Chapter 148: True Demon of Border Defense

Du Zhanyuan took out a white pebble and cast a spell on it. The pebble glowed with a dazzling white light, revealing numerous spiritual patterns.

A young maid approached, carrying a blue wooden casket about half a *zhang* long. Du Zhanyuan opened it to reveal five identical blue short swords, each adorned with fish-scale patterns on their hilts and classified as a low-grade artifact.

Du Zhanyuan's voice, amplified by the sound-amplifying stone, resonated throughout the venue, ensuring everyone heard him clearly. "This is a set of Fish Scale Swords, five in total. Each is a low-grade artifact. The starting bid is 300 spirit stones, and each increment must be no less than 50."

Although this set of artifacts was not particularly valuable, most attendees were Foundation Establishment cultivators, and many participated in the bidding.

"Three hundred!"

"Three hundred fifty!"

"Four hundred!"

The price steadily climbed, eventually reaching 1,700 spirit stones, at which point Zhao Ji secured the bid.

A hint of joy appeared in Du Zhanyuan's eyes; the final price for this set of Fish Scale Swords was quite good.

After the Fish Scale Swords were sold, a maid approached with a tray holding two exquisite azure wine pots.

"Two pots of Peach Blossom Brew. This is a low-grade Tier 2 spirit wine, effective for enhancing magical power. Starting bid 300 spirit stones, with minimum increments of 50."

One by one, exquisite auction items appeared on the circular platform: Tier 2 talismans, Tier 2 spirit wines, and sets of artifacts.

Wang Changsheng and Wang Changfeng were quite tempted, but their purses were light, so they could only watch.

For this auction, Wang Changsheng had brought over 50,000 spirit stones, while Wang Changfeng had just over 1,000, which he had saved up himself. The income from Qingyun Tower was public funds and could not be easily appropriated.

With so many spirit stones, Wang Changsheng's intention was, naturally, to bid on Foundation Establishment spiritual items.

"This is a high-grade artifact forging furnace, the Purple Sun Furnace. It was crafted from Purple Sun Sand, Fire Sun Stone, and various other Tier 2 materials. It offers a certain enhancement to the forging of artifacts. The starting bid is 500 spirit stones, with minimum increments of 100 spirit stones."

The forging furnace Wang Changsheng currently used was a mid-grade artifact, once used by his ancestor Wang Yuangang, and was now very worn.

Forging furnaces and alchemy cauldrons are difficult to craft, and Wang Changsheng knew he couldn't make one himself. He had come specifically to purchase a high-quality forging furnace.

This Purple Sun Furnace, with its forging enhancement, was perfect for him.

By this point, the price of the Purple Sun Furnace had already risen to 1,000 spirit stones.

"One thousand two hundred." Wang Changsheng immediately raised the bid by 200 spirit stones, displaying a determined posture.

"One thousand three hundred."

"One thousand four hundred."

Many people continued to bid. A high-grade artifact typically cost over 1,000 spirit stones, with some expensive ones fetching three to four thousand.

Wang Changsheng pondered, then raised his auction token and called out, "Two thousand."

By directly increasing the bid by 600 spirit stones, he instantly deterred more than half of the bidders.

After two more price increases, Wang Changsheng secured the Purple Sun Furnace for 2,500 spirit stones.

A young maid ascended the platform, carrying a tray with three palm-sized black porcelain bottles.

"Three high-grade Tier 2 demon beast souls: Human-Faced Spider, Azure Moon Wolf, and Ice Dragon. They will be auctioned separately. Starting bid 500 spirit stones, with minimum increments of 100 spirit stones."

"Five hundred!"

"Six hundred!"

"Seven hundred!"

The competition was fierce. If refined into spiritual artifacts or magic tools, demon beast souls could manifest forms and significantly boost power.

Wang Changsheng had always wanted to refine a demon beast soul into his Black Ice Banner, but he hadn't encountered a suitable one. The souls typically used for refining low-grade Tier 2 puppet beasts were mostly from demon rats or demon pigs. He had previously attempted to refine demon beast souls into spiritual artifacts, failing multiple times before achieving success.

If he could acquire a high-grade Tier 2 demon beast soul, it would significantly enhance his strength.

After several rounds of bidding, Wang Changsheng secured the Ice Dragon soul for the high price of 1,800 spirit stones.

The Black Ice Banner was already a mid-grade artifact. With this high-grade Tier 2 Ice Dragon soul, further refinement had a high probability of elevating it to a high-grade artifact.

Next, several artifact forging materials appeared successively. Wang Changfeng purchased a box of Blazing Fire Sand for 1,200 spirit stones.

Blazing Fire Sand is a high-grade Tier 2 forging material, suitable for crafting high-grade artifacts.

After a set of gold-element flying swords was sold, Du Zhanyuan's smile deepened. He announced, "Next, it's time for our finale auction items. We have prepared ten such items."

A young maid ascended the platform, carrying a red tray with five yellow porcelain bottles.

"Five bottles of Earth Fiend True Qi. This True Fiend Qi enhances earth-element spells. They will be auctioned separately. Starting bid 1,000 spirit stones, with minimum increments of 100."

"One thousand!"

"One thousand two hundred!"

"One thousand three hundred!"

The bidding was exceptionally fierce, with calls for prices echoing continuously.

The five bottles of Earth Fiend True Qi were sold for 8,200, 8,500, 8,800, 8,600, and 8,900 spirit stones respectively. Wang Changsheng spent 17,500 spirit stones to acquire two of them.

Wang Mingzhong cultivated the earth-element cultivation method, Earth Departure Art. Since a great battle was imminent, Wang Changsheng intended to acquire more Foundation Establishment spiritual items to bolster his family's strength.

The second finale item was three high-grade Tier 2 Face-Retaining Pills. It was said that consuming this pill granted eternal youth.

Though this pill had no use for cultivation, it was highly favored by female cultivators.

Wang Ruyan bid 5,000 spirit stones for one Face-Retaining Pill. She personally went onto the stage to hand over the spirit stones, and upon receiving the pill, she beamed with joy.

The third finale item was three Foundation Establishment Pills. The competition was extremely intense, and Wang Changsheng failed to secure even one.

The fourth finale item was a low-grade Tier 2 Azure Wind Leopard.

Spirit beasts could be used to protect clan members. As guardian spirit beasts, their lifespans were longer than those of cultivators, and their thick hides made them resilient, making them highly sought after by many cultivators.

After multiple price increases, the Azure Wind Leopard was sold for the high price of 30,000 spirit stones to Fang Zixu.

Fang Zixu hailed from a cultivation family, with several of his clan members studying at the Heavenly Soldier Sect.

The fifth finale item was a set of formation tools for a high-grade Tier 2 Blazing Fire Array. It sold for the high price of 50,000 spirit stones, acquired by Wang Ruyan.

Du Zhanyuan took out a yellow wooden casket and extracted an egg-sized silver object from it.

"A piece of low-grade Tier 3 artifact forging material, Silver Essence, weighing seven *liang*. This material is used for crafting magic treasures and is also suitable for refining personal magic artifacts. Starting bid 3,000 spirit stones, with minimum increments of 1,000."

"Three thousand."

"Four thousand."

"Five thousand."

In a private room on the second floor, a middle-aged scholar, dressed as a literati, sat at a table. Beside him stood several young men and women with delicate features.

The middle-aged scholar was Li Shixian, the dean of White Deer Academy, a Core Formation cultivator at the seventh layer.