Chapter 235

Chapter 235: The Temple of Ten Thousand Paths and the Ancient City of a Thousand Stars

"My Lord, Heaven’s Machine Auction House has been established. I took the audacious liberty of setting up four auction venues categorized as Heaven-grade, Earth-grade, Mystery-grade, and Yellow-grade. I humbly seek your guidance on whether this arrangement is acceptable?"

Yang Xuanzhan returned to Heaven’s Secret Pavilion to report and relayed all matters concerning Heaven’s Machine Auction House to Ye Xu.

"You have done well."

Ye Xu looked at Yang Xuanzhan with increasing satisfaction. Taking Yang Xuanzhan under his wing back then truly had been the right decision.

Shua!

With a single thought from Ye Xu, a golden jade slip flew toward Yang Xuanzhan.

"This jade slip contains the Complete Version of the Nine Revolutions Nirvana Sutra, including my own annotations on the method. Study and cultivate it diligently. It will be sufficient for you to cultivate all the way to the Great Emperor realm."

Overjoyed, Yang Xuanzhan kowtowed repeatedly. "Thank you, My Lord… Thank you, My Lord…"

In that moment, he felt like he was dreaming.

In the past, although he and Ye Hongchen had been lauded as the Twin Pillars of the Southern Wilderness, his greatest ambition had merely been to attain the realm of a Sage Saint and lead Xuanfu Palace to dominate the Southern Wilderness.

He had never even dared to dream of becoming an emperor.

But now, Yang Xuanzhan saw the hope of achieving emperorship.

He was utterly convinced that his earlier decision to follow Ye Xu was the most correct choice he had ever made in his life.

"I entrust the Heaven’s Machine Auction House to your management. Ensure there are no mistakes." Ye Xu looked at Yang Xuanzhan and said, "What I give you, is what belongs to you."

Yang Xuanzhan felt a chill of apprehension and nodded repeatedly. Even with a million times the courage, he wouldn’t dare to embezzle public funds for private gain.

"How many auction items are currently stored in the Auction House?" Ye Xu inquired.

"One hundred and twenty-eight items," Yang Xuanzhan replied. "Those ranked in the top ten of the Great Emperor Golden List, including Great Emperor Lingbao and others, have all deposited auction items with Heaven’s Machine Auction House."

"There are three Emperor Venerable level auction items."

"Thirty-eight emperor-tier auction items."

"The rest are Holy tier auction items."

Ye Xu nodded slightly. "Concerning staffing, make arrangements yourself. You may discuss this aspect with the City Lord of Linglong. As for how to reward the City Lord of Linglong, handle it as you see fit."

"Yes," Yang Xuanzhan acknowledged.

"Once everything is properly arranged, commence the first auction. Seven days should be ample preparation time," Ye Xu said with a light laugh, his eagerness to earn money barely concealed.

A single transaction with the Poison Emperor, worth over ten million, had netted him only three hundred thousand heavenly secrets points.

Three hundred thousand heavenly secrets points couldn’t even raise his power by a single sliver.

Now, for Ye Xu to cultivate to the Immortal King realm probably required two to three billion heavenly secrets points—a truly astronomical figure.

If he continued waiting passively for clients like before, who knew how many years, how many months, it would take to amass enough heavenly secrets points to break through to the Immortal King realm.

"Your junior, Qiu Qianli of the Tianyun Sect of the Temple of Ten Thousand Paths, requests an audience with Senior Tian Ji!"

A voice transmitted from outside Heaven’s Secret Pavilion. The white-bearded old man Qiu Qianli, the middle-aged Daoist nun, and six other Emperor Venerables stood respectfully at the entrance, their faces filled with reverence and hearts gripped with nervousness.

"Come in."

Joy flashed across the faces of the seven individuals as they immediately stepped into Heaven’s Secret Pavilion.

"So even Daoist friends from the Temple of Ten Thousand Paths, located far across billions of trillions of spaces, know about the existence of my Heaven’s Secret Pavilion. Ha ha ha…" Ye Xu said with a light laugh.

Qiu Qianli spoke respectfully, "Elder, you are too modest. Who among the all realms today does not know the fame of Heaven’s Secret Pavilion? Who does not know your great powers?"

"This junior here, along with fellow Daoists from the Temple of Ten Thousand Paths, has come specifically to pay our respects to you, Elder."

The Temple of Ten Thousand Paths was a grand alliance of the Six Realms, an alliance formed by the top-tier forces of the Six Realms. Among them, the Tianyun Sect was one of the foremost sects.

It was precisely because of this that Qiu Qianli could quickly find five like-minded friends to visit Heaven’s Secret Pavilion together.

"This Temple of Ten Thousand Paths is quite interesting."

A trace of surprise flickered in Ye Xu’s eyes. The Temple of Ten Thousand Paths was like some kind of stitched-together monstrosity. To be able to integrate the forces of the Six Realms meant that the Palace Master overseeing it, his methods were indeed extraordinary.

His gaze swept over the seven of them. Their strengths were all relatively similar, with the strongest being at the peak of the Emperor Venerable Realm. From them, he likely could not squeeze much profit.

"The purpose of you seven dear friends, I already know."

"Choose a secret realm."

Ye Xu said with a light laugh.

"Ancient City of a Thousand Stars."

Qiu Qianli stated solemnly.

Even before coming to Heaven’s Secret Pavilion, they had already reached a consensus: they wanted all the information on the Ancient City of a Thousand Stars.

This secret realm was ranked on the Secret Realm Ranking and ranked one hundredth. It was a remnant site from the ancient Human Emperor Era. Although its preciousness couldn’t compare to the realms ranked above it, its peril level was also correspondingly lower.

For these seven, the Ancient City of a Thousand Stars was the most suitable choice.

Their choice came as no surprise to Ye Xu.

"With you seven dear friends visiting together, I assume you intend to jointly purchase the information on the Ancient City of a Thousand Stars?" Ye Xu smiled. "Since that’s the case, then one Emperor Venerable level treasure or magical artifact per person. Once you hand them over, I will impart all the information regarding the Ancient City of a Thousand Stars to you."

"I can guarantee you won’t leave disappointed."

One Emperor Venerable’s treasure was worth around four to five million heavenly secrets points. Seven great cultivators meant somewhere between twenty-eight and thirty-five million points.

The information for the Ancient City of a Thousand Stars required ten million heavenly secrets points. Ye Xu would profit at least twenty million.

Indeed, the speed at which the Secret Realm Ranking generated revenue was astonishing.

Qiu Qianli frowned slightly. Divine Sense stirred amongst the seven as they began communicating mentally.

Ye Xu didn’t even bother trying to eavesdrop.

"Girl, serve tea to our dear guests," Ye Xu instructed, reclining leisurely on his grand master chair, patiently waiting.

"Thank you, Miss."

The seven expressed their thanks and took their seats.

After a quarter of an hour and a period of intense discussion, they reached a unified decision. Qiu Qianli spoke, "We are willing to proceed with the trade, Elder."

He exerted his magical power. His Purple Palace opened, and a beam of light shot out, coalescing into an extraordinary command token radiating streams of pure yang qi. It was unmistakably an Emperor Venerable’s treasure.

The middle-aged Daoist nun swung her horsetail whisk. A ginseng fruit floated in mid-air, resembling a little doll. This was a top-tier divine medicinal herb she had seized during the day of the transformation.

The ginseng fruit was already sentient and continuously wriggling and struggling, attempting to escape.

Immediately, the remaining five Emperor Venerables retrieved their magic treasures, divine medicines, and divine objects.

In the blink of an eye, the seven of them gathered all the treasures required to exchange for information.

"Senior, please take a look."

"System, exchange."

Ye Xu blinked, and all the treasures vanished into thin air. Qiu Qianli and the others were wound tight, seemingly afraid Ye Xu might take their belongings without fulfilling his promise; each fixed their eyes intently on him.

Ding!

[Congratulations, Host, you have obtained 32,000,000 heavenly secrets points.]

"A profit of twenty-two million, not bad, not bad." Ye Xu was overjoyed in his heart; this was truly a high-profit business with no cost.

"Exchange all information about the Ancient City of a Thousand Stars."

Ding!

[Ancient City of a Thousand Stars: The fiefdom of Beichen Yuanjun, one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Divine Court, towards the end of the Human Emperor Era. After the fall of the Divine Court, it drifted into the depths of the void, enveloped by the Thousand Stars Great Array, remaining intact for millions of years…]

Dense lines of information surfaced in Ye Xu’s mind.

This relic wasn’t the most ancient in age, but it involved many secrets of the Human Emperor Era and held the inheritance of Beichen Yuanjun, hence its ranking within the top one hundred.

Ye Xu compiled the information, inscribed it onto seven jade slips, and handed them to the seven individuals.

"The information on these seven jade slips is identical; it contains everything you seek to know about the Ancient City of a Thousand Stars."

Ye Xu looked at the seven with a smile, "May all seven of you, my Daoist friends, return with bountiful gains."

The seven committed the information on the Ancient City of a Thousand Stars to memory, brimming with confidence. With the intelligence from Heaven’s Secret Pavilion, the Ancient City would pose no difficulties anymore.

"Many thanks to you, Senior. This junior bids farewell."

Qiu Qianli let out a hearty laugh, "I shall return to offer more thanks to you, Senior, after this junior succeeds in this endeavor."

Ye Xu watched as the seven departed.

"The Palace Master of the Temple of Ten Thousand Paths must surely be a true immortal," Ye Xu murmured.

In the lower realm, someone capable of uniting the top sects from all six realms to form a colossal entity – even powerful figures like the Dao King and Emperor Venerable Mi Luo couldn’t achieve such a feat.

"More and more forces are emerging. This universe is becoming increasingly interesting,"

Ye Xu rested his chin on his hand, his gaze profound and deep.

"Calculating the time, Yu Ziwei should almost be back. I wonder if he managed to gather enough people to open the Heaven Deficiency Forbidden Land?" There was also a gleam of anticipation in Ye Xu’s eyes.

That was a business worth two hundred million heavenly secrets points.

If handled smoothly, it could be an even bigger venture than the Ancient City of a Thousand Stars, surpassed only by the business of the Seven-Treasure Mystic Forest.