Chapter 133: Auction

Hearing the old man in the cyan robe say that this Heavenly Elixir Alliance auction could even exchange for a Foundation Establishment Pill, Song Qingming was truly somewhat shocked. He never expected that a shop that looked very ordinary in Yangshan Market would have such great energy behind it.

It seemed that he saw the doubt in Song Qingming's heart. The old man in the cyan robe put down the spiritual tea in his hand and said again, "Little friend, please rest assured. Our Heavenly Elixir Alliance is just an alchemy organization and does not participate in the struggles between major sects. Daring to hold this kind of auction in the State of Wei is also because our Alliance Leader has some friendship with the Xiaoyao Sect. It's just that to give the Xiaoyao Sect some face, this matter cannot be publicized everywhere, and every auction is conducted secretly. If little friend does not want to participate, please do not publicize it everywhere when leaving, otherwise, it will cause you a lot of trouble."

"I don't know what specific requirements are needed to participate in this auction?" After pondering slightly, Song Qingming asked again.

"Participating in the auction, our Heavenly Elixir Alliance has always adopted an invitation method. You need to get my approval first, take out 500 spirit stones or equivalent spiritual items, and you can buy an invitation card from me. With an invitation card, you have the qualification to participate in our Heavenly Elixir Alliance auction. When the auction is held, we will notify everyone holding an invitation card in advance. Does Daoist friend understand what I mean?" After saying this, the old man in the cyan robe raised his hand, took out a green jade plaque from his sleeve, and placed it in front of Song Qingming.

The material of the jade plaque looked ordinary, and besides a large "Elixir" character carved on it, there was nothing special about it. It looked like an ordinary first-tier spiritual item.

"Senior, is this jade plaque the invitation card you mentioned? How many spirit stones does one cost?" After Song Qingming picked up the jade plaque and looked at it, he asked curiously.

The old man in the cyan robe heard this and extended a finger toward Song Qingming kindly.

"One hundred spirit stones each."

——

Over half a month later, on a small, inconspicuous mountain several hundred miles west of Yangshan Market, Song Qingming walked to a flat ground halfway up the mountain, stopped his steps, and took out a sheepskin map from his body to look at it.

Just as he was about to walk forward, a man walked toward him from not far ahead.

Song Qingming raised his eyes and looked carefully. This person was wearing a Daoist robe, and his face was covered with a black bronze mask. The pattern on the mask was a bull's head, looking somewhat eerie.

The bull-headed masked man walked up to Song Qingming and said faintly, "Does the Daoist friend have an invitation card?"

Upon hearing this, Song Qingming hurriedly took out an ordinary cyan jade plaque from his storage bag and handed it to the person in front of him.

"Put on the mask and follow me."

After verifying that it was correct, the bull-headed masked man threw the jade plaque back to Song Qingming, and then took out an identical mask from his own body and handed it to Song Qingming. It looked similar in style to the bull-headed mask he was wearing, but the pattern on it was different; it was a dog's head with a somewhat strange appearance.

"This Daoist friend, I wonder if I can change the mask!"

The bull-headed masked man heard this, turned his head to look at Song Qingming, who was still standing in place without wearing the mask, turned around, rummaged through his body again, took out a pig-headed mask, and threw it in front of Song Qingming.

"They are all about the same. Just make do with it. Anyway, you won't be wearing it for long. You still have to return it to us after the auction ends."

"Then this one will do!" After Song Qingming took the pig-headed mask and put it directly on his face, he followed forward.

Just after putting on the mask, Song Qingming suddenly discovered that his spiritual sense seemed to be isolated by this mask and could not penetrate it. Could it be that this mask also had the effect of isolating spiritual sense?

He used his spiritual sense to probe the bull-headed masked man in front again and found that it was indeed the case. Even though they were already very close, his spiritual sense still couldn't penetrate the mask on his head. No wonder he didn't see his cultivation when they first met; it turned out it was covered by this thing.

It seems this mask is really a good thing. After wearing this, not only can he hide his cultivation, but he estimates that even Foundation Establishment cultivators won't be able to detect his appearance.

After following the bull-headed masked man for a few miles, the two came to a cliff. After the bull-headed masked man performed a set of hand seals toward the cliff, the scene in front of them twisted for a while, revealing a cave about a zhang in diameter.

The bull-headed man led Song Qingming directly into the cave. Every once in a while, a bright lamp hung on both sides of the cave, illuminating the dark cave very brightly. Seeing that the surrounding mountain walls were very neat and tidy, Song Qingming felt that this place should have been excavated directly by cultivators above the Foundation Establishment realm using magic tools.

After walking for about half a mile in the cave, they came to a slightly larger cave. At this time, many cultivators were already sitting around here, and like Song Qingming, they all wore this kind of bronze mask on their faces.

After seeing Song Qingming and the other, these people just raised their heads and swept a glance, then quickly lowered their heads again and began to meditate, as if waiting for something to happen.

After the bull-headed masked man brought Song Qingming here, he said a word to a horse-headed masked man standing in the middle, and soon turned and left here.

Song Qingming looked around and found a place where no one was sitting and sat down as well.

After learning about the auction at the Heavenly Elixir Pavilion, although he felt that the invitation card was somewhat ridiculously expensive, Song Qingming finally bought an invitation card from that old man in the cyan robe and came here.

The reason he spent 100 spirit stones to participate in this auction was not because he was in a hurry to buy the Marrow-Cleansing Pill, but mainly because the Foundation Establishment Pill mentioned by the old man in the cyan robe moved him. No matter whether what the old man in the cyan robe said was true or false, Song Qingming still didn't want to miss this opportunity. After all, the Foundation Establishment Pill was truly too important to him now, and it was worth him spending 100 spirit stones to take a look.

He looked carefully and saw that there were already 30 or 40 cultivators in the cave. A few who stood with the horse-headed masked man should be the same as the bull-headed man, all people from the Heavenly Elixir Alliance, responsible for taking them to participate in the auction. It's just that he didn't know why they had to bring them all to this cave.

After over an hour, the bull-headed man returned to the cave again. This time, he brought two more people, also wearing masks on their faces, unable to see their appearances. It was only from their figures that it could be seen that they were two young women.

These two women looked around, also didn't speak, and directly found a corner with few people and sat down.

"It seems I didn't come too late. I didn't expect there to be so many people coming to participate in this auction."

Over the next four or five days, until nearly 100 people were sitting in the cave, the bull-headed man and the horse-headed man stopped picking people up from outside and notified everyone to prepare to set off for the location where the auction would be held.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 134 =====