the archway at the market entrance belong to rogue cultivators who committed murder and plunder within our Nine Nether Sect's territory. Two of them hid for over a hundred years but were still caught by us. We extracted their souls and refined their spirits. Anyone who opposes our Nine Nether Sect will not come to a good end."

Qian Rong said with a hint of pride. It was precisely this rule of the Nine Nether Sect that ensured their markets flourished, giving peace of mind to both merchants and customers. After Wang Qingqing confirmed the quantity was correct, she paid the spirit stones and took the receipt from Qian Rong.

"Oh, by the way, there's an auction at the Heavenly Wind Pavilion today. Nine Nether Tea might appear there; you could go and take a look," Qian Rong suddenly remembered something and added.

"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Qian."

After leaving the Nine Nether Pavilion, they strolled along the street. Nine Nether Valley was indeed prosperous. Pedestrians on the streets wore diverse clothing and spoke with varied accents, including descendants of cultivation families, managers from large merchant alliances, and even scholars from the Central Plains cultivation world.

A quarter of an hour later, Ye Haitang and Wang Qingqing stopped at the entrance of a pavilion with green bricks and glazed tiles. The plaque above bore three large golden characters: "Heavenly Wind Pavilion." Two guards stood at the entrance. After paying the spirit stones, they were allowed in.

Inside the spacious and bright hall, bidding voices rose and fell. In the center of the hall was a circular high platform, where a ruddy-faced old man in a green robe stood, holding a pale golden jade ruler. The ruler shimmered with spiritual light. Around the platform were hundreds of azure jade chairs, most of which were occupied. Wang Qingqing and Ye Haitang found empty seats and sat down.

After the jade ruler magic treasure was auctioned off, the green-robed elder flicked his sleeve, and three metallic spheres of various colors appeared in his hand. After a whirring sound of mechanisms, the three metallic spheres transformed into three shimmering third-tier puppet beasts.

"The fifth finale auction item is a set of complete puppet beasts from the Thousand Machine Gate of the Eastern Barren. They can be used to set up the Three Talents Spirit Annihilation Formation. If a fellow Daoist has sufficiently powerful divine sense, they can control all three puppet beasts simultaneously, which is equivalent to having three fearless Core Formation stage guards. The starting bid is one million, and each subsequent bid must not be less than two hundred thousand."

The Thousand Machine Gate of the Eastern Barren excels in mechanical puppetry and produces complete sets of puppet beasts. The Wang family merely utilized this concept to develop their own sets of puppet beasts. Naturally, the quality of the Wang family's puppet beasts cannot compare to those refined by the Thousand Machine Gate. However, Wang Qingqing firmly believed that the quality of the Wang family's puppet beasts would steadily improve. The bidding for this set of puppet beasts was quite fierce, and it was ultimately bought for a high price of three million spirit stones by a middle-aged man in a dark robe.

"This fellow Daoist doesn't have enough spirit stones and plans to auction off some items. All fellow Daoists are welcome to bid actively." The middle-aged man took out over a dozen items, including magic treasures and materials for alchemy and artifact refining.

A black light flickered in Ye Haitang's eyes, and a look of delight appeared on her face. She leaped and landed before the middle-aged man. She picked up a watermelon-sized gray spiritual beast egg and casually asked, "What kind of spiritual beast egg is this?" The gray spiritual beast egg had some black patterns on its surface and emitted faint undulations of yin energy. If not for Ye Haitang cultivating ghost-path techniques, she might not have detected the yin energy fluctuations.

There aren't many spiritual beasts that inherently carry yin energy fluctuations; it could be acquired later or innate. Ye Haitang used her Yellow Spring Eye to observe it and discovered it was a serpent-type spiritual beast. If it were a serpent-type spiritual beast naturally endowed with yin energy, there are several such types, and none of them are ordinary spiritual beasts.

"I don't know," the middle-aged man transmitted via voice, "I obtained it from an ancient cultivator's cave dwelling, and I've never been able to hatch it. If you want it, Fairy, fifty thousand spirit stones will suffice. I had a Spirit Master examine it, and they said it might be a Nine Nether Python's spiritual beast egg."

Upon hearing the words "Nine Nether Python," Ye Haitang readily paid the fifty thousand spirit stones. If it was indeed a Nine Nether Python, she wouldn't be at a loss. If it wasn't, then losing fifty thousand spirit stones was nothing to her.

After the complete set of puppet beasts was auctioned, the green-robed elder took out a cyan brocade box. He opened it, revealing seven shimmering black flying daggers inside. "The final finale auction item is a complete set of magic treasures, the Black Cloud Blades. The starting bid is two million spirit stones, and each subsequent bid must not be less than two hundred thousand."

Wang Qingqing's artifact refining skill was not low; she could refine complete sets of magic treasures herself, so she naturally had no interest in bidding for this set of flying dagger magic treasures.

"This auction concludes now. Next time, we will prepare even more and better items. All fellow Daoists are welcome to attend." After the green-robed elder announced the end of the auction, the cultivators left one after another.

Wang Qingqing and Ye Haitang did not linger long in the marketplace and left directly. Ye Haitang merely wanted to observe the Nine Nether Sect disciples up close. Since Nine Nether Valley was right under the Nine Nether Sect's watchful eye, they naturally dared not inquire about information there.