Chapter 224

Chapter 224: Auction

The auction in Qinyuan Immortal City took place in a palace within the inner city.

Radiant spiritual light shimmered along the palace’s entire structure, intertwined with flowing runes, creating a majestic and awe-inspiring sight.

As the largest auction across the entire Qinyuan Domain, the scale was exceptionally high. Participants had to verify possession of five hundred spiritual stones to enter, or present other items of equivalent or greater value.

The Lin Family, being a long-life family, naturally bypassed verification. They entered the auction venue directly through the VIP passage.

Given its significance as the grandest auction in Qinyuan Domain, not just one Foundation Establishment strong person attended.

These individuals hadn’t shown themselves yet. It was said the Golden Core master of Qinyuan Immortal City would also preside here, precisely to prevent any mishaps.

The auction was located inside a spacious, brightly lit great hall. A high platform stood at the very center, with rosewood circle chairs arranged below it. Beyond these chairs, elevated floating terraces protruded on both sides.

These terraces served as VIP seating, exclusively for the Five Great Families and other prominent factions.

Zhou Luo followed the two elders and seated himself on the large white jade chairs of the viewing platform.

Aside from him and Lin Xin, two young disciples from the Lin Family were actually participating in the auction. One was Lin Feiyu, who had come to apologize before.

The six of them sat separately on the VIP viewing platform.

Zhou Luo glanced around. He saw people seated on the other floating viewing platforms too—members of the Lu Family, the Wang Family, and even powerful figures not in family attire.

These individuals likely belonged to factions outside the Great Families. He observed their leaders emitted extraordinary auras, even more intimidating than Liu Fu Chen he had encountered earlier, likely Foundation Establishment strong individuals.

This made sense. These factions lacked the shelter of an Immortal Sect. If they actually secured valuable treasures at the auction and weren’t cautious, they might well be ambushed en route.

Having a Foundation Establishment strong person present could at least make bandits think twice.

Besides the VIP terraces, Zhou Luo also saw the circle chairs below filled with various cultivators.

Some of these cultivators looked upward, gazing at those on the VIP platforms with deep envy.

Time passed slowly. Half an hour later, the auction hall was packed. Those without seats simply cleared a spot on the empty ground, placing a prayer mat and sitting beside it.

Hum—

When the time finally came, a soft pillar of light descended from above, illuminating the high platform ahead. A gray-robed elder appeared in everyone’s sight, wearing a kindly smile.

He radiated geniality, yet showed no trace of energy fluctuation. None dared underestimate him.

If even they couldn’t discern his strength, he must truly be that powerful.

The emblem of the Qinyuan Sect was embroidered on the elder’s chest. Hands clasped behind his back, he addressed the audience calmly, "Welcome, friends, to this auction. I shall be presiding over today’s events. I presume no one has objections?"

His eyes crinkled as he amiably swept his gaze across the crowd.

Nobody dared speak.

The elder then lightly outlined the auction rules.

As in previous years, threatening others, malicious price inflation, private collusion, and any other actions disrupting the normal auction proceedings were forbidden.

After all, everyone would meet again frequently. If someone leveraged their status to coerce, it would only expose the Qinyuan Sect’s unfairness.

Even disciples of Qinyuan Sect would not break these rules.

Violators risked expulsion at best, or immediate eradication of their cultivation at worst.

With the rules introduced, the auction officially commenced.

The elderly man stepped aside, and immediately a beautiful waitress holding a tray placed it onto the light pillar beside him.

With a wave of his hand, on the tray appeared a jade bottle containing a potion.

"This first auction item is the Gathering Spirit Potion. There are five in total. Each has a starting bid of one hundred spiritual stones, with a minimum raise of ten spiritual stones per bid."

The Gathering Spirit Potion, a top-quality potion, one of the most popular within the Qi Refinement realm.

It greatly promoted cultivation, increasing the speed of spiritual energy absorption.

On the VIP viewing platform, Zhou Luo raised an eyebrow slightly.

Truly an auction held by the Immortal Sect, starting off with such a heavy-hitting item.

He recalled how, back then, he had resorted to rather liberally "appropriating" materials from the Immortal Sect just to concoct one Gathering Spirit Potion.

But now, he no longer needed it.

Because he had already purchased a batch of materials for the Gathering Spirit Potion a few days prior.

He wasn’t interested, but others were visibly excited.

The vast majority present were Qi Refinement cultivators. They had long coveted this top-quality potion that could significantly boost their cultivation; how could they possibly let it pass?

"I bid one hundred and ten!"

Very soon, someone called out a bid.

"I bid one hundred and twenty."

"I bid one hundred and fifty."

"I bid two hundred."

…

Instantly, bids rose one after another, and the price for one Gathering Spirit Potion swiftly soared to two hundred and fifty.

Witnessing this scene, the corner of Zhou Luo’s eye twitched slightly.

Had he known, he would have brought Gathering Spirit Potion to auction himself.

But since this was an auction hosted by the Immortal Sect, he supposed that apart from genuinely scarce items, the other goods were likely crafted by inner disciples of the sect.

Even if he had wanted to auction something, he wouldn’t have had the connections.

In the end, the first Gathering Spirit Potion was secured at the price of two hundred and eighty spiritual stones, vastly exceeding its market value.

But that’s just how auctions are. Securing such a scarce potion at market price is quite impossible without connections; ultimately, you’d still have to contend with a crowd.

If the first Gathering Spirit Potion went for two hundred and eighty, naturally, the remaining four fetched even higher prices.

Amidst the clamor, the final four were auctioned off.

Following the potions came the magical artifacts.

For this auction, the Qingyuan Sect brought out a set of superior-grade magical artifacts. While merely superior-grade, because they were a coordinated set, they were significantly more valuable.

Magical artifacts are categorized as single artifacts or coordinated sets. Sets, capable of mutual reinforcement, unleash power far surpassing single artifacts of the same grade, therefore always being hot commodities.

Seeing coordinated magical artifacts appear, many cultivators’ eyes lit up.

Top-grade magical artifacts were always exceedingly rare, mostly only within the ability of half-step Foundation Establishment or even Foundation Establishment strong persons to wield. Thus, superior-grade magical artifacts remained the mainstream choice for high-level Qi Refinement cultivators.

Among superior-grade magical artifacts, possessing a set of coordinated artifacts would provide a substantial boost to combat strength.

And so, cultivators below vied to place their bids.

Zhou Luo, however, wasn’t interested; he still had four top-grade magical artifacts himself and looked down on these.

Yet Lin Xin beside him seemed quite tempted.

Her current obsession with boosting her strength was intense. If something could enhance her power, she wouldn’t let it slip away.

So she joined in, calling out several bids.

Unfortunately, in the end, the set of superior-grade magical artifacts went to a loose cultivator for nearly five hundred spiritual stones.

Afterward, auction items were presented one after another, even including a Lifespan Pill.

Although the Qingyuan Sect had explicitly banned the trade of Lifespan Pills, they themselves selling them naturally wasn’t an issue.

The appearance of this potion truly stirred another wave of excitement. Even Fifth Elder Lin Yan beside Zhou Luo grew visibly restless.

Pills that could extend one’s lifespan were perpetually sought after, especially by elderly cultivators facing the exhaustion of their years.

The arrival of the Lifespan Pill became the auction’s first minor climax.

Zhou Luo still did not make a move. He was waiting for the item he truly needed to appear.

"This eighth auction item is a piece of top-quality, first-stage material called Spiritual Soil. The starting bid is two hundred spiritual stones, with a minimum raise of ten spiritual stones per bid."

Zhou Luo’s pupils contracted sharply.

The moment had come!