Chapter 749: Chaos Spirit Vein

Indeed, within just a short time, the price was surpassed.

The new price was one Thunder Origin Pearl, plus one hundred top-grade divine spirit veins and five billion superior-grade Spirit Crystals.

In fact, anyone who could still bid at this point—even if their bid was rejected—was unquestionably among the elite at the pyramid's apex.

As for top-grade divine spirit veins, Ding Huan knew he had no competitive edge.

Moreover, the next bidder might very well produce a Chaos Spirit Vein.

This area lies near the Chaos, and once every hundred years, Chaos Spirit Veins are generously distributed; it's not surprising someone could produce one.

He wrote down one primordial spirit root: Hollow Willow, plus one drop of Cosmic True Essence.

In truth, Ding Huan didn't know if this bid would even make the list.

If it didn't make the list, he would raise his bid again.

If both the Life Tree and the Cosmic Membrane were intact, Ding Huan knew his bid was off by a hundred thousand miles.

But if only the Cosmic Membrane remained, his bid was actually quite decent.

Although the bids here seemed fierce, most people only wanted to buy the Cosmic Membrane.

Because the Life Tree was certainly dead, but the Cosmic Membrane could not only repair shattered starlands' cosmic rules but also prove one's path to Sagehood.

Indeed, as soon as Ding Huan's bid appeared, it quickly rose to first place.

A murmur erupted among the crowd.

To bring a Life Tree to auction was already bizarre.

This was because the Life Tree was about to wither; selling it wasn't excessively strange.

Now someone was bidding with a primordial spirit root—Hollow Willow—this was outright madness.

If both the Cosmic Membrane and the Life Tree were undamaged, even a Bai Chi would choose the Life Tree.

As for Cosmic True Essence, one drop could grant a Sage an extra life—who would ever bring such a thing out?

The only possible reason someone would bring this out is that the person possessed more than one drop of Cosmic True Essence.

Tang Yiyi had never imagined she could not only auction the Life Tree but also witness Hollow Willow being bid.

"The auctioneer accepts the bid from Section Jiqiu, Row 137, Seat 2176, but the auctioneer must verify the goods."

Tang Yiyi quickly recovered and immediately announced the auctioneer's requirement.

"Agreed." Ding Huan did not hesitate.

Soon, a Pre-Saint-level expert arrived at Ding Huan's private booth, carrying the Life Tree.

Ding Huan produced the Hollow Willow, sealed within his own restraint.

Seeing the Hollow Willow in Ding Huan's hand, even the Pre-Saint couldn't help but flinch.

Such a precious treasure had been sealed by Ding Huan like trash inside an ordinary wooden box.

If it had not been sold today, this primordial spirit root would likely wither soon.

"The items are authentic. The transaction is approved." With verification complete, Tang Yiyi announced the deal was finalized.

The instant Ding Huan received the Life Tree, he sent it into his soul-sea world.

Whether or not he could extract the Life Tree, he could not possibly attempt it now.

Although the seals on Ding Huan's private booth were reactivated, countless divine senses still settled outside his booth.

This place forbade divine senses from extending beyond one zhang; thus, Ding Huan knew these divine senses belonged to the cultivators around him.

Though Ding Huan longed to touch the Life Tree in his world, he held himself back.

Ding Huan paid no attention to the items auctioned afterward.

He felt the Life Tree was of utmost importance to him.

This was why he could not leave the auction hall—if he could have left, he would have left long ago.

With the Life Tree in hand, his interest in the Heaven and Earth Bow diminished greatly.

After two days, Ding Huan finally heard Tang Yiyi mention the Heaven and Earth Bow.

"The Heaven and Earth Bow is a primordial artifact, accompanied by three arrows: Sunset, Moonset, and Starfall. Though these three arrows are missing now, the Heaven and Earth Bow's value needs no further explanation…"

As soon as Tang Yiyi unveiled the Heaven and Earth Bow, Ding Huan's gaze locked onto it.

If only he could sweep it with his divine sense, he would surely know whether it was real or fake.

But he could not use his divine sense now; he could only faintly sense that the Dao resonance emanating from this Heaven and Earth Bow matched the one he had obtained—even as if carved from the same mold.

Could there really be two Heaven and Earth Bows?

While Ding Huan was still frowning in thought, the Heaven and Earth Bow had already been purchased by Booth #37.

Five days later, as soon as Tang Yiyi declared the auction over, Ding Huan used a teleportation talisman to leave the auction hall.

The auction rules stated that once the auction ended, any escape method was permitted.

The auction hall did not deploy airspace-restricting barriers.

Almost the instant Ding Huan vanished, a swarm of divine senses settled on his empty seat.

Everyone wanted to know which genius had brought out Hollow Willow as a bid.

After Ding Huan returned to his cave, everywhere people were discussing how the Life Tree had appeared at the auction and been exchanged for a primordial spirit root.

Ding Huan did not go out; as soon as he returned to his quarters, he entered his soul-sea universe.

Looking at the Life Tree lying in his soul-sea universe, Ding Huan's heart surged with excitement.

What he wanted was not the Cosmic Membrane—though the Cosmic Membrane was certainly a fine treasure.

What he truly wanted was the Life Tree.

This Life Tree stood less than a meter tall, appearing like a tender new sprout.

Yet Ding Huan always felt something off—the Life Tree's life aura carried a trace of antiquity, as if it had endured infinite eons.

It had not grown larger because it was bound by the Cosmic Membrane; otherwise, this Life Tree might long ago have become a towering giant. Ding Huan straightforwardly constructed a Great Universe Technique Zhou Tian—the intricate, vast cosmic laws made him dizzy and nauseated.

Moreover, Ding Huan vaguely sensed that within this Life Tree there existed something he could not yet detect.

It was just like the Forgotten Dao Rule that scroll had laid down within his great Dao.

This made Ding Huan's vigilance soar.

He uprooted this Life Tree and implanted a top-grade divine spirit vein into it.

As for that top-grade wood-attribute divine spirit vein, Ding Huan did not use it.

Next, he needed to strive to charge into the God Merging Realm; only upon reaching the God Merging Realm would he have a chance to separate the Life Tree from the cosmic fascia.

When Ding Huan emerged again to cultivate, no one came to disturb him.

Although many people discussed the matter of the Life Tree, not a single one knew who had purchased it.

A month passed in a hurry. When Ding Huan was called out again, the Divine Vein Contest had already begun.

No errors in any chapter—no typos, no missing content—read it all here!

A massive forbidden array appeared at the edge of the Great Dao Divine Vein Plaza.

Everyone preparing to enter the Chaos Zone would do so as a unit of their sect or some faction.

Ding Huan did not sweep with his divine sense; he took a cursory glance.

The people standing before this massive forbidden array numbered at least over a hundred thousand.

With so many people going in, even if there were divine veins, probably only a very small fraction of them would actually obtain one.

This stretch of chaos where the divine veins were contested—an area of hundreds of millions of miles in radius—had long been scoured countless times.

The places where truly good things would appear should be the spots just newly revealed from the chaos.

These areas ranged from a million miles to several million miles in extent.

Therefore, the first step of the Divine Vein Contest was a contest of speed.

Whoever could rush to the very front would collect the most good things.

If one fell behind, then one truly had to face contention.

Ding Huan estimated that with his strength, if he really had to fight for it, he could only be delivering himself as a dish.

Ding Huan held an escape talisman in his hand, waiting for this forbidden array to open.

There was no telling how many others held escape talismans just like Ding Huan.

When the time came for the forbidden array to open, it parted on its own.

The dense aura of chaos rushed toward him. Ding Huan's very first impression was that this place was absolutely the best cultivation spot.

That was only a passing thought, however; he himself deployed Heart Escape and shot toward the deepest part of the Chaos Land.

As for the escape talisman in his hand, it was for others to see; he would never actually use an escape talisman to flee.

After bursting out of the crowd, Ding Huan immediately summoned the Cosmic Cauldron.

The Cosmic Cauldron trailed ripples of spatial fluctuation, then swiftly vanished from sight.

Ding Huan did not know whether there might be anyone faster than him.

In his own thinking, even if someone were faster than him, he would still be among the very front ranks.

Sitting atop the Cosmic Cauldron, Ding Huan could feel that although the outer reaches of this Chaos Land carried the aura of chaos, it was terribly mottled.

A place like this suited his cultivation, but did not suit anyone else's.

Where his divine sense reached, there were some good things, yet not a single one could stir Ding Huan's interest.

In less than a single time-chi, Ding Huan's Cosmic Cauldron had charged into an entirely new area.

The reason he judged this place to be entirely new was that Ding Huan could still sense that some of the chaos qi had not yet dissipated.

Several divine spirit veins jutted into the ground at a slant, like toppled Shanfeng.

The dense chaos aura told Ding Huan that these were Chaos Divine Spirit Veins.

But Chaos Divine Spirit Veins also came in grades, and these few were not of a high grade.

Ding Huan did not touch these Chaos Divine Spirit Veins; his Cosmic Cauldron kept charging toward the very innermost part.

There were many powerhouses here. Although he had arrived a step ahead, he did not have much of an advantage.

Therefore, he would not waste the best time on these Chaos Divine Spirit Veins at the outermost edge.

In just a dozen or so breaths' time, Ding Huan came to a halt.

Here he felt the terror of the chaos qi.

Even standing at the very outermost edge of this Chaos Land, Ding Huan still had the illusion that his body was about to vanish.

These were not what Ding Huan needed to worry about now; he saw four Chaos Divine Spirit Veins.

Whether in size or in chaos aura, these Chaos Divine Spirit Veins were all better than those few he had seen at the outermost edge.

Ding Huan's hand kept dropping formation flags, and one after another Chaos Divine Spirit Vein was drawn away by him.

By the time he had drawn the seventeenth Chaos Divine Spirit Vein, his divine sense caught sight of several human silhouettes at its edge.

Those silhouettes were also frantically drawing Chaos Divine Spirit Veins, but upon sensing that there were hardly any good divine spirit veins near Ding Huan's side, they all charged off in another direction.

These were absolutely all Saints-level existences.

Ding Huan's heart secretly went on guard, and the speed of his hands grew even faster.

After one incense stick's time, Ding Huan's world held over a hundred more Chaos Divine Spirit Veins, and by now more and more people were arriving here.

Ding Huan began searching for other treasures.

After the chaos receded, what remained in the Chaos Land was far more than just Chaos Divine Spirit Veins.

(End of this chapter)