Chapter 68: with translation of chapter title

Has it already been four years?

Yunhe calculated with his fingers, feeling somewhat wistful.

He had, half a year ago at night, during cultivation, smoothly achieved a breakthrough in his cultivation base, not even noticing it himself until he woke from meditation, only then realizing his cultivation had naturally broken through the barrier.

"This time, the duration was indeed longer."

He also knew the reason well.

First, he had diverted part of his energy to the Dao of Alchemy; a person's energy is ultimately limited, which is also why, when he first began studying the Dao of Talismans, he did not consider alchemy.

Second, his mind had completely settled; he was not eager to break through, nor eager to further build his cultivation base, but instead continually settled and settled until his cultivation naturally reached completion.

The result still left him fairly satisfied.

Besides breaking through to the ninth layer of Qi Refining in cultivation, he could now also refine mid-tier first-grade elixirs in the Dao of Alchemy, maintaining a stable success rate.

However, the alchemy process consumed considerable amounts of spirit herbs and spirit stones, causing Yunhe some pang of regret.

Originally.

According to his earlier intention, the best plan was to first cultivate in one go to the peak of Qi Refining, then go out to find ways to enhance the combat power of his Demon Beast Body, preparing to hunt second-tier beasts.

But just last month, when he exchanged talismans with Liu Hongyong, Yunhe received some news.

An auction for "Foundation Establishment Elixirs" will be held in one month at the "Que Luo Market"!

Having been in the Qingzong Sect for so long, this is the first time Yunhe has heard news about an auction of Foundation Establishment Elixirs.

Actually, if it were just that, he might still hesitate about whether to go, after all, with such promotion, going there does not guarantee he could obtain a Foundation Establishment Elixir.

No, rather, it is highly unlikely he would be able to obtain a Foundation Establishment Elixir.

But that auction is not only about Foundation Establishment Elixirs; it also includes formations, spiritual artifacts, cultivation techniques, and so on.

This made Yunhe somewhat unable to restrain himself.

Other things are fine to say, but formations are something he needs to prepare in advance.

Therefore, he decided to temporarily halt his cultivation and make a trip to the Que Luo Market.

Of course, he would go silently and unnoticed.

One day later.

Que Luo Market.

As a market located two hundred li southeast of Qingshan City, influenced by Qingshan City, the market's business has always been lukewarm.

But this time, when the news of the auction of Foundation Establishment Elixirs came out, the entire market instantly became extremely bustling.

Not only did the number of cultivators setting up stalls increase severalfold.

Even the shops originally operating in the market temporarily raised their prices.

Most importantly.

Even if the inns in the market raised their prices, they remained fully packed.

Boiling hot!

Simply the news of auctioning a single Foundation Establishment Elixir turned a market that originally had few inquirers into such a bustling scene.

Naturally, in fact the vast majority of cultivators who rushed over could not afford a Foundation Establishment Elixir, but that does not stop them from coming to join the excitement.

And Yunhe also took advantage of this opportunity to sell off all his disreputable magical artifacts in batches.

In such a huge market, the magical artifacts he brought forth hardly made a ripple, making it an excellent opportunity to unload stolen goods.

Obviously, Yunhe being able to do this naturally means many other cultivators, even criminal cultivators, do the same.

Consequently, at this time the Que Luo Market is a mixture of fish and dragons, with all sorts of cultivators present.

However, truly formidable cultivators mostly arrive only on the day the auction officially begins.

Yunhe arrived two days early, merely to get a sense of the market's situation and its surroundings.

In such a mixed environment, accidents are most likely to occur, and it is also a "feast" for bandit cultivators.

Two days later.

Yunhe followed the crowd into the Que Luo Market auction house.

This was also his first time entering such a place; upon entering, it was chaotic inside, with voices everywhere, most people wearing masks or cloaks to conceal their identities, each well-versed in the art of staying low-key and cautious.

Amid the noisy, heated crowd, Yunhe made himself into a burly man with a fierce visage, then after putting on a mask, he found a corner and sat down.

The auction house not only has loose cultivators like him, but also cultivators from major clans and forces.

However, they need not conceal their appearance, nor sit in the chaotic main hall, as they have their own private boxes.

As the clamor gradually subsided, the auction began.

On the central table of the auction house, a cultivator with a rather affluent bearing walked up, smiling broadly, bowed to the entire assembly, and said:

"I am He Yanian, appointed as the host of this auction; I have met all fellow Daoists, thank you for your presence."

Listening to the murmurs around him, Yunhe learned that the cultivator on stage, a late-stage Qi Refining practitioner with flowing sleeves, was none other than the head of the He family, the managers of the Luo Que Market.

The He family likewise has Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Only Foundation Establishment cultivators can hold down the auction of Foundation Establishment Elixirs.

After delivering some formalities and explaining the auction rules, the auction officially commenced.

"Lesser Return to Origin Pill, a first-grade superior elixir—I believe everyone here is quite familiar with it? It can swiftly restore injuries and mana, making it a lifesaver when encountering danger outdoors. A bottle of ten pills, opening bid at one hundred fifty low-grade spirit stones."

"Each bid increase must be no less than five low-grade spirit stones. Now, bidding begins!"

As his words fell, interested cultivators raised their jade tokens in hand and began bidding.

For a moment, the auction hall became lively again.

Thereafter, a variety of items were successively pushed onto the auction stage—magical artifacts, robes, spirit plants, cultivation techniques, formations, and so on—with opening bids often quite appropriate, prompting many cultivators to call out bids, the atmosphere quite bustling.

Even many things Yunhe had never heard of before, which broadened his knowledge considerably.

And as the auction continued, besides the loose cultivators downstairs, some cultivating families in the private boxes also began to bid.

Before, Yunhe didn't understand why the auction had to be conducted by bidding; cultivators shouldn't have more clever methods, right?

Until the two cultivator clans in the private boxes began bidding over a magical artifact, eventually driving its price above twice its original value, he understood.

Stirring up existing contradictions, stimulating contradictions, and creating contradictions where none exist—only then can profits be maximized.

Of course, most cultivators and cultivator clans are relatively rational, unless they truly need it, or unless contradictions already existed.

For example, the two earlier clans were precisely cases where contradictions already existed.

"Next item."

Two servers wearing revealing outfits pushed a cart up.

The cloth-covered cart was lifted.

Inside the small jade box was a bee two finger joints long, very slender, with a wholly black body except for the area under its eyes and its two hind legs, which were golden, especially on its extremely slender abdomen, which bore golden spots.

Most notably, without doubt, were the two pairs of wings on its back that gradated from black to gold.

"Spirit bee?"

Seeing that spirit bee looking somewhat listless, many people in the hall showed doubtful expressions.

He Yannian didn't beat around the bush, smiling as he said:

"Friends, don't underestimate this bee. Although I don't know its exact species, my auction house tentatively calls it the four-winged gold-spotted bee. It was discovered by chance in a secret realm by a fellow cultivator; although there is only one, its speed is astonishing, and it is extremely aggressive, even able to bite through mid-grade magical artifacts!"

He paused.

"This is still under the condition that its demonic power isn't strong enough; according to the estimate of the master of my Que Luo Auction House, if it continues to grow, it may eventually be able to bite through top-grade magical artifacts."

Secret realm? If it could continue growing? Bite through top-grade magical artifacts?

Many cultivators who heard this snorted in disdain.

They weren't unfamiliar with the auction house's tactics; for anything the auction house itself wasn't sure about, they routinely slapped on the words 'secret realm' to jack up the price, since no one could verify the truth anyway.

As for saying, continue growing.

"Fellow cultivator He, don't blame me for speaking bluntly. If your auction house had produced a queen bee, perhaps some of you would be interested in trying to raise it, but now there is only this male bee. This is a one-time consumable, and moreover a half-damaged one-time consumable."

This statement gained the agreement of many people present.

He Yannian on stage's expression slightly stiffened; his gaze swept over the earlier speaker, his eyes flickered briefly, but he quickly returned to his original smile.

"He Mou believes there are certainly experts present. The opening bid is seventy low-grade spirit stones, each raise must be no less than five, bidding starts!"

The entire venue fell into a brief silence.

Yunhe, who had been meditating with closed eyes in the corner, suddenly sat upright.

After quite a while, as it seemed the auction might fail, someone finally spoke up.

"Seventy!"

Someone making a bid means there are still people willing to take a gamble.

"Seventy-five!"

However, the number of bidders remained small, and they were all somewhat conservative.

"Eighty-five low-grade spirit stones—anyone else want to bid?" He Yannian asked.

"Ninety!"

Yunhe finally couldn't help but raise his hand.

As an experienced spirit bee farmer, he could see the value of this four-winged gold-spotted bee.

Part of what He Yannian said must be true.

However, it is indeed defective.

But if it could mate with a queen bee, there would still be a chance to breed excellent offspring.

Of course, the prerequisite is having a queen bee that can withstand it.

Second, although this bee is defective, it must not lose its mating ability.

Finally, if offspring are successfully born, they must inherit this bee's abilities.

After all, there is only one bee, and thus only one chance to try.

There are many conditions.

So it's essentially like gambling.

But Yunhe is willing to give it a try.

Because he feels that the queen bee he raises should be able to withstand it.

"Ninety! Any other cultivator wants to bid?"

He Yannian looked around the venue, confirming three times that no one else was bidding.

"Ninety low-grade spirit stones! Congratulations, fellow cultivator, you've won the bid!"

Yunhe exhaled lightly, leaned back in his chair, lowered his gaze, and pressed his temples.

"Hmm, most of the people here are here for the Foundation Establishment Pill; such cultivators probably aren't many spirit bee farmers by birth."

Cultivators who are not born spirit bee farmers indeed won't have much interest in spirit bees.

"It's not a loss; if worse comes to worst, I can temporarily control this bee and use the Origin Refining Method to restore its condition. Its sting hasn't been lost, indicating it still has mating ability. A nest can hold thousands of eggs; there's bound to be one that makes a breakthrough, though it would just take more time."

"There's some gambling involved, but if we don't use a superior bee species for purification, the upper limit of the red-pattern spirit bee population will rise too slowly."

"Huh?"

Just as Yunhe was pondering, his increasingly keen spiritual sense detected a somewhat strange gaze.

He looked in the direction of its source.

What he saw was precisely the person who had earlier spoken disparagingly to He Yannian.

"Was the person who had just been sitting beside him also bidding?"

He furrowed his brows.

(End of Chapter)