Chapter 583 - 404: Grand Sale of Family Assets (Part 2)

He was a brooding, middle-aged Golden Core Cultivator, and beside him stood a Foundation Establishment Female Cultivator. ’He must be buying this Eye of Light Spirit Water for her.’

Seeing someone else join the bidding, the Auctioneer instantly grew excited again. He passionately announced the bidder’s private room number, then gestured to the crowd, asking if anyone would raise the bid.

A price of seven hundred Top-grade Spirit Stones was enough to match the net income of a Foundation Establishment Sect for several decades. Only a Golden Core Cultivator could afford such a sum, and even for them, spending this much would be quite painful.

By his calculations, one Top-grade Spirit Stone could buy nearly a thousand jars of Cyan Court Wine. Seven hundred stones would be seven hundred thousand jars, which was about half a year’s production of Spirit Wine from his Immortal Mansion.

’Huh, when I put it that way, it doesn’t seem like much at all.’

Fang Qingyuan’s confidence surged. ’You want to compete with me on wealth? How could I, the owner of an Immortal Mansion, possibly lose to you?’

"Seven hundred and ten!"

Fang Qingyuan immediately called out the new price. To his surprise, after a meager raise of just ten Top-grade Spirit Stones, the other party stopped bidding.

’He probably decided that the Eye of Light Spirit wasn’t worth paying more for.’

"Congratulations to this fellow Daoist for winning this Spirit Water! Please wait a moment. Our staff will come to your private room to complete the transaction."

Since such a large sum was involved, the staff from the Black River Marketplace didn’t delay. As the next item was being auctioned, several Foundation Establishment Cultivators escorted a Foundation Establishment Female Cultivator to Fang Qingyuan’s private room, carrying an exquisite tray.

The Female Cultivator knelt gracefully before Fang Qingyuan, raised the tray in her hands, and presented it to him, speaking in a low voice.

"Senior, please inspect the item. One bottle of Eye of Light Spirit Water."

Fang Qingyuan took the bottle of Spirit Water. After a casual glance, he stored it in his Immortal Mansion. He trusted that the Black River Marketplace wouldn’t ruin its reputation over a mere seven hundred Top-grade Spirit Stones. Besides, he had never seen what this Light Spirit Water looked like anyway, so he wouldn’t know how to inspect it.

After accepting the Spirit Water, Fang Qingyuan dutifully took seven hundred and ten Top-grade Spirit Stones from his Immortal Mansion. A Cultivator’s Divine Sense is powerful; there was no need to count them one by one. A single sweep of his Divine Sense was enough to verify the number of Spirit Stones.

"Thank you for your patronage, Senior. The transaction is complete. We will take our leave now."

After the group of Cultivators left the private room, Qiqi scurried over and asked:

"That ranking of Divine Pupil Techniques the Auctioneer mentioned earlier, is there something special about it?"

Fang Qingyuan glanced at her and explained:

"It’s just a ranking of Divine Pupil Techniques compiled by enthusiasts. It’s never been recognized by the Great Zhou Academy. They ranked all the major Divine Pupil Techniques that have appeared throughout history based on power, potential, and combat strength, and that’s how they came up with that list. Most people just treat it as gossip. After all, the average Cultivator never gets to encounter Divine Pupil Techniques, so there’s a lot of speculation involved."

Hearing Fang Qingyuan’s explanation, Qiqi grew even more interested. She asked curiously:

"Then what’s the number one Divine Pupil Technique?"

Fang Qingyuan shook his head. Seeing Qiqi pestering him with questions like a curious child, he relented and said:

"It’s the ’Shenxiao Celestial Eye.’ It’s said to be able to evade Celestial Tribulations and see into the Netherworld. Basically, it can do anything you can imagine."

"Whoa, it’s that amazing? Is that for real?"

"Of course it’s fake. It’s just a legend. After all, no one has ever seen the real ’Shenxiao Celestial Eye,’ so they just made stuff up about it."

A look of disappointment appeared on Qiqi’s face—it was a wonder how a little raccoon could be so expressive. Just as she was feeling down, Xiong Ba rumbled from the side:

"Big Sis, look! They’re bringing up our items."

After the Light Spirit Water, another four or five items were auctioned off before the next Tier Four Spiritual Material was brought to the stage.

"A pair of tusks from an Earth Elemental Bear! These tusks are a primary material from a Nascent Soul Tier demon beast, containing a massive amount of Earth Spirit. They are a supreme treasure for Artifact Refining, graded as mid-Tier Four. The starting bid is one thousand Top-grade Spirit Stones, with a minimum increment of fifty."

These weren’t Bear Wind’s tusks. Fang Qingyuan could see that clearly. Bear Wind was of the Gold Attribute, while these tusks were Earth Attribute. ’I wonder how Bear Wind came to possess these.’

The tusks ended up selling for the high price of two thousand four hundred stones. The Cultivators present did not hesitate to spend lavishly on primary materials for Artifact Refining. After all, a powerful Lifebound Magical Treasure could increase one’s combat power by one to three times.

And that wasn’t all. After the Earth Elemental Bear tusks came three fiery red tail feathers. These were also a primary material from a Nascent Soul Ancient Beast, not some leftover scraps. They contained a significant portion of the ancient beast’s essential flesh and blood. The starting bid was one thousand five hundred Top-grade Spirit Stones.

They eventually sold for three thousand three hundred Top-grade Spirit Stones. After the fiery feathers, Barbarian Bull Horns, python skin, and the Heart of the Ten Thousand-Year-Old Tree Demon were all brought to the auction stage one after another.

Fang Qingyuan had known beforehand that Qiqi had brought Bear Wind’s entire fortune with her. But as he watched all these Nascent Soul Level, Tier Four materials being sold off one by one, his face flushed with a bit of embarrassment. Just moments ago, he had felt quite grand for spending seven hundred Top-grade Spirit Stones on the Spirit Water.

’Bear Wind’s fortune is ridiculously deep. Where in the world did he get so many Nascent Soul spiritual materials?’

’Could it be that he inherited Jinbao’s father’s legacy? Did he clean out Jinbao’s father’s entire fortune when he fled back then?’

While Fang Qingyuan was filled with questions, Qiqi and Xiong Ba looked on with happy expressions.

The appearance of more than ten consecutive Nascent Soul spiritual materials raised the prestige of this Black River Marketplace auction to a dazzling new height.

Fortunately, the backer of the Black River Marketplace was the Nangong Divine Transformation Clan. Otherwise, if this had been a Golden Core Sect’s Marketplace, or even a Nascent Soul Sect’s Marketplace, the successive appearance of so many Nascent Soul materials would have undoubtedly caused a huge commotion.

After the final highlight items—several bottles of Tier Four Longevity Elixir Pills—were divided among the occupants of the various A-grade private rooms, the grand auction finally came to a close.

During this, Fang Qingyuan noticed that Hao Shi, in the Jia Mao Room, had also spent a massive amount of Spirit Stones to purchase one of the last few bottles of Longevity Elixir Pills.

Hao Shi’s private room was A-grade, a privilege reserved for Nascent Soul Powers. Fang Qingyuan recalled Elder Ya, the man with Nascent Soul Battle Power beside Chunyu Hua, and a guess began to form in his mind.

’Chunyu Hua probably bought that Longevity Pill for Elder Ya.’

Half a year ago in the Wilderness Forest, this Elder Ya had briefly clashed with Bear Wind. Although he was no match for him, he hadn’t been at a clear disadvantage either.

He had simply been unwilling to fight more than a few rounds with Bear Wind. At the time, Fang Qingyuan had assumed it was because Bear Wind, in his fury, was fighting to kill. Thinking back on it now, it was more likely because Elder Ya was running out of lifespan. Being old, he cherished what life he had left and was unwilling to engage in a meaningless, all-out fight with Bear Wind.

’That’s a new piece of information. I wonder if I can make use of it later.’

While Fang Qingyuan was busy analyzing this in his head, Qiqi was beaming with excitement as she held the numerous Spirit Stones delivered from the auction house.

"Sect Leader Fang, look! Are these enough Spirit Stones?"

Inside a twenty-cubic-meter storage bag, more than thirty thousand Top-grade Spirit Stones were piled quietly. A sum like that made even Fang Qingyuan’s heart beat a little faster.

Fang Qingyuan himself had never seen so many Top-grade Spirit Stones gathered in one place. If this pile of Spirit Stones were converted into his own Spirit Wine, at ten catties per jar, it would be almost thirty million jars. ’How long would it take to sell all that?’

The thought that all these Spirit Stones, plus the twenty thousand he had saved up himself, were all going to be handed over to Gui Gu made Fang Qingyuan’s heart bleed.

’Fifty million jars of Cyan Court Spirit Wine... Gui Gu, you’d better be worth this price. Otherwise, I’ll make you pay dearly in the future.’

After making this silent vow, Fang Qingyuan poured the Spirit Stones into his Immortal Mansion. Then, with the two Golden Core Demon Beasts, Qiqi and Xiong Ba, he quietly left Black River Square.

He then had Qiqi hide herself, but the Demonic Power emanating from her body was the strongest and most obvious lure for a disciple of the Beast Taming Sect.

Fang Qingyuan wanted to use Qiqi to lure Hao Shi out and kill him directly. ’Why bother with some honorable duel? It’s just a waste of effort.’

The White Mountain People fight when they’re challenged; they don’t do things the roundabout way. Having spent half his life in the White Mountain region, Fang Qingyuan’s methods had gradually become more like theirs.

However, to Fang Qingyuan’s surprise, he didn’t lure out Hao Shi. Instead, he caught a different Golden Core Cultivator.

"Fellow Daoist, please wait. This humble Daoist is Meng Fen of Qimeng Mountain. I would like to discuss a matter with you."

Fang Qingyuan stopped flying. High in the sky, he watched the middle-aged Male Cultivator rapidly approaching, a look of exasperation on his face.

’I only outbid you by ten Top-grade Spirit Stones. Is it really that serious?’