Chapter 189

The scale and variety of this batch of treasures far exceeded Li Yan's expectations.

The back hall space was huge, the candles were bright, the incense tables were layered, and the West Peak Great Emperor statue stood tall, its solemn face flickering in the dark in the firelight.

This place had already been renovated, and the Dharma artifacts and spiritual materials for sale were classified, with Daoists guarding each area.

Of course, they were guarding here, not to prevent theft.

Everyone present represented the orthodox Mystic Sects, either sect elders or occupying important positions. How could there be any petty theft?

Once caught, I fear they would become the laughingstock of the entire Mystic Sect.

Their task was to register and record.

If you want to buy something, report your name and the required quantity. After paying for the transaction, there will be Pure Yang Palace Daoists to send it to your residence.

Those numerous Dharma artifacts and spiritual materials were all clearly marked with prices, and one only needed to purchase according to the fixed price.

This is the preferential treatment for the orthodox Mystic Sects.

Only after they finished picking would it be the turn of the Dharma lineages and side-door sects.

The further back, the fewer the items, and when everyone scrambled, it was inevitable that the price would be raised.

But for some precious rare items, even people from the orthodox Mystic Sects had to bid to purchase them.

Of course, Li Yan was only slightly shocked, then immediately collected his mind and looked around, searching for the items he needed.

Soon, he discovered the pattern.

The treasures in the main hall seemed dazzling, but in reality, they were neat and orderly.

With the West Peak Great Emperor statue as the boundary, Dharma artifacts were placed on the left, and spiritual materials were placed on the right. And the spiritual materials were arranged according to the rules of gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, lead, and mercury.

He had heard Shopkeeper Wan talk about the reason for this arrangement.

This is the simple classification of metals by the Ministry of Works of the Great Xuan Dynasty, originating from "Guanzi: Earth Number Chapter", known as the Six Arts of Guanzi.

Without the slightest hesitation, he immediately walked toward the copper section.

He saw that below, neatly arranged, were rows of refined copper ingots, all engraved with inscriptions, marking the forging and vault-entry time, and surrounded by cloud patterns and Eight Trigrams, looking quite mysterious.

And further up, there were some naturally formed pure copper, with very irregular colors and shapes, and each had its own characteristics.

This metal, copper, generally needs to be refined from ore.

If it can be formed naturally, it must be an extraordinary item.

Li Yan looked up and soon found the Head Mountain Copper Essence.

This item looked like a meteorite, was irregularly oval, yellowish-black, and had honeycomb-like pits on it, and its origin was also clearly marked.

Li Yan checked the card next to it and saw it written on it:

This copper comes from Head Mountain in Yanshi, Luoyang. Legend has it that it was hidden by the Daoist ancestor, and it is said that "the first light of sunrise must reach it"...

Its mountain is winding and magnificent, and there is a stone on the top that was chiseled and cracked by heavenly lightning. The copper essence appeared in the world, suffered a hundred years of lightning strikes, and turned into a heavenly spiritual treasure...

Once the treasure is formed, there are natural phenomena. The villagers around say that at night, thunder tigers are often seen all over the mountain forest. During the Great Xing Dynasty, treasure seekers went there and spent several months to obtain the treasure. After the Great Xuan Dynasty was founded, it was hidden in the Mount Huashan spiritual aperture to be warmed.

Good heavens, the background is so big!

This thing can be touched and probed. Li Yan couldn't help but touch it. Before he even touched it, there was static electricity crackling, making his hair stand on end.

Of course, this kind of already-picked heavenly spiritual treasure has its fortune settled, like a fruit. Only when it is just ripe can the Great Luo Dala Dala Fa Shen swallow the fortune within it.

Li Yan looked at it for a while, then reluctantly put it down.

For a treasure like this, the price must be high. Looking at the wooden box in front, several bamboo tallies had already been placed.

The Daoist beside him saw this and smiled: "Lay practitioner, no need to worry. This item will be bid on later. Just put the bamboo tally in."

This item contains thunder meteorites, and there must be many people competing for it. He didn't know how high the price would soar. Li Yan was anxious in his heart, but still put the bamboo tally he received into it without hesitation.

Afterward, he looked down and soon found the white copper needed by Quan Wanzhong. It had already been refined into copper ingots, and its texture looked quite similar to silver.

The so-called white copper, also known as "Wu", is considered a type of alloy.

In the Eastern Jin Dynasty's "Huayang Kingdom Chronicle", there is a record that the one produced in Dianzhou is the most famous, known as Dian White Copper.

This item is also quite precious. The "Old Book of Tang" mentions that only the oxen pulling the carriages of first-rank court officials can use white copper as decoration.

Since the Qin Dynasty, there have been overseas merchants traveling thousands of miles to seek and purchase it, known as Shenzhou Silver, which has been offered incense for a hundred years and has become a spiritual material.

Price per jin: five hundred taels.

Good heavens!

Although he had a premonition, Li Yan still secretly clicked his tongue when he saw it.

Although white copper is precious, this price has increased by an unknown number of times. Calculating it, fifty jin would require twenty-five thousand taels.

Quan Wanzhong emptied his family fortune to scrape together thirty thousand taels. If he waited until the third batch to purchase, I fear it would increase even more. No wonder the master and disciple were begging everywhere.

I don't know what this thing is used for...

Li Yan thought for a while, then wanted to take out the bamboo tally.

The Daoist beside him hurriedly stopped him, shook his head and smiled: "Lay practitioner, this item doesn't need to be bid on. Just state clearly how much you want."

Li Yan nodded, set the quantity at fifty jin, and then counted the silver notes and handed them to the Daoist.

After finishing this, he ran to the place where flower coins were placed.

This vault opening, flower coins are the focus, so many people gathered, and the variety was even more dazzling.

There are transparent flower coins, the coins are hollowed out, or carved with peonies in full bloom, or carved with two dragons playing with a pearl, phoenixes singing in harmony, fish turning into dragons, etc...

Zodiac coins, which not only carve the twelve zodiac signs but also carve the life star official and the Eight Trigrams zodiac...

Suppressing objects coins, some are used to press the bottom of the box, some are used to be buried when building palaces, temples, and shrines...

In addition, there are longevity and prayer coins, talisman coins, evil-expelling and blessing-bestowing coins, horse coins, fortune and salary coins, Eight Immortals coins, vault-suppressing coins, furnace-opening coins, beam-raising coins, Daoist coins, and Buddhist coins...

Among them, Li Yan hadn't even heard of most of them.

People around were all choosing their own, silent, and Li Yan didn't ask much, lowering his head to look for the items he needed.

The Twelve Yuan Chen Coins he wanted to find were zodiac coins. After finding them, Li Yan suddenly felt a thump in his heart.

Sure enough, these Twelve Yuan Chen Coins were rare items, and they didn't even put out samples, just wrote a name.

In the bamboo tube in front, several bamboo tallies had already been placed.

Added to the previous Head Mountain Copper Essence, if it were a bidding war, he didn't know if the silver on his body would be enough...

Although he was worried, matters had reached this point, so Li Yan had to cast the bamboo tally, and then he began to help Wang Daoxuan choose.

Wang Daoxuan needed a large quantity, separately for Ghost-Killing and Essence-Descending Coins, Evil-Expelling and Blessing-Bestowing Coins, and Fifth-Day Noon Coins.

Ghost-Killing and Essence-Descending Coins belong to talisman coins. Li Yan soon found them.

He saw that on one side of this coin, a mountain ghost talisman was carved, on one side was a thunder talisman, and in the middle was a spell: "Thunder, Thunder, kill ghosts and descend essence, slash demons and ward off evil, forever maintain divine clarity, follow the order of the Grand Void, act as fast as the law, decree."

On the back, it was the Fuxi Eight Trigrams, with its Qian position in the due north.

Selling price: one hundred taels of silver per coin.

And the Evil-Expelling and Blessing-Bestowing Coins were a unique category. The front was a picture of an immortal holding a Dharma artifact, and the back was carved with five poisons, but they were different from the usual five poisons, which were tiger, toad, snake, gecko, and spider.

There were also inscriptions carved with the four characters "Drive away evil and bestow blessings".

Fifth-Day Noon Coins also belong to evil-expelling and blessing-bestowing coins. The front is written with the four characters "Fifth Day Noon".

The fifth day at noon is the Dragon Boat Festival, a time to drive away evil and eliminate plagues. This batch of coins was made at that time, and the back also has five poisons, but the spider was removed and replaced with a scorpion.

This coin has a blazing Yang aura and is best at breaking Yin objects.

These flower coins, relatively speaking, were much more numerous.

According to Wang Daoxuan's requirements, Li Yan purchased them all.

Counting them all up, it was more than ten thousand taels of silver.

By now, he had a feeling that money was not money.

After helping Shopkeeper Wan purchase the prayer coins he needed, he began to wander around.

The important things had already been found, and the rest were dispensable. If he saw something good, he could buy it.

After walking around a few times, Li Yan also had his eyes opened.

The spiritual materials side didn't need to be mentioned; they were mostly all kinds of metals.

The Dharma artifacts side, however, had particularities.

First are the so-called one-time Dharma artifacts like incense, candles, blessing paper, mugwort, red rope, etc.

Even though his supernatural abilities were suppressed at this moment, he knew that these things warmed for a hundred years in the cave heaven and blessed land were far from comparable to the junk in the City God Temple.

Don't blame him for being picky. These things look very particular. Just taking incense as an item, there are Jiangzhen incense, Xinling incense, lily incense, heavenly incense, soul-attracting incense, calming incense, each made exquisitely, some even as thick as a finger, with talisman patterns drawn in cinnabar on them...

Li Yan glanced at it, and some incense actually cost one hundred taels of silver.

Using this thing to perform Dharma rituals is simply burning money.

I don't know under what circumstances it would be used...

Besides this, there are altar Dharma artifacts.

One is the so-called Ten Treasures of the Altar, which are the peck, lamp, sword, mirror, token, wooden fish, tablet, Dharma ruler, seal, and ruyi.

Of course, there are also some large altar Dharma artifacts, such as Dharma flags, Dharma platforms, turtle and crane burners, Boshan burners, and even many musical instruments knocked during Dharma rituals.

Unfortunately, after looking at the price, Li Yan dismissed the idea.

If he bought randomly, I fear the money for the two items he wanted to bid on wouldn't be enough.

Of course, since he had entered the treasure land, he couldn't return empty-handed.

Li Yan thought for a while and still bought some talisman paper.

!.

In the pen, ink, paper, and inkstone area, he also bought a box of high-quality talisman brushes and cinnabar for the whole team to use.

Just these were another five thousand taels of silver spent.

Looking at the people around, everyone's expression didn't change, buying in whole sets like stocking up, seemingly not caring about the price at all.

At this moment, Li Yan completely understood the gap.

The orthodox Mystic Sects all have a long history and sufficient foundation.

Just look at the Mount Taibai Doumu Palace being able to build an astronomical observatory, and that terrifying Dharma artifact telescope. Even if they emptied their savings, one knows how terrifying their family wealth is.

And like this vault opening, the Pure Yang Palace's income has increased sharply, but other orthodox sect Dharma lineages occupying cave heavens and blessed lands also have vault collections.

Opening the vault once can recover everything.

To put it bluntly, it's equivalent to money turning around in the hands of this group of people, while those of them without roots or foundation will be sucked dry.

Isn't this a trap!

The more Li Yan thought about it, the more he felt he was losing, so he stopped his greed and didn't make a move randomly, while secretly listening to the conversations of the people around him.

He originally wanted to hear some news to analyze what materials were needed to make new-style Dharma artifact firearms.

However, he unexpectedly heard many novel things:

"The Yellow River ice flood, there is a fish demon making trouble, as big as a sailing ship, black head with horns, almost dug open the embankment, causing a disaster. The capital has already invited many demon catchers to deal with it..."

"In the Bashu region, a Ghost King has appeared, likely related to the 'Five Streams Barbarians' and 'Qianzhong Barbarians'. Many people from the exploration lineage have run over, and I heard they even caused a zombie massacre in a village..."

"Near Dongting Lake in Ezhou, a long rainbow appeared in broad daylight. Many villagers had high fevers for days and were lost and soul-less. After a Daoist summoned their souls, the awakened villagers all said they saw a dragon..."

Of course, there is also an important piece of news about overseas.

The Shenzhou is full of treasures, but the Mystic Sect history is too long. For many years, Mystic Sect cultivators have been digging, and heavenly spiritual treasures have become fewer and fewer, and it still takes time to brew.

Some cultivators have already formed their own fleets to go to overseas spiritual mountains to search, and even fought a few battles with foreign Mystic Sects...

All kinds of news made Li Yan dumbfounded.

It seems that this Mystic Sect world is far broader than he imagined.

Of course, he also heard useful information.

For example, the prices of several spiritual material metals suddenly increased. Some people complained, and some were lost in thought.

Li Yan suddenly understood, and without changing his expression, he mixed in and purchased some, and even a section of lightning-struck wood used for forging gun stocks.

The price was not low, and another ten thousand taels of silver were spent.

But if he could manufacture new-style firearms and get the gunpowder formula, it would be worth it.

Soon, it was time for the auction.

First is the Head Mountain Copper Essence. This item contains Lei Gang, which is a top-grade material for making Dharma artifacts. There were many people competing for it, and they were all people from the Grand Void Gate, but from other branches.

Of course, they were all decent people of the orthodox sects, so naturally they wouldn't be like Jianghu merchants, arguing until their faces were red and their eyebrows were cold, and even forming enmity because of it.

They all bid silently and weighed it secretly.

"Ten thousand taels."

"Fifteen thousand taels."

"Twenty thousand taels."

After Li Yan increased the price to twenty-two thousand taels, he successfully took the Head Mountain Copper Essence.

An old Daoist beside him couldn't help but laugh: "Little friend, are Living Yin Messengers so rich? The price of this item is falsely high. You bought it too expensively."

Li Yan smiled helplessly: "I have a great use for this thing. Even if it's a bit expensive, I can't miss it."

The Twelve Yuan Chen Coins were the same.

After all, it was a rare item, and the price was called to more than ten thousand taels before it was taken.

Li Yan pinched his fingers to calculate. In this short time, excluding purchasing for others, he himself had spent more than sixty thousand taels, and the team's family wealth was more than half gone.

And this was still extreme restraint, with many things not daring to be purchased.

Although there was still quite a bit of money left, he didn't dare to move it randomly.

He would need it when building the tower and temple, followed by Wang Daoxuan and Lu San building the tower and temple, and he also had to leave some for self-protection.

After a round of purchasing, a full two hours had passed.

Seeing that everyone in the main hall had finished, Master Jingxu then walked in and cupped his hands: "Everyone, please follow me."

Saying this, he led the crowd out from the side door.

This is also a kind of protection. After all, at the vault-opening Dharma assembly, it's not that there haven't been cases of killing people and seizing treasures.

The orthodox Mystic Sects have considerable family wealth and purchased items of astonishing value. After getting the things, naturally they will leave first.

Li Yan wasn't in a hurry either. He returned to Morning Sun Peak, and after reuniting with Wang Daoxuan and the others, returned to the Wangxian Temple.

It wasn't until night that Shopkeeper Wan and Quan Wanzhong came in a hurry. After getting the things, they left with faces full of joy.

After they left, Li Yan took out the Twelve Yuan Chen Coins and carefully admired them under the candlelight.

These are twelve small copper coins, round with square holes.

The front is carved with the twelve zodiac signs: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, etc., and the back has various intricate patterns. The talismans are extremely small, and there are sun, moon, and stars surrounding them.

In the center are the four large characters "Life Yuan Spirit".

He activated his supernatural ability to sniff carefully, and suddenly sensed its extraordinariness.

Each copper coin has Gang Qi flowing, forming a situation of its own.

Situation and momentum are two completely different concepts.

Momentum has an end, while treasure situations flow.

Innate Gang Qi gathers to form momentum, which ultimately has a time when consumption ends.

But if it forms a situation, then it is two completely different concepts, which can flow on its own. As long as it is preserved properly, it is like a small Feng Shui situation, which will not be destroyed for a long time.

The reason his Three Talents Demon-Suppressing Coins are precious is that they form a situation on their own, but it is a fierce and evil aura.

And the preciousness of these Twelve Yuan Chen Coins lies in the fact that the twelve Yuan Chen are arranged in order, and they can form a large situation.

"This is a Life Yuan Spirit coin."

Wang Daoxuan saw it and was shocked.

Li Yan was curious: "What is a Life Yuan Spirit coin?"

Wang Daoxuan explained: "This Life Yuan Spirit coin is a rare item. Its greatest ability is that every night when storing spirit, holding the copper coin in your hand, you can inject the power of storing spirit into it."

"Oh... so that's how it is."

Li Yan suddenly realized. This thing is equivalent to a blue bottle. After all, if the spirit storage is insufficient at a critical moment, it is simply fatal for a sorcerer, which is why it is so precious.

But to tell the truth, he was somewhat disappointed in his heart. With the Great Luo Dala Dala Fa Shen, if he really encountered such a crisis, he could recover and save his life in an instant.

It's not that this thing is bad, it's just that it didn't meet his expectations.

And just at this moment, Wang Daoxuan on the side shook his head: "I've heard there are many ways to use the life, and I've only heard of this one."

"Since it's used to make a saber tassel, perhaps there are other uses..."

Li Yan also felt it was right upon hearing this, which made him look forward even more to how that old man would forge the saber...

(End of chapter)