Chapter 24: The Grand Auction

Ever since the Qi family announced their first auction six months ago, the number of people in the Immortal City has grown day by day, reaching its peak this month.

Everyone knew that for this auction, the Qi family would have to suffer a significant loss to make a name for themselves and highlight the advantages of their new management. They could not compete with the safety standards of the Immortal City under the former Biyun Sect, so they had to emphasize advantages in trade, product quality, and pricing to make the city more prosperous and earn enough spirit stones to cover the buyout costs incurred after the Biyun Sect’s centennial revenue audit.

Although the Biyun Sect would surely impose many conditions for long-term stability within their territory—such as bans on high-level supplies or restrictions on trade between certain factions—there were bound to be loopholes to exploit. Furthermore, for their inaugural auction, the Qi family would likely tacitly allow some products that slightly exceeded standard regulations to be listed. As for future development, since the Biyun Sect no longer directly managed the city, there would be plenty of room for covert operations among the various merchant guilds. For instance, Yan Kongyi had previously secretly purchased a second-tier Vajra Puppet capable of influencing the battlefield in the Wilderness, as well as a batch of late-stage area-of-effect talismans, from the Nine Cauldrons Merchant Guild.

Consequently, the Golden Radiance Immortal City had become a holy land for cultivators across the entire Cangyun Province. Powerful factions, such as the Five Great Clans, along with other deep-rooted Foundation Establishment families, would likely come for the high-grade Foundation Establishment Pill. Factions embroiled in war would come for strategic supplies. Even the rogue cultivators of the province would come hoping to find a bargain.

For a time, the Immortal City was packed with people, and all sorts of cultivators arrived in droves. Every inn in the city had been fully booked for a month, and the area outside the city walls was already crowded three layers deep.

That day, Li Ji'an added three spirit stones to the residential defensive array, applied three extra restriction talismans, and tucked his seven trump-card talismans close to his body. Only then did he instruct Gua Gua and Xiao Qiao not to be careless and to never open the array, no matter who came knocking. Ever since the Qi family took over the city, the neighboring courtyard belonging to Granny You had been reclaimed and rented out to other cultivators, so Xiao Qiao had moved in with him permanently.

Finally, he placed his entire net worth of over eight thousand spirit stones into his storage bag, changed into a common gray-white robe typical of the city, and headed toward the open-air auction venue in the very center of the Immortal City.

The streets were teeming with people. Mixing into the crowd, Li Ji'an used a technique to condense his blood and energy, slowly altering his muscles and bones. With every step, he changed slightly; after ten steps, he appeared three inches shorter. He then repeated the process, casting a disguise spell. After a hundred steps, he had become a middle-aged cultivator with a sallow complexion—an unremarkable face that lacked any presence.

Since the Biyun Sect withdrew, and especially with the massive influx of cultivators over the past two months, many previous rules had changed. It was unclear whether the merchant guilds were catering to customers who wished to protect their privacy or if they simply lacked the capability to enforce regulations, but the requirements for city gate registration, mana branding, and the prohibition against concealing one's identity had all been abolished.

Li Ji'an scanned the crowd with his divine sense; eighty percent of the people around him were using some form of disguise. However, these Qi Refining stage cultivators possessed souls far weaker than his, and he could see through their true forms at a glance.

"Fellow Daoist, don't crowd! I have a great treasure here—if you break it, you'll have to pay!" shouted a burly, imposing man who was being squeezed so hard he could barely stand.

Li Ji'an's eyelids twitched slightly. That was clearly a young female cultivator disguised as a middle-aged man. However, ordinary disguise techniques were merely optical illusions; once touched, the true form would be revealed. Li Ji'an could see clearly that the woman was being squeezed almost to the point of deformation. He surmised that the men around her, whose souls were stronger than hers, had already seen through her disguise and were doing it on purpose.

Following the flow of people, the journey to the plaza, which usually took a quarter of an hour, took nearly half an hour. Upon reaching the square, the noise was deafening. Fortunately, the plaza had been expanded—upward—with many new Cloud-Ascending Ladders added in a circle.

Beyond the core auction area, which required an entry fee, the outer perimeter allowed for temporary viewing via flight. Li Ji'an presented the entry ticket he had spent three months asking Shopkeeper Wu to help him obtain and stepped into the auction venue.

The venue, which could accommodate thousands, was already packed, save for a few symbolic seats at the front reserved for those of status and power. Li Ji'an’s seat was on the periphery, not particularly eye-catching. However, the moment he sat down, he keenly sensed several divine senses sweeping over him; the number of spiritual senses probing him was even greater. He immediately guarded his sea of consciousness and employed a breath-concealment technique, striving to minimize his presence.

Before long, the organizers took the stage on time. After a passionate speech, they invited the headline guest to appear. The moment the Qi family’s Golden Core master arrived, the intentional release of their aura enveloped the entire venue for an instant, leaving the audience in dead silence.

Nearly two hours later, after the Qi family had finished detailing their grand ambitions to turn the Immortal City into a glorious trading hub connecting the Tianyuan and Cangyun provinces, and explaining the benefits for the local cultivators, the auction officially began.

The first item immediately electrified the crowd.

"This is a high-grade Dharma robe, woven by a renowned master using select hundred-year golden silkworm silk, mixed with Ice Soul cold pulp, and supplemented with Red Blood tree leaves. It possesses the effects of storing spiritual energy, purifying mana, repelling fire, resisting heat, and calming the mind. The starting bid is one spirit stone."

"Wow! As expected of a great immortal clan from Tianyuan Province."

"Good, good! Such a rare high-grade Dharma robe, starting at only one spirit stone—the Qi family is very sincere."

"The Golden Radiance Immortal City is about to take off!"

Because Cangyun Province lacked materials for Dharma robes and had almost no weavers, local robes were scarce. Furthermore, the Biyun Sect’s heavy taxes on merchant guilds had made the cost of transporting robes over hundreds of thousands of miles prohibitively high. As a result, the quantity, style, and quality of robes in the city were generally low. This high-grade robe genuinely tempted many. Most importantly, the Qi family had kept their word, starting the bidding at one spirit stone. Of course, everyone knew that a low starting price was meaningless; the final sale price would certainly not be cheap.

"One hundred spirit stones!" As expected, the first bidder immediately raised the price to a level reflecting their perceived value.

"Three hundred spirit stones!" The first item in an auction usually carried some significance, and many wanted the honor of winning it.

"Three hundred and fifty spirit stones!"

"Five hundred and fifty!"

In the end, the first robe was won by a member of the Five Great Clans sitting in the front row. At five hundred and fifty spirit stones, there was a significant markup.

The second item raised the atmosphere even further.

"These are ten mid-grade Beauty-Preserving Pills. Each pill keeps one's youth for thirty years. They can be bid on separately. Starting bid, one spirit stone."

The female cultivators present were instantly stirred. Although the Beauty-Preserving Pill was a first-tier pill, it contained the power of time and could not be concocted by anyone below a second-tier alchemist. Due to high demand and insufficient supply from local second-tier alchemists, female cultivators often found themselves unable to purchase the pills just as their effects were wearing off. The Qi family’s decision to offer ten at once was a bold move. They were also mid-grade—if a Foundation Establishment female cultivator bought all ten, she would have enough to remain youthful for a lifetime.

"I want all ten! Two thousand spirit stones!" A female cultivator didn't wait for the auctioneer to signal the start, shouting her bid in a rush.

"I want them all, two thousand two hundred spirit stones!"

"Two thousand three hundred spirit stones!"

Women’s desire for beauty was innate, and for female cultivators, it was even more intense. The atmosphere exploded once again. The quality of the first two items left every cultivator in attendance eagerly anticipating the rest of the auction. Ultimately, the frantic female cultivators drove the price of the ten pills to a staggering three thousand five hundred spirit stones. This further solidified Li Ji'an’s resolve to specialize in beauty-related pills in the future; no matter the place, money spent by women on beauty was always the easiest to earn.

The subsequent items did not disappoint. From breakthrough pills for late-stage Qi Refining to longevity pills urgently needed by elderly cultivators; from mid-grade cultivation techniques to the heritage of veteran alchemists; there were even second-tier artifact-refining materials, second-tier talisman materials, and second-tier medicinal herbs. Of course, there were no finished strategic talismans, magical instruments, or puppets—only raw materials.

During the process, an item appeared that caught Li Ji'an’s interest: a young spirit beast suspected of having Earth-grade bloodline. However, it was eventually snatched up by the Liu family of Beast Tamers at a high price. The bidder was no stranger to Li Ji'an; it was Liu Jiuchan, who had owed him a favor after an incident in the Flame Mountain forbidden zone years ago. With the current chaos in the Immortal City and the rampant danger outside the walls, he considered having the man fulfill his promise to save himself a trip outside the city. The only thing that made him hesitate was that the man had since achieved Foundation Establishment. With the disparity in status and strength, he lacked confidence.

Just as he was pondering this, another item made Li Ji'an sit bolt upright.

"This is a second-tier high-grade pill furnace crafted by my Qi family’s ancestor, a master craftsman, using his life’s work. The primary material is Earth-Core Magma Copper Essence, supplemented with Six-Harmonies Earth, soaked in the body of a Flame Carving to be tempered for forty-nine days, and finally forged with Heavenly Spiritual Flame through a thousand hammerings... This furnace provides significant enhancements to spiritual pressure control, pill-fire regulation, and sensitivity to the state of the pill. It was once treasured by a veteran second-tier alchemist from Daoyuan Province, who produced no fewer than ten Foundation Establishment Pills with it... Starting bid, one spirit stone. Fellow alchemists, please!"

"A second-tier pill furnace!"