Chapter 293: Tianbao City Auction (Part 2)

The first half, featuring hundreds of spirit items, proceeded at a relatively slow pace. Wang Yu's spirits lifted when the second half began.

The item up for auction turned out to be the beautiful cat-girl auctioneer herself. What's more, she sold for the average price of a third-tier spirit item, reaching 150,000 spirit stones. He wondered which wealthy old lecher had made the bid.

After she was sold, the Treasure Pavilion brought out an auctioneer with a different style. She was dressed incredibly conservatively, with delicate, well-defined features, and her face was flushed and radiant when she introduced items, appearing as gentle as an innocent girl next door. Some people preferred this type.

Throughout the latter half of the auction, Wang Yu made several bids.

He purchased a Blood Dragon Essence for 560,000 spirit stones. He had once acquired a piece the size of his palm, but this one was as large as a basketball. It was an excellent tonic for his body refinement.

He also successfully bid 430,000 spirit stones for a Soul Essence Stone. This item, when used with the juice of a Fantasy Herb, could significantly enhance the spiritual sense of Core Formation cultivators. Coincidentally, he had bought a Fantasy Herb during his recent visit to Treasure City, making this a perfect match.

With it, Wang Yu was confident he could raise his spiritual sense to the peak of the mid-third tier in a short time. Once that was achieved, refining an excellent-grade Soul Dream Origin Pill would certainly help him break through to the late-third tier spiritual sense. At that point, coupled with realm advancements and the aid of treasures like the Hundred Ghosts Soul Nurturing Liquid, he might even reach the peak of the third tier very soon. And once he possessed a fourth-tier spiritual sense, he would unlock the seventh placement slot.

Compared to advancing his fundamental cultivation and body refinement realm, enhancing his spiritual sense was relatively easier. After all, his inherited knowledge was the most complete, and as his fundamental cultivation improved, his spiritual sense would also increase significantly. Spiritual sense and fundamental cultivation were inherently linked. When both progressed together, combined with substantial resource investment and keeping pace with cultivation techniques, the speed of advancement would naturally be incredibly fast!

The spirit items purchased at the trading market in the past few days, combined with the auction expenditures, had cost him nearly two million low-grade spirit stones. He truly experienced the feeling of money flowing like water. However, his Sea Heart Ring was still bulging. Although he had acquired many items, he hadn't seen any truly top-tier treasures.

Next, several rounds of excellent-grade spirit pills were put up for sale.

There were three pills per bottle, primarily cultivation pills, which piqued Wang Yu's interest slightly. Unfortunately, there were no ice-attribute pills; he did, however, bid on a slightly lower-grade yin-attribute excellent-grade spirit pill. But after the price exceeded 500,000 spirit stones, he gave up. He could refine them himself in a few years at most, so buying them at a premium price at auction would be wasteful. It was better to collect the raw materials instead.

Judging by the price of third-tier spirit items, the spirit herbs required to create a third-tier pill formula would cost at least 300,000 spirit stones. One failure would be a truly agonizing loss! If one relied solely on accumulating resources without the corresponding alchemy talent, it was hard to imagine how many resources would be needed to cultivate an alchemy master.

If artifact refining failed, one might still find a way to salvage some materials. But if alchemy failed, everything would be lost. No wonder alchemy masters, especially high-tier ones, were so rare in Red Kite.

This could be glimpsed from the attitude and reliance the Blood-Eyed Demonic Flood Dragon and Yan Ling placed on him.

"Distinguished guests, next up is the grand finale of this auction: the fourth-tier spirit item, Nine-Bend Spirit Ginseng!" the auctioneer announced. "As everyone knows, this is a crucial main ingredient for refining the Nascent Soul Condensing Pill; its importance is self-evident. Starting bid: three million spirit stones!"

Due to the scarcity of fourth-tier Nascent Soul Condensing spirit items, most cultivators in this world relied on the power of pills to break through realms. Among the various Nascent Soul factions, almost all possessed the formula for the Nascent Soul Condensing Pill. The main ingredient was the Nine-Bend Spirit Ginseng, which could yield excellent-grade Nascent Soul Condensing Pills. As soon as this finale item appeared, it immediately ignited excitement throughout the venue. Obtaining this item meant gaining an opportunity to form a Nascent Soul! Even without other spirit herbs, one could choose to refine it with others; the number of pills yielded and whether it succeeded or failed would depend on luck. However, while the spirit herb was important, the core issue was access to a fourth-tier alchemist.

Therefore, after the Nine-Bend Spirit Ginseng stirred the entire audience, no one immediately made a bid—they dared not! If the item's ownership were exposed, it would surely lead to death without a burial place. Only cultivators with strong backgrounds and connections dared to bid.

"Four million spirit stones!" The voice was unexpectedly familiar. Wang Yu quickly recognized who it was with a brief thought and couldn't help but smile. It was Wen Hua from the Yin-Yang Sect.

That idiot had bid several times earlier, never bothering to disguise his voice. It was one thing to bid on third-tier spirit items, but he didn't even bother to conceal himself when bidding on the Nine-Bend Spirit Ginseng. Probably many people were now eyeing him; regardless of whether he actually won the bid, daring to offer four million spirit stones proved how wealthy this young man was. And Red Kite never lacked people willing to take risks!

After Wen Hua's bid, it seemed to officially kick off the competition, as voices came from the higher-level private rooms. "Five million spirit stones." "Seven million!" "Eight million low-grade spirit stones!!" The intensity of the bidding quickly exceeded Wang Yu's current funds, but that wasn't important.

He still had 2,200 high-grade spirit stones from two mining operations in Gui Ling City, which converted to 2.2 million low-grade spirit stones. If he sold the high-grade spoils he carried, he could gain another one to two million spirit stones, leaving him with plenty of leeway. Thus, after a brief pause, he announced an even higher price: "Ten million low-grade spirit stones."

The atmosphere fell silent for a moment, and Wang Yu was quickly outdone. Someone bid, "120,000 high-grade spirit stones!" "Damn, they're rich!" many people silently cursed.

For ordinary fourth-tier spirit items, five or six million was already a high price. However, since the Nine-Bend Spirit Ginseng involved the opportunity to form a Nascent Soul, even three times that price was within a reasonable range. The price was almost comparable to a fourth-tier magical artifact.

However, someone seemed even more impatient: it was Wen Hua from the Yin-Yang Sect again. "Ten supreme-grade spirit stones!" He actually possessed supreme-grade spirit stones!!

Wang Yu's first reaction was shock. Supreme-grade spirit stones were extremely rare treasures in themselves, representing the foundational wealth of a sect. They were treasures that even Soul Transformation cultivators could use to advance their cultivation. Even if their pure spiritual energy was fully absorbed, placing them in a corresponding spiritual vein would allow them to recover to their full state after a hundred or so years, making them reusable top-tier cultivation resources. Using ten of them to purchase the Nine-Bend Spirit Ginseng was a bit of an overpayment, as despite its preciousness, it was only one ingredient, and there were several locations in Red Kite that could stably produce it.

"What a spendthrift!" "Exactly," another muttered, "where did this wastrel come from, daring to use such foundational wealth to buy a Nine-Bend Spirit Ginseng?" "Who cares what others think?" someone else interjected. "Once that price is announced, it can't be replaced by other equivalents."

The cultivators in the private rooms began to communicate intensely with their spiritual senses. The auctioneer, her eyes gleaming, eagerly asked for further bids several times before announcing the successful auction.

Seeing this, Wang Yu glanced at the very last grand auction item, found it useless to him, and immediately called a server to prepare to leave the auction house early. If Wen Hua wasn't a fool, after acquiring the Nine-Bend Spirit Ginseng, he would surely use the small teleportation array here to leave Treasure City immediately. As for Wang Yu... when else would be a better time to snatch it?!

Earlier, when trading the gilded invitation, he had sensed that the other party might come looking for trouble once they discovered the truth about being "tricked," so he had left a mark on it using the Soul-Piercing Evil Ship Curse. His original intention was to avoid this person and prevent unnecessary trouble. Now, it seemed destiny had intervened. This treasure was clearly fated to be his!

The Evil Ship mark, left by the advanced spiritual sense technique 'Spirit Thread Transformation' of the ancient Heavenly Soul Sect, could be sensed by him even if it was placed in a Qiankun Ring. He just needed to leave a step earlier and sense the direction of the mark. If there was a significant deviation, it would mean the opponent had already used a small teleportation array to leave the city, and he could then pursue them. This mark could last for seven days—that was plenty of time!

As for the two late Core Formation stage guards of the other party, frankly, he didn't pay them much mind. What if the Yin-Yang Sect was a first-tier power? Its foundation still couldn't compare to the Spirit-Defying Blood Sect. The most crucial point was this: the current location was at the border between Blood Abyss Province and Flowing Ruler Province. As long as Wang Yu used his Cold Blood Ring to contact cities in Wen Hua's escape direction, he could, in his capacity as a candidate for the Twelve Elders, mobilize forces for an encirclement, which was entirely justifiable. If he moved fast enough, he could intercept them before they escaped into Flowing Ruler Province.

Furthermore, if a small teleportation array wasn't guided by another array, its teleportation direction was random, which was precisely why it was suitable for use at the Treasure Pavilion auction.

Just then, Wang Yu's spiritual sense stirred, and he smiled. "North!"

Standing in the auction house's secret passage, Wang Yu suddenly opened his eyes, detecting the target's abrupt shift in direction, and a grin spread across his lips. This direction indicated that their luck wasn't very good. North of Treasure City was within the Blood Abyss Province; they would have to travel a long way around to head south.

After confirming the general direction, Wang Yu immediately flew out of Treasure City. The Cold Blood Ring had a function similar to a voice transmission talisman, but it couldn't be used for calls; it could only transmit messages via text. Wang Yu searched around and found three early Core Formation inner sect elders, paying them 300,000 spirit stones to help. With himself, that made for an encirclement from four directions. As for why he didn't seek out the stronger Saint Sect City Lord, he was naturally worried about them double-crossing him. Three helpers were enough.

The Cold Blood Ring quickly received responses; two agreed immediately, and one didn't reply, so Wang Yu found another person.

Meanwhile, Wen Hua and the two late Core Formation elders from the Yin-Yang Sect appeared together in a desolate wilderness. After sweeping their spiritual senses over the nearby terrain and finding a landmark-like structure, all three of their expressions turned ugly.

"Damn, the small teleportation array sent us deep into the Spirit-Defying Blood Sect's territory. We can't directly enter Flowing Ruler Province."

"No matter," Wen Hua said, waving his hand after a moment of thought. "At the Treasure Pavilion's Earth-grade auction house, no one could have tampered with us. That means those people don't know that I bought the Nine-Bend Spirit Ginseng. Perhaps we can use the 'darkness under the lamp' strategy and return directly to Treasure City. What do the two elders think?"

Upon hearing this, the two elders' faces darkened even further. "Young Master Wen," one said, "the plan itself is fine, but you forgot that you didn't disguise your voice during the auction. Many people likely remembered it."

Wen Hua's expression immediately became awkward.