Chapter 62

Shopping City will hold an auction and auction Foundation Establishment Pills and Foundation Establishment Spiritual Items, the news spreading throughout the Western Drooping Lands.

Since Wang Ping reforged the Azure Blade Sword, over the past half month many cultivators have entered Shopping City.

It is said that the inns in Shopping City are overcrowded, such a scene not seen in the Western Drooping Lands for a long time.

"Tsk tsk! It is said that this time the number of cultivators at Qi Refining Great Perfection exceeds five thousand, let alone those at Late Qi Refining!"

In the Heavenly Gang Institute of Tie Lanshan, Wang Ye exclaimed with a look of astonishment.

Zhang Zuo smiled and said: "Normal, Foundation Establishment spiritual items and Foundation Establishment Pill are really too tempting, but I heard that outside the city, killings and treasure seizures happen every day now; it seems some cultivators lack spirit stones and want to take this opportunity to madly amass wealth!"

Tie Lanshan nodded and said: "I have also heard of this, but the trading city has already dispatched ten Foundation Establishment cultivators, each leading a team, to maintain security within a hundred li outside the city."

"Amitabha! Outside the city is so dangerous, I don't know how Daoist Lan is doing! I heard that outside the city there are ten murderous gangs that have risen to prominence, called the Ten Great Yama Kings, committing countless killings and amassing countless wealth. I don't know if Daoist Lan would be able to escape if he encountered them!"

Escape?

Tie Lanshan inwardly chuckled coldly: "Those so-called Ten Great Yama Kings are better off not encountering Daoist Lan Ming; otherwise, once the azure light ring appears, they would likely become wandering souls after a single glance."

At this moment, Zhang Zuo looked around and said:

"Everyone, the auction is imminent; the Foundation Establishment spiritual items and Foundation Establishment Pill together amount to only about ten or so pieces, and the fierce competition may exceed our expectations. Therefore we should stick to the original plan: the three main ingredients for the Foundation Establishment Pill are Mystic Spirit Fruit, Five Elements Grass, and Purple Cloud Lingzhi. We must secure two of them! Only then can I guarantee to refine eight or more Foundation Establishment Pills."

"I have a stalk of Purple Cloud Lingzhi here, so we need one less piece of Purple Cloud Lingzhi to bid on."

Tie Lanshan thought for a moment and said: "I happen to have obtained a Mystic Spirit Fruit here; we only need to bid on one piece of it!"

Upon hearing this, everyone was delighted, and Zhang Zuo laughed even more:

"In that case, we only need to bid on two pieces of Five Elements Grass, and one piece each of Purple Cloud Lingzhi and Mystic Spirit Fruit."

Tie Lanshan said: "Everyone, I suspect there are not a few cultivators who share our thinking, so the bidding will surely be extraordinarily fierce; therefore we must give it our all."

Outside the trading city, three hundred li to the east, in a mountain range.

"Third brother! Run quickly!"

"Heh! Run! Where can you run to?"

Whoosh! A cyan sword light instantly split into two; one pierced a black-clad person's body at extreme speed, the other flashed and vanished, and in the distance a miserable cry rang out.

Wang Ping walked out of the forest expressionlessly.

With a gesture, the two sword lights disappeared, and a three-foot cyan blade was grasped in his hand.

He glanced expressionlessly at the corpses on the ground, his brows suddenly furrowed; they had just claimed to be some kind of Yama Kings, but unfortunately, as soon as he sensed that their bodies were already coalescing into a black lethal aura, he directly unleashed the cyan blade sword.

After three exchanges, the three Great Perfection cultivators directly perished, body and spirit destroyed.

The power of the newly formed Azure Blade Sword completely met his expectations; its incredibly sharp attack power seemed unstoppable.

The three Qi Refining Great Perfection cultivators, despite having decent protective spiritual light and defensive treasures, were all pierced through by a single sword.

These past few days, Wang Ping has been practicing the Azure Light Sword Technique in the mountain range; now he can only condense three sword lights, achieving at most a union of two swords.

As for uniting three swords, he currently cannot achieve it; such an Azure Light Sword Gleam is too sharp, harming himself before it can even hurt others.

Let alone condensing into an azure light ring.

This situation was beyond Wang Ping's expectations, yet still reasonable.

Just think of the might of the Heaven-Overturning Seal, and you'll know how terrifying the power of the Azure Blade Sword must be.

Wang Ping secretly regretted that he probably wouldn't be able to unleash the azure light ring for a long time.

However, at present his attack power has already surpassed that of himself twenty days ago; if he were to encounter Jing Wu Ming again, Wang Ping might not be so embarrassed.

After collecting the storage bags of the three black-clad individuals, he habitually swept his gaze inside; Wang Ping's foot, which was about to step forward, paused, and a look of shock appeared on his face.

The three storage bags together contained sixty thousand spirit stones; such an amount of spirit stones was something Wang Ping had never seen before.

However, upon further thought, given how intense the three individuals' lethal aura was, they must have killed many people.

Such a gain is also normal.

At the moment he just saw the spirit stones, Wang Ping almost couldn't resist the urge to become a bandit cultivator for a thrill, but in the end he dispelled that thought.

Unprovoked killing is not his way.

Having calmed his mind, Wang Ping employed the Wind-Riding Technique to fly toward the trading city; the distance of three hundred li was covered in just two ke.

Wang Ping gazed at the long queue of cultivators at the city wall, surprise rising in his heart at the sheer number of cultivators present.

However, he had no interest in lining up with them here; he directly descended at the city gate, walked to a side small door, extended the token in both hands, and then entered under the respectful gaze of the city guards.

This action caused the cultivators waiting in line to show envy; some cultivators objected, loudly questioning why that cultivator could enter through the side door.

The city guard cultivator said with a look of disdain:

"If you can pass the assessment of the Treasure Gathering Pavilion and obtain a token from the Hundred Arts Garden, you too can enter from here; do you have such ability?"

That cultivator gave an embarrassed smile and said nothing more; the difficulty of the Treasure Gathering Pavilion's assessment has already spread throughout the western regions.

Even some renowned masters of long standing have failed to pass it; how could he possibly succeed?

Hundred Arts Garden, Heavenly Gang Institute! Meeting Immortal Pavilion!

Wang Ping, already seated here, having heard of their matters, pondered for a moment and said: "In that case, I will bid ten thousand spirit stones."

Ten thousand spirit stones!

Several people were shocked; they were all outstanding cultivators of the Hundred Arts tradition, and while they could also produce ten thousand spirit stones, they would never do so so easily!

Tie Lanshan even said: "Daoist Lan, you…"

Wang Ping waved his hand and said: "Materials of the Qi Refining level no longer hold much appeal for me; I intend to directly, like a VIP in the auction hall, bid on an item very important to me, so I probably won't have time to bid on these things."

VIP auction hall!

Zhang Zuo, Tie Lanshan, and the others exchanged glances, revealing envy.

That is the auction hall where merely qualifying to enter requires ten thousand spirit stones.

Among Qi Refining-level treasure materials, probably only Foundation Establishment Pills, supreme-grade magical artifacts, and the basic chapters of top-tier cultivation techniques are exempt from this price.

Even Foundation Establishment spiritual items cannot reach this level.

Although they also possess ten thousand spirit stones, after auctioning off some of their own necessities, their net worth would fall short of this level.

Could it be that Fellow Daoist Lan was heading for the Foundation Establishment Pill? Thinking of those ten thousand spirit stones, several people quickly dismissed that idea.

In the end, those few also couldn't figure it out, so they could only give up guessing.

Wang Ping also didn't explain; after returning to Prudent Garden, he stayed indoors, silently waiting for the auction to arrive.

Two days later.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

With three chimes of the bell, the auction at the Shopping City, watched by countless eyes, began.

And five hundred li outside the Shopping City, over a hundred black-robed figures from the Soul Refining Hall stood silently, their leader facing the Shopping City, muttering to himself:

「The Shopping City auction has begun! I don't know if that cultivation method can be obtained. Only Qi Refining cultivators can participate in the bidding—what a hassle? 」