Chapter 193: I Bid Fifty Thousand

The grade of heavenly materials corresponding to a magic treasure can be labeled as third-rank.

Just like third-rank talismans and third-rank elixirs!

Expensive things have their reasons for being expensive.

A first-rank elixir often costs only a few spirit stones per pill.

But when it comes to second-rank elixirs, the price surges dramatically.

Take the Qi-Condensing Elixir and the Spirit-Condensing Elixir: a single first-rank Qi-Condensing Elixir costs only two spirit stones, but a bottle of twelve Spirit-Condensing Elixirs costs two thousand spirit stones even when bought from an alchemy shop.

That averages out to over one hundred sixty spirit stones per pill.

Why?

Because the cost is too high.

First-rank elixirs require only first-rank spiritual herbs, which are extremely easy to cultivate—any spiritual field with even a trace of spiritual energy can yield abundant harvests after sowing seeds, within a single year.

But second-rank spiritual herbs cannot grow in just one year.

Take the main ingredient of Foundation Establishment Elixir—【Century Purple Ginseng】—it means exactly what it says: a hundred-year-old purple ginseng.

Never mind how tedious its cultivation is; just the century-long growth period reveals how difficult it is to raise.

The same applies to talismans.

The main cost of a third-rank talisman is the third-rank talisman paper.

How is third-rank talisman paper made?

Simple: it is forged from plants such as 【Heavenly Spirit Hemp】 and 【Immortal Reed Grass】, or from the hides and fur of Golden Core-stage beasts.

Which of these is easy to obtain?

This is the fundamental reason why a single-rank upgrade in treasure grade can multiply the price by dozens or even hundreds of times.

"One hundred thirty-five thousand spirit stones!"

"One hundred forty thousand!"

"One hundred forty-five thousand…"

"One hundred fifty thousand…"

People kept bidding continuously.

Especially the Golden Core cultivators in the VIP seats bid the most.

After all, not everyone can obtain satisfactory forging materials to craft their own magic treasure.

In such cases, buying a magic treasure and nurturing it becomes a shortcut.

Erasing the previous owner's aura and marks and nurturing it yourself is the same thing.

There's little difference.

In the end, this magic treasure was won by a female cultivator for one hundred seventy-five thousand spirit stones.

He Pingsheng guessed roughly—the woman was likely Golden Core stage.

"Damn expensive…" Wang Dun sneered. "I haven't even gotten close to my Chaoyuan Elixir yet, and if I somehow break through to Golden Core, I'll have to scramble for mountains of spirit stones just to get a magic treasure…"

"Heh… wealth, technique, companions, land—wealth is definitely number one!"

"Next up for auction is a third-rank talisman called 【Golden Thunder Talisman】, of inferior quality!" The beautiful woman in blue Dao robes spoke again. "When activated, this talisman summons a bolt of lightning capable of inflicting injury upon a Golden Core cultivator at the early stage!"

"If used properly, it could even kill a Golden Core cultivator at the early stage!"

The term "early stage Golden Core" refers to levels one, two, and three.

This talisman is exactly what He Pingsheng needs.

Buy it, reinforce it, then carry it for self-defense.

The higher the rank of a talisman, the greater its power—but the stronger the spiritual sense required to activate it.

Otherwise, if it takes more than a dozen breaths to activate, the treasure is useless.

Currently, He Pingsheng's spiritual sense is a bit too weak to activate a third-rank talisman.

But it's fine.

Once his spiritual sense strengthens a bit more, and he swallows a single 【Dual-Spirit Elixir】, he'll instantly gain spiritual sense strength comparable to a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator.

Then activating it will be effortless.

"Starting bid: one hundred fifty thousand inferior spirit stones. Each raise must be at least five thousand spirit stones!"

Jin Lan added, "This item was consigned by a senior cultivator, so after a successful auction, we will charge a five percent commission!"

"Please bid carefully!"

"Alright, bidding begins!"

The moment the auctioneer spoke, someone immediately bid.

"One hundred fifty-five thousand!"

"One hundred sixty thousand!"

"One hundred seventy thousand!"

"One hundred eighty thousand!"

…

Soon, the price of this talisman soared past two hundred thousand.

He Pingsheng had lost all interest in it.

Two hundred thousand?

He had that much.

But could a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator dare openly pull out such a sum?

Worse, Wang Dun, who knew his true situation, sat right beside him—if he now spent over two hundred thousand spirit stones to bid for a third-rank talisman, the outcome was obvious.

Wang Dun could easily kill him.

"Damn it…" Wang Dun cursed. "These damn Golden Core bastards—no wonder they're called ancient monsters after living for centuries—they're filthy rich!"

"But then again, if you save ten thousand spirit stones a year, you can amass millions over centuries!"

Amid Wang Dun's curses, the talisman was sold for two hundred forty thousand spirit stones.

That was just the final price.

Add the five percent commission—that's another twelve thousand.

"Too expensive!" He Pingsheng said. "If the Chaoyuan Elixir comes up next, it won't be this pricey, will it?"

He looked at Wang Dun, worried.

Wang Dun waved his hand. "No… among same-rank heavenly materials, talismans are the damn most expensive."

True!

He Pingsheng remembered: back in Qi Refining, elixirs cost two spirit stones per pill, but a first-rank talisman usually cost sixty to seventy spirit stones.

Even special talismans like 【Disguise Talisman】 cost over a hundred.

Now he thought about it, He Pingsheng felt a pang of embarrassment.

Holy hell!

He'd casually asked Qiao Huizhu for a third-rank 【Hundredfold Concealment Talisman】.

She'd spent years preparing it before handing it to him.

That wasn't worth tens of thousands of spirit stones?

Suddenly, He Pingsheng missed his fiancée—even though he didn't really know her well.

…

After the Golden Thunder Talisman, the guild auctioned several more items.

Soon, Wang Dun's awaited 【Chaoyuan Elixir】 was brought out.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Jin Lan raised a jade vial above her head. "This is one third-rank elixir: the Ju-Yuan Elixir, of inferior quality!"

"The function of the Chaoyuan Elixir—I need not explain, do I?"

"I'm sure every cultivator knows it!"

"This Chaoyuan Elixir was consigned by a cultivator; upon successful auction, our guild will charge a five percent commission!"

"Starting bid: twenty thousand spirit stones!"

"Each raise must be at least one thousand spirit stones!"

"Auction begins!"

Wang Dun beside him exhaled in relief.

The starting bid for the Chaoyuan Elixir was far lower than that of talismans.

In fact, it made sense: elixirs, once successfully refined, yield twelve pills per batch, while talismans produce only one.

And the material cost of talismans isn't even lower than that of elixirs.

"Twenty-one thousand!"

"Twenty-two thousand!"

"Thirty thousand…"

"Thirty-five thousand!"

The price of the Chaoyuan Elixir crept upward slowly.

Wang Dun didn't bid yet.

He was waiting.

After forty thousand, bidders thinned out—and when the price reached forty-five thousand, Wang Dun stood up and roared: "I bid fifty thousand!"