Chapter 822: The Extreme North

"I didn't expect the Ancestral Dragon of the Dou Qi Continent to be this fierce—he's actually one of the three Dragon Clan emperors of ancient times." Xiao Yan fell silent in thought for a while. If the progenitor of the Taixu Ancient Dragon Clan was this ferocious, then weren't the progenitors of the ancient Heaven Phoenix and ancient Heaven Feng just as powerful?

Although the ancient Heaven Phoenix and ancient Heaven Feng had already gone extinct, Feng Qing'er's bloodline had already returned to its ancestral state—it was the bloodline of the ancient Heaven Feng. Within the Phoenix Clan of the Great Thousand World, there were two races: the Feng Race and the Phoenix Race.

If he could connect with two super clans at the same time, then even if that so-called Maha Divine Clan came knocking in the future, he wouldn't have to fear them.

Xiao Yan and Cai Lin exchanged a glance. Cai Lin instantly understood Xiao Yan's inner thoughts and gave a slight nod.

What was somewhat regrettable was that the Snake Race was very much in decline within the Great Thousand World; one hadn't even heard of a Supreme Divine Beast of the Snake Race.

"Joining the Dragon Clan is indeed all benefit and no harm." Xiao Yan nodded and said, "Moreover, there should be news about the Candle Dragon within the Dragon Clan. If we can obtain the Candle Dragon's essence blood and inheritance, Father-in-law Zhu Kun, breaking through to become a Supreme Divine Beast would be much easier for you."

Zhu Kun smiled, waved his hand, and said, "My breakthrough to Supreme Divine Beast is secondary. I want to pave a good path for Zi Yan. For so many years I haven't fulfilled my responsibility as a father, haven't given her anything."

"Joining the Dragon Clan can give Zi Yan more resources, help, and inheritance."

As a fellow father, Xiao Yan deeply understood this. He was no longer that little child of Dou Power from back then. The reason he and Xun Er and Cai Lin had ascended to the Great Thousand World was not only to raise their strength, but also so that after becoming stronger they could better protect the Dou Qi Continent and their own children.

Not bringing Xiao Lin, Xiao Xiao, and Xiao Cai to the Great Thousand World was also in the hope that he and his wife would first pave the road as parents.

Xiao Yan understood Zhu Kun very well, because he too was a father!

Just at this moment, the female auctioneer finally finished her opening remarks and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, the once-in-a-decade auction of Shang Zhi Da Lu now begins!"

That incomparably beautiful female auctioneer blinked her lovely eyes flirtatiously, even giving some of the young men the impulse to immediately push her down onto the Auction Stage. This female auctioneer truly possessed a bewitching charm, like a calamity-bringing beauty.

"Then please welcome our first Auction Item." The female auctioneer lightly raised her brow—charming yet not vulgar—making quite a few people's hearts skip a beat.

Under her charm technique, the first Auction Item was brought up: an ancient, unadorned Alchemy Furnace.

"This furnace comes from the Dongfang Clan. It is a low-grade Sacred Artifact treasure furnace forged by the Dongfang Clan. The body of the furnace uses pure-yang red gold to strengthen the furnace fire; the legs are forged from Nine Underworld cold jade to calm the furnace fire within the Alchemy Furnace, reducing the risk of furnace explosions. Not only can it be used for Pill Alchemy, it can also serve to resist attacks, capable of withstanding a strike from a lower-position Earth Supreme. Consigned for auction by the Dongfang Clan. Starting price: thirty million Supreme Spirit Liquid. Each bid increase starts at one million Supreme Spirit Liquid." The female auctioneer narrated smoothly.

When her voice spread, the already somewhat restless auction immediately began to boil. Countless strong practitioners' eyes burned with desire—a treasure of the low-grade Sacred Artifact Rank was extremely rare even within many top Factions, let alone the fact that what stood before them now was a low-grade Sacred Artifact Alchemy Furnace!

Indeed, Alchemists were extremely rare in the Great Thousand World, let alone Alchemists who could refine Divine Pills with a low-grade Sacred Artifact. But! Don't forget, if you wanted to find an Alchemy Grandmaster to refine pills, that required a considerable price, and very often even if you paid a large amount of Supreme Spirit Liquid or Spiritual Spirit Liquid, others might not necessarily agree to help you.

And an Alchemy Furnace was universally recognized as the best item for currying favor with an Alchemist, catering to their tastes.

Buying this Alchemy Furnace meant that when you went to find an Alchemist to refine pills, you could use this Alchemy Furnace as payment. Even top-tier Alchemists only refine pills and don't forge artifacts, so finding a top-tier Alchemy Furnace was also extremely difficult.

Thirty million Supreme Spirit Liquid was not only not expensive, it could even be said to be very cheap. Hiring an Alchemy Grandmaster to refine pills once would cost far more than thirty million Supreme Spirit Liquid.

As soon as bidding opened, the price was already in the tens of millions of Supreme Spirit Liquid, instantly disqualifying many people present from bidding, forcing many to be mere onlookers.

Although such a high threshold instantly stripped the vast majority of Cultivation strong practitioners of the qualification to bid, many of the big shots present—especially those from Earth Supreme Factions—began placing bids one after another.

"Thirty-one million Supreme Spirit Liquid." As the words fell, someone immediately placed a bid.

"Thirty-five million Supreme Spirit Liquid." The moment the bidder's voice fell, someone immediately followed up.

"Thirty-eight million…"

In the span of a short time, the price of this Alchemy Furnace soared to eighty million Supreme Spirit Liquid, but it had not yet reached its peak, because the value of an ordinary low-grade Sacred Artifact was around one hundred million Supreme Spirit Liquid.

"Xiao Yan, aren't you bidding on this Alchemy Furnace?" Cai Lin asked from the side.

"No need. I already obtained a Sacred Artifact-grade Alchemy Furnace, and it's barely sufficient for now. What I need more right now is a Pill Formula."

Hearing Xiao Yan's words, the Medicine Saint Nushan beside him smiled and said, "Xiao Yan, I have several Middle Grade Divine Pill Pill Formulas. If you teach me your Pill Refining Method, I'll give them to you."

Xiao Yan glanced at Medicine Saint Nushan and said calmly, "My master Yao Chen's Pill Refining Method doesn't have too many secrets. As long as you can learn with dedication, there's nothing wrong with teaching you. But aren't the Pill Formulas of your Upper Ancient Ten Thousand Grass Plains not secrets, not to be passed on externally?"

Perhaps because of Yao Chen, Xiao Yan did not treat his own Pill Refining Method as too secretive. If he encountered a talented Alchemist, Xiao Yan could even unconditionally teach the Pill Refining Method.

Hearing that Xiao Yan was willing to teach him the Pill Refining Method immediately made Medicine Saint Nushan somewhat unaccustomed, because in the Great Thousand World—especially in the Upper Ancient Ten Thousand Grass Plains and the Divine Pill Clan—the Pill Refining Method was an Alchemist's lifeblood; how could it be casually passed on externally?

"Uh…" For a moment, Medicine Saint Nushan didn't know what to say, and said, "The Pill Formulas of the Upper Ancient Ten Thousand Grass Plains are indeed not passed on externally, but these Pill Formulas were created by me, so it doesn't matter."

"Are you really willing to teach me the Pill Refining Method?" Medicine Saint Nushan was still somewhat unable to believe it at this moment—so easily?!

"After the auction ends, I'll also need to Cultivate my Pill Alchemy for a period of time. When the time comes, I can teach you." Xiao Yan nodded very matter-of-factly; he didn't intend to use this to demand anything in return.

In terms of Rank, Medicine Saint Nushan was even higher than him; he needed to combine it with profound Pill Refining Methods to break through.

Xiao Yan had only refined low-grade Divine Pills so far; in theory he was only a low-grade Alchemy Grandmaster. But that was only because Xiao Yan lacked Pill Formulas. If Xiao Yan had Pill Formulas, his Rank would not necessarily be the same.

Soon, after an intense bidding discussion, the Alchemy Furnace soared from thirty million Supreme Spirit Liquid to ten drops of Spiritual Spirit Liquid before the deal was concluded.

Spiritual Spirit Liquid was condensed from the Supreme Sea of an Earth Supreme strong practitioner after death, far more precious than Supreme Spirit Liquid. One drop of Spiritual Spirit Liquid was equivalent to ten million Supreme Spirit Liquid. Earth Supremes who wished to raise their strength and break through bottlenecks all used large quantities of Spiritual Spirit Liquid.

Seeing such a scene made many of the Cultivation strong practitioners present click their tongues in amazement, especially those loose cultivator strong practitioners from relatively poorer backgrounds, who were even more dumbfounded at the sight.

For Cultivation strong practitioners from second-rate or even third-rate sects, let alone one hundred million Supreme Spirit Liquid, even ten million was already an astronomical figure—enough to buy a quasi-Sacred Artifact.

Now in the blink of an eye it had risen to one hundred million, and this was merely the opening Treasure. To them, what a heart-shaking thing that was.

In the hands of these big shots, it seemed Supreme Spirit Liquid wasn't Supreme Spirit Liquid—casually raising the bid by a million without even a blink.

"So many rich people." At this moment, the young Cultivators attending such an auction for the first time couldn't help but exclaim in admiration; this had thoroughly opened their eyes.

"This is nothing yet. Didn't you see that the ones bidding are all from the third-row private boxes? The second row rarely bids. Wait until the first row and those in the sky make their moves—then that's the truly astronomical price." Someone nearby said.

Reminded by this, many of the young strong practitioners attending such an auction for the first time only then noticed that it was indeed so. For such Treasures, those seated inside the pavilions hadn't even glanced at them; one could even say they disdained such Treasures.

Of course, generally speaking, the first item was relatively precious, used to heat up the atmosphere. The next several Auction Items were indeed much lower-grade, all Supreme-grade; there were even Cultivation methods for Supreme Dharma Bodies up for auction.

After a brief lull, another Auction Item was brought up. The moment the Shielding Spirit Array was removed, a phoenix cry rang out and a bird took flight. This bird had a golden beak, scale-like feathers, and a seven-colored tail. Only when the light faded did they realize this was not a bird at all, but a fist-sized amber crystal stone.

Inside the amber crystal stone was a crimson-red feather.

"A Golden-Beak Phoenix Bird feather!" Seeing the phenomenon, a strong practitioner immediately recognized the strange bird from the earlier vision and couldn't help but cry out in surprise, drawing quite a few gazes at once.

"Sect Leader Lai has a good eye." The female auctioneer threw a flirtatious glance, soul-stealing, and said, "This ancient amber was discovered by our firm in a broken Remnant Continent. By sheer chance, a Golden-Beak Phoenix Bird feather was sealed within by time-space amber."

"Tch, isn't it just a feather—no matter how heaven-defying it's still just one feather, not the essence blood of a True Feng or True Phoenix."

Hearing this, the female auctioneer raised the amber crystal stone in her Jade Hand and smiled, "A pure-blooded Golden-Beak Phoenix Bird contains the Phoenix Clan's bloodline and possesses a special power: Reincarnation through fire. According to our auction house's appraisers, this Golden-Beak Phoenix Bird feather contains special life fluctuations; there may be a Golden-Beak Phoenix Spirit within the feather."

When the female auctioneer's words fell, even some Earth Supremes took a second look at the amber, let alone them—even Xiao Yan now had some interest in this Golden-Beak Phoenix Bird amber.

"It's actually a special Phoenix Spirit, but would the Phoenix Clan allow a Phoenix Spirit to fall into outside hands?" At this moment, someone couldn't help but raise a question.

The female auctioneer had long anticipated such a question and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, please rest assured. Although the Golden-Beak Phoenix Bird possesses the Feng Race bloodline, this is not the spirit of a True Feng, so the Phoenix Clan will not act. Moreover, the Golden-Beak Phoenix Bird was already extinct in the great calamity of ancient times; the Golden-Beak Phoenix Bird Race no longer exists, so you need not worry."

Seeing Xiao Yan's interested expression, Xun Er beside him opened her mouth and asked, "Does Brother Xiao Yan need it?"

"Mm, if I can take it, perhaps I can strengthen my Ancient Phoenix Wings." Xiao Yan's Ancient Phoenix Wings had already fallen somewhat behind; it was time for an upgrade.

Although this Golden-Beak Phoenix Bird amber was peculiar, the Golden-Beak Phoenix Bird was only a Divine Beast-grade bloodline, not a Supreme Divine Beast, so the value of this amber was even lower than a low-grade Sacred Artifact. Coupled with the fact that quite a few people still feared the Phoenix Clan, Xiao Yan only spent thirty million Supreme Spirit Liquid to buy it.

Soon, time passed rapidly; although Xiao Yan had acquired vast wealth, he bought nothing else except the Golden-beaked Phoenix Bird. After all, although this auction occurred once every ten years, not everything was suitable for Xiao Yan and his companions.

Their own strengths were also not low; many items were hard to come by.

"Items reaching the Earth Supreme level are rarely encountered. If you truly want rare treasures, you must go to the Great Thousand Palace," said Nu Shan, the Medicine Saint, explaining to Xiao Yan.

"I know—the Great Thousand Palace's Execution Demon Hall rewards points for slaying Domain Beyond demons. But where are you going to find Domain Beyond demons so easily?" Xiao Yan couldn't help sneering. What if a Demon Emperor showed up—should he fight to the death or defect?

Nu Shan shook his head. "How could every Execution Demon Master earn points by venturing into the Domain Beyond to kill its demons? Even the top-tier Heaven Supremes would be overwhelmed and slain by Domain Beyond forces. In the past hundred years, only Qin Tian, the Execution Demon King, has entered the Domain Beyond and returned unharmed."

Xiao Yan and the others froze. "How can you find Domain Beyond demons if you don't go into their territory?"

Nu Shan said, "The most common way to earn Execution Demon points is two-fold. First, seek out Lower Planes occupied by Domain Beyond demons—reclaiming any such Lower Plane grants substantial Execution Demon points."

"The second and most common method is to go to the extreme south or extreme north of the Great Thousand World—those are the battlefronts where Domain Beyond demons and the Great Thousand World meet. Killing Domain Beyond demons there also grants Execution Demon points."

"Major battles frequently erupt in these two regions—go there to earn Execution Demon points."

【In The Great Overlord, Xiao Yan's Endless Fire Domain lies in the extreme north, while Lin Dong guards the extreme south, holding the Great Thousand World against the Domain Beyond demons.】

(End of Chapter)